Christmas 2007

some pics from Christmas day :)

Halong Bay / Cat Ba Island

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Our next stop was Cat Ba Island. We’d been dropped off in the wrong part of Halong City to catch the ferry to Cat Ba, and after our bus ride we couldn’t be bothered negotiating our way to the ferry terminal, so hopped on a tourist boat. The first stop on the tour was a stalagmite/stalactite cave – the size of the cave was pretty amazing, although the pink and blue soft lightening was a bit odd.






As we sailed to Cat Ba we passed floating villages. Agriculture on the islands of Halong Bay isn’t so good, but the fish are plentiful, so people have constructed entire villages on the water.





When we finally arrived on Cat Ba there was a mini bus waiting to take us to the town – I think we managed to jam 17 people (including luggage) into the 12 seater!!



I think this is where my cold was starting, so we had an easy dinner and an early night.
Next morning we were up bright and early and wondered over to the beach.
Like most of Vietnam there was money to develop the infrastructure but no on going funding for maintenance.




We wondered around a cliff side walkway to a secluded beach and had our earliest beer of the holiday – clocked in at 8am. A bloke rocked up and gave Reid a full body massage for about 45 mins –I think it only cost $6!!






Later in the day we jumped on a tour to Monkey Island. It was a bit strange – we were dumped on an island with a small strip of beach and told not to wonder too far cos the monkey’s have rabies. We had a go in a kayak – the whole time Reid was freaking out about falling out – turns out his fears were unfounded, the water was only about knee deep in most places. I attempted to swim, but after wading out 50m eventually settled for floating.




We were treated to a pretty amazing sunset from Monkey Island



That night we had one of the worst meals of our trip. I was trying to be adventurous and ordered crab and I got exactly that – a big crab on a plate



By now we’d already had a fair selection of spring roles, and they were generally pretty greasy so I attempted to order rice paper roles – we just got uncooked spring roles. I think Reid had beef – I can’t remember it so it can’t have been that bad??

Later we caught up with Chris and Jo again at the Flightless Bird bar (run by a Kiwi bloke) where Reid and Chris were offered $10 boom boom from the girls at the massage parlour down the road.

The next day was our last on Cat Ba – we rented scooters in the morning and rode around the island. I never really mastered the bike but Reid loved it!!





Our trip back to Hanoi was much better, although no less half arsed.

We caught a fast ferry to Hai Phong, there weren’t enough seats for everyone so they bought out little plastic stools. I think they would have sold tickets to everyone who wanted to go and only stopped when the ferry actually left the island, otherwise it was ALL aboard. The ferry travelled pretty fast, and the wake behind was pretty big and the waves smashed into the river bank – it must have been causing some much damage.

That night we stayed in Hanoi – this time we found the best part of the Old Quarter – it was so alive. This was one of the best times of our trip, we found a great hotel, we had a cook-your-own street BBQ, which was so tasty, and found 3000 Dong beer (approx 13c).

good early morning Vietnam

By 5.30am Hanoi was very much alive and buzzing. The Vietnamese were out doing their morning exercises (walking, tai chi, badminton) and the markets were full of people
Here are a couple of pics from different very early mornings in Hanoi

Vietnam - the first 24 hours!

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Hanoi to Halong City

After a relatively good flight from Australia we arrived in Hanoi, and right from the airport the adventure began. We decided to take the airport bus into the city (only $2), while we were waiting to leave a taxi nearly reversed into the bus – the bus driver and some official looking dude (maybe a police man) gave the taxi driver a good clip around the ear! Once the bus was jammed packed we headed into the city.

And sure enough, just as it says in the Lonely Planet the bus dropped us off at the “Spring Hotel”. Unfortunately the Spring Hotel had no vacancies, lucky for us the hotel owner has another very nice hotel just around the corner – determined not to get conned we politely declined their offer and set off trying to find the actual Spring Hotel.

When we did find the Spring Hotel it wasn’t the best, but we were hot and bothered and just wanted to put our bags down and have a shower!

The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to find the train station and buy tickets for the next morning to go to Halong Bay . . . . . . well that was the plan anyway. For two hours we walked around in circles trying to find the station and eventually gave up and headed off to have some dinner. The dramas of the day actually added to the excitement of the evening – Reid proposed over dinner, it was very romantic! We were exhausted and pleased to be sitting down having a cold beer when Reid popped the question, suddenly the troubles of the day were forgotten and the rest of the evening involved lots of smiles and gazing lovingly at each other :p

The next morning we attempted to get the 6am train to Hai Phong. But we ended up at the wrong train station so wrangled a ride on a trailer on the back of a motorbike at high speed to the right station – only to have missed the train by at least 10 minutes!!

We caught our breath and had a huge bowl of Pho Bo (beef noodles) for breakfast.

Sitting at the little café eating breakfast we noticed loads of buses pulling out of a nearby street - with signs saying Halong Bay! We’re in luck! As we headed in the direction of the bus station a mini bus pulled over and a guy leapt out yelling “Halong Bay, Halong Bay”. There were a few other western tourists on the bus so on we hopped! Finally we were on our way ☺

Turns out we were just the first in a LONG line of passengers to be scooped up off the street and jammed onto the bus!

As the bus speed along the motorway, swerving amongst the traffic a guy at the front of the bus was learning out the door yelling at every person standing or walking anywhere near the road, what we can only assume was something like “where are you going”?? After a particularly long negotiation a woman with two young kids got on the bus – both the kids screamed for a good half hour, before they eventually got their own seat at the back of the bus. Not long after one of the kids puked all over the seat and all over Reid’s bag!! What a treat!

On the bright side, we did meet Chris and Jo (from England). It was nice to share the trip with someone and it took the stress out of the experience – when we finally got off the bus we didn’t feel too pressured to rush into the next thing, we just all sat down, had a beer, and relaxed for a while.

typhoon peipah

good news everyone!!! there is a typhoon approaching Vietnam and we are smack bang in the middle of its path! we'll be keeping an eye on the weather forecast for the next few days -eek!

vietnam

so I'm not going to write much now, I'm trying to keep decent notes so I can write something coherent when I get home

One week down and two weeks to go - everything is such an adventure, but it's getting easier now.

I'm still not sure when I say "Xin Chào" if I'm actually saying "hello" or "rice pudding" and or when I say "Cảm on" I'm saying "thank you" or "shut up". But a smile usually seems to clear things up!!

We've done so much, at the end of everyday it feels like we have had two days!!
We started in Ha Noi and then headed out to Halong Bay and stayed on Cat Ba Island, then back to Ha Noi and up to Sa Pa. We had a brilliant guide in Sa Pa - Tan - he totally made the whole trip.

ok, need to be out exploring instead of in an internet cafe!

until next time :)

Tạm Biệt

holy sh*t

so slightly delayed announcement, but Reid and I are now engaged!!!

It was very romantic, after a very long day hot day in Ha Noi Reid popped the question and the rest is history!! We were eating dinner in a very western (but welcome) restaurant called Cyclo - straight from the Lonely Planet. We managed to almost get conned into a hotel we didn't want to stay at, dropped on the wrong side of town and then walked into the wrong part of the Old Quarter. PLUS couldn't find the Ha Noi train station even after nearly two hours of searching!

no other plans so far tho - still need to get the ring sorted!

:)

singapore

so it's been a while!!

Reid and I are off to Vietnam for THREE fabulous weeks!!!

Reid is attempting to blog his every moment, by the time we were on the plane ready for take off from Melbourne he had already created three posts! So I thought I might make an effort too!

so here we are in Singapore airport killing time before our connection to Hanoi . . . . . . I'm a little sleepy and riding on excitement!

Wilson's Prom

Over Easter Reid and I headed down to Wilson's Prom. The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, and we had a great relaxing time!!

We walked to the top of Mt Oberon for a great view (and saw an ant that was at least an inch long!!)

Hung out at the beach

Went on a bike ride

Checked out the local craft market . . . . . doh!

Watched the sunset

I wonder - if John Howard can deny the existence of climate change, then farmers probably could make a good argument not to stick to water restrictions???
On our bike ride we came across this lone sprinkler watering what appears to be a small circle of grass . . . . . clearly very important

do as i say . . . . or do

I'm not sure what the dude is trying to say in this (ever so credible) USA Today article.

"Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe"

His book is entitled "Do as I say (Not as I do)" - in this case do as I say is nit pick for the sake of publication . . . . . or is that what he does

no one likes a tattle tale!

if I was a celebrity

just because it is heavily celebrity endorsed doesn't make it a bad thing . . . . . if I was a celebrity I would get involved!

www.global-cool.com

A Tonne Of Cool is a clever cocktail of environmental goodness that invests in energy reduction projects, alternative energy projects, allows you to spare the world at least one tonne of CO2 and helps us to put on more shows (carbon neutral of course) and make more programmes to make a bigger noise to get more people to do their bit to save the planet.

Great Ocean Road II

Over Australia Day weekend Reid and I headed down the Great Ocean Road. Here are a few snap shots from the trip

Traffic was pretty heavy on the way down so we stopped a plenty of lookouts to stretch our legs

We also visited the Otway Fly. I have been there before with Mum and Dad but it was pouring with rain and that created quite a different atmosphere - this time the trees didn't seem to capture my attention quite the same



We completed one section of the Great Ocean Walk. I was prepared for an all day adventure - however we completed the return trip in a little over two and a half hours.

Here we are at the car park


The view at the start of the walk was pretty good (Great Ocean-y)

But most of the time it was just scrub


and very windy!


Here we are at the end of the walk


We visited the 12 Apostles and Thunder Cave - again the weather was very calm so not quite as exciting as the last trip

May 2006

January 2007

but spectacular nonetheless


and of course it's not a trip in Oz without creepy crawlies

We stayed at a pretty daggy motel in Port Campbell. It had a kettle and toaster - but no cutlery, so if we hadn't bought our own we'd have had trouble buttering our toast!! And the jug was too big to fit under the tap in the sink so we had to fill it up in the bath!! Funny!

It was a nice trip - great to get out and see more of Australia