Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sa Pa

Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa

Vietnam

We tentatively joined the back backers 'Rock Hard Rock Long' tour to Halong Bay. Fortunately our fears subsided when we noticed that the age gap wasn't as bad as we'd feared, although we did chop a few years off our age - pity Kerry and Sally kept forgetting what age we'd decided on!

We spent the first night on a junk ship and the other in "bungalows" on a Robinson Crusoe deserted island where our days were spent kayaking, wakeboarding, swimming and our nights playing drinking games and getting to know the rest of the gang. Our new favourite addition to drinking games is ""change clothes with the person on your left" - leading to some hilarious outfit changes, particularly Kerry, who was wearing only a dress and had to swop for a T shirt in front of everyone, whilst at the same time atempting to hide a bright green thong! We arrived back in Hanoi having made some great friends as well as a few more facebook friends and commended ourselves on taking the plunge with the 1985 + babies.

We then a few spent days in Hanoi waiting for overnight train to Sa Pa. We ended up having a huge night out with some of the Hanoi backpacker team at the Irish bar followed by a random techno-joint in the middle of suburbs with Vietnamese men dancing around with their shirts pulled up above their pot-bellies. We also managed to squeeze in a bit of culture and watched The Water Puppet Show, a uniquely Vietnamese art form where puppets literally dance on the water accompanied by a live traditional orchestra.

We spent 4 days in Sa Pa, a bustling market town nestled in the northern mountains of Vietnam, walking through rice paddies and ethnic minority villages of the Hmong and Dzo people. For once we weren't all vying for the sweaty beast bangle and Gayle was very excited to feel goosebumps for the first time in weeks!

Sadly this was shortlived. Hanoi welcomed us with outstretched 45 degree heat arms forcing us to set up camp in our favourite coffee shop. Against all sensible advice from those who'd made the border crossing to Laos before, the budget chose the 24 hour bus trip over flying. Apart from the 'charming' toilet stops and the locals sleeping in the aisle it wasn't quite as bad as we'd anticipated.

Hoi An

Beautiful Hoi An, quaint lantern lit streets, colonial buildings, Japanese covered bridge... the perfect place to be when you suddenly realise your visa is about to expire and an urgent extension is required.

We decided to enrol in Mrs Vy’s cooking school determined enhance our culinary skills. The class started with a walk around the market where we learnt about some of the weird and wonderful ingredients that contribute to unique Vietnamese cuisine. We learnt to make fresh spring rolls, crispy pancakes, marinated chicken on a scewer and green mango salad – Proudly still our best meal yet!

The South Africa vs. France game took place while we were in Hoi An. Prior to the game an unfortunate Englishman called Andy joined us for dinner and before he could even protest was smothered in South African tattoo’s, cheering for Bafana and downing jagerbombs for every goal scored. Following our big win we ended up taking the party bus to the beach and continued the celebration until the early hours. Gayle paid the biggest price the following day as her hangover confined her to the hotel room the entire day. Not even a papaya fruit shake could coax her out of the air-conditioned sanctuary.

Between all the fun and indulgence we managed a trip to the Cham Towers of My Son, a trip to the beach, a group pedicure and practically filled an entire backpack with tailor made impractical clothes and shoes.

Hue

Travel fatigue momentarily got the better of us and arriving in the heat of the day did no favours for our initial perception of the cultural capital of Vietnam. After camping out in the hotel room we woke up the next day full of motivation to give Hue is due.

We hired bicycles and spent the day exploring the impressive Citadel and the Imperial city as well as the Thien Mu Pagoda. Feeling inspired by these impressive sights we finally decided to sample the dreaded birds nest tea, supposedly good for the skin but not so appealing to the palate. We then boarded yet another night bus Hanoi bound.

Mui Nie & Nha Trang

Mui Ne, Vietnam
12 - 14 June

Three delighted girls boarded the luxury sleeper bus to Mui Ne, but Kerry and Gayles excitement was soon curbed as they couldn't fit in their sleeper seats while everyone else on the bus, including Sally, seemed blissfully comfortable. Specific arms length measurements revealed that they had been given the midget sleeper seats and luckily the situation was then quickly rectified!

Mui Nie is a more remote holiday beach area of Vietnam - this was definitely proved to us that night as we wandered around for ages looking for a 'vibe' but eventually had to settle on a small family run restaurant where 5 locals were watching the World Cup.

We hired motorbikes and quickly learned that ensuring the petrol guage remained above the red was pretty important. Pushing a motorbike to the petrol station at the top of a hill in a very humid 38 degrees is not all its cracked up to be.

Petrol situation rectified, we set off for the Cham Towers (according to tour guide Sal they are older than JC himself!) and to the local fishing villages where fish sauce is made. We watched the men paddling in their round reed boats, the women carrying heavy loads of small fish to the 'factory' where they were then steamed before being dried out in the sun.

Nha Trang

14 - 17 June

Nha Trang is a larger beach town in Vietam where we had our first real encounter with the GAP students backpacker vibe.

Again, we hired motorikes (filled to the brim with petrol) and jetted off to a remote beach favoured by the locals. As the only foreigners there we were definitely the centre of attention. We went searching for the giant buddha, said to be just outside the city, but after witnessing two consecutive accidents inches away from us decided looking from afar was good enough.

We also did two scuba dives. Due to lack of recent diving experience on Kerry's part and complete lack of diving card on Sally's part, our first dive entitled 'discovering scuba diving' was a bit of a refresher. The second dive, involving caves and some great sea life, was fantastic.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City

11 - 12 June

After the tranquility of the Mekong Delta, the hussle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City was a stark contrast with chaos in every corner!

We spent a humid and sweaty day walking to the various sights of HCMC including a painfully harrowing account of the Vietnam War at the War Museum with graphic pictures and models of events and torture devices used. The highlight of our "City Tour" however was the sighting of a frozen yoghurt shop where we ceased talking for a whole 5 minutes while gorging in air-conditioned bliss!

Ever the proud South Africans (Nam Phi in Vietnamese) we donned our yellow Bafana Bafana shirts, flag tattoos and other South African paraphanalia to watch the opening ceremony and the first game. Amazingly it was very difficult to find a crowd to watch with in this football mad country and in the process of our search an innocent barlady/man was accosted and spent the rest of the evening proudly sporting an SA flag tattoo on his face.

Under construction

We know we have been painfully slow at posting - we promise to provide some rivoting news in the near future....

Can Tho

Mekong Delta, Vietnam
10 June - 11 June

We used the walkie talkies to their full potential scouting for accommodation – the main criteria for the room was that it had to have satellite TV to watch what we thought was the opening ceremony of the Fifa World Cup. Sadly our 1.30am wake up was in vain - Vietnam was not interested in the concert build-up.

We headed off at 5.30am for our boat “cruise” of the Mekong Delta to check out the floating markets. Every fruit imaginable was being bought, sold, bartered . Between the 3 of us enough fruit was consumed to sink a battleship – including our new favourite Dragon fruit. Each boat advertises their produce by dangling a tempting sample from a rod at the front of the boat while smaller boats sold drinks and “fast food” . Our guide and boat driver who spoke little to no English bridged the language barrier by making us rings, bracelets and wind mills from palm leaves. We also cruised along smaller tributaries of the Mekong giving us an insight into everday local life.