The beach where we slept (in huts)
beach shenanigans
Thursday 25 February 2010
Hanoi in photos
Hanoi's lake by night
Water puppetry
A dark moment for animal rights
The snake that went for toby's armpit
Friendly snakes
bye bye vietnam
So it's our last day vietnam, and everyone's a bit sad to bid it goodbye. the last week has been ace, a culmination of heavy drinking, meeting new people and seeing some spectacular places. i'll start with snake village.
well. what a crazy night. we went with a group of fifteen odd to this strange little place in a backstreet of outer hanoi famed for its imaginative use of the many snakes kept there. first we got to hold some - well, we basically got thrown a few snakes and had to deal with them, mine kept trying to sneak up my armpit which isn't a pleasant experience. luckily they were just small, non-poisonous critters, but the cobras the guys got out next and let roam around the floor definitely were. the vietnamese do not do health and safety. next we all sat down at our table and they brought over a big bag of snakes. now, snake village is primarily famous for the fact that a couple of people out of each group can cut the heart out of a live snake, put it into a shot with rice wine and put it away. both me and mulac had talked at length at how we planned to do it, but when push came to shove we both pussied out, something i'm quite proud of now because both the guys who actually cut the heart out looked pretty traumatized, and even when you're dealing with an animal like a snake, i'm not sure i could actually pull its freaking heart out.
after that we were all brought over a shot of snake's blood and snake bile, both mixed with rice wine of course, a drink which we've all fallen out of love with pretty hard ever since that night. both drinks were pretty nasty, particularly the bile - mulacs had chunks in! - and it was kind of a relief to go back to just knocking back rice wine, which i never thought i'd say. we had as much of the stuff as we wanted, and we must have put back at least 20 shots each while we ate various snake dishes. some were good - ground up snake ribcage - some were not - fried snake's skin. we were all pretty gone by the time we got back at 10, let alone when we got back to the hostel at 2.
a couple of good nights later we went to ha long bay on what i can only describe as a booze cruise. the weather was misty unfortunately, but as we kayaked and caved ourselves around one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, i coulnd't help wondering whether i've seen anything like the place before. the only comparison i've got is the set of a james bond film or the new king kong, but it is definitely, definitely worth a visit to see for yourself. we slept on the boat the first night - ring of fire, jumping off the top deck, all that good stuff - and on the second night camped on 'castaway island', a tiny piece of land owned by the company we went on.
we all had a go at tubing, played some volleyball, listened to the maayan nidam's excellent podcast. good times. we got back to hanoi a couple of days and spent yesterday sleeping and watching the sopranos, and today went to see 'ho chi minhs body' in the mausoleum, which lets be honest was definitely a wax model. now we're waiting for a 24 hour bus to vientiane in southern laos, where we'll stay a night before pushing north to vang vien - very excited about that.
so, it's goodbye vietnam and hello laos. hope everyone's well, speak soon.
ps can i use this opportunity to point out the clear resemblance of samir nasri to liza minelli
well. what a crazy night. we went with a group of fifteen odd to this strange little place in a backstreet of outer hanoi famed for its imaginative use of the many snakes kept there. first we got to hold some - well, we basically got thrown a few snakes and had to deal with them, mine kept trying to sneak up my armpit which isn't a pleasant experience. luckily they were just small, non-poisonous critters, but the cobras the guys got out next and let roam around the floor definitely were. the vietnamese do not do health and safety. next we all sat down at our table and they brought over a big bag of snakes. now, snake village is primarily famous for the fact that a couple of people out of each group can cut the heart out of a live snake, put it into a shot with rice wine and put it away. both me and mulac had talked at length at how we planned to do it, but when push came to shove we both pussied out, something i'm quite proud of now because both the guys who actually cut the heart out looked pretty traumatized, and even when you're dealing with an animal like a snake, i'm not sure i could actually pull its freaking heart out.
after that we were all brought over a shot of snake's blood and snake bile, both mixed with rice wine of course, a drink which we've all fallen out of love with pretty hard ever since that night. both drinks were pretty nasty, particularly the bile - mulacs had chunks in! - and it was kind of a relief to go back to just knocking back rice wine, which i never thought i'd say. we had as much of the stuff as we wanted, and we must have put back at least 20 shots each while we ate various snake dishes. some were good - ground up snake ribcage - some were not - fried snake's skin. we were all pretty gone by the time we got back at 10, let alone when we got back to the hostel at 2.
a couple of good nights later we went to ha long bay on what i can only describe as a booze cruise. the weather was misty unfortunately, but as we kayaked and caved ourselves around one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, i coulnd't help wondering whether i've seen anything like the place before. the only comparison i've got is the set of a james bond film or the new king kong, but it is definitely, definitely worth a visit to see for yourself. we slept on the boat the first night - ring of fire, jumping off the top deck, all that good stuff - and on the second night camped on 'castaway island', a tiny piece of land owned by the company we went on.
we all had a go at tubing, played some volleyball, listened to the maayan nidam's excellent podcast. good times. we got back to hanoi a couple of days and spent yesterday sleeping and watching the sopranos, and today went to see 'ho chi minhs body' in the mausoleum, which lets be honest was definitely a wax model. now we're waiting for a 24 hour bus to vientiane in southern laos, where we'll stay a night before pushing north to vang vien - very excited about that.
so, it's goodbye vietnam and hello laos. hope everyone's well, speak soon.
ps can i use this opportunity to point out the clear resemblance of samir nasri to liza minelli
Thursday 18 February 2010
Photos - Saigon to Dalat
Silkworms 
Dalat Bhudda
Elephant Falls
Saigon by night
Toby eating pho
A bounty hunter?
Happy New Year!
Happy tet everybody from Vietnam!
A lot has happened since our last post, so lets start from the beginning.
We arrived in Saigon a week last Sunday. mulac got through customs fine but because I now had two visas (one right one wrong) the vietnamese seemed to think some dodgy business was going on and stuck me in a little waiting room with the other visa-troubled people. honestly, I was bricking myself because a guy was going round to everyone going "how many dollars have you got? 50? yeah that's how much a visa costs to get into this country!" he actually charged a guy who said a he had thousand bucks 600 dollars for a visa! what a joke! luckily I finally found someone who spoke a little english and good french, and managed to explain myself using a bit of both. that kind of scamming was a good introduction to vietnam - everyone here, particularly in the two big cities, will do anything for some western cash.
we got to our hotel, which was more of a toilet cubicle with beds, dumped our bags, and went for some dinner at pho24 - great pho, cheers Ed. for those that don't know, its basically a noodle soup with meat - pho bo is the best - and you get loads of spices on a side plate that you can add. being a bit of a dick i obviously always add in too much chilli and start crying in the restaurant, but its a great dish all the same.
food here is, in general, seriously tasty. the only exception we found is on our first night in saigon when, pissed and on the way back from go2 bar we bought these suspect big white dumplings that had some kind of meat in them... and eyeballs. not nice.
on our second day in saigon we went to see the american war remnants museum - harrowing - got a blind massage - painful and awkward - and booked our bus ticket to dalat.
the mountain town of dalat ace, not so much for the town, which is nothing special, but on the second day we got a motorbike tour around the countryside, saw some pagodas, waterfalls, all that stuff, it was great. we also drunk some proper vietnamese coffee which blows the milky shite in england out the water - our guide actually reckoned vietnam was second only to brazil in terms of coffee quality, not sure about that but it was great all the same. we also tried some local rice wine, mulac hated it but i loved it, it's like the warmth and strength of whiskey but with a nicer taste. i've bought a bottle and i'm saving it for back home, maybe louche or something.
from there we got another bus to nha trang, vietnams premier beach resort which we thought was pretty average apart from a bar on the beach called the sailing club which we had a great night at sitting round a fire and meeting some kiwis. not much else to say about nha trang really, it was hot, but then it was hot everywhere in the south, and it felt like you could have been anywhere in the world, which was at first a relief but quickly became boring.
from there we got a 12 hour night bus to hoi an -pretty painful but we met some good people from france and germany, and we when we got to hoi an the next morning ended up sharing a room with all of them. we also met our two mates in hoi nan we'd been practically chasing up the country, and all of us together had a pretty special two days. hoi an is incredible, an old market town with a beautiful river that runs down the middle of it, full of creaking old buildings and, a short bikes ride out the town, a quieter, prettier beach than in nha trang. we spent our time drinking beers on the beach, playing football, eating good food at the street restaurants, and on the first night, celebrated tet (vietnamese lunar new year) with the locals. we should have some photos up to demonstrate soon, but basically, it involved setting off hundreds of candles down the river and some decent fireworks. a top night, top town, real shame to leave.
particularly as our next stop was hue, which was, by all accounts, rubbish. we went to the forbidden city; couldn't be bothered to see the tombs. it rained non-stop, there was no-one there, rubbish. the hotel we stayed in was ok.
after that it was a matter of a 15 hour bus to hanoi, we managed to get to get a sleeper bus to hanoi. now, i was pretty excited about these buses with beds on them, having visions of night buses in harry potter. i couldn't have been more wrong. i'm basically half a foot too tall for everything in vietnam and since we were the last hotel the bus went to to pick up up,. we were left with the shortest beds on the bus - hellish! i ended up sitting on the stairs all night, counting down the hours.
nevermind. we're in hanoi now, last night we went to see traditional water puppet theatre which was a scotsman summed up well, was gloriously crap. today we're going to book our tour to halong bay that i'm very excited about (even though its cold and wet in the north) and this evening we're going to snake village, which i'm going to take my video camera too - trust me it's going to make for a funny video, although mum you probably shouldn't watch it.
that's about it, sorry it took so long to post, keep in touch everybody x
A lot has happened since our last post, so lets start from the beginning.
We arrived in Saigon a week last Sunday. mulac got through customs fine but because I now had two visas (one right one wrong) the vietnamese seemed to think some dodgy business was going on and stuck me in a little waiting room with the other visa-troubled people. honestly, I was bricking myself because a guy was going round to everyone going "how many dollars have you got? 50? yeah that's how much a visa costs to get into this country!" he actually charged a guy who said a he had thousand bucks 600 dollars for a visa! what a joke! luckily I finally found someone who spoke a little english and good french, and managed to explain myself using a bit of both. that kind of scamming was a good introduction to vietnam - everyone here, particularly in the two big cities, will do anything for some western cash.
we got to our hotel, which was more of a toilet cubicle with beds, dumped our bags, and went for some dinner at pho24 - great pho, cheers Ed. for those that don't know, its basically a noodle soup with meat - pho bo is the best - and you get loads of spices on a side plate that you can add. being a bit of a dick i obviously always add in too much chilli and start crying in the restaurant, but its a great dish all the same.
food here is, in general, seriously tasty. the only exception we found is on our first night in saigon when, pissed and on the way back from go2 bar we bought these suspect big white dumplings that had some kind of meat in them... and eyeballs. not nice.
on our second day in saigon we went to see the american war remnants museum - harrowing - got a blind massage - painful and awkward - and booked our bus ticket to dalat.
the mountain town of dalat ace, not so much for the town, which is nothing special, but on the second day we got a motorbike tour around the countryside, saw some pagodas, waterfalls, all that stuff, it was great. we also drunk some proper vietnamese coffee which blows the milky shite in england out the water - our guide actually reckoned vietnam was second only to brazil in terms of coffee quality, not sure about that but it was great all the same. we also tried some local rice wine, mulac hated it but i loved it, it's like the warmth and strength of whiskey but with a nicer taste. i've bought a bottle and i'm saving it for back home, maybe louche or something.
from there we got another bus to nha trang, vietnams premier beach resort which we thought was pretty average apart from a bar on the beach called the sailing club which we had a great night at sitting round a fire and meeting some kiwis. not much else to say about nha trang really, it was hot, but then it was hot everywhere in the south, and it felt like you could have been anywhere in the world, which was at first a relief but quickly became boring.
from there we got a 12 hour night bus to hoi an -pretty painful but we met some good people from france and germany, and we when we got to hoi an the next morning ended up sharing a room with all of them. we also met our two mates in hoi nan we'd been practically chasing up the country, and all of us together had a pretty special two days. hoi an is incredible, an old market town with a beautiful river that runs down the middle of it, full of creaking old buildings and, a short bikes ride out the town, a quieter, prettier beach than in nha trang. we spent our time drinking beers on the beach, playing football, eating good food at the street restaurants, and on the first night, celebrated tet (vietnamese lunar new year) with the locals. we should have some photos up to demonstrate soon, but basically, it involved setting off hundreds of candles down the river and some decent fireworks. a top night, top town, real shame to leave.
particularly as our next stop was hue, which was, by all accounts, rubbish. we went to the forbidden city; couldn't be bothered to see the tombs. it rained non-stop, there was no-one there, rubbish. the hotel we stayed in was ok.
after that it was a matter of a 15 hour bus to hanoi, we managed to get to get a sleeper bus to hanoi. now, i was pretty excited about these buses with beds on them, having visions of night buses in harry potter. i couldn't have been more wrong. i'm basically half a foot too tall for everything in vietnam and since we were the last hotel the bus went to to pick up up,. we were left with the shortest beds on the bus - hellish! i ended up sitting on the stairs all night, counting down the hours.
nevermind. we're in hanoi now, last night we went to see traditional water puppet theatre which was a scotsman summed up well, was gloriously crap. today we're going to book our tour to halong bay that i'm very excited about (even though its cold and wet in the north) and this evening we're going to snake village, which i'm going to take my video camera too - trust me it's going to make for a funny video, although mum you probably shouldn't watch it.
that's about it, sorry it took so long to post, keep in touch everybody x
Friday 5 February 2010
Fallen at the first post... tee hee
Yeah it's a horrible pun, I know. Anyways, welcome to our blog, which will hopefully be a source of regular updates over the coming four months or so about our journey around Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and finally India.
So the magical trip through south east asia has been delayed and we are, for the moment, stuck in foggy hong kong. We turned up to the airport yesterday, only to be told we couldn't fly out because my friggin vietnamese visa said "Date of issue - 4/3/10" not 4/2/10. Laame. After a mad few hours of frenzied waiting and rushing around we were finally told that the vietnamese immigration in ho chi minh weren't going to let us in, and we traipsed back to the city.
So we've rescheduled to fly out on Sunday, I sorted out my visa this morning in HK in a cheap and painless 10 minutes - which frankly took the piss out of the three expensive, hellish mornings I had in London last month trying to do the same - and it gave us a chance to trek around HK a bit more, catch the star ferry across to the kowloon side of the city, and generally plan.
I'm gonna give my shiny new camera a go now and see if i can't upload a video onto this baby, but otherwise, hopefully the next time one of us posts we'll be getting ripped off by taxi drivers in sunny saigon, not hidden in the smog of hong kong.
see thee later
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