Lack of routine, lack of blog! - Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong, China
I know I start most my blogs in this way, but it is true, once again the time has flown by. I have spent the last 4 weeks travelling around Thailand (well 2 cities in the north at least), Laos and Vietnam with Liz.
We started our trip off in Bangkok and here we spent a few days celebrating my birthday and recovering from the events, shopping, eating at really good food stalls and doing a marginal bit of sight seeing. We were spoilt in Bangkok by a very nice hotel which was a birthday treat for me and gave us stunning views from 35 floors up and everything else we needed. Whilst in Bangkok I also managed to see Simon (from work) which was really nice and good to catch up with him. In Bangkok I found I really enjoyed the food and the shopping however felt that getting around was quite hectic and often felt we had to watch out for scams, especially the tuk tuk drivers. From Bangkok it was onto Chiang Mai, unfortunately or maybe fortunately the night train we wanted to catch was fully booked so we flew down to here. This turned out to be one of many internal/short domestic flights we took in our four weeks. Chiang Mai was different to what I expected, a bit more built up and modern. Here we visited some museums which gave us more of an understanding about the city. Our Lonely Planet guide books informed us of a massage we could get in a womens' prison, so of course we investigated this. The building the spa was in all appeared quite normal and upon entering was like any other spa, however the buildings next door showed more signs of prison life; canteens, high walls, barbed wire etc. The massage was very reasonably priced and well done, I wish I could have asked my masseuse more about her life and if she was a prisoner or not, however this did not seem appropriate. In Chiang Mai I was also fortunate enough to meet up with Krystal, a friend I made whilst volunteering in Cambodia. Naturally we went to a temple, this time one up in the hills. It felt more gimmicky then a lot of the ones I had previously been to, you could not move without fear of knocking over a donation box and they even had gnome like ornaments of monks, unfortunately these were too big to fit in my rucksack. Whilst most people fit in a visit to the elephants whilst in Chiang Mai I felt like I had already had a few elephant experiences in the past, so passed this opportunity up and discovered the aquarium instead.
Our next hurdle was getting from Chiang Mai to Lao we signed up and paid for an organised bus/boat combination for 2 days and1 night, however before we had even left Chiang Mai we were informed we would actually be on a 3 days 2 night journey and have to pay for the 2nd night ourselves. As we only had 4 weeks to touch 3 countries, we decided our best option was just to get the sleeper bus option over, even though it would have been nice to travel some of the way by boat. After close to 24 hours worth of buses we arrived in Luang Prabang. A very charming town which is on the river, easy to walk around and filled with lots of relaxed cafe's and bars. Whilst here we visited some waterfalls, where unlike Heather, I did not break a finger but also did not jump off the ledge and we visited some caves housing some buddhas. On the way to the caves our boat kept letting water in which was enough to cause some excitement, at this point little did we know that our boat would stop powering all together. The boat hit something in the water which caused the engine to cut us and forced us to drift to the side. Our driver luckily had a good sense of humour and grasp of english, we were all a bit skeptical when he got us to climb out and left us on a riverbank whilst he went to get help but within ten minutes he was back again and we were good to go. As we re-boarded the boat, our driver chose to stay in the water and hold the boat steady whilst we all scrambled back on. Unfortunately, the boat drifted away and as he stretched out from the branch he was clinging to, he slipped and fell in the water. The way he fell was very comical and ended up in him getting completely soaked, there was nothing we could do but laugh!
After, all these events, the caves themselves were so so. The boat trip made it more exciting for me. In Luang Prabang, there were lots of monastries and it is not uncommon to see monks walking the street. Their alms procession has become quite notorious, so we got up at 5 am the day we were leaving to watch this, I can't quite explain how I felt watching it but it didn't feel right to have planned to watch it and to take photos, even though that's what we did. Also whilst in Cambodia, I had seen similar processions before unplanned and this felt less intrusive. Next stop was Vang Vieng, the town was so quiet. Most people like us only stop here to go tubing but we did not expect it to be as quiet as it was, especially as lots of the people we met in Laos were either on their way or on their way back from here. Tubing itself has become a lot safer and more regulated in the last year or so, gone are the zip wires and ropes and numerous lines of bars. Instead there are just 3 bars along the river now and you simply float down. Still an awesome time though, every bar you go into offers you a free shot or 2 along with a free bracelet and they have some form of volleyball or table tennis. Next stop was the capital, a chance to see some more museums and be in a busy city. Our last night in Laos was spent bowling and playing bingo with locals which was such fun. The locals in both places were enjoying us being there, in the bowling alley they took their pictures with us and in the bingo they came and sat with us and assisted us and gave us lots of free games. I'm really glad we went to Laos, it is a beautiful country with some of the most stunning background I've seen and on a whole the people are really nice. We also had a good mix of activities in Laos and each place was different and special in its own way.
Now, that this has turned more into a diary and leaves me with nothing to tell you when I get back I will try and keep Vietnam brief. I had been to Vietnam before in 2008 with Anna, Elli and Shams and this time was also sticking to a similar route North to South. We flew into Hanoi, which was as busy as I remember, though the first day was a public holiday, so exceptionally busy. The roads are still absolutely chaotic with no lanes, indicating or stopping. We did a trip to Halong Bay and this has got a lot more popular since last time, still as stunning though but now more boats obstructing the view. Once again, failed attempts at squid fishing. Next stop was Hoi An via Danang airport, the drive from Danang to Hoi An is all coastly and currently being heavily constructed with every sign advertising a new resort popping up, in another 5 year times I can imagine it being akin to resorts anywhere in the world. I remember Hoi An being the town of tailors, which it still is but I do not remember it being backdropped by lantern after lantern. It was really quite stunning and magical. Here we got around during the days by bicycle and this was a nice way of exploring the city. We made a visit to the beach which was gorgeous, Liz got pretty burnt and I am currently peeling from our one day visit. We spent one day visiting a lot of the museums and sights and also cycled through a nice local riverside village where we found children riding buffalos. Our last day in Hoi An was spent at "waterwheel", which is a farming/cooking/rice paper making tour, sounds gimmicky but was very well done, felt very authentic and is run by the loveliest family I have met so far. More about that in person and pictures. Hoi An to Nha Trang was on a night bus, with actual sleeper bunk beds, still not the comfiest but it did the job. We arrived to Nha Trang around 6 am and the beach was already filled with people swimming in the water and some doing exercises on the sand. We had read in our guide books about mud baths here and although we envisaged them to be natural lagoons, upon further investigation we found out this was not the case but we still went anyway and spent the afternoon relaxing in mud baths, mineral baths and swimming pools. We also fit in a day dream on a "party boat" which had a mixture of snorkelling, karaoke and drinking, all good fun. It wasn't until our final half day in Nha Trang we actually managed to make it to the beach a five minute walk away. Our final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), which was even more built up then I remember and had a lot more traffic. Wherever you looked you would see a brand name you recognised whether it be KFC, Pizza Hut, Addidas or Jimmy Choo. Here we mainly took in the historic sites, a couple of museums and the Cu Chi Tunnels, most of these I had done last time but it was good to refresh my notoriously bad memory.
So, that's the last four weeks wrapped up. It was really nice having a travel companion with me, even though I have not really been alone anywhere on my trip so far a friendly face is always welcome. Now I am visiting Anna in Hong Kong and my first impressions have been good ones. I am also now done with S.E.Asia and developing Asia as a whole, after Hong Kong I am off to Singapore and then onto Australasia. I have had a fantastic time in Asia and made so many memories and friends that cannot be forgotten but I am looking forward to what is yet to come.