Wrapping up Vietnam

So Lorna has left me. She's boarded her flight to Bangkok and in two days time will be back in Ireland with her family. What an incredibley fast two months that has been and it makes me just a teeny, tiny bit homesick. After two months living out of my bag it would be amazing to go back home, wrap up beside the fire and harass my dad into making the tea. But then, on the flip side, my trip is changing. After a nice week rounding off Vietnam, I'm now sitting in a great little hostel in Phnom Penh. I'll be starting volunteering in the school in 6 days time so it's nice to have a couple days to get used to the feel of the city. 

Since I last wrote we made our way down from Hoi An to party town Nah Trang. Overnight bus. I'll be honest, that was our last overnight bus and I'm very glad for it. The other trips were fine but on this occasion I was awake the whole way watching the driver on the wrong side of the road, overtaking whatever he could and in the most dangerous way he could. We only had one day in Nah Trang but we were efficient and booked a days snorkeling out near the islands. The area has been named as one of the most beautiful areas in the world by unesco and it was incredible to be able to snorkel around the coral reefs watching the tropical fish go about their business. All the same though, I saw loads of rubbish and scuba divers touching the coral. Not so cool. The rest of the day was spent out on the beach with an overwhelming amount of Russian tourists and getting a pedicure in what could only be described as a brothel. 

The following day we took a bus down to Mui Ne. Now, I had high hopes for Mui Ne as a beach destination but I was disappointed. There was no beach as far as I could see. I think the string of hotels and 'resorts' the length of the beach have destroyed the natural lay of the land. The waves come right up to the hotel walls leaving little distinction between high and low tide. Anyway, we spent a day by a hotel pool soaking up the sun which took the sharp edge off the disappointment. Not much else to report apart from a fair evening ripping up the dance floor in true Daddy Kenny style. 

And then we reached Ho Chi Minh. I wasn't looking forward to it since I found Hanoi so extremely busy and completely overwhelming. Lorna was joking she'd have to put me through Ho Chi Minh training; run around me screaming while throwing stuff at me, getting me to dodge or 'die'. I almost considered it. But I loved the city. It is fantastic and much greener and cleaner than I expected. We took a tour out to the Mekong Delta, learning all about the farming activities out there. Our second day, we booked a tour out to the Cu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong waged guerrilla warfare on American soldiers with 200km secret tunnels. It was an incredible, a huge insight into how the local people survived and fought tooth and nail. We also saw the most biased, propaganda video ever. Later in the day we went to the war remnants museum which is a must see. But again, very biased, unbalanced and conveniently leaving out a lot about the Vietnamese own actions and north vs south. But then saying that, I'm no expert. 

And that's that for Vietnam. Ready now to dive into my Cambodian adventure! 

Storm chasing in Hoi An

Times were tough in Hoi An. We'd already been faced with the tail end of a typhoon two days before in Hue but this time we were up against the real thing in Hoi An; SUPER TYPHOON Haiyan. And yes, it was exactly as scary as it sounds. It was recorded as being the worlds most intense storm at its peak, absolutely battering the Philippines.  

We were told by everyone and their mother to stock up on food, make sure we were in a good, sturdy building and cancel all travel plans for Saturday and Sunday. I had wanted to create a detailed diary of the typhoon hitting, record everything as we heard it and finally become the journalist I've always wanted to be. Joke. 

I  got off to a good start as you can see from the list below. 

- Thursday 7th Nov, first rumors of super typhoon hitting Vietnam. Ignored rumors. 

- Friday 8th Nov, guest-house confirms rumors.

- Friday 8th Nov, 18.00, rte reports storm, family bombards us with with messages. 

- Saturday 9th Nov, 8.00am, tour guide tells us it's worst storm ever and not to be late back to the bus or we will all die. Or something to that affect. 

- Saturday 9th Nov, 14.00, some rain. Bought food. Start sit-in in room. Local people sandbag houses and nail shutters closed. 

- Saturday 9th Nov, 18.00, no rain. We go for a walk.

Surprisingly, I started to run out of exciting content fairly quickly. After a few rounds of pool we settled ourselves in for the long haul watching Terminator 3, The Amazing Spider Man and Snow-white and the Huntsman, all three torture in themselves. We fell soundly asleep with our torches in our hands and a full fridge of food in our room. Expecting to be woken up by catastrophic winds around 4am, we cracked an eyelid the next day at 11am with not so much as a breeze in the air. The storm had not only downgraded in strength but it had stayed out to sea. Not the most exciting journalistic coverage of a typhoon but the relief was epic. 

There is a little bit of a perverse disappointment floating around tourists that the storm didn't hit. Granted, we - the tourists - would have been perfectly fine in our sturdy hotel buildings. Actually, our hotel, the owners brought their extended family to stay in the rooms to wait it out which I took for a good sign. But over a hundred thousand people were evacuated from their corrugated iron-roofed, bamboo homes along the coast of Vietnam alone. They would have lost everything and the coverage of the storm in the Philippines is horrific. All I know is that the hum of local people back to work the next day was especially sweet.  

And then the rest of our days in Hoi An were only mildly influenced by the talk of the Typhoon. We mostly lounged around the old town exploring the lovely streets, art galleries and souvenir stalls and the big food market. We got to spend a day out on Cua Dai beach. We got stupidly sun burned all over after Lorna instigated a sandcastle building contest. I'm not joking now when I say this, I might not have won the competition but the muscle pain I had in my gluteus the next day after digging an award winning sandcastle foundation was un-be-liev-able. A 1,000 squat session has nothing on building a sandcastle.

We also managed an excursion out to the Myson Holyland site. This is a site built by the same people as Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Really worth taking a look if you are in the area. Not least has it ancient temples and statues but it's full of altars to the Hindu god of fertility and/or destruction. See picture below. Our tour guide took no shame in telling us that his wife is a very, very happy lady on the days he gives that altar a hug. And he hugs it everyday.

Hazy in Hue

We were in a strange mood when we got to Hue. We'd just spent 13 hours mangled in a sleeping bus 'bed' all the way from Hanoi so we were both delighted and exhausted when we finally got there. The day started off reasonably well. Trying to avoid all the accommodation touters at the bus stop, we veered into a little bakery. Turns out it's a training bakery where they educate disadvantaged youngsters in the food industry. I think we are developing a highly accurate radar for these kinds of places now.

After dropping off our bags we headed into the citadel. We were casually followed by a cyclo driver shouting at us 'you from Roy Keane, you take Cyclo!' We legged it away but within 5 minutes we were kicking ourselves for not hiring him as the old centre turned out to be a lot bigger than expected.

We didn't dwell too long on it though, we just gave in and went for a drink. I think we had/have some travel weariness going on. Turned out to be good timing though as the rain started bucketing down. We waited for it to stop (about two beers each worth) and then set off to find the sights.

And then everything changed. We discovered the imperial citadel which, in reality, isn't difficult but in the mood we were in we were ready to just go camp in a cafe for the day. We were made speechless though. It's an old palace grounds that was used by the Nguyen dynasty during their 150+ year reign. It's massive but terribly damaged after the war with the US in the 60's. Such a shame it all hasn't been restored just yet but it's still an amazing place to see.

At this point the only thing I have to complain about is the constant feeling of being screwed over. And much more so here in Vietnam than any of the other countries we've been to. And while I'm at it, not even in a way I can't afford. We keep paying prices that we feel are reasonable and cheap but turns out later on we've been bamboozled. For instance, earlier in the day we were conned into paying 20,000Dong (in fairness it's less than a euro) for a 15,000Dong pizza, price written on the wall. Their justification was that they put a tiny piece of sausage on top that we didn't even ask for. Then, our ticket into the imperial citadel was 105,000Dong (just under 5 Eur) but turns out it's really only 55,000Dong. The ticket seller obviously pocketing a nice little profit for herself from the two of us. We are ever so slowly learning to ask more and more questions upfront....

Our evening was spent watching the rain teem down in a family-run Vietnamese restaurant, Lac Thanh. The owner, MR. Lac is both deaf and mute and you can see him and his family communicate in their busy restaurant in their own special way. The food is amazing and the family are extremely friendly. Of course, they are trying to sell you tours on the side but at least they are nice about it.

The last thing I want to mention then is the fact we somehow caught the tail-end of a typhoon here in Hue. The weather has been rough with extreme amounts of rain and wind. We headed out to a bar but the streets were flooding really quickly. We literally had to wade back up the street in shin-deep water without thinking too much about the rats and cockroaches scrambling for their lives along the sides of buildings. I also did a good job of not thinking about leeches. We rounded off the night watching the worst rom-com ever on a fuzzy screen munching on M&M's.

The next day we took it easy. The rain eased off and we set up camp in our new favourite cafe, the French Bakery, for the day. We missed out on a lot of sightseeing in the area but the weather was being really tempermental. Lorna booked her flight out of Asia in two weeks time (sad face) and I just started researching ideas for my 'creative Friday' sessions for when I arrive at the SCOOP/SCAO school in Cambodia. Have to say I'm feeling just a but overwhelmed at becoming a teacher overnight...hmmmm....

Right at this moment we are sitting in our hotel room in Hoi An, stocked up on food for the next day or so. Reason being that the worlds strongest storm on record is about to reach us after battering the Phillipines. Wish us luck! 

To pack or not to pack....?

I am now 8 weeks into my Asian adventure. I'm here in my guesthouse lobby on an old Samsung computer waiting for my iPad to be restored with only a quick 88 minutes to go! I know, I know, first world problems...

Anyway, since I am trying to distract myself from my iPad crisis I thought I'd write a note about how I would pack for 6 months in Asia knowing what I know now. Let's be honest, I wasn't very clever about it.

First of all, things to take with you: 

• A good torch. You will use it far more often than you might think. 
• An OCEAN proof bag. Because even though the vaccination nurse told you to stay out of the water, we both know you are going to live in it, whether you want to or not.
• A waterproof camera. You might have your ocean proof bag but you are going to want to use a camera while kayaking, sailing, tubing, swimming, waterfall chasing....etc, etc, etc. And/or take a Go-Pro. 
• A decent rain coat. Doesn't have to be big or expensive, just enough to keep your body and head dry and last a couple months. I am sick of buying crappy 'ponchos' and I will not buy a fake North Face raincoat, I just won't. 
• Good walking shoes. Trust me, even though you might only do a couple days trekking over a few months it will be worth it to have a good pair of hiking boots - or for the love of God - a good pair of trainers to avoid having mangled, blistered feet for days on end afterwards. 
• Excessive amounts of underwear as your 'wash days' will depend on what supplies you have left.
• Imodium and more imodium. And just when you think you might have possibly have too much imodium in your bag, pack some more.
• Moisturiser. I can only find whitening cream and I do not need that. 
• A deck of cards. You will come across more situations during this period where drinking games or just plain entertainment will be needed. 

Things to forget about:

• Any sort of high heels or any sort of clothing that could be identified as 'Going Out Clothes'. Ask anyone from the UK or Ireland if you don't get me. 
• Nope, you don't need three different sweaters/jeans/tracksuits, etc. Just the one of each will do.
• Hair dryers and hair straightners. Embrace the wavy. Trust me, you'll put in the effort maybe twice. I haven't even plugged mine in in two months. I don't even know if it still works. 
• Jewellery options. Unless you are reliably trendy I just wouldn't bother. And definitly not anything of value.
• Excessive amounts of clothes in general. You aren't going to the moon and there will be many, many bits and pieces you will want to buy but won't if your bag is too full. 
• Anyone who isn't enthusiastic. I haven't had this problem but I've seen it a few times the last few weeks - one person constantly trying to talk the other one into stuff. Cut them loose! They'll either sink or swim but they'll survive and you'll get to do the things you actually want to do. 
• A backpack bigger than 55 Litres. Don't even give yourself the opportunity to pack more than you need. Think strategically! 

And that's all I can think of for now although I have to admit I sound like I've been doing this for a while. Nice.

I just looked at my iPad restoration progree, good to see I've only 83 minutes left on the clock. I think I might go up and purge my backpack now. Then I'll have to think of something to do for the remaining 80 minutes. 

Sapa

We caught the sleeping bus from Hanoi to Sapa, an eleven hour journey overnight. I've never been on a sleeping bus before in my life. Imagine three rows of 'beds' lengthways down the bus with a row on top and a row on the bottom. We were herded like prized cattle into the rows and there we stayed for just over eleven hours. It was actually fine. I slept reasonably well waking up now and then with a jolt of the bus. My only complaint was the lack of leg space and not for my own legs. You see, the guy behind me had nowhere to stick his feet and plonked them at either side of my ears. They did not smell good. Ah well, the smell faded after an hour and I dozed off to sleep. 

In short, Sapa is unbelievable. Not just the scenery but the town itself is so familiar and European in feeling we could easily imagine we were in some sort of Swiss Ski resort - apart from no snow. Compared to Hanoi it is a dream come true. Our first adventure was to hire a scooter and driver to take us to the silver waterfall through a fantastic valley. The waterfall was incredible. It looked almost as if the water was coming from nowhere. The whole way round the waterfall we were followed by a whiskey vapored Vietnamese tourist. When we got back down to the bottom he asked for a picture together and casually slipped a hand on our behinds. We shouted at him and then we laughed. 

Our second and third days in Sapa, we spent with a local tribeswoman called Lis. She had approached us on the street the day before and invited us to trek to her house and stay the night in her village. Normally I would refuse such offers for fear I'd never be seen again. On this occasion however, Lis seemed like a bit of craic so we couldn't really pass it up. We met her the next morning at the local Christian church (I took a picture for my gran) and started out on our trek to Lis' house. And what a trek it was. It ended up being about 4 1/2 hours, about 12km in total (25km counting day one and two). Which isn't so much apart from the fact a clear path was absent about 70% of the time. We went up ditches, across rivers, climbed rocks, jumped stones and navigated our way through slippery rice paddies. We did it with our runners and backpacks but Lis and her two companions managed it in little flip flops, full traditional outfits and heavy bamboo baskets strapped to their shoulders, no bother. Me and Lorna on the other hand were struggling just a tiny, tiny bit and our feet came back mangled in blisters. Nice. Our consolation being that the view is unbelievable. I will never see anything quite so stunning again I am sure. 

But let me talk a bit about Lis. Lis is a black H'mong tribeswoman. I say black because these people wear black pants as part of the traditional costume. She is 26 and married with two children. She can speak her tribes language, Vietnamese, English and French, learned from interacting with tourists. Lis is nothing short of amazing. She literally hasn't a moment to herself. She goes to town everyday to try sell her handmade items. If she can, she takes tourists like ourselves on a trek to her house to make a bit extra. She makes all her family's clothes herself, weaving, sewing, dyeing. She and her children feed all their farm animals, they grow crops and she cooks dinner for the whole family every night. She said her children will continue school until they are 19. Then they find a job for themselves or if they want to be a teacher or doctor or whatever she will find a way for them to do that. That won't be easy as it seems pricey for education in Vietnam. Lis seems happy and it appears her family are doing quite well for themselves andI hope that will continue as they are really beautiful people. 

Oh, and she has a social life! The next morning we got up and found her holding her head after too much rice wine at a neighbors little shin dig. So, we aren't so different after all!

After our trek, we managed to negotiate a free shower in a hostel and we are now sitting back on our respective sleeping bus ready for another nights driving. The only thing about taking the bus back from Sapa in the evening is the fair chance that a lot of other Trekkers didn't have the opportunity to negotiate a free shower somewhere. Welcome to stinking sock central. 

Oh and P.S. Myself and Lorna only had one blanket to ourselves when we slept in Lis'. Which ended up with me trying to cuddle Lorna in my sleep. Awkward. I think I must be missing himself....

Hanoi and Halong bay

So much has happened in the last few days I'm not going to be able to fit it all in, just not possible. We got to Vietnam after a fairly uneventful flight (I'm not complaining) and were introduced to Hanoi by taking the shuttle mini-bus into town with about 5 people too many squeezed in together. Maybe it was a mistake coming from lazy and chilled Laos into Vietnam - we were just a teeny bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of traffic and its organized mess of a system. I'll be honest, Hanoi isn't for me. Don't let me taint your perception though, it's a beautiful, bustling city with a distinctive rhythm all of its own. I just can't dance to it.

We found a fellow Irishman working in a travel agency. It is the 5th best travel agency in all of Hanoi. I know this because I was reminded several times. Anyway, he did us a decent deal on a 3 day trip on the 'Party Cruise' around Halong Bay and sold us two tickets on a sleeping bus to Sapa, which I wrote about already. Our hostel manager, Tony, wasnt very happy with us for booking with someone else and decided he didn't want to be nice to us after that. Lucky we didn't book with him as we met two Canadians later in the week that did and they were screwed over, promised the party boat but stuck on a family cruise with hundreds on non-English speaking families. 

Our few days at Halong Bay were filled with kayaking, visiting floating villages, jumping from rocks (not me!), swimming and exploring caves. The second night of the tour we stayed on our own private beach, only 8 of us tourists together. Brian, our tour guide, let us know he had 'scheduled some fun' for us at 9 and since we were all seeing hundreds of our friends dressed up for Halloween at home we said we'd have our own little costume party. We literally scoured our backpacks for any costume we could potentially put together. And the result wasn't too bad! We had a geek, a gypsy, a cat, zorro, a Hawaiian lady, an Arabian lady, a Mexican man and a Buddhist monk. Brian's 'scheduled fun' ended up being a beauty/talent contest which suited us down to the ground. We all had to run the cat walk, show off a talent and answer a question. Brian just didn't expect us all to do it in character. The evening ended up with a few too many vodkas, myself screaming down the karaoke mic and a swim watching the plankton light up around us. 

The next day was a bit of a struggle but when you've got 2,000 beautiful limestone karst islands to look at it it makes things just a little bit easier. 

So this is the truth

I think it's safe to say I haven't been completely truthful with how much the travel bug has been eating away at me. I've got the notice handed in to work, the flights booked and the vaccination appointment made. Eeeek! It's becoming real.

So what's my plan? My plan is to leave Amsterdam on the 1st September, spend two weeks in Ireland and then jet off to South East Asia for a couple of months. It'll be the usual route of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. However, in Cambodia I'll be staying two months to volunteer in a school there. More info to come on that.

After volunteering I have two months to fill with whatever takes my fancy.

This is going to be epic.