The last week has raced by and has been a lot of fun. Needless to say I was excited about this tour beginning and heading out of Bangkok to southern Thailand. For this leg of the journey I'm with a new group of people and using my 'travel experience' I reassured my new friends that the overnight train we were boarding out of Bangkok was absolutely fine and there was no need to worry, I have now done 5 of these, and all bar one, were clean, tidy, comfortable and easy to sleep on. I ended up feeling a little silly, how wrong was I?! Worst nights sleep I have had since leaving Southampton.
Our overnight train took us to the beach town of Ao Nang. As we arrived at Ao Nang, there were many familiar sights.......Starbucks, MacDonalds, 7 Eleven, Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc etc.....not the cultural centre of Thailand, but after previous month of mainly rice and noodles in other parts of Asia, these were a welcome sight. I have taken full advantage of these 'facilities' and for the last week have lived on a diet of Starbucks and fast food. I'm not sure why I have found a sudden obsession with these, as I don't eat them a lot at home! Staying in Ao Nang for 3 days did feel like I was cheating a little from the 'traveling' thing and was on more of a holiday. But I did have fun, and did some things for the first time that I have never done before.....
1. Kyaking - This was great fun......for me and my room mate Suzie anyway, I not sure the other 15 people in our group got the tranquil morning through the mangrove river that they expected! This 'beginners' tour, was probably a little advanced for us, and having only know each other a couple of days, we probably hadn't quite figured out how to work together as a team yet! Once we got into the rhythm, we were ok at going in a straight line on the wide sections of the river, but once we went off into the mangrove and caves, this was well beyond our abilities, and lead to a number of crashes and lots of laughter in addition to slowing down the group. For the benefit of everyone else, I think it was best that we were this asked to split up and join the instructors kyaks. This then enabled us to take in the sights as we paddled through the mangrove and caves and I'm really pleased we did this, as you would not be able to see the beautiful scenery any other way.
2. Snorkeling - A four island tour allowed us to do some snorkeling, which was amazing, once I had gotten the hang of not trying to breath through my nose! The water was beautifully clear, warm and the sands were white. It really was just like paradise, we even visited the appropriately named 'Poda Island' which translates as Paradise Island. This was a great day, although we did all end up a little red being on the water the next day.....I probably had the luckiest escape, by just getting a little red rather than burnt, but the rest of my group are still shedding skin one week on as they got so burnt! Jodie - even my legs got a bit of color, that never happens!
After 3 days in Ao Nang, we head to the boarder to cross into Malaysia. Malaysia feels very different to Thailand, it is much more developed and Westernized and it is easy to see there is a lot more money in this country. The first stop here was Pennang, but I can't really tell you much about this as I was feeling a bit poorly so spent most of the time looking at the hotel walls. I did venture out in the evening though, which provide first number 3.......being asked to provide 'services' to a man, which was a little surprising seeing as I was stood in the 7 Eleven at the time, carrying several liters of water, sweating like a pig and eating an ice-cream!
Next stop on the itinerary was Cameron Highlands, this was a welcome relief from the heat in Malaysia, as it was a mere cool 25 degrees. This is quite a small area, which grows a lot of fruits and vegetables which cannot be grown in other parts of the country due to heat. In Cameron highlands we went up to the highest point in Malaysia, I'd love to say the views were stunning, I have no idea, it was cloudy, but we'll assume it was amazing. We also visited a butterfly/reptile centre and a strawberry farm. The locals in the Cameron Highlands are very proud of their strawberries, merchandise everywhere. Having spent 8 weeks one summer getting up at 5am to go strawberry picking, I wasn't quite as excited to walk through poly-tunnels looking at the strawberry plants. Also visited a tea plantation, were I learnt a lot about tea, which is good seeing I love to drink so much of it at home. This also provided 'firtt' number 4....I had a tea-chino.....like a capouchino, but made with tea.....surprisingly good. Deac's, I think you should recommend this for the SKP restaurant, I think you would love it!
I'm now back into the sticky heat of Malayisa in Kuala Lumpar, I only got here yesterday afternoon, but so far this city seems to have a good vibe. Unlike Bangkok it is easy to get around on the public transport, there are pavements to walk on, it is clean, and the signs actually make sense! I like it here, but I'm not sure we really have enough time to see everything here, so maybe it is a place to come back to in the future. Last night I went and saw the famous Petronas Towers, which looked great with all the lights on at night.
With just two more days in Malaysia, then a couple of days in Singapore (very excited about this), this time next week, I will be in Australia! I have my first three nights booked in Melbourne, but after that I'll see what happens/where I go. Whilst the tours have been great, as I wouldn't have been able to get myself around Asia on my own, I am looking forward to having a more flexibility, choosing myself when to stay longer /move on. I have enjoyed Thailand/Malaysia, but I'm pleased I have also visited Cambodia/Vietnam/Loas, as I don't think the places I have visited in Malaysia/Thailand have been particularly representative of South East Asia. It has felt like I have been on a bit of a holiday here in Thailand/Malaysia, but that might not be a bad thing before I embark in Australia, which will be the real test, as I'll be going it alone!
For those of you asking for photos, I hope to get some online soon, but am having trouble uploading to face book for some reason. Hopefully I'll get it sorted when I get to Austriallia.
Thanks for all your e-mails/messages, it is good to get them as it makes me feel closer to home.
Hope you are all ok, and miss you lots
Love Katrina x x x x
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
The milky bar kid and stamp collecting
Hi everyone!
Quite a lot has happened since I last posted. I've travelled through a whole other country (Loas) and am now back in Thailand (trying my hardest to) give Bangkok a second chance!
Having said I didn't anticipate on finding love in my previous blog, I think I have! (No Eamonn, not with a Vietnamese chap, they really just aren't tall enough), I'm in love with Loas! I knew nothing about this country before coming here (didn't even really kow where it was), but it has been the hi-light of the trip so far. The landscape is absolutely stunning, it has not been over commercialised by tourism (yet), it has a small population (just 6m in the whole country) and the people of Loas do not live their lives around tourism. If you want to visit Loas then you will be welcomed, but the people don't really speak much English just to accommodate us Westerner's. In all the other countries I have been to, everyone believes the only way to make money or get a good job is to speak English so that they can be involved in the tourism, and they are all giving attention to the Westerners to try and make money. In Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, local people always make a comment about how pale my skin is, they always say "white skin, white skin" as they stroke my arm! In Loas, not one person said this to me, they don't really mind whether we are there are not, they just continue to go about with their daily life. Just to go back to the white skin comment, in Asia, it is the opposite to Europe. Everyone wants to have pale skin as it is linked to the class system. If you have dark skin, you are poor because you have a manual job outside. So all the local people are always covered up head to toe to avoid catching any rays. Based on the the colour of my skin (I haven't changed colour since I left) , they must think I am up there with the Beckham's in terms of wealth! That is probably why local people always approach me in the group, if only they knew the truth!
Crossing the boarder into Loas was quite eventful. After the 9 hour drive to the Vietnam/Cambodia boarder, we reached the boarder at about 3.30pm, in plenty of time before it shut at 5pm, or so we thought. We all duly handover our passports and the usual $1 'fee' and the immigration officer starts stamping away.....until he gets to Ben's passport. It turns out when we entered Vietnam, the immigration officer failed to give Ben an 'entry' stamp, so effectively it appeared as an illegal entry. The officer ordered him to go back to the boarder we came in on to sort it out, it was 10 days of travel since we were last there! The rest of the group had all now been given 'exit' stamps from Vietnam, so could not re-enter and were in no mans land until we could enter Loas, Ben was stuck on the other side, with the tour leader in the middle trying to negotiated the situation, which he had never come across before. Despite only all knowing each other only a few weeks, we really came together to try and help each other, there was no way we would continue without Ben, so we all just sat on the steps in no mans land and waited. After some tense negations, calls to embassies etc (quite difficult as we speak no Vietnamese and English at the boarder was limited) Ben was given an exit stamp. By this time, the Loas border had closed, so we had to pay some additional 'overtime fees' to the officer to all get through. It was quite a stressful day, so we all certainly deserved our first 'Beer Loa' once we got to the first town across the border, where we ate a restaurant called 'the only one', it is as it is exactly called. As I said, the people of Loas don't make many additions for tourists, they live on about $1 a day, so do not go to restaurants, so there are not many available. Lesson learned, I will always check for an entry stamp when going through a boarder from now on. To Ben's credit, he handled the situation really well and played 'the game'. If it had been me, the thought of having to make my own way back across Vietnam, on my own, would have had me in crying hysterically I think!
The elephant riding, (and falling off!) was quite an experience. I was really looking forward to this, but felt a little sad after. Despite being told this was the best place to do it, in terms of animal welfare, I wasn't comfortable that one elephant had to carry around 4 adults on its back (including two "fat girls.....you not thin...."......yes, one of them was me) and plodding round the same route 3 times a day. I also get the feeling they may have been sedated also.....so to be honest, I don't really blaming the elephant for getting a bit agitated and throwing me off, I wouldn't want to carry around 40 stone in 35 degree heat.
Since entering Loas, our group size has reduced from 15 people to 8 which has been really nice. Travelling with 15 is just too many, it takes an age to do anything and make a decision. So in Loas we have bonded well as a group and had a few good nights out drinking the famous 'beer loa'. Our tour leader, who is Australian, lives in Loas and is married to a local lady so one evening we were lucky enough to go to his house and see how a real Laos family live. 8 people in a really small house, with not a lot of furniture, and the house also doubles up as tehir way of making income with the sister operating her hair dressing business and the brother operating his goldsmith business. This was great as it was not something many people have the opportunity to do. They were very hospitable, and shared their 'rice whisky' with us. This is drunk by the locals as it is very cheap, and is real potent stuff. It is fair to say there were several headaches in the group the following day.
So to sum up, I'd like to recommend Loas to all of you, but I'm not going to! If it starts to make its way on to the tourist track, it will totally loose its appeal.
So I'm now back in Bangkok, and the answer is no, I don't like it much more the second time round. I've just said goodbye to the group I have been travelling with and join a new group tonight so spend two weeks making our way down to Singapore. I'm now 1/4 of my way through the trip. Despite the first week or so going slow, the last couple have zoomed by.
Lots of love
Katrina x x x x x
Quite a lot has happened since I last posted. I've travelled through a whole other country (Loas) and am now back in Thailand (trying my hardest to) give Bangkok a second chance!
Having said I didn't anticipate on finding love in my previous blog, I think I have! (No Eamonn, not with a Vietnamese chap, they really just aren't tall enough), I'm in love with Loas! I knew nothing about this country before coming here (didn't even really kow where it was), but it has been the hi-light of the trip so far. The landscape is absolutely stunning, it has not been over commercialised by tourism (yet), it has a small population (just 6m in the whole country) and the people of Loas do not live their lives around tourism. If you want to visit Loas then you will be welcomed, but the people don't really speak much English just to accommodate us Westerner's. In all the other countries I have been to, everyone believes the only way to make money or get a good job is to speak English so that they can be involved in the tourism, and they are all giving attention to the Westerners to try and make money. In Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, local people always make a comment about how pale my skin is, they always say "white skin, white skin" as they stroke my arm! In Loas, not one person said this to me, they don't really mind whether we are there are not, they just continue to go about with their daily life. Just to go back to the white skin comment, in Asia, it is the opposite to Europe. Everyone wants to have pale skin as it is linked to the class system. If you have dark skin, you are poor because you have a manual job outside. So all the local people are always covered up head to toe to avoid catching any rays. Based on the the colour of my skin (I haven't changed colour since I left) , they must think I am up there with the Beckham's in terms of wealth! That is probably why local people always approach me in the group, if only they knew the truth!
Crossing the boarder into Loas was quite eventful. After the 9 hour drive to the Vietnam/Cambodia boarder, we reached the boarder at about 3.30pm, in plenty of time before it shut at 5pm, or so we thought. We all duly handover our passports and the usual $1 'fee' and the immigration officer starts stamping away.....until he gets to Ben's passport. It turns out when we entered Vietnam, the immigration officer failed to give Ben an 'entry' stamp, so effectively it appeared as an illegal entry. The officer ordered him to go back to the boarder we came in on to sort it out, it was 10 days of travel since we were last there! The rest of the group had all now been given 'exit' stamps from Vietnam, so could not re-enter and were in no mans land until we could enter Loas, Ben was stuck on the other side, with the tour leader in the middle trying to negotiated the situation, which he had never come across before. Despite only all knowing each other only a few weeks, we really came together to try and help each other, there was no way we would continue without Ben, so we all just sat on the steps in no mans land and waited. After some tense negations, calls to embassies etc (quite difficult as we speak no Vietnamese and English at the boarder was limited) Ben was given an exit stamp. By this time, the Loas border had closed, so we had to pay some additional 'overtime fees' to the officer to all get through. It was quite a stressful day, so we all certainly deserved our first 'Beer Loa' once we got to the first town across the border, where we ate a restaurant called 'the only one', it is as it is exactly called. As I said, the people of Loas don't make many additions for tourists, they live on about $1 a day, so do not go to restaurants, so there are not many available. Lesson learned, I will always check for an entry stamp when going through a boarder from now on. To Ben's credit, he handled the situation really well and played 'the game'. If it had been me, the thought of having to make my own way back across Vietnam, on my own, would have had me in crying hysterically I think!
The elephant riding, (and falling off!) was quite an experience. I was really looking forward to this, but felt a little sad after. Despite being told this was the best place to do it, in terms of animal welfare, I wasn't comfortable that one elephant had to carry around 4 adults on its back (including two "fat girls.....you not thin...."......yes, one of them was me) and plodding round the same route 3 times a day. I also get the feeling they may have been sedated also.....so to be honest, I don't really blaming the elephant for getting a bit agitated and throwing me off, I wouldn't want to carry around 40 stone in 35 degree heat.
Since entering Loas, our group size has reduced from 15 people to 8 which has been really nice. Travelling with 15 is just too many, it takes an age to do anything and make a decision. So in Loas we have bonded well as a group and had a few good nights out drinking the famous 'beer loa'. Our tour leader, who is Australian, lives in Loas and is married to a local lady so one evening we were lucky enough to go to his house and see how a real Laos family live. 8 people in a really small house, with not a lot of furniture, and the house also doubles up as tehir way of making income with the sister operating her hair dressing business and the brother operating his goldsmith business. This was great as it was not something many people have the opportunity to do. They were very hospitable, and shared their 'rice whisky' with us. This is drunk by the locals as it is very cheap, and is real potent stuff. It is fair to say there were several headaches in the group the following day.
So to sum up, I'd like to recommend Loas to all of you, but I'm not going to! If it starts to make its way on to the tourist track, it will totally loose its appeal.
So I'm now back in Bangkok, and the answer is no, I don't like it much more the second time round. I've just said goodbye to the group I have been travelling with and join a new group tonight so spend two weeks making our way down to Singapore. I'm now 1/4 of my way through the trip. Despite the first week or so going slow, the last couple have zoomed by.
Lots of love
Katrina x x x x x
Monday, February 7, 2011
Eat Pray Love......?
Hey blog fans!
I've just finished reading Eat Pray Love. For those of you that have read the book, or seen the film (I haven't seen the film so I'm not sure how it compares), you'll understand that I can closely relate to Liz Gilbert's story. Having said that, I think it is unlikely that my travels through South East Asia will lead to 'Pray' and 'Love' like Liz, but boy can I compare myself to the 'Eat' section of this story. Since significantly loosing my appetite in the first week, it is back with avengance now. For the last week I seem to be constantly eating, just sitting around on busses all day the pounds are piling on. The clothes are getting tighter instead of looser, so all those people that said 'you will loose weight when you are travelling' are wrong so far! I must commence a diet...tomorrow! It probably doesn't help that I have the opposite problem to everyone else in my group. While my fellow travellers are taking their daily dose of immodium before getting on the bus, I am munching into my bran flakes. I must be the only person to travel South East Asia dragging a box of bran flakes around with me all the way!!! I don't think it is a common problem here! Ha ha ha.
Anyway, back to more interesting things and some of the highlights of my time in Vietnam. My advice to anyone thinking about travelling to South East Asia, is don't come during Chinese New Year! Everything closes down so we have missed out on some things, and you have to pay an extra 20% for everything to cover additional 'staff costs and market prices'. It has been good to see the celebrations locally, but it is also very frustrating that things close for about 2 weeks. I guess that'll teach me for not doing enough research before I left!
On arrival in Nha Trang, we all went for a mud spa.....just to add to our general grubiness of travelling! This involved all 16 of us sitting in a mud pool for 20 minutes, and then getting into a bath of water at 40 degrees. Whilst this was a good experience, it isn't really my idea of fun to scold myself in baking hot water....I don't like baths at the best of times! Mum, I reckon this would have been about right for you given how hot your bath normally is! :o) Nha Trang is a coastal town so we also spent some time relaxing on the beach and even had a quick paddle, although the water was a bit chilly.
Departure from Nha Trang was another sleeper train, this was not as nice as the first one! When we got on the train there were locals lying in our beds trying thier luck to get a cabin so we had to throw them out and try and make some kind of clean-ish area to sleep on - Aunt Ange, the 'dreamie' was my saviour in this situation, thank you! On this 16 hour journey we had to share our cabin with cockraoches, lots of smoke from the other carriages and had to experience blocked toilets for several hours. All part of the expereince I guess.
The good news is this train takes us to the town of Hoi An, which is a pretty quaint town with french influence. In this town we counted down to see in 2011 for the second time this year! Chinese New Year is very different to new year celebrations in England. There was a firework display in the town, but this must be the queitest it has been since I have been in Vietnam. At 12, there is no cheering or drinking, everyone stands sliently in the street, motor bikes switched off, just looking up at the sky watching the fireworks. On the way home residents have tables of food outside to offer to the spirts and burn incense sticks (although I don't normally like the smell of these, it makes a nice change to the smell of fish guts you normally get as you walk through these towns!). All the local people were wishing us happy new year, I did my best to reply is Vietnamese, but judging by their reaction I don't think it was very accurate!
In the town of Hoi An, I also have my first bartering expereinces. Unless you are buying food from a supermarket or resturant, you have to barter for everything. You start at about 50-60% of what they are asking. My first purchase led to a saving of 10,000 dong (this is about 50 cent!), but my latest purchase I bartered down by about 50,000 dong ($2.50) so I am getting better at this! You just have to be prepared to walk away, and the seller will soon chase after you.
On leaving Hoi An, we continue north to Hue, the scenery in northern Vietnam is beatutiful, and exactly how I pictured it to be. The weather hasn't been great here (jeans and jumper most days!), so mist/fog does sometimes spoil the views but it is beautiful none the less.
At Hue, a few us decide to get a taxi to visit a toomb. We order the taxi at reception, and it all seems quite simple as we pull up to a building and the non english speaking taxi drivers signals for us to get out. A couple of us comment that this wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we diligently get out anyway. We wonder looking a bit lost and some children run out and beckon us in, we tentatively follow, and some other members of the group play with the children. I'm nervously hanging back thinking, this doesn't look like the pictures in the rough guide'....then a couple of nuns appear, and the taxi starts to pull off. As a group we have a sudden realisation that we might be victims of some kind of scam here, and I leg to get the taxi driver to come back. In very broken english we discover he has brought as to an orphanage on route, and they would like a donation! Pleading he doesn't speak english we manage to persude the taxi driver to take us where we supposed to go.
Next stop is Ha Long Bay. Thankfully the train for this 20 hour journey was back to the standard of the previous one! Ha Long Bay has been the highlight of Vietnam for me, it is absolutely beautiful, just like you see in the pictures. Whilst it is not quite as serene as the Top Gear episode suggests, with hundreds of other tourists there, you cannot help but be amazed by this natural beauty. Whilst the floating houses of the people that live there are a state of poverty, they probobaly wake up to the best views in the world every day.
That pretty much brings you up to date. I'm now in Hanoi, and tomorrow we depart for Loas, which I am really looking forward to. Whilst I have enjoyed Vietnam, I have been surprised by how developed and commercial it is and I'm looking forward to getting back to some less spoilt areas of South East Asia.
So far I have been travelling with a group of about 15 people. Tomrrow, about half the group leave and just 8 of us go in Loas. We get on well as a group, but majorotiy of people here are in their early 20's if not younger, so I have gone from feeling like quite a 'young' 29 year old at home to ancient here. I think they think I am a bit old and boring, but they don't really realise that I have 10 years on them and have done the drinking games, the painful hangovers, the lobster red sun burn, all many times before, and don't need to spend every night here discovering that again! So I'm looking forward to getting to Oz and NZ where hopfully I'll be able to be around other 'oldies' :o)
I hope everything is well with everyone. Love you all.
Keep me up to date on the gossip!
Katrina
x x x x
I've just finished reading Eat Pray Love. For those of you that have read the book, or seen the film (I haven't seen the film so I'm not sure how it compares), you'll understand that I can closely relate to Liz Gilbert's story. Having said that, I think it is unlikely that my travels through South East Asia will lead to 'Pray' and 'Love' like Liz, but boy can I compare myself to the 'Eat' section of this story. Since significantly loosing my appetite in the first week, it is back with avengance now. For the last week I seem to be constantly eating, just sitting around on busses all day the pounds are piling on. The clothes are getting tighter instead of looser, so all those people that said 'you will loose weight when you are travelling' are wrong so far! I must commence a diet...tomorrow! It probably doesn't help that I have the opposite problem to everyone else in my group. While my fellow travellers are taking their daily dose of immodium before getting on the bus, I am munching into my bran flakes. I must be the only person to travel South East Asia dragging a box of bran flakes around with me all the way!!! I don't think it is a common problem here! Ha ha ha.
Anyway, back to more interesting things and some of the highlights of my time in Vietnam. My advice to anyone thinking about travelling to South East Asia, is don't come during Chinese New Year! Everything closes down so we have missed out on some things, and you have to pay an extra 20% for everything to cover additional 'staff costs and market prices'. It has been good to see the celebrations locally, but it is also very frustrating that things close for about 2 weeks. I guess that'll teach me for not doing enough research before I left!
On arrival in Nha Trang, we all went for a mud spa.....just to add to our general grubiness of travelling! This involved all 16 of us sitting in a mud pool for 20 minutes, and then getting into a bath of water at 40 degrees. Whilst this was a good experience, it isn't really my idea of fun to scold myself in baking hot water....I don't like baths at the best of times! Mum, I reckon this would have been about right for you given how hot your bath normally is! :o) Nha Trang is a coastal town so we also spent some time relaxing on the beach and even had a quick paddle, although the water was a bit chilly.
Departure from Nha Trang was another sleeper train, this was not as nice as the first one! When we got on the train there were locals lying in our beds trying thier luck to get a cabin so we had to throw them out and try and make some kind of clean-ish area to sleep on - Aunt Ange, the 'dreamie' was my saviour in this situation, thank you! On this 16 hour journey we had to share our cabin with cockraoches, lots of smoke from the other carriages and had to experience blocked toilets for several hours. All part of the expereince I guess.
The good news is this train takes us to the town of Hoi An, which is a pretty quaint town with french influence. In this town we counted down to see in 2011 for the second time this year! Chinese New Year is very different to new year celebrations in England. There was a firework display in the town, but this must be the queitest it has been since I have been in Vietnam. At 12, there is no cheering or drinking, everyone stands sliently in the street, motor bikes switched off, just looking up at the sky watching the fireworks. On the way home residents have tables of food outside to offer to the spirts and burn incense sticks (although I don't normally like the smell of these, it makes a nice change to the smell of fish guts you normally get as you walk through these towns!). All the local people were wishing us happy new year, I did my best to reply is Vietnamese, but judging by their reaction I don't think it was very accurate!
In the town of Hoi An, I also have my first bartering expereinces. Unless you are buying food from a supermarket or resturant, you have to barter for everything. You start at about 50-60% of what they are asking. My first purchase led to a saving of 10,000 dong (this is about 50 cent!), but my latest purchase I bartered down by about 50,000 dong ($2.50) so I am getting better at this! You just have to be prepared to walk away, and the seller will soon chase after you.
On leaving Hoi An, we continue north to Hue, the scenery in northern Vietnam is beatutiful, and exactly how I pictured it to be. The weather hasn't been great here (jeans and jumper most days!), so mist/fog does sometimes spoil the views but it is beautiful none the less.
At Hue, a few us decide to get a taxi to visit a toomb. We order the taxi at reception, and it all seems quite simple as we pull up to a building and the non english speaking taxi drivers signals for us to get out. A couple of us comment that this wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we diligently get out anyway. We wonder looking a bit lost and some children run out and beckon us in, we tentatively follow, and some other members of the group play with the children. I'm nervously hanging back thinking, this doesn't look like the pictures in the rough guide'....then a couple of nuns appear, and the taxi starts to pull off. As a group we have a sudden realisation that we might be victims of some kind of scam here, and I leg to get the taxi driver to come back. In very broken english we discover he has brought as to an orphanage on route, and they would like a donation! Pleading he doesn't speak english we manage to persude the taxi driver to take us where we supposed to go.
Next stop is Ha Long Bay. Thankfully the train for this 20 hour journey was back to the standard of the previous one! Ha Long Bay has been the highlight of Vietnam for me, it is absolutely beautiful, just like you see in the pictures. Whilst it is not quite as serene as the Top Gear episode suggests, with hundreds of other tourists there, you cannot help but be amazed by this natural beauty. Whilst the floating houses of the people that live there are a state of poverty, they probobaly wake up to the best views in the world every day.
That pretty much brings you up to date. I'm now in Hanoi, and tomorrow we depart for Loas, which I am really looking forward to. Whilst I have enjoyed Vietnam, I have been surprised by how developed and commercial it is and I'm looking forward to getting back to some less spoilt areas of South East Asia.
So far I have been travelling with a group of about 15 people. Tomrrow, about half the group leave and just 8 of us go in Loas. We get on well as a group, but majorotiy of people here are in their early 20's if not younger, so I have gone from feeling like quite a 'young' 29 year old at home to ancient here. I think they think I am a bit old and boring, but they don't really realise that I have 10 years on them and have done the drinking games, the painful hangovers, the lobster red sun burn, all many times before, and don't need to spend every night here discovering that again! So I'm looking forward to getting to Oz and NZ where hopfully I'll be able to be around other 'oldies' :o)
I hope everything is well with everyone. Love you all.
Keep me up to date on the gossip!
Katrina
x x x x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)