Now for some Non-Adventure

The past two days have been pretty sedate/boring.  We did a lot of traveling and waiting around to travel.  The past 3 nights have not had us sleeping in a proper bed or with a nice hot shower.  One of the best things about arriving in Hue today was having a hot shower, granted the pressure sucked, and a comfy nap in the nice bed.  Tomorrow should be much more interesting with a motorcycle tour of the area around Hue.  We are also contemplating riding between Hue and Hoi An!

Oct 20 – Hanoi for the Day

We arrived back in Hanoi without incident around 5 or 6 am. We trekked to the Backpackers Hostel and borrowed their internet. We may have also borrowed breakfast too! We killed a few hours updating and eating. We left our bags with their luggage storage and set off for the military museum. Unfortunately it closes for lunch between 11:30 and 1:00 we decided we were not meant to see this museum. We wandered by where Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is, he's in Russia getting a face lift currently. We also checked out the One Pillar Pagoda which was quite pretty. We found some lunch and then wandered over to the lake. We had been told about this ice cream place called Fanny's near the lake and they make all their own ice cream. We split a sundae that had green tea, chocolate, and coconut ice cream as well as well as coconut, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It was delicious. Today was also Vietnamese Women's day and the owner of the restaurant was handing out roses to all the women. We headed back to the hostel to kill time before we had to catch our bus. Finally 5:30 rolled around and we headed to the bus. We had never been on a sleeper bus before and were not sure what to expect. It didn't really live up to any expectations. It was similar to a double decker Greyhound but your feet are underneath the bed/seat in front of you. It was not comfortable and there was no bathroom on board. I definitely prefer the train but this is much cheap so c'est la vie!

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

One Pillar Pagoda

Oct 21 – Hue

We arrived in Hue around 7am. I did not sleep well, I don't think anyone did! We were dropped off in front of the Hue Backpackers Hostel, same as where we stayed in Hanoi, but we wanted to look around a little since a double bed in a dorm was $9. There were all sorts of guys outside the bus trying to get you to go with them to see their hotel. We started talking to one pair and set off with them to check out their hotel which was $10 for a private room, it was only a block away. We arrived but they didn't have a room available yet for us to see, so they took us to another place which we had to wait while they cleaned the room before viewing. The room was okay but we thought we would keep looking. We checked two more places, the last one said rooms were $15, $18 and $25 but we could have one for $10 just not to tell anyone. The room was very nice, had the best beds too I think, although the water pressure left something to be desired. We got clean and had a nap. After napping we felt human again and we went looking for somewhere to eat. We found somewhere that was reasonable. Turns out many restaurants are coupled with tourist agencies. We talked to a guy that runs his own motorcycle tours and were very interested in a Hue tour as well as possibly a Hue to Hoi An ride. We walked down to the river front to discuss our options and budget. While there we were approached by a man selling scenic Vietnam paintings that he apparently did himself so we bought one since they seemed quite reasonable (turns out we could have paid a little less but 25 cents isn't a big deal). We walked to the market and picked up some fruit. We enjoyed some two for one beers at the Backpackers Hostel, just because we aren't staying there doesn't mean we can't take advantage of their deals. While there we ran into two guys we met in Beijing, sadly they were about to hop on a bus to Hanoi so we only talked with them briefly. We went back to see the motorcycle tour guy and booked for a Hue day trip tomorrow. We had a nice meal and headed back to the hotel for an early bed time.

The Market

Mmmm garlic

The Road to Sapa

We arrived in Sapa this morning after a relatively comfortable train ride.  We cruised around on a motorcycle here and have seen some of the beautiful scenery.  We booked a trekking tour and get to do a home stay in an off the beaten track area! We are pretty excited for tomorrow and had a wonderful but exhausting day today.

Oct 16 – Hanoi & Train to Lao Cai

Well I didn't sleep in as much as I had hoped too but still slept better/more than I had in a few days. I spent the morning updating my blog and got to Skype Mom and Dad. We took full advantage of the hostels internet even though we had checked out. We were able to leave our bags in storage at the hostel while we headed out for the day. We grabbed some lunch and then went to the Temple of Literature. It was pretty although fairly overrun with tourists. There was quite a lot of noise from the traffic around the temple so it wasn't all that peaceful. We were going to check out the Army Museum but it was closing in about 30min so we'll go after our Sapa trip. We picked up “hop on, hop off” bus tickets so when we return from Sapa we can go directly to Hue. We had the brilliant idea to go directly to the bus station to check prices but we couldn't find the bus station. We settled for buying our tickets from the hostel. We bought a 6 stop ticket for about $50. By this time we were fairly foot sore so we were lazy and ate at the hostel. Luckily it was still 2-4-1 beer time. We lounged around a bit till it was time to go to the train station. We didn't feel like walking so we hired a motorcycle taxi. It was pretty cool. My bag was in front of the drive, I was between him and Beau with the little pack and Beau was on the back with his bag on. It was kind of thrilling weaving through the traffic. We had middle bunks on the train but the baggage storage was right at the foot of the top bunks. We were a little leery of that so we kept our bags on the bunks. The train wasn't as nice as the Chinese trains but we had more head room than we did on the top bunks.

Bell in Temple of Literature

Drum in Temple of Literature

Oct 17 – Sapa

Beau and I were under the assumption that our train arrived in Lao Cai around 6:15 so when the train stopped at that time we thought it was time to go. We had grabbed our stuff but the train started moving!! We raced to the door but it turns out we still had another 2hrs before we reached Lao Cai. I guess we could have had another 2hrs of sleep. I actually slept well on this train, maybe it was the rocking motion. We for real arrived in Lao Cai and were bombarded by guys trying to get us on their minibuses to Sapa. Of course the prices were outrageous. They wanted 100,000d per person, the books said it should be about 25,000d. We ended up paying 40,000d so $2. The road was very twisty, turny and steep. It was around an hour to Sapa. We arrived, looked at a couple of hotels and checked into one. We asked around at a few places about trekking and homestays. One looked particularly interesting, it followed a different route that not many tourist took. We would be meeting up with a guy already on the trek but it would cost $40 each, the easier tourist ones were only $25. We decided to think on it for the day. We rented a motorcycle to cruise around the area and check out some places. It was only $7 with gas. Sapa has some beautiful scenery. The mountains reminded me a little of home. It was pretty foggy though. We started by trying to find the village of Ta Phin but somehow missed the turn and were confused about where to go so we headed back to Sapa. We got better directions but instead set off to find Thac Bac, the Silver Waterfall, near the top of Tram Thom Pass. The water fall was very beautiful and impressive. The biking was a lot of fun. Fortunately the roads aren't too busy so we didn't have to do too much dodging. From there we headed back towards Sapa and on to Ta Phin. We found the village this time and were flagged down by some women from the H'Mong tribe. They took us to the one woman's house. It was pretty sad. Very much a shanty home, more like a barn. Her one son also had deformed hands and feet. They then tried to sell us purses and wall hangings. We bought a purse mostly because we felt sorry for the conditions they live in. We continued on for a little ways and then decided to head back to Sapa. Back at our hotel we ran into Beau's kayaking buddy for Halong Bay (not a surprise since we shared a mini bus with him to Sapa). We talked to him about the home stay which he was very interested in. We went to book the trek and with Mike with us it was only $32 per person. I'm sure it'll be well worth the extra $7!

Rice terraces around Sapa

Thac Bac, The Silver Waterfall

In front of Thac Bac

Hanoi

(This was supposed to be posted 3 days ago but the internet was being dumb, I'll post about Halong Bay tomorrow)

This is our second day in Hanoi and I think we are starting to figure out how to get around.  The city is quite a mash of streets.  Tomorrow we take a 2 night trip Halong Bay so we'll be out of touch for a couple of days but it's sure to be quite the party!!

Oct 11 - Hanoi

We were going to wake up for the walking tour at 9ambut the alarm went off and I said there is no way I'm getting up right now. So we slept till about 11am. Once we got up we walked down the road to a little restaurant. I had fried noodles with beef and Beau had rice with crab. It was quite good. We followed the map we had from the hostel and took a walking tour around the Old Quarter. It was quite interesting. There were streets devoted to different things like shoes, metal, wood, it was crazy. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake. After walking around for most of the day we ran into a guy, Yan. we met this morning who is also our dorm mate. He had befriended two South African girls. Beau played some Foosball with Yan, we had some beers, it's 2 for 1 beer between 5 and 6 at our hostel. We headed out to find some dinner with our new friends. Dinner wasn't as good as lunch was but it was still okay. Yan and the girls were going to the Water Puppet show around 9pm so we tagged along to see about getting tickets for tomorrow night. There were still tickets available for the late show so we went. It was interesting... it was about farming I think. The music was incredible, there was a unique instrument, the Dan Bau, which only had one string. It makes a unique sound. We did enjoy the experience though. We went to bed pretty early since it had been a long day with the train from China this morning.

The Dan Bau

A water puppet

Oct 12 –  Old Quarter Walking Tour

This morning we got up in plenty of time to catch the Old Quarter walking tour. It covered a lot of the same areas that we had yesterday but we had a guide so the commentary really helped. Hanoi used to consist of 36 streets each was devoted to a specific item. The tour was great. We saw some temples/places of worship and how typical houses in Vietnam are deep and skinny. We were also shown some good places to eat. There is a DIY street which has metal products and wood products. We had lunch at a fish noodle soup places which was quite good. After that we hunted up a place for Beau to get his hair cut. It is very hot and humid in Hanoi. Beau got a very good hair cut for $5, so he is much happier now. We went to the temple at the center of the lake. It is devoted to the tortoise of the lake. The legend has it that a fisherman recieved a sword from the lake, he used the sword to defeat the invading Chinese. He then became king and the tortoise reclaimed the sword for the lake. The lake was then renamed “Ho Hoan Kiem” which translates to “Lake of the Sword Restored.” There is still one giant tortoise left alive in the lake today. Again we meandered through the streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter. We made it back to the hostel for cheap beer and started to organize ourselves for our Halong Bay tour. We met our new dorm mates and spent some time swapping travel stories. We actually have some now! We got dinner at a nice restaurant down the road from our hostel and them picked up some cheaper beers to drink back at the hostel.

The metal street, these are burners that the Vietnamese use to burn fake money for their ancestors.

Mmmmm fish soup

Beau's new hair cut!

Vietnam!

We made it to Vietnam this morning, which means I can access my blog again! We had an amazing time in China and are looking forward to our next adventure in Vietnam.  So far my big downer of the last week is that my feet and ankles are covered in bug bites! They are driving me nuts :( Here's what happened on our trip from China to Vietnam.

Oct 10 - Nanning, China to Hanoi, Vietnam

We boarded a train this morning from Guilin to Nanning.  It was about a 5hr train ride.  Pretty uneventful.  We arrived in Nanning and looked into buying our train tickets to Hanoi.  Before buying our tickets we had to find a bank as we were about $20 short for the train.  we tried a couple of bank machines but they weren't "Plus" machines so our cards didn't work.  We had a bit of a walk with our bags and the sweltering heat but we found a bank and were able to buy our tickets.  We had to kill about 4 hrs in the train station which sucked but it passed fairly quickly.  The train left at about 6:45pm and was scheduled to arrive in Hanoi at 4:45am.  We didn't get much sleep since we had to go through Chinese customs around 11pm and then Vietnamese customs around 12am.  So we had about 4 hrs of sleep.  We arrived in Hanoi and a Chinese guy Beau had been talking to tried to help us get a cab.  Of course since it was crazy early they were charging a fortune.  They wanted to charge us 200,000VND ($10) to go about 4kms.  We got them down to 80K and had them drop us off at a random hostel we picked.  Which turned out to be closed for the night, some Vietnamese guy tried to get us to go with him to a hotel but as we were walking we found another hostel that was in the guide book so we opted for that one.  We had to wait about an hour to be allowed to check in but once we did the rooms were neat and clean so we went to bed for a bit.