Halong Bay

I've not been feeling too good today... what ever the temperature was outside last night, it was the same in our room thanks to the gaps in our balcony doors. At about 5:30am, I woke up only half under the duvet. I could feel the cold in my bones! Bring on the sun of Phuket.

We got up early this morning to get ready for our day trip to Halong Bay. The bus picked us up at about 8:15am, and after touring around the other hotels in the area to collect more tourists we were on our way. We arrived at about 12:30pm to Halong Harbourwhich was full of traditional looking 'Junk' boats.  The scenery in Halong Bay was similar to Tam Coc with the giant limestone mountains jutting vertically out of the sea, but even more magnificent, with it's 2000 islands.

Coming to the end of Vietnam

We haven't done very much today because Izzy has had a really bad migraine. I would say it has been quite nice to stay indoors away from the cold for a day, but our hotel room has a balcony with doors that have some lovely big gaps to let the cold air in and no heating. Our room is on the fifth floor, and I'm pretty certain that it's colder in our room than outside! Anyway, we feel we've seen most of Hanoi and are pretty keen to get away from the icy weather!

Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Halong Bay as it would be a shame to have come this far in Vietnam and not see it, and then on Thursday we will be leaving early to fly back to Thailand. Phuket, to be precise. The even better news is that the temperature is meant to be 36c on Friday!

Another day in Hanoi

Me and Izzy were thinking of going to Halong Bay for a few days but we've been struggling to find somewhere to stay that we like the look of. There are so many tours to Halong Bay from Hanoi, ranging from one day to one week, so now the plan is to stay in Hanoi and take a one day trip. It might have been nice to find somewhere to stay if the weather was really warm, then we could take advantage of being on the coast and going snorkeling etc. We were going to book something this evening for a day tour tomorrow, but we got distracted! We found out there is a big shopping mall with a cinema nearby, so we walked down there this afternoon to find it.

We ended up having some food and going to the cinema. By the time we got out it was too late as the tour operators had closed. We'll have to book something tomorrow now, for the following day. We went to see Tron in 3D which was great! The standard of 3D is so much better than anything I've seen in the UK. The glasses we were given were made by Dolby, and had to be returned, otherwise you are fined 800,000 Dong (bear in mind going out for dinner with a couple of courses and drinks for two comes to 200,000 Dong if it's quite a nice place). There was a trailer for Transformers 3 too, I'm pretty damn excited about seeing that!

BRR it's cold in Hanoi

Because it's so cold at the moment in Hanoi, we decided to do as much sight seeing as possible. That way we can hurry up and get back to some sun, which is feeling very far away. First of all we walked to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. It isn't always open to the public, and today was no exception. There are always armed guards surrounding the grounds, which has a white line painted on the floor with signs saying 'No Enrty' spaced 15 or so metres apart. It's obvious that this place is of great importance to the government because of how clean and up kept it is. It's a shame we couldn't get in, because apparently the building contains Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body.

Arrived In Hanoi

Today we checked out of our hotel in Ninh Binh, and got a coach headed for Hanoi. It was only 45,000 Dong (£1.50) for the 2 hour journey, but the bus was quite a small and uncomfortable. I didn't really mind about how crap the bus was, until we arrived at the bus station. There was a flock of men surrounding us shouting 'Taxi!', it was like a crowd at a gig or something. If we had taken a bigger bus with other tourists we wouldn't have been such targets, but because everyone on our bus was Vietnamese, when we got off the taxi drivers homed in on us. They started grabbing us and pulling us in all different directions, so eventually we gave in and got a taxi to our hotel.

Arrived in Ninh Binh

Last night we took the sleeper coach from Hue to Ninh Binh. I thought we had scored when we got on the coach... there were some seats spare across the back row, meaning I could put the bag by the window to give me more sleeping space. Once we got going I realised why no one was sat there, it was like trying to sleep on a trampoline with people jumping on it. The suspension at the back of the bus was so springy, everytime we hit a big bump I would get thrown into the air. There was one point, at about midnight where the driver hit a bit of tarmac joining the road to a bridge, that was like a ramp. We were chucked about 6 inches into the air!

We got into Ninh Binh at about 5:00am and flagged a taxi down. There were three parked up on the road, but the drivers were sleeping. I knocked on one window but he didn't wake up, we didn't have to wait long for one to drive past. We got to the hotel, which was all locked up with the lights off. The taxi was 47,000 dong (nearly £2), I gave him a 50,000 note which he was clearly quite chuffed about so he started ringing the bell on the hotel for us. Shortly after, a very tired looking Vietnamese woman came to the door, let us in, and took us to our room.

Last day in Hue

Today is our last day in Hue, we've checked out of our hotel and booked a sleeper coach for tonight headed for Ninh Binh. It's about another 12/13 hours north of here near Hanoi (the largest city in northern Vietnam). It's a bit of a shame the weather has been so rubbish in Hue, and the fact that any tourism sights are out of town. If they were within walking distance, we would brave the weather and check them out, but the best and cheapest way to see them is a half or full day tour on the back of a motorbike. Based on the fact that the people here drive like they have a death wish and the traffic is crazy busy, neither me or Isabella really want to go on the back of a motorbike, especially not in the pouring rain. Besides, we've seen plenty of temples, bridges and what not to last us a life time, so to miss out one city's worth it's not a major problem. Although there was one place I quite wanted to see, which was a museum containing the car that belonged to the monk who set himself on fire in 1963. He did in protest against Ngô Đình Diệm was the president of South Vietnam in the 60's and persecuted Buddhists. The photo of him on fire was famously used on the cover of Rage Against The Machine's album.

We found a really nice cafe last night called Mardarin's which is owned by a Vietnamese photographer, Mr Cu. All the walls in the cafe are covered with large prints of the photos he has taken around Vietnam. He is clearly quite successful too, as he had a few thousand pounds worth of Canon 5D Mk II kicking around, and when we went there again this morning for breakfast (usual pancake for Izzy, omelette for me!) he was unpackaging his new iPad. You can see his photos on his website here.

Rainy Hue

We've really enjoyed Vietnam so far meaning Hue had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately is hasn't been that great. The trouble is the last couple of days the weather has been pretty miserable with rain all day everyday, and all the main tourist attractions (other than the Imperial City) are miles out of town. The easiest way to see these is to take a motorbike tour, but with the torrential rain we've been having we didn't really want to get on the back of a motorbike for the 6 hour tour of the sights.

Every market we've visited on our trip has been different to the last, so today we visited Hue's Dong Ba Market. It had rained all day today, which I think was part of the reason it was so damn smelly. Part of the market was an indoor meat market, we walked through but I couldn't even bring my camera to my face because it smelt so bad, I just had to make straight for the exit.

Arrived in Hue

Yesterday lunch time me and Izzy took a coach for the three and a half hour trip north to Hue. It was the first bus we have taken during day time since we began our trip and it was great to see the countryside that we normally miss in the darkness of the night.

Happy New Year from Hoi An

Happy New Year everyone! We had a really nice new years eve with everyone from the hotel. Traditionally, no one celebrates new years eve in Asia, they celebrate the new lunar year in February. Because of this, most hotels have a party for their western guests. We had some traditional Vientamese foods, including spring rolls, noodles and soup washed down with some Tiger beer. We were sat opposite a nice couple, Ines and Nikolai who are from Germany and Canada and spent most of the evening chatting with them.

Today we went and collected our clothes as they were now finished, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my suit as I took it straight to the Post Office to send back to England. I'm really pleased with it! Izzy's clothes look great too. We also used the rest of our visitor tickets and went to a local history and culture museum, an old family home and a temple, and a walk back through the market.

Sights of Hoi An

Today Me and Izzy did some sight seeing in Hoi An, checking out the culture and arcitechture. It's a surprisingly small town, but has plenty of hitsory that hasn't been destroyed by the tourist industry. For 90,000 Dong, you can buy five tickets to see some of the 18 sights around the town, all of which are within walking distance from each other. There are a few markets dotted around selling typical tourist tat and fabrics for the tailors, but a couple of them are focused on local trade and sell every type of fruit, veg and fish under the sun. Some interesting smells to say the least!

Arrived in Hoi An

Last night we took the sleeper coach to Hoi An, a quick 12 hour drive north. I still find these coach trips funny... the seats on this one were pretty much beds. Well, they were seats, but they were permanently reclined. Your feet would tuck into a little compartment under the backrest of the passenger in front. God knows whose feet they were designed for because I have size 9's and they were too big for the gap, even with my shoes off. At about 9pm we were on a coastal road which was a cliff edge, with a tiny little barrier between us and a 100ft drop. The roads were very windy and busy with slow moving lorries carrying stone and timber, our driver clearly had a screw loose and was regularly overtaking around blind bends. Needless to say, this in combination with an uncomfortable seat didn't make for a very good nights sleep. I ended up playing solitare on my ipod to take my mind of what was happening.

We phoned our hotel when we arrived in Hoi An, and they told us to take a taxi and that the cost would be covered by them, which was a nice surprise! The hotel is really nice and clean, and feels quite traditional with all the decoration they have dotted around the building, it also has a great view of a temple out front. On arrival we were greeted with cinnamon tea, bananas and hand towels to freshen up after our coach journey.

Last Night in Nha Trang

We were going to go to Hoi An tonight on the sleeper coach, but my shirts needed some adjustment so we thought we would stay an extra night in case they were not finished. I have collected them now and both the shirts and the suit look great! I asked what material the suit is made from, and it is a wool/cashmere blend, with pure silk inner lining.

Thap Ba Ponagar, Nha Trang

Tomorrow we are planning on getting a sleeper coach north to Hoi An, so we thought we should stop lazing on the beach and see the rest of Nha Trang that we hadn't yet explored. We went for another top breakfast, both me and Izzy had banana pancakes and a Lipton tea with condensed milk (which makes it really sweet). They serve tea in a tumbler! Time to get the fisheye lens out, it's been a while.

Happy Christmas from Nha Trang

Happy Christmas 2010! What a nice Christmas we've had so far... last night was really nice, we went out for dinner at Da Fernando's Italian Restaurant. Fernando, the guy that owns it, is an Italian. It's not the cheapest place in Nha Trang to eat, but it is so tasty. I had some bruschetta to start with carbonara for main, not forgetting the Saigon Beer, while Izzy had gnocchi for main and a Coke. Then we took a walk down to the beach, where masses of locals were all sat in groups having BBQ's. It was like a huge beach party.

Christmas Eve, Nha Trang Beach

Christmas Eve in Nha Trang

I can't believe it's Christmas eve already, time has flown by. There are a few seasonal signs here and there and several adverts on the western channels on TV but otherwise it really doesn't feel like Christmas here. We've had some great weather now, and I've been in the sea pretty much every day for the last few days. Starting to look a bit brown now and not like a typical british tourist on the beach by blinding people with the whiteness of my skin.

Local kids playing football on the beach

Another Beach Day in Nha Trang

Nha Trang doesn't have a massive amount going on, but we like it, so we're staying until after Christmas. Another beach day today for us it is! The weather is still a bit overcast but the sun does break through occasionally. I have been loving the sea, while Izzy has been engrossed in her books. I did try and get some more photos today of the waves but still not quite getting the hang of it, although this one made the waves look huge...

Nha Trang

Nha Trang Beach

The weather started off a lot nicer this morning... blazing sunshine! So we got up, showered and went to our favourite cafe in Nha Trang for some breakfast where I had a ham and pepper omelette and Izzy had a french stick with jam. I'm addicted to the juice in this country because every restaurant/cafe make it in a blender with the fruit, no crap out of a carton.

After breakfast we went down to the beach to soak up the rays, and I decided to take a dip in the sea because I haven't been in it yet this whole trip. There is nearly no tide in Nha Trang, the waves are huge but they break right on the shore so when walking into the water it goes from ankle depth to crazy waves that wipe you off your feet in the space of a few metres.

I took my little fuji camera in the water with me to try and get some photos of the waves... I now have a massive respect for photographers that photograph surfers and the sea as it is so hard! Trying to concentrate on taking a photo, setting up the composition and pushing the button while the sea sucks you in and spits you out in the waves is nigh on impossible. I edited the photos a bit to try and make them look a bit more interesting because by the time I got some photos that you could actually make out the waves, the cloud came over so they all looked quite dull. Enjoy!

Nha Trang Beach

Mud Baths of Nha Trang

The weather still isn't scorching sunshine, so me and Isabella decided to visit the Mud Baths of Nha Trang. We read some reviews online that they were quite nice on an overcast weekday (apparently they can be too hot on a sunny day and too busy at the weekend). We jumped in a taxi as it's about 4 or 5 miles away. There are various options to choose from with various prices, we decided to treat ourselves and go for the top package which included a private mud bath, private mineral bath, massage, watermelon and bottled water, jacuzzi, and the swimming pool. The first stop is the mud baths which are deep wooden baths which they fill with warm muddy water for you. (Just before we came on our travels I bought a little Fuji water proof point-and-shoot camera which I took to the baths and managed to get some photos).

In the mud baths

6th Day in Nha Trang

We've been taking it pretty easy the last week really... eating, sleeping and chilling out! Over the last two days the weather hasn't been fantastic, quite overcast, but still warm enough to sit on the beach. Nha Trang has a few other bits we would like to do before we leave, like the Mud Baths and maybe visit some local islands, but we're thinking we might spend Christmas here so we have plenty of time.

There are a lot of people trying to sell you things on the street in Nha Trang, similar to other places we have already visited, but they try so much harder here! Yesterday we spent the day on the beach and were accosted every two minutes on average and they sit down next to you, get you talking and then try and sell you something. If you say no, they try and make you feel guilty about how they have no money and have kids to bring up. Although we're getting pretty good at ignoring them now and they start to recognise us and give up sooner. One lady yesterday had some tasty looking fresh fruit so we did buy a pineapple from her, and it definitely wasn't because she told us she had a big knife that she would use it to cut our toes off. She saw us again today and wouldn't give up, so I made a deal with her, I'd buy some bananas from her if I could take a photo of her!

Crazy fruit lady lent Izzy her hat...