It has been a while :P
Well from where i left off last time there is a lot of news to catch up on :)
We went to Chaing Mai and had a great time. Lovely city with a few older bits of Thai history thrown in. Also great adventure trekking through parts of the jungle, having fun on an elephant trekk, water rafting and falling down part of a mountain. I was the source of entertainment for the day and have a few extra scars as an ever lasting memory of events :)
We left there and went back to Bangkok for the night and then jumped on the train to Singapore. There was a 23 hour journey and a stop at customs before we successfully made it to Penang in Malaysia which was about half way, for a nights stay to break up the traveling. We found a very cheap hostel and set about exploring, mainly to see if the rumors that we had heard about were true or not with regards to how tasty the food was? We found to our delight that all was correct, the food was amazingly tasty and we took great delight in sampling as much as we could :)
Unfortunately that was where the fun ended for Penang, as that night I had my bag stolen :( My passport, cards money, everything important went. What broke my heart the most was the fact that my camera with ALL the pics of the trip also went :( with no back ups! :( my diary also got taken so i again have no records, and all the lose bits of paper and collected tickets gone :(
A trip to the police station was called for and reports made. Lots of extra hassle that was not a lot of fun. We had to make a dash to Kuala Lumpur to visit the Embassy in order for me to get an emergency passport. After going through every spectrum of the human emotions, i was left flicking between deciding whether to come home, or to continue on.
In the end the decision was pretty much made for me, as my nice and helpful bank told me in no uncertain terms that there was no physical way of me accessing my money or getting a new card send to me :( therefore home it was. I was able to access enough money to get to Singapore and Bali and after that it was a new flight bought and it would be home time.
After spending two days waiting around in KL, I was able to get the passport from the embassy and then we jumped on the first bus down the Singapore. It was AMAZING!!!!! I fell in LOVE and cannot wait to return :) We arrived at about about 8 at night, not having a clue where in the city where in the city we were, and more importantly where we were actually going?? Some very nice people tried to help us, but as we were too busy laughing at the fact we had no idea where to go, it was not a great success. After eventually picking a destination to head towards we managed to get ourselves onto the metro and find a hostel. Extremely basic with only a bed in the room and not even a window!!! but nice and comfortable and just what was needed :) Woke up the next day and walked around as much of the city as possible from morning until night, as thanks to a slightly unexpected weekend activities, the time was cut to a day in the city as the flight to Bali was the next day. Any how it was plenty of time to fall in love with the city and see a lot of the great things that it has to offer :)
Flying to Bali was nice and easy, the airport was a breeze, we where through in 20 minutes and they barely even looked at our passports to see who we where, once we had paid the $25 "airport taxes" to get in. We had a great little hotel booked thanks to Jamie and we made it into our villa at just before 11pm, where we promptly collapsed into bed and slept soundly for the night. The next morning we had a tasty breakfast, before heading onto the white sandy beach with crystal clear blue water enjoying the boiling hot sun for the day, ace :)
I spent a week and a half doing nothing but chilling out, walking round the great markets, seeing the sea every day and getting a tan that definitely got rid of my "white pasty brit" label :)
I landed back in Stansted on Sunday night with the cliche traveling look, tired, tanned, covered in bracelets, hair all over the place, huge rucksack and looking for my free ride home. I without doubt had the most amazing trip through south east Asia and I will most definitely be going again as soon as I get my hands on a new passport as it was magic. It was more than I thought it would be, and I learnt a valuable lesson in life...............ALWAYS travel wearing purple GENIE PANTS! :D xx
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Bangkok and beyond............
After a night in the airport, we woke up and got on our flight to Bangkok. Arrived in Bangkok with no problems and our bags actually followed us! which was an improvement to our first flight to Beijing.
The first thing we did was buy train tickets to a city in northen Thailand called Chiang Mia. So we have yet another sleepr train ahead of us :).
Made it to the hostel, however we soon found out it was fully booked! which was soooooo annoying as we were tired, hot and hungry. Luckily we met a really nice tuk tuk driver who pointed us in the direction of a river taxi.
We wandered over to the jitty and got on this Thai speed boat, which was awesome. We got to see Bangkok via the river on our way to the hostel, not bad for morning transportation. The river was jam packed with other boats either speeding up or down the river, or from one side to another. Our stop soon appeared out of the Bangkok smog and we literally jumped of the boat on to a floating jetty and wandered towards Khaosan Road :)
We soon manged to find a hostel which also ment we found a cold shower. Which is always welcome :)
We had a wander around Khaosan Road which was pretty cool, just a pernament street market. Found some awesome street food of Pad Thai Noodles, that tasted sooooo good. I swear the food out here is so much better than at home, probably because everything is fresh here.
In the evening we had a few drinks and saw Trude!!!!!!! Who decided to come up to Chiang Mia with us.
The next day we wandered out of Khaosan Road and explored the area a bit. What ever you want here you can get its mental, but so relaxed and friendly. Definatly not what i thought Bangkok would be like, this might be because we havnt got the time to really explore the city. But still i like it. In the evening i went out with Trude to this bar called " Gipsy Lips" which was literally an old vw van parked on the side of the street that had been turned into a really cool little bar, very neat. We met a couple of really nice Thai guys aswell, one was a jewellery designer an he had been everywhere. They were all really nice and friendly.
Next day up to Chiang Mia, meting Trude and Luke at the hostel. Then working out a plan from there. It took us awhile to find the hostel, as Chiang Mia is a really really old city, which meqans the street names are very confusing, all the roads lead somewhere else and no one knows what you are talking about. Anyway found the hostel and met up with Trude and Luke for something to eat, also met a english guy called Chris. Ventured towards the night market whre there was loads of random things on sale included cooked insects to eat. Cockroaches, maggots, crickets, beatles and other flying objects!!!!! Plus puppies, kittens and baby rabbits on sale in cages, i wanted to buy a rabbit and bring it home, but not sure customs would have let me.
In the evening we went for a few drinks in a roof top bar which was literally 5 floors up, and completly open plan, with no ceiling so you can see the stars. Beautifull, we ended the night with buckets and table football!
The next day Shalina went for a wander around the old city. She said it was stunning, all the old buildings merging into one. With people using any available space to set up little homes or shops. I on the other hand went via scooter to a waterfall and went swimming, i was on the back of a scooter driven by Chris. It was so much fun, even though w nearly died 4 times, and may have caused a few problems. We were driving like they do in Vietnam and China, where driving becomes a game, so much fun. Could never do it in England though, would get pulled over straight away. Eventually found the waterfall and went swimming which was really apreicated in the heat, the countryside was stunning though. No body around just us 4, awesome.
The next day Shalina and I got up early for a crazy day. We left at 8 am to go to an Orchid and butterfly farm, which was very nice, the flowers and butterflys were very pretty. After this we went bamboo rafting, which was much more fun. I got very very wet, but it was so peaceful just floating down the river looking at the beautiful green countryside, very nice and chilled. After this we went ELEPHANT RIDING!!!!!!!!! which was super cool, the elephant we had was a cheeky one and kept wandering off and doing his own thing. It was really cool though, very bumpy but very gracefull at the same time. I didnt realise how big elephants are untill you see them up close, they are massive and there was a cute lil baby one, that was running all over the place.
After this we went trekking, which was great fun. We literally scaled down a mountain side where there was no path just sheer jungle. Shalina had a few problems and fell down a few times, she had to be helped down by a vietnamise guy. She was laughing the whole time though, which was good. She said she really enjoyed it but she came away with quite a few bruises and cuts from the jungle. I on the other hand was jumping down the mountainside pretending i was Rambo or something and didnt have a scratch on me!!! I thought i was going to end up in a ball at the bottom. We made it down to the river still smiling and laughing which was good. Despite this German girl who started to have a go at me because apperently it wasnt trekking and she wanted her money back, she threw a proper paddy! I just stepped away from her and kept my distance, angry Germans are unpredictable!
So we are at the bottom of the mountain in the river with no boat! so we wandered up stream getting passed by loads of tourists on bamboo rafts, who wouldnt give us a lift!Granted they were a bit older but still. Eventually we found some bamboo rafts of our own and boarded them and floated down stream. On the way we spotted a water snake, then all these Thai guys came out of no where ran across the river wihich massive sticks and started to hit the thing. It was very funny to see little Thai guys running whilst holding up huge sticks.
Next was white water rafting down the Mekong River. It was sooooooo much fun, we both got completly drenched but it was so worth it. Plus we were the fastest raft, beating a raft full of Japanese woooooooop.
Next was a waterfall, which was hidern away from the main place, bout 20 mins drive and in a tiny village. It was gorgeous, so calming and relaxing. Shalina just sat at the bottom happily splashing her feet in the water, while i went for and adventure and started to climb up the waterfall. I soon got told off tho as i was venturing into the private area of the village where people were sleeping so i had to return :(
In the evening we went to see the Arsenal Birmingham game, which i was not happy about after 90 mins. So we decided to stay out as it was Trudes last night before she goes to India!. We had a wicked night in Dup step clubs. I got chatting to this tuk tuk driver who was having a few drinks, he lives 40 k outside Chiang Mia and drives in every day, he has a wife and a little kid who he has named Frank, aftr Frank Lampard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next day we got a Train back to Bangkok as we have got quite a bit of traveling ahead of us, Bangkok then down south to Penang
Untill next time
sarah
The first thing we did was buy train tickets to a city in northen Thailand called Chiang Mia. So we have yet another sleepr train ahead of us :).
Made it to the hostel, however we soon found out it was fully booked! which was soooooo annoying as we were tired, hot and hungry. Luckily we met a really nice tuk tuk driver who pointed us in the direction of a river taxi.
We wandered over to the jitty and got on this Thai speed boat, which was awesome. We got to see Bangkok via the river on our way to the hostel, not bad for morning transportation. The river was jam packed with other boats either speeding up or down the river, or from one side to another. Our stop soon appeared out of the Bangkok smog and we literally jumped of the boat on to a floating jetty and wandered towards Khaosan Road :)
We soon manged to find a hostel which also ment we found a cold shower. Which is always welcome :)
We had a wander around Khaosan Road which was pretty cool, just a pernament street market. Found some awesome street food of Pad Thai Noodles, that tasted sooooo good. I swear the food out here is so much better than at home, probably because everything is fresh here.
In the evening we had a few drinks and saw Trude!!!!!!! Who decided to come up to Chiang Mia with us.
The next day we wandered out of Khaosan Road and explored the area a bit. What ever you want here you can get its mental, but so relaxed and friendly. Definatly not what i thought Bangkok would be like, this might be because we havnt got the time to really explore the city. But still i like it. In the evening i went out with Trude to this bar called " Gipsy Lips" which was literally an old vw van parked on the side of the street that had been turned into a really cool little bar, very neat. We met a couple of really nice Thai guys aswell, one was a jewellery designer an he had been everywhere. They were all really nice and friendly.
Next day up to Chiang Mia, meting Trude and Luke at the hostel. Then working out a plan from there. It took us awhile to find the hostel, as Chiang Mia is a really really old city, which meqans the street names are very confusing, all the roads lead somewhere else and no one knows what you are talking about. Anyway found the hostel and met up with Trude and Luke for something to eat, also met a english guy called Chris. Ventured towards the night market whre there was loads of random things on sale included cooked insects to eat. Cockroaches, maggots, crickets, beatles and other flying objects!!!!! Plus puppies, kittens and baby rabbits on sale in cages, i wanted to buy a rabbit and bring it home, but not sure customs would have let me.
In the evening we went for a few drinks in a roof top bar which was literally 5 floors up, and completly open plan, with no ceiling so you can see the stars. Beautifull, we ended the night with buckets and table football!
The next day Shalina went for a wander around the old city. She said it was stunning, all the old buildings merging into one. With people using any available space to set up little homes or shops. I on the other hand went via scooter to a waterfall and went swimming, i was on the back of a scooter driven by Chris. It was so much fun, even though w nearly died 4 times, and may have caused a few problems. We were driving like they do in Vietnam and China, where driving becomes a game, so much fun. Could never do it in England though, would get pulled over straight away. Eventually found the waterfall and went swimming which was really apreicated in the heat, the countryside was stunning though. No body around just us 4, awesome.
The next day Shalina and I got up early for a crazy day. We left at 8 am to go to an Orchid and butterfly farm, which was very nice, the flowers and butterflys were very pretty. After this we went bamboo rafting, which was much more fun. I got very very wet, but it was so peaceful just floating down the river looking at the beautiful green countryside, very nice and chilled. After this we went ELEPHANT RIDING!!!!!!!!! which was super cool, the elephant we had was a cheeky one and kept wandering off and doing his own thing. It was really cool though, very bumpy but very gracefull at the same time. I didnt realise how big elephants are untill you see them up close, they are massive and there was a cute lil baby one, that was running all over the place.
After this we went trekking, which was great fun. We literally scaled down a mountain side where there was no path just sheer jungle. Shalina had a few problems and fell down a few times, she had to be helped down by a vietnamise guy. She was laughing the whole time though, which was good. She said she really enjoyed it but she came away with quite a few bruises and cuts from the jungle. I on the other hand was jumping down the mountainside pretending i was Rambo or something and didnt have a scratch on me!!! I thought i was going to end up in a ball at the bottom. We made it down to the river still smiling and laughing which was good. Despite this German girl who started to have a go at me because apperently it wasnt trekking and she wanted her money back, she threw a proper paddy! I just stepped away from her and kept my distance, angry Germans are unpredictable!
So we are at the bottom of the mountain in the river with no boat! so we wandered up stream getting passed by loads of tourists on bamboo rafts, who wouldnt give us a lift!Granted they were a bit older but still. Eventually we found some bamboo rafts of our own and boarded them and floated down stream. On the way we spotted a water snake, then all these Thai guys came out of no where ran across the river wihich massive sticks and started to hit the thing. It was very funny to see little Thai guys running whilst holding up huge sticks.
Next was white water rafting down the Mekong River. It was sooooooo much fun, we both got completly drenched but it was so worth it. Plus we were the fastest raft, beating a raft full of Japanese woooooooop.
Next was a waterfall, which was hidern away from the main place, bout 20 mins drive and in a tiny village. It was gorgeous, so calming and relaxing. Shalina just sat at the bottom happily splashing her feet in the water, while i went for and adventure and started to climb up the waterfall. I soon got told off tho as i was venturing into the private area of the village where people were sleeping so i had to return :(
In the evening we went to see the Arsenal Birmingham game, which i was not happy about after 90 mins. So we decided to stay out as it was Trudes last night before she goes to India!. We had a wicked night in Dup step clubs. I got chatting to this tuk tuk driver who was having a few drinks, he lives 40 k outside Chiang Mia and drives in every day, he has a wife and a little kid who he has named Frank, aftr Frank Lampard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next day we got a Train back to Bangkok as we have got quite a bit of traveling ahead of us, Bangkok then down south to Penang
Untill next time
sarah
Got quite a bit of time to catch up on.....
Sorry for the very very very very long time since our last blog update. We have been crazily busy. Right pick up where we left off, Saigon............
After we had recovered from our bus ride we had an adventure round the city, which rules!! Its full of little old alleys that take up random little streets, filled with street food and little market stalls. The motorbike system was mental, the roads were constantly awash with scooters!! No matter where you looked there was a scooter driver coming right at you.
On the first day me and Shalina spilt up for a few hours as we needed some time apart as we had been travelling constantly together for a long time. So Shalina went of to explore the culture of the city, i went of to find ........food!.
Up of the alleys near our hostel me and another girl found the most AMAZING noodles in Saigon, for only 15,ooo. Which is crazy cheap, something like 50p, with fresh noodles, fresh spring rolls everything. This lady became known for the rest of our stay as "Noodle Lady" very imaginative i know.
The next day i woke up to find one of our mates we had met previously (in Vietnam) in the bed next to me!!! I was a little bit confused as the last time we saw her was Nha Trang. Soon enough we had made a little group with Shalina, Trude(mate from vietnam),suzi(mate from vietnam),klara, angus, and a german guy who i cant remeber his name. We ventured out to the war museum, which was really cool but quite scary at the same time. As it was all about the Vietnam war and the things the vietnamise people suffered at the hands of the Americans. There were loads of photos of the conflict, a whole section on the photographers who had gone out there and lost their lives. There were make shift Tiger Cages, which is where the americans tortured the VC. It was really well set out with loads of info about the war, like in total 2 million civilians died and 1 million soldiers! It was breath taking i stood staring at a photo of an american soldier just holding up half a corpse of a vietnamise civilian!!!!!
The only down side i thought was it was completly one sided, there was no mention of the american soldiers (except as monsters), no mention of what the VC died to captured americans. But i guess what do you expect when you are in Vietnam!!!!
After this we were starving so we ventured towards the market and picked up some noodles. BIG mstake at 2 pm, inside a building, eating really hot spicy noodles. I was so hot by the end of it, i must have sweated out half my body weight!
So to cool of me a klara went on serach for something cooler, while the others returned to the hostel. We ventured towards a supermarket, but this meant you had to cross a huge roundabout.
This roundabout in question was huge!, which a constant supply of scooters and buses whizzing round it, no system of giving way and letting other people go, definatly not. It was everyone for themselves! We had to cross it holding hands very slowly with scooters whizzing past about 15 cms away from us!!!!!!! We found ice cream which was by a company called "fanny" so we had to get some.
Evening time, a few of us decided to go out into Saigon. We met up with a couple of other guys who we had met previously and decided to head to the main club in Saigon, called Apocolypse Now. Very fitting dont you think? Went in and there were prostitutes EVERYWHERE, male and female! That literally swamped us and where trying to impress us with their moves on the dance floor, which was so funny i was in tears. The club closed at 1am tho, the last song of the night was This Is The End-by The Doors!!!!! Even more fitting, very random, not sure if a line was crossed or not!
Made it back to bar street just in time for the Arsenal Barca game. For anyone who doesnt know im a Arsenal fan, to top it off we met a really nice barca fan. Whicah made the game a whole lot more interesting :). Awesome first night in Saigon.
As the next day i had a huge hangover, Shalina went for an adventure. She had a wander round the market, haggled for Sams bday present. Had a dragon fruitshake!.Whereas i was dying and returned to noodle lady:).
CU CHI TUNNELS tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we woke up early and had a 3 hour drive to this temple outside of Saigon. It was really beautifull, it was decorated head to toe in massive dragons, every colour of the rainbow. Painted starts on the ceiling and sparrows flying around in the rafters. It was a special temple as it contained 3 different types of religions. They all prayed together but wore 3 different colours, white,yellow and blue. Really nice to see but not sure how it would work at big celebration times, surely there would be fights over who gets the temple!
Anyway proceeded on to the thing i was soooo excited about the Cu Chi tunnels.
For anyone who doesnt kno these tunnels were the tunnel system that the Viet Cong used to defeat the Americans during the Vietnam war. They were homes underground, with the tunnels linking all the way through Vietnam. You could walk from Saigon to the Mekong delta even, underground!! The tour guid was awesome, he was so proud that the Vietnamise had won the ware. He kept saying things like "when the americans invaded MY country" and "WE fought underground" etc etc.
It completly blew my mind, we saw the booby traps the VC used to put down and they were horrible!!!! so deadly it was unbelievable!! Massive bamboo spikes. Apperently the VC used to switch round where the booby traps would be in the tunnels so the ameicans never ever knew where they could be even! There was an american tank that had been blown up by a VC landmine that was still in the same postion today. The VC used to collect any bombs that hadnt exploded take them apart and rebuild them so they could use them, often they would blow up when people were working on them.
It was then time to venture down into the tunnels (which have been widened for westerners). As orginally they were only 80 cm in diameters!!! We went down into the tunnels and i have never been so scared in my entire life! It was pitch black, boiling hot, no space at all you had to crawl!. We went down to the 3 rd level of tunnels and made it right to the end!!! 100 meters of VC tunnels and i will never be the same again. Amazing thing to do, and completly blew my mind at the same time!
It was Trudes last night in Saigon tonight so we all went out. Less we say about that evening the better i think............
We spent the rest of our time in Saigon exploring more of the city. Wandering round to the independence palace/gardens and lots of other things. Found some very radom places, returned to noodle lady quite a few times aswell :)
Off to Bangkok next :)
Sarah
After we had recovered from our bus ride we had an adventure round the city, which rules!! Its full of little old alleys that take up random little streets, filled with street food and little market stalls. The motorbike system was mental, the roads were constantly awash with scooters!! No matter where you looked there was a scooter driver coming right at you.
On the first day me and Shalina spilt up for a few hours as we needed some time apart as we had been travelling constantly together for a long time. So Shalina went of to explore the culture of the city, i went of to find ........food!.
Up of the alleys near our hostel me and another girl found the most AMAZING noodles in Saigon, for only 15,ooo. Which is crazy cheap, something like 50p, with fresh noodles, fresh spring rolls everything. This lady became known for the rest of our stay as "Noodle Lady" very imaginative i know.
The next day i woke up to find one of our mates we had met previously (in Vietnam) in the bed next to me!!! I was a little bit confused as the last time we saw her was Nha Trang. Soon enough we had made a little group with Shalina, Trude(mate from vietnam),suzi(mate from vietnam),klara, angus, and a german guy who i cant remeber his name. We ventured out to the war museum, which was really cool but quite scary at the same time. As it was all about the Vietnam war and the things the vietnamise people suffered at the hands of the Americans. There were loads of photos of the conflict, a whole section on the photographers who had gone out there and lost their lives. There were make shift Tiger Cages, which is where the americans tortured the VC. It was really well set out with loads of info about the war, like in total 2 million civilians died and 1 million soldiers! It was breath taking i stood staring at a photo of an american soldier just holding up half a corpse of a vietnamise civilian!!!!!
The only down side i thought was it was completly one sided, there was no mention of the american soldiers (except as monsters), no mention of what the VC died to captured americans. But i guess what do you expect when you are in Vietnam!!!!
After this we were starving so we ventured towards the market and picked up some noodles. BIG mstake at 2 pm, inside a building, eating really hot spicy noodles. I was so hot by the end of it, i must have sweated out half my body weight!
So to cool of me a klara went on serach for something cooler, while the others returned to the hostel. We ventured towards a supermarket, but this meant you had to cross a huge roundabout.
This roundabout in question was huge!, which a constant supply of scooters and buses whizzing round it, no system of giving way and letting other people go, definatly not. It was everyone for themselves! We had to cross it holding hands very slowly with scooters whizzing past about 15 cms away from us!!!!!!! We found ice cream which was by a company called "fanny" so we had to get some.
Evening time, a few of us decided to go out into Saigon. We met up with a couple of other guys who we had met previously and decided to head to the main club in Saigon, called Apocolypse Now. Very fitting dont you think? Went in and there were prostitutes EVERYWHERE, male and female! That literally swamped us and where trying to impress us with their moves on the dance floor, which was so funny i was in tears. The club closed at 1am tho, the last song of the night was This Is The End-by The Doors!!!!! Even more fitting, very random, not sure if a line was crossed or not!
Made it back to bar street just in time for the Arsenal Barca game. For anyone who doesnt know im a Arsenal fan, to top it off we met a really nice barca fan. Whicah made the game a whole lot more interesting :). Awesome first night in Saigon.
As the next day i had a huge hangover, Shalina went for an adventure. She had a wander round the market, haggled for Sams bday present. Had a dragon fruitshake!.Whereas i was dying and returned to noodle lady:).
CU CHI TUNNELS tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today we woke up early and had a 3 hour drive to this temple outside of Saigon. It was really beautifull, it was decorated head to toe in massive dragons, every colour of the rainbow. Painted starts on the ceiling and sparrows flying around in the rafters. It was a special temple as it contained 3 different types of religions. They all prayed together but wore 3 different colours, white,yellow and blue. Really nice to see but not sure how it would work at big celebration times, surely there would be fights over who gets the temple!
Anyway proceeded on to the thing i was soooo excited about the Cu Chi tunnels.
For anyone who doesnt kno these tunnels were the tunnel system that the Viet Cong used to defeat the Americans during the Vietnam war. They were homes underground, with the tunnels linking all the way through Vietnam. You could walk from Saigon to the Mekong delta even, underground!! The tour guid was awesome, he was so proud that the Vietnamise had won the ware. He kept saying things like "when the americans invaded MY country" and "WE fought underground" etc etc.
It completly blew my mind, we saw the booby traps the VC used to put down and they were horrible!!!! so deadly it was unbelievable!! Massive bamboo spikes. Apperently the VC used to switch round where the booby traps would be in the tunnels so the ameicans never ever knew where they could be even! There was an american tank that had been blown up by a VC landmine that was still in the same postion today. The VC used to collect any bombs that hadnt exploded take them apart and rebuild them so they could use them, often they would blow up when people were working on them.
It was then time to venture down into the tunnels (which have been widened for westerners). As orginally they were only 80 cm in diameters!!! We went down into the tunnels and i have never been so scared in my entire life! It was pitch black, boiling hot, no space at all you had to crawl!. We went down to the 3 rd level of tunnels and made it right to the end!!! 100 meters of VC tunnels and i will never be the same again. Amazing thing to do, and completly blew my mind at the same time!
It was Trudes last night in Saigon tonight so we all went out. Less we say about that evening the better i think............
We spent the rest of our time in Saigon exploring more of the city. Wandering round to the independence palace/gardens and lots of other things. Found some very radom places, returned to noodle lady quite a few times aswell :)
Off to Bangkok next :)
Sarah
Friday, 18 February 2011
South Vietnam
Well we have successfully made it to Sai Gon, with a few detours along the way :) after spending two nights in Hoi An, which was a very beautiful beach side town, that had a wonderful buzzing market, nothing like England, but a 100 times better :) we decided to spend a few days in Nha Trang, a town further south in Vietnam. The trip on the coach was not nearly as fun, we did not have a sleeper coach, just a regular one this time, for a 12 hours trip though the night :S Sarah and I did not get much sleep, if any. What we did find it amusing however was how the coach managed to stop 5 times in the space of half an hour!!!! and pick people up from the side of the road. The word 'road' being used in the loosest sense as it was more like a pot hole filled dirt track that happened to have been carved out of the landscape, and whether you were going the same way as any one else on it did not seem to matter. The fact that we were in a coach though, made us feel totally secure :S lol. Any way, there were far to many people on the bus than there were seats, which meant people chose the sit right next to me and Sarah on the floor, and put their bags in our foot wells, making what little space we already had, shrink! lol. We got off the bus at 6am, not even close to rested, or in the mood for talking, and set off to find the hostel. This trip was compensated for by seeing the beach at 6 in the morning, just as the sun was starting to rise in the sky, that made up for everything :) We almost got led astray by a guy on a bike, who told us he would give us directions to our hostel, when we got there however we realised it was the wrong one and the women who met us was not remotely friendly towards us once she realised that we already had bookings elsewhere. After finding the correct hostel, we went straight to the beach and did not move for several hours :) The town was a bit more developed than Hoi An had been. The beach itself was much longer and the sea was a beautiful blue color, having a tan in February, who would have thought it???? :P We stayed an extra night there in order to check out the night life. I managed not to pay for a drink all night, yet was still drunk by the end of it, score :)
We came by bus to Sai Gon, thankfully on a sleeper bus this time, which was much better, minus the bugs that ate my ankle all night :S The hostel we are at this time is owned by a crazy lady who has no idea and can't speak English, it is making it very entertaining lol. We are here for a week, then flying to Bangkok, so there is plenty of time to explore and see what the city has to offer :)
We came by bus to Sai Gon, thankfully on a sleeper bus this time, which was much better, minus the bugs that ate my ankle all night :S The hostel we are at this time is owned by a crazy lady who has no idea and can't speak English, it is making it very entertaining lol. We are here for a week, then flying to Bangkok, so there is plenty of time to explore and see what the city has to offer :)
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
The events of the evening....
Starting from the top.... one thing that Shalina forgot to mention in her blog was the swimming!! As there was quite a large group of us that already knew each other from the hostel i knew the night was going to be an unforgettable one. When we got back from the caves the tour guide asked everyone if they wanted a swim. He expected everyone to say no as it is winter here in Vietnam after all, oh no! There was a definate answer of yes, therefore we then all rushed to get changed. Unfortunatly or fortunatly (depending the way you look at it) Shalina didnt have a bikini with her so she didnt take part. Me on the other hand thought that it just had to be done...... therefore we all jumped of the highest point of the deck into the FREEZING waters below! I couldnt get back onto the boat quick enough, but of course the guys that we were with who were from Denmark had to be manly and go again! Definatly glad i did it as i was never going to have the chance again, anyway after we dried off the drinking started.....
After having a few drinks on our boat, we soon discovered that the other boat containing the other people from our group was next to us. Therefore we thought it was a great decidion to become pirates and attempt to board their boat! For the greater good of international relations, but also to see what their boat was like.
We soon discovered that climbing from one boat to another at night time, after a few drinks and following a Danish guy was not one of our greater moments! It took us about 30 mins of climbing up the back end of their boat to find out we could simply walk through the kitchen!!! Word of advice never follow a Christiano Ronaldo lookalike from Denmark attempting to board another vessel!
We soon made it up to the other boat, to find Vietnamise karoke in full swing! so we joined the party. It was all going so well untill we discovered the danes and the english have identical senses of humor at the result of two americans at the table. Who we proceeded to offend in every shape possible, i swear americans seriously just DONT get irony at all!!!!!!!!!I have never laughed so much in my life, my face was aching and i was in tears! So we made some friends for life there. After they had left their own boat and gone to bed, it was just our group left on their boat, unable to pay for own drinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Therefore as a result the bar was raided, the vodka drunk (by one of the Danes) and a hell of alot of beer consumed. Then we went onto making our own drinks which definatly reminded me of uni :).
After many more drinks, 2 of the danish guys decided to do a bit more swimming and jumped of the top of the boat back into the freezing sea! In the pitch black and heavily under the influence!This would have been fine but they soon discovered that there was no way back onto the boat! after much confusion and laughing, they found a way up by literally climbing up the side of the boat where people were sleeping! It was at this point we were told to leave the boat and return to our own :)
It was back to bed for everyone, after we made sure all of our group had made the return journey in one piece. Only to find in the morning the americans had joined our boat and refused to talk to anyone! classic anglo american relations will never be the same :)
After having a few drinks on our boat, we soon discovered that the other boat containing the other people from our group was next to us. Therefore we thought it was a great decidion to become pirates and attempt to board their boat! For the greater good of international relations, but also to see what their boat was like.
We soon discovered that climbing from one boat to another at night time, after a few drinks and following a Danish guy was not one of our greater moments! It took us about 30 mins of climbing up the back end of their boat to find out we could simply walk through the kitchen!!! Word of advice never follow a Christiano Ronaldo lookalike from Denmark attempting to board another vessel!
We soon made it up to the other boat, to find Vietnamise karoke in full swing! so we joined the party. It was all going so well untill we discovered the danes and the english have identical senses of humor at the result of two americans at the table. Who we proceeded to offend in every shape possible, i swear americans seriously just DONT get irony at all!!!!!!!!!I have never laughed so much in my life, my face was aching and i was in tears! So we made some friends for life there. After they had left their own boat and gone to bed, it was just our group left on their boat, unable to pay for own drinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Therefore as a result the bar was raided, the vodka drunk (by one of the Danes) and a hell of alot of beer consumed. Then we went onto making our own drinks which definatly reminded me of uni :).
After many more drinks, 2 of the danish guys decided to do a bit more swimming and jumped of the top of the boat back into the freezing sea! In the pitch black and heavily under the influence!This would have been fine but they soon discovered that there was no way back onto the boat! after much confusion and laughing, they found a way up by literally climbing up the side of the boat where people were sleeping! It was at this point we were told to leave the boat and return to our own :)
It was back to bed for everyone, after we made sure all of our group had made the return journey in one piece. Only to find in the morning the americans had joined our boat and refused to talk to anyone! classic anglo american relations will never be the same :)
Sun, Sea and Sand..........................................
Hello all, firstly thanks for the comments, it is ace to hear from you, it makes home seem slightly less distant :P
well we have had a pretty crazy few days, but they have been ace :) after celebrating chinese new year, we have a few relaxing days in the city as everything was shut, so there wasn't much choice, but it made up for the non stop trip so far. we decided we would go on a trip to Hai Long Bay, two days one night, staying on a ship. we were ment to get a rested nights sleep on Saturday in preparation, this however did not happen. there was a lovely Vietnamise crazy lady that managed to keep the entire hostel awake all night, apparently screaming at the voives in her head. as non of us spoke vietnamise we could not tell exactly what she was screaming, but it did not sound like she was asking them round for coffee.
it was an early start on a bus, where everyone was slightly more sleepy than anticipated, and then there was a three hour drive there. we conviently stopped at a service station about half way, where there just happened to be every type of souvaner going. other than a chocolate fix, they did not get much business from us. we arrived on the boat around 12, started walking towards this huge beautiful boat, all shiny and new, before being told that we were going the wrong way....................................our boat in fact was a lot smaller, a lot older and had a huge question mark hanging over it of whether it could flaot or not???? luckily it did, and after a delicous lunch we set sail. it has to be one of the most breathtaking views in the world, to say it looks like paradise would not be far from the truth. we sailed for around an hour before transfering to a smaller baot so that we could go canoeing around the floating villiages. for the sake of mine and sarah's friendship we will NEVER EVER EVER!!!! be doing that again :)
we got back from that................just and continued on the small boat to some caves. these again were beautiful and huge!!!! it never seemed to end. as we got bacl to the boat the sun was beginning to set, and even me with my heart of ice could appreciate it was a very beautiful and romantic place :) we enjoyed another delicious meal and watched the sun set over the many islands :) Sarah will tell you what happened next :)
the next morning we sailed around some more before returing to dry land. we had a 4 hour bus ride back to the hostel, with an hour to spare before we got on our overnight sleeper bus. a sleeper bus i hear you ask, what is that???? well, it is as bad as it sounds. it was a coash like england, however instead of seats, there were three rows of bunbeds, all with varying degrees of seat belts on them. there was no space for a western person, and no guranteed way of staying in your bed for the entire journey, especially with the coach driver having questionable skill at driving. we did however make it in one piece, if lacking greatly in sleep and some nerves :S we are now in Hoi an, about half way down vietnam, and have spent the afternoon chilling on the beach.................................bliss :)
well we have had a pretty crazy few days, but they have been ace :) after celebrating chinese new year, we have a few relaxing days in the city as everything was shut, so there wasn't much choice, but it made up for the non stop trip so far. we decided we would go on a trip to Hai Long Bay, two days one night, staying on a ship. we were ment to get a rested nights sleep on Saturday in preparation, this however did not happen. there was a lovely Vietnamise crazy lady that managed to keep the entire hostel awake all night, apparently screaming at the voives in her head. as non of us spoke vietnamise we could not tell exactly what she was screaming, but it did not sound like she was asking them round for coffee.
it was an early start on a bus, where everyone was slightly more sleepy than anticipated, and then there was a three hour drive there. we conviently stopped at a service station about half way, where there just happened to be every type of souvaner going. other than a chocolate fix, they did not get much business from us. we arrived on the boat around 12, started walking towards this huge beautiful boat, all shiny and new, before being told that we were going the wrong way....................................our boat in fact was a lot smaller, a lot older and had a huge question mark hanging over it of whether it could flaot or not???? luckily it did, and after a delicous lunch we set sail. it has to be one of the most breathtaking views in the world, to say it looks like paradise would not be far from the truth. we sailed for around an hour before transfering to a smaller baot so that we could go canoeing around the floating villiages. for the sake of mine and sarah's friendship we will NEVER EVER EVER!!!! be doing that again :)
we got back from that................just and continued on the small boat to some caves. these again were beautiful and huge!!!! it never seemed to end. as we got bacl to the boat the sun was beginning to set, and even me with my heart of ice could appreciate it was a very beautiful and romantic place :) we enjoyed another delicious meal and watched the sun set over the many islands :) Sarah will tell you what happened next :)
the next morning we sailed around some more before returing to dry land. we had a 4 hour bus ride back to the hostel, with an hour to spare before we got on our overnight sleeper bus. a sleeper bus i hear you ask, what is that???? well, it is as bad as it sounds. it was a coash like england, however instead of seats, there were three rows of bunbeds, all with varying degrees of seat belts on them. there was no space for a western person, and no guranteed way of staying in your bed for the entire journey, especially with the coach driver having questionable skill at driving. we did however make it in one piece, if lacking greatly in sleep and some nerves :S we are now in Hoi an, about half way down vietnam, and have spent the afternoon chilling on the beach.................................bliss :)
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Nanning to Vietnam....Shalina tells the story.
well.......................we have made it to Vietnam, Hanoi successfully, but it took some doing :P lol
we left our hostel in Nanning as the owner made us feel about as welcome as mold would be in his hostel, it was not great. we got ourselves sorted and found the train without any problems. we were on the train with the understanding that it would take around 14 hours, a hard sleeper, so we had prepared ourselves. this however was our first mistake........................
we left at 6.45 and the first train stop was at 10.30. an angry sounding Chinese man got on the train and was inspecting everyones passports. he seemed to take great offence to mine and Sarahs passports being all correct and with the right visa, even though he spent a good 10 min going through it determined to find a mistake. we were then told to get off the train with our bags so that they could be inspected, because apparently when they did it at Nanning station, it was not good enough???? this took about half an hour before we were allowed back on the train. the train however did not move again for nearly 2 hours!!!! by which time we were both in great need of sleep and starting to get slightly concerned that we may never see our passports again??? they did however return in one piece and we were on our way. not for long though..............roughly an hour later we were again stopped at a station, told to get off the train and take our passports with us. this was made even more entertaining by having to walk across the train tracks in order to get to where we needed to be, and with Sarah not having her contacts in, she was stupidly relying on me to guide the way???? this time we just handed our passports over for around 20 min to get it stamped, so roughly 1.30 we were on our way. we were woken up again though at 4.30 by the man telling us we had arrived???? only 4 hours before we were ment to :P we got off the train, not at all well rested and looked around to see how we were going to get to the hostel? a taxi was called and we were dropped straight outside the hostel :)
we had one further issue to overcome yet though........................when we rocked up at 5 in the morning, we found ourselves locked out of the hostel, and no clear way of how to get in??? lol. we found two other girls trying to get in also, and the street outside was covered in backpackers, so we did not feel that bad and could do nothing other than laugh. we did manage to get in after realising that the bell we had been pressing was not our hostel, but in fact a house!!! :P thankfully we did not have to deal with an irate Vietnamise person screaming at us at 6 in the morning, as we would not have been able to appologise successfully in Vietnamise :S so maybe they were out??? lol. anyway we eventually got some sleep before waking up again at 9 for our free breakfast. not the easiest starts, but it has been ace since arriving, so well worth it :)
we were dead all day, just wondered round near the hostel, but last night was Chinese new year, so we had the luck of celebrating two new years within a month!!! awesome! :)
they had free beer at the hostel, free champaign, (which looked strangely like snakebite?????) free shots of vodka (it was not nice vodka :S) free fireworks display and celebrations on a very international scale with the people inn the hostel :) it was an ace night, and well worth the hassle of getting here :) the city is dead today as everyone is at home with family, but that is a good thing as it means we can clear our heads without feeling guilty about missing anything :P
hope you are all well :) xxxxxxxxxx
we left our hostel in Nanning as the owner made us feel about as welcome as mold would be in his hostel, it was not great. we got ourselves sorted and found the train without any problems. we were on the train with the understanding that it would take around 14 hours, a hard sleeper, so we had prepared ourselves. this however was our first mistake........................
we left at 6.45 and the first train stop was at 10.30. an angry sounding Chinese man got on the train and was inspecting everyones passports. he seemed to take great offence to mine and Sarahs passports being all correct and with the right visa, even though he spent a good 10 min going through it determined to find a mistake. we were then told to get off the train with our bags so that they could be inspected, because apparently when they did it at Nanning station, it was not good enough???? this took about half an hour before we were allowed back on the train. the train however did not move again for nearly 2 hours!!!! by which time we were both in great need of sleep and starting to get slightly concerned that we may never see our passports again??? they did however return in one piece and we were on our way. not for long though..............roughly an hour later we were again stopped at a station, told to get off the train and take our passports with us. this was made even more entertaining by having to walk across the train tracks in order to get to where we needed to be, and with Sarah not having her contacts in, she was stupidly relying on me to guide the way???? this time we just handed our passports over for around 20 min to get it stamped, so roughly 1.30 we were on our way. we were woken up again though at 4.30 by the man telling us we had arrived???? only 4 hours before we were ment to :P we got off the train, not at all well rested and looked around to see how we were going to get to the hostel? a taxi was called and we were dropped straight outside the hostel :)
we had one further issue to overcome yet though........................when we rocked up at 5 in the morning, we found ourselves locked out of the hostel, and no clear way of how to get in??? lol. we found two other girls trying to get in also, and the street outside was covered in backpackers, so we did not feel that bad and could do nothing other than laugh. we did manage to get in after realising that the bell we had been pressing was not our hostel, but in fact a house!!! :P thankfully we did not have to deal with an irate Vietnamise person screaming at us at 6 in the morning, as we would not have been able to appologise successfully in Vietnamise :S so maybe they were out??? lol. anyway we eventually got some sleep before waking up again at 9 for our free breakfast. not the easiest starts, but it has been ace since arriving, so well worth it :)
we were dead all day, just wondered round near the hostel, but last night was Chinese new year, so we had the luck of celebrating two new years within a month!!! awesome! :)
they had free beer at the hostel, free champaign, (which looked strangely like snakebite?????) free shots of vodka (it was not nice vodka :S) free fireworks display and celebrations on a very international scale with the people inn the hostel :) it was an ace night, and well worth the hassle of getting here :) the city is dead today as everyone is at home with family, but that is a good thing as it means we can clear our heads without feeling guilty about missing anything :P
hope you are all well :) xxxxxxxxxx
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