Nha Trang to Saigon 11th – 21st November

Arrived in Nha Trang at 6 am and were welcomed by an old couple who ran a street stall selling coffee and baguettes with cheese. We sat on primary school chairs on the pavement and enjoyed the morning sun. Nha Trang is Vietnam’s premier beach destination. More like Vietnam’s equivalent to Blackpool. Crum. We spent half a day on the beach and the following day in luxury at a health spa. We sat in a tub for two covered in warm mud before washing it off and then bathing in a thermal hot spring-very nice indeed. We also discovered that we had been very lucky in escaping the typhoon and subsequent flooding that had just hit further up the coast where we had left. Some of our friends had to be rescued from the second floor of their hotel.  A close shave. We shot straight out of Nha Trang, further south to Mui Ne for-more beaches. We stayed here for 4 days-our highlight was visiting the local fishing village. There were at least 1000 boats, that were identical. The men go out in the boats and the women sort through the catch sitting on the pavement. The sunsets were enjoyed by our pool with a can of Tiger beer.

We took a bus to Saigon, that firstly stopped for 30 minutes break after it picked us up 2 minutes earlier. It then broke down just outside of Saigon and we were shepherded in, in taxis. Our guest house here was another great find-free breakfast and dinner. We have grown to love spring rolls and noodle soup. Like Hanoi, Saigon is full of crazy Vietnamese on motorbikes. Here we spotted a family of 6 all on one bike. We declined the offers of motorbike rides and opted to take our chances on the roads instead. (You can’t walk on the pavement as this is where they park.)

Whilst in Saigon Lou did some serious shopping and Jonty learnt stuff. We visited the war museum which had some horrifc pictures from the war and was extremely moving. We also visited Cu Chi Tunnels, a base used to fight the Americans. The best thing about this trip was our guide who was a Vietnamese veteran who fought alongside the Americans against the Viet Cong. He gave us some excellent insights and we gained more of an understanding.

To get to Cambodia we decided to do a 2 day trip along the Mekong Delta-a seriously big river. We had never seen so much water inland before. The boat trip took us to local villages set up on the river banks, children ran alongside us and waved frantically. We went to workshops and tried coconut candy and saw sugar puffs being made. We also saw a local boy washing his buffalo and several men weeing.  Part of our trip included a tour of a floating village by row boat, with one of the locals. Our lady had her 3 year old daughter with her who sat with Lou slurping away at her noodle soup breakfast, desperately trying to grasp how her chop sticks worked. In Vietnam they row the wrong way round. The lady stood at the back of the boat, facing forwards and propelled us forwards, she was incredibly strong.  This was the favourite part of our trip.

We crossed into Cambodia without any problems and arrived in the capital Phnom Penh.

Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue and Hoi An. 31st October -10th November

Vietnam. We flew into Hanoi airport where we were met by a man who drove us to our first hotel; The Ritz! We use the word drive liberally as he used his horn every 4 seconds. Everytime he came close to a car, overtook, came to a junction or heard someone else do it. We soon came to realise that this was the norm of Vietnam. The accommodation in Vietnam is outstanding, you can get a large room with 2 double beds, ensuite (with hot water!), air conditioning, satellite television and fridge for 3 pounds. Bargain!

Hanoi is a crazy place. There are over 1.5 million motorbikes and only 3.5 million people, we had a great time here just sitting watching the traffic, especially at cross roads. Crossing the road was a mission in itself. In England we help old ladies cross the road, here the old ladies help us to cross the road! The trick is to keep going in the same direction without hesitation and the hundreds of mopeds will swerve past you. We celebrated every time we made it. The other great thing about Hanoi is that in the local bars they sell beer that is 6 pence a glass. Not only does it taste good, but it is fresh beer (preservative free) so you don’t get a hangover.

Our first excursion in Vietnam was to Halong Bay. This is an area with four thousand limestone islands/rocks, perfect for cruising on board a luxury junk boat. We had a 3 day, 2 night trip, around the bay where we ventured into caves, had a rescue mission on a kayak (a sinking one) and listened to Boney M (they love them over here) and Jonty ate his way through as much seafood as was put in front of him. We really enjoyed the relaxing trip, the views were lovely.

After Halong Bay we went to Hue on the night bus (dreadful). Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and has a citadel as its centre. We spent one day there and did a tour on the back of motorbikes, this was a buzz. The area had recently been hit by a typhoon which made for a wet ride. We were able to go inside a pagoda and see some monks praying and singing, they later went on to play a game of football!

We then travelled onto Hoi An. A delightful town with small streets and cafes. It had a very local feel despite the millions of tailors and cobblers. We checked into a hotel with a pool and enjoyed some sun-our first in Vietnam. We then went wandering and took advantage of the opportunity to have some clothes made. Hoi An is famous for its tailors and so Jonty ended up with a snazzy new 3 piece suit and shoes and Lou opted to have some boots made and a stylish duffel coat (yes they can be stylish!). All for a ridiculous price. The whole experience was good fun, the process ended with us enquiring about how to post our goodies back to the UK at our hotel. We thought the post office may be closed on a Saturday, but the hotel owner offered to phone and 5 minutes later a post office arrived at our hotel. (A lady on the back of a moped, with box, tape, scales and the necessary forms.) This was the easiest postage we’ve had. Let’s hope it gets back okay, she did drive off with it balancing precariously on the back of the bike.

We then had to catch another nightbus, hopefully our last…ever, to Nha Trang.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai 22nd-30th October

We found a good little guest house in Bangkok, where we recovered from our dreadful day’s journey (3 hours of seasickness and a 10 hour coach are not a good combination), and ate some great food off the street stalls before heading straight up to Chiang Mai.

We planned to do 2 things in Chiang Mai, a 3 day jungle trek and a Thai cookery course. First was our jungle trek.

We stopped on route at the local markets to pick up supplies and watch the locals eat fried locusts. Nice. Then something that Lou had been looking forward to ever since we arrived in Thailand. We went elephant trekking for an hour. We were one of 2 couples on the trip and we followed behind them on the baby elephant looking at a big grey wrinkly bottom! It was a wobbly ride on top, but we soon took the plunge and sat on the elephant’s neck/head. We had bought bananas to feed the giants, but ours seemed to tuck it away in the crook of his trunk and then throw them on the ground when we weren’t looking! The mother on the other hand couldn’t get enough. It was an ambition fulfilled.

After a lunch of fried rice and fruit, we ventured off in the back of a truck up a very steep and muddy track on the side of a mountain to start our hike. Immediately we were in the jungle and were surrounded by thick vegetation that closed in around you hiding the person in front from view. We could have done with a machetti. We battled on for a good couple of hours before stopping at a waterfall for a swim/wash. Jonty enjoyed throwing himself in off the rocks and Lou dangled her feet. Then back to the jungle, this time walking through paddy fields and picking some rice. That night we stayed in a hill tribe village where all of the huts were made from bamboo. We had a great dinner by candlelight and learnt a little about the tribe’s culture. Each hut had its own ‘pet shop’ consisting of dogs, cats, chickens and a pig, not to mention spiders in the toilet. Underneath where we slept was the pig’s sty and he grunted away for most of the night.

We awoke to a panoramic view of jungle and paddy fields, and a breakfast that was even too large for Jonty to finish. Then we were straight back amongst it. Today we crossed numerous streams using log bridges and the first one we came to a snake fell out of the tree. So Lou was on the constant lookout for the rest of the day. We stopped for lunch at a hut at the top of the mountain, the guides started digging and presented us with a meaty cricket which they roasted over the fire and Jonty bravely or stupidly ate. He soon regretted it.

We had a mini adventure swinging on tarzan ropes before arriving at our camp for the night. The site was unbelievable. Surrounded on all sides by mountainous jungle and set next to a waterfall. The good thing about this waterfall was that you could walk right up to the base of it and have a power shower. Lou tried to be like the timotei girl from the advert but the water was too strong. We lit a campfire drank a cold beer and ate some more good food. It was very cold that night, so we ended up wearing most of the clothes we had brought with us. We awoke the following morning to find the hut owner frantically following the snake tracks that had appeared under where we had been sleeping.

Our hiking on the final day was a long uphill, followed by a steep downhill, but a refreshing swim awaited us at the base. Our mini-adventure finished with a float down the river on bamboo. The guide at the front steered us expertly through the little rapids, whilst the rest of us sat and enjoyed the ride. We got the truck back to Chiang Mai and rewarded ourselves with a foot/head massage.

The next day we ventured off to the cooking school and split up. We were apart for a whole hour-an unusual situation for us. Lou went to the local market with the instructor to buy ingredients for the dishes and learnt about the local produce. Jonty stayed at the cooking school and bashed up a green curry paste. We got straight into it, chopping up our ingredients and cooking them in our own woks. We got to eat everything we produced and struggled to finish anything after the first dish. The dishes we cooked were vegetable spring rolls, Thai green chicken curry, chicken with basil leaves, pad thai, green papaya salad and sticky coconut toffee banana. We learnt a lot about preparation and flavours and are really looking forward to using our recipe books when we return home.

We left Chiang Mai on the overnight bus back to Bangkok. Lou had her bag broken into, the thieves had enough time to figure out and undo her combination locks, steal some items and then relock the bags. We were dropped off at 5am in Bangkok and went back to the hostel before realising that anything was wrong. Very frustrating.

We spent a day sightseeing in Bangkok with some friends that we met in South America, it was amusing to have seen them in 2 continents, especially when we have never met them at home and they only live 20 minutes away! We briefly looked at the Royal Palace (which is nothing like the one in Indiana Jones) before we jumped onto a long boat and spent an hour cruising the canals of Bangkok. It was fun.

Next stop Vietnam.