Going a bit blog mad at the moment.... making up for lost time I guess! Anyway I've seriously fallen in love with Hanoi now after a few final chilled out days here, met some really interesting people and seen some great things.... but now it's time to move on to go back to Thailand to explore the North... Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Pai! Thanks Vietnam, it's been fun and I am determined to come back and see more one day! But for now, a few things I've noticed along the way...
- Vietnamese food is seriously underrated - 'pho' noodle soup, spring rolls, crusty french bread (very rare to find a decent bit of bread in asia).... forget about Chinese, Vietnamese is my new food choice!
- In Hanoi at least... very easy to get ripped off if you don't have a good head on. Everything must be haggled for, even just a bottle of water, because the locals will automatically at least double the price for foreigners. Boring. Also they will try to short change you pretty much every where. Boring again.
- It's true what they say, there are motorbikes EVERYWHERE. China prepared me a little for the mayhem, but its still a terrifying ordeal crossing the road... you have to step out into oncoming traffic and hope they swerve to avoid you, otherwise you will literally be waiting all day!
- Sweatiest place I've been. And that's a bold statement seeing as I lived in the humid regions of Southern China for 6 months.
- One of my favourite places in the world - Hoan Kiem Lake. I spent a few afternoons sat here in the sun reading my book, strangely peaceful despite the crazy motorbike traffic going on in the background. Also if you sit here for a while you are likely to have Vietnamese English students approach you and ask politely if they can sit and practice their English for a while. I've let them a few times, and had many cute little conversations with them (my particular favourite is the boy who would not stop talking about roast dinners and yorkshire puddings when I told him I was from England).
- You can get a pretty decent draught beer 'beer hoi' for about 20p on the streets. Can't argue with that.
- In Hanoi, the police drive round at 11ish each night closing down all the clubs and bars. We found bars that did a lock in (aka. paid off the police), but still a very strange experience to have your night inturrupted by some Vietnamese police with truncheons who take away all the speakers.
- Despite the ripping off tourists and constantly nearly running you over with their motorbikes, the people are some of the friendliest I've met in Asia!
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Crazy week in Vietnam part 2...
This blog will probably be the hardest to write, definitely one of the most surreal few days of my life and completely unforgettable!
After talking to many, many travellers in Hanoi and Halong Bay, it seemed like with the time I had left in Vietnam and with my funds, the natural thing for me to do (rather than sit around Hanoi for a week - as much as I love the city I think I would be bored stiff) would be to take a bus up to the rural town of Sapa to explore a little more of Northern Vietnam. A lot of tourists do this route by organized tours which allow you to stay with a local family there, however after talking to a lottt of people I learnt that the money you pay to do these homestays rarely ends up in the pockets of the poor families that you stay with. So, to put my hard earned cash to better use I decided to go it alone, as I was told many times that the locals will approach you when you arrive with offers of places to stay and they will then get to keep every penny you offer them.
So... getting off my 12 hour overnight bus to Sapa, I was a little nervous not knowing where I would be staying and being completely alone (and I know my mother will be panicking just reading this).... but luckily what I had been told was true I had nothing to worry about as I got off the bus, about 20 different ladies approached me, telling me about their homes and families in perfect English and offering me cheaper prices of places to stay. I ended up talking with a lovely lady called Tu who lived in the next village over as she had offered to walk me round the local villages and take me trekking round the beautiful scenery of Sapa. So off I trotted with all my belongings on my back to my home for the next few days.
After my "shower" with a hosepipe next to the animals, Tu told me to have a rest while she prepared a meal for me. When I woke up to "Rachelss! Breakfastt!" (every single meal she called breakfast) I saw that the table was filled with so many different bowls filled with delicious looking food. I sat and waited for everyone else to join the table until Tu told me to start and I realized I was eating alone and all this food was for me! I ate quite a bit, and every time I stopped Tu would tell me to eat more, or ask me if I didn't like it, so I would eat more so as not to offend her. She literally would not let me stop eating until I had to beg her that I was full. I asked her several times when her family would eat but she just smiled and laughed at me. After I was finished I rolled to my bed to rest my full belly, and was shocked when she called her 7 children in to eat my leftovers as their lunch! I felt terrible, if I'd have known they would eat the same food I would have eaten a lot less, but she wouldn't let me eat any less than I did! I decided then and there that however bad the experience was by my standards, I would stay with Tu both nights as I had agreed because of the kindness that her and her family were clearly prepared to show me. This is a decision I would later hate myself for, but a decision I'm glad I made anyway.
After visiting her friends house to meet her family and her..um... buffalo.. me and Tu decided to head back to her village for some dinner. Only problem was we had been walking in the opposite direction all day so were now reeeally far away... and my legs were starting to seize up (I'm not exactly a hiker) so the prospect of doing the trek again was very unappealing. However! Like a knight in shining armour, Tu's husband appeared with his motorbike to give us a ride back to the village in style, riding through Sapa on the back of his bike is definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far!
That evening was pretty relaxed, I spent time with Tu's family (none of whom speak English but the children were adorable) and she made me home made spring rolls. The children spend their time sewing things to be sold on the streets to tourists, so when I sat helping her daughters for a while I was so happy when Tu gave me a bracelet and a bag to say thank you.
After talking to many, many travellers in Hanoi and Halong Bay, it seemed like with the time I had left in Vietnam and with my funds, the natural thing for me to do (rather than sit around Hanoi for a week - as much as I love the city I think I would be bored stiff) would be to take a bus up to the rural town of Sapa to explore a little more of Northern Vietnam. A lot of tourists do this route by organized tours which allow you to stay with a local family there, however after talking to a lottt of people I learnt that the money you pay to do these homestays rarely ends up in the pockets of the poor families that you stay with. So, to put my hard earned cash to better use I decided to go it alone, as I was told many times that the locals will approach you when you arrive with offers of places to stay and they will then get to keep every penny you offer them.
So... getting off my 12 hour overnight bus to Sapa, I was a little nervous not knowing where I would be staying and being completely alone (and I know my mother will be panicking just reading this).... but luckily what I had been told was true I had nothing to worry about as I got off the bus, about 20 different ladies approached me, telling me about their homes and families in perfect English and offering me cheaper prices of places to stay. I ended up talking with a lovely lady called Tu who lived in the next village over as she had offered to walk me round the local villages and take me trekking round the beautiful scenery of Sapa. So off I trotted with all my belongings on my back to my home for the next few days.
My amazing guide and host Tu
We walked for about 2 hours in the scorching sun before getting to Tu's village, 'Lao Chai', so I was dying for a shower and a little lie down before we went out exploring in the afternoon. I'm not saying I was expecting the Hilton, but I have to admit I was a little bit shocked when I got to Tu's home. She lead me up a dirt hill and over a muddy field before getting to her "front garden" which was a patch of dirt filled with pigs and chickens. Inside was pitch black as there was no electricity for light, and the ground was dirt just like outside. She had a few plastic chairs, a fire and a few wooden beds for her massive family all to share. Despite there clearly not being enough beds however, she quickly made one up for me in the corner of the one room, with a thick blanket and a mosquito net. As I lay on my bed listening to the pigs outside my mind quickly wondered to the image of the nice hotels we passed on the walk to the village....
Up the garden path...
The "front garden"/bathroom
My room/the kitchen
The rest of the room
After my "shower" with a hosepipe next to the animals, Tu told me to have a rest while she prepared a meal for me. When I woke up to "Rachelss! Breakfastt!" (every single meal she called breakfast) I saw that the table was filled with so many different bowls filled with delicious looking food. I sat and waited for everyone else to join the table until Tu told me to start and I realized I was eating alone and all this food was for me! I ate quite a bit, and every time I stopped Tu would tell me to eat more, or ask me if I didn't like it, so I would eat more so as not to offend her. She literally would not let me stop eating until I had to beg her that I was full. I asked her several times when her family would eat but she just smiled and laughed at me. After I was finished I rolled to my bed to rest my full belly, and was shocked when she called her 7 children in to eat my leftovers as their lunch! I felt terrible, if I'd have known they would eat the same food I would have eaten a lot less, but she wouldn't let me eat any less than I did! I decided then and there that however bad the experience was by my standards, I would stay with Tu both nights as I had agreed because of the kindness that her and her family were clearly prepared to show me. This is a decision I would later hate myself for, but a decision I'm glad I made anyway.
After eating, Tu took me on a walk around her village and we had a chance to talk a bit more. She spoke with near enough perfect English, all learned from tourists as she didn't go to school, and sometimes she would point at things and ask me what they were called. She talked to me about her friends that she has all around the world who come back to stay with her again and again, and about life in the village. As we walked we walked past endless amounts of people that she knew and they would all stop to talk to me and ask me about myself, my family, my life. The people in the village were truely some of the most friendly I have come across anywhere and the village itself was so pretty and peaceful.
The next day we did more exploring of the local villages and took a trek up one of the mountains. Tu invited one of her friends to join us (I forgot her name), who was just as sweet as Tu. They took me for a delicious lunch of noodle soup and we even had a beer over lunch, just my kinda girls!
That evening was pretty relaxed, I spent time with Tu's family (none of whom speak English but the children were adorable) and she made me home made spring rolls. The children spend their time sewing things to be sold on the streets to tourists, so when I sat helping her daughters for a while I was so happy when Tu gave me a bracelet and a bag to say thank you.
The next day I was due to catch my bus back to Hanoi in the evening, so Tu offered to show me Sapa town and stay with me until my bus at 5pm. We spent the whole day wondering round the tiny town, looking at the handicrafts in the markets and walking up the tallest point in Sapa.
By the time 5pm rolled around, and as Tu was putting me on my bus with a bag of drinks and bananas for my journey, I was so sad to leave. Despite it definitely being the worst place I've stayed (showering with a hose and waking up to the sound of pigs running around isn't exactly ideal), it was ironically the most expensive as I ended up giving Tu double what we had agreed on price wise (1 million dong, which is around £30 - nothing to me but a lot here and will hopefully make a difference to her and her family). She was so kind to me and showed me so much of the way people in villages like that live that I will never forget my trip to Sapa!
If anyone reading this ever gets the opportunity to go, do a home stay not an organized tour to make sure your money goes straight to the family who look after you! The experience is so worth it, if you can handle it!
A crazy week in Vietnam! Part 1
So as it turns out, venturing to Vietnam on my own without a plan could be the best decision I have ever made! I've had such a mad week it will be hard to sum up, but as I sit in bed recovering from my overnight bus back from Sapa to Hanoi I will attempt to at least get close to summing up the amazing things I have seen!
So after a few rainy days in Hanoi (luckily shared with some great company of some amazing people I met in my hostel), I decided to take the plunge and hand over a wad of money to go visit Halong Bay, "one of the 7 natural wonders of the world". It was a risky move as I spoke to a lot of people who made the 4 hour journey to Halong only to have their trip cancelled due to the rain and typhoons that have been hitting Vietnam over the past week. Luckily, I was blessed with glorious sunshine and clear skies for the whole of my weekend away! Thanks to the lovely lady at my hostel who has taken a liking to me I also got an amazing deal on a great boat and even my own private room... anyway I've never been on a cruise before but I imagine my experience was pretty close, cruising through the beautiful bay and being fed incredible seafood at every opportunity was definitely the best weekend I've had in ages.
Overall an amazing couple of days of cruising, swimming, kayaking and exploring the beautiful Halong Bay! Didn't want to leave but seeing as the typhoon hit the day after we left I guess it was good we left when we did... also I had more exciting things to be getting on with, after talking to people who had been there and done it my heart was now set on heading to Sapa in Northern Vietnam!
So after a few rainy days in Hanoi (luckily shared with some great company of some amazing people I met in my hostel), I decided to take the plunge and hand over a wad of money to go visit Halong Bay, "one of the 7 natural wonders of the world". It was a risky move as I spoke to a lot of people who made the 4 hour journey to Halong only to have their trip cancelled due to the rain and typhoons that have been hitting Vietnam over the past week. Luckily, I was blessed with glorious sunshine and clear skies for the whole of my weekend away! Thanks to the lovely lady at my hostel who has taken a liking to me I also got an amazing deal on a great boat and even my own private room... anyway I've never been on a cruise before but I imagine my experience was pretty close, cruising through the beautiful bay and being fed incredible seafood at every opportunity was definitely the best weekend I've had in ages.
Kayaking round Halong Bay
"Cooking class" making Vietnamese spring rolls
Overall an amazing couple of days of cruising, swimming, kayaking and exploring the beautiful Halong Bay! Didn't want to leave but seeing as the typhoon hit the day after we left I guess it was good we left when we did... also I had more exciting things to be getting on with, after talking to people who had been there and done it my heart was now set on heading to Sapa in Northern Vietnam!
Friday, 9 August 2013
A new post but don't get too excited...
Apologies if anyone has been waiting for a post from me and gets excited seeing I've posted something new, this is not a particularly informative post but more one to say I am ALIVE and having the best time of my life, just haven't got a spare minute to sit down and write about it! Which is incredibly annoying because I know all the amazing things I've done and seen will eventually all blur into one without the helpful recollection aid that is this blog. So I will try to sum it up in vague terms to keep it all in order in my head while I have a spare moment free in my dorm in Vietnam (I'll get to that... eventualllly)
After leaving Hong Kong I headed to Thailand where I spend the most amazing 2 and a half weeks with my Irish buddies from China, starting with buckets on the legendary Khao San Road in Bangkok and travelling round the beautiful southern Thailand islands. So from Bangkok we went to an infamous full moon party on Koh Phangnan, stayed in a bamboo shack and visited the beach from the film The Beach and hung out with wild monkeys on Koh Phi Phi, watched the best fire show and partied on the beach on Koh Tao, fried like overcooked steaks on Koh Samui and finally ... got food poisoning in Phuket. I wouldn't change a single moment of it, easily one of the best 2 weeks of my life despite the fact I was consistently hungover (I blame the Irish). This is of course the past two weeks in a quick blurb!
The girls left me on my tod in Phuket with 10 days or so to kill until Jen arrived in Chiang Mai ready for our Northern Thai adventure. I originally planned to hang around in Thailand on the beach, sunning myself and drinking cocktails... however I underestimated how expensive the islands would be (I cannot emphasise enough, by Asian standards, Thailand is NOT CHEAP) and how far my budget would get me staying here alone. A few chats with fellow lone travellers later and a bit of googling and I made the impulse decision to head over to Vietnam for a while (because why the hell not)! It's a much cheaper country and the liklihood of meeting other solo travellers was a lot higher. Which brings me to where I am now, sat in my hostel in Hanoi listening to the sound of motorbikes whizzing past my window. And I don't regret my decision for a minute! Tomorrow I'm heading to Halong Bay for a weekend cruise which I'm very excited about... just praying for no rain as it was chucking it down yesterday. I'm even loving travelling alone (as much as I miss my Irish chums) because I get to do what I want exactly when I want and be able to make last minute decisions no problems. I've also met so many amazing people already!
As I said, this post probably wasn't as informative as some may have liked, but I think the jist is there. I can't wait to get back to Thailand to explore the North after hearing such good things from other people I've met, and then of course to end my trip in India... what a way to finish with a bang!
After leaving Hong Kong I headed to Thailand where I spend the most amazing 2 and a half weeks with my Irish buddies from China, starting with buckets on the legendary Khao San Road in Bangkok and travelling round the beautiful southern Thailand islands. So from Bangkok we went to an infamous full moon party on Koh Phangnan, stayed in a bamboo shack and visited the beach from the film The Beach and hung out with wild monkeys on Koh Phi Phi, watched the best fire show and partied on the beach on Koh Tao, fried like overcooked steaks on Koh Samui and finally ... got food poisoning in Phuket. I wouldn't change a single moment of it, easily one of the best 2 weeks of my life despite the fact I was consistently hungover (I blame the Irish). This is of course the past two weeks in a quick blurb!
The girls left me on my tod in Phuket with 10 days or so to kill until Jen arrived in Chiang Mai ready for our Northern Thai adventure. I originally planned to hang around in Thailand on the beach, sunning myself and drinking cocktails... however I underestimated how expensive the islands would be (I cannot emphasise enough, by Asian standards, Thailand is NOT CHEAP) and how far my budget would get me staying here alone. A few chats with fellow lone travellers later and a bit of googling and I made the impulse decision to head over to Vietnam for a while (because why the hell not)! It's a much cheaper country and the liklihood of meeting other solo travellers was a lot higher. Which brings me to where I am now, sat in my hostel in Hanoi listening to the sound of motorbikes whizzing past my window. And I don't regret my decision for a minute! Tomorrow I'm heading to Halong Bay for a weekend cruise which I'm very excited about... just praying for no rain as it was chucking it down yesterday. I'm even loving travelling alone (as much as I miss my Irish chums) because I get to do what I want exactly when I want and be able to make last minute decisions no problems. I've also met so many amazing people already!
As I said, this post probably wasn't as informative as some may have liked, but I think the jist is there. I can't wait to get back to Thailand to explore the North after hearing such good things from other people I've met, and then of course to end my trip in India... what a way to finish with a bang!
Friday, 19 July 2013
Hong Kong and Macau
So after a very sad weekend of final goodbyes to the people and places I grew to love with all my heart in Houjie, it was time to leave China and enter the big wide world... starting with Hong Kong! Now, I went to Hong Kong without any predisposed opinions... I know people who have loved HK and people who think its entirely overrated so I wanted to make my own mind up. I think it took me a while to grow to love Hong
Kong, but now I'm sat in HK airport waiting for my flight out of
here, I'm actually so sad to leave. Initially I guess I felt so
guilty for enjoying the simplicity of Hong Kong compared to mainland
China... the perfect organisation, the cleanliness, the easiness of
simple tasks that were always such a monumental struggle in China.
The best way I can describe it is that Hong Kong is kind of like
China's better, more well-liked older sibling, and seeing as I grew
to really love China, even with all it's downfalls and general
weirdness, I really didn't want to join the masses of people who
prefer Hong Kong.
Anyway I decided to spend a week here with Elin before meeting up with the others again, so we've kept ourselves pretty busy. On Tuesday we went to Ocean Park (it was that or Disneyland, and Ocean Park had the edge), and although the heavens decided to open as soon as we arrived we bought ourselves some overpriced ponchos and went on all the rollercoasters anyway. Yolo and all that.
After that we headed down to the waterfront to catch the symphony of lights, the lightshow that all the buildings on the Hong Kong skyline do every night. It was pretty impressive actually, if a little bit cheesy.... but maybe I was still just feeling a little bit anti-Hong Kong at this point.
I still wouldn't say I PREFER it, as
China still fascinates me and annoys me all at the same time which I
kind of love. But it is amazing!! The general buzz and atmosphere is
incredible, kind of like London but obviously with a lot more Asians.
Well-dressed Asians I should add... a million miles away from the
err, 'interesting' fashion choices I grew to get used to in mainland
China.
After that we headed down to the waterfront to catch the symphony of lights, the lightshow that all the buildings on the Hong Kong skyline do every night. It was pretty impressive actually, if a little bit cheesy.... but maybe I was still just feeling a little bit anti-Hong Kong at this point.
On Wednesday we decided to cross the
water and spend the day in Macau, the 'Las Vegas' of China. It was
without a doubt the strangest place I've ever visited. The buildings
and streets were like a replica of somewhere in Europe, I mean I
literally could have sworn I was in Italy. But then you look up and
see Chinese characters everywhere which brings you back down to the
fact you are actually in Asia. The street signs are in Chinese and
Portuguese, and then occasionally English, so we had to work out our
way trying to translate the Portuguese... not something I thought I'd
be doing while in Asia. It was generally a nice place though, the
fact that the island is so small means you can literally walk from
each tourist spot to the next which is nice. Unfortunately it decided to rain again so we
couldn't wander about as much as we wanted to, but I think we got a
feel for the place... and yes there are casino's everywhere (probably
a good thing that Elin wasn't old enough for us to hide from the rain
in there.... I could have left Macau a very broke woman).
Asia.... or Europe?
On Thursday, the other girls arrived
and as Elin was due to leave the next day, when we heard about a 'pub
crawl' that takes place every Thursday night in Hong Kong we were
obviously more than a little keen. For 100 HK dollars we were lead
around Hong Kong for the evening with a group of more than 100
travellers, given free entry and free shots to every place and
generally had a pretty fantastic night. I wish there were photos of this night but I didn't risk taking out my camera or Iphone. Probably a very wise choice. The next day we went to the world's
cheapest Michelin star restaurant. It took us ages to find because if
you didn't know it was Michelin star you wouldn't even look twice at
it, it just looked like every other little Asian restaurant. The
signs weren't even in English (which for Hong Kong is really saying
something). The food was incredible though, and for a proper feast of
Dim Sum we only paid 50 HK dollars each, which is around a fiver...
happy days! We attempted to go see the Symphony of Lights light show
afterwards, but the heavens decided to open so instead we went back
to our rooms looking like drowned rats.
So now I am still in my China state of
mind that everything is going to take 3 times as long as it should,
forgetting that I'm in Hong Kong where everything runs like
clockwork, so I'm at the airport far earlier than I need to be. But
soon I'll be on my flight to Bangkok where I begin the next leg of
the journey.... get me on a beach with a cold beer in my hand!
Victoria Peak, HK
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
how high?? SHANGHAIII
This blog is bound to be getting updated less and less now as my travelling goes on, but I'm determined to update as and when I get a spare 10 minutes so that I don't forget what I've done! So, on that note, I find myself with a bit of spare time to talk about the latest trip..... Shanghai baby!!
I literally cannot explain how much I loved this city, after 5 months in 'real' China it was great to experience a little more Western culture while still being surrounded by everything I've grown to know and love about China.
And of course a beautiful reunion with my Irish chums from Beijing!
So 'The Shang' in a nutshell.... minus a LOT of irrelevant but hilarious details...
We went to see 'The Bund', Shanghai's iconic skyline
We went to the top of the Oriental Pearl Power to see the view of Shanghai from the very top, and walked over the glass walkway to see the pure drop to the city beneath our feet (I'm a pro at these glass walkways now, didn't even flinch)
We went to Starbucks for some culture
We experienced true Chinese culture at the local bars ... ahem..
We went to visit the Yuyuan Gardens, which was beautiful and very calming for our slightly fragile states (no sympathy required)
We went to Starbucks....again
And then a tiny weeny 15 hour train journey sat in a hard seat later we were back in Houjie as if the last few days had never happened. BU HAO, take me back!
I literally cannot explain how much I loved this city, after 5 months in 'real' China it was great to experience a little more Western culture while still being surrounded by everything I've grown to know and love about China.
And of course a beautiful reunion with my Irish chums from Beijing!
So 'The Shang' in a nutshell.... minus a LOT of irrelevant but hilarious details...
We went to see 'The Bund', Shanghai's iconic skyline
We went to the top of the Oriental Pearl Power to see the view of Shanghai from the very top, and walked over the glass walkway to see the pure drop to the city beneath our feet (I'm a pro at these glass walkways now, didn't even flinch)
We went to Starbucks for some culture
We experienced true Chinese culture at the local bars ... ahem..
We went to visit the Yuyuan Gardens, which was beautiful and very calming for our slightly fragile states (no sympathy required)
We went to Starbucks....again
And then a tiny weeny 15 hour train journey sat in a hard seat later we were back in Houjie as if the last few days had never happened. BU HAO, take me back!
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