BIG JOHN WRITES:
So from where we left off. We went to see some temples, and the first Capital of Vietnam out at Tam Coc and Hoa Lu. After lunch we went for a row in a boat through the rice fields and out to a lake system known as Halong Bay Landing. We went through some very beautiful low caves, I had to pretty much duck under each one. From there we went back to Ha Noi via bus, where we chillaxed until about 7, when we were going to head to the Overnight train to Sa Pa.
Luxurious would be one way to describe the sleeper car- IF- we didn't have to share with 2 other people. We were the first ones into our room, Shannon grabbed the top bunk and I the bottom. Shannon spilled half a bottle of water on the mattress. Due to their being no-one else in our room, we assumed it was just us for the night. I said "No Worries" and swapped mattresses. About ten minutes later, a Vietnamese woman, with not a speck of English came in. She proceeded to get on the wet mattress. This brought a few laughs from me. However, she soon found the wet patch. Not knowing what it was, she rubbed the wet patch with her hand, and sniffed it, realllll close to her nose. She mumbled some stuff in Vietnamese, and then got angry, even though it was only water. She called in a guard, some other guy, and some woman, who along with Shannon, her and myself were all in this room no bigger than a common toilet. No-one in our cabin could speak English, and they just kept yelling. Shannon got her faux concerned face on, but I just put on my cool face and kept going " Whats goin on?". Hahahaha.
Anyway in the morning, after an ok ride to Sa Pa, we jumped on a bus with the most massive wankar of an American I've seen. In Vietnam. So then after an hour, we ended up in Sa Pa, had a quick shower and a bit of a wander. We met some girls from the Black H'Mong tribe who were very cute and polite, and tiny. About 4 and a half feet tall, at 15 years old.. We gave them toy koalas we have been carrying to hand out to the kids, and they gave us some bracelets. Very nice.
Then we were off to the mountainous jungle ranges to see the Tay and Day tribes, down through Lao Chai, and Ta Van. Stopped in at some womans house, as they were setting up for a wedding this week. Drank some tea, while our guide explained to us that the dogs we saw walking around were going to be the main course. Walked another kilometre or 2, and back to Sapa, where me and Shannon chillaxed, got lunch and we decided I should hire a motorbike and ride us both around Sa Pa. So we rode around, it was very fun and relaxing, there was minimal traffic so felt quite safe. Had a blast!
After that, we were at the markets where we met an old drunk from Perth. His name was Alfonso, and he was about 60 and the most hilarious Aussie I have met so far. Had a beer on the side of the road with him. Finished the beers, parted ways, and we headed back to our hotel, had a bit of fodder, then to a little bar called Tau Bar, where we had a few bevvies. They have a rum here called ISC which I am going to try and bring home.. its brilliant. There were some pretty disgusting people in there, so at Shannons advice, we left, and went to bed.
Woke up this morning, had some breakfast and we were off to more jungle. A bit of a trek through the mountains (about 5km) and we ended up at Cat Cat Waterfalls. They were very beautiful, but must admit, am getting a bit jungled out. After walking a couple of km more, we headed back to the road, where everyone got on Motos, back to Sa Pa. Then again, due to us being kickass, we decided to ride a moto. We rented one off a guy, and got about 2 streets away when BAM!
It's about 5 degrees here, so the roads are all icy and wet. I took a corner and BAM! Bike slid out from underneath us. Both hit the road! BAM! Picked the bike up, road it back to the fella I had just hired it from. Moto-man and I rode up to the local Moto Mechanic.. There was damage to brake caliper, fairing, light and the footpegs, and it cost me about VND400000, or about $40Australian. Shannon was ok, a couple of scratches, and I'm ok, a bit of blood on my leg, a couple of grazes on my tattoos, a cut elbow and thats it. Ego is hurting the most, feeling a little bit worse for wear due to my moto skills being superior to the av-e-rage bear. Most importantly no-one was hurt.
Tonight we leave back for Ha Noi. We get to Ha Noi in the morning (train again) and then off to Halong Bay. We are doing one night on Cat Ba island, and then back to Ha Noi for two days to a bit more shopping. After that we fly back to Ho Chi Minh.
Until then, take care. Write soon.
SHANNONEGANS WRITES:
Ok , so we've arived in the beautiful mountainous town of Sapa by train and then bus. The night train was a very interesting experience, we were stoked to find out that we got a room with 4 beds and devastated when we didn't get the whole place to ourselves. John and I were so excited at the prospect of spending 8 hours on a train that we decided to take and "Obligatory Myspace Photo", whilst trying to get the perfect angle to show off our beautiful faces I proceeded to knock over my water bottle spilling it all over my bed. Not wanting to sleep in a puddle of water for the trip John and I cam up with the ingenious idea to swap the mattresses with another bed in the room before someone else came in. This idea turned very badly once a Vietnamese lady came and sat down, realising her bed was wet, she proceeded to put her hand in the mysterious liquid and sniff it (all the while John and I pretending we had no idea what was going on). This then turned into the biggest debarcle when the guard and two other people from the train got involved! The problem was sorted when the woman swapped the matterss with another bed and they just put more blankets on it to soak it up.
Enter young Engish girl called Gemma, she did not seem to notice the wet and we had a great old chat. It turns out she was working at a school in Vietnam during her gap year. She had been here for 3 months and was loving it.
We then arrived in Sapa at around 6.30am we were then bombarded by the children of the local villages asking "Where you from?", "What your name?", "You buy from me?", we gave them some of the toy Koala's and got some bracelets in return. They were very cute and are very small. When we asked them their age I thought maybe 7 or 8, it turns out they were 15 and 16!! I seem big over here! We went on a day trip to some of the villages and were followed by some Black H'Mong women on the way down the mountain, they all find John and I very interesting, I have a hilarious picture of the women standing next to John, they were all about 30ish and look like dolls next to him!
The villages were amazing! The scenery is fantastic, it's winter here so a layer of fog hangs over the tops of the moutains, it makes all the terraces with rice growing on them look magical. I bought quite alot of stuff from the women who followed us down the mountain, my favourite was a weaved blanket, it's amazing handiwork. I've also bought some silver bracelets they make as well.
To avoid sleezy men and women (a number of people have been a bit off to both of us) we have been claiming to be husband and wife as they tend to leave us alone once this is said. This has brought many LOLS as I have come across a local village girl who forst tried to buy me from John and now keeps trying to steal me and take me back to her village to marry her brother. She has litterally dragged me down the street! (I think it's all in good fun but John is paranoid they are going to knock me over the head and run away with me).
It's our last day in Sapa and we had a bit of a moto accident today, nothing serious, just the combination of bald tyres, wet ground, a corner and a stupid man John was avoiding hitting. We are ok, just a couple of bumps and scratches. We are off to lunch now and to wade our way through the village children selling things and threatening to cry if we don't buy from them! As much as it is annoying, they are so cute!
Tuesday 4 December 2007
Sunday 2 December 2007
From then until now. The sapa continues.
John :
So since we last left off. The plans for Friday night involved heading to our favourite bar in HCMC, the GO2Bar. We sat down and there were some cute, rambunctious children running about. So we had a bit of a play and giggle, all the while Shannon was trying to take pictures of them. They wanted to charge us 5000VND, about $1 to take their photo. When we said no, they flipped us off. It was pretty funny.
Anywho, then Jetstar (the Aussie airline) came and gave everyone at Go2Bar some cake, because it was their birthday or some crap.
We gave our cakes to the children who immediately became our best friends. Hard to explain but we have some pretty cool memories and pictures of the kids. I got my drunk on, while this bar tender called Viet entertained us. He was hilarious, he insisted on arm wrestling and continually trying to make us dance. Chatted to him about Australia, and about Vietnam and it was eye opening. We gave him a toy koala that we had, and he named it Tim Cahill (Australian Soccer player). It was funny but also kinda sad watching all his mates and work colleagues wanting to play with it. It was very touching. One day I hope to see Viet in Australia. He was a chipper young fellow, and it's kinda hard to describe him. Just all round ace. A bloke from Wales called Cecil sat down at our table, and we talked a bit more, before we headed back to our hotel at about 11pm. The next morning we were up and about, getting some breakfast and chillaxing waiting for our ride to HCMC airport.
We have been in Hanoi since Saturday, after a kickass flight with Vietnam Airlines.. a 2hour trip on a jumbo jet (Boeing B777) doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not going to argue with it.
Did some shopping Saturday afternoon, and headed to a place called Le Pub for some beer. Hanoi had a french occupation for a lot of it's past, and is still very much french orientated. This leads to excellent shopping, great food, very relaxed (in comparison to HCMC) and unfortunately also has the air of pomposity that is synonomous with the French.
Today we did a tour of the City, checked out a couple of Museums, saw the changing of the guard at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and then to a Restaraunt in Hanoi's Old Quarter for some great lunch. Me and Shannon decided to call it a day, and headed back to our hotel.
I headed off straight away to find a moto to take me a Doctor, as I had been experiencing ear problems for a couple of days. Woke up this morning with a severely sore ear, and could barely hear. Got to the doctor, and near USD$200 and some drugs later, turns out I have an inner ear infection.
Back on the Moto, with the translating help of an armed Vietnamese soldier in front of arrived back to the hotel, where we didnt stay long before heading to a little place we found in our earlier travels, called Half Man, 1/2 Noodle. I intend to come back here tonight and drink some beers.
Apart from that, we head off to do some more touring tomorrow. I believe we have a boat trip thru some rice paddies and other stuff on the cards. And then tomorrow night we head off to Sa Pa on the overnight train. Looking forward to it.
That's all I have for now, we will write soon.
Shannon :
We got to Hanoi yesterday. It's really different from Ho Chi Minh, John likes it better, I don't really.
It has much better shopping in terms of pretty things to bring home and it is easier to haggle, pretty much say "No thank you" and walk away, then they call after you what price you will pay! So far this isvery bad for me and my buying style as I walk away alot and then end up haggling and then I buy something I wanted but could have definately gone without! I bought some silk scarves and a silk shirt yesterday in total cost me about $20US. They're really pretty. I've also got my eye on some a lanterns and some beads and some cute book marks for presents and really awesome weaving from the H'Mong tribes. I want to actually buy the weavings when we go see the tribes in a few days though so I'm holding off.
The buildings are beautiful and it's alot cleaner and definately slower then Ho Chi Minh, but the people aren't as nice and I find it way too slow after the fast pace of Ho Chi Minh. We got a massage yesterday for 30mins, it cost $5US. I'm thinking about visiting a dayspa this afternoon, for 2.5 hours its like $30US - So cheap!
We went on a tour of Ha Noi this morning part of the set up with Sinh Cafe, it was sadly a little bit disappointing due to the fact that although interesting, it would have been good to do outside of a tour as we had to stick to the tours timelines. We went to some pagoda's where some people were holding a funeral - very different from Western funerals. They all wear white. Then we went to the Ethnology Museum which was all about the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, then itwas off to the Ho Chi Minh Mausuleum, unfortunately this time of year they did not have Ho Chi Minh's body on display. I learnt a fair bit about Vietnamese political history which was cool.
We're off on a boat trip tomorrow and then out to Sapa in the evening. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Black H'Mong tribe and the landscape in Sapa.
We had a pretty awesome last night in Ho Chi Minh and a very cool flight up here! They stuck us on a Boeing 777 for a 2 hour flight and had a camera at the front of the plane showing the view on landing and take off - way cool, not only that but they fed us!
I'm a bit bored today, there really isn't that much to do in Ha Noi and I'm struggling with being forced to be still! Our room is nice but small so I've been getting a bit of cabin fever.
Anyway, I must be off, I think we're going to hit a pub and get some din dins. Most of the tourists here are French and a fair bit snobbish so we haven't met anyone cool yet - not like Viet from the Go2Bar (read John's entry).
So since we last left off. The plans for Friday night involved heading to our favourite bar in HCMC, the GO2Bar. We sat down and there were some cute, rambunctious children running about. So we had a bit of a play and giggle, all the while Shannon was trying to take pictures of them. They wanted to charge us 5000VND, about $1 to take their photo. When we said no, they flipped us off. It was pretty funny.
Anywho, then Jetstar (the Aussie airline) came and gave everyone at Go2Bar some cake, because it was their birthday or some crap.
We gave our cakes to the children who immediately became our best friends. Hard to explain but we have some pretty cool memories and pictures of the kids. I got my drunk on, while this bar tender called Viet entertained us. He was hilarious, he insisted on arm wrestling and continually trying to make us dance. Chatted to him about Australia, and about Vietnam and it was eye opening. We gave him a toy koala that we had, and he named it Tim Cahill (Australian Soccer player). It was funny but also kinda sad watching all his mates and work colleagues wanting to play with it. It was very touching. One day I hope to see Viet in Australia. He was a chipper young fellow, and it's kinda hard to describe him. Just all round ace. A bloke from Wales called Cecil sat down at our table, and we talked a bit more, before we headed back to our hotel at about 11pm. The next morning we were up and about, getting some breakfast and chillaxing waiting for our ride to HCMC airport.
We have been in Hanoi since Saturday, after a kickass flight with Vietnam Airlines.. a 2hour trip on a jumbo jet (Boeing B777) doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not going to argue with it.
Did some shopping Saturday afternoon, and headed to a place called Le Pub for some beer. Hanoi had a french occupation for a lot of it's past, and is still very much french orientated. This leads to excellent shopping, great food, very relaxed (in comparison to HCMC) and unfortunately also has the air of pomposity that is synonomous with the French.
Today we did a tour of the City, checked out a couple of Museums, saw the changing of the guard at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and then to a Restaraunt in Hanoi's Old Quarter for some great lunch. Me and Shannon decided to call it a day, and headed back to our hotel.
I headed off straight away to find a moto to take me a Doctor, as I had been experiencing ear problems for a couple of days. Woke up this morning with a severely sore ear, and could barely hear. Got to the doctor, and near USD$200 and some drugs later, turns out I have an inner ear infection.
Back on the Moto, with the translating help of an armed Vietnamese soldier in front of arrived back to the hotel, where we didnt stay long before heading to a little place we found in our earlier travels, called Half Man, 1/2 Noodle. I intend to come back here tonight and drink some beers.
Apart from that, we head off to do some more touring tomorrow. I believe we have a boat trip thru some rice paddies and other stuff on the cards. And then tomorrow night we head off to Sa Pa on the overnight train. Looking forward to it.
That's all I have for now, we will write soon.
Shannon :
We got to Hanoi yesterday. It's really different from Ho Chi Minh, John likes it better, I don't really.
It has much better shopping in terms of pretty things to bring home and it is easier to haggle, pretty much say "No thank you" and walk away, then they call after you what price you will pay! So far this isvery bad for me and my buying style as I walk away alot and then end up haggling and then I buy something I wanted but could have definately gone without! I bought some silk scarves and a silk shirt yesterday in total cost me about $20US. They're really pretty. I've also got my eye on some a lanterns and some beads and some cute book marks for presents and really awesome weaving from the H'Mong tribes. I want to actually buy the weavings when we go see the tribes in a few days though so I'm holding off.
The buildings are beautiful and it's alot cleaner and definately slower then Ho Chi Minh, but the people aren't as nice and I find it way too slow after the fast pace of Ho Chi Minh. We got a massage yesterday for 30mins, it cost $5US. I'm thinking about visiting a dayspa this afternoon, for 2.5 hours its like $30US - So cheap!
We went on a tour of Ha Noi this morning part of the set up with Sinh Cafe, it was sadly a little bit disappointing due to the fact that although interesting, it would have been good to do outside of a tour as we had to stick to the tours timelines. We went to some pagoda's where some people were holding a funeral - very different from Western funerals. They all wear white. Then we went to the Ethnology Museum which was all about the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, then itwas off to the Ho Chi Minh Mausuleum, unfortunately this time of year they did not have Ho Chi Minh's body on display. I learnt a fair bit about Vietnamese political history which was cool.
We're off on a boat trip tomorrow and then out to Sapa in the evening. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Black H'Mong tribe and the landscape in Sapa.
We had a pretty awesome last night in Ho Chi Minh and a very cool flight up here! They stuck us on a Boeing 777 for a 2 hour flight and had a camera at the front of the plane showing the view on landing and take off - way cool, not only that but they fed us!
I'm a bit bored today, there really isn't that much to do in Ha Noi and I'm struggling with being forced to be still! Our room is nice but small so I've been getting a bit of cabin fever.
Anyway, I must be off, I think we're going to hit a pub and get some din dins. Most of the tourists here are French and a fair bit snobbish so we haven't met anyone cool yet - not like Viet from the Go2Bar (read John's entry).
Friday 30 November 2007
Writing Blogs.
Thats right. Writing blogs.
Friday November 30 by John:
Last night we decided to try to change our Saigon eating habits, and shun the GO2 Cafe. So we went to a place called Allezboo, down the road and around the corner a bit. Sat down, and it was the same company, different restaurant. Same food. Same vibe. But we liked GO2 so we stayed. We had dinner, and had heard about a place called Blue Gecko Bar in Q3. So we jumped on a couple of Moto's, and headed down to Blue Gecko.
The BG is a weedy little bar full of expats- not for us, so we finished our beers and searched for more moto's. By this time it was approximately 10PM. We found our moto's, mine's name was "Tobias", and we headed back to the hotel for some slumber.
Woke up this morning, decided to have a lazy day. So we headed to a Cafe in the next street over for some "Western Breakfast".
The breakfast we both chose was called ::: SCRAM SLAM::: and was exactly what you'd imagine. Scrambled eggs. With extra SLAM. Decent enough.
After Breaky, headed to Sinh Cafe to book our tour to Ha Noi, Halong Bay, Sa Pa etc. There was a very friendly bilingual guy who made the whole process a lot easier. If ever in Sinh Cafe HCMC, ask for "Fabian".
So then we decided to hit the tourist trail and went down to a place called "Saigon Art Museum" It was essentially that, Saigon's art museum. Some very nice stuff, 1400 yr old sculptures, beautiful paintings and a few little stores.
We headed from there, around a bit trying to find a couple of moto's (Shannon and I are both addicted to them) and ended up in Saigon's rudest neighborhood. Eventually we found a couple of jerks who were both up for taking us to the Zoo. After refusing their offer of USD$5 and settling for $2, we headed to the Zoo. Walked in and were immediately charged VND16000, or about $2, but I am sure we were overcharged. Walked around a bit, saw a smoking chimp and a few birds of prey, then headed down to see the Elephant. It spat some crap all over Shannon so we scrapped that, played a piano, and headed down to see the Wildebeest and Deer.
On our way out of that area, a couple of Vina women came up to me, and offered me some carrots to feed the deer. They literally pushed it in my hand, and I had a bad feeling I would have to pay for this. So at the end, after feeding the deer (or was I inadvertently fattening it up??) they say "FIFTYTHOUSAND" (VND50000) which is about USD$4. I laughed this off, right in there face, took out my duelling glove, slapped their faces and gave them USD$1. I walked off as they lay on the ground in sheer shock of my duelling glove owning them.
I then got very agitated that she tried to rip me off (even though we saw it coming a mile away), so I decided we should go home so I could cry.
We found a couple of motos, and USD$1.20 later, we were back at our hotel, sipping red-bull syrup and coke and talking about this. Don't know what the plan for tonight is, but by this time tomorrow we should be in Ha Noi, exploring another beautiful city of Vietnam.
Until we meet again..
John.
john.shannon.vietnam@gmail.com
Friday November 30 by John:
Last night we decided to try to change our Saigon eating habits, and shun the GO2 Cafe. So we went to a place called Allezboo, down the road and around the corner a bit. Sat down, and it was the same company, different restaurant. Same food. Same vibe. But we liked GO2 so we stayed. We had dinner, and had heard about a place called Blue Gecko Bar in Q3. So we jumped on a couple of Moto's, and headed down to Blue Gecko.
The BG is a weedy little bar full of expats- not for us, so we finished our beers and searched for more moto's. By this time it was approximately 10PM. We found our moto's, mine's name was "Tobias", and we headed back to the hotel for some slumber.
Woke up this morning, decided to have a lazy day. So we headed to a Cafe in the next street over for some "Western Breakfast".
The breakfast we both chose was called ::: SCRAM SLAM::: and was exactly what you'd imagine. Scrambled eggs. With extra SLAM. Decent enough.
After Breaky, headed to Sinh Cafe to book our tour to Ha Noi, Halong Bay, Sa Pa etc. There was a very friendly bilingual guy who made the whole process a lot easier. If ever in Sinh Cafe HCMC, ask for "Fabian".
So then we decided to hit the tourist trail and went down to a place called "Saigon Art Museum" It was essentially that, Saigon's art museum. Some very nice stuff, 1400 yr old sculptures, beautiful paintings and a few little stores.
We headed from there, around a bit trying to find a couple of moto's (Shannon and I are both addicted to them) and ended up in Saigon's rudest neighborhood. Eventually we found a couple of jerks who were both up for taking us to the Zoo. After refusing their offer of USD$5 and settling for $2, we headed to the Zoo. Walked in and were immediately charged VND16000, or about $2, but I am sure we were overcharged. Walked around a bit, saw a smoking chimp and a few birds of prey, then headed down to see the Elephant. It spat some crap all over Shannon so we scrapped that, played a piano, and headed down to see the Wildebeest and Deer.
On our way out of that area, a couple of Vina women came up to me, and offered me some carrots to feed the deer. They literally pushed it in my hand, and I had a bad feeling I would have to pay for this. So at the end, after feeding the deer (or was I inadvertently fattening it up??) they say "FIFTYTHOUSAND" (VND50000) which is about USD$4. I laughed this off, right in there face, took out my duelling glove, slapped their faces and gave them USD$1. I walked off as they lay on the ground in sheer shock of my duelling glove owning them.
I then got very agitated that she tried to rip me off (even though we saw it coming a mile away), so I decided we should go home so I could cry.
We found a couple of motos, and USD$1.20 later, we were back at our hotel, sipping red-bull syrup and coke and talking about this. Don't know what the plan for tonight is, but by this time tomorrow we should be in Ha Noi, exploring another beautiful city of Vietnam.
Until we meet again..
John.
john.shannon.vietnam@gmail.com
Wednesday 28 November 2007
From the last post until now.. Adventure continues.
DAY 2 by John:
Well on Day 2 in VN, we decided to take a cyclo tour of the town with our Cyclo guy, Son. Son and his buddy, Bai (pron. Bye, By, Buy) Son took us to the War Museum which was interesting, disturbing and I again got targeted by a guy peddling crap. The museum was not too bad, so then we headed to the Ho Chi Minh Pagoda (Buddhist Temples). Bai took us around and showed us how to get good luck from Buddha with the lighting of incense.
Side note: It would appear Vietnamese are fascinated with Big White Men. That's right. They love me. The attention is fantastic.
Anyway, from the Pagoda, we headed to the Hong Kong Market because both Shannon and I needed shoes. After looking around at some crappy shoes that would never fit either of us, ever we headed down to the produce level.
Shannon was buying some coconut candy (best. candy. ever) when a woman approached me from behind, offering me her baby. Unfortunately the hotel we were staying at did not have self-catering facilities, so I could not eat it. I declined on the baby.
We headed to a street that had only shoe stores on it, and I ended up getting a pair of "Tommy Hilfiger" pluggers."Not Copy, Original". Lies!
After that we went back to our hotel, and ended up at a place called the GO2 Bar. There are a lot of other tourists there, so we sat and had dinner. 36,000 VND, or about $2.80 got us a massive Vietnamese Curry, rice, and entree. It is here a Security Guard called "Frederick" took a particular interest in me, so we took a couple of photos of me towering about a foot over him and monstering him. Had a few more beers and headed back to the hotel.
Crashed pretty early because we had a whole day tour of the Mekong the next day...
DAY 2 by Shannon:
We haven't stopped since we got here! On Tuesday we went on a half day Cyclo tour with Son and Bai (those Cylco dudes we met on Day 1). They took us to the War Museum first up, it was quite small and though I wouldn't exactly say it was good, it was definitely educational. They
have the most amazing photography from in amongst the fighting... very confronting stuff. We looked at the usual, tank and artillery and as we were looking at one of the tanks a guy with no arms from the elbows down came up to say hello and get us to buy stuff. He was selling maps
and books. It turns out he sat on a land mine after the war, it was a pretty sad story only made not so much by the fact he had obviously rehearsed it and made quite a bit of money praying on tourists sympathy.
Stuff like that happens a lot here, after the War Museum we Son and Bai took us to the Hong Kong markets, (I wanted to get some shoes but it turns out my feet are massive over here and no one stocks my size. After a quick glance at my feet, then a giggle, they promptly inform
me that my feet are too big). I digress, I was saying how misforunate people play on that alot over here, we were in the food section sampling some awesome Coconut candy, (which I have fallen in love with and want to bring back tons of!) when this lady with a baby came up to John, she didn't speak any English and it appeared she was trying to hand him her baby. At last, it was my opportunity to purchase a small child so as I could carry it around in my handbag and teach it to steal peoples watches! However, we realised that we would have trouble getting the child through customs so we gave that one a miss.
We then continued outside to the Fruit & Veg section and got to sample all sorts of tropical fruits, they had giant grapes but they were very bland, John bought some fruit similar to lychees but not - almost- same same.
We've had an enormous amount of trouble NOT speaking broken English over the last few days and have taken up saying things like "Same same" when things are similar or have the same difference or things like "I go to Mekong", next thing you know I'll be saying "Me sing me
perform for you!".
After the markets we went to a pagoda to put some incense in sand which apparently gives us good luck. At the pagoda there was a lady with a tiny cage full of about 20 or so pretty little birds, she wanted us to pay her to let them go! I have a photo of her to name and shame the woman, although I'm getting used to a lot of things here, stuff like that still shocks me.
Then it was time for lunch so Son and Bai took us to their usual hang out for lunch. Once we sat down about 3 young Vietnamese waitresses pounced on John, wanting kisses from him! He politely declined. We are still not sure what there go was, they hung around the whole of lunch
at our table and kept trying to get a kiss, then they brought over one of their friends, Vietnamese girl (and by girl I mean lady-boy) who had very white skin due to bleach and powder then asked John if he liked her and asked how old he thought she was, he then told her 35, she was pretty upset as she was only 23 - She soon buggered off.
We went to try a few more shoe stores, no luck there with sizes so after booking a trip to the Mekong River for the next day, we went back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
DAY 3 by Shannon:
At 4am I was woken up by the incessant beeping of the traffic, they use the horns as almost a sonar set up. It was the day of our Mekong trip - HOORAY! It cost us like $8 US each and included lunch and afternoon tea.
We met out the front of Sinh Cafe - the tour guide place at 8.30 and after more offers to buy people babies and sunglasses and watches and tissues and gum and all sorts of other crap, we set off for the Mekong River. It was a 2 hour bus trip, which went by quickly due to air con
and reclining seats. The sights from the bus were amazing, there is so much construction going on in Vietnam at the moment, which is great. Our tour guides name was Son (A different Son, I think the name is like John) and he informed us that Vietnam was getting better in terms of its poverty etc. compared to the last 50 years and this was happening because of overseas investing, it turns out RMIT has a campus or something just out of Saigon.
We got to the Fish Sauce Factory and jumped off the bus, much to my displeasure at the STENCH! We then jumped on a little boat that was quite rickety and headed over to one of the islands in the Mekong. The scenery around the Mekong so amazing, you can see such decent houses neighbouring shacks. There are also people fishing along the Mekong and bathing in it.The first island stop was where they made rice paper, we had a look at this and then had some lunch. The specialty was Elephant Ear fish, glad to say John and I passed on this experience as when it came out for other people it was a whole fish standing up and looked like it was covered in maggots - Vomit.
Then it was back on the boat and to another island where we sampled a honey tea drink, tasted some local fruit and listened to some very awful Vietnamese music. We saw a squirrel in a cage and I crossed a very rickety bamboo bridge - fun times to be had.
Then it was a short walk to some horse and carts where we chatted to some lovely old Canadian people and was pulled along to the next destination where we sampled some more honey drink and I got to hold a massive Python. John decided not to partake in this as he felt his
sheer awesomeness would make the Python explode.
As the day was nearly wrapping up, we then boarded some canoes and were paddled up an estuary by a small Vietnamese woman with a bamboo hat - conical -for the wearing of, to a waiting boat to be taken home.
The day was not yet over for Shannonegans and Johntastic, we had beers with the Canadians, then went for a walk to find an elusive bar called the Blue Gecko which apparently sticks Australians, we gave up on this search and found ourselves back at Go2Bar. Luckily we heard the melodious twang of an Aussie accent and met two Australian girls with
whom we consumed more beer. A great day to be had by all.
DAY 4 by John:
This morning we awoke with a hurry as the alarm didn't go off and we were booked into a half day tour to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels. After all the excitement of the day before at the Mekong, we had high hopes. After wading through the usual sellers peddling their crap, Sunglasses, Zippo Lighters, Cigarettes, Gum, Copied Books, and today HAMMOCKS, we made our way to the Sinh Cafe to jump on the bus.
Our guide, a bilingual Vietnamese man named "Graham" told us all about the history of Cu Chi on our 2 hour ride down to the countryside. Of the 2hrs, 1hr is taken up just trying to leave Saigon because the traffic is so busy 24/7.
Eventually we got out to the jungle, after a 2hr ride that left Shannon feeling a little nauseous, we headed into the thick of the jungle and did some sight-seeing.
"Graham" was very good at making politically-incorrect jokes about a sensitive topic, and lots of people laughed. Except me and Shannon (because we are narcs and didn't find it that funny) and whoever didn't understand his accent.
We went all through the jungle looking at all the different sights, Shannon jumped down into an actual size tunnel, I however, could not stick my leg down.
I did however find it necessary to take politically-incorrect photos with mannequins however, and as a result will probably go to hell. Watch this space.
We eventually ended up at the tourist tunnel, which was still bitchin' small, dark, smelly and dirty. We headed down though, completed one level and out again. I have never been happier to see daylight. Didn't help that I had Shannon's derrière in my face the whole time.
A little bit more crap, the usual walk through the merch area, and back on a bus to Saigon.
We had lunch (I dropped mine all over the floor) at what appears to be Vietnamese Hungry Jacks, I did however have some chicken. I use the word chicken loosely, as I am 99% sure it was cat. Delicious nonetheless. MMMMMM.
Now I am here at an Internet Cafe in Saigon trying to figure if we want to skip Cambodia, or visit?
Will post again soon.
John.
Well on Day 2 in VN, we decided to take a cyclo tour of the town with our Cyclo guy, Son. Son and his buddy, Bai (pron. Bye, By, Buy) Son took us to the War Museum which was interesting, disturbing and I again got targeted by a guy peddling crap. The museum was not too bad, so then we headed to the Ho Chi Minh Pagoda (Buddhist Temples). Bai took us around and showed us how to get good luck from Buddha with the lighting of incense.
Side note: It would appear Vietnamese are fascinated with Big White Men. That's right. They love me. The attention is fantastic.
Anyway, from the Pagoda, we headed to the Hong Kong Market because both Shannon and I needed shoes. After looking around at some crappy shoes that would never fit either of us, ever we headed down to the produce level.
Shannon was buying some coconut candy (best. candy. ever) when a woman approached me from behind, offering me her baby. Unfortunately the hotel we were staying at did not have self-catering facilities, so I could not eat it. I declined on the baby.
We headed to a street that had only shoe stores on it, and I ended up getting a pair of "Tommy Hilfiger" pluggers."Not Copy, Original". Lies!
After that we went back to our hotel, and ended up at a place called the GO2 Bar. There are a lot of other tourists there, so we sat and had dinner. 36,000 VND, or about $2.80 got us a massive Vietnamese Curry, rice, and entree. It is here a Security Guard called "Frederick" took a particular interest in me, so we took a couple of photos of me towering about a foot over him and monstering him. Had a few more beers and headed back to the hotel.
Crashed pretty early because we had a whole day tour of the Mekong the next day...
DAY 2 by Shannon:
We haven't stopped since we got here! On Tuesday we went on a half day Cyclo tour with Son and Bai (those Cylco dudes we met on Day 1). They took us to the War Museum first up, it was quite small and though I wouldn't exactly say it was good, it was definitely educational. They
have the most amazing photography from in amongst the fighting... very confronting stuff. We looked at the usual, tank and artillery and as we were looking at one of the tanks a guy with no arms from the elbows down came up to say hello and get us to buy stuff. He was selling maps
and books. It turns out he sat on a land mine after the war, it was a pretty sad story only made not so much by the fact he had obviously rehearsed it and made quite a bit of money praying on tourists sympathy.
Stuff like that happens a lot here, after the War Museum we Son and Bai took us to the Hong Kong markets, (I wanted to get some shoes but it turns out my feet are massive over here and no one stocks my size. After a quick glance at my feet, then a giggle, they promptly inform
me that my feet are too big). I digress, I was saying how misforunate people play on that alot over here, we were in the food section sampling some awesome Coconut candy, (which I have fallen in love with and want to bring back tons of!) when this lady with a baby came up to John, she didn't speak any English and it appeared she was trying to hand him her baby. At last, it was my opportunity to purchase a small child so as I could carry it around in my handbag and teach it to steal peoples watches! However, we realised that we would have trouble getting the child through customs so we gave that one a miss.
We then continued outside to the Fruit & Veg section and got to sample all sorts of tropical fruits, they had giant grapes but they were very bland, John bought some fruit similar to lychees but not - almost- same same.
We've had an enormous amount of trouble NOT speaking broken English over the last few days and have taken up saying things like "Same same" when things are similar or have the same difference or things like "I go to Mekong", next thing you know I'll be saying "Me sing me
perform for you!".
After the markets we went to a pagoda to put some incense in sand which apparently gives us good luck. At the pagoda there was a lady with a tiny cage full of about 20 or so pretty little birds, she wanted us to pay her to let them go! I have a photo of her to name and shame the woman, although I'm getting used to a lot of things here, stuff like that still shocks me.
Then it was time for lunch so Son and Bai took us to their usual hang out for lunch. Once we sat down about 3 young Vietnamese waitresses pounced on John, wanting kisses from him! He politely declined. We are still not sure what there go was, they hung around the whole of lunch
at our table and kept trying to get a kiss, then they brought over one of their friends, Vietnamese girl (and by girl I mean lady-boy) who had very white skin due to bleach and powder then asked John if he liked her and asked how old he thought she was, he then told her 35, she was pretty upset as she was only 23 - She soon buggered off.
We went to try a few more shoe stores, no luck there with sizes so after booking a trip to the Mekong River for the next day, we went back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
DAY 3 by Shannon:
At 4am I was woken up by the incessant beeping of the traffic, they use the horns as almost a sonar set up. It was the day of our Mekong trip - HOORAY! It cost us like $8 US each and included lunch and afternoon tea.
We met out the front of Sinh Cafe - the tour guide place at 8.30 and after more offers to buy people babies and sunglasses and watches and tissues and gum and all sorts of other crap, we set off for the Mekong River. It was a 2 hour bus trip, which went by quickly due to air con
and reclining seats. The sights from the bus were amazing, there is so much construction going on in Vietnam at the moment, which is great. Our tour guides name was Son (A different Son, I think the name is like John) and he informed us that Vietnam was getting better in terms of its poverty etc. compared to the last 50 years and this was happening because of overseas investing, it turns out RMIT has a campus or something just out of Saigon.
We got to the Fish Sauce Factory and jumped off the bus, much to my displeasure at the STENCH! We then jumped on a little boat that was quite rickety and headed over to one of the islands in the Mekong. The scenery around the Mekong so amazing, you can see such decent houses neighbouring shacks. There are also people fishing along the Mekong and bathing in it.The first island stop was where they made rice paper, we had a look at this and then had some lunch. The specialty was Elephant Ear fish, glad to say John and I passed on this experience as when it came out for other people it was a whole fish standing up and looked like it was covered in maggots - Vomit.
Then it was back on the boat and to another island where we sampled a honey tea drink, tasted some local fruit and listened to some very awful Vietnamese music. We saw a squirrel in a cage and I crossed a very rickety bamboo bridge - fun times to be had.
Then it was a short walk to some horse and carts where we chatted to some lovely old Canadian people and was pulled along to the next destination where we sampled some more honey drink and I got to hold a massive Python. John decided not to partake in this as he felt his
sheer awesomeness would make the Python explode.
As the day was nearly wrapping up, we then boarded some canoes and were paddled up an estuary by a small Vietnamese woman with a bamboo hat - conical -for the wearing of, to a waiting boat to be taken home.
The day was not yet over for Shannonegans and Johntastic, we had beers with the Canadians, then went for a walk to find an elusive bar called the Blue Gecko which apparently sticks Australians, we gave up on this search and found ourselves back at Go2Bar. Luckily we heard the melodious twang of an Aussie accent and met two Australian girls with
whom we consumed more beer. A great day to be had by all.
DAY 4 by John:
This morning we awoke with a hurry as the alarm didn't go off and we were booked into a half day tour to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels. After all the excitement of the day before at the Mekong, we had high hopes. After wading through the usual sellers peddling their crap, Sunglasses, Zippo Lighters, Cigarettes, Gum, Copied Books, and today HAMMOCKS, we made our way to the Sinh Cafe to jump on the bus.
Our guide, a bilingual Vietnamese man named "Graham" told us all about the history of Cu Chi on our 2 hour ride down to the countryside. Of the 2hrs, 1hr is taken up just trying to leave Saigon because the traffic is so busy 24/7.
Eventually we got out to the jungle, after a 2hr ride that left Shannon feeling a little nauseous, we headed into the thick of the jungle and did some sight-seeing.
"Graham" was very good at making politically-incorrect jokes about a sensitive topic, and lots of people laughed. Except me and Shannon (because we are narcs and didn't find it that funny) and whoever didn't understand his accent.
We went all through the jungle looking at all the different sights, Shannon jumped down into an actual size tunnel, I however, could not stick my leg down.
I did however find it necessary to take politically-incorrect photos with mannequins however, and as a result will probably go to hell. Watch this space.
We eventually ended up at the tourist tunnel, which was still bitchin' small, dark, smelly and dirty. We headed down though, completed one level and out again. I have never been happier to see daylight. Didn't help that I had Shannon's derrière in my face the whole time.
A little bit more crap, the usual walk through the merch area, and back on a bus to Saigon.
We had lunch (I dropped mine all over the floor) at what appears to be Vietnamese Hungry Jacks, I did however have some chicken. I use the word chicken loosely, as I am 99% sure it was cat. Delicious nonetheless. MMMMMM.
Now I am here at an Internet Cafe in Saigon trying to figure if we want to skip Cambodia, or visit?
Will post again soon.
John.
Monday 26 November 2007
And we leave Australia...
BY JOHN:
Arrived in Darwin on Virgin Blue at about midnight. Unfortunately for me, the Foxtel in the back of the seat was not working, my mp3 player was flat and I didnt bring a book. There was a bloke from Katherine, NT sitting next to us who was a dapper young chap with all kinds of insights on cricket, rugby league and beer. Was quite tired after not sleeping all day so thought I would have a nightcap on the 4 hour flight across the desert. Together we chatted all things sport, women and liquor, and proceeded to down a fair cart of booze. After 4 G&Ts and a Bundy, the stewardess informed myself and Bruno that we would now be :SLOWED DOWN: We then managed a bit of a kip before being woken by a different stewardess asking if we were right for booze.
Stepped off the plane in Darwin. Got punched in the face by intense heat. Then I started sweating, and I realized the humidity was at gay %. I am not sure of which way humidity goes, but it was the most humid weather I have ever experienced.
From there we headed to our apartment via shuttle bus. Ernie was the driver and a magnificent job he did.
First thing we did the next day after waking up in a beautifully chilled 16degree room, was hit the main street of Darwin. Had a bit of breakfast, a couple of pints and then back to the apartment to laze by the pool. It is then we had the brainwave to get beers, to drink in the pool, and I thought I could just go up to the bottle-o barefoot. After getting outside our apartment complex, I realized that the ground was uber-hot. I would predict the outside temperature at 36degrees. We walked to the bottle-o up the road, that I had seen earlier, and it was closed on Sundays. So it was a mad-dash along intensely hot footpaths back to a place called
:THE BUFF CLUB:
I walked across the car park, and realized the tar in the bitumen was melting. Onto my feet. This caused for great displeasure. We ended up with the booze however, and back to the pool to chillax. A few hours wasted, a couple more beers with dinner and back on Ernies bus to the airport... overseas bound we were!!!
BY SHANNON:
It's the most full on place ever!! No amount of Getaway or internet research prepares you for the roads and noise and smells here. Seriously, I have taken photos but I'm going to get a video of it tomorrow, its madness.
We went for a walk today around the shops, and got followed by a Cyclo dude called Son. He speaks English quite well and has taken alot of Australians on Cyclo tours, he seems to really like us for some reason and has a photo album of his "friends" - the people he's toured around the city. Anyway he has offered to be our guide while we are here. We went on an hour long Cylo tour of the city this afternoon, I thought th traffic was madness in a car!! The Vietnamese all think John was hilaroiusbeing driven around in a Cyclo, Son has the build of a praying mantis and isn't much taller than me and peddaled him around for an hour! People were pointing and staring and laughing, all in good fun thoughnot animosity.
We are going to meet with Son tomorrow, and get him totake us on a tour of Long Tan. He wants to take us to the Mekong as his family lives there and also to the Cu Chi tunnels - his price is a little expensive though so we'll probably book the tour with the guideplace Sinh Cafe. I've got the most hilarious pictures of John being surrounded by people peddling sun glasses and all sorts of other shit, he's really bad at telling them no so they literally follow us down the street! We had Fillet Mignon Steak tonight for 70,000 Dong which is about AUD$6.00! Cheaper than pub food AND better cuts of steak.
Singapore was so incredibly boring, mind we didn't leave the airport as we had no time to do a tour of the city. We had Rotten Ronnies there for breakfast - everything was made from chicken! The Sausage and egg muffin - chicken patty. They also don't sell anything with bacon on it - weird. Oh and they have squatting pan toilets! I took a photo because they've got hoses to wash your bum with when you're done!! Along with normal loos thank god!
More updates and photos very soon...
john.shannon.vietnam@gmail.com
Arrived in Darwin on Virgin Blue at about midnight. Unfortunately for me, the Foxtel in the back of the seat was not working, my mp3 player was flat and I didnt bring a book. There was a bloke from Katherine, NT sitting next to us who was a dapper young chap with all kinds of insights on cricket, rugby league and beer. Was quite tired after not sleeping all day so thought I would have a nightcap on the 4 hour flight across the desert. Together we chatted all things sport, women and liquor, and proceeded to down a fair cart of booze. After 4 G&Ts and a Bundy, the stewardess informed myself and Bruno that we would now be :SLOWED DOWN: We then managed a bit of a kip before being woken by a different stewardess asking if we were right for booze.
Stepped off the plane in Darwin. Got punched in the face by intense heat. Then I started sweating, and I realized the humidity was at gay %. I am not sure of which way humidity goes, but it was the most humid weather I have ever experienced.
From there we headed to our apartment via shuttle bus. Ernie was the driver and a magnificent job he did.
First thing we did the next day after waking up in a beautifully chilled 16degree room, was hit the main street of Darwin. Had a bit of breakfast, a couple of pints and then back to the apartment to laze by the pool. It is then we had the brainwave to get beers, to drink in the pool, and I thought I could just go up to the bottle-o barefoot. After getting outside our apartment complex, I realized that the ground was uber-hot. I would predict the outside temperature at 36degrees. We walked to the bottle-o up the road, that I had seen earlier, and it was closed on Sundays. So it was a mad-dash along intensely hot footpaths back to a place called
:THE BUFF CLUB:
I walked across the car park, and realized the tar in the bitumen was melting. Onto my feet. This caused for great displeasure. We ended up with the booze however, and back to the pool to chillax. A few hours wasted, a couple more beers with dinner and back on Ernies bus to the airport... overseas bound we were!!!
BY SHANNON:
It's the most full on place ever!! No amount of Getaway or internet research prepares you for the roads and noise and smells here. Seriously, I have taken photos but I'm going to get a video of it tomorrow, its madness.
We went for a walk today around the shops, and got followed by a Cyclo dude called Son. He speaks English quite well and has taken alot of Australians on Cyclo tours, he seems to really like us for some reason and has a photo album of his "friends" - the people he's toured around the city. Anyway he has offered to be our guide while we are here. We went on an hour long Cylo tour of the city this afternoon, I thought th traffic was madness in a car!! The Vietnamese all think John was hilaroiusbeing driven around in a Cyclo, Son has the build of a praying mantis and isn't much taller than me and peddaled him around for an hour! People were pointing and staring and laughing, all in good fun thoughnot animosity.
We are going to meet with Son tomorrow, and get him totake us on a tour of Long Tan. He wants to take us to the Mekong as his family lives there and also to the Cu Chi tunnels - his price is a little expensive though so we'll probably book the tour with the guideplace Sinh Cafe. I've got the most hilarious pictures of John being surrounded by people peddling sun glasses and all sorts of other shit, he's really bad at telling them no so they literally follow us down the street! We had Fillet Mignon Steak tonight for 70,000 Dong which is about AUD$6.00! Cheaper than pub food AND better cuts of steak.
Singapore was so incredibly boring, mind we didn't leave the airport as we had no time to do a tour of the city. We had Rotten Ronnies there for breakfast - everything was made from chicken! The Sausage and egg muffin - chicken patty. They also don't sell anything with bacon on it - weird. Oh and they have squatting pan toilets! I took a photo because they've got hoses to wash your bum with when you're done!! Along with normal loos thank god!
More updates and photos very soon...
john.shannon.vietnam@gmail.com
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