We’re leaving Ha Noi today.

A bus is taking us 75kms south of the city to a town called Ninh Binh, where we’re seeing what has been called “Ha Long Bay on Rice Paddies”… there’s also some ruins and stuff. It sounds beautiful, so we’re going.

When we’re ready another bus will then take us the 10 or so hours further south to Hue where we’ll hang out for a while and see more sites.

I’m going to miss Ha Noi, but I’m looking forward to moving on and seeing more of this country. The city is amazing and the experience here has been awesome. Time and again I’m amazed at how a place this old can be so developed and yet so unrefined. It’s an organic organised chaos and I love it.

Anyway, I’ve gotta get my bags from my room and I’ve wasted something like half an hour preparing and uploading some photos for your viewing pleasure. Check out my earlier Ha Long post, and here are some additional Sa Pa images.

We caught a night train back from Sa Pa which got in at some ungodly hour this morning.. somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30am.

We got a taxi to the hotel we have a booking at, and sat down with a couple of other travellers on the front steps waiting for the place to open. Told to come back in a few hours, Lili and I dropped our backpacks off and struck out to find coffee and bakery snacks.

There were loads of people out this morning, doing exercises around the lake.. heaps and heaps of people. I wonder if it being a Saturday morning has anything to do with it?

So, coffee fix obtained we set back to the hotel, stopping on the way at a few tour companies to get an idea of what our options are for the next leg of the trip. The best deal so far is an open bus ticket to Hue for $8USD. It’s a long bus ride though.. 12+ hours total. Looks like a big bus with room to stretch out though, and a whole lot cheaper than a sleeper on the train, so that’s what we’re going to do.

Back at the hotel now they’re cleaning our room as I sit here, and we’re killing time the only way we know how- posting mindless drivel on the internet.

Once I have a shower I’m going to set out to get all my photos burned onto CD.. I’ve got something like 1.2 gigs of images now. When I’ve done that I’ll try to find an internet cafe with decent computers and get some uploading done. Lili’s much more sensible plan is to sleep for a bit. I might buy our bus tickets when I go out too. Later today we’re going to see a couple of museums. Woo, touristy.

I had a small victory last night.

Until now I’ve been basically just going into places, making sure there wasn’t a peanut smell, ordering and asking the people to make sure there were no peanuts. Not ideal, because I dont really know how understood I am in some circumstances. Mostly it’s fine, and often, in Hanoi, we’d be in full view of the kitchen, with the handful of ingredients on display anyway. It still feels like roulette though, eating like that.

But yesterday afternoon I sat down with the phrasebook, found the word peanut, “Dau Phong” (insert various accents and tonal symbols and shit) and transcribed it onto paper foe-net-ick-lee from the front of the book.

Later that night we were eating in a place, we ordered and when the waitperson came to our table I asked if the springrolls and bun cha had peanuts in them. “Pee-nutes?” she asked me quizically. “Doe faung?” I suggested. Her expression was immediately one of recognition, “Peanuts! No peanuts!”

That’s the first time I’ve managed to say anything in Vietnamese that has actually been acknowledged. The only other thing I can really say is “no thank you” It’s the first thing you seem to learn in Hanoi, and noone is really interested in talking to you beyond that point.

It’s an awesome piece of encouragement and damn useful too. I feel less helpless as a result and I’m going to work out a few other things to say as well. It’ll be fun.

Wow. It’s been a few days since the last update and I’m not entirely sure which highlights are most deserving of an update.

We’re in Sa Pa at the moment, a small town in the northern highlands. We’re heading home this afternoon after three days here. It has been freezing cold until today, we were rewarded with an amazing view of the mountains this morning as the cloud cleared.

We’ve mainly been walking. Saw some waterfalls on the first day, and visited a token hill tribe village yesterday. The walk yesterday was amazing, led by our young Hmong guides, we trekked through actual terraced rice paddies, down into a valley surrounded by beautiful green mountains and with a picturesque river at the bottom.

We were hounded the whole way by hill tribe women, aged between like.. three and seventy years (at a guess) trying to sell us embroidered goods. It was intense and kind of depressing. We’d hit a little waypoint and there would be 9 year old children with snot on their faces trying to hawk little fabric bracelets. “Buy somesing small from me?” “Buy from me?” Any response was met with persistant attempts to sell; “No thank you.” I’d say, and they’d reply with “Yes thank you. You buy pillow case?”

Forget a glimpse at preserved hill tribe culture, it was a feeding frenzy every time a group of them found us. One could easily get frustrated or angry with the badgering. I kept myself from getting irritated by coming up with various ways to say no.. complicated stuff that left them blinking, before resuming the mantra. “You buy somesing from me?” Worst were the toddlers. Too young to have picked up our language, they just walked around empty handed tapping their palms looking for handouts. Five year old beggars make me verrrry uncomfortable.. and we tourists are creating this situation.

A few of the children were fun to talk to, they had enough English and nothing to sell, and the valley was amazing, I’m just worried that with the growing tourist trade and seemingly little else for these people to do, the situation is going to get dire.

Everyone’s favourite part- Photos! Click the little pictures to get big pictures.

this is the area we were trekking through yesterday…

obligatory cute child strapped to back photo

local tribal girls

and more..

one of our guides

Lili, being helped by La, another of our guides

this was either the school or the local police station

these are everywhere in Sa Pa

We actually just got back from an overnight stay on Ha Long Bay. It was beautiful.

I’ve got a couple’a hundred photos of the place, but I dont have my cable with me to upload any images. Pity, but I’ll get some up eventually.

The place was so peaceful. The islands seem to stretch out into infinity, disappearing into the low lying mist on the horizon. These massive stone protrusions tower out of the water and… words can’t really do justice to the feeling I got as we drifted between them. The sense of perspective from having these things towering over us was overpowering. On the first day we had a tour of the Amazing Cave, which is one of, supposedly, many massive cave complexes in these islands. They were used as weapons caches in the 13th century, if I understood the guide correctly, and later (during the American war?) as hospitals.

I caught up on some reading while we were out there, finishing one book and starting on a Hess novel that Zach has been suggesting I read since the beginning of time. Well, I’m finally getting around to it.

Driving back from Ha Long to Hanoi was great. I spent most of it reading too, but also looking out the window at the landscape sliding by. Going through the small towns and finally ending back in Hanoi, the big city started to make sense to me. As chaotic and organic as the place seems, it does appear to be a natural extension or evolution of those smaller towns. It feels, to me, like what a dusty village in Australia might turn into, if town planning didn’t get its greasy paws on the place immediately and turn it into a sanitised western town. It amazes me that a place like this can be so old, have so much history, and yet retain a kind of anarchic, chaotic freedom.

As Lili and I keep whispering to each other every time something different confronts us: “I like it..”

Update! Photos- check ‘em:
(once again, click the little’uns to get big’uns)

see how she’s all blue? That’s what happens when you forget to reset the white balance after going outside from a cave…

While we were staying on Ma May street, each night we stopped off at a little shop on the way home to eat mango.

On the second night we asked her about the avocados in the fridge and the explained that they “mince” them with coconut milk for a drink.

On the third night I got the courage to buy one of those drinks.

I have to say, I dont know what all the ingredients are, but that drink was awesome. It was kind of like a green banana smoothy. It was sweet and creamy and awesome. The avocado gave it an interesting aftertaste, but somehow not like avocado. It’s hard to explain. I’ll probably have another of those drinks if I get the chance when we get back from Sa Pa at the end of the week.

God. Avocado… drink.

Also on Sunday, following our brave tradition of seeking out interesting food, we ate at a little place down the road from the hotel we were staying in. They were frying rice on the foot path and I asked a girl there what they served it with. Beef and vegetable. No peanut? No peanut. That’s good enough for me.

We sat down in a narrow allyway. The wait was short and soon a plate of steaming rice was placed infront of each of us, and another containing some kind of Asian green and bits o’ meat placed between us. The rice was good, filling and greasy. The veggies were interesting.. as though perhaps pickled before cooking. The meat was well cooked, but tastey.

The meal was decent, an interesting combination of flavours and the portions were generous. Honestly though? Given what happened next they could have served us any old swill and I still would have enjoyed myself.

As I mentioned, we were seated in a little dark ally, perched on tiny plastic furniture. Locals walked past us back and forth, getting on with whatever Sunday night entails for them.

We were just getting into the eats when suddenly an older woman burst from a doorway and started shouting at one of the women who served us. The woman responded angrily, shouting back at her. The exchange between the two only lasted a few seconds before the place was flooded with women hurling what I can only assume was abuse back and forth between each other. One old lady was mixing it up shoving people around and jabbing one angry finger into people.

We were in the middle of it. Like, right in the fucking eye of the storm, but it wasn’t calm. These little women were leaning over us to shout and point and exchange their views on whatever the hell was going on.

The thing hit its peak at about the same time that one of the women looking after us gestured for us to go with her, grabbing one of the plates. We each took our dishes and followed her into their little shop where we sat down and kept eating, as the battle raged on outside.

The women in whose shop we were eating, who we bought the food from, seemed kind of embarassed. Apart from that though, it was as though we weren’t even there.

The best part about it was that for a moment we weren’t just big fat pay cheques walking around. Everyone seems to be a sales person here and there is a very clear distinction between us and them. We’re western and so walking down the road means every second person wants you to hop on their cyclo, or the back of their bike, or eat their breadrolls, or buy their zippo lighters.. or whatever. Its like walking around one big aggressive market place and its easy to forget that there is life beyond the tourist trade here in Hanoi. But sitting, still surrealy trying to enjoy our meal in the middle of this massive arguement, we were totally ignored and were treated to a glimpse of life there we’re otherwise typically denied.

The day before yesterday we were resting in our dingy little cigarette smelling hotel room, both of us way too hungry. We had to get some lunch and Lili didn’t seem too interested in figuring out a specific place. I figured I might have a go at finding somewhere from one of our guide books. Lili’s contribution was that she wanted spring rolls. I found brief mention of spring rolls in the description of the dish served at Dac Kim and so we set off.

A bit of painful navigation later (I swear they change the street names or something) we finally found the place. It was packed. With locals. Not a whitey to be seen. Sweet.

They were cooking out on the street, with the entire inside taken up with rows of tables and tiny blue plastic stools. We hovered outside for a moment, indecisive, before swallowing our anxiety and walking in.

The place was a bustle of activity. People eating, trying to find seats, food being carried around. A woman who seemed to work there gestured up towards a tiny little staircase, and so up we went. The same thing happened again, twice, and finally we were on the fourth floor. People shoved over and we were sat one on either side of a long table. Looking around, the food looked good. We looked at each other and chuckled nervously.

The guy sitting next to me was kind of chatty. He and his girlfriend were studying English and he explained that we were sitting down to Bun Cha, a Vietnamese speciality. Before long bits and pieces were placed infront of us. A plate of salad greens and fresh herbs, another of noodles, a bowl of papaya and vinegar, bowls of brothy soup with rissoles and grilled pork floating in it, and spring rolls. Big fucking springrolls cut into thirds.

We tucked in and the meal was good. Really good. No peanuts! Bonus.

We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore, leaving a huge amount of food behind, which seemed to be normal, judging by the massive cleanup job left behind.

We must have hit lunch time, because the place drained of souls pretty quickly and by the time we were done we were among the last to leave.

It was awesome finding some seriously legit Vietnamese food. A lot of the stuff we’ve been getting in cafes seems to be muted and toned down for a western pallet. Boring.

I’m looking forward to more Bun Cha and more food in general.

Our first full day in Vietnam.

We woke up and had the included breakfast, which consisted of a brothy beefy noodley soup.

We went and found an ATM. We had a look at the offerings of a few reputable tour companies. We ate. We braved traffic.

It was nice to get out and wander around.

The streets of Hanoi are insane. I’ve got a couple of friends in Brisbane who would love this place. Nobody is following anything that would pass for road rules. Everyone is just driving to their destination, seemingly alternating between aggressive and defensive as the situation calls for it. Need to cut across on coming traffic to get into a side street? No problem, lay on your horn and wait for the larger vehicles to pass, then just push through. There are motorbikes everywhere. The ratio of motorbikes to cars is about the same as the ratio of cars to motorbikes in Australia. Crossing the road is a similar game, except you dont have a horn to beep. It’s like that oldschool game Frogger.

We met up with one of Lili’s old school teachers, who we had coffee with and chatted about random topics, including Aussie politics and the sad state of education in .au. I almost envy the guy for living here. It sounds like he’s gone from the hellish role of NSW highschool teacher, to an appreciated position of wisdom here. Good for him.

We booked another night here in the hotel and after that we’re off touring Ha Long bay and then some of the northern villages. I guess we head south after that. It’s all pretty open.

My lung seems to be slowly clearing. A small blessing. Antibiotics still prevent me from drinking the stupidly cheap beer. I guess that’s a good thing?

Rambling over. I bought a cable for my camera, so on to the pictures! Hopefully my little thumbnails work, or any cavemen still using dialup are about to lose their internet connections.

We left the country yesterday. Hopped on a Malaysian Airlines plane and flew north east to KL airport for a brief.. like, twelve hour, stop over. Dusk was chasing us for most of the trip and finally caught up with, and overtook us, somewhere over Indonesia, and it was dark as we flew over Singapore. Our bodyclocks were reading something like 2:00am by the time we touched down.

We made the snap decision as we landed to try and find a room for the night, as opposed to just roughing it in the airport which was the mostly undiscussed, half baked plan up until that point. So we ended up renting a whole damn apartment for the night. Probably not the choicest of places to stay, but it was the only place on offer at that point and we’re both far better off for the sleep.

Waking up to humidity and looking out the window to low hazy mountains and sprawling middle-of-nowhere greenery put everything in perspective, and the fact that the room was over priced and sucked suddenly seemed to be a reasonable tradeoff for actually stepping outside the airport. I’m looking forward to our four day stay at the end of the holiday, I want to see a little more of this place. Pictures of that wakeup view to follow, once I source a USB cable for my camera - had to forget something!

So we were collected at 8:30 and brought back to the airport, where we’ve been killing time with coffee, breakfast and now we’ve found internet access… in a Burger King. Rather surreal. The terminal next to me is swimming in a pool of Fanta.. and the keyboards are as greasy as you would expect for a place that serves nuggets of deep fried goodness along with their internet access, and this is a prime “real world” (as the experts would say) example of why mice should all have evolved to have lasers instead of balls. If humans could make the same evolutionary leap all would be well in the world.

In about 40 minutes we board for the second leg, destination: Hanoi. Vietnam here we come!