Hanoi

When we arrived in Hanoi it was overcast, foggy and quite cool. After a short walk from the hotel we arrived at a lake where a significant crowd had gathered and were staring into the water.

A local told us that they were looking at a 1,000 year old turtle that lives in the lake - Lloyd also confirmed it was in the UK media before they left. Apparently, the local opinion is that it's recently been unwell and by the look at the state of the green slime it was swimming around in that was supposed to be the lake, we weren't surprised.
As we continued our wander further around the streets we happened upon a guy who seemed to be equipped to repair Helen's glasses which had recently broken.

There were also a number of interesting retailers selling all kinds of stuff..

There was also a number of women of Hanoi and the surrounds who constantly sold goods from their heavy balancing wicker baskets. A trip to the local womens museum had a short documentary illustrating how far the ladies come to sell their goods, the amount of time they are away from their families, the long hours they work and the small, yet significant sums of money they can earn to take back to their families to help to feed them and make a difference.

We also walked past 'Uncle Ho's' mausoleum, but were too late in the day to go inside and take a peek.

The weather in Hanoi was a complete mixed bag and cooled rapidly soon after we arrived and descended into a number of days rain, but before we left it had begun to improve significantly again. So much so, that a walk over to the 'big lake' revealed just how huge it was and stopped David in his tracks from thinking we could take a short stroll around the whole of it in one afternoon.

Hanoi was where Lloyd & Margaret left us to return back to Blighty via Kuala Lumpur, but not before Lloyd found his Utopia.

The traffic in Hanoi deserves a special mention: It does seem to get by in a merged-chaos kind of a way. One way streets are of no consequence to either mopeds or cycles of various sizes and pedestrians might as well not exist. Peripheral vision and a horn that seems to suggest an 'OK, I've made my mind up and I'm coming through this gap/junction/crossing' regardless of what is coming in the opposite or sideways direction. It appears to work the majority of the time, but clearly there are many instances when the deafening horns can not be differentiated from the mass of others and there are painful consequences.

Hanoi was also the first place we noticed the many couples openly checking each others hair for nits. Is your head itching now as ours did when we saw this?

We also treated ourselves to a performance of water puppets. It was a show loosely based on sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. It was a privilege to hear first hand the in-theatre Vietnamese band for the first couple of numbers, but admittedly it did become a bit repetitive throughout the sixty minutes of the whole performance. As for the sex bit, it really was quite something to see the puppets of the local farmers running around attached very closely behind the water buffalo! Finally, the drugs part - by the end of the performance we were unsure if we'd been on, or just needed them. Honestly though, it was well worth witnessing and the start of a good evening.

Our final few nights accommodation were at a back packers hostel in the style we'd become accustomed to on our overland journey out to Australia. It was a clean, almost palatial room overlooking the old town complete with flat screen tv and balcony. Worryingly though, the other double doors in the windows overlooking the roof tops of Hanoi didn't have a balcony, they just opened out, so no sleepwalking for us!



On our final night in the city we met up with an Australian couple, Richard & Anita, who we'd bumped into a few times in both Hanoi and SaPa and we ended up visiting the local Bia Hoi's (outside bars) where fresh beer is served up for about 15p a glass, nice and cold. However, we sat on tiny plastic stools the size of those you find in primary schools and we're sure that those chairs were responsible for the wobbly legs at the end of the evening rather than the content of those glasses that just kept being refreshed into the late hours of the night.

HaLong Bay

Our first attempt to travel down to HaLong Bay with Margaret & Lloyd was re-booked due to poor weather. The second attempt saw us travel in a mini-bus for 3 -4 hours to HaLong on what turned out to be a lovely sunny day only for the trip to be cancelled due to high winds. We were then 'treated' to lunch which turned out to be one of the worst meals we've had in Vietnam, so David & Lloyd decided to have a couple of beers to mask the dissapointment. About an hour and a half into the journey on the way back the bus had to stop for an unscheduled wee break.
Sadly Margaret & Lloyd left for home on the day we had rescheduled our third attempt to enjoy HaLong Bay - since a boat sank in HaLong Bay a short while ago, the port authority has been cancelling trips out at the slightest hint of poor weather conditions.
So was it to be third time lucky for us?
Thankfully it was.
This meant another 3 - 4 hour trip down to the bay, but we had a green light to go on the boat. It was cold, but it was neither raining nor windy.
The boat we were on was The Red Dragon and designed to carry 11 passengers, but there were only 7 of us on the boat for the overnight boat-trip.
In the afternoon we completed a first - kayaking - and HaLong Bay is certainly a great place to start, although there were a few coordination issues between the both of us as we went around some of the islands in the bay. As the water was pretty cold, it was great that we didn't flip over in the boat and when we returned to shore we walked up the island into a cave that had been previously used by the local fishermen.

Talking of local fishermen, when we were back on the boat, in the fading light there was a small boat casting nets out to sea and then following the net around drumming above the water and then cracking a whip to try and get the fish into the net. In the evening, the 7 of us sat down to several courses, sitting inside, looking at the lights of a couple of other boats moored in the same harbour as us overnight.
The following morning after a short breakfast we went to visit a couple of floating fishing villages - rowed by a local village lady. During this short trip we visited a school, saw pearl harvesting for oysters and passed on the opportunity to row back to the ship.



After brunch the captain of our boat (who looked far too young to have the ten years experience we were informed he had) took us back to shore on the life boat, we then bid our farewell to our fellow passengers, and took the 3 to 4 hour journey back to Hanoi.

That update to follow soon...

Sapa (in pictures)

SaPa

Our journey to SaPa was via overnight train. A small 4 berth bunk for 8 to 9 hours and thankfully we traveled light leaving half of our luggage in the 'secure' lobby of a hotel back in Hanoi.
After the transfer from Lao Cai station on the border with China we arrive in a misty SaPa and are immediately at the mercy of female vendors from the local villages. They take a particular shine to Margaret.

Mid morning, the mountain cloud clears enough for us to climb up through a hillside country park to enjoy great views across SaPa.


The following day we take a trek to some local villages with a guide called Mylan. During the morning walks on our way to Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai we leave the tarmac and initially follow the construction route of a new road and soon descend through the mountain cloud and onto the rice terraces.



The route was both steep and treacherous in places and it wasn't not long before Helen lost her footing and went up to one of her knees in the paddy field. From that point Helen is firmly hand in hand with one of the local village ladies who chaperoned us all day.



Moments later and David also lost his balance on the rocks and smacked down on his knee onto another small boulder. Luckily, only moments before he had put the camera safely back into it's carry case.

Our guide, Mylan, misses the action but it soon became clear that she had taken quite a shine to David and starts to refer to him as honey.
After lunch our walk took us down to Ta Van village. We missed the snow by a couple of days on Mount Fansipan, but it clearly took its toll on the water buffalo who were extremely sick and dying from the cold. It's a reminder of what a tough existence the mountainside terraces offer not only to the people but their animals too.

When we arrived at the village were led into the school yard and Mylan immediately headed for two swing seats and sat down on one. Helen and Lloyd enjoyed sitting on the one opposite meaning that David had to sit next to Mylan who did the classic 'cinema-yawn' manoeuvre to place her hand on the seat behind her 'honey'.

It was also at this point where she turned her attention to the lump that had appeared on Davids knee and ran to another of the ladies to get a needle to relieve the pressure from the bruising in the wound and advised David to put Tiger Balm on it later.
On our way back to the minibus, there was a large swing - similar to those we saw throughout Nepal. When David remarked upon it to Mylan, she straight away said he must have a go on it....

On another afternoon, we went for a nice stroll around the lake with Margaret & Lloyd, but resisted the temptation to take a swan pedal boat out on the lake.

Our journey back to the railways station was through some of the most staggering scenery, but sadly the minibus had heavily tinted windows to scupper any photo opportunities and, to be honest, as it was a bit of a white knuckle ride for the majority of the way, taking the camera out of the bag was not a sensible option to take.
However, the day train back did offer one or two lovely glimpses of fantastic Vietnamese countryside.

Langkawi

...and so to Langkawi. Don't get us wrong, and bear with us, but somehow it all seems and feels a bit like, well a bit like a holiday!
As nobody will be reading this anymore, there's seems little point carrying on - but we'll persevere! We stayed in a couple of different places, including a nice cabin right next to the beach for a couple of nights.
We also managed to stay in a place for a whole week - it almost seemed like we'd settled down and had stopped travelling - when we arrived at this particular place we were told there was a slight 'problem' caused by the previous occupant. Whatever the 'problem' was it required the purchase of a new mattress. Although we really didn't need the intimate details when we were lying on the brand new mattress a few hours later and enjoying the fresh smell of bleach coming from the bathroom and in fact the whole room, we couldn't help but muse at what had actually happened in that room during the previous 24 hours: We moved to another room the following day.
Our other accommodation included an interesting little place, a way back from the beach where the crack between the walls in the corner of the bathroom wall was so big you could see daylight through it!

Very welcoming place though and the owner even brought a brand new fridge for the few nights we were staying there. The last place we stayed in was a little apartment again set back from the beach but owned by one of the resorts.
Being a bit further back from the beach resulted in us being entertained by the sound of frogs in the fields next to the road to the Langkawi nightlife. Talking of the Langkawi nightlife, the very same road was crossed one night by several water buffalo as we were on our way out in the dusk. As soon as they had crossed the road, they couldn't wait to get a little closer to each other and seemed to playing piggy back, or that's what it looked like in the dark.
When we could drag ourselves away from the beach and the gorgeous sunsets, we hired a car for a couple of days. We had asked for a big car as Margaret & Lloyd were coming to join us on our trip, er holiday and we wanted to pick them up at the airport. It still looked a little Mr Magoo car to us though.

We had been in the car for about half an hour when we stopped at a waterfall where we learned the meaning of Forest.

When we got back in the car it seemed to struggle to start, but when we stopped in Kuah it wouldn't start at all. However, after about an hours walk around a strange public park we managed to fire it up and head back to the rental shop to swap it.

The new car really was another Mr Magoo car though – so small in fact that Helen stayed at the accommodation when David went to pick up Margaret, Lloyd and the suitcases – it was a sensible and necessary decision.
In Mr Magoo 2 we did get out and about on the island and visited a couple of other places of interest, but the most staggering was the cable car and suspension bridge. These are true feats of engineering and give amazing views of the island. We did also catch a glimpse of mainland Thailand from the tower at the top of Langkawi's highest mountain too.


When we dropped the car back off with Margaret & Lloyd there really wasn't much more to do than relax on the beach, catch up and socialise. It really was an odd, but brilliant experience welcoming familiar faces onto our trip – the socialising was big – in fact there appeared to be several 'tired' faces the following morning (and afternoon).

We also saw another familiar, welcome face when we were just wandering down the strip on our last afternoon – fellow overlander to Oz, Natalie Fitzgerald.

It was then great to catch up and exchange travelling gossip for an hour or so.
We also thought Debbie Ruddy had made an appearance when we patronised Debbies Irish Bar – not sure what the 'one hand wonder' by-line is though Debbie?

The nightlife was good and we managed to become regulars in a few places, but one of our favourites was on the beach, watching all the para gliders as the sun set and served the odd beer or several from a local who was the spitting image of one of the band members of Run DMC – if you ever get to Langkawi check out Rafii's for yourself and see if you agree.

Penang (in pictures)

Penang

Back to Penang, where we had a brief one night stopover on our way out to Oz.
One afternoon whilst wandering over to the shoreline on Gurney Drive we are looking out to sea when David spots what he initially thinks is a snake in the water. Helen then also spots it and it's come to the shore line, but it's then clear it's not a snake at all. There's a local girl nearby so David asks her what it is and she replies 'it's like a small crocodile' – we couldn't have put it better ourselves – not sure it was though (but don't let the Chronicle & Echo know though, eh Tim?)
We hired another moped for a couple of days to get a bit further around the island – David got to play moped dominoes in a 'ped park. Neither of us would recommend it though and David ended up with a couple of purple toes - when they stopped bleeding. We did have more successful trips with it though and managed to get to the National Park to do a couple of what were quite challenging walks in the humidity of the jungle. Whilst walking down to Turtle Beach one day, the noises in the jungle were incredible and we saw, to quote the lady earlier another one of those 'small crocodile's. There were also plenty of (other) lizards, colourful butterflies and, when we arrived at the beach turtle tracks in the sand – but sadly no turtles to see whilst we were there. On a more positive note though, there were no leeches either! We did see plenty of monkeys though on both our visits and, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the aptly named Monkey Beach itself – if only those turtles could have been as obliging.




We also managed to get to Penang Hill to visit an impressive Hindu temple and mosque, but sadly for us at this time, the funicular is currently under refurbishment, so we didn't get to see some of the better views. We were told there was a footpath to climb to the top but we couldn't find it (although due to the humidity to be honest we didn't actually look that hard).


Malay cuisine is excellent and we visited many cheap but very tasty open kitchens in Batu Ferringhi, Gurney Drive and George Town itself with some interesting items on the menu – but the vegetable samosas from one particular street vendor must get a special mention as we frequented his stall on an almost daily basis during our stay. Being the old romantics that we are, we also broke with our own tradition over the past ten years of NOT going out on Valentines – thankfully it appeared to be just a normal night our restaurant of choice on the 14th, the prices normal and only one red rose in sight.




We also enjoyed a final Indian meal in Penang on David's birthday...