Halong Bay - Yay!

We got a local bus from Ninh Binh to Halong City. This was supposed to be 'door to door' but of course these things rarely are. We were dropped off a few km from the main part of Halong City and told to get a taxi. Except there weren't any taxis. Only motorbike taxis which with back-packs on isn't really that appealing and Issy still wasn't well enough to even consider walking. So inevitably the first taxi we saw and flagged down extorted us for every penny he could. He did have the cheek to think that my ten dollar note was fake though and gave me a dirty look which I thought was very admirable of him.

So we'd arrived in Halong City. Now this is a place that is essentially Blackpool, but smaller and a little bit more seedy. But who cares when Issy is treating you to wine? We drank and danced on the seafront (pretty sure this was next to two hookers getting their freak on for the business men watching). Pure class but flippin' hysterical.

The next day we travelled to Tuan Chau island. This was described as a 'gem' of an island, but is in fact a man-made resort with a weird disney-esque theme park that was pretty much shut when we we there. If it weren't for the fact that the place we were staying in was beautiful with amazing views of the bay from the balcony this would have been a complete disaster. As it turns out it was actually a calm little haven to relax and read and chatter and also somewhere for Issy to finally get herself back to good health.

From Tuan Chau we headed onto our Halong Bay trip - the piece de resistance. More craggy limestone mountains awaited us but instead of being surrounded by rice paddies, they were in the middle of the ocean and were simply breathtaking. One night was spent on "Queen Elizabeth Junk". The junk was super - brand spanking new. Issy and Sean even jumped off top deck to go for a late night swim! We visited 'Amazing Cave' which was very beautiful if not a little bit tourist-conveyor belt ish. We also marched up to the Ti Top mountain to watch sunset over the bay. We then made some Vietnamese spring rolls before dinner and afterwards, I [was forced to] kicked off the karaoke with a rendition in Vietnamese (next to English and Finnish I'm now building up a multi-language karaoke repertoire).

Sean's note: The photo above of sunset over Halong Bay, complete with fishing boat sailing into the sunline, was taken by Jen and I personally think it's one of the most beautiful photographs I've ever seen. Jen is naturally modest about it but I'm going to send it to Lonely Planet, National Geographic, anyone, in the hope of getting it published. I reckon the photo is worthy of it.

The next day we headed off on our bikes into a local village on one of the mountains. Sean is getting quite the expert now on a bike! We saw their local school and doctor surgery (no one there, just his number). Turns out every child has to attend primary school, but it costs which most families struggle with. There was also enough rust on the playground roundabout to give you a coronary with worry. A worthy charity is www.childrenseducationfoundation.org.au (we met a lovely lady who worked for this charity and can vouch for its authenticity even though the website is a bit poor).

Next up was a kayak trip around the bay. This was brilliant - we had the place all to ourselves (save for the few local fishing families and oyster farmers and their guard dogs) and we paddled underneath crags in the rocks. Sean went for another swim again too to cool off!

We spent that evening on Cat Ba island. We had a great last night with the whole group from our boat drinking happy hour beers at a local bar. Issy and I ended up doing our obligatory dancing before heading home to pass out whilst Sean watched Manchester United with our guide, Duke.

And all that was then left was the long journey back to Hanoi. But again I won't write much more about this cause it's all a bit sad that Issy had to fly home. So glad she joined us though even if it wasn't for long enough! Thanks for spoiling us Issy, we really appreciated it!

So thinking of the future instead - we turned out minds to Laos.

Here are the pics:

BT28_Halong Bay 26 - 31 Oct 2010

Nothing Trashy About Ninh Binh

Having a few extra days to spare and wanting to break up our journey between Hanoi and Halong Bay, the girls and I decided that a stop for a couple of days in Ninh Binh - and the surrounding Tam Coc region - was the way to go, having read good things about the authentic feel of Ninh Binh town and the breathtaking landscapes and karst formations of Tam Coc.

Arriving on the bus from Hanoi, we spent our first afternoon looking around the town itself and treating ourselves to the air conditioning and satellite TV in our room (this backpacking lark isn't all hard going, you know). The following morning we finally did manage to get our energy on and roused ourselves from the creature comforts of our temporary home to explore Tam Coc. Issy was unfortunately unwell and stayed back in the aircon (lucky girl), so Jen and I hired bicycles to make the 6km journey. Two things became apparent on the bike trip out - firstly that, as opposed to my cycling experiences in Myanmar, having a decent-sized bicycle works wonders and I was much better balanced now on a machine that wasn't built for a hobbit; and secondly that our journey ended up being a lot more than 6km due to the map we were given being neither a) anywhere near to scale, nor b) remotely accurate. It did however give us an interesting tour of some local villages.

Arriving at Tam Coc is an experience in itself. You can see the huge, looming limestone karsts from miles away but when you actually get up close it's like they envelop you. We'd already read that the best way to see the area is to take a boat trip and be rowed along the river through the rock formations and the caves, so that's exactly what we did.

We had a rather misty and overcast day which, while meaning the long-distance views weren't as clear as they could have been, did give the peaks a really prehistoric, "lost-world" kind of feel to them while the caves, cliffs and jagged limestone formations somehow seemed even more imposing than they would have in bright sunlight. The only things missing were the dinosaurs.

It was a beautiful two hour journey all up, and it gave Jen and I a tantalising glimpse of our next objective for the day - to climb the peak over Mua Cave (topped by a temple and a very long serpent-dragon-type-thing) overlooking Tam Coc.

Naturally, I was dead eager to begin the climb and had to persuade Jen to put in the effort the climb it with me. Or at least, that's how I remember it. Whatever way the actual discussion went, it was actually a faster climb than I expected it to be due to the fact that it was so sodding steep - you cover a lot of vertical ground when you're going almost straight uphill...

And the views from the top were fantastic, even with the cloud cover.

We also got to have a look at the couple of small caves at the bottom of the mountain. One even had a tiger, which thankfully didn't attack either of us.

And so that was that. Our bike journey back was a little quicker than the one we'd had out in the morning due to the fact that this time we took no notice whatsoever of the map, and we were soon back with an Issy who was both feeling a little better and happy to join us for dinner and drinks in the evening.

Tam Coc is known as "Halong Bay on the rice paddies" - well we're off to Halong Bay next, so we'll let you know how that description holds up.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) Not to order goat, ever. It's tough as old boots.

2) That it's always worth making Sean do the bit of exercise that he doesn't want to do as it gets great results (i.e. top of Mua Cave)

Here are the pics:

BT27_Ninh Binh 24 - 25 Oct 2010

Bia Hoi Hanoi

We have actually already spent a day in Hanoi before the start of our trip into NW Vietnam but we knew that we'd have more time after that trip so figured we'd wait until our second time in Hanoi before blogging about it.

On our first time in Hanoi, it was the motorbikes that hit us (if you're not lucky they literally do hit you). They're everywhere. Millions of them. Crossing the road takes on a whole new dimension. Apparently the best way to do this is slowly, allowing the drivers time to judge your path and avoid you - yeah... good luck with that!

We also partook of the bloody cheep beer. Bia Hoi. At 4000 dong a glass (about 12p) it is the world's cheapest beer. You simply pull up a little plastic chair made for a child, order, drink and at the end of the night they expect you to remember how many you've had (the seating arrangements are very fluid so goodness knows how they keep track of this). Either way you end up drunk for next to nothing. Hooray.

But this time in Hanoi, my best friend, Issy, shows up to join our trip for 10 days. Not only was it fantastic to see her. But she showed up with Veuve Cliquot. And Lindt Balls. And Cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. It took me about 20 minutes to polish off an entire block of bree. You can imagine my euphoria! Thanks Issy!!!

We spent her first day with us wandering the streets of Hanoi. We went to the lake and saw the petrified turtle (apparently there are turtles in the lake - massive ones). We saw all the wedding photos being taken - we decided that they must have been a catalogue shoot as there were make up artists and everything, but I'm told no, they're actually weddings. And of course we ended up in a bar where Issy shouted us to cocktails (how nice to not drink beer two days in a row!). And after the bar came the bia hoi again. This time we met a lovely chap called Nev who got hideously drunk with us and helped us polish of the last of our cheese.

Our last day in Hanoi is going to be a bit sad since it's the day Issy leaves, so that won't deserve a blog entry hence writing after Hanoi day two.

Next up are adventures in Ninh Binh and then Halong Bay!

Here are the pics:

BT26_Hanoi 23 Oct 2010

The North-West Loop

One of the most highly recommended off-the-beaten-track adventures in Vietnam is the North-West Loop, a 5-7 day loop out of (and back to) Hanoi which takes in some of Vietnam's most beautiful and inaccessible territory. Getting to places like Dien Bien Phu and Sapa is easy enough, but to really hit the remote areas a 4WD was required and - with foreigners not allowed to hire cars in Vietnam - Jen and I enlisted the services of a guide and driver for the journey.

Day one saw us travel to Mai Chau for a hike through the nearby rice fields and a village homestay, which provided two memorable highlights - first, the eating of fried crickets:

And secondly, a traditional dance performance by a local troupe:

We continued the following day by proceeding to Dien Bien Phu - a place prominent in 20th Century history as the town in which the final French garrison attempting to control Vietnam fell to the Vietnamese in their struggle for independence. It was also on this day that we got a true picture of the "abilities" of our driver, Mr Nguyen Thanh Tung. He would use his indicator just to go around a gentle bend in the road, he would leave the indicator running for an interminable length of time after any turn had been taken, he would accelerate hard going into a corner, he refused under any circumstances to ever change into top gear, and his depth and distance perceptions seemed questionable to say the least. Mr Nguyen boasted proudly of how he had been the official driver for the former French President Francois Mitterand when he visited Vietnam in 1993. Given France's - ahem - questionable history in this country, I wouldn't be surprised if they had given this guy to Mitterand as payback.

Day three was initially going to see us hitting Tam Duong in the far north-west, but due to inclement conditions and an overnight landslide, the road was closed and another route was taken. Tam Duong is, by all accounts, rather remote, but our change in itinerary actually took us even further off the beaten track to an out-of-the-way place called Than Uyen, where we gratefully managed to chalk up another only-foreigners-in-town experience. A evening village trek capped the day beautifully as we made photographical stars of the local kids and were invited in to share tea with an extraordinarily friendly and welcoming local family, who were I think just stunned that any female could be as tall as Jen.

The fourth day of our journey was probably the most spectacular, taking us first over the highest pass in the north-west called "Heaven's Gate", with a view of Fansipan, Vietnam's tallest peak...

...then past the aptly named Silver Waterfall...

...and finally on to Sapa, the most celebrated destination in the country's northern quadrant. Sapa is a gorgeous amalgam of Swiss-style mountain chalets and Mediterranean-style villas overlooking beautiful forested valleys from the side of a mountain. Of course, being the current go-to destination of northern Vietnam it is also therefore swarming with tourists - quite the contrast from our previous evening! But the views of the town and surrounding countryside more than made up for this.

Day five began our descent from the mountains and back to Hanoi, with a final stop in Yen Bai - where accommodation was in short supply due to us having timed our visit to coincide with a Communist Party conference being held in the town. We did, however, get to treat ourselves to a free open-air concert in the middle of town, presumably put on to show the party bigwigs a good time.

And so finally, 24 hours later, and six days after beginning our journey, Jen and I, our excellent guide Mr Chu and our not-quite-so-excellent (but still very friendly) driver have arrived back in Hanoi. Our friend Issy is due to arrive later this evening to join us for the next week and a half, but I'm sure Jen will have plenty to say about that in her next entry...

Things Jennie will remember:

1) The windscreen wipers breaking down on the jeep when it was pouring with rain (thank goodness we weren't far from a garage)

2) The tyre puncture on the way back to Hanoi that meant Sean and I spent 40 minutes on the side of the round surrounded by 30 crazy giggling school girls all making us read passages from their English text books - they put Take That fans to shame with their screaming!

3) That the Chinese will pay $5,000 US for 1kg of tiger - so no wonder people kill the things - our guide was proud of how much this was when he told it to us. And let's face it when you're broke and starving are you really going to care about the tiger population? Demand needs to stop to save the tigers me thinks.

4) That the Vietnamese equivalent of a wedding ring is, for the Thais tribes, wearing your hair up in a large bun on the top of your head. Quite a sight when they try to put their motorbike helmets on!

5) The mountain views in Sapa. Incredible.

6) "Thit Cho" aka Sean's worst nightmare... dog meat. We saw a butchered dog in one market. And another dog sniffing the butchering table. Can't help but think that dog is slightly stupid. Run doggie run!!!

7) Pho, Bun, Nem - noddle soupy and spring roll goodness all for pennies.

8) That the Vietnamese bury their dead twice. The first time for 3 years, then they dig up the bones, clean them and place them into mausoleums.

9) The black and white Thai dances that we were shown at our homestay in Mai Chau.

10) That if you're ever drowning in Vietnam not to be so unlucky as to be drowning next to a fisherman. Because they won't save you. Instead they think that the water god wants you and since they don't want to upset the water god - you're a gonner!

11) Our driver, Mr Nguyen Thanh Tung (crazy but lovely leaves-indicator-on-all-the time man) and our guide, Mr Chu Huy Hung.

12) Helping harvest the rice in the paddy fields (I wasn't very good!!!)

13) That silk worms are actual worms in a cocoon and that they rattle. Boil them up though and that's how you get silk....

14) All the pretty tribes of Northern Vietnam - H'mong (Blue, Black, White and Flower - wore the black round hats) , Thai (Black and White - wore the coloured black hats), Black Dzao and Pazi (wore the red hats).

Here are the pictures:

BT25_Vietnam NW Loop_16 - 22 Oct 2010

Burmese Days

"This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about."

Rudyard Kipling wrote these words more than 100 years ago, but they continue to hold true to this day. We call it Myanmar now, of course, but this ostracised and secluded world remains one of mystery and wonder.

There is an ethical decision required before coming to Myanmar - the country is run by a military regime which suppresses many basic rights and freedoms, imprisons those it considers "dangerous" (which usually means those trying to publicly exercise independent thought or freedom of speech) without trial, and generally governs for themselves and not for the Myanmar people, who it is believed number about 25 million. This is "believed" rather than "known" because the last official census here was in 1983...

The international boycott towards Myanmar has been going on for years. Sanctions have long been imposed by the west, led - inevitably - by the USA, but the regime has a number of backers, most noticeably close neighbours China and India who plough billions of dollars toward the Generals to maintain their control. With this in mind, Jen and I had to ask ourselves whether we should go at all. Many groups and publications advise travellers to back the boycott and not visit the country, but both this advice and any associated criticism is mainly aimed at package tourists who spend a lot of money with big, Government-run hotels and tour companies and so continue to finance the Junta. Independent travel in Myanmar, on the other hand, brings money to local and family-run guesthouses and restaurants. Indeed, as has been noted by various commentators and writers (Lonely Planet of course has plenty to say about the matter) the regime makes its money from such pursuits as oil, gas, timber and heroin, not from backpackers giving five quid to a local family for a place to sleep or a bowl of noodles. Tourism is in fact one of the few industries the local population still seems to be able to make a living out of.

And by God aren't they the most welcoming hosts. The bottom line is that if you come to Myanmar you will experience a truly remarkable country which will - I virtually guarantee - instantly become one of your all time favourites and stay with you forever. But more than that you will also - should you have the inclination to do so - learn about the lives the local people live under the regime (some are more willing than others to talk about it, of course) and you can do your bit to raise awareness of life outside their borders too. They are intensely proud of their homeland and take any praise of the country as a personal compliment, while also being passionately curious about the outside world of which they know so little. And the argument which has been forwarded that human rights abuses are less likely to occur when foreigners are present and the situation is exposed is a compelling one.

In addition, Myanmar remains something of a "lost world" in many ways. Western mobile phones don't work here (so if anyone has texted me in recent weeks, please re-send!) and internet access is limited, so it's a wonderful opportunity to disconnect from normal life and immerse yourself in a new world (though I can think of one or two of my friends who would be utterly lost without such connections...). Western chains and brands, so ubiquitous across much of the rest of the planet, are refreshingly absent. Even the relatively "touristy" areas such as Bagan are very quiet when compared to their (often vastly inferior) equivalents in other countries. For a country with such glorious sights, history and people to still have that relatively undiscovered feel is something you simply don't get very often, anywhere on earth, and it's truly something to relish.

This is Myanmar. And it is one of the most incredible places we've ever been.

The Most Extraordinary Place You've Never Heard Of

Ask a group of people to name some of the world's great ancient sites, ruins or monuments and the usual suspects will all probably get an airing. The Pyramids, the Colosseum, the Parthenon or Stonehenge for starters. Some will venture further afield - Machu Picchu, the Easter Island Statues, Angkor Wat and even Chitchen Itza in Mexico might get a mention. But one that will almost certainly be absent from the discussion is the astonishing site of Bagan, in central Myanmar. This is a shame, because in my humble opinion it stands comparison with absolutely any of them. Bagan consists of over 4,000 temples - ranging from tiny to huge - scattered over a vast plain, the sheer scale of which puts most other sites in the world to shame.

Being the fan of the ancient that I am, Bagan was at the top of my Myanmar to-do list, but even I will admit to being pretty unfamiliar with it before I got here. Needless to say, though, that after having such fantastic experiences in the country so far and leaving this for the big finale, it had plenty to live up to.

Arriving in the evening, there wasn't much time for immediate sightseeing and so Jen and I checked into our (again very nice) hostel and decided that our plan for the following morning would be to hire a horse and cart (and driver, obviously) to take us on a full day tour of the plain. Given the weather, which had been wet but was now starting to clear up, had left a lot of the more remote areas difficult to access, our horse and cart proved to be the way to go. Starting after breakfast we began slowly, with a couple of the smaller - yet still very impressive - and more remote temples like these ones.

Had they been the top sights for the day, we'd have been pleased - but we were truly just getting started. And we quickly learned the golden rule of Bagan - no matter how spectacular any individual temple might be, it pales in comparison to the collective view. The temples of Bagan might just be Southeast Asia's first attempt at Socialism...

As the day went on we proceeded to visit some of the bigger and more spectacular structures, such as Dhammayangyi, a colossal red brick pyramid which is the largest of all Bagan's temples...

...and Sulamani, one of the prettiest and most intricate temples, which is just as impressive on the inside as the outside.

It wasn't just a temple day either - Bagan is probably the lacquer-ware capital of the solar system and we got to see the artists at work first hand. Intricacy personified...and patience too, as the process of making just one item can take up to two years.

Finally, to finish the day we were taken to what is considered one Bagan's finest viewing platforms...and to say that the view didn't disappoint would be to underrate it I'd say. Breathtaking isn't the word.

Such a day was clearly a hard act to follow, but never ones to believe that we've peaked too soon we attacked the following days with ever greater gusto, hiring bicycles to cover as much ground as possible and viewing even more of the highlights. One of these was Ananda, considered to be probably the finest and most beautiful of all Bagan temples.

As well as Thatbyinnyu, at 64m (over 200ft) the highest of all Bagan temples. Though it's fair to say that this one was something of a Monet - the closer you got, the worse it looked. Still hella impressive from a distance though.

So far, so blindingly brilliant - but the absolute highlight was still to come, and gave me one of those spine-tingling experiences that you always hope for as a traveller. Riding our bikes, we came across a path with no traffic on it at all and no other tourists in sight, which we then followed all the way to a lovely, secluded little temple with a viewing platform. So unvisited was this place that we had to ask the young woman who lived nearby for the key to open the gate to the viewing platform of the temple, which we climbed to get ourselves the best possible vantage point.

The views were magnificent, panoramas across the entirety of the plain, and despite the otherwise sunny weather we even got a rainbow seemingly beaming out of Dhammayangyi just for us.

And then, remarkably with the place entirely to ourselves, we were treated to simply the most epic sunset over Bagan.

Few things could possibly have made our time in Bagan even better, but that's exactly what happened with the arrival of Wojtek and Joanna, the Polish couple we travelled through Tibet with. As mentioned in the Tibet entries, they are on their own world tour and it was fantastic to meet up with them again.

Though I don't know where all those beer glasses came from. It seems the waiters at the bar had carelessly left other people's empties on our table...

And so ends Bagan, truly one of the most remarkable, beautiful places I've ever seen. We didn't make it to all 4,400 temples, but we gave it a hell of a shot. Just one more (long) bus ride back to Yangon and we will be leaving this wonderful country behind.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) HA HA HA!!! Sean!!! On a bike on sand!!!! HA HA HA!!! With a flat tyre!!!! And mud!! And thorn bushes!!!

2) The all-you-can-eat buffet at the Golden Myanmar restaurant. Four different types of meat curry (all with unlimited refills!) complimented by a table full of salads, vegetables and sauces (all with unlimited refills!!) - we actually had to force them to stop bringing the food to the table as it just kept coming and coming and coming. And coming!

3) Zu Zu, our very knowledgeable horse cart driver. Thanks Zu Zu!

Here are the photos:

BT24_Bagan 10 - 15 Oct