Ok so I have more than one country now to catch up with you from as using the Internet has been low on my priorities compared to seeing beautiful Vietnam, I am currently in Ha Noi in central Vietnam. For now I am going to cast my mind back to Hong Kong and tell you the basics.
We arrived in Hong Kong on 2oth July 2010, I have to say I was very much taken back by the high-tech airport, not one piece of rubbish anywhere and every surface polished to a high shine! Incredible, especially compared to some of the airports we've been use to, that aren't much more than a wooden shed in a field! After very much enjoying and indulging in a very expensive Starbucks we headed for the taxi rank. Again this was an experience in itself. When you've been away for a while you most definitely get use to having to haggle every price, being ripped off at any opportunity and having to carefully watch every possession you own. Hong Kong however, the taxis are metered, there's very few sales attempts and you don't have to worry about drinking the tap water! Quite a treat in itself! Although you pay the price. It cost me 8GBP for a Cesar salad! Also anyone going?! No matter what you think, the little entrees that come with most meals ARE NOT FREE! Learnt my lesson once or twice. Anyway everything about Hong Kong I loved. The super sized buildings with 2 million floors (Slight exaggeration). The very expensive clothes, the great air conditioning everywhere. All contributed to an extremely pleasant stay for the 5 days we were there. We visited Museums, took a boat across the harbour, walked down little streets and checked out the markets. We saw the Light Harbour Show and I have never seen so many colourful lights in my life.. However I imagined they probably felt how I feel about the illuminations, although lucky for me it's only once a year where as the poor people of Hong Kong have to deal with that every night at 8pm!
I will have to continue on quite quickly as there's still so much more to tell you, before I do I must inform you about our mission to find the cheapest accommodation in Hong Kong. This mission should have been named MISSION NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! We traipsed up and down building with all our backpacks until we turned into a sweaty mess, climbed stairs, waited for tiny lifts that smelt of urine and had to shout at a random guy that was almost begging us on his knees to look at his place (anyone that begs can't have good rooms, right?). It wasn't great, we settled in a building that on the ground floor was full of markets and by the fourth floor we found our place for the five days. Not a touch on the clean airport we had been at just minutes ago, this huge ugly building reminded me of some really scummy car parks in Blackpool when drunks had been sleeping there, at least it smelt similar! Our room wasn't to bad but it was tiny with bunk beds and a small double, an air conditioning machine possibly from the last century and no on-suite...gutted! We all managed well though and on leaving to Vietnam we were looking forward to some new accommodation.
Vietnam, Hanoi - Arrival of Vietnam all I really picked up on was how green it was, a beautiful lush country with lots of rice fields. Apparently we have landed in this fine country in peak season, so cheap accommodation hadn't been easy to come by and tourists have been a many! Hanoi is a typical Asian City, the markets, the street food, the crazy traffic and having to dodge hundreds of scooters to cross the road! It has had the cheapest beer I've come by which has been a treat because we haven't done much drinking on our trip so far. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake and enjoyed reading our books on the benches close by, we visited a couple of Museum and organised all our upcoming travel through Vietnam and did some souvenir shopping. We also got to book an awesome trip to Ha Long Bay which was a very good investment!
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam - This is well worth doing for anyone who plans to visit Vietnam, that is as long as the weather is good! First day we met our group and travelled by mini bus to Ha Long Bay before we jumped on the boat. Our boat is what they call a "Junk Ship", an enormous almost pirate style boat with huge masts and shiny wooden surfaces from head to toe. As we climbed on board the ship had three levels to it, 1st floor bedrooms, 2nd floor for dining, 3rd floor for sunbathing. It sleeps 14 people so our group was a really good size.
Our table was made up for us and we enjoyed an 8 course meal of seafood and meats and of course they were great with the lads and made them vegetarian alternatives, while we set sail towards Cat Ba Island we all got acquainted and let our huge meals settle. The sun was beating down and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the cool sea breeze was subtle but sufficient. The green sea reflected the sun and it shimmered like dancing diamonds. So fantastic. Ha Long Bay had hundreds of steep cliff like Islands and the view was so impressive already. We went to some caves which were beautifully lit and even got to jump off the boat that evening. The sea was as warm as I had imagined it would be. At night time our guide very kindly let us go for an evening swim, I thought this was very kind as I'm sure he was doing us a bit of a favour this was all in order to check out the Phosphorescent coral in the water. We all dived in and took in turns to wear the goggles, we headed to the back of the ship where it was really dark and in the pitch black air of the night we all waited in excited anticipation. It came around to my turn and I ducked my head under water, held my eyes open wide and as guided, I started swinging my arms around like a crazy person. This was quite incredible, at the edge of my skin the sparkle was bright and made the water shimmer with a fairy dust glow. I felt like Tinkerbell! It was insane and one of the most crazy experiences so far. It happens because the tiny coral floats in the water and when the coral is disrupted it glows and because there's millions of them it creates a really amazing effect!
I have to start getting faster at this typing...the next day we visited more caves, a shrimp farm and rented canoes. We two ed up and took them out without our guide who just pointed in the direction we should aim for. I really enjoyed it as we rowed through that beautifully green sea with the sun making it very hard not to want to jump out to cool down. We rowed for about 45 minutes until we came to this sweet little white sand beach,covered in beautiful shells. First opportunity we dived in the sea to cool down and it was like heaven.
"Dad if your reading this I got you some shells that I picked up off this beach, I thought you might like them towards the collection you already have".
The rest of the time in Ha Long Bay was equally as magical and I am filled with memories I will never forget! I would like to tell you more but I have to hurry soon as I have a bus to catch. The weathers taken a sharp turn here in the last hour and it's gone from glorious sunshine to dark moody skies, thunder and lightening and thumping rain, but still just as sticky hot. I'm glad to be moving on if it's going to rain.
We called through Hue on the way to Hoi An which was a bit nothing really. Daniel and I took a boat ride on the river and it was really nice but really Hue doesn't have much to offer so I'm glad we made a joint decision to pass through. Hoi An is awesome if you like your clothes, it isn't as cheap as it use to be so hard bargaining is definitely needed. I have invested in a winter coat tailor made with silk lining, 5 fitted shirts and 5 dresses all for about 70GBP not bad ay?! Daniel got a lovely fitted suit, a shirt and a pair of shoes designed by himself!
I will tell you more next time. Hope your all well. I miss you!
No comments:
Post a Comment