Well i had a fantastic time in Sapa. Unfortunately i never did totally kick the cold i'd developed (not helped by the absolutely freezing temperatures in Sapa - some nights i actually wore everything i had with me!), so i did not manage to head out trekking as i'd planned.
Fortunately i was travelling with cool people and after a day of sleeping recovering from the night train (which wasnt nearly as bad as i expected actually - air con, small mattress, blanket and a pillow!) we decided the next day to hire scooters with drivers and go on a tour around Sapa. First stop was a village with some very friendly people who we could see all worked together as a community to get everything done - the women were digging out the hillside to make way for a new house, and the men were up in the hills collecting wood for it. We walked to a cave which the vietnamese have hidden in for many wars, awesome to see, and back out to of course now buy a few things off our friendly helpers.
next our scooter drivers offered to take us to a waterfall for some extra $ so we agreed and off we went, up windy half-paved roads with the most amazing views over teh mountains. we were very lucky to have booked this on one of Sapa's rare clear days and we could see for miles. The waterfall was beautiful and after much clambering we managed to make it up high for some great photos. Then back down and the drivers managed to talk us into going to a nice mountain pass view point for extra $ so off we went, more amazing views, and back to Sapa.
spent the next few days not doing a lot, trying to recover from my cold. did manage to spend the night of 'yongkipol' (excuse me for my terrible spelling its phonetic) with some israeli's and i can honesty say i've never seen people stuff themselves with that much food at once. the boys had a big bowl of beef noodle soup, then a big plate of fried rice, then hamburger and fries - and 6 litres of water!! I actually dont quite believe they were hungry by 6pm the next night!!
Anyway spent my days lazing around the town, playing cards in a cafe with a really nice vietnamese woman, eating yummy street food, exploring the town and getting harrassed by every street merchant you can imagine. they're very multi-talented and not at all lazy, i'll give them that. one guy came up to me offering me "postcard sapa, postcard vietnam, map sapa, map vietnam, book, cigarettes, motorbike to rent?". i found out the next day he'd added "cocaine and beautiful vietnamese girl very cheap" to my male companion! hilarious.
On my second to last day i met an American Paul who was new to Vietnam, straight from China. we agreed to rent scooters together the next day, and after visiting many motorbike places, and finding many didnt have working gears, brakes, rare-view mirrors or helmets we finally settled on one guy with two working good motorbikes. not before being sworn at by one of the first guys we'd looked at! He even asked Paul if he was ' a man or a dog', implying he's a dog for listening to someone as low as a woman (after it was me who'd said i didnt trust the guy or his dodgy motorbikes an inch) when it comes to renting motorbikes!
Anyway we went on our way on the motorbikes having an absolute blast. first stop was a village where a woman at a shop said she would look after our motorbikes for us - we bought a drink each to thank her (though regretted that act of kindless later when she tried to extort more money out of us for looking after the bikes. honestly the vietnamese will do anything to squeeze every last cent out of you!). the village was really nice and at the bottom was a beautiful waterfall.
After that we headed on our way back to town for some yummy noodle soup (not before arguing with the stall holder over the price - somehow the price had doubled in the two days since i'd last eaten there.) and then off down the main road through the mountains. was really gorgeous and again we were lucky that we'd run into a reasonably clear day in Sapa. took tons of photos and really enjoyed sitting on a scooter for hours on end... though i have to admit after many hours my legs were pretty sore.
anyway that night it was back on the night train back to Hanoi for me. after my minibus failed to pick me up from Sapa the man who i'd booked the ticket through kindly made a local bus wait for me 'down the road' and organised a motorbike taxi to take me to it - 20 minutes down the road we finally met the bus! Was so kind of the man and great to see sometimes there are Vietnamese people who will do kind things without exorting more money out of you!
Anyway the next day was back to Sapa and booked my tour of Halong bay, 3 days, 2 nights for US$48. Turned out i didnt have any more luck than everyone else i'd spoken to who had done tours though, as we had the rudest and most imcompetent tour people in the world! Took them 2.5 hours to get us from the bus onto the boat, with them yelling at us to give our passports, stand there, dont move (one girl was told off for moving to the rubbish bin). we had people from a variety of tours, one day, two day and three day (and one poor couple just wanting to take the boat to the island, which is apparently quite an impossible task to comprehend). there was no system, no co-ordination, just a lot of walking round in circles with our passports and telling us to 'wait here'! cant imagine that they do this every single day!!
anyway finally we were on the boat and got our lunch at 2pm. was a good lunch though nice to notice the staff had more food than us... we got to an island where there was some beautiful caves which i thought were turned into a bit of a circus with yellow, blue and green lights everywhere, even a fountain! and they had put red lights into the formations that looked like things, just so you knew where the eyes were meant to be... of course we were now late so they sheparded us through the caves at maximum speed (we were trying to tag onto other tours where the tour guides actually spoke english and actually guided), one poor guy on crutches was practically pushed through the cave!
Back onto the boat and we then went to a cave which apparently wasnt included in our 'all entrance tickets included' ticket. most people protested and didnt go, much to the dismay of our guide who insisted we had to have 3 more people before they could visit the cave. After that we dropped some people off at Cat Ba island and stopped in a bay somewhere for the night. Had a nice dinner after being demanded to sit down (some french girls were told off for going outside for a cigarette while waiting for food..). played cards that night and i ordered a cup of tea.. after my tea was finished i asked for some more hot water. climbed over the furniture to reach the staff who had lost the ability to move from their TV watching position and they made fun of me while pouring water into my cup!! really classy. when i asked for more hot water later i was told the jug was empty and that was 'not possible' to boil more water. and no i was not allowed into the kitchen to boil my own water. After that we went down to someones room to closet drink beer that the german boys had bought onto the boat - otherwise they were going to charge $1.50 per beer (the beers themselves coste $0.80).
the next morning we were woken at 6.30 for our 'morning of kayaking', which was to last from precisely 6.45 - 7.15. following the guides advice of 'around here' (pointing to everywhere) as a good spot to visit we kayaked around which was nice. returned back and was told to change, then told off for changing when breakfast was ready, then told off for sitting at the 'wrong' table for breakfast, then told off for taking too long to pack my bag (do you get the picture?) we switched boats to one going to Cat Ba island. On Cat Ba island it was raining but most of us still wanted to go trekking so off we went up the mountain. fortunately it stopped raining and we had magnificent views. was a fantastic climb to the top where we could see the National Park we were supposed to be trekking in, and the sea beyond.
The pamphlet said we would be finished at 5pm from kayaking and trekking, but at 12.00 we returned to the hotel for lunch. after waiting for the staff to scratch their heads over a single room, then eventaully being told they'd found a room and they just needed to get it ready. they had lunch and upon finishing lunch my room was ready and i checked in. Met the lovely couple who had the misfortune of trying to take the boat to Cat Ba island the previous day , and they had hired a scooter to look around the island. I thought this was a great idea so joined them and we spent hours exploring Cat Ba island. Was stunning scenery with the forest and the ocean and long winding roads with hardly a car on the road.
Was very excited that night to find a bar called the 'flightless bird' with tons of new zealand posters and memorabilia around the room! there were steinlager posters everywhere so i went up the bar and ordered 'a steinlager please'. the poor waitress looked at me blankly and said 'a what?'. turned out it was just the pictures but was nice none the less. After a darts competition which i lost horribly back to the hotel ready for our early start the next morning.
again lots of waiting and we finally got from the hotel to the bus (with no working horn, yes!), to the boat, to the bus to the restaurant for lunch and back to Hanoi. I forgot to mention that the Vietnamese believe that the more you use your horn the better a driver it makes you. so you can imagine what its like driving anywhere in Vietnam - horns galore you just cant get away from it. you beep at someone when you want to pass them (even when they are in the lane next to you), you beep at them when passing, then when finishing passing. you beep at people who may pull out in front of you to let them know youre' there, you beep at scooters so they know you're there, you beep at people to say hello.. it just never ends!
anyway the next day i sent a very expensive package home and was off on my flights to Indonesia!! unfortunately my flight was delayed by several hours and i didnt arrive untl 2am. no backpackers on the plane as i'd planned and the 'dodgy' backpacker district was asleep so had to pay NZ$100 for a room for the night somewhere safe. ouch! Anyway spent the next day exploring Jakarta and got to feel why most people tell you to get out (never seen so much car fumes in my life, thick layer of smog on the ground), and took the night minibus to Yogyakarta. spent my first day exploring the local market which was great, as the prices were cheap, the shops were organised and people understood the concept of browsing!! Indonesians are much more friendly than the vietnamese and dont get angry and yell at you for any small reason!!
the next day i booked an early morning tour of Borobodur and Prombanan temples, first one being an ancient bhuddist temple and the second being a hindi temple. Found out how similar they are which i hadnt realised, and spent the rest of the day stopping for photo shoots with the locals, who obviously found us a tourist attraction along with 1000 year old temples!
the next day I took a package minibus to Mt Bromo. Long day in an 'air-con' bus with air con that was much less useful than an open window with dust and fumes flying in. arrived in Mt Bromo at 9.30, had a late dinner and shower and went to bed, ready for my 3.30 wake up call. Was just me and a british girl Anu who had decided to take the cheaper option of walking to Mt Bromo but we were glad we did it. was amazingly beautiful walking first along the desert and then up to the mountain where smoke was puffing out and the sun was just rising. definately have to be one of the highlights of my trip and highly recommend it to anyone who manages to makes it to Indonesia! walked around the crater for a while then rode a horse off the moutain.
then back to the hotel for breakfast and into a series of buses for our long trip to Bali. Was even treated to a Karaoke ferry on the way, where they had the whole set up with TV, microphone, live guitar and drums.. and speakers throughout the entire boat so no matter where you were you could hear it. how kind of them.
finally arrived in Bali dead tired and after a quick dinner and some free shots from some nice boys who had a tray of 20 shots for $10 i was off to bed. Finally got to sleep in the next day and took a wander around town and the beach where it is so hot! the most unbelievably hot place i have been to thus far. the next day woke up not feeling great so didnt go surfing as planned, and yesterday i woke up feeling even worse. it appears theres a bug going round as lots of us here have it so it was a day in bed for me yesterday and dont imagine i'll be doing much else today. What a shame at the end of my trip! Hopefully i'll kick it soon so i can go diving and rent a scooter to explore the island!
Anyway this is way long now so i had best be going.
much love,
Ingrid
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
scams and cows penis
Well my time in Dalat was interesting! The night I arrived i was of course immediately hassled by lots of 'Easy Rider' motorbike drivers wanting to take me on a tour of the city. i chattted to an English guy who had taken one that day and said he was good so agreed to take that driver the next day, but also agreed with a 40 year old english guy that we would pair up to make it more fun..
the next day i found out my english friend Mike had his guy for $5 less than mine so after much yelling on the part of my driver and him storming off then coming back grumpily i got the same price. Titi my driver tried telling me that we 'weren't going with Mike' and was insisting i was not going with him but Mike told him he didn't have much of a choice!
We headed on our way and Titi managed to spend the first 30 mins trying to talk me into paying the extra money (have to pay commission to hotel, must buy petrol, other driver doesnt realise this....) and the rest of the day convincing me what a horrible person Mike was! Actually got to be quite funny when he decided we were only spending the day together for one reason and came up with 'Mike old bamboo, you young blade of grass. old bamboo eat young grass' (which was followed by a long laugh at his own hilarity). He even got quite angry when we arrived at our locations first and i insisted we wait for Mike and his driver before going in. Im quite sure that if he wasnt on drugs at that moment he had done a lot in the past because he was quite crazy..
We visited quite a lot on our trip. Went to a coffee plantation, silk worm farm and factory, passionfruit planatation, a beautiful monestary and waterfall, went for a walk through the bush (which was a pine tree plantation that followed the road), went for a yummy local lunch of noodle soup and then went to the 'crazy house' which was created by a vietnamese woman who studied architecture in Moscow. was a really interseting house with hardly a straight line (even the beds werent square), and giraffes coming out of the wall and all sorts...
The next day i was over the cold (even a girl from Quebec was wearing long-johns!) so headed on the bus to Nha Trang. The bus ride was amazingly beautiful and there were quite a few fun people on the bus so when the bus dropped us off at the designated hotel (i swear they dont even have bus stations in Vietnam everyone just pays for you to go to a hotel) we all decided to stay in the same place. that night we wandered along looking for a place to have a late night second-dinner and came across a local place with an enormous menu including such delicacies as pigs feet, porcupine and cows penis! This was too much of an opportunity to pass up so we all agreed to put in 30 cents worth and get a plate of sweet and sour cows penis. Everyone tried a piece and everyone seemed to get different textures, some enjoying it and some not. I thought my piece tasted like bad pork... got a funny video to prove it though!
the next day we agreed to take the hotel boat tour of the Nha Trang islands and went on our way. We visited 4 islands and did much jumping off the boat into the water, as well as a bit of beach lying and 'snorkling' (with masks that leaked..), and a trip to an aquarium. We also had a 'floating bar' which is where one of the boat staff hopped into the water with a big ring with a bucket with the worlds cheapest red wine, plastic glasses and pineapple in the glasses.. and we all got our own ring and swam in the water drinking our free wine and trying not to get too much salt water in the glass while listening to music from the boat. was lots of fun!
That night we all went out for drinks and at the restaurant invented a drinking game which involved someone dance chasing a girl down the street, singing in the middle of the restarant, doing press ups on the street, was a good laugh and even the restaurant staff were laughing along with us. The next morning we all had a relaxing day to make up for the night before so i headed down to the beach and got my legs 'threaded', which is where they use a piece of cotton to remove the hair from your legs (ouch!), then a massage after to make up for it... and a bit of swimming and reading my book.
the next morning Lisa and Luke, an aussie couple and i headed to the local mud spa. It cost a whopping US$5 and we had several hours there. first you showered, then lay in the mud for 15 minutes, then baked in the sun for 10 minutes, then showered that off, lay in a hot spa for 5 minutes and then had the rest of the day to enjoy the normal pools and waterfall (which was like a massage on your back). Was so nice and relaxing and my skin felt so good afterwards! definately recommend doing it if anyone is in Vietnam.
That night feeling way too relaxed we headed on the night bus to Hoi An. After along and uncomfortable sleep we arrived at our hotel in the pouring rain and waited tired and grumpy for our room to come free. finally we were able to get to bed and have a nap before exploring the city in the rain .. which didnt last long before we went back to watch dvd's in our room. the next day we all went out to get some tailor-made clothes, and i got 3 pair of shoes (summer sandles, strappy sandles and work shoes), and a suit and shirt, winter jacket (lined for extra warmth!) a bikini and some other things for presents.. Using the excuse that i find it hard to find good clothes at home that fit! The next day we went to pick up our stuff and none of fitted well! Had to do some quick adjustments and then quicky catch the bus for the night. fortunately most of the adjustments were good so the clothes fit relatively well.
After a beautiful bus ride to Hue we quickly swapped onto our night bus which took us to Hanoi. I thought i would be clever and take up the whole back row with us 3 girls, so we had 5 seats to put our stuff and stretch our legs. unfortunately as the night wore on the bus filled up and we had to move over for a few local men. I was right next to one man who had a cold so spent the night coughing, sniffing and hoiking, and even occasionaly chewing on his hoik!! Was a pretty gross night with not a lot of sleep had, and by the time we arrived in Hanoi at 6am we were all pretty dead. Decided to take a metre taxi hoping that it would be less hassle with having to barter and having them take us to the wrong hotel which they get commission for (which happens often) and our taxi driver tried to charge us NZ$15 for a 5 minute drive! I just looked at him and said he had to be joking (the going rate is 30,000 - 50,000 it turns out) so we gave him 50,000 and told him it was that or nothing. Sometimes you really feel that every person in Vietnam is out to scam you and you just get so tired of it!! but then sometimes people just do the most amazingly kind things and it throws it into perspective...
anyway have been in Hanoi the past few days trying to recover from my bus ride and kick the sore throat and cough i developed since then.. Have explored the city a bit and am heading off to Sapa in the north tonight on a 'hard sleeper bed' on the train (which i am presuming will be a plank of wood.. ) should be a fun night.
Also since I come home in a month i am sending out a message that I will be looking for work when i come back. anyone know of anything please let me know.
If you want to check out my photos look at www.bebo.com/ingridjones
much love to all,
Ingrid
the next day i found out my english friend Mike had his guy for $5 less than mine so after much yelling on the part of my driver and him storming off then coming back grumpily i got the same price. Titi my driver tried telling me that we 'weren't going with Mike' and was insisting i was not going with him but Mike told him he didn't have much of a choice!
We headed on our way and Titi managed to spend the first 30 mins trying to talk me into paying the extra money (have to pay commission to hotel, must buy petrol, other driver doesnt realise this....) and the rest of the day convincing me what a horrible person Mike was! Actually got to be quite funny when he decided we were only spending the day together for one reason and came up with 'Mike old bamboo, you young blade of grass. old bamboo eat young grass' (which was followed by a long laugh at his own hilarity). He even got quite angry when we arrived at our locations first and i insisted we wait for Mike and his driver before going in. Im quite sure that if he wasnt on drugs at that moment he had done a lot in the past because he was quite crazy..
We visited quite a lot on our trip. Went to a coffee plantation, silk worm farm and factory, passionfruit planatation, a beautiful monestary and waterfall, went for a walk through the bush (which was a pine tree plantation that followed the road), went for a yummy local lunch of noodle soup and then went to the 'crazy house' which was created by a vietnamese woman who studied architecture in Moscow. was a really interseting house with hardly a straight line (even the beds werent square), and giraffes coming out of the wall and all sorts...
The next day i was over the cold (even a girl from Quebec was wearing long-johns!) so headed on the bus to Nha Trang. The bus ride was amazingly beautiful and there were quite a few fun people on the bus so when the bus dropped us off at the designated hotel (i swear they dont even have bus stations in Vietnam everyone just pays for you to go to a hotel) we all decided to stay in the same place. that night we wandered along looking for a place to have a late night second-dinner and came across a local place with an enormous menu including such delicacies as pigs feet, porcupine and cows penis! This was too much of an opportunity to pass up so we all agreed to put in 30 cents worth and get a plate of sweet and sour cows penis. Everyone tried a piece and everyone seemed to get different textures, some enjoying it and some not. I thought my piece tasted like bad pork... got a funny video to prove it though!
the next day we agreed to take the hotel boat tour of the Nha Trang islands and went on our way. We visited 4 islands and did much jumping off the boat into the water, as well as a bit of beach lying and 'snorkling' (with masks that leaked..), and a trip to an aquarium. We also had a 'floating bar' which is where one of the boat staff hopped into the water with a big ring with a bucket with the worlds cheapest red wine, plastic glasses and pineapple in the glasses.. and we all got our own ring and swam in the water drinking our free wine and trying not to get too much salt water in the glass while listening to music from the boat. was lots of fun!
That night we all went out for drinks and at the restaurant invented a drinking game which involved someone dance chasing a girl down the street, singing in the middle of the restarant, doing press ups on the street, was a good laugh and even the restaurant staff were laughing along with us. The next morning we all had a relaxing day to make up for the night before so i headed down to the beach and got my legs 'threaded', which is where they use a piece of cotton to remove the hair from your legs (ouch!), then a massage after to make up for it... and a bit of swimming and reading my book.
the next morning Lisa and Luke, an aussie couple and i headed to the local mud spa. It cost a whopping US$5 and we had several hours there. first you showered, then lay in the mud for 15 minutes, then baked in the sun for 10 minutes, then showered that off, lay in a hot spa for 5 minutes and then had the rest of the day to enjoy the normal pools and waterfall (which was like a massage on your back). Was so nice and relaxing and my skin felt so good afterwards! definately recommend doing it if anyone is in Vietnam.
That night feeling way too relaxed we headed on the night bus to Hoi An. After along and uncomfortable sleep we arrived at our hotel in the pouring rain and waited tired and grumpy for our room to come free. finally we were able to get to bed and have a nap before exploring the city in the rain .. which didnt last long before we went back to watch dvd's in our room. the next day we all went out to get some tailor-made clothes, and i got 3 pair of shoes (summer sandles, strappy sandles and work shoes), and a suit and shirt, winter jacket (lined for extra warmth!) a bikini and some other things for presents.. Using the excuse that i find it hard to find good clothes at home that fit! The next day we went to pick up our stuff and none of fitted well! Had to do some quick adjustments and then quicky catch the bus for the night. fortunately most of the adjustments were good so the clothes fit relatively well.
After a beautiful bus ride to Hue we quickly swapped onto our night bus which took us to Hanoi. I thought i would be clever and take up the whole back row with us 3 girls, so we had 5 seats to put our stuff and stretch our legs. unfortunately as the night wore on the bus filled up and we had to move over for a few local men. I was right next to one man who had a cold so spent the night coughing, sniffing and hoiking, and even occasionaly chewing on his hoik!! Was a pretty gross night with not a lot of sleep had, and by the time we arrived in Hanoi at 6am we were all pretty dead. Decided to take a metre taxi hoping that it would be less hassle with having to barter and having them take us to the wrong hotel which they get commission for (which happens often) and our taxi driver tried to charge us NZ$15 for a 5 minute drive! I just looked at him and said he had to be joking (the going rate is 30,000 - 50,000 it turns out) so we gave him 50,000 and told him it was that or nothing. Sometimes you really feel that every person in Vietnam is out to scam you and you just get so tired of it!! but then sometimes people just do the most amazingly kind things and it throws it into perspective...
anyway have been in Hanoi the past few days trying to recover from my bus ride and kick the sore throat and cough i developed since then.. Have explored the city a bit and am heading off to Sapa in the north tonight on a 'hard sleeper bed' on the train (which i am presuming will be a plank of wood.. ) should be a fun night.
Also since I come home in a month i am sending out a message that I will be looking for work when i come back. anyone know of anything please let me know.
If you want to check out my photos look at www.bebo.com/ingridjones
much love to all,
Ingrid
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