Off the Couch and On the Road

The Vietnamese love their horns. You honk when you pass someone, to say hi; when you overtake someone, to let them know you are behind them; when you pass a family of seven riding the same bike, perhaps to pay respect to this awesome balancing manouvre; and if noone is around, then you honk anyway, because you can.

It’s crazy and loud, and you could tell the difference in the landscape as soon we crossed the border from Laos. We drove for 8 hours the day we crossed the border, the traffic slowly getting more congested and the horns becoming more frequent.

During the bus ride, which passed through the Ho Chi Minh trail, we talked of the history of Vietnam, which apparently began when a sea dragon and mountain fairy met, married and had 100 sons. The fairy and dragon decided they couldn’t live together anymore as they were both too far away from the mountains and ocean they called home, so they took 50 sons each and separated, the oldest son becoming the first Emporer of Vietnam.

After a night in a hotel with the best shower in the world (it’s a big call, but sometimes you have to just put it out there), we continued our journey eyes down, because if you looked out the front window at the traffic headed straight for you, you were constantly freaked out and arrived in Halong Bay by mid afternoon.

It is said that as the Dragon that founded Vietnam soared above the water and dove down, he hit the water and the humps because the rocky islands of Halong Bay. Or something like that, beause let’s face it I’m not great at remembering overrated things like the actual facts and actual history. But still interesting, yes?

Sakai splashed out at got us a 3-storey boat all to ourselves which we boarded and spent the afternoon swimming off the boat in the ocean, and being spoiled by the crew with delicious seafood for lunch and dinner. There were hundreds of similar boats all parked around the area (some of which were other Intrepid travellers who looked very boring on their 2-storey boats) and it was amazing sight to see them all lit up, scattered amongst the picturesque islands.

We spent the night on the boat, and woke when it shuddered to a start and began to make the return journey to the mainland early the following morning. It would have been nice to stay an extra day in our own piece of paradise, but we boarded our bus once again to the city of Hanoi and looked forward to the culture shock of the most populated city in the entire world! (Or maybe Asia. Or maybe just Vietnam. I can’t really remember, but the entire world sounds so much better…)

-Sarah

PS: Hotmail is shit, it’s time to acknowledge that. I can read emails but not reply right now, so glad everyone is well and look forward to hearing more about what you are all up to!

The 6-hour bus ride went quite quickly and by the time we arrived in Hin Boun near the border of Vietnam, we were refreshed and relaxed. We stayed in a village, relatively average sized in this area, of about 1000 people.

One or two of the kids knew a few words of English, but the majority didn’t - so we communicated in the international language of hopscotch, hand-clapping games, and a great one called ‘let’s look at Sarah’s photos and realise most of them are shit and are of boring things like trees, waterfalls and pigs. But it was great fun (don’t worry you will all get to play soon!).

Our local guide cooked us a meal of fresh spring rolls and tamarind dipping sauce as well as soup, rice and vegetables which was heaven. It was great to watch village life, and interesting to see how work and life is so intermingled in Indochina. People don’t choose where, when or how they work, it’s just what they do as part of their day. Street-side restaurants are within the living rooms of the family, undoubtably with a TV and a few kids sitting 2cm away from the screen watching Power Rangers (some things don’t change wherever you go). Kids also help their parents with the work as soon as they can walk, and you can see the young girls of 10 or 11 stop what they are doing and cock their head, hearing a baby cry, before going to see if they can settle it. They are also kids mind you, and then try to push each other off the blaconies. As you do.

We slept on mattresses in two huts, mosquito nets hanging over us from the ceiling like coocoons, and woke to roosters crowing before saying goodbye to our newfound friends and travelling a few hours to the Vietnam border.

We have been told that if Laos is a sweet friend sitting at a distance, then Vietnam is a stranger yelling two inches from your nose. But we are all looking forward to the challenge.

-Sarah

The essentials used to be keys, keycard, phone and Asthma puffer. Now, they are mosquito repellant, passport, cash and Tiger Blam - which can officialy cure any affliction known to man.

I wake up bruised, sore, bitten, hungover and tired most ... [Continue reading this entry]

By the time we were well and truly sick of playing cards, we arrived in Luang Prabang early afternoon the following day and travelled in tuk-tuks to the guesthouse. They were individual bungalows amongst beautiful gardens and a pond, and ... [Continue reading this entry]

We officially left Thailand and crossed the river into Laos the next morning to board our boat for the two day journey to Luang Prabang. We stopped off at a village on the way, offered salt to the village chief ... [Continue reading this entry]

The following morning we left for a 6-hour bus ride to Chiang Khong, where we would spend a night before crossing the border into Laos. The bus trip was broken into a few 2-hour trips and we stopped for lunch ... [Continue reading this entry]

Trains are ok. They really are. But when they try to be something they're not (ie. a bed) they ultimately suck. They really do. Sleeping on that carriage was like laying in half a single bed with a bunch of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bangkok is full of contradictions. It's street stalls next to skyscraper malls, traffic with no obvious rules yet an undercurrent of order that allows you to walk out in front of it and have traffic swerve neatly around you. Very ... [Continue reading this entry]

After trying to sleep through a 4 hour animated discussion between my hostel roomates about what I like to call "The British Backpackers Guide to Bangkok's Ping-Pong Girls", I gave up and resigned not to do very much on my ... [Continue reading this entry]

The last few weeks in Sydney seemed a blur of shopping, packing, goodbyes and trying to watch as many Grey's Anatomy episodes as possible (I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but ohmygod Meredith??!!). In the midst of all ... [Continue reading this entry]