Vietnam

i wasnt going to bother doing this today but i have had such an amazing day that i couldnt resist.

i went to the cu chi tunnels just outside saigon on a tour, the tunnels are the actual ones the viet cong used in the war and they are just as they were then. so there was alot of history and stuff to look at about the war, then you get to crawl through 90 metres of the tunnels if you want, with tourist exits every 30 metres. out of 30 tourists only 3 made it through all of it and i can proudly say that i was one of them. your only down there for about 15 minutes but by the time you get out at the other end the sweat is just pouring off you in a stream and the dirt is welded to your legs and arms.

but wait it gets better, they have got a firing range there where you can buy bullets to fire through a variety of weapons. so i turned into Arnie for half an hour and bought 20 bullets for an ak47 and 20 shot gun cartridges. so i fired an ak47 and a double barrel shot gun. it was bloody ace! the pump action on the shot gun was brillant and i felt like i was some sort of war hero mowing down badies. also the noise they made was probably the loudest i have ever heard, especially as it was just by your ear. i have 3 brillant photos with me in full swing firing the guns. one of my highlights of vietnam. its funny that when you dont expect something to happen it makes it all the more enjoyable.

saigon is alot nicer than hanoi for a variety of reasons, the main one being that it isnt as big and is alot less hectic. i think the fact that it isnt as hot down here also helps.

this afternoon i went o see the war remnants museum, which is shocking. tanks and planes are around the outside of the main building and graphic pictures inside. included in which are still born babies which have two heads or three legs and no arms due to the chemicals that the yanks dropped on the country and some of these babies were 'born' as early as 1990. its crazy the level of suffering the country still has due to the actions of 30 years ago. it made me wonder if iraq will become a tourist trap in 20/30 years for the gulf vets? as the wars are similar, only time will tell i suppose.

anyway you might have noticed that i am back to 100% now after 2 days of feeling terrible, (did i tell you all that ?!?) not sure what it was but it seems to have passed through the system.

i am off into wonderful, slighty dodgy (so i am told) cambodia tomorrow morning on another 8-9 hour little bus trip. still travelling with lucy as she couldnt be arsed to go today so it will turn out that we will have done the whole of laos and the whole of vietnam together, although in cambodia she is going west and i am going south.

hold tight, due to the fact that i havent done this for awhile this is going to be a long one!

when i last wrote i was in hoi an and badly sunburnt(it turns out that i gave myself 3rd degree burns), since then alot has happened. firstly the bus down from hoi an was as usual eventful to say the least.

we were last to be picked up so had the choice of the last 2 seats, me being the gentleman that i am i let lucy pick first and as a result i ended up sitting next to a smelly old man, bad enough you think but....it turns out that the bloke had been travelling down the country and hadnt stopped in hoi an (in a sense just going straight through to nha trang) the person who sat next to him for the previous part of the journey had gotten off in hoi an, however it turns out he was missing certain items of his belongings - namely his wallet and money belt and passport, which after much searching were all found in the old guys bag! a petty thief! the bus driver refused to throw him off the bus so i was left sitting next to him for the next 14 hours, as you can imagine i didnt get much sleep.

got into nha trang at about 8 in the morning and set about doing the usual thing of finding somewhere to crash out for awhile. again found the cheapest twin room at $5 in a small hotel. lucy wanted to go and book her diving for the next day so i went along to see how much a course would be. i always thought thailand would be the cheapest place to learn but i managed to get it for $150 for a four day course. so the next day i sat in a classroom watching videos and answering questions relating to scuba diving.

the fun didnt really start till lunchtime the following day when we got to go into the water for the first time. the pool we used to complete the tasks was disgusting and had far to many bits and pieces in it to make it an enjoyable 4 hours. so i was disappointed to say the least, however the next day when we got out onto the open water and did some proper diving it was everything i had imagined it would be - the colours and shapes of the coral and the numerous fish made it hard to take it all in. so i had 2 dives that day going down to 12 metres and the following day 2 more dives going down to 18 metres all of which i really enjoyed and loved every second of them. each dive lasts about an hour but the time just disappears when you are chasing fish around or swimming through caves in crystal clear, warm waters. i could go on and wax lyrical about the diving for ages but i will stop myself there and move on.

the hotel we were staying in, turned out appeared to be somewhat of a safehouse. an aussie guy was living there under the protection of the family as he owed money for drugs and various things. it explained there strange attitudes and the bizzare questions they constantly asked.

the next day we intended to catch the bus down to Mui Ne, however we managed to miss the bus first time around. after a few frantic phone calls a bike came and picked us up and took us to where the bus was waiting. fair enough you think but my driver didnt have a hand on his left side, just a stump and his right hand had fingers which looked alot like toes (i assumed it was a birth defect as a result of the war) i has amazed that he could ride a bike let alone with me and all my gear on the back.

so we made the bus, getting the last 2 seats again and had another 5 hours on the bus. its funny how when your travelling a 5 hour trip almost becomes easy and routine, whereas back home if someone said a trip involved a 5 hour bus journey i would laugh at them and not do it.

arrived in Mui Ne and found a bungalow right on the sea front with a nice little beach. on the hole there wasnt alot to do there apart from the sandboarding which we planned to do the next day so we set about having a few drinks and relaxing in the hammocks overlooking the water.

the next morning we caught a motorcycle taxi to the sand dunes and i proceeded to throw myself down large dunes on a plastic board. really good fun and brought out the kid in me thats for sure. its like sledging but without the cold, although i prefer snow to sand. that night we went to the 'hot rock cafe' for a few drinks and some food but it wasnt that good and we ended up back at the hotel pretty early. so i decided to go and sit on the beach and look up at the stars and think about nothing, just letting my mind wander to random things. when i went back to the room i was greeted by a cockroach, two moths, 3 geckos and numerous ants and flys - after abit of a killing spree i fell alseep straight away.

yesterday we caught a bus down to saigon (or hcmc, if you prefer). for some reason i felt really bad and managed to sleep for pretty much all of the trip. when we got here, i just couldnt stand up and felt exhusted so lucy found us a hotel and i promptly fell alseep from 6.30 last night till 9.30 this morning. i feel better now but still not 100%.

the general plan is to visit 2 or 3 war sites of interest tomorrow and then i think i will leave the next day for cambodia. i dont like planning but i think i will stay there for about 2 weeks as there isnt masses to do and the time could be spent better elsewhere. i think lucy is leaving tomorrow for cambodia which is a shame really as we both said that it would have been nice to leave vietnam as we entered, together.

other stuff;

have met alot of people who have done or are doing some sort of teaching aboard, in order to travel and earn some money at the same time. it looks fairly easy to got into and might take as little as a month to convert my degree. its not something i have considered doing before but the possibilities appear endless - china, japan, thailand, jakarta, central and south america etc.

lucy and i have made up numerous stories along vietnam tos top us getting hassled, especially lucy. turned into a game of sorts which includes changing are names, nationality, time away and are relationship - so far i ahve been friend, boyfriend, brother and husband. the game stopped recently when lucy took it one step to far by saying that we both supported arsenal and hated liverpool with a passion. theres a line and she crossed it

i am in hoi an, well at least for another few hours, about half way down the coast of vietnam. have got a boring day, attempting to stay out of the sun and waiting for another 12-13 hour overnight bus journey, which will take me to nha trang.

hoi an is a little town, built apon the fact that every second shop is a tailors who will tailor make clothes for you at a very reasonable price very quickly. people i have met have spent over $2000 here - myself i have just spent about $20 - on two pairs of shorts.

the other main attraction is that there is a lovely - brillant beach which was what just what the doctor ordered. spent yesterday there and promptly got burnt again - i dont know why i keep getting burnt but i do. so this morning i am a little bit sore in the stomach region - something i hope will ease before tonights little trip. the beach is the a typical gorgeous beach which you expect to find in asia - something which has been sadly lacking so far. the water is warm and clear and the sand golden - it really was picture postcard stuff. it was good to swim again i went out to have a closer look at the fishing boats moored off the beach.

the bus ride down from hue wasnt to bad as we managed to get some seats away from the sun and a few locals got off on route and we acquired those seats as well - shame it was just 5 hours and not a 12 hour jobby.

when we got in we found the cheapest hotel we could and set about exploring. bumped into the irish lads from laos, who were just leaving to go south and they told us what to do and what isnt as good around town.

the following day was spent in between tailors and internet cafes. my memory on my camera was full and i attempted to upload the pictures to a website to free the space. this is still a work in progress but i have most of them now - apart from hue and hoi an.

yesterday i did something pretty stupid really, i think it might be down to sun stroke from the beach but i went for a hair cut. now you would think that this would be some big chain of barbers around vietnam. nope. think little half naked guy in a small shop with 1 mirror, who interestingly enough didnt speak any english - at all. my motorcycle driver who picked me up from the beach ensured me that he was good and he spoke ok english and translated what i wanted. it would appear that his english isnt very good either. so i now have pretty much no hair at all. add this to a brown / red ish face and i looked pretty strange last night when i went for a few beers.

thats about it really, as i said i am off to nha trang tonight which is supposed to be even better than hoi an, in terms of beaches. there is a good backpacker vibe with some all night parties going on, plenty of watersports to undertake and plenty of interesting islands to explore.

i will use the time wisely and set about researching the jet ski business idea which i have had for a while now. i think i may have got an accountant/manager already on board but there are plenty of opportunities for others to get involved. please send cv's to my email address

from that i hope you all realise that i am in Hue, sort of central vietnam ish.

after i last wrote in hanoi, i didnt manage to buy the posters i wanted because someone stole in there before i went back and bought the two i wanted, so i had to settle for 2 copied rare oasis cds from down the road. i have alot to thank these boys for, as they recently stopped me going insane.

the bus down from hanoi was packed to the rafters, although with alot of locals and not many backpackers. it was pretty uncomfortable but i have had worse trips, the main problem was the weather. we drove through a thunder storm for the first 3 hours, the display of forks across the sky was impressive but the rain made the crazy driver even crazier and he appeared to speed up rather than slow down. this led to a couple of near misses with the on coming traffic and one of these left me with a sizeable lump on my head as i smacked into the window. after that any small chance i had of sleeping was removed and i preceeded to listen to every single oasis track, in release date order no less, for the majority of the trip.

this gave me alot of time sitting in the dark thinking. i have come to the conclusion that you should never miss an opportunity to take a leak, stretch your legs or get wet when travelling. i also came up with some business ideas - ymca dolls which dance and move, patent pending, and a service which scans in and copies your family photo albums to disk, so that they can be stored in alot of places, in case the house burns down. the last one got me quite excited at 3 in the morning and i think that is how i willmake my first million.

when i got into hue, after the 14 hour trip the usual carnage greeted me. as you attempt to get off the bus people grab you and your bags and try and take you to there guesthouses. dont what you need after 30 hours without sleep. did manage to find a decent cheap one and me and lucy have both got a double bed and air-con, plus fan at a good price and the first air-con i have had for a week or two. both are bags had somehow managed to get wet in storage and smelt lovely, another batch of washing was dispatched.

i didnt really want to waste the day so i went for my now traditional wander around a new town, without a map, in order to explore. ended up going to the citidel and the forbidden city which were nice but alot of it was destroyed in the war. for you war buffs out there - the movie 'full metal jacket' was filmed here. after that went and got some bait (blame the geordies in leeds (you know who you are) for that, after a while it rubs off on you) in an empty bar and got them to put the recently acquired cds on, while we played pool. we had a couple of drinks and chilled out, glad to be out of hanoi. got talking to the owners and there little 20 month old son showed up. now i am not a baby person, but this little guy was cute, no question and funny, so we stayed there pretty much all afternoon baby sitting.

on the way back to the hotel i spotted a tour operator and for some reason i booked myself on a 13 hour tour of the area for the next day leaving at 06.00 - whats the O stand for for? O my god its early. after which we spotted the bar which is suggested to go in the lonely planet (why is it called the lonely planet?) and headed inside. the DMZ bar is good and there was a healthy mix of locals and travellers. the walls are covered in the scribbles of travellers and the management encourage you to join in. i found a suitable spot and left my mark - nothing is more precious than independence and freedom, rob jude '05. we ended up staying in the bar playing pool and to be honest my memory is slighty faded, but i am assured that i did manage to win 7 games in a row - i was so good that people came in and watched me beat the locals and clapped my every shot. people who know me will know that, that doesnt happen very often, if at all.

i have no idea what time i went to bed but the alarm the next day at 5.50 didnt do me any favours. i went down and got the bus - which was late (shock). the trip was good, although it involved alot of sitting on a bus, depressingly going back north on the same road i had come down on the previous day. the tour took in all the major war sites of the area, apart from a cemmentary, which i really wanted to see but no one goes there.

after the halong bay tour and problems, it was apparent to me that the operators just put you all on the same tour, no matter how much you paid. so i booked the cheapest one possible at 7$, it turned out that other folks doing the sametour paid well over double that.

the first stop was at war site, where the americans had 6000 people based, before they were overun by the viet cong. there is still the airstrip behind the display hall - which was very graffic, people dead and dieing. a local man was walking around selling war junk - i couldnt help myself and purchased a original viet cong medal, which every solider got and an american dog tag, a R.E Powell of the USMC, who i assumed lost his life in the surrounding hills.

after this we went to see a bridge built with funding from cuba, the site of the trail, the dmz zone, the bridge which split north and south and then the vinh moc tunnels. as they were just used for hiding and not fighting they are quite big and i could just about walk through. 300 people lived down there during the war in an attempt to avoid the bombs, it must have been horrible and the 400 metre section which you allowed to view was enough for me.

got back at around 7 and met lucy who had done a different tour to me - of the perfume river - which she said wasnt very good. went for a drink and something to eat at the DMZ bar again and met a few interesting folks - an AC milan fan who i had a good laugh with about the football. i added another note to the wall in this honour -'JC IS MY HERO'. we stayed in there till closing and then wander back and i fell alseep fully clothed on the bed. today i am doing nothing much and i am glad ofthe fact. tomorrow i head south to hoi an, which is supposed to be really really nice so that should be good.

have just done this once and lost it, so here goes nothing.

have been kicked out of the hostel and have a few hours to kill before the next leg of the journey down to Hue. in an attempt to not get sweaty before the bus i thought i would tell you all about my, very good, day in hanoi.

after i wrote the blog this morning i went to see Ho Chi Minh's body at his mausoleum complex. got on another manic motorbike and sped across town. then you file in through a large building in a never ending line, of which i was pretty much the only non-local. you wait around and then enter a small little dark room where there is a glass sarcophagus with his body in. he doesnt look to happy to be there and it was strange to see him, a little old man who i have read so much about, who committed countless war crimes, all of which went unpunished. the locals walked past and weeped etc, and he has been dead for 30 odd years!

after this i went for a massage. no dont get the wrong idea or anything. i went for a lonely planet one where i was assured that no extras would be offered. the lonely planet once again was wrong. i say no more. despite that i had a quality hour long, full body (well almost) massage and felt truly bloody brillant afterwards. so much so that i went and had some lunch and a beer or two.

i have been considering eating snake - there is a village around hanoi where you can eat it 10 different ways in a meal, but it was a bit of an effort to get there so i didnt bother. there is also a dog meat restaurant but i couldnt do it to dave and the clan so i had to settle for, wait for it...pigeon! really tasty but not much meat on it. i tell you i felt a million dong at that point (although thats about 30 quid). washed down with a couple of ales. now thats how travelling should be.

after this i wandered through the town until i came across the Ho Lo Prison Musuem. it was used by the french for killing the locals when they were in power and the locals to annoy the yanks during the war. all the stuff in there is pretty one sided - about how the americans had committed war crimes etc and how despite this they were treated with the upmost respect whilst they were pow's. then you walk through into the rooms the pow's were kept - rows of chains which bolted arms and legs in fixed positions for 20 hours a day. the floor wasnt level, so if they went to the toilet it would run back down into there faces.

also in the complex were shot down pilots suits and equipment and from the french era a guillotine.

after this i found a random little local bar and promptly got hussled out of a beer by a little vietnamise lady whilst playing pool.

it felt like i have achieved alot today but looking back i havent really - but i have really enjoyed myself today - hopefully the bus journey will not spoil it for me tonight

this it really but in other news -

god damn liverpool are playing t.n.s at wrexham and i am 10,000 miles away, this has not pleased me

my sleeping bag has bitten the dust - i have bought a silk liner instead for a couple of bucks. the bag was big and hot and i never really used it, so i thought i would trade it in for something alot smaller and lighter. it has done me proud but the oz bag is no more.

tempted to buy some original war posters, as i think they would look really good in my house which i will no doubt get at some point. they give you a tube which to store them so i think they might cope with the next 4 months but they are 10$ each and i have spent, more than usual today.

if i make it to hue on the overnight bus i will write again soon, but first i am having a day chilling out doing nothing before i hit the original tunnels used by the viet cong - this i am really looking forward to.

take it easy

the problem with this little blog of mine, is that i normally end up doing it when i am really tried and frequently when i am starving. so if i have been giving out the wrong signals about travelling i am sorry - make no mistake i am really enjoying myself and liking getting to know random cultures of the places i go and the people i meet.

some of the stuff i forgot yesterday:

hanoi is a maze of little streets with a complete random mix of shops. on an average street its normal to have a little 'normal' shop, next to a motorcycle shop, next to a steel merchants - who will be welding in the street, next to a hotel, next to a rubbish tip, next to a 'high class' bar, next to a undertaker, next to a carpenter - who again will be doing his trade in the middle of the street. its just so strange, but now a little bit appealing. when i first arrived i didnt like it but now i have grown used to it and warmed to the city. when you get on the back of a random, normally drunk, guys motorbike and speed through the streets it makes you feel like you are a local and that you belong- maybe thats why my feelings have changed. had another one last night after meeting up with a couple of people i met on halong bay / cat ba island tour. after i had argued with him about the price for 5 minutes he set off and straight away offered to sell me books, a bike, local illegal booze, drugs and a woman for the night - in that order and within a minute. i declined all ( i was knackered! )

yesterday i went to see the perfume pagoda which is a couple of hours drive west of hanoi. again it was boiling and as the traffic was its normal crazy chaotic self it actually took closer to 4 hours to get there. to all people travelling in vietnam - DO NOT GO TO THE PERFUME PAGODA ITS A CON. i have no idea why the lonely planet has it as one of the must do things in vietnam. when you arrive a little old lady rows up the river, which did have the potential to be roomantic if you were a couple in love, which i am not so it just dragged and i could feel myself burning in the morning sun. when you get there its a little village next to the river and then you wander around looking at a few caves and then walk to the top on a steep path. the hills etc were pretty amazing but just very similar to that of the entire countryside of laos. the perfume part of it is supposed to be the flowers inside the caves, the only perfume we could smell was that of urine. added to this was the fact that there were a number of americans in the group who - shockingly - wouldnt stop moaning about everything.

one of the highlights of the day was the fact that i saw some strange rice paddies. they have graves right in the middle of the fields and just work around them - they are scattered all over the place and not clustered together - i guess it is the ultimate recycling !

despite what i said at the top of this update about enjoying myself, travelling has turned into a bit of a hassle at the moment. due to lucy, as above, and the fcat that i havent had a long sleep for a week and have been up everyday early, after late nights. my plan is to get to hue and chill out for a few days before i do anymore tours. hue is a good place to do this i am told and they also have the vihn moc tunnels which are the orignal viet cong tunnels they used to spank the americans.

i am going to start to put links at the end of these updates, as i am i cant find anywhere to upload my photos. so it will give you an idea of the things i have been doing.

perfume padoga -
http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/vietnam.perfume-pagoda.html

its that time again folks.

i am now safely into life in Vietnam - although i dont think i will ever fully get used to it. we flew into hanoi on thursday morning after getting up at stupid o'clock to check in. the airport was tiny and would probably fit into the check in lounge of heathrow, only 6 planes leave a day. i had heard some horror stories about air laos, but i can assure you that it was a good flight and despite the cloud cover an easily landing (there have been reports that the planes couldnt land in clouding weather, as they dont use computers and if they cant see they cant land). shared a taxi with some other backpackers going in a similar direction to us and headed for the old quarter of hanoi.

after bangkok i thought i was used to the chaos of a big city in asia - how long i was. it is like bangkok on speed - bikes dont stop, even if trucks are fast bearing down on them, people just walk out into the street and cause bikes to screeh to a halt and the beeping is constant, even when it appears that nothing is in the way they still beep. it didnt help that the taxi diver tried to con us and take us to his friends hotels in an attempt to drum up some extra business. in the end we all jumped out in the middle of nowhere and wandered till me and lucy found a guesthouse. lovely little thing, as it had no windows and was painted pink - also it was boiling in there and the little fan couldnt cope with it, so we stayed hot all night. by this time, after about 3 hours in hanoi we both agreed that it was best to leave as soon as possible and as the weather was hot the logical destination was halong bay and the BEACH (i have been waiting for this about 4 weeks). so we went for a wander around to find a travel agent that was cheap (ish) and booked a 3 day 2 night trip around the bay and cat ba island. sounded great, sleeping on a boat (not a sailing one, sorry dad) swimming from the side, a trek on the island etc etc.

anyway after we booked that we walked around the lake in the centre of hanoi in an attempt to avoid the sun and the millions of people. my camera was still eating batteries like tomorrow so i got some rechargeable ones and a charger - to save a few quid in the long run.

on the way back it started to rain, again like never before and we took shelter in an irish bar - which had free pool and darts and an expansive collection of music from sting to the police, which got boring very quickly. we ended up staying and drinking for about 4 hours before the rain stopped and we attempted to find the hostel, which was down so little tiny back street. due to another stupid o'clock start for the trip to the seaside we btoh went to bed early ish.

the trip to halong bay is supposed to be one of the must do things in the whole of vietnam and i can agree that this is the case.

the guy we booked with promised to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the bus, he arrived right on time on a little scooter. what followed was a brillant little adventure. as i was taking all my stuff with me i had my big backpack, funny enough on my back and the day sack on my front, on the back of a tiny scooter driven by a crazy little vietnamise man. i couldnt hold on as there was nowehere to hold to and i didnt fancy putting my arms around a man, so, as he sped through the morning traffic, stopping for nothing and peeping at everything i just hoped i would get to see the sea. looking back it was probably one of the highlights of my trip so far as it was completely out of the blue and really good fun.

so we got there and despite the cramped little bus which we had to sit on for 3 and a half hours and the hour waiting in the midday sun for the guide to book a boat, only when we had arrived the landscape and limestone formations are stunnning. the boat took 5 hours to reach cat ba island on route stopping at some caves, a floating village - it had a school, shop and pub - all floating miles away from the main land on little pontoons. when we arrived on the island it was clear that they hadnt booked a boat for us to sleep on and that what we were told wasnt going to happen. this didnt really bother me to much as i found out that we still had paid less that everybody else and that we had all the meals included, whilst they didnt. still it was annoying to know that you had been lied to. the next day we had a 4km trek up and and down a hill and it was hotter than the sun. by the time we reached the top everybody was covered head to toe in sweat and it dripped off us with an alarming rate. the walk was good, although the view wasnt, really. but it was fun and it felt like you had achieved something at the end. afterwards we were taken back to the hotel and had lunch before it was beach time. we walked the 2km or so in the sunshine and i could feel myself burning already. when we got there it was empty, so i headed straight into the merky water to cool off and relax. the cove had an island just off it and i thought it might be fun to attempt to swm to it, i started heading out to sea when this little bloke on the shore starts shouting and blowing his whistle at me with increasing distress. i returned to be told that you can only swim within certain bouys, which annoyed me somewhat. anyway my mission was over and i had managed to get into the sea at last. the sun got to hot to sit in and we headed back round the cove to the first little beach, to be greeted by close to a thousand vietnam people goign mental - it was like the costa del sol - packed. it turns out the beach is always empty till this time as they cant take the midday sun and so wait till later on before heading out to the beach.

in the evening there was a free live 'gig' in the street and we met up with some people off the original bus and had a few beers and games of pool. i thought about attempting to start a mosh pit but no one seemed interested and the idea fell on deaf ears.

today we had to again get up at a daft time to maek the trip by boat back to the main land and set about having a go at the tour guide about the lack of service. we moaned at him for a while and in the end we managed to get two free nights accomodation, which more than makes up for the lack of sleeping on a boat.

tomorrow i am off on another little day trip then i plan to see ho chi minhs remains and then head south out of hanoi. but i will keep you all updated, also thinking of heading into malaysia before i return

for info on halong bay -

http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/vietnam.halong.html