TRAVEL: VIETNAM

13-14th February 

shrove Tuesday/ valentines day/ ash wed 胖周二/情人节/圣灰节

Work was utterly dead, out of all the design department it was only Rita I am came in along with Bonnie on the last day. Yesterday there was only one person who came in for work on the entire 3rd floor! Rita brought her dog haha as she was meant to be meeting someone to mind her while she was at home. There was nothing to do really: I researched the trip a little and printed out documents. During lunch I walked with Bonnie to the metro as she was going to eat lunch at home and bring her daughter in for a while to see Rita’s dog. By the time I  came back I was told that if all your work was finished then you could leave early. I’d brought all my stuff and to go home then go to the station would be a bit of a waste of time. So Rita and I stayed awaiting Bonnie and Her little daughters return with Neva. We took pics and chatted before Rita left. BBonnie stayed til I left at 4. Catherine her daughter took a shine to me and wrote down all the numbers needed to come visit there’s - house number/call code/door password haha then she started drawing me her and Bonnie. What a cute little 4 year old. 

I was worried about the infamous cny rush 春运 but surprisingly, similar to even the roads yesterday, it was quite and not busy. Even this morning for the rush hour metro! Most people seemed to have left a bit early Shanghai was turning into a ghost town 鬼城. Even upon arrive at the station, no huge queue outside, I went in in minutes with bag scan. Yes of course the train waiting area was full of people but no more so than a common day? I had been worried about time but found I could go to the store. Queueing up was even somewhat ordered, everyone had to give their tickets to special assistants to scan, there was guards! Upon going through in an odd-for-china manner we were instructed by more guards to line up in an orderly row for a few minutes before slowly being allowed to head to the platform(?!) 什么鬼有顺尊序太组织的。the train itself wasn’t even full! And yet we’d had to bid for a ticket 抢票 I was able to sit at the window n stick my feet up. I chatted after a while to a guy from hunan who’d been in shanghai for 8 years before him and half the passengers got off at the first stop in hunan. The guy beside me moved and I had the whole 3 seats to myself and could lie down! Arriving slightly earlier at 10 I was still tired in need of a shower but at least I was warmer than I was in shanghai! Plus the slow train even had free WiFi! Not too bad eh? 

Malik, did not check his phone. I had he address and had looked up where his place was and had his number but, I was unsure if he was meeting me at the metro exit J, the station metro is a maze. I couldn’t find it. Eventually I gave up. And walked with my heavy backpack eventually finding his place (20/30mins away if u aren’t lost it’s closer haha) I got in. Told the porter that malik was dead - lovely place very private and fancy beside the uni even one complex with a pool! - malik’s roommate AJ Opened the door to a grumpy kelly. Turns out they had had a few drinks - till 7 and malik thought I was in at 10pm. Told him he was a twat. But was shown the spare room and passed out for a couple hours before getting a much needed shower - I smelt like dirty chinese from the train rid. Coffee boost malik showed me how to get to the metro. Exit J is retarded to find from the metro. 

A pleasant day of around 20’ I got off at 陈家祠 Chen clan ancestral hall -  the academic temple built for the younger generations to study and prepare for the imperial exams (the ancient form of 高考） now also housing Guangdong folk art   Built in 1894 it is a traditional Chinese building complex of 19 buildings/9halls/6courtyards. The buildings precipices are intricately carved wood,stone and pottery beams and walls. 精雕细刻的

it was free in as part of the start of the holiday. I slowly walked around admiring the beautiful artwork exploring the different sections. There was a particularly interesting section based on the Chinese influence in the 19th century on ladies fans - the creation, style,

Mediums etc. the fans to me could not be classed as simple accessories but as fine crafted pieces of art! 

From here I strolled towards the main pedestrian street shangxiajiu 上下九步行街 stopping to visit a very quiet and peaceful Hualin temple 华林寺 a Buddhist temple and small monastery, the area was  shut up, shutters down on the surrounding stores, like shanghai, most of the people that live in gz aren’t from here originally, the big cities are dead, those remaining are almost all locals. The temple was peaceful with only some workers closing up and some monks, I walked on down reaching Shamian island 沙面 the British French concession area of Guangzhou. A pleasant walk the houses and atmosphere     Took me away from china to the 18th century. Beautiful architecture. I finally arrived back to Malik’s around 8. Chilled before we got the metro to the airport

We were early, check wasn’t to open for another 30mins or so. So we were in fact first to check in. I was worried it would go through as JetStar hadn’t made me add passport details but it was fine. Went through security and customs 安全查&海关 I was worried my Visa could have been cancelled (previous boss)or I’d be fined cos it’s in my old passport n I’d read online new law said u were meant to move it.... but I was fine. Next stress, checked up upon the brit Visa on arrival .....should have exit ticket to get the 15days on arrival.... did I have, why of course not！ as I was wanting to book the train/bus return when I arrived. So malik and I tried to edit a copy of his - sort of worked.... to show. Boarded and passed out haha. Short flight, not even 2 hours. Before going through passport there’s a Visa section. We said to the guy we didn’t have, we wanted on arrival as british he asked how long for, we said one week. Then he said no Visa and gestured ahead. I was freaking out! He meant no visa application needed, looked at nothing but our passport for a brief moment. We lined up. Got our stamps and strolled through. Stressed for nothing lool. We withdrew some cash n jumped in a taxi to the hostel - about 400k vnd we wanted to sleep but like a rard I booked the wrong night eughhh. Crashed on a sofa, malik was grateful I’d brought a big bag then! Using some of my hoodies n blankets haha

15th feb Hanoi 除夕夜 TET

We sort of hideously slept. Did a quick fresh up and changed before we checked out the bar/common area of 5th floor. Unlike china, like Europe 1st floor is not ground floor,. There’s a lift. 2staircase levels at the front with reception on 1st, 2nd floor luggage storage (ground floor has a shop and lift/atm/stairs ceiling filled with hanging lanterns a large fish tank n funky wall art) on 3rd floor the stairs cease n you head to the back for a new flight which lead up to 4/5. Around 10.30/11 now the area was roofed but open no windows and lots of plants, bar area 2 pool tables 2 flatscreens sofas n tables with approx 10 or so foreigners dotted around. We headed for a sofa and charging slot. It was getting warmer. Bit of a sludgy humid. But not too hot,the highest it would be would be around 20.

Background telling on, chilled out chatting, no shouting/loud staff like in china and lots of foreigner faces, a good few preparing homemade bongs I was shocked. Sooooo not like any place I’d done before, even in the mad Bangkok party hostel they were discreet l. Was like being at a house party not a youth hostel. Malik was surprised but pleased (he later bought) it was cheap!!!! Will chilled chatted a bit to people and where finally allowed to check in before we headed out to find out about bus tickets to HUE 顺化and NANNING 南宁

So we got out and walked along our main area in the direction of the bus station. The shops were mainly shut and dead, turns out, due to the close continuous influence of china Vietnamese new year is the same as China’s but called TET so everything ticket wise would be more expensive apparently/hard to get and shops shut. It was starting tonight with fireworks at midnight beside the lake near the us. So the swarms of crazy bikes - the majority of which were motorbikes so louder and with fumes bigger too, with full family like rural china 3-4 squeezed on - we not at usual full street running capacity 

但是还是像他们是络绎不绝来的太危险了！不比中国的城市他们的路比较紧不宽。surprisingly smoggy I was also shocked to see the city was quite dirty, not just roads and streets but the buildings. Yet this was the capital, it reminded me of Salvador, the old neglected yet still captivatingly beautiful capital of Brazil. But as the current capital I was shocked. Yes lots of old french style buildings but no need for the poor upkeep and dirt? There were plenty of flowers, most likely due to the festival, yellow lanterns hung in the old quarter entrance where we were chinese luck signs and dog pictures (year of the dog 狗年）the dried roasted chickens (full chickens that’s head and feet included in Asia, waste not want not) had roses stuffed in their mouths.... weird. Arriving at the almost empty station to be told no trains to nanning or buses here to go to the far off station, so we jumped on a very dodgy uncomfortable scootertogether and headed! (The streets are super bumpy)again on arriving told no trains or buses all sold out till the Sunday and only expensive seats available (crap) we got a taxi back to our area and explored a bit inquiring and shopping around for some

Prices for both places in the many many travel agents (should have just done that first) booked my nanning ticket for 30$ at one on the 23rd limo coach - usually cheaper but holiday and agent. Back at the hostel checked in and chilled in the bar area while malik washed and had a brief nap and mingled. 

One older isreal I guy with vn gf was pt teacher but seemed to

Mainly live at the hostel n sell like a couple others it’s seemingly cheap n decent here? Malik was offered perhaps coke from a local to buy while getting a Vietnamese sandwich - sausage/ketchup l/chili sauce/lettuce/baguette

We headed out to explore the area found a really beautiful temple, very chinese, very peaceful with the family that arrived all dressed in traditional dress, the little boys in manadarin shirt dress and here the women’s is also similar to chinese qipao旗袍 but split high in both sides long sleeves with a simple design worn over trousers it’s really beautiful! An older woman also gave us an orange each. Everywhere, more so than china I find, is full of the mini orange trees for new year (edible and pinchable) the temple was 11th c Dên qúan thánh from here we walked on to the lake area trying local homemade icecream before crossing the small bridge to visit the brightly lit chùa trán quóc pagoda, the oldest of Hanoi in the west lake originally constructed over 1450 years ago. Chilled out burger coffee stop (coffee here is the largest export one of the best along with South America and Arabic!)clearly a huge french influence, ofc this is followed by rice, lots of cocoa products and them seem to have mango and banana options for most of the specialities 特色小吃 quite a fertile place 盛产水果蔬菜和种植 we then headed back for the beer hour at the hostel and for the fireworks at midnight. Smoking drinks, helium balloons? (Avail from the bar but possible laughing gas/poppers or who knows for an after smoke buzz) we headed with a group around 11.30 to the end of the street to the lake meeting my couchsurfer friend(viki/Pakistan/works bj) we couldn’t get close as lots of people but not boisterous.

Balloons everywhere the placed was packed, lots of hearts and dogs of course. Confetti was thrown through the air there was a 20 minute show with a variety of fireworks, some even bursting into heart shapes it was sooo nice! Especially as the last time I was fireworks was when I was 15/16 at Halloween bk home (can’t just buy at home like when I was a kid, need a license, and sh/bj etc banned them for safety reasons) #newyearsbund2014 we lost our friends but it didn’t matter. Returning to the hostel party we faded around 2.30 exhausted

FRIDAY 16th FEB HANOI 河内

Surprisingly in the room of 20 in such a party place it’s respectful n quiet in the rooms. People aren’t being loud when they get up or turning lights on - respect unlike some Asians I’ve dealt with (only child life I guess) the shower was hot in our room (the rooms have plus there’s shared ones on another floor) the bathroom has 2 cubicles 1 is the toilet one the shower the sink is outside these. Pretty well thought out. Malik was dead at nine still but breakfast is only til 9.30 so I woke him to say I was going up. A surprisingly good array - tea /Vietnam’s coffee/ hot water if u ask. Then scrambled eggs toast/mini baguette depending with choice of chocolate spread (warming and liquidy) butter marmalade/ tomatoes bananas - decent for free. Malik got his ass up we chilled and chatted before he went to get a shower - by 11 the stoners were lighting up. There’s a big flat screen tv sofas etc so it’s pretty chill. I sat and ended up befriending a few people with Vicki also saying he was game to head to hue with us - hanoi is crazy I guess and with everything closed, more so today as first official day of the holiday it’s going to be pretty dull. I met a girl called Anna, also just arrived and dying from exhaustion unable enter her room she was Icelandic (冰岛人🇮🇸）but was living and about to start studying in Denmark (丹麦🇩🇰） she has come to first travel then will teach english for a while here before starting her studies, she will do special needs teaching. 特许教育 she was as expected overwhelmed and therefore was game to head south with us to hue as she wanted to head down to ho chi Ming/saigon 胡志明/西贡 she seems nice and chill, only 20. Then aj - Egyptian but lived in quatar from a kid and works in Dubai decided to join us utter stoner but sure on holiday(?) he wants south and so jumped

On the bandwagon: we made a group chat and a plan to meet up and head I emailed the girl in advance. Aj missed the meet up so we headed round and got them collection from the ticket office, headed back to the hostel so Anna could sleep and we informed them we wouldn’t be staying a second night. Aj then went with Vicki and his Swedish friend to book and get food malik and I headed after. Apparently he was lighting up before and after on the street not givin a shit lol . Crayyyy. He headed back while we went to explore n see the sites. 

We passed some of the places we had seen yesterday. Warmer today with more decorations about, people already enjoying the start of their holiday, like in china they also often go home to their families. I guess we all do and need that. Even if we complain it’s boring and an expensive trip, without it would be dreary and lonely. We need a break we need to spend some time with loved ones and relax a while in that welcoming the new year fresh new start.

We first checked out the capital buildings statue and monument passing the aircraft museum on the way - we tried to get some money out with our union pay cards but even though the atms said they accepted them we were finding it hard to withdraw. I, like an idiot crushed my leg with a heavy door of one of these. Well done! 

BA DINH square with the country monument is huge with the parliament building behind lots of the locals had come in their best dressed traditional Vietnamese dress - the small boys costume very mandarin like. We were dismayed to see we couldn’t get any pictures with the guards - maybe a rule. Or maybe just not professional. The hochiminh mausoleum is on the facing side all with several other sites, the start of the botanic garden area/ presidential palace area. I had wanted to go into the HOCHI MINH house but it had put lice checking point and stupid malik brought his weed and was scared. We got some lovely pictures of the egg yellow presidential palace of a home, French like in architecture elegance  yet with a straight to the point ‘communist’ style in standardized symmetry and the contrasting red flags bedecking it (communist countries love having their flags everywhere)  from here we headed round to check out the nearby one-pillar pagoda. It was swarmed with people staying in a line to climb the stairs to

Look over the small lake. Ruining the effect with the vast multitude. He entrance was so jam packed with scooters and motorbikes I thought a rally was taking place! 

Time was no very long, the queue to the other temple was long and with a fee. Instead we crossed the road to a market place full of

People stalls and New Years traditional sections. Full of lanterns and flags. Again more people in traditional clothing it was so nice! 

 areas set up for traditional old style pics with lots of kids parents n girls posing. More of a local thing not too many foreigners, and it’s nice that here we are not a novelty, minus the usual hotel or stall owner we are relatively ignored 

We made our way back, unable to visit the original old fort n palace area (we had to go the long way, one area of road is military Guarded due to government buildings

We made it back to the hostel, gathered our things and awaited for our bus. They picked us up in a mini van already stuffed with people.

 I sat with the driver and 3 others in the front. In the back people were sitting on others knees or holding on for dear life, we even picked up a couple others (and I thought china was mental) 拥挤不堪 bumping along trying not to hit our heads - the roads here worse than Cambodia - we arrived at the side of a bus station and gathered our bags before getting on the sleeper bus. They are pretty cool here. U can properly lie down - this one has working WiFi, a soon to be stinky portaloo in the  back, there was a choice of top/lower bed bunk tier. I choose one of the remaining near the back while the guys choose the 3 seater which was basically just a huge bed. We had duvets too. Aj was dismayed to learn that no he could not go in the bus whilst smoking his spliff and we didn’t had time to find somewhere to buy snacks.... (aj later just smoked sneakily on the bus somehow undetected anyway) we all made chitchat, talked to others and dozed. The lights were later dimmed on the way too as it got later arriving unfortunately at the scrape of dawn, early, the sun still haven’t risen and left at the side of a ‘hotel’ like place told we could get a ‘good deal’ haha

SAT 17th HUE 顺化

I crashed on a dodgy looking sofa near the bathroom while the others had at 4am breakfast n ordered motorbikes. The place was packed out with the people from our bus. The owner was able to speak Chinese and English I could overhear. Turned out the majority of her workers could. I was surprised. The guys wanted to go watch the sunrise at 5.30 but I was knackered. Was only the second day we had plenty of time to do things like that. Malik decided he could sleep

More too. Anna had decided she couldn’t driver a scooter n because they couldn’t refund her they gave her a room, so malik n I headed up. It was dodgy n gross but a bit of an upgrade from the sofa.malik was lucky to find a condom in the shower apparently. We slept a while. I had read that included with booking a room there was a free breakfast so I went on down. Catered to foreigners there was a choice of pancakes! No fries though hahaa. They seem to love either very sweet or spicy. 

It was hotter here, more south so throwing a jacket in my bag I wore a dress shirt and short leggings. I showered and was pleased to not have any used condoms in it (why use one anyway it would slip off no?) the others weren’t responding so we headed on out towards the ancient palace to the river side to a nice cafe restaurant along with river which offered boat rides. The weather was just right. Not too hot but it was not yet 1。they guys had already done the old palace and so headed back for a nap they were planning to head to Hoi An via scooter as the scenery is meant to be beautiful. Malik can’t drive but we planned to rent a scooter briefly see how he was an then maybe we could also do so the next day. But stay the night and meet them there.

We strolled to the ancient city having crossed the lake. It was sooo like a chinese palace. So strange to see it here but then again there was a huge chinese influence and they were invaded times and controlled. Very different from the Thai style palaces. Large and open. More like a ruin than the forbidden palaces, the gardens were slightly wild, not neatly manicured, yet it was not messy nor dirty like the capital. It was jammed packed nor empty. Upon entrance there was a dancing musical performance like war dance art was sat with the rest of the onlookers and watched. We didn’t spend too long there. Not too much to see nor go into, an hour max. Malik had bought a traditional rice paddy hat upon entrance which can in use as it had started to get quite hot. With food a quiet street nearby with a cafe/bar open chilled with only a few locals, we relaxed there a while recharging chatting and watching videos on learning to drive a scooter haha

Dinner was a failure haha. We choose a place near the hostel, Malik’s lemons chicken chili with rice was a hilarious joke, having selected from the picture it can out resembling nothing similar to it. The waitress’ response, the chicken and lemon was cut a lot smaller, shredded. Haha 

We then, sucked up the courage and rented a scooter for an hour. If it went well we would rent the next day. If not. Then the bus again. 

I hadn’t drove a scooter since Thailand and the thing they gave us was more like a motorbike and a lot bigger and more powerful than a 50cc, maybe a 125! The helmets they gave us were pointless and inefficient in all ways, more like a hard hat they couldn’t even be fastened as the strap was broke. I got on forgetting already how to start , eventually figured it out. Malik had to kick down the break as it was too heavy and strong. Got it going but. Even the small roads here are packed with scooters and then u suddenly hit a main road it was terrifying, and then I couldn’t find malik! Once I did he jumped on and I near toppled over, heart was beating a mile a minute, again hitting the traffic seemed like a life or death situation (and I thought sh was pretty bad) yet on the surface I looked calm and collected (didn’t want malik to know he was already a nervous wreck. But then we toppled when stopping, malik was eventually slowly coerced into trying himself in a small lane, terrified he kept trying to chicken out, a local old man show him how to start it off. He got about 50m to the end of the lane and hopped off, turned it and eventually succeeded in getting another turn on it before calling it a day (and me calling him a pussy) I took another spin and also called it a day when I toppled over again ( shit with turns) I was find and a man helped me right it. So needless to say when we returned we paid for the bus in the morning Haha . We then went to the room to chill smoke and watch bullshit comedy standup , we showered n I packed ( malik basically brought a handbag - he’s doing minimalism now...) he was pleased to find no more condoms in the shower haha. I then hit the talking bullshit stage malik the giggles n we headed to the sad little market of the city, which was basically only good for street food and coffee of course haha. It was along the riverside which was lit up in the dark. We went to a bar cafe this time malik was in a nonstop talking mood haha. We headed back chilled n called it a night 

SUNDAY 18th Hoi an 

Up early for breakfast and the bus. It was hot when we arrived. Very hot. The others had ended up going through the mountains basically in the dark the night before getting in to Hoi An pretty late. We all booked sillyly their hostel far from ours whereas we were very close to the centre and the market area/culture streets. Our hostel was a yellow old French style 4 story house. With an outside area, a small indoor pool, kitchen/dinning area and some homely reception, it was run by foreigners, the main girl was a british volunteer who ended up staying longer and working instead of traveling onwards. She was really nice. Our rooms were unisex with bathrooms and 4 beds to each   Didn’t seem like a hostel at all! We chilled for a while and explored the nearby area and a temple while we waited for the others. vicki picked us up on the scooter and we went round to theirs. It was a place we had considered but far or from the centre. It was big lots of foreigners and outdoor pool, more modern. But ours had more of a close knit regular feeling and the location was good, plus free breakfast again haha. Looks like that within the day, even though he was pissing her off a lot, Anna had hooked up with aj? We went to the river and chilled at a restaurant with beers etc taking country like roads, the 3 of us on the scooter. Then we tried to coconut boating! The sun had set and it was starting to get dark. Anna and aj in one boat with the rower and us in the other. Like being in a teacup the river water was brown the edges of the water enclosed with reeds rising quite high. A wild natural sort of feeling. Away from the city in the country (guerilla tactics style) the rowers were old locals and they were crazy fun! They brought a CD player and pumped up the music gangham style blasting. Rocking the boats and spinning us around. I unsteadily got up and joined much to the delight of them everyone laughing it was hilarious fun. Vicki joined briefly and malik tried a go at spinning with the oar. Haha 

On the way back we stopped at one of the hugely lit up market streets lots of mango desserts, especially pancake stalls (like Thailand mango seems to be the fruit/flavor of the day haha) malik argued against getting a beautiful leather travel bag (regretting it later) 

we then headed to the main area, the culture area. Doing a boat ride on a ‘Vietnamese canoe’ the lady rowing us a short distance. I lay at the prowl of the ship, floating flowers and candles drifted past in the canal. Very relaxing! We then explored the areas, it’s huge and like a maze. But alluring and beautiful. Busy with foreigners and locals. They had a sort of lotto draw even lt in the centre with drums and singing,much more lively than ours. Groups had gathered to watch and join: I ended up getting lost but then found aj and Anna and we went for a free drink and pizza at a bar. The cocktail was really good! They gave me a lift back and I headed to bed. liking here a lot more than the other places!  More chill clean and not as crammed with bikes ha

MONDAY 19th FEB

Up for the breakfast unfortunately Too much of the coffee made me feel really sick and I ended up throwing up the time in Thailand. More malik came into check on me and was near sick himself with the sounds. So we had a late easy morning the others weren’t responding. They went to a beach yesterday but far from the centre without a bike we couldn’t go. The girl from our hostel is nice, Australian but she accent is super neutral edging on british. She came to travel and has ended up staying the doing work and lodging her mum and bro are even staying for a visit. Super friendly and helpful she also gave us a run down of tours they offered. Headed to the culture area slowly strolling around before we stopped in a beautiful French cafe going upstairs and chilling with the spectacular view for a couple hours. 

We visited the fresh market buzzing with locals buying and selling fruit etc. beautiful and yet still so different in the day and night. We later. Booked our return bus and a sunrise excursion to my son - an ancient Khmer temple. A super early start back at ours we watched some stand up, pick up around 4.30am. Caffeine is a must 

 Vietnamese lottery game/bingo?