February 25, 2006
On our second day in Sapa we rented some scooters and checked out some villages that were 20km away. One of the villages had a cave that was 20km long so we rented some torches off of the village kids and checked them out.
We got the night train back to Hanoi and had the Quebecer (Daniel) and his spanish wife (Gloria) in our sleeper. We met up with the other Canadian couple (Rob and Mag) on the train and we all went for beers in the lounge. We asked for prices but they wouldn't tell us so we ordered a couple each thinking it wouldn't be that much more than the other prices until we got the bill which they marked up 300%. I paid it not caring too much about a few bucks for a beer each but after we left the other Canadian (Rob) flipped out and started physically pushing around the bartender and only gave him 2/3s of what they wanted. Rob and Mag come to Vietnam every year and he hates getting nickeled and dimed to death and all the cheating that they do to tourists. A couple bucks means nothing to us but a lot to them.
I slept good on the train and Tim and I went to grab our tickets for the bus and boat to Halong bay to Cat Ba island. We met a load of people on our tour to the island and bumped into Daniel and Gloria at one of the restaurants on the beach. We got there at 6pm and most of the tour people left the next day at 7am without checking out the island but Tim and I were not with the tour group so decided to stay an extra day. I rented a scooter for $3us and drove around the island all day checking out all the little villages. The land formations here in Halong bay and on Cat ba island are incredible with huge rock mountains shooting straight up vertically out of the water and on the island makes the Scottish highlands look like mere hills. As I rode my scooter through another little village a guy stopped me to show me another cave that was used as a hospital for the viet cong during the Vietnam war.
The interior was a series of cement rooms and my guide didn't speak a word of english but was very good at the game "Charades" where he made noises and sounds of the room he was trying to describe. His "ping pong" interpretation was perfect. The hospital cave had a pool in it and a ping pong room and a meeting room and a bunch of other rooms. Then in one room my guide broke into a song screaming some vietnamese lyrics about Ho Chi Minh. Na na na naaaaaaaaaa HO CHI MINH!! He was singing for about 5 minutes and it was really annoying so I left the room and he got the point and stopped.
It is not as warm in the north of Vietnam as it is in the south. It was hot in Hoi ann but very cool in Hanoi. I am looking forward to getting back to hot weather of Bangkok and checking out the beaches in the south. Yesterday we got back to Hanoi and checked into a hotel and then I left to wander the streets again. I had no idea where I was as I walked until I came to a familar place where we last had beers with the Aussies and sure enough as I got closer to the homemade beer pub I heard the Aussies call out "Hey big Kev!!". They tried to tell me that they had been at the pub the whole time since I last saw them. So I joined them for our $2000 dong glasses of beer (13 cents a glass!!). They basically have a big steal keg where they pour the beer from and when the owner left for awhile we helped ourselves to the keg and poured our own. It was very funny! Of course we marked down what we drank in his absence haha! Then we went for dinner and hooked up with Kersten from Canada and Celine from Switzerland. I had deep fried squid which was really good.
In the morning Leon met us at our hotel and the three of us (Me, Jim and Leon) went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleam to see Ho Chi Minh. It is only open 8-11am 5 days a week and there was a huge line up but the lineup went very fast. You weren't allowed to take photos and you had about a 30 second walk around Ho Chi Minhs embalmed body due to the huge crowds. He died in 1976 and looks like something you would find in the wax museum and then I went to check out the museums and Ho Chi Minhs house on stilts where he lived most of his life when in Hanoi. Later I met up with all of them to say good bye before their flights back home. All of their flights were on the same day including Tims.
Tim was going to Bangkok to go out to one of the islands for his last week in southeast Asia and Kersten was going to Malayasia to meet up with her family and the Aussies were heading back to Sydney Australia. I fly back to Bangkok tomorrow but still have a few things to see here in Hanoi.
The streets are hectic here in SE Asia where there are no cross walks but just walk out into heavy traffic and the traffic goes around you as you cross the street. You would be honked at like crazy if you tried that in Canada but things run different here in SE Asia. Reminds me a bit of the Middle East where there is order in the chaos. I was walking with Leon in one of the big markets in Hanoi when I saw a guy with a scale. It was only $5000 dong and he weighed me and measured my height. I didn't realize it but I drew quite a crowd as I weighed in at 114.5KG and 191cm tall. I heard OUUUU and AWWWWW as they broadcast my weight and measurement through the loud speaker. Most Vietnamese are half my weight. It is like walking through a city full of kids. The Aussies told me about a water puppet show that plays 3 times a day and they said it was pretty good so I will probably check it out after I stop at the local pub for a few 13 cent pints!! I will have to be primed for the puppet show you know! It is all in Vietnamese so hopefully I won't laugh at the parts that are not suppose to be funny after a few beers (I hate it when I do that :)).
Flying back to Bangkok tomorrow at 1pm so my next email will be from Thailand. I have been in Vietnam for over 2 weeks and have really liked it here but feel more at home in Thailand.
Kevin
On our second day in Sapa we rented some scooters and checked out some villages that were 20km away. One of the villages had a cave that was 20km long so we rented some torches off of the village kids and checked them out.
We got the night train back to Hanoi and had the Quebecer (Daniel) and his spanish wife (Gloria) in our sleeper. We met up with the other Canadian couple (Rob and Mag) on the train and we all went for beers in the lounge. We asked for prices but they wouldn't tell us so we ordered a couple each thinking it wouldn't be that much more than the other prices until we got the bill which they marked up 300%. I paid it not caring too much about a few bucks for a beer each but after we left the other Canadian (Rob) flipped out and started physically pushing around the bartender and only gave him 2/3s of what they wanted. Rob and Mag come to Vietnam every year and he hates getting nickeled and dimed to death and all the cheating that they do to tourists. A couple bucks means nothing to us but a lot to them.
I slept good on the train and Tim and I went to grab our tickets for the bus and boat to Halong bay to Cat Ba island. We met a load of people on our tour to the island and bumped into Daniel and Gloria at one of the restaurants on the beach. We got there at 6pm and most of the tour people left the next day at 7am without checking out the island but Tim and I were not with the tour group so decided to stay an extra day. I rented a scooter for $3us and drove around the island all day checking out all the little villages. The land formations here in Halong bay and on Cat ba island are incredible with huge rock mountains shooting straight up vertically out of the water and on the island makes the Scottish highlands look like mere hills. As I rode my scooter through another little village a guy stopped me to show me another cave that was used as a hospital for the viet cong during the Vietnam war.
The interior was a series of cement rooms and my guide didn't speak a word of english but was very good at the game "Charades" where he made noises and sounds of the room he was trying to describe. His "ping pong" interpretation was perfect. The hospital cave had a pool in it and a ping pong room and a meeting room and a bunch of other rooms. Then in one room my guide broke into a song screaming some vietnamese lyrics about Ho Chi Minh. Na na na naaaaaaaaaa HO CHI MINH!! He was singing for about 5 minutes and it was really annoying so I left the room and he got the point and stopped.
It is not as warm in the north of Vietnam as it is in the south. It was hot in Hoi ann but very cool in Hanoi. I am looking forward to getting back to hot weather of Bangkok and checking out the beaches in the south. Yesterday we got back to Hanoi and checked into a hotel and then I left to wander the streets again. I had no idea where I was as I walked until I came to a familar place where we last had beers with the Aussies and sure enough as I got closer to the homemade beer pub I heard the Aussies call out "Hey big Kev!!". They tried to tell me that they had been at the pub the whole time since I last saw them. So I joined them for our $2000 dong glasses of beer (13 cents a glass!!). They basically have a big steal keg where they pour the beer from and when the owner left for awhile we helped ourselves to the keg and poured our own. It was very funny! Of course we marked down what we drank in his absence haha! Then we went for dinner and hooked up with Kersten from Canada and Celine from Switzerland. I had deep fried squid which was really good.
In the morning Leon met us at our hotel and the three of us (Me, Jim and Leon) went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleam to see Ho Chi Minh. It is only open 8-11am 5 days a week and there was a huge line up but the lineup went very fast. You weren't allowed to take photos and you had about a 30 second walk around Ho Chi Minhs embalmed body due to the huge crowds. He died in 1976 and looks like something you would find in the wax museum and then I went to check out the museums and Ho Chi Minhs house on stilts where he lived most of his life when in Hanoi. Later I met up with all of them to say good bye before their flights back home. All of their flights were on the same day including Tims.
Tim was going to Bangkok to go out to one of the islands for his last week in southeast Asia and Kersten was going to Malayasia to meet up with her family and the Aussies were heading back to Sydney Australia. I fly back to Bangkok tomorrow but still have a few things to see here in Hanoi.
The streets are hectic here in SE Asia where there are no cross walks but just walk out into heavy traffic and the traffic goes around you as you cross the street. You would be honked at like crazy if you tried that in Canada but things run different here in SE Asia. Reminds me a bit of the Middle East where there is order in the chaos. I was walking with Leon in one of the big markets in Hanoi when I saw a guy with a scale. It was only $5000 dong and he weighed me and measured my height. I didn't realize it but I drew quite a crowd as I weighed in at 114.5KG and 191cm tall. I heard OUUUU and AWWWWW as they broadcast my weight and measurement through the loud speaker. Most Vietnamese are half my weight. It is like walking through a city full of kids. The Aussies told me about a water puppet show that plays 3 times a day and they said it was pretty good so I will probably check it out after I stop at the local pub for a few 13 cent pints!! I will have to be primed for the puppet show you know! It is all in Vietnamese so hopefully I won't laugh at the parts that are not suppose to be funny after a few beers (I hate it when I do that :)).
Flying back to Bangkok tomorrow at 1pm so my next email will be from Thailand. I have been in Vietnam for over 2 weeks and have really liked it here but feel more at home in Thailand.
Kevin
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