Last day in Hanoi...

Sing xiao!

 I am supposed to be asleep right now because I have to be up for an early flight to Hue in approx 3 hours... but Hanoi is just too noisy for me tonight, so I thought I'd take advantage of the free internet one last time.
Today we had a private tour with an English speaking guide. It was amazing to see the quieter, less touristy areas of Hanoi. After a breakfast of pho, we headed out first to a beautiful temple or 'pagoda' as they are called here. The majority of the population is Buddhist and the temples are just stunning. I will upload photos when I can. We then headed to this ancient village that houses some of the oldest buildings in Hanoi. At first we just wandered through the village looking at the old buildings and pagodas, but then our guide got chatting with some of the locals and got us invited into this tiny little house- the oldest home in the village. It was owned by this dear old man (77) who had lived there his whole life. The house had been in his family for 8 generations!!! He could speak no English but our guide was able to interpret as he told us about his life, made us green tea and taught us how to smoke the huge vietnamese pipe! It was very funny, and such a unique experience. This is why we came to Vietnam- to immerse ourselves in the culture.
We then went on to a silk village where we watched real silk being made from silk worms and then through all the steps until they became beautiful silk items- which we had to buy of course, for a very good price! Our last stop was the Temple of Literature, an absolutely stunning pagoda that houses Vietnam's very first university, founded by Confusious himself. It was beautiful, but very touristy.
So- my final impressions of Hanoi...
- crossing the road is like taking your life into your own hands... but we mastered it!
- driving on the roads is more scary than any rollercoaster I have ever been on, yet you never see accidents.
- the people who live here are some of the kindest and most hospitable people I have ever seen...
- we have learned to either look away when people annoy us to try and sell us stuff, or barter quite well.
- it is worth eating at the street restaurants, as scary as they look... the food is absolutely divine and costs next to nothing.
- it is possible to live in Hanoi for four days rather luxuriously for $120 US a double- minus accomm.
- it is worth trying to pick up some of the language, the locals appreciate it even if you make mistakes.
- the children of Vietnam are among the most beautiful I have ever seen.
- BRING EARPLUGS because this city never sleeps!!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Hue, one of the most ancient cities in Vietnam. We leave Hanoi bright and early so I best be off to try and get some sleep in all of this craziness. Despite my culture shock when I arrived here, Craig & I are sad to leave this place. It is insane, but insanely exciting and I can definately see myself coming back here one day, maybe even to teach English or something...  We'll see!

Much love to Australia, I miss you all terribly! xxx

Halong Bay!

Hi guys. Have just returned from the most spectacular few days on Halong Bay. I will pick up where I left off in my last post though...
Ventured once again into Hanoi on Friday night. It was very difficult finding a place to eat because all of the places with English menu's charge through the roof, but the Vietnamese only places we cannot read the menu's! After a bit of culture shock we had dinner at the Kangaroo Cafe, an Australian owned place that served Vietnamese food. Had two beers, entree and main for ten bucks between us. Then went for a walk to the 'New Hanoi'. We are staying in the old quarter where everything is VERY old. Beautiful, but old. The new Hanoi is insane though! Shops, markets galore, a KFC that serves rice and gravy instead of potato and gravy, many, many bars etc. Was quite nice, and lots of tourists so we felt less out of place.
Arose bright and early on Saturday morning to be picked up at 8 by our transfer to Halong Bay. Enjoyed some pho for breakfast (noodle soup, traditional breakfast) then jumped on the bus. We paired up with a couple from Adelaide. On our tour there were about 15 of us- us two, the Adelaide couple, a couple of Manchester and a big group of French who were all 40+. The drive there was interesting to say the least. Once again, no road rules. The hundreds of tour buses just weave in and out of the roads, avoiding motorbikes and cars. It was crazy. We stopped on the way at a community centre where people affected by the Agent Orange in the war make trinkets, bought a few things but it was very touristy.
Then we arrived at Halong Bay (after 3 hours!). The trip was spectacular. The bay itself is HUGE, with these huge rocky mountains towering out of the sea. It was quite overcast which made the place looks so mystical, almost jurassic park like. We were staying on the Calypso Cruiser junk boat, a beautiful pirate looking ship. The rooms were stunning and the staff so helpful.
The food on the cruise was AMAZING. Over the time we were there (2 lunches, 1 breakfast, 1 dinner) we had squid cooked three ways, prawns, mussels, chicken stirfrys, fish stirfrys, beef stirfrys, spring rolls (we made them ourselves at a cooking class), lots of rice, these little sweet potato cakes, and lots of fruit. We were very well fed. Everything is so healthy though. The cocktails were not as cheap as in Hanoi, about $5 but very nice.
Whilst we were there we went to this amazing cave, actually called 'Amazing Cave'. Its about the size of a footy oval in the middle of this massive mountain. Very pretty. After that we went swimming. Our guide told us we could jump off the roof of our boat if we wanted to. Has to be scariest thing I have ever done. I freaked out whilst on the roof and all these other boats crowded around us egging me on. I felt very proud once I had done it. The water, despite it being 6pm at night, was lukewarm and absolutely divine.
This morning bright and early we went kayaking through the bay. It is just undescribable just how magnificant it is.
We now have two more nights left in crazy Hanoi- feeling a little less culture shocked though, the people we have met are just so lovely and give us a really nice impression of the Vietnamese people. We are just about to go and have some one hour massages as we are quite sore from all the kayaking/walking we have done. One hour costs $10!!
I hope you are all well. Do email me with any Melbourne goss! I miss you all! xxxx

First thoughts on Hanoi...

Well, we made it. Firstly, can I say, flying overseas is not as glamorous as I thought it would be. The flights are sooo long, the seats uncomfortable, & poor Craig got a bout' of travel sickness on the plane that was not very nice. Add to this a 4 hour stop over at Bangkok Airport, which just happens to be about 50000kms long, and waiting an hour for our bags at Hanoi! Other than that, we are having many adventures...

Hanoi... I don't even know how to describe it. It is like it is switched on, all the time. The streets are insane. I actually don't know how we survived the transfer here. There are NO road rules, no indicating, and the streets are full of thousands of motorbikes as well as cars, buses, pushbikes etc. There is a constant hum of beeping that we can hear from our hotel room- my thoughts are that if my father was here, he would be on the next flight home already!! Its exciting though, every time you cross the road its as if you are risking your life- talk about an adrenalin rush!
The staff here at the hotel we are staying at are lovely. The Vietnamese staff are so kind and helpful, and the owners are Aussie which is nice considering how culture-shocked we are. The woman who runs the hotel suggested we go to this little noodle place down the road for lunch- it serves one dish, beef with rice noodles, lettuce, picked vegetables and a kind of sweet fruit dressing with peanuts. It was soooo delicious. The meal, plus a Hanoi Beer, cost us $3.50 each! Everything is so cheap- water for example (as you have to drink it bottled) is about 50 cents a litre. I got a cute pair of RayBans that look so real for $10...

The only problem we're having at the moment (besides our body clocks being four hours in front of time here, it is 5 and it feels like bed time!) is the constant hinderence of people trying to sell you stuff. So far we got talked into buying these bracelets for $1 each- they actually are quite nice, I am wearing one now... A green Vietnam hat for Craig for $4. We got a bit of a fright when this young boy on a motorbike literally followed us down the road for 15 mins trying to sell us a book! We did manage to knock him down from $20 to $6 and he threw in a free book of postcards... we did not need them though, we simply bought them for him to leave us alone. I think we need to master haggling and ignoring a lot better. It will be a challenge.

Looking forward to our overnight stay on a junk boat on Halong Bay tomorrow- hopefully it will be a bit of serenity after the chaos that is Hanoi. We are definately having a new experience here!!!

For those of you who have tried to comment and have asked to sign up, you just need to make a google account. It doesn't make you have a blog or anything, it just allows you to comment on blogs. I think there will be a sign up button somewhere on this page, you literally just make a username etc.

I hope you are all not missing me too much already ;)
I am already missing my family terribly, I cried leaving my Mum & Dad at the airport. I might have my traveller face on at the moment, but I am definately an Australian homebody at heart.
Talk soon,
Lozz xx

Bags are packed!

Just weighed up my bag, closed my eyes and prayed it is under 20kgs. For a backpack, it seems VERY full. Luckily, 13kgs! Even so, I managed to cull a few extra dresses that I was planning to bring telling myself that I can buy some more for very cheap over there.
Strangely, the butterflies are gone. I am just anxious to just get on board the plane and fly away to crazy, beautiful Vietnam. I can't wait to eat lots of pho, drink lots of cheap cocktails (no ice!) and meet some amazing people. The camera memory card is empty, the Lonely Planets are a plenty- we are ready for adventure.
Goodnight Melbourne... tomorrow morning, Hello Hanoi (via Bangkok!)...
Take care my Aussie friends, I will miss you (and vegemite!) x