Oct 2006

1/10/06 - left Hanoi (finally!) at 7.30pm and took another nightmare journey: 14 hour night bus (complete with its own fully functioning shower - aka leaky roof) to Hue. The driver was a mad man (visions of the film Speed) who refused to take passengers luggage off at their desired stops, meaning that numerous tourists ended up in the completely wrong destination! The toilet stops were equally as grotty as the bus and I managed to refrain from using the toilet for over 14 hours - wayne was v impressed! An example of the drivers crazyness: he loaded all of the luggae onto the back seats of the bus, and when he finally realised that there werent enough seats he proceeded to chuck the luggae out of the window, onto the road!! I was worried for the entire journey as to whether the bags had been loaded back onto the bus...

Once we arrived in Hue the driver, as expected, tried to drive off with waynes bag still on the bus! Their mentalities here are so odd - what do they think we are going to do?!? just let them???? Anyway, we were dropped off at the Ninh Binh hotel: our home for the proceeding 48 hours: v grim experience...

Everything in Hue had been shut down in preparation for the typhoon so there was very little to do. We found a bar that eve, had some food/drinks and then came back to the hotel. That eve it started raining heavily, but when we woke up the next day (after very little sleep - paranoia re: the stability of the hotel fed by rattely windows) all of the roads, pavements and shops/houses on street level had been flooded with filthy water. The wind had been howling all night: trees had been torn up, pilans were down and pretty much all the cheaper constructed buildings had been destroyed. Very sad. Rumour: it was the worst storm since 1985 - what timing we have! Wayne - big heart - was the only person who went out to help the local men clear the trees and electricity lines from the roads whilst the storm was still blowing. He nearly got decapitated by a flying mashettie (spelling?!?) As you can see from the photos he was drenched!! All of the hotel staff were calling him a hero - hahah - i wouldn't go that far..he was starting to develop a bit of a big head!

With no electricity, we were held hostage by the storm and spent the next 1.5 days, sitting in candle light talking to some fellow brits. By the end of the first night we had run out of beer and bread (I blame the EXTREMELY annoying american guy, who had no concept of decibels; spouting crap the entire evening and drinking so much that he was sick into the flood - and then nearly fell into his own vomit - yuck!)The only meal we had that day was noodle soup (twice!) Luckily it was quite nice - even wayne enjoyed it.

We didn't really get to see much of Hue - by luck we checked with the bus operator Mon am to see when we could get out of Hue and they said that afternoon, so we looked at the Imperial City (see canons and storm damage photos etc) for about an hour and then went back to pack our stuff. However, our first encounter with a snake (albeit dead) was in Hue - it was lying on the pavement as we crossed over a bridge - see pic.

Another bus journey - this time to Hoi An, and super organised. The guy was obsessed with checking our tickets - we must have got our receipt/non-existent ticket (as it still hasnt been issued to us) out of our bag at least 5 times! Journey was much more comfortable though, the only prob was - as always - at the end of our journey when we were told that the bus had broken down - such a lie - so that we HAD to stay at the hotel it had conveniently pulled up at rather than our chosen hostel. Since we tried to get a taxi from the hotel they offered us a room for $4 a night! We couldnt refuse. It was a bit shabby though, and so the following morning we made our way to the hostel I am sitting in now - free internet access and swimming pool - perfect! Only prob - rich - is no skype and no headphones.

Anyway, wondered around Hoi An today - pretty place but yet again lots of storm damage - but loads of shops. Wayne has ordered a tailor made suit for $45 (US) which he will send bk to the UK. 2moro we plan to hit the beach - hard life....

Missing you all - keep sending us updates of life in general

E and W xx

From Hanoi we took the night train (this time a 4 berth, soft sleeper so it was a lot more comfortable) to Lao Cai, got up at 4.30am and took a very cramped minibus to Sapa. We had booked a trekking tour with a guide and a small group of other tourists, which was just as well as Sapa itself is nothing special: v small with NOTHING to do.

Hotel was dreadful, arrived about 8am and there was no available room, despite the fact that we were due to start a trek at 9.15am. As you will all know, I refused to go anywhere until I'd had a shower so they eventually gave in and gave us a key. Opened the door and the room hadnt been cleaned - sheets were all falling off the bed, rubbish everywhere - disgusting!! After numerous attempts to usher the maids into our room we finally were able to meet the group downstairs at 9.30 (the food in the hotel was also vile - just thought i'd add that...)

The first trek was ok - very very hot and we only visited Cat Cat village; home of the Black Hmong people. Bit touristy: they were all trying to sell us pillow cases, bags, bracelets etc etc, but I loved going inside their homes - about 15 people share one shack - very basic with 2 seperate fires - one for maize, rice and veg and the other for animal. ALL the huts did however boast their very own colour tv!! The most entertaining part of the day was the korean couple in our group. The women turned up for the trek: dolled up with high heel shoes, white gloves and a white sun hat?!? She looked ridiculous! They walked 5 mins down the road, decided it wasn't for them and hired a motorbike...What did they think they were getting when they signed up for a trek??

That eve we met up with a guy who had been sleeping in the bed next to me in our dorm in Hanoi - small backpackers world! Went to a bar near to the hotel where u could make ur own playlist - pretty cool. I played darts and drank tiger beer - what a lad! (well wayne thought it was funny, hence the pic - see snapfish)

We both really enjoyed the next day - it was hard work: 20km trek in sweltering heat, but the views and villages were amazing. The korean couple (minus the high healed shoes) tried once again to explore the region, but 10 mins later hopped on the back of a bike! Our group dwindled down to 3: us 2 and a vietnamese tourist from Saigon; who proceeded to address wayne as 'nature boy' for the entire trek, because he believed wayne was a genuine animal lover?!? very odd man, although flicking through our photos I can see where he was coming from. Wayne has taken thousands of photos of animals (which I have - for your benefit - deleted the majority of).

Visited Sin Chai (Black Hmong), Lai Chai (Black Hmong) and Ta Van villages (Zay tribe). That morning 2 little Black Hmong girls (6 and 7 years old) followed us from Sapa to their home village (Lai Chai) - see photo of me posing with 2 ethnic girls in snapfish. They were so sweet, spoke very good English and made myself and wayne crowns, bracelets and wands out of ferns and grasses enroute. They walk to and from Sapa evey morning b4 school (2pm) to try and sell bracelets etc. We visited the health centre in their village - filthy! But the village was extremely proud of the centre: medicines and treatment were free (although only minor ailments could be dealt with as there were no doctors - just 3 local nurses).

Walked through numerous maize fields, a bamboo forest and across waterfalls - one of which wayne swam in (I was too much of a whimp - far too cold!) I thought wayne was going to drown because the current looked incredibly strong but we both survived to tell the tail.

A lot of the bridges we crossed were a little rickerty to say the least - again see pics - I kept saying mum would HATE this - I even began to feel edgy because wayne and the guide kept jumping along these unstable pieces of wood!

I felt like giving up on what was (although I didnt know at the time) the final hill - I was soooooooooooooooooooooo HOT and Sweaty and we had been walking for hours - it was starting to feel (but not quite) like one of uncle rich's holiday 'strolls'. i made it though, and we were picked up in an ex-army jeep - very scary ride over waterfalls and very narrow mountain roads...

One last story of interest on this sapa trip, which wayne has requested I include to highlight a (RARE) moment of stupidity on my part... we had been sitting, waiting at the train station in Lao Cai for hours for our night tarin back to Hanoi and I realised we hadn't sorted out our tickets. I therefore went over to the ticket office but was told by someone that I wasn't in the right place....he started pointing outside of the station and so I began to follow (without telling wayne). Basically I ended up wondering off without telling wayne where I was going in the middle of the night....I did begin to feel a little scared when we turned a corner and I couldnt see the station anymore...but as i headed back I saw wayne struggling down the road with ALL our luggage - bless!! He was a little mad! Whoops! But I am NOT impressed that he is using this minor mishap as an excuse for smoking YET AGAIN!

Since returing from Sapa we have survived a typhoon and its accompanying floods but I will write that in my next installment - which I will try type up 2moro as I have been on this computer for far too long! I will also try and upload photos 2moro so watch this space (and snapfish)... in Hoi An (central Vietnam) at the moment just in case anyone was wondering...

Lots of love E and W XX