Young, Free and now...BROKE!

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

Still in Hanoi in the backpackers hostel! We are checking out tonight, staying in another place in Hanoi and then off to Sapa in the north to do some trekking and visit a few ethnic tribes involved in tourism.

Got back from Halong Bay last night - beautiful place consisting off over 2000 islands. Most of the trip was on a boat - photo's (on snapfish) don't really capture the sights but give you an idea of what it was all about. The first day we stopped off on one of the islands and visited some massive limestone caves - full of stalagmites and stalagtites - geography came in useful! haha. We then continued on the boat and stopped off at another island - hiked to the top and the views were amazing. Sunset swim, followed by dinner on the boat. Food is lovely - mostly fish, noodles and rice - but wayne is eating it all! Its that or starve so I think he's adjusting to a new diet - or he may come back looking like a rake!

Cabin was pretty rank - ants all over the bathroom floor but it was ok - next day we did some kayaking in lagoons - was really fun but got a v v numb bum. Visited a floating village - where all residents live on these floating huts - we waited for our boat in one of their homes for about 30mins - even there they were trying to flog us pringles and beer. Wayne played pool with one of the residents - but no-one understood their rules! haha. The kids go to school in a floating hut - its so surreal.

Contined on to island near Cat Ba - private island and resort was fantastic - had our own room in beach huts (see pics) and there was a bar, pool table, mnore kayaks....i just chose to laze on the beach and read but wayne went off around the island with Olaf and saw some wicked caves.

People on the trip were all really cool - a real mix: German, French, Spanish, Kiwi's, Canadians and us! It was realy funny talking to the couples from new zealand (they were in there 50's/60's) and said they loved English humour - Office, Faulty Towers etc - Coronation Street is on everynight in NZ - hahah how odd! They gave us their contact details so we can give them a ring or drop by when we get to the north island in Feb.

The rules of the sea are the same as on land - honking, bumping into each other etc. - manic! We can't wait to try out their airline (thinking of flying from Saigon to Siem Reap - Cambodia - so that we don't have the hassle of the border again!) We must have crashed into other boats multiple times and the harbour boats bump into each other and push just to dock! Its crazy - we had to climb over another boat to get out. Women and girls row floating supermarkets - they appraoch the boat throughout the day trying to sell you various food stuffs and drinks - where ever you go you get harassed!

Went for dinner in Hanoi with olaf, Danielle and Jacob (a German guy we met on the trip) last night. Jacob then took us to a bar/road side stall in the old quarter for cheap beer - i.e. 7p for a glass!!! unbelievable. Think we spent 1.50 GBP on the meal and 48p on drinks after - not bad! haha only thing is coping with the illegal sellers - little boy came up to us trying to sell us photocopied books - in the end I couldn't say know so spent 3.50 GBP on a photocopied book - rip off but hopefully he'll get a cut of the money - he 'says' he uses it for schooling - who knows - but he was very bright - knew a lot about various locations across the globe.

anyway going to love you and leave you now - take care and we'll update you soon. Appologies for all the poor spelling, grammer and fragmented documentation - we're in a constant rush when it comes to computer time!

spk soon xxx

Hi guys,

We are now in Hanoi, Vietnam after a very eventful 36 hour journey from Hong Kong - it started out well: we boarded a clean, spatious high tech train in Hong Kong and after a 2.5 hour journey we arrived in Guangzhou in southern China - we were the only white people and were stared at from the moment we arrived from then on!! We needed to get to another station in the city so stupidly followed this guys advice and got badly ripped off. He tried to get us a soft sleeper berth on the train but there werent any beds left so in the end we paid for 2 seats and he gave us a piece of paper with 'we are prepared to pay more for beds' written on it. He dropped us off at the station in a minibus and we waited in the city for a few hours as we didnt have a map and didnt want to get lost!

Boarded the train and had a fight with 2 girls as they'd knicked our EXPENSIVE/OVERPRICED seats! We had to give in as we couldnt communicate properly, but then found a station guard, showed them the piece of paper and they nodded, sending us in the direction of the guard office on board the train. Handing over another 10GBP we managed to book ourselves beds, which in fact appeared to be 3 seats with a sheet thrown over them. This was fine though - we were happy as we had much more space. The guards however were not as pleased, they shooed us away and made us follow yet another guard!! We walked through multiple carriages and ended up in what can only be described as hell! sections upon sections of triple bunks, full of chinese people. we slept (?!?) well attempted to sleep on 2 bottom bunks next to the toilet...after 14 hours we finanlly arrived in Nanning at 4.45am. It was pitch black and we had no idea where to go - but a really friendly canadian couple appraoched us and were in the same situation...so we wondered around together, found a new ticket office, purchased our train tickets to the border for just over 1GBP each and played cards with them in a station cafe for a few hours until we could board the train. We then sat with them on the train and have been with them ever since.

I am sooo glad we met them as crossing the Chinese/Vietnamese border was very confusing. The train we all hoped to get didnt exist, and after riding these wierd motorbike vehicle we took a taxi to the nearest town and was told by the taxi driver to get a minibus with most of the local people into Hanoi...very cramped journey!! wayne was shoved in the back with half of the luggae and goods the local people were planning to sell in a market! He had permanent cramp.

The minibus driver then refused to drop us off at our hotel so we have ended up sharing a dorm with the couple we met in china - Hanoi is beautiful - i prefer it to Hong Kong because its less metropolitan. Vietnam is an ex-French colony and therefore seems really European - loads of quaint bussling streets but larger French tree-lined avenues as well.

Anyway I have tro go now - check out our pics on www.snapfish.com as it takes far too long to upload them onto this site - if you want to see the pics let me know and i'll e-mail you the 'share pics' link.

Sorry the photo's dont make much sense without accompanying description but i'll try and sort this out at a later date.

Hope everyones ok, love E and W xxx

Hi all - sorry we have loads of photos but we're having problems uploading them and this internet access is so expensive we have to go - i'll try and update again in vietnam. love u e and w xxx