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Vietnam and Cambodia 2018
  • We are Living the Dream
Aug – Sep 2018

Vietnam and Cambodia 2018

August 2018 - September 2018 Read more
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  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Red River.

    Su Pan Village

    August 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    We continued walking into the next village all the scenery is very similar but this village specialises in Homestay and it very touristy which is a shame.

    Next to Muong Hoa River, Su Pan is a very mountainous community. Being a part of the highland on the east side of the main road, it is about 17 km from Sapa. Su Pan has 4 small hamlets and is home of the Black H’mong and Red Zao. This village looking down to the Muong Hoa Valley is one of the poorest communities in Sapa due to the thin and poor soil making it hard to cultivate rice. This is one of the reasons the village turned to Tourism.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler

    Ta Van Village

    August 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    Still walking now we re in Ta Van which is 10 kilometres from Sapa. Ta Van is a village of Lao Cai province and is still in Muong Hoa Valley. Residents are mainly the H'Mong, Giay, and Red Dao.

    Ta Van people's customs and characteristic are similar of the Giay in Lao Cai. They live together at the base of mountains and along streams. Growing rice is the major occupation of the Giay, they also produce instruments and engraved silver.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Our driver having a "smoke" before driving us home.
    The villages we visited today.

    Lao Chai

    August 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    Still walking into the next village of Lao Chai.

    Lao Chai village is 6 km from Sapa and is the beginning of a Muong Hoa valley.

    This was also our lunch stop at our driver, Mr Kien's, cafe and home. Lunch was nice and the wait staff was basiccaly his very young son. John also had a lovely conversation with one of the black H'Mong girls trying to sell her wares. Her english was quite good. John asked about the embrodied items she was selling she explained that her mother made some but the others were from China. She was a very funny and honest so John gave her something for her conversation.

    After lunch no more walking but back in the car for a short drive to the hotel for a free afternoon and rest.

    Not sure how far we walked to day, at least 4 km.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Carol having a vietnamese coffee.Making handicrafts for sale later in the night.

    Out and About

    August 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Ok, we have had a little rest from today's adventure and time to walk around Sapa City Centre.

    Lots of little stores, mainly selling hiking gear, and restaurants. It is not very busy yet as most people are resting after their outings. I am sure they will be out tonight in an hour or so.

    We went to a little cafe for a coffee and still lots of girls coming to ask 'you buy from me" everywhere you go you are asked "you buy from me" and John being John keeps humouring them until they eventually walk away with nothing sold.

    After coffee we continued investigating the town and working out where we are to have dinner. I went for a foot and leg massage, so cheap $5 for 30 min. It really hurt not because she was massaging hard but my legs are just so sore, although now they feel a lot better. This is great not that we will be doing much walking tomorrow but the roads are more like tracks with large pot holes and cars and motor bikes everywhere and you have to move quickly or they will just run into you so now I can move a little better.

    Rest time, then cocktails in the hotel bar before heading to dinner.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler

    Out on the Town

    August 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Well sort of out on the town, Drinks on the hotel rooftop balcony, a short walk to a restaurant for dinner, another short walk up the hill past the night market and a Vietnamese coffee before retiring for the night.

    Goodnight.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler

    It's My Birthday

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    It's my Birthday and we have to be up, showered, fed and checked out all before 7.30am.

    Today we are driving about 100k out of Sapa to the Local Markets

    Birthday slice for breakfast.

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Chicken in a basket.Sitting on a cage of pigs for sale.Water buffalo saleyard.

    Bac Ha Markets

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today is another long day of sightseeing and finishing with the night train back to Hanoi.

    First stop after 3 hour drive are the Bac Ha Markets.

    Bac Ha Markets are in the northern hills of Vietnam and are one of the best ethnic markets in all of Southeast Asia! so they say. On Sundays, the ethnic minorities from the surrounding villages and hills come by foot, by motor bike, horse, by water buffalo for their chance to socialize, eat, drink, smoke, get a haircut, and buy produce and meat for the next week. We saw lots the Flower H'mong villagers today.

    The markets had heaps of weird and wonderful things and the colours of the clothing is so bright.

    The markets are set up in animal, clothes, handicrafts and food stalls.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Horse offal.Meat for sale and consumption on the spot.

    Bac Ha Markets

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    The markets are interesting with so many people, some very weird looking meat and vegetables which they purchase and eat at the stall from which they have bought.

    We decided if it looked and smelt weird no way were we buying anything.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    The ladies at the markets are very colourful.Even the hand painted bowls are colourful.

    Bac Ha Markets

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    The colours of the handicrafts and clothes were very bright. The dresses the Flower H'mong people wear is very heavy embrodied and so beautiful.

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler

    Bac Ha Markets

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    John had another experience of trying to bargain with a group of ladies " you buy from me only 200VDN". We decided all we wanted to pay was 100VDN and this bargaining went on for about 20 mins while we were having a cold drink waiting for our guide The difference in the final cost negotiation from 150 VDN to 100 DVN cost is a whole $3.50 but we all know John and it was not something we really needed to buy. But guess what we walked away and she kept following and John eventually won. See what happens when you are an accountant.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Outside pig pen.The main crop for the village is corn which is turned into corn wine.Mud brick walls.

    Ban Pho Village

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Back in the car for a short drive to Ban Pho village.

    Ban Pho Village is an upland commune of Bac Ha district, Lao Cai. It Is one of the most well-known villages in Sapa, Ban Pho Village where has more than 500 households with over 3,000 inhabitants, which 99% are from Mongolia.

    We went into one of the local's houses to see how they live, I know we could not live like this, no windows, kitchen open fireplace smoke inside , timber and mud huts and a dirt floor. I will live in Camperdown Castle any day.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    The starting point for the boat trip.
    As we came in to alight, the boat was tipping on Carol's side so I leaned over the balance the boat.

    Chay River boat trip

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We then boarded a sanpan for a 20 min ride down the Chay river. The river was running fast in sections.

    The government in their wisdon built a dam downstream which has decreased the amount of water in the river. This now makes it diffincult in the dry season to expereince the river ride at its best. It was very pretty and relaxing.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    China is on the other side of the river.
    Temple grounds near the China bridge crossing.Our driver, Mr Kien and our tour guide, Mr Quang.Our short stay hotel room.The railway station we will be departing from.

    Lao Cai

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We are now in Lao Cai, our final destination in Sapa.

    Lao Cai is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It lies at the junction of the Red River and the Nanxi River approximately 160 miles northwest of Hanoi.

    We can see China from here but cannot visit as we do not have an entry visa.

    We had a few hours to wait here before our train departs. It is very hot and the city is not that pleasant, well at least the city centre anyway. So we booked a hotel room for a few hours. The hotel, Hoang Long, is certainly not a home away from home, glad we are not staying the night. Oops just starting to scratch, hope the room does not have fleas.

    We will be leaving here soon and going to dinner before we go to the train station to catch the rattler back to Hanoi.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    The room awaits us.

    All aboard

    August 26, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Time for dinner and drinks before we board the train back to Hanoi.

    We had a slightly better experience this time with the boarding but our expections were low from the sub standard amenities in Lao Cai and the hotel we stayed in for a few hours.

    All settled on the train reading and waiting for the many interruptions before leaving the station, believe me there are a few. Cold beer or coke or tea (you are given a warm beer and warm coke but you pay for a cold one). About 10 min later snack cart, they just open the door and come in no knocking. We then waited for the ticket collector but they never showed up. We started to watch Netflix but the train and the air on are too noisy, third world issue right!

    Now being 11pm it is sleep time, well not really, the air con was so noisy and freezing cold I had to find a jumper in the luggage just to try and get warm so I could try to sleep. Not a good night's sleep, although John had no troubles.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Off the train. People and cars everywhere but no one from the tour company to pick us up.

    Back in Hanoi

    August 27, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    As I mentioned freezing cold last night from the train air conditioning so not a happy camper as I now have a cold and feel dreadful hope the day improves.

    Well it did not, no driver to pick us up at the station, according to some of the cab drivers we should have been on the other side of the station, however, once out of the station you cannot go back in and you cannot walk around the station. No English signs to know which way to go so we had just followed everyone else like sheep. Silly us! So we are not sure if the driver was on the other side or not. We will wait and see if the tour company contacts us as we had paid for this pickup. This brings us to the next issue we jumped into a cab to drive us back to the hotel hardly anyone on the road and he is going very slow, John noticed the meter going up quickly but in case he was reading it incorrectly he did not say anything until we arrived at the hotel. Now we do know that the cabbies here can rip you off and guess that he tried. He said A$40 originally and we knew this had to be wrong so John said I only have A$20 so he took that and left.

    As you can tell morning going well.

    Well maybe not?    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Finally in our room.

    MK Premier Hotel

    August 27, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Back at the hotel around 6am, we knew our room would likely not to be ready just yet but we were hopeful if we checked in and sat in the foyer we may have been able to get in a little earlier than the usual check in time, especially as we stayed there a few nights before. We were to be here for 3 nights and back later for another night so surely we are VIP by now (he he). Wrong, no rooms available at all.

    That's Ok we will check emails, oops another issue. Looks like our flight to Hue has been cancelled and we have been put on a different flight. You might think so what. Well our original flight was 6am and now has been changed to 11.20am Just a bit of difference and you think again so what. Well we had actually booked a tour for when we landed in Hue to start at 7.30am. So now we now have to change our tour and hope there is a vacancy for another day.

    We thought great morning so far, lets go get a coffee and something to eat to fill in time. Off we go for walk down the street and at this early time there is nowhere to get breakfast unless you want noodles. So back to the hotel where we buy some pastries and coffee.

    I won't go into the washing saga other than to say that our washing is now at 2 different laundries, one for tumble dry and one for sun dried. John now tells me that he may have left a pink tour booking docket in one of his pockets that has gone to washing.

    John had to go to our tour agent to finalise payment for tomorrow's tour and there was a group in front of him making arrangements for 2 tours for 6 people with numerous questions and multiple payments. It took John 45 minutes for a simple transaction.

    During all this still not feeling very well and my knee is very sore and I have cankles from all the walking in Sapa and, I guess, the heat so John has been doing most of the arranging this morning while I was sitting in an air con area with my feet up reading. He is just a good boy, love him forever.

    So after 5 hours after arriving back in Hanoi we now have a room, it is the same style as our room before but just slightly bigger and not looking over the temple but we still have a bath that the street can see into. So we proceed to unpack, shower, confirm our flight details and rearrange our tour in Hue. Thankfully the tour company in Hue was very quick to respond and that has now been sorted in just a few minutes.

    Things can only go up from here!

    I will keep you informed of our only messy day so far but we always have the motto in our mind, "if can go wrong it will, we are the Hopwood's"

    Now 2pm so off to lunch.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    On the look out for a pork roll.
    Back on the street and the bikes are still being loaded up.A nice break from the heat.What a good year!No room on the bike for the rider.

    Lunch in the Old Quarter

    August 27, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    We walked down the street for lunch in search of a Pork Vietnamese Roll. Who would have thought that difficult. Not one in sight so we tried a Vietnamese bread roll with a pork and mushroom meatball. It was Ok but don't think we will have one again.

    It is very hot today so a 70 cent cone from Burger King was the go.

    Now back in the room watching Netflix before we go out for dinner tonight.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Birthday girl in the restaurant.
    Taxi driver videos the celebrations. He had not seen anything like this before.

    Birthday Dinner

    August 27, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    As it as my birthday yesterday we went out tonight for dinner.

    Our bad day did continue, the hotel had issues trying to get us a cab, once we finally got one he became a little lost on the way to the restaurant. Dinner was not that bad, however, we were the only ones there and we arrived about 15 min late.

    On the way home from dinner we were stuck in the celebration of the Vietnam win in the football finals of the Asian Games where the streets were blocked with thousands of flag waving, horn blowing bike riders. Even our cab driver joined in and was taking video's and posting it on facebook. We did not mind being in the celebration but after 30 min of not moving we justed wanted to go home at least the cab driver turned off the metre so it did not cost much.

    Sorry cannot load the video.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler

    Mk Premier Hotel

    August 28, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Not the best day today it is raining but we are going out of the city today for a full day tour so maybe it will be clear in the countryside.

    After a good night sleep my knee is a little better which is great so I can walk today and do the bike ride.Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Entrance to the Temples
    Dragon BedJohn has been waiting 18 years to use this poncho that we received at the Sydney Opera House Y2K NYE

    King Dinh and King Le Temples

    August 28, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    We are on our way to the Ninh Binh Province which will take about 2 hours in the bus.

    Ninh Binh Province is located in northern Vietnam, about 100km south of Hanoi. It has hundreds of limestone cliffs emerging from the ground scattered across the rice fields giving the nickname of “Halong Bay inland”.

    First we visited the King Dinh and Ling Le temples.

    King Dinh Temple was built in the shape of a Chinese character. Through the first entrance called Ngo Mon, there is a stone royal bed with Nghe standing on both sides. Inside the temple is Khai Thanh in worship of Emperor Dinh's parents.The temple consists of three parts Bai Duong for the community, Thien Huong in honour of mandarins, and Chinh Cung where Dinh Tien Hoang's statue is located.

    On his left is the statue of his eldest son Dinh Lien, and on his right are those of Dinh Hang Lang and Dinh Toan. On each side of the altar, there is one stone dragon similar to the ones placed near the royal bed.

    King Le Temple is almost the same as Dinh Temple in term of architectural design, except for some details. Le's Temple also consists of three parts Bai Duong used for the community, Thien Huong, in memory of the royal mandarins of King Le, and finally, the altar in memory of the King. The Le Hoan Statue is at the centre, on the left is the statue of Queen Duong Van Nga and on his right is that of Le Ngoa Trieu, his fifth son and the third King of the Pre Le Dynasty.

    It is a shame that it was raining as the area is very pretty and warranted a walk around to take in the gardens and the ponds scattered in and around the Temples.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Ready for our sampan trip.
    Our very young rower used his feet.Alone on the river except for a few dozen other boats.

    Sampan ride on Tam Coc River

    August 28, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Still raining but nothing is stopping us from enjoying the day.

    Tam Coc is also in Ninh Binh province Hoa Lu and Tam Coc are very picturesque and for 41 years, from 968 to 1009 CE, Hoa Lu was the ancient capital of Vietnam.

    Nearby Tam Coc is often referred to as “Ha Long among the rice paddies.”

    We managed to get into the sampan and our very young rower rowed with his feet. We glided up Tam Coc stream past green fields and mountains into the mouths of caves, where the stalactites were just above the water.

    Again a shame is was sprinkling as it would have been very pleasant just taking in the sun and the view.

    Back on land and the guide took us on a 30 min bike ride through the town to a small village. It was quite flat so easy enough to ride if I had have had the correct shoes.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    On the way back in the bus.

    Back in the Old Quarter

    August 28, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Even though it was wet all day we still had an enjoyable time.

    On arrival back at the hotel it was shower, dinner, blog and then put my feet up.

    Goodnight.

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Finding out if the Temple of Literature was going to be open.
    Quaint building accross the road from the hotel.

    What to do today?

    August 29, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    Good morning Vietnam you are still raining?

    Today we are going to walk around Hanoi and take in some more history.

    Due to the rain we will travel by cab to the furtherest point.

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Instructions on how to complete examination papers.Confucius.

    Confucius say?

    August 29, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    The Temple of Literature is dedicated to the teachings of Confucius in Hanoi. The temple hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The temple is located to the south of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The various pavilions, halls, statues and monuments to the doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Đại Việt took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Hán characters. The art works are given away as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions.

    Originally we were not going to the museum as we thought that it was a library. We are glad we changed our mind as not only were the grounds lovely it was very informative learning about the confucius teaching.    Read more

  • We are Living the DreamVietnam and Cambodia 2018Traveler
    Its tooth hurty (2:30pm) in Hanoi.
    Every body is here in this shop.

    On our way to the next attraction

    August 29, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    It took a while to wander through the Museum of Literature and it is still raining. We continued walking and found a nice cafe for lunch and then continued on to the next attraction.

    We came across some very interesting things, the pictures will complete the story.Read more

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