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A semi-serious adventure
  • Kim and Alex

A semi-serious adventure

Een 186-daags avontuur van Kim and Meer informatie
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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Phnom Penh

    24 september 2015, Cambodja ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Last night we said farewell to our Stray guide, the legend from Lao, Keo. He has accompanied us all the way from Bangkok, where he will return to begin another circuit. He is not continuing with us as presently Vietnam has its own Stray guides, one of whom we will meet in Ho Chi Minh City.

    On the restaurant balcony of a softly lit French colonial building,
    we reminisced on the time we'd shared and discussed the adventures to come. The Mekong River flowed silently past in the dark whilst below the noise of a bustling city rose up to meet us.

    The streets were hot and crowded as we walked out to the riverfront for breakfast. Smoke and the smells of cooking meat and boiling soups drifted out from local cafes, where locals huddled over bowls of steaming noodles. Pedestrians, bicycles, tuk tuks and cars squeezed past each other on the narrow roads as the pavements were blocked by overflowing shops, parked scooters and detritus. Monks sheltered under umbrellas, which matched their rust tinted robes, as they sought alms from local businesses (these individual collections were different from the mass congregations we had witnessed in Luang Prabang). Bold modern advertisements contrasted with the decay of the French colonial architecture, upon which they were plastered.

    We wandered through the dark yellow Art Deco halls of the city's central market, built by the French in 1937 and now selling everything from jewellery to peanuts. Afterwards we found a more western shopping mall for Freddie, who needed a pair of trainers. His last pair were taken by a girl who had the same style when they had been staying in Siem Reap. Despite her pair being a size 6 and Freddie's a size 10, as well as Freddie pointing out that they should take care not to mistake each other's when leaving...she still managed to take Freddie's...

    We also took the opportunity to lighten our bags from clothing we have not been using. The charity, Friends International (http://friends-international.org), has a shop near to our hostel so we donated our clothing there rather than just throwing it away.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1

    Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    25 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Before we parted ways, Keo had given us our tickets for the 'Mekong Express', a shuttle coach service between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. The company collected us from our hostel and we were taken to the station where the coach awaited, it's orange and white livery cooking in the hot morning sunshine. Fortunately the air conditioning was in working order and we slowly cooled as the coach crawled out of the capital and toward the border.

    The coach had its own 'hostess' who gave us information on the immigration processes but more importantly gave out free water and pastries to the passengers. Kim did not like the meat pastry but Alex, always grateful for free food, happily munched his way through both.

    We breezed out of Cambodian immigration but had a long hot wait to enter Vietnam. We, along with the few other white passengers, were the last from the coach to be processed by the immigration officer (Alex was the very last) before we had to have our bags scanned. This left Kim considering the process was racist as we rolled onward to Ho Chi Minh City.

    Our hostel, tucked away down a narrow alleyway, sheltered us from the thundering chaos of the thousands of scooters revving through the streets. Leaving our heavy bags behind we re-entered the chaos to find a brilliant restaurant where we ate Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, with a side of sautéed Morning Glory and fresh passion fruit and carrot juices. After experiencing the often anticlimactic Cambodian cuisine, we felt very satisfied and looked forward to more Vietnamese meals to come!    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    11

    Ho Chi Minh City

    26 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After breakfast we left the quiet sanctuary of our hostel’s alleyway to enter the organised chaos of Ho Chi Minh City. At the alleyway’s entrance, a morning market was in full swing; foods, flowers and household items all being sold from stands, carts and mats lain across the pavements. Sellers in conical straw hats nattered in a streaming dialect as shoppers bartered for goods.

    Squeezing through the maze of bodies, their noise was quickly drowned out by the collective deep throb of the city’s endless flow of scooters. Moving like schools of speeding fish around the bigger vehicles, lumbering like manatees in comparison, they filled the roads almost indefinitely. Although the city has some traffic lights, these are limited and not always adhered to. So if you want to cross the road before you see your 50th birthday you have to throw all safe road-crossing convention out of the window and simply start walking across the path of the oncoming traffic…

    However DO NOT run. Run and you’re dead. Instead walk and the scooters will confidently brake and weave their way around you until you reach the other side. As we described at the start of this post – it is organised chaos.

    The temperature sat at a sticky 30 degrees as we continued through the streets. We had wanted to take a cyclo (bicycle with a seat for passengers on the front) but politely declined the roadside hawkers, deterred by the well-documented scams and hassle that this very often involves in the city. Hopefully we will get the chance to do this later on in Vietnam.

    Walking through the Ben Thanh Market we turned down the Nguyen Hue avenue, at the top of which sat the well-attended People’s Committee Hall and the statue commemorating Vietnam’s communist revolutionary father, Ho Chi Minh. The avenue’s lampposts were hung with red communist and Vietnamese flags. Propaganda posters, commemorating 70 years since Vietnam’s declaration of independence from its French colonial rulers, decorated the walkway. Other posters explained, in both Vietnamese and English, the victory to unite the country under Communist rule as well as the success of current public works. It may have been propaganda but it gave the impression of a proud and thriving city. If not this, then the multiple towers of glazed glass and marbled stores selling designer labels certainly inspired confidence in the city’s fortunes.

    Yet we couldn’t help but wonder what Ho Chi Minh might have made of it all as we left the office blocks behind to walk back past the city’s own version of the Notre Dame cathedral and the French colonial architecture of the Central Post Office and the grounds of the Independence Palace. The peeling plasters and colourful shutters restoring a sense of romance that we felt lost walking down by the industrial bank of the Saigon River (perhaps we just walked in the wrong place?).    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1

    Stray - Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat

    27 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Enjoying the comforts of Starbucks and western shopping, Freddie decided to 'hop off' in Ho Chi Minh City, leaving us to wonder if it could be just us heading further into Vietnam on the Stray bus. However when we met our new guide, the loud and energetic Wu from Hanoi, we met four other travellers with him; Sally and Shoma, friends travelling together from London; and Poppy and Dan a couple from Ashford, Kent (dangerously small world)!

    The bus took one of the best roads we have travelled upon since leaving home, with smooth jet black tarmac and bright galvanised crash barriers (Wu explained it was newly built in the last year), which is oddly something you become excited about when travelling along thousands of miles of suspension and spine rattling road.

    With the city behind us we began a steady climb up through the highlands and onto winding mountain roads, the sides steeply falling away into lush green valleys. Vietnam is the world's largest exporter of coffee after Brazil and the scenery was plastered with budding plantations, which the region is well known for. The prosperity of those working on the plantations was noticeable in the size and grandeur of the roadside homes, their multiple colourful and ornate stories looking out across the valleys.

    In the towns, groups of children played music and danced in the costume of a large colourful dragon as part of the mid-Autumn festival, which gives thanks for a good harvest. We heard the deep thump of the drums and the splash of cymbals before the bright red and gold prancing costumes came into view.

    Dense dark cloud gathered and rain began to lash against the window panes of the bus. Soon we were driving through a brown river as the hillside's soil was washed through the streets, the drains choked under the sheer volume. A local man vainly sought to pick flotsam from a drain grill as scooter riders huddled in their ponchos against the spray off the ground and from above. Children performing for the mid-Autumn festival sheltered in shop entrances, their music abated and their dragons sleeping.

    Shortly before arriving in Dalat we visited the Datanla Waterfall, where the scenario of walking through falling water, to look upon more falling water, was reminiscent of our visit to the Tad Ngeuang waterfall in Laos. Ducking under the besieged awning of a coffee shop, we waited for the torrent to ease before walking down with our umbrellas.

    Dalat is known as the honeymoon capital of Vietnam, it's altitude providing an escape from the humidity that invited the French to build the town as a resort in the early 20th century. The town has certainly retained its French character, it's hillsides filled with pine trees whilst the town is bedded in gardens and a lake where swan-shaped pedalos roam. There is even a radio mast shaped like the Eiffel Tower.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Dalat

    28 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We imagined ourselves on holiday in Europe rather than backpacking through South East Asia as we sat outside a small hillside restaurant eating breakfast, the mild morning sun warming our outstretched legs under the table. However the ethnicity of passing locals snapped us back to reality and we watched as a group lifted a large refrigerator onto the back of a buckling scooter before being driven off. It reminded us of when Keo pointed out a similarly loaded scooter in Laos and joked how the rider must have been Vietnamese as a result.

    Down hillside roads and through flowing scooters we arrived at the long calm Xuan Luong Lake, where locals squatted on the grassing banks with short optimistic rods in search of fish. We hired a swan -shaped pedalo and zig-zagged our way around the western side of the lake. From under the shelter of the pedalo’s parasol we gazed out from the lake’s quiet centre at the city moving around us. The Eiffel Tower radio mast continuing to attempt the illusion of a European setting.

    Once returned to shore we shared a Belgian waffle (accompanied with peanut butter and the world’s smallest scoop of ice-cream) at a lakeside restaurant until Poppy and Dan joined us. With the taste of waffle still lingering we took a taxi together to the ‘Crazy House’, an architectural showpiece as well as private home and hotel. Begun in 1990 by its owner, Mrs Nga, an architecture doctorate and daughter of ex-president, Truong Chinh, it is still being expanded and constructed. Its outlandish surrealist design made us feel like we were walking through Gaudi’s version of Disneyland. The narrow twisting corridors and stairways that led to bridges and tunnels, took us up, over and through molten shaped rooms of quirky animal and human designs. We would have stayed longer but the rains forced us into the shelter of a small grotto under the complex.

    Kim did not sleep well due to having a cold (god forbid Alex catches it and it mutates into Man Flu) so after lunch and shopping for pharmaceutical drugs, which involved hand signals and a calculator, we returned to the hostel so Kim could try to sleep.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    Stray - Dalat to Bai Xep

    29 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Xuan Luong Lake dropped away behind pine forested hills as the bus climbed up and away from Dalat. As the road plateaued, we were confronted by a carpet of giant polyethylene blocks, their closely packed grey bodies dominating the landscape. As we came closer we could see these were industrial sized greenhouses where workers toiled at beds of flowers and vegetables. After this the road began to descend, switching back and forth in a way reminiscent of our journey’s through mountainous Laos. At the bottom, the rugged mountainside gave way to a valley of rice fields and the temperature quickly returned to the humid heights we have become accustomed to. Lorries were parked at the roadside as their drivers hosed down the suffocating livestock with jets of water.

    Stopping for lunch at the busy resort city of Nha Trang, we were surprised by the many adverts in the Cyrillic alphabet and overweight white skinheads in budgie smugglers roaming the streets, until Wu explained that 80% of the city’s tourists were from Russia due to a military base being located nearby.

    Back on the road we ascended along a cliff-side road that snaked its way above the coastline. Crawling behind a convey of north-bound lorries we spied a dilapidated train rolling along its tracks far below. Out on the dark blue sea, a fleet of fishing boats bobbed at anchor, their brightly coloured hulls and flag tied lines giving them a festive appearance. Descending back down to sea level, huge fishing nets hung over the water line as sand drifts, cacti and decaying French architecture littered the roadside. We stopped above one fishing village to look out across its cove of fishing boats, big and small, children playing on the sands whilst adults went about their daily business.

    Our destination, Bai Xep, was one such village with only 3000 inhabitants. Smiles and curious eyes greeted us as we walked through its quiet narrow alleyways to our beachfront hostel. The sun was setting but the sand was still warm on our toes as the stress of the long day’s travel quickly unwound to the taste of delicious tuna steak and the sound of waves breaking upon the shore.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Bai Xep

    30 september 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We breakfasted on banana pancakes in the balmy heat as tiny geckos danced across the white washed walls. From the shade of the veranda we skipped across the hot sand to splash down into the inviting sea. The pull of the outgoing tide was very strong, the hungry waves tugging at our legs before surging back to knock us down into the stretching sand.

    It would be cliché to say that this place was ‘paradise’ but it felt like a close thing. We joked with the hostel’s South African owner, Alex (great name), about he had the best office in the world. Yet he sheepishly admitted that the sound of the waves could become repetitive at times – tough life.

    More than just a place for tourists, the beach and its sea was an industry for the village. Small conical fishing boats and fishing apparatus lined the shore and we watched as local men stood upright in these vessels to cross the surf out to their anchored boats. Driving their paddles downward, in a whisking motion that you would not imagine being particularly effective, these vessels were quickly propelled along. In the afternoon children in faded premier league football shirts sat in a group on the sand to eat long yellow ears of corn before working to fix netting and lines ready for use.

    At the bar we overheard another traveller giving advice to the barman as to how the hostel could better advertise itself to bring more customers in. Yet we questioned silently whether this was what such a place really needed or wanted. The beauty of Bai Xep is its small simplicity, something we hope it maintains long after we have left.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Stray - Bai Xep to Hoi An

    1 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    The waves' meditative hush echoed in the our minds as we turned away from peaceful Bai Xep and continued our coastal drive northward. Our destination, Hoi An, was anticipated as a town of reputable beauty and UNESCO World Heritage status. However, as with Laos and Cambodia, the country's beauty is intertwined with a tragic modern history and we stopped at the My Lai Memorial, where the 16th March 1968, American GIs (General Infantry), with orders to 'kill anything that moved', murdered, raped and maimed 504 Vietnamese men, women and children.

    The reflection of tilting palms shimmered on the still water of an irrigation ditch, where many were thrown in and shot. The midday sun hammered down upon the preserved ruins of family homes as the heavy silence was broken by a braying buffalo. The waves long forgotten, the anguished faces of the cubist statues and graphic photographs of the brutally slaughtered filled our vision.

    The U.S. Army sought to cover up what happened and when it became undeniable public knowledge, only fourteen soldiers were brought to trial. Even then only one, Lieutenant William Calley, was convicted and served little time in prison.

    We were shown an Al Jazeera produced documentary (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4OQc0mQNU) but unfortunately this was as sensationalist as it was informative. It was also ethically unsound as it put a survivor and a perpetrator, both clearly traumatised individuals, together without preparing them for such an encounter. It was Jeremy Kyle on war crimes.

    However before faith in humanity was lost completely, we learnt of helicopter pilot, Hugh Thompson, who landed his helicopter between a group of fleeing civilians and advancing GIs and ordered his crew to open fire on the GIs if they refused to retreat before flying the civilians to safety. Whilst many reported in subsequent interviews that they were 'just following orders', this man followed his conscience.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    Hoi An

    2 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After a night's sleep in an unexpected giant bedroom, complete with floor to ceiling mahogany panelling and a bath tub, we set out to explore Hoi An's romantic old town. Limited to pedestrians and bicycles for the most part, a peaceful silence filled the air and we were free to amble without fear of being mown down by marauding scooters.

    The lanes were bordered by close-knit French colonial architecture, painted sunny yellow and white with wooden shutters of dark brown or sky blue. The buildings housed tailors, jewellers and book shops that invited you into their long corridors of wares. Flowering vines and colourful lanterns hung overhead as cyclists in conical hats peddled past. In places the plastered exteriors were blistered and the shutters worn, adding to the town's ageing romance.

    The town's history as a trade hub has led to lasting influences beyond French colonialism. We crossed the creaking boards of the town's covered bridge, originally built by Japanese migrants in the 16th century. An ancient musty scent filled our noses as we peered out through the tiled windows. Afterwards we wandered through the brightly coloured sculptures of the Cantonese temple before quietly viewing an ancient home still used by its family's 7th generation.

    Resting under shade, we gulped cool water whilst watching young smartly dressed Vietnamese couples pose for wedding photos at scenic spots along the river. Wu had explained that in Vietnam couples get their wedding photos taken before the wedding day and visit Hoi An for this as well as getting their suits and dresses made by the town's renowned tailors.

    Whilst contemplating this we were approached by a polite local, who asked if we could help him by appearing in a film about the harm of smoking. Wary but intrigued, we agreed and appeared as foreign tourists who coughed and held their noises when a local sat down nearby and began to smoke. We were thanked with shy smiles and bottles of lemon tea for our efforts. Whether the film, or us in it, ever sees the light of day in Vietnam or elsewhere is anyone's guess.

    On a cafe's first floor balcony, we ate banana blossom flower salad whilst looking out at the terracotta tiled roofs above and peddling cyclos below. Rumbles of thunder and darkening skies steered us back to our hostel in time to avoid the afternoon downpour but by evening the storms had scattered and our way to dinner was lit by the warm glow of hanging lanterns. The tastes of mint encased in spring rolls and honey-garlic marinated chicken lingered as a stream of foot and cycle traffic flowed past our view.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    Stray - Hoi An to Hue

    3 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We drove through a wet gloom to Danang, where we stopped at a marble workshop to view artworks that feature regularly both outside and inside homes and businesses. After being quarried, the slabs of milk are hand chiselled and sanded into the detailed features of Buddhas, lions, dragons and much more. Those completed stood on parade in the slick air, some as tall as 3 metres and as wide as front doors. Inside the workshop, chunks of a amethyst and other stones glistened in the electric light that reflected off the smooth surfaces of multi-coloured marble globes, the lines and swirls appearing like the gaseous surfaces of Jupiter and Saturn.

    Our destination, Hue, was the capital of the imperial Nguyen dynasty that ruled Vietnam until World War Two. Despite damage caused during the Vietnam War, centuries old architecture remains in and around the city.

    Crossing the Perfume (Hurong) River, so named as autumn flowers fall into the water to give a perfume-like aroma, we arrived before the squat terraces of the Cot Co (Flag Tower), its giant bronze cannons once protecting the ancient citadel. Moving under its watchful gaze and across the moat we came to stand before the broad colourful gates of the Ngo Mon (Royal Palace). Before it, a second moat lined with water lilies was cast grey by the steep stone walls, which were bathed in the late afternoon sun. Carpenters and roofers clambered around the palace's upper reaches to restore it to its former glory.

    Walking back under a setting sun we past rusting war machines of the Vietnam War, abandoned by the departing Americans and now proudly displayed as a reminder of Communist Vietnam's victory. We were going to post another playlist of music that has accompanied us on this leg of our adventure but far better is the soundtrack to the brilliant Robin Williams film, 'Good Morning Vietnam' (https://open.spotify.com/user/somebodyalreadyha…). Better still, watch the film for a satire on the Vietnam War and Williams' comic genius.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Stray - Hue to Phong Nha-Ke Bang NP

    4 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Onward and northward we climbed up Vietnam's spine, passing through the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) that divided the north and south of the country during the Vietnam War. Over the Ben Hai River, which complimented this political map, both sides fired bullets, bombs and propaganda at each other. Wu described how the river had run pink with the blood of the casualties, however it was now slate grey, mirroring the sullen skies and showing no signs of its bloody history.

    During the war, the Americans' aim had been to drive the inhabitants and Viet Cong away from the northern side of the river and its surrounding area. Between 1966 and 1972 they dropped 9000 tons of bombs, enough for 7 tons of bomb per inhabitant. The ground was still littered with bomb craters and some of the enormous shell casings were displayed, slowly rusting away but still bearing the hallmarks of their owner. Yet despite this frightening display of wanton destruction it was unsuccessful as a strategy.

    Rather than give ground to the Americans, the inhabitants constructed the Vinh Moc tunnel system to shelter from the rain of heavy munitions. Using only hand tools the tunnels were completed over a period of approximately 20 months from 1966. Initially digging down to a depth of 10 metres, until the Americans began dropping bombs that could burrow to this depth, the tunnels eventually went as deep as 30 metres. The tunnels housed approximately 60 families and included wells, kitchens, bedrooms and even a maternity room, where 17 children were born over the course of the tunnels' use.

    Crouching our shoulders to fit through the narrow tunnels we descended to 13-14 metres underground into the complex. Fortunately our way was lit by electric lighting, something the inhabitants would not have had the luxury of at the time. Cool damp air filled our lungs and our eyes squinted in the dim light as the shuffle of our feet echoed up from the floor. We past crevices dug out of the walls, large enough to crawl into and sit, which had rooms for people and supplies. Other openings veered downwards into deeper sections, where the inhabitants would shelter during bombings. Clambering further through the twisting maze of passages we ascended back out to the surface, where the air was thick with humidity and the daylight temporarily blinded us.

    Back on the bus we moved further north, we eventually stopping for the day beside the Dong Suon Lake, within the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Eating dinner on the hostel's veranda, which overlooked the lake's still waters, we contemplated the incredible feat of the tunnels whilst looking forward to another subterranean world to come, the Thien Duong Cave.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    Phong Nha-Ke Bang NP

    5 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Eager to avoid forecasted rain we headed out early for the Thien Duong Cave, the already hot sun flittering between white clouds. After a 50 minute drive, we took a 1km hike along a rainforest pathway, where huge red ants marched purposefully past our eye line and other insects buzzed unseen behind walls of green. Climbing 500 steps, the humidity clawed at our skin as we rose above the tree line and came before the mouth of the cave. A cool breeze emanated from its small black space to kiss our faces, giving no indication of the enormity held within. Thien Duong is nearly 33km in length and filled with stadium spaces but without direction you could easily by-pass the unremarkable entrance. The cave was only located in 2005, by a local collecting firewood, but even then they could not have had any true comprehension of its extent until British explorers later examined it in full.

    Tentatively we descended the damp wooden steps, ducking under an overhanging rock to leave daylight behind. We moved out into the black void before our eyes adjusted to the floodlights illuminating the switchback staircase and colossal cavern before us. The ceiling roared overheard and the floor fell away as we shrank deeper and deeper into its depths. Down on the floor we followed the walkway through vast spaces were multitudes of limestone stalagmites and stalactites rose and fell as if to meet each other. Terraces of glass water gave mirror images of the formations above them and shades of ice, rust and granite melted over each other in the ghostly halo of the floodlights.

    Whilst our experience of the Kong Lor Cave in Laos, with the boat ride through its 7km haunting darkness had been fascinating, the walkway and lighting at Thien Duong allowed us gain a greater sense of both its scale and detail. That said, there was a moment when the power abruptly cut out and we were plunged into utter darkness for a long minute. Nevertheless despite this and whilst it was only possible to explore 1km into Thien Duong, it was a breath-taking experience and a highlight of our Vietnam adventure so far.

    Making it back to the hostel and no rain yet on the horizon we dined on large fresh spring rolls and salad before taking a relaxing plunge in the warm waters of the swimming pool. Unfortunately dark clouds quickly gathered soon after and thunder and lightning drove us into the shelter of our bedroom. Listening to the rain tap against the windows we basked in the memories of a brilliant adventure.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
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    Stray - Phong Nha-Ke Bang NP to Tam Coc

    6 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    With our arrival in Hanoi due in less than 72 hours, it was time to make some ground on the 500km of road still ahead of us. Passing under the bold white signage of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park we headed back onto Vietnam’s version of the M1 to journey further north.

    On a day where distance was the goal, the world largely rolled past our window. The country was also on the move up and down their motorway as women in conical hats rode bicycles laden with goods whilst men wearing the olive green helmets of the Viet Cong weaved through lines of rumbling lorries on their scooters. Young people also zipped by, some holding the hands of their friends on bicycles to tow them alongside. Out on the wide rice fields, water buffalo and cattle grazed, a group herded by women along a railway line. The bonfire scent of burning crops and the oily taste of exhaust fumes faintly filtering through the bus' air vents.

    Large advertisements invited motorists to stop for steamed rice, noodle soup and other local staples but when we attempted an ad hoc lunch stop even Alex’s low standards were put to the test. Food waste, used napkins and empty drink cans littered the floor whilst flies hungrily patrolled over the stained tables. The air smelt of fat and the owner gave us an unwelcoming look before we turned to leave for another restaurant. Wu was apologetic and explained that there were limited options along our route for eating.

    Later we reflected with our fellow travellers on the apology and the true feelings behind it (there was interesting but unintelligible interaction between Wu and the owner as we left). Whilst we could have asked Wu about this we have found that his unswerving devotion to customer service means that keeping us 'happy' can prevent an honest answer.

    By the time we arrived in Tam Co, the sun was setting over the limestone mountains that have led the area to being described as ‘the Ha Long Bay on land’. We were thirsty, hungry and tired so when Wu suggested we drove back out of town to eat dinner at a ‘local trucker’s stop’, we were less than enthusiastic, particularly after our experience at lunch. Arriving by taxi on a dark road lined with small eateries, where diners ate at small plastic stools under harsh fluorescent lighting, our expectations dropped further. However to our shame and Wu’s credit, the meal of egg and tomato broth, fried spinach, fried chicken with ginger and omelette served with steamed rice was filling and enjoyable.

    In the end, it was an example that, just as with anywhere in the world and whatever the cuisine, there are good, bad and down-right dirty restaurants. Satisfied we returned to our hostel, grateful for full stomachs and the knowledge that we were now only 100km from Hanoi.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Tam Coc

    7 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    The steady rise of humidity with the morning sun invited us to spend the day unwinding from yesterday's long journey, not that we needed much encouragement. However the bus driver put our pathetic woe into perspective when he explained that it was a 40 hour drive back to Ho Chi Minh City...

    Sat on the hostel's balcony, a vista of terracotta roofs, mustard fields and limestone mountains stretched around us. From our shaded vantage point we absorbed town life below; small wooden canoes sent ripples along the winding river and farmers spread carpets of grain to dry in the sun. The bass of revving traffic and the shrill of children playing filtered up through the buildings, upon which yellow stars on red hung limply in the heat.

    We reflected that in 2 weeks we would be flying home after 6 months away from our family and friends. There was still much to do, yet it began to feel right that the end was in sight.

    We used the time to plan our stay in Hanoi, where we will base ourselves before flying to Bangkok on the 18th October and then home on the 21st. Whilst we had spoken about visiting Japan or another country, as somewhat expected, our budget has prevented us. Nevertheless we are content, having been blessed with a fantastic time so far. Instead these countries will be our adventures to come!    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    11

    Stray - Tam Coc to Hanoi

    8 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    As it was only 100km to Hanoi from Tam Coc we visited the nearby Cuc Phoung National Park and its Primate Rescue Centre. The centre rescues and protects endangered monkeys and gibbons, some of whom have been hunted to near extinction for their profit as speciality food and medicine, particularly in the Chinese market.

    Wu left us at the main gate to wander down a lonely path with the hiss of the breathing rainforest around us. As we neared the centre the silence was broken by the rising calls of gibbons echoing through the trees, like the repeating whistling boom of a strange alarm.

    The centre's guide, Hom, smartly dressed in shirt and trousers with a Viet Cong helmet, led us along moss speckled brick paths and past cages of the different species. Dark inset eyes on small faces watched us intently as long tails hung down from perches and powerful fingers gripped the cages' mesh.

    Hom explained that the centre's goal was to rehabilitate the primates back into the wild and showed us a 'semi-independent' area of forest adjacent to the cages, which acted as a stepping stone to complete rehabilitation. Different vegetation was also grown at the centre so the primates had the variety in their diet that they would in the wild.

    At a time when some of the species' total populations are as low as 45 and reproduction is only once every 2 years, the centre's work is vital in preventing these species becoming completely eradicated by human desires or speciality food and medicine.

    Thanking Hom we returned to the bus for the final journey to Hanoi, where our Stray route completed. We said goodbye to our Stray guide, Wu, who with the enthusiasm and humour of a teenage boy has taken us all the way north from Ho Chi Minh City.

    In the late afternoon heat we edged our way through the hectic streets of the city's Old Quarter but by dark we found peace and dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Hoan Kiem Lake.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1

    Hanoi

    9 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Rain steadily washed the pavements and our feet as we wove a pathway through lines of parked scooters, street stalls and locals running for shelter. Without a planned destination and our cheap umbrellas struggling to defend us from the unrelenting shower, we ducked into the inviting glow of a shopping mall.

    Ushered by a smartly uniformed doorman into a pristine gallery we entered the opulent Trang Tien Plaza. Walking through a glossy landscape of Dior, Lacoste and Calvin Klein, we felt very out of place in our damp backpacking clothes. An aura of elitism radiated out of the central hall of escalators and reflected off the brass handrails and polished marble of quiet empty spaces.

    We wondered who in Hanoi had the finances to shop at such a place, where prices were equivalent to home and the average wage is much lower. It felt far removed from the political ideals that the modern country was founded upon. We then wondered how we, in our attire (not to mention Alex's hair), even made it inside before imagining how the colour of our skin could bypass this.

    Amongst shelves of overpriced Calvin Klein jeans, tailored for petite Asian bodies, we simultaneously found ourselves closely shadowed by staff around the store. It was perturbing enough to make a swift exit and led us to reexamine our outward image and how it could have brought such close scrutiny.

    Subsequent internet research identified that the staff's behaviour to be common etiquette rather than reactive to us. We then realised that it was something we had already encountered but in local shops. The plaza's gloss unbalancing our sense of where we were in the world.

    Leaving the plaza and culture shock behind we circled the edge of the Hoan Kiem Lake, where tree branches dripped the remnants of the deceased shower. A smog hung in the air to dampen the view so we ventured further into the city's Old Quarter. Down the narrow streets we wandered through a world far removed from that displayed in the plaza.

    Originating from the 13th century system of guild cooperatives, each of the quarter's '36 streets' (there are in fact more) sells a particular product and are named accordingly. Firstly with the word 'Hang', meaning shop or merchandise and then with the name of the product. For example, 'Hang Bac' is the street where silver products are sold, 'Hang Ma' for paper products, 'Hang Gai' for silks and so on.

    Yet we found it less precise as we past a frenetic collection of street hawkers peddling snacks, lighters and shoe repair as well as shops selling fresh fruit and women's shoes side by side. We imagined the discussions generated in Hanoi homes ('I thought you just went to the grocer for Bok Choy?...Yes but these fake Jimmy Choos were on sale next to them!') when a hawker, squatting down on the littered steps of a shop, grabbed Alex's passing foot and attempted to lift his flip flop off his foot to 'repair' it with glue. However a look and a few words were enough to convince him that Alex's flip flop was in perfect working order.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    21

    Hanoi

    10 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We lay in bed listening to the rain continue its patter against the tree lined street outside. With no indication that it would dissipate, we contemplated another day hopping through puddles before deciding that we would visit the Vietnam Women’s Museum. Both because it was highly recommended and indoors.

    The museum housed a number of exhibits on the roles and experiences of women in Vietnam, both currently and historically, showcasing the importance of their contribution to the development of Vietnamese society.

    Whilst some of the ethnic societies within Vietnam unsurprisingly follow a patrilineal model, interestingly others are matrilineal; where the eldest daughter plays an important role in family affairs, females inherit wealth and are preferred as a gender for new-borns. Nevertheless women in rural Vietnam have an unenviable role of being primary care givers to their children whilst undertaking all domestic tasks in the family home as well as agricultural labour, which includes the harvesting of rice and maize; cut by hand and carried on their backs in large woven baskets down from the fields. We learnt how some women are forced to leave their rural communities to work in Hanoi, selling food, flowers and other products, in order to effectively feed and educate their children. This is due to their land not producing enough income and means very long days and weeks away from home and their families. In worse cases, the women’s husbands are either too ill to work or have died in work accidents, leaving the women alone to raise an income and their children. Already we have past many women matching the description of those in the exhibit, leaving us to reflect on what their own stories might be.

    Most interesting was the exhibit on Vietnam’s ‘Heroic Mothers’, women who lost children, their husband and/or their own life whilst engaging in the resistance against French and American forces for the country’s independence. Women actively engaged in front-line guerrilla warfare alongside men and in the south of the country they represented up to 40% of the fighting force. As well as combatants, women also worked as medics, engineers and spies and many were captured, tortured and executed in enemy prisons.

    Interested to see if London had a similar resource we were dismayed to find a number of news articles from this summer on what had been proposed as the UK's first women's museum, only to become a museum on Jack the Ripper... (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jul/29/…)    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Hanoi

    11 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    A thick white blanket of cloud, backlit by an invisible sun, spanned the sky. At 23 degrees the day felt very mild compared to the high temperatures and humidity we had experienced. The locals were wrapped in jackets and hats as we might be on a cold autumn day.

    Around the edge of Hoan Kiem Lake and down wide busy streets away from the Old Quarter, we stopped for lunch where the chef/owner had appeared on Vietnamese Masterchef in 2013. Alex enjoyed delicious 'Bun Bo' (rice vermicelli and beef in sauce) whilst Kim had tasty 'Pho Ga' (chicken rice noodle soup). Not only was it very enjoyable it was also very cheap with the bill totalling £5!

    With full stomaches we marched westward to stand before the brutal architecture of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Lined on either side with giant red Communist flags, which fluttered brightly in the faint wind. Guards in uniforms, taut with medals and starch, stood watchful whilst on the lawn women crouched low to pull weeds. You go inside and file past Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body with thousands of other tourists. However the prospect of viewing a corpse 46 years dead did not overly excite us so we wandered by.

    Adjacent and behind layers of security was the intensely yellow Presidential Palace. Just like the White House in Washington, we had no idea if anyone was at home behind its tall gates and blinded windows. However it is said that Ho Chi Minh did not reside in the lavish overthrow of French colonialism, choosing instead to live in a small stilt house set within the grounds.

    Circumnavigating the edge of the old crumbling citadel walls we came to its North Gate. Originally built in 1805 by the Nguyen Dynasty, at 17 metres tall it remains an imposing structure. It's face is scarred by two great holes gouged out the brickwork, caused by cannon fire when the French took the city by force at the end of the 19th century. Atop of the gate incense vapour drifted from a solemn bronze altar to the Nguyen leaders charged with the city's defence.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1
    11111

    Hanoi to Ha Long Bay

    12 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    For a change of scenery from the hectic streets of the nation's capital we took a boat tour out to what has been titled as one of the seven natural wonders of the world - Ha Long Bay.

    The name 'Ha Long' means 'descending dragons' and was given because from a distance the tall limestone islands appear like the curved backs of these mythical creatures. We were told there are 1969 islands in total, a poignant number to the Vietnamese with it being the year Ho Chi Minh died.

    Our three tier wooden ship of greying white and mahogany coasted its way out of Ha Long harbour and took a path out into the bay, passing through the imposing limestone cliffs of the closely-knit islands. The sun remained hidden behind cloud but it's penetrating light left a white haze over the horizon, giving the more distant islands a mysterious aura.

    We docked outside the Sung Sot Cave, the concave of its mouth high up on the cliff-face. Climbing a narrow staircase we entered into three lit caverns, each larger than the previous. Millions of years old, the ceiling appeared like a Gaudi sculpture, honed away by water that had once crashed around inside before the sea receded.

    Afterwards we went by boat to Ti Top Island, which was named by Ho Chi Minh after the Russian cosmonaut, Gherman Titov, when he visited in 1962 ('Ti Top' being how the Vietnamese pronounce Titov). Again we climbed a steep staircase to the island's summit, where we gazed out upon a panoramic view. Down below in the bay, the many anchored tour boats shrank in the still grey waters against the island cliffs jutting skyward.

    Meals on the boat were eaten communally, with us sharing platters of local cuisine between our tables as a Vietnamese family would do. There were French, Vietnamese, Korean and Malaysian travellers onboard but they spoke very little English. Fortunately we met a friendly couple, Eddie and Jacqueline from Singapore, who spoke excellent English, were well travelled and had a daughter studying business at Manchester University. Despite Eddy being a Manchester United supporter, we got on very well and they were great company to share our Ha Long Bay experience with.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1

    Ha Long Bay to Hanoi

    13 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We woke to the steady thump of a small boat's engine as it motored past our own. The bay is not just for tourists, it is also home to small communities who live in floating houses to fish the waters or sell drinks and snack food to the passing tourists.

    A cotton wool sky remained to deny a fiery sunrise but it did not deter us from the sun deck, where we took a Tai Chi lesson with one of the crew before breakfast.

    We travelled to Luon Cave, where we left the boat and paddled a 2-man kayak into its dark mouth. The sound of paddles scrapping against fibreglass hulls and human voices echoed under the stalactite ceiling. Darkness began to wrap itself around us but before it had a chance to cover us completely we exited into the bright light of a hidden cove.

    We quickly realised the cave was the only entrance into the cove, where sheer limestone walls towered around us. We shrank in scale to the scenery before us and despite the presence of other tourists we felt as if we had entered a hidden world. Circling the edge of the livid water pool we absorbed the views before rhythmically powering ourselves back under the cave and to the boat.

    Returning to Ha Long harbour, we past through channels of shadow-casting rock that towered over us and the local fishing vessels. The undulating spines and swirling faces of the limestone catching our eyes as they past by our window.

    Once on land we took the road back to Hanoi, where the bustling capital welcomed us with a cacophony of noise, which was in sharp contrast to the calm of the bay.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Hanoi

    14 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Back amongst the chaotic Hanoi scenes we ventured into the Old Quarter to partake in the traditional past time of travellers nearing the end of their journey - souvenir shopping. Since beginning our adventure 6 months ago there has been many an occasion when we (usually Kim) have seen something worth buying for ourselves or someone else, only to accept (usually Alex) that it was unrealistic to carry it around for months on end. Whilst we could have posted these items home, they were never found all in one place and the cost to repeatedly send items home was prohibitive. With our bags (mostly Alex) getting lighter as we bail out clothes and other unneeded items for charity, there was plenty of room for what we found in Hanoi.

    Unless shopping in the shiny modern malls like Trang Tien Plaza, haggling for items at the local markets and small street-side stalls is a given. Particularly with sellers highly inflating their prices when tourists approach. However Wu had advised that it was part of local Buddhist custom to not engage in haggling during the morning hours so we were in no rush to head out onto the streets until lunchtime.

    Weaving through a congestion of scooters, fruit sellers and torn up paving, we slipped in and out of shops that sold gifts of fabric, paper, wood and stone. The sight of our Caucasian faces brought the hurried attention of sellers to welcome us inside. We searched specifically for a set of chopsticks as we had become quite skilled in our use of them through South East Asia and thought we might use them again once home.

    Although we had haggled together before, it was still amusing for us and the locals to observe each other's styles. Being compassionate and kind, Kim was more likely to buy if she empathised with the seller, i.e. a young pregnant woman, and would haggle to a point until she felt it might cause offence to stick or go lower on a price. Alex meanwhile was ruthless with a smile.

    Yet if it hadn't been for Kim then we might not have brought anything at all as Alex sought to squeeze the best deal he could out of the Old Quarter. One female seller laughed at our debate with each other and commented in halting English that we were like an old married couple before noting to Kim that Alex was 'good husband' as he got her to eventually agree his price.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex
    1
    111

    Hanoi

    15 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We returned to the Old Quarter to finish the shopping we did not complete yesterday. Whilst we were not buying anything that should have taken more than one day to purchase, there were several hurdles to waylay even the most determined shopper.

    As described in the previous post, haggling turns transactions into a lengthy game of smiles and frowns and the humid temperature claws at your stamina. The pavements are used as parking bays for the city’s thousands of scooters and elsewhere an obstacle course of plastic dining furniture, fruit sellers, scurrying pregnant dogs and small children amongst broken paving and general detritus hinders movement and pushes pedestrians into the road, already crowded with cruising taxis, beeping scooters, enterprising cyclos and silent bicycles. Still any feelings of frustration sit within a sensory smorgasbord. The thick aroma of barbequing meat mixing with the citrus scent of fruit, the colourful displays of goods lit up by neon colours at night and the horns of scooters echoing with the sing-song invites to dine, take a massage or ride a cyclo.

    A pastime of ours, particularly when travelling, is to ‘people watch’, and one of our favourite restaurants, with its balcony overlooking a crossroads in the Old Quarter, grants us perfect opportunity for this. One thing we have particularly noticed is that locals actively engage in ‘picking and spitting’. Often we will watch both men and women go almost knuckle-deep in a bid to clean out their nasal passages whilst hearing the loud thick hawk of mucus pulled from throats to be spat out onto the street. Social suicide back home, a national sport in this part of the world.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Hanoi

    16 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    After some internet research we located a hotel with a swimming pool nearby, which allowed non-guests to use for a fee. With the white hot sun forecast to hammer down unobstructed, it felt like an opportune way to spend the day. The hotel was situated south of the Old Quarter, where wide tree-lined streets accommodated French architecture. We past the Italian Embassy, in the grounds of which Labrettas and Vespas sat in glass showcases. Vacant-faced sales assistants of pristine Italian fashion houses starred out of their glass prisons waiting for the diplomats and their entourages to spend diplomat dollars. In the evenings locals use the wide pavements as badminton courts, couples in western attire pose for their wedding photos whilst brass bands practice on the steps of the Opera House.

    At the hotel, aptly called ‘Army Guesthouse’, men and women in dark green military uniform with detail in gold and red walked with purpose as we meandered to the pool. The buildings appeared worn and in need of care but the pool was clean, its topaz floor shimmering hypnotically underwater. When we arrived we were the only people using the pool but by the afternoon we were joined by German sunbathers and Vietnamese swimmers.

    As Alex helped Kim apply sun lotion to her back, Kim noticed a Vietnamese man intently watching her from the water. Feeling uncomfortable, Kim turned herself so Alex blocked the man’s view. Alex turned to seek a view of the man for himself and chuckled when he was confronted with the image of an archetypal ‘dirty old man’. The small dark gnome face with dark piggy eyes sneered upward as one hand feverishly picked at the nose and the other hand was probably feverishly elsewhere. After this episode as well as witnessing further instances of ‘picking and spitting’ into the pool’s water by the locals (including the pool attendant) we decided to skip swimming again.

    The sun curved over the pool to dip under the west side of the hotel building and cause shadows to slowly creep across the tiled floor. We returned to our hostel and after dark walked amongst families, couples and joggers along the beautifully illuminated Hoan Kiem Lake.    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Hanoi

    17 oktober 2015, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    It was our last day in Hanoi as well as Vietnam before flying to Bangkok tomorrow. We spent it leisurely packing our bags and completing minor bits of 'travel admin' in preparation for the penultimate section of our adventure.

    We have not stayed In one place for so long since Cairns, Australia and that was 3 months ago now. Before then we were back at home. In the time spent here we have grown increasingly confident in navigating our way around the busy streets. It must show in our body language as we find ourselves approached less by the city's hawkers and hustlers seeking to make money from tourists. That said we are not immune, Alex still got his leg grabbed by a flip flop repair scammer but he didn't even break stride when telling the man to let go.

    We've posted a number of playlists along the way but this is a compilation of our favourites, a soundtrack of sorts to our adventure around the world (https://open.spotify.com/user/somebodyalreadyha…) -

    The Who - Baby O'Riley
    Big Country - In A Big Country
    Hozier - Someone New
    Johnny Cash - Jackson
    Chuck Berry - Promised Land
    Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance
    Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Can't Keep Checking My Phone
    Oh Wonder - Technicolour Beat
    Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Almost Cut My Hair
    Martin Luke Brown - Nostalgia
    The Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari
    AC/DC - Highway To Hell
    Hilltop Hoods - Cosby Sweater
    Chase & Status - Alive
    Lovebirds - Want You In My Soul
    Ten Walls - Walking With Elephants
    Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
    Adrian Cronaur - Pt.2/Good Morning Vietnam
    MisterWives - Our Own House
    Delaney & Bonnie - Comin' Home    Meer informatie

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  • Kim and AlexA semi-serious adventureKim and Alex

    Hanoi to Bangkok

    19 oktober 2015, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    An ash smog clung to the air and shrouded the city as our taxi drove away from the tightly packed buildings through the crawling early morning traffic. Only once cruising over a motorway bridge to the airport did the sky open up as if exhaling a long-held breath.

    The radiant walls and feathery atmosphere of the departure hall felt foreign as we breezed through. Nevertheless as our footfalls echoed off the ebony floor we were buoyant to be on the move again. Caught by the tourist board with no reasonable excuses, we obliged in completing questionnaires on our stay and ordered a lunch to go, containing neither rice or noodles.

    After months of travelling overland we returned to our starting point of Bangkok on a flight that took less than 2 hours. That said the entire journey still took the majority of the day due to all the additional travel, waiting and form filling required. At Bangkok airport we were greeted with a long-snaking heart-sinking queue through immigration. Tired and bored looks were abound as small children played between the legs of patient faced parents. Time ticked backwards as questions about onward travel and the hammer of rubber stamps reverberated down the line. At least we weren't the man who nearly made it all the way to the front, only to return to the back upon realising he hadn't completed an immigration arrival card...

    We avoided Bangkok's chaotic traffic and took the train into the city centre. Where previously we had stayed in an older part of the city, frequented by backpackers and close to the Stray office, now we stayed in the more modern but equally popular shopping district. A concrete mesh of train platforms and pedestrian walkways stretched above the streets, filled with the colours of moving people and flashing advertisements. Rising up from street level and past our eye line were huge multi-story shopping malls, complete with bowling alleys, ice rinks and cinemas, vying for shoppers' attention.

    This was to be our decompression chamber back to modernity from the fringes of backpacking life but honestly it had the appearance of Bluewater on acid.    Meer informatie

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