Our time spent in 'Nam

I'm writing this blog from my tiny apartment in Hong Kong and I'm reminiscing about what it was like back in 'Nam - you weren't there, man! So I'll have to tell you all about it.

After deciding I didn't like the place, I had an early night and woke up on a mission to make it through a day without complaining. I lasted until about 2 O'clock, but I hasten to add that these were mere comments rather than complaints: 'there are just too many motorbikes here', 'it's too noisy here', 'it's too hot here' - all statements of fact rather than derogatory whinges!

Anyway, we spent to day wandering around and I realised that we were actually staying on the busiest road in the whole of Hanoi - perhaps not strictly a statement of fact here, but something very close to the truth! The rest of Hanoi didn't seem too bad once we wandered away from our hostel (which I have to admit, despite hating it the moment we arrived, I did grow to like, the staff were so lovely that they made the mouldy walls seems like nothing to worry about). We walked to the lake which was absolutely beautiful and the cooling breeze coming off the water made me happy.

I think every single person we've spoken to on this trip that had already been to Hanoi had a story to tell about having their bag or their camera or their money, or something, stolen while they were wandering around. There are pick pockets and thieves everywhere in Hanoi it seems and apparently it's the worst place for getting scammed. It was good that we were aware of that and it made us extra cautious and we are lucky to say that we made it though 'Nam without getting anything stolen. However, they are so clever with their scams! This woman carrying one of those traditional baskets (you know the two baskets on either end of a stick which they lug around town on their shoulder). She literally put the basket on my shoulder, chucked a hat on my head and shouted 'photo, photo'. I knew we were about to get ripped off, but i did actually really want that photo!! So Kev reluctantly snapped away with the camera and I gave the woman her very heavy basket of fruit back. Then she insisted that as she had been so awfully kind to let me take a touristy photo with her basket, that I HAD to buy some fruit from her. I agreed to buy one banana, but she gave me three and charged me 60,000 dong (before you worry, it's not that bad, it's only £2!). I exclaimed, 'how much? 60,000?!' to which the sneaky little con artist replied with a sad facial expression 'ah, basket so heavy!' I handed over the cash and walked off. Later than evening she approached me again and tried to slip that basket on my shoulder - I was having none of it this time and snapped at her that I'd already been ripped off by her. She looked at my face, smiled a mocking smile and walked away!

We stopped off for a drink in a very western pub called 'Le Pub' and then headed to 'Peperoni's' Restaurant for a genuine slice of Vietnamese food - NOT! We had another burger and chips I'm ashamed to say. It was necessary, I don't think our stomachs could handle any more rich Vietnamese food - as nice as it is, we're just to used to the bland old blighty grub!

After a very satisfying lunch we headed back to the hostel. The mid day heat was setting in (and we all know how I feel about mid day heat!) and we were getting tired so we wanted an afternoon nap. That evening we headed out and randomly bumped into one of the guys off out Halong Bay cruise who was also heading to Hong Kong the following day. We had a couple of drinks and walked by the famous night market - which was so unbelievably busy! We sat at a roof top beer garden and watched the chaos below and we established that when Kev is happy seeing things (like the busy streets and the crowds) I'm not happy, when I'm doing the things I like, practising fishing, swimming or generally being active as opposed to walking around crowded streets looking at buildings, Kev is not enjoying himself. I think we're perhaps as opposite as we could be, you'd think that doesn't bode well for us, but somehow it seems to work and we're still getting on great (I think Kev has the patience of a saint).


We wandered back to our hotel and with just 60,000 dong (£2) left in our pockets, we popped into a cheap restaurant for dinner. In there were two little kids who thought it hysterical to run up to us and shout 'how are you?', then they'd run away giggling and then run back to say 'What's your name?' These kids, unlike last night's restaurant brats, were very cute and their English was amazing.

And that was pretty much the end of our time in 'Nam. We have loved it but we're both really ready to move on from South East Asia. It's been hard work and we've packed a lot into a short space of time so we were looking forward to moving on to Hong Kong and Japan.

The following morning we got up early and got on the plane to Hong Kong. I began sneezing and were became very concerned that of all the places to sneeze- the airport at Hong Kong was not the place to do it! But we made it through the heat detectors and out the other side. I did feel a bit coldy but I think perhaps it was nerves or something as I seem to be OK this morning.

We found our bus easily and I was pleased to discover that the journey barely went underground at all (people had warned me that I was going to struggle not going underground in Hong Kong, which hadn't pleased me at all). We found out hostel reception and observed the Tropical Cyclone Weather Warning Level 1 notice on the wall. The hostel lady proudly boasted that the cyclone that had just killed over 100 people in the Philippines might be coming here, to which my face dropped and I glared at Kev as if to say, we're turning back right this minute and getting the hell out of here! (That weather warning will probably explain why our Hong Kong flight was possibly the most turbulent one so far, Kev didn't enjoy it at all and neither did my hand which was being gripped so tightly that the circulation nearly cut out!!) The hostel lady then informed us that if it gets to Level 8 warning, the whole place goes into shut down and the transport stops - 'no-one's getting in or out of here' she remarked! Kev reassured me that we were only on level 1 and level 8 was a long way off so we checked in and were shown to out apartment (which is actually a box about the size of our bathroom at home, with a glass wall separating out bed from the toilet - but we're getting used to that kind of thing!).

Once we were settled in our room I went on the internet to look into this cyclone stuff and found out that the warning system goes from 1 to 3 to 8. Now level 8 and total lock down was not looking so far away!! But I'm tracking that bad boy and it's currently heading for central Vietnam, so fingers crossed. While I was worrying my little head about that, so my friend John back home text me to say, rather worryingly, 'send me a text to let me know you guys are OK, I saw something on the news and although I'm being stupid just let me know you're OK'. Suddenly I had visions of cyclone warnings in Hong Kong being all over the news back home and that perhaps things were more serious here than everyone was making out!! I text back and said we were fine and asked whether he had seen about cyclones on the news. To this he replied, no, he had seen that 2 British tourists had died on a boat accident in Vietnam and he was glad it wasn't us. I was glad too and I went on the BBC news website to check it out. We discovered that the night before we did out cruise in Halong Bay (back when we were in 'Nam), a boat had overturned and 5 people had drowned - NO ONE TOLD US THAT WHEN WE WERE GETTING ON BOARD THAT BOAT IN HE POURING RAIN!! I remember that on the cruise they had told us that usually we would be docking somewhere else for the night but because there was a storm we weren't allowed. Now I realise why!! It's crazy how none of us had a clue that that had happened just the night before! As Kev keeps joking, treacherous is the word of choice for me when describing this trip, but it really is!! South East Asia's health and safety is very different to back home!!

Anyway, back to Hong Kong. So we ventured out to find some food and I was really surprised at how little English there is here. I know that's going to sound like a really blonde thing to say, but I expected there to be loads of English on restaurant menus and signs and stuff, what with there being a lot of tourists here, but there doesn't seem to be a lot in English, at least not round by where we're staying (which I'm told isn't where most tourists stay, so maybe that's why). We were just about to give in and go to MacDonalds when we saw a restaurant with English on the menu. We went in there but the food was horrible - try eating duck on the bone with chop sticks - not easy.

We went back to our little, bright green cell of a room on the 16th floor (Kev took the stairs because my claustrophobia has obviously worn off on him and he didn't want to get in the tiny lift!). We watched a film and fell asleep ready for a new day today. So we're heading out now to explore Hong Kong properly. The rain seems to have died down for the meantime so fingers crossed we'll not get too wet today but I won't hold my breath on that. I don't mind anyway, it's actually cold in some places here and I rejoice at that feeling (I put a jumper on yesterday and it felt so good against my skin!! I'm longing for the day I get to put on some woolly tights, but I think I might be a couple of months away from that yet so for now that remains a distant dream!).

Will try and update the blog on Hong Kong tonight, but for now I will pass you over to Kev for some photos. xxx