Day three – Vietnam

Good Morning my little Cum Quats (I like the fruit!)

Today we needed to be up and ready for our cooking lesson at 8.00am. We learnt to make Spring Rolls!! The success of the Spring Roll is all in the rolling!!! They could have told me that at 9.00am too!!

After our intense course which lasted for about 20 mins, the 8 of us sat around waiting for breakfast which was served at 9.30.before we disembarked.

Visibility was down to about 10 feet so admiring the emerald green water clearly wasn’t going to happen – that and the fact that it is littered with rubbish, poo and bits of wood, I doubt it is ever green!!!! Swimming isn’t an option even when the weather permits unless you are up to date with your Typhoid shots and Malaria pills!!

We were lucky as the day before boats weren’t allowed out and after bringing us back to shore, no boats were going out today.

The drive from Halong Bay back to Hanoi is 4 very long hours…..during which time we learnt
that if you live in a village or suburb, local government gives every family over 18 its own rice field to plant out. The annual crop is anywhere between 500 – 800 kgs of rice per annum which is an awful lot of rice and saves on government hand outs as no one starves here. Any surplus is stored as during typhoon season some rice fields tend to get flooded and the land isn’t useable until it has dried out. There is two types of land….building land and crop land and crop land isn’t suitable for building so nothing really goes to waste.

Even cemeteries are recyclable and re useable……for example if you are a Buddhist and die you get buried in a traditional coffin. Fast forward 5 years and they dig you up!! By this time, most of your body parts have been eaten or decomposed leaving just the skeleton. This is then ground up in a Pestle and Mortar type thing and you and popped in a small urn which is then reburied in a family tomb – thus saving loads of space. The original grave is then filled in and reused and then the whole process starts again. Which is handy as there are quite a lot of deaths on the road!!!

Traditionally the Vietnamese drive on the right hand side but most of the time, they drive wherever they fancy….left, right, it really doesn’t matter. There is a lot of horn honking and the on coming traffic is heading straight for you even though you are on your side of the road. Best way to avoid this is to pull over onto the hard shoulder or pavement and hope for the best. EIther kill or be killed!!

Currently we are sitting in a big traffic jam on the wrong side of the road as there has been a big smash up ahead…..basically it is a bit of a free for all, made worse by bicycles and scooters. A crane is pulling a lorry from the side railings, obviously facing the wrong way as the on coming traffic refused to pull over!!!! Never a dull moment!

To add to the chaos, a little know fact….bus drivers work on commission here so they compete with each other…….no one really uses the bus stops – they kind of congregate along the highways and wait for the buses to appear then one brave person jumps out to stop the bus. The problem with competition is that all the buses want to get to the people first so they just shoot across the road and see who gets there first. Its also a good way to ‘cull’ the population!!!! (Apparently 93 million Vietnamese people live here……so give or take a few!!!!!) On average 23 people die every week in Hanoi in traffic related accidents!

This evening we went to the Water Puppet Theatre, which in itself is an experience and one that could very well be missed!! The story all takes part in Vietnamese and unless you speak the language, you have no idea what’s going on!! The puppets really are quite good and even the puppeteers are in the water making it all happen.. For me, the best bit was when one of the puppets climbed up a tree and threw down coconuts – followed by puppets on horses having a race – as you can see, there is no understandable connection. The best bit for Indy was the end!!!

After the theatre, we went off to a place called Fanny’s. It’s a well known, famous even, ice cream parlour – a bit like Baskin Robbins with an edge!! I had Chocolate Chilli and lime ice cream with raspberry sorbet and mashed banana. Indy had Ice Cream spring rolls. Definitely not to be missed.

Then after there we went to a Vietmanese restaurant which has food stations all around the side and you just wander around and choose what you want to eat…..sparrow is quite popular…..feather free but still with it’s head on, Apparently it’s lucky to keep the head on. Shouldn’t think the sparrow thought so! Nether of us were brave enough to sample that – we tried to stick to things that we at least recognised!! That said, we had an enormous amount of food and had a very good night. Around 14 dishes between us (there were 4 of us) 6 beers and 2 glasses of wine – $12 a head. That’s considered quite expensive!

Next stop the hotel – time for bed as another early start tomorrow as we have an action packed day ahead>

On that sweet note – I bid you farewell.

Until tomorrow……

Lots of love,

Anna x

Day 2 Vietnam

Chin Ciao – (Hello)

As you know, I have a flare for languages…..I’m picking this one up quite quickly!!
Some general information…..we are billionaires!! The exchange rate is approximately 32,432.00 dong = £1.00 A cup of coffee cost 50,000 bits……most expensive coffee I’ve ever had!! (and it was cold!)

Maths isn’t my strong point so working out what something costs here is impossible……the additional naughts are quite important!! (so I’m reliably informed!)

This is now our first real day. We had an early morning wake up call at 6.30 as we were being collected from the lobby at 8.00 to go to a place called Halong Bay.
Halong Bay is about a 4 hour drive from Hanoi and once there you get on a sailing junk for an overnight stay.

The big attraction is a very big cave with stalagmites and stalagtights…..as the mights go up, the tights come down (that’s how you can tell the difference….very scientific!)
Sadly for us, the weather here is rubbish. Visibility is about 20 yards and it’s very overcast so no chance of the sun burning it off! Fortunately the rain has stopped!!

Our tour guide, complete with vivid imagination liked to point out various animals shapes that she felt had evolved out of the rocks…..personally I think she was on drugs!! Tour one complete!!

The boat has 6 cabins all with baths and balconies so if the weather did permit, it would be lovely. We are having drinks at 5.00 to watch the sun go down!!! hahahahaha….haven’t seen it come up yet! My hair has shrunk, due to the humidity, which is a little unfortunate as I only just had it cut!! I’m having a very bad hair day!

The Vietnamese people are all very slight and not very tall – they do however have very nice hands!! Thought I’d share that with you just incase you run into a person from Vietnam….check out their hands!

Being one with the Vietnamese folk, I thought I’d give you the abridged version of the history surrounding the place……..as i know it……
In the early 1900’s the French came to colonize the place which is why there is quite a strong French influence here however for the younger generation that begins and ends with Bonjour and Bon Soir.

If you are over 70 here, then your second language would be French. The French were reasonably successful in their job and the country was divided up into North, South and the Middle!! The French then left and Vietnam became Communist.

However, the North Vietnamese were the Commies and the South Vietnamese were into Capitalization – enter the Americans in 1959. They got busy and were financing the South as the North had Russia and China in their corner .(more commies) The CIA then discovered that the money they were giving the South was going towards drug trafficking, prostitution etc etc rather than financing weapons and the military so they sent in two war ships to cruise around the coastline. – high visibility!!

The North Vietnamese then stupidly fired rockets at the US ships and the US then retaliated and bombed North Vietnam…..WAR!!!!!

Now with all this bombing going on, the Commies, being small little buggers decided to build a system of underground tunnels that they could use as hiding places during the combat as well as serving as a communication route and supply route for hospitals, food and weapons. They built 75 miles of tunnels and booby trapped many of the entrances so that when the Americans found a way in, they would blow them up!!

Being an election year in 1975 the American people were really pissed off that they were loosing so many of their own troops in a war that really had little to do with them, so Lyndon Johnson who was Pres got replaced by Nixon and the troops were pulled out.

After the Americans left, the Chinese had a go at re communising Vietnam and millions of people died…..I think Cambodia got involved somewhere along the way and that explains the killing fields!!
End of history lesson!!!

Just finished happy hour watching the sun set!! FIrstly there is no sun and secondly visibility is down to about 5ft!!

There are three other couples on the boat…..two lawyers, one is a prosecution attorney for the state (specialises in Murder!!) and her husband who does some international stuff. She is 7 months pregnant – based in San Francisco Couple.number two……he was in the air force and she was a teacher….both now retired. They got mugged last year in the Caribbean (I’m sharing with you!!) – from Sheffield…..and another couple who keep themselves to themselves. She keeps asking me for advice on how to use her camera…which if you know me is as stupid as asking me to perform open heart surgery!!

We have dinner soon and then it will be bed time….got to get up early as we have a cooking lesson at 8.00am!!

Until then, I bid you good night. Until tomorrow……

Tan Biet ( Bye!!)

Lots of love,

Anna

Day One – Vietnam

G O O O O O O O O O D D D D D D D D M O O O O O O O O R N I N G V I E T N A M (always wanted to say that!!)

My Vietnamese name is now Lohungbum….having sat on the airplane for 12 hours then in the lounge for 3 hours and another plane for just under two hours – my derriere is as flat as a pancake!! I have buildesrbum syndrome!!

The flight from London to Bangkok was reasonably uneventful…..pilot knew which way to go, which if you think about it is pretty cool – its not just a case of turn left at the roundabout!!! We both slept most of the way and I managed to watch half of the Descendants – the George Clooney film……I hate it when that happens….what happens at the end???? I got to the bit where the wife’s life support needs to be switched off and George knows that she has been having an affair with Brian……!!!

Bangkok airport is enormous and you could at a pinch plan a weeks holiday there alone!! It has every imaginable shop there – not cheap but it’s like Toys R Us……millions of shops all under one roof!! (poetic license….I’m writing this!)

We arrived in Hanoi and were met by a little man…..everyone is quite little here…bit like the Lilliputs and we were driven to our hotel which is in the center of Hanoi. Hanoi is the capital (I thought it was Saigon – Ho Chi Min City – yet another little know fact I am sharing with you)

Our hotel – The Metropole is very nice. Looks smallish from the outside but huge on the inside. There are old wings and new wings. We are in the old wing…..big room, high ceilings, huge bath and loads of goodies to ‘borrow’ from the bathroom. My motto is if it’s not nailed down, it must be a mine!

Its now 11.00pm our time (4.00pm yours) – we have just had a little something to eat……I have a bacardi and coke and the remainder of my coke (from the can) has been poured into a specimen bottle!!!! Am I supposed to drink it or add to it!!?

Tomorrow we are off to Halong Bay – will fill you in when we are there. In the meantime, have a good night and we will catch up again tomorrow.

Until then, it’s goodnight from me and goodnight from him.

Lots of love,
Anna x