11 July 2008 - Beijing / Great Wall of China

Another early start - I am getting picked up at 0600 to see the GWoC. I meet a German lady who is staying at the same hostel. We are going to a place called Jinshaling. Everyone on the bus is dressed like they are going on a proper hike and I'm in my flip flops. We are just visiting the wall....right?

I get the option to walk up to the wall or take a cable car up. Of course I take the easy option. At the top you have to walk along a dirt path to get onto the wall. I do, and slip and cut myself pretty badly. I get onto the wall and begin walking. Everyone is gunning ahead. I walk quite a bit before I come to this REALLY steep incline. I don't want to walk up there. The wall is crumbling and I have an injury. I then think to myself, "fine" and walk up it. When I get up I decide enough is enough and go back down this steep incline. As I am descending I meet someone and he says to me, "where are you going". I say I'm going back down. He says but this walk it to the other end of the wall - 10km away! "WHAT"!!!!??? No wonder everyone was wearing proper hiking gear and all prepared. All I have is flip flops and a little bottle of water. So I have to hoike myself back up the steep incline that I just came down from and walk 10km in flip flops.

The walk however is absolutely amazing and even though the wall is crumbling away, and I am exhausted, and sweating like a pig, I finally make it to the end.

What I do find quite funny is up on the wall you will find people selling goods like t-shirts, water, coke, beer!! I actually end up haggling for a t-shirt on top of the wall with 2 little old ladies.

It's the a 3 hr bus journey back and I am exhausted. I get some food and then go for a few beers with the German lady.

10 July 2008 - Hanoi - Beijing

Get a taxi with the Irish couple to the airport at 6am. We are all very tired! Look at my flight time and it is one hour earlier than I had expected. Say my goodbyes and catch my plane.

The flight was pretty standard, however when we flew into Beijing I could help but notice how hazy this place is. I noticed this when I first arrived into Bejing at the beginning of my trip. It's like a giant ball of pollution.

Get out of the airport and try to get my bearings. Ask info how to get to Beijing Railway so they sell me a map and direct me to a bus. I catch the bus to the rail station and then catch a taxi. I have pre-booked a hostel but I do not have the Chinese version of the street name, but the Romanised version. Luckily I pre-empted this and circled it on the map. Lucky I did as the taxi driver does not know a stitch of English. He starts shouting at me in Chinese and pointing at the map. I have no idea what he is saying, but he takes me to the area, but cannot find the hostel. I get out and wander the streets. I am very tired and finding it hard to concentrate, and there seems no point in asking anyone as I do not think they will know what I am saying. After 40 mins of wandering with my big rucksac, I finally find the hostel.

I dump my stuff, and book a day trip to the Great Wall of China (GWoC) for the next day and then make my way over to some fake designer market. It's not too far away and I catch the very easy to navigate and cheap subway. I get to the Silk Market that is just crammed with fake goods. I end up buying a few things before heading back.

The hostel is located right by Tianamen Square so I wander around it, but it is blocked off for some reason and no one is allowed to go in.

Back to the hostel for some beer.

09 July 2008 - Hanoi

We go visit the "Hanoi Hilton", a former prison built by the French. It's quite an experience to see how the Vietnamese were treated during times of war. Lots of propaganda so it's hard to believe everything. For example, this prison was used to hold American POWs during the war. There are lovely pictures of the Vietnamese treating the POWs fantastically, the POWs laughing and having a good time.

After the "Hilton" I go around the markets to buy some fake DVDs for less than $1 each. Even if they are bad copies, I'm not too bothered. One thing strange that I notice about this place how the markets are set up. If you go up one street, every stall on that street will be selling the exact same thing. Shop after shop, they all sell the same thing.






In the afternoon we all do something that isn't exactly in the tourist guide books. We go for snake blood. Ok, this sounds really gross....and it actually is. We all get into a taxi and get driven out of town, down some back alley and taken to a snake restaurant. There they get a snake - King Cobra - about one meter long. Then they kill it in front of us by slitting its throat and draining its blood into a glass and mixing it with vodka.It is so nasty to watch! We then each get a shot of this stuff. The vodka masks the taste, but it is still quite hard to stomach. We then get taken to the restaurant part where they prepare different parts of the snake into little meals like snake spring rolls, snake soup, etc.

What can I say about snake? Well, it tastes like chicken...not really. It's real unique and I cannot describe it, but all I do know is I never want to try it again. Looking at the menu, snake is not the only thing you can buy here. Welcome to Asia!




In the evening we go to see a water puppet show - a "traditional" Vietnamese show for us foreigners. Lots of drumming, singing, dolls, puppets. It last 45 mins. Thank God!

We all go for one last meal before I say my goodbyes as I am leaving for Beijing the next day.

08 July 2008 - Hanoi

We leave Halong Bay to go back to Hanoi. The drivers in this country are absolutely crazy!! They take over head on into traffic and try to overtake on blind corners. Spend the entire bus ride afraid to open my eyes!

We get into Hanoi and take a walk from the hotel to Hoan Kiem Lake. I walk around the Old Quarter, which is North of the Lake and walk around the markets. It is not as 'exciting' as Ho Chi Minh City market. I end up buying a Vietnamese Cone hat for 10,000 VDN.

In the evening I meet up with my group and we end up going to Little Hanoi restaurant in the Old quarter.

After we go for drinks at a jazz club for a few bevvies. We find it a little too expensive so end up going to a dingy rooftop terrace place for some cheap beers. Hanoi seems to shut quite early so at midnight we get kicked out, even though we had just bought a round of drinks. We take our unfinished drinks and take them with us.





Myself along with the Brit and Norwegian people decide we want to drink by the lake. On the way we get stopped by a guy on a motorbike asking if we want to buy some marijuana. The Norwegian girl says, "yes, how much". He informs us 100,000 VDN ($7). She counter offers. They continue to barter and then he relents at 50,000. It turns out she was just kidding and had no intention of buying any so we walk off. The driver keeps following us and will not leave us alone. In the end I say, $2. He says yes!!! I'm a bit shocked that he is willing to sell a large bag of pot for $2, but why not. We check the goods, then he takes it back and I give him the money. He slips the bag into the Norwegians bag and scarpers. We open the bag and guess what? It's tea leaves!!! Ha ha. He did a swap on us!! Quite possibly the funniest $2 I have ever spent!

07 July 2008 - Hanoi / Halong Bay

At 0530 we arrive into Hanoi. I'm feeling slighty queasy from the night before. When we get off the train, there are people everywhere. It is incredible busy. We get to our hotel where we drop our stuff off as we are going to an area called Halong Bay.

It is a 4 hour drive away and everyone is tired. I am seriously hung over.

When we get there it is very busy with hordes of tourists everywhere. We get to our boat which is quite sizeable. This area is famous for its limestone towers.







We take lots of pictures and take in the scenery. We then have a large seafood lunch before we go for a swim. We jump off the top of the boat. Lots of fun.


We then get taken to a cave called Hang Sung Sot, which has amazing stalagtites/ mites.



We then get back to shore where we stay in a nearby hotel. Most tour groups go back to Hanoi, but not us. This place is dead at night. There is nothing to do so we end up going to a local restaurant who probably never see tourists at night. We ask for a few beers and they are warm. Bleurgh! We promptly leave and go to another restaurant where they actually serve us cold beers. Phew.

06 July 2008 - Hue / Train to Hanoi

We go on our tour which is amazing! We each get our own bike and driver, some of the people on the tour choose to drive their own bikes. My bike guy is called Ming. We see the following:

Japanese bridge
the Hill (Bunker)
Tu Hieu Pagoda
Tu Duc's Tomb





















Thien Mu Pagoda - this is where the car in which the monk Thich Quang Duc rode from his temple to Saigon on June 11, 1963. He stepped out of the car in an intersection, sat down in the lotus position, and burned himself to death in protest against the regime's violations of religious freedom.



After the tour we catch the train to Hanoi, which is a 15 hour train ride away! On the train, I am sat in my cabin when all of a sudden I hear people singing Happy Birthday. Everyone comes into my cabin with a big cake, candles and a bottle of wine. Today is actually my birthday and I am shocked that everyone knew!! I end up drinking the bottle of wine along with some brandy and end up passing out in a drunken stupor!

05 July 2008 - Hue

Set off for Hue which is a 4/5 hour coach ride away. About 20 mins into the journey we stop off at Marble Mountain. Not sure what this place is about and why we are even visiting the place. We walk up the 157 steps (I counted them) to the pagoda and caves and take a few pictures before we head off again. The coach takes a route over the mountain. It is a windy road all the way up and our nutter driver is over taking slow trucks on blind corners!! It is very frightening. There were quite a few near misses.








We stop off at the top of the mountain to get a view and as we get off we are instantly bombarded by all these little old ladies trying to sell us junk. One lady on our tour actually runs away from an old lady and I immediately run after her!

I was informed by a mate before I left the UK about a motorcycle tour conducted by a place called Cafe on Thu Wheels here in Hue. When we get into town I immediately go out to find this cafe. It's a cool little cafe and the lady who owns it , Thu, is a complete nutter, but in a good way. I inform her I want to book onto the tour the next day.

In the evening I meet the rest of my tour group and inform them that I am going on a motorbike tour the next day. Everyone wants in so we all go back to Thu's and book on....I should get commission for this!!

It is our tour leaders birthday today. We all go out for a meal and as a surprise I get a cake for him and get the restaurant to put candles on it. All the lights are dimmed and the cheesiest birthday song comes on. It's all good.



We go for a few drinks afterwards at the DMZ bar, then a few of us splinter off for a few more drinks elsewhere. When we get back to our hotel we find it has all been locked up. We have a bit of a panick, but then see a doorbell and someone lets us in.

04 July 2008 - Hoi An/ My Son

Awake early and head to My Son, which is a major site in Vietnam from the ancient Champa Kingdom which flourished between the 2nd and 15th centuries. The Kingdom at My Son dates back to the 4th century and remained fully occupied through until the 13th century which makes it the longest occupied of all the major monuments of SE Asia. 

After go for my suit fitting. It's really cheap. Wish I had more made. 

Go for a full course dinner for 96,000 VDN ($3). Very full I go back to the hotel where I find some of the others from the tour and have a few drinks. 

03 July 2008 - Hoi An

We arrive in Da Nang at 0530 and get a 45 min coach to Hoi An. We get to our hotel too early so have to wait around. Everyone is knackered. Around 0830 my room is ready! Go for a much needed shower after the night of creepy crawlies! need to do my laundry. Find some guy in the street who washed your clothes for $1 a kilo.

At 0930 meet Kris and a few others and walk around the old town and visit a few of the sites including a famous Japanese Bridge. Hoi An is famous for its tailoring. You can almost get anything made here. I go to a shop called Yaly and decide to get a few shirts and a suit tailor made.






After my hot and sticky fitting, mooch about the shops, not cos I really want to but cos it's so hot and the sun is so intense that this is the only way to get refuge from the sun.

Get back to the hotel and crash out for some much needed sleep.

head back into town with the others and go to a restaurant called Cargo Club. After we go for a few drinks near to the hotel and then bed.

02 July 2008 - Nha Trang - Hoi An

Awake nice and early & meet the others for breakfast. After the Belgian girl and I head off to Long Son Pagoda and the White Buddah. As we arrive we are immediately bombarded by hawkers trying to sell us postcards. We get rid of them and walk up the 152 steps toward the White Buddah - "Nha Trang's most recognisable landmark". It was crafted in 1963 to symbolise the Buddist struggle against the repressive Diem regime.










After we head back to the hotel where we have to kill a few hours as we are leaving for Hoi An. I spend the time mooching about the beach and lounging by the pool, before the clouds roll in and there is a heavy rain storm. I sit with the others just chatting before we head to the train station.



I share my train cabin with the Irish couple again, but this time our cabin is an utter mess from the previous occupants. I'm not feeling to well so go to bed early. I wake in the middle of the night to find the Irish lady hitting things. I ask what's wrong and see bugs crawling around our cabin. She freaks out and does not sleep all night. I don't really care and go back to bed.

01 July 2008 - Nha Trang

We arrive into Nha Trang where we check into our hotel and then I hit the beach. I actually hate beach resorts. It's the sand I hate. It just seems to get everywhere, but there doesn't seem to much else to do here and I'm feeling quite lazy so I rent out a deck chair and crash out for a while. I get constantly hassled by vendors, which is seriously blinkin' annoying. In the end I cave in and buy some seafood off a lady on the beach, where I work out I had been seriously ripped off. Grr. 

Get back to the hotel and join some of the tour group around the pool and have a little swim. There are some serious sun worshippers amongst us, whereas I am not so I leave them to get for an afternoon nap. 

Wake up later in the afternoon and see I have caught a little too much sun and have a very red face. Opps.

Head out and get some food at some dingy back street dive before buying some beers and sitting out on the beach just listening to the waves, whilst eating cakes. Yum! 

The Miss Universe competition is being held in this resort, but I do not see any Amazonian type women during my stay.