I've been home already for more than 2 weeks. I managed to live through illness (caught some nasty virus/flu), got back to work in a new wonderful office, were thrown right back in to fight with the construction people at my apartment and started a full new season pretty much the same week. So lots has been going on, hence the delay with the summary and final word. Majority of people have also requested a short version and overview of my trip - i'll be preparing that within weeks as well.
Things I will not miss:
- all the ugly snorting noises they make right before spitting, spitting by the way takes place everywhere. there are "no-spitting on the floor" signs up, but then they find bottles or other containers so they will still go through with the whole procedure only it will not land on the floor.
- all the ugly noises they make when eating, they eat with their mouth open and that is not helping with appetite at all
- extremely awful smells all over the place, well mainly on the streets, but also in certain eating areas and other public places. smell would be produced of rotten foods laying around in blazing sun or people using walls instead of toilets or general pollution in all its "wonderful" formats. in short: it is dirty-dirty-dirty there, just filthy :(
- the difference in manners in general, understanding on what is polite and what is not is so very different from Europe/Americas and other places I've been at. I can't see myself getting used to that, I try to understand, but it does not come easily.
- their inability to stand in line. such a common sense thing for the rest of the world, but not for Chinese people - strangest thing :)
Other things that I sorta enjoyed for a short period of time and someday when I get to experience them again I'll get this wonderful feeling of recognition:
- walking in the heat, having very high moisture percentage, there is no breeze and you are soaked from head to toe basically immediately. that was kinda neat :) I've never experienced anything like that before.
- explaining something for another person who does not speak any language that you do, so there is no common language, neither of you understands the other person. but after some mutual drawing, pointing on the map, saying words in English very slowly, looking up some similar phrases in the travel guide and reading facial expressions it all gets magically figured out :) seriously, this was amazing how the understanding always somehow appeared. true, more than once we were actually guided to a wrong direction :) but generally we were able to understand each other somehow, usually it took extremely long time - but it did happen.
- unexpectedness. as the American guy in Shanghai said: everything that can go wrong will go wrong in China in the worst possible way one can imagine. and he was definitely right. it adds this magical not-knowingness, can give you nightmares, but that is part of the thrill.
Now are the things I will miss for sure:
- experiencing rapid growth and change. it was visible everywhere in China and even in Vietnam, but in smaller quantities there. rapid growth in China stuck out most for me in big cities, things happen fast there.
- Hong Kong area. it was great, it was absolutely great. in Hong Kong I had the feeling that this is where everything happens, this is the center of the world and if you are not here you are nowhere at all. it was just so busy and multi-cultural, experiencing the vibes there just blew my mind. I want to return there and be part of it.
- nature of Vietnam: Halong Bay and Sapa were wonderful. I have heard great stories about beaches in Hue and further south - I'm sure I can't even imagine the beauty there.
- I have to say the food :) I liked the kitchen there, even more than in Peru - I think. Food was generally very good, variety was huge and it was mostly good and very enjoyable.
Compared to Peru - China and Vietnam are a lot safer for travellers. Apparently the charges are very harsh and there consequences are bad for your whole family - I got the impression that there is not that much crime around.
Education system seems to be quite a bit different in China (I don't know the story of Vietnam in that matter). Students are taught to remember facts and "think" alike (which means to think like majority does and not think like individuals, or at least it is not suggested to stand out with your own ideas).
Infrastructure was kinda impressive to me in China. For such a huge country it worked without delays or any major hassles, it was organized quite well and seemed to go like clockwork. I hope they get Maglev going longer distances soon enough :)
Allright, that is pretty much it for a short summary. Any questions are more than welcome and will be answered within.. umm.. say a week :)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
History lesson - Vietnam
Here comes a "short" Vietnam history overview. Anyhoo, I went to the web and did some research, lots of information was also in Lonely Planet. First of all I was determined to understand the reasons and political conflicts around the American war in Vietnam. Here is what I discovered, early times are not covered very thoroughly, later times are written in greater detail.
This is also time for a DISCLAIMER: do not quote me on this information, this is just an attempt to organize the information and create a timeline for myself. If I'm terribly mistaken about something then please do let me know.
Vietnam was under Chinese domination for 1000 years. It started on the 2nd century BC when Chinese conquered the Red River Delta and ended 938 AD with the battle of Bach Dang River. Vietnamese independence followed seeing many enlightened emperors. On the early 15th century Chinese seized control again, although 1428 Vietnam saw liberation with Le Loi's victory over Chinese.
Year 1516 first Portuguese sailors arrived and were soon followed by Dominican missionaries. For 2 centuries Vietnam was divided between north where Trinh ruled (supported by Portuguese) and south where Nguyen Lords ruled (supported by Dutch). At some point Vietnamese expanded to Cambodia and Laos as well.
And now we get into the later history of 19th and 20th century. 1847 French Navy attacked Vietnam in response to Emperor Thieu Tri's suppression of Catholic missionaries, finally treaty was signed and 3 eastern provinces were given to French. 1872 French started to conquer other northern parts of Vietnam as well and by 1887 they had colonized the country.
Ho Chi Minh founded the first Marxist grouping in Indochina in 1925, then came Vietnamese Communist Party year 1930 and year 1941 followed League for the Independence of Vietnam aka Viet Minh that was dominated by Ho's communists. During WWII Vietnam fell under Japan, but they let French carry on their ruling there and did not intervene. The only forces opposed to both Japanese and French occupation was Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh, apparently they both got US assistance during that period. By 1945 Viet Minh controlled large parts of the country.
1946 the war with French started again. Ho Chi Minh fled to the mountains and stayed there for 8 years but even despite the massive US support that French received there was no victory and French troops surrendered. In May 1954, as per Geneva Conference, war prisoners were exchanged and Vietnam was temporarily divided into 2 zones. So it became so that south was ruled by fiercely anticommunist Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem and north was ruled by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1959 north and south were at war again.
Now comes the ever so sensitive topic - American war in Vietnam. Topic that is not discussed over dinner table in the US. I can't remember anything on the matter in our history books - how was it portrayed to us during Russian time?
So here we go. The Americans saw France's colonial war in Indochina as an important part of a worldwide struggle against communist expansion. As I understand there were Vietnamese communists or VC's in the north as well as North Vietnamese army. First was more like a rebellion grouping, second was official army of the northern state of Vietnam. In the south there was Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Northern forces were trying to overtake south where French were ruling.
So Americans figured to come and assist the French. Americans would stay in Vietnam for the next 25 years, first as advisers and later as the main force. In August 1964 two US destroyers claimed to have come under 'unprovoked' attack near North Vietnamese coast. As a result - US President orders bombs to be dropped on North Vietnam. First US troops landed in Vietnam in March of 1965. So there were battles between American forces and Vietnamese communists or VC. January 1968 VC's held strikes in 100 cities around Vietnam and took over US embassy courtyard in Saigon. US counterattacked aggressively by bombing heavily populated cities. US aggressiveness traumatized the civilian world, many local civilians would join VC in anger. All the horror of the bombings, chaos, massacres and attacks on unarmed civilians by American troops - it was broadcasted all over the world and world started antiwar activities and movements.
Meanwhile power changed in US, peace talks were held with the north, all the while the war got even bigger in Vietnam. US started secretly bombing Cambodia in order to flush out VC sanctuaries across the border, Northern Vietnamese forces moved deeper into Cambodia. There were more attacks in Northern Vietnam and on the 17th parallel as well. Austria, New Zealand, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand sent military personnel to South Vietnam to fight with Americans. north Vietnam was supported by China and Soviet Republic.
In January 1973 Paris Peace Accords were signed between USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and VC - agreeing on cease fire, withdrawal of US forces and release of US prisoners of war. As it turns out, throughout the whole conflict US never actually declared war on North Vietnam. Bombing of north stopped and US prisoners were released, but the war went on, only now South Vietnam was fighting North on its own, ARVN troops surrendered and fled quickly since they were not able to continue without all the support.
After taking over South Vietnam, the communists renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Years of changes followed: transition to socialism in South, widespread political repression, cruel imprisonment of people who had ties to previous regime, intellectuals/artists/businesspeople who had opposed the North were pestered and held in horrendous conditions and so on and so on.
When south collapsed, more than 100 000 Vietnamese fled the country. In the next five years about half a million others would follow. By now many have returned, having foreign education they are now helping in driving the economy forward. This is believed by many to be the reason why South Vietnam economy is doing better nowadays. As it goes, the people are divided in their hears as well - north has never forgiven south in co-operating with Americans against their own people and south has never forgiven north in imposing communism and pestering hundreds of thousands Vietnamese.
Vietnam is socialist republic, Hanoi is the capital and population is 86 million people.
Also check Peeter's comment on the history - Vietnami ajaloo kokkuvõte
This is also time for a DISCLAIMER: do not quote me on this information, this is just an attempt to organize the information and create a timeline for myself. If I'm terribly mistaken about something then please do let me know.
Vietnam was under Chinese domination for 1000 years. It started on the 2nd century BC when Chinese conquered the Red River Delta and ended 938 AD with the battle of Bach Dang River. Vietnamese independence followed seeing many enlightened emperors. On the early 15th century Chinese seized control again, although 1428 Vietnam saw liberation with Le Loi's victory over Chinese.
Year 1516 first Portuguese sailors arrived and were soon followed by Dominican missionaries. For 2 centuries Vietnam was divided between north where Trinh ruled (supported by Portuguese) and south where Nguyen Lords ruled (supported by Dutch). At some point Vietnamese expanded to Cambodia and Laos as well.
And now we get into the later history of 19th and 20th century. 1847 French Navy attacked Vietnam in response to Emperor Thieu Tri's suppression of Catholic missionaries, finally treaty was signed and 3 eastern provinces were given to French. 1872 French started to conquer other northern parts of Vietnam as well and by 1887 they had colonized the country.
Ho Chi Minh founded the first Marxist grouping in Indochina in 1925, then came Vietnamese Communist Party year 1930 and year 1941 followed League for the Independence of Vietnam aka Viet Minh that was dominated by Ho's communists. During WWII Vietnam fell under Japan, but they let French carry on their ruling there and did not intervene. The only forces opposed to both Japanese and French occupation was Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh, apparently they both got US assistance during that period. By 1945 Viet Minh controlled large parts of the country.
1946 the war with French started again. Ho Chi Minh fled to the mountains and stayed there for 8 years but even despite the massive US support that French received there was no victory and French troops surrendered. In May 1954, as per Geneva Conference, war prisoners were exchanged and Vietnam was temporarily divided into 2 zones. So it became so that south was ruled by fiercely anticommunist Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem and north was ruled by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1959 north and south were at war again.
Now comes the ever so sensitive topic - American war in Vietnam. Topic that is not discussed over dinner table in the US. I can't remember anything on the matter in our history books - how was it portrayed to us during Russian time?
So here we go. The Americans saw France's colonial war in Indochina as an important part of a worldwide struggle against communist expansion. As I understand there were Vietnamese communists or VC's in the north as well as North Vietnamese army. First was more like a rebellion grouping, second was official army of the northern state of Vietnam. In the south there was Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Northern forces were trying to overtake south where French were ruling.
So Americans figured to come and assist the French. Americans would stay in Vietnam for the next 25 years, first as advisers and later as the main force. In August 1964 two US destroyers claimed to have come under 'unprovoked' attack near North Vietnamese coast. As a result - US President orders bombs to be dropped on North Vietnam. First US troops landed in Vietnam in March of 1965. So there were battles between American forces and Vietnamese communists or VC. January 1968 VC's held strikes in 100 cities around Vietnam and took over US embassy courtyard in Saigon. US counterattacked aggressively by bombing heavily populated cities. US aggressiveness traumatized the civilian world, many local civilians would join VC in anger. All the horror of the bombings, chaos, massacres and attacks on unarmed civilians by American troops - it was broadcasted all over the world and world started antiwar activities and movements.
Meanwhile power changed in US, peace talks were held with the north, all the while the war got even bigger in Vietnam. US started secretly bombing Cambodia in order to flush out VC sanctuaries across the border, Northern Vietnamese forces moved deeper into Cambodia. There were more attacks in Northern Vietnam and on the 17th parallel as well. Austria, New Zealand, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand sent military personnel to South Vietnam to fight with Americans. north Vietnam was supported by China and Soviet Republic.
In January 1973 Paris Peace Accords were signed between USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and VC - agreeing on cease fire, withdrawal of US forces and release of US prisoners of war. As it turns out, throughout the whole conflict US never actually declared war on North Vietnam. Bombing of north stopped and US prisoners were released, but the war went on, only now South Vietnam was fighting North on its own, ARVN troops surrendered and fled quickly since they were not able to continue without all the support.
After taking over South Vietnam, the communists renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Years of changes followed: transition to socialism in South, widespread political repression, cruel imprisonment of people who had ties to previous regime, intellectuals/artists/businesspeople who had opposed the North were pestered and held in horrendous conditions and so on and so on.
When south collapsed, more than 100 000 Vietnamese fled the country. In the next five years about half a million others would follow. By now many have returned, having foreign education they are now helping in driving the economy forward. This is believed by many to be the reason why South Vietnam economy is doing better nowadays. As it goes, the people are divided in their hears as well - north has never forgiven south in co-operating with Americans against their own people and south has never forgiven north in imposing communism and pestering hundreds of thousands Vietnamese.
Vietnam is socialist republic, Hanoi is the capital and population is 86 million people.
Also check Peeter's comment on the history - Vietnami ajaloo kokkuvõte
Sunday, September 28, 2008
day 40 - home sweet sweet home - 25.09
There were no problems with check in to the flight to Helsinki. There was a minor delay though, but only for 20 minutes, so no biggie. Flight was nice and smooth and they fed us twice :) The best part though was the fact that each seat had its own TV's and the entertainment program was quite extensive. I watched 3 movies, played some games and wathced 2 TV shows :D That is the way all long flights should be. And oh the joy when I got to pick up Finnish newspaper, and oh the joy when the person next to me ate his meals silently without slurping and loud munching, and oh the joy of returning home - that has always been my favourite part.
We arrived to Helsinki in time and I had 1 hour till my connecting flight to Tallinn. My next flight was fully booked and it had open seating arrangement. I've never seen open seating on an airplane before :)
I must say it is so great to return home.
There will be short history lesson and general summary coming up shortly, so stay tuned for a bit longer.
We arrived to Helsinki in time and I had 1 hour till my connecting flight to Tallinn. My next flight was fully booked and it had open seating arrangement. I've never seen open seating on an airplane before :)
I must say it is so great to return home.
There will be short history lesson and general summary coming up shortly, so stay tuned for a bit longer.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
day 39 - desperately trying to get home - 24.09
Finally the morning came, I had not gotten much sleep and I would have killed for shower by now. Eleven o'clock flight check in should have started at 9, I get there and the news is that the weather is sill bad and more news to follow at 10. 10 rolls around and they ask me to stay in line after I have tried to explain them that I'm standby. Allright so I go and stand in the line as instructed, after standing in line for an hour they inform me that as I'm standby I need to wait till everybody is checked in and then go to the counter. Aaagh - so now you tell me that. Last person checked in at 11:23, so I rush to the line - there are still 3 people in front of me and 2 behind me when they announce that the counter is closed as the time is way past the departure time. Ou I wanted to scream. The line was moving so slow and it seemed that half of the check in ladies had no idea what they were doing as one of the managers was running between them all the time. So I asked them whose fault it is that they were not able to check everybody in in time - aaaargh, ridiculous.
Then they inform the last 6 poor souls that the weather is still bad and the whole flight might get canceled anyways so we should just wait. So we wait. All this waiting is so tiring and nerve wrecking. An hour later they still start to check us in. We are all standbys and luckily we all get on the plane.
Plane ride to Hong Kong was very bumpy, once we get above the city our pilot informs us that the traffic is very busy and we will be landing in one hour - so whole extra hour of circling in the air above the city, fun huh? Luckily 30 minutes later he announced that we will be landing shortly. The landing though was one of the worst ones I've experienced ever. During landing there was looots of free falling and then lots of shaking. At some point the plane was in free fall and at the same time shook so heavily that I was sure it would snap in half soon. My heart rate jumped to 200 for quite some time :) And the landing took forever! But we made it. Once we landed the plane I was the skies in the distance - it was all dark gray and looked evil, winds were strong as well and it was raining, I guess the severe weather has not yet passed.
Yeh. So I was in Hong Kong finally. I have learned by now to check everything twice and then one more time and then cross check again just in case. So I found the Finnair counter and asked them to review my booking for tomorrow. The guy sits and stares at the computer for the longest time with a puzzled face. Finally he informs me that there is a booking, but it is not confirmed. So I ask him to confirm it (whatever it means) and he tells me that it is not possible, because my ticket is not valid anymore. My ticket was unchangeable one and it was with yesterdays date. Oh uh. So I ask him for advice of what I should do now, he suggests me to turn to Vietnam Airlines as they are responsible for that. And the whole time I don't really understand how can I have a half made booking without a ticket :) As he gets tired of trying to explain me the complicated ticketing system of the airlines he makes some phone calls and stares at the computer screen and then announces that all is good for my check in tomorrow morning. Ahum, snap and all ready? I'm a bit skeptical, but I don't have any strength nor will to argue with anybody anymore. So I give up, we'll see tomorrow morning what will happen.
Now I just want to munch on the chocolate I bought and rest for a bit. I'm so sad that I'll be missing a whole day of my vacation, it was planned for getting many things arranged before heading to work, won't happen now :( I guess I need to sacrifice my weekend for the tasks now :(
Then they inform the last 6 poor souls that the weather is still bad and the whole flight might get canceled anyways so we should just wait. So we wait. All this waiting is so tiring and nerve wrecking. An hour later they still start to check us in. We are all standbys and luckily we all get on the plane.
Plane ride to Hong Kong was very bumpy, once we get above the city our pilot informs us that the traffic is very busy and we will be landing in one hour - so whole extra hour of circling in the air above the city, fun huh? Luckily 30 minutes later he announced that we will be landing shortly. The landing though was one of the worst ones I've experienced ever. During landing there was looots of free falling and then lots of shaking. At some point the plane was in free fall and at the same time shook so heavily that I was sure it would snap in half soon. My heart rate jumped to 200 for quite some time :) And the landing took forever! But we made it. Once we landed the plane I was the skies in the distance - it was all dark gray and looked evil, winds were strong as well and it was raining, I guess the severe weather has not yet passed.
Yeh. So I was in Hong Kong finally. I have learned by now to check everything twice and then one more time and then cross check again just in case. So I found the Finnair counter and asked them to review my booking for tomorrow. The guy sits and stares at the computer for the longest time with a puzzled face. Finally he informs me that there is a booking, but it is not confirmed. So I ask him to confirm it (whatever it means) and he tells me that it is not possible, because my ticket is not valid anymore. My ticket was unchangeable one and it was with yesterdays date. Oh uh. So I ask him for advice of what I should do now, he suggests me to turn to Vietnam Airlines as they are responsible for that. And the whole time I don't really understand how can I have a half made booking without a ticket :) As he gets tired of trying to explain me the complicated ticketing system of the airlines he makes some phone calls and stares at the computer screen and then announces that all is good for my check in tomorrow morning. Ahum, snap and all ready? I'm a bit skeptical, but I don't have any strength nor will to argue with anybody anymore. So I give up, we'll see tomorrow morning what will happen.
Now I just want to munch on the chocolate I bought and rest for a bit. I'm so sad that I'll be missing a whole day of my vacation, it was planned for getting many things arranged before heading to work, won't happen now :( I guess I need to sacrifice my weekend for the tasks now :(
day 38 - last day in hanoi - 23.09
Or so I thought :(, complete story a bit later.
Final packing action took place in the morning. I don't know how, but I managed to fit everything in :) My big bag must weigh about 30kg though :) Checked out of the hotel, ordered airport taxi for 3:30 and headed to the Army Museum. I wanted to see the army museum as I heard from other travelers that it portrays the war and occupation quite well. Just in case I read the history section in the travel guide beforehand - I'm glad I did that as the museum was not that comprehensive at all. It gave some insight to the situation but many principal reasons for certain events were not explained at all, simply the event was shown, but why it happened and who initiated was not explained. So I was very glad I had done my homework.
Since the discussion with other travelers and some questions bought up in the bus ride to Halong Bay I started to ponder about the timeline of the events and reasons behind the political and war actions taken. I wanted to get a clear overview of the events and reasons behind the events - so hence the museum visit. As I did not get what I wanted from there I did some research on the net as well - I'll have a separate entry for the history lesson a bit later as it is still in progress :)
After the museum I walked around in the area a bit, stumbled upon some well guarded memorial by Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum building, walked by the mausoleum as well, but as the body is in maintenance at the moment then did not bother going in. Found the stadium of Hanoi - it was all closed and deserted for all I could detect. Stumbled upon Literature pagoda - this one I chose to explore as well. Then my time was up - walked back, had quick lunch and shower at the hotel (this hotel I stayed at was super nice, they would help with anything one needs). Then headed over to the airport - getting all sad that my vacation is over.
At the airport first I got my big back bag wrapped in plastic and then headed over to the check in area. It was strangely empty, on a closer look I notice an information sheet saying that the flight has been canceled due to severe weather, typhoon Hagupit has taken over Hong Kong and all the passengers are automatically rescheduled for the next morning's flight at 11:05 - argh, this means I'll miss my flight to Helsinki! Other passengers were mostly rerouted, but as I was holding two separate tickets (Hanoi -> Hong Kong and then Hong Kong -> Helsinki -> Tallinn) then they were not able to reroute me. All they could do is to rebook me for the same flights with a one day delay. Which means that I'd be leaving Hanoi at 19:10 on the 24th and flight from Hong Kong would be on the 25th - so I'd get home a day later. Oh I was devastated - I had planned one day for just relaxing before heading to work, so that will not be happening.
Just in case I contacted my travel agent as well to see if she is able to change the tickets or something so that I'd still get back at the initially planned date. After about 2 hours of discussions and checks and double checks it became clear that my best option is to leave the next day - but I might be able to get on an earlier flight on standby (the one they originally suggested, at 11:05). As I was double checking my ticket I noticed that they had not re booked my flight out of Hong Kong - grrr, meaning that Finnair would simply think that I never showed up. It was whole new hassle to find the lady, explain it all to her that there was mistake and ask them to take care of it. About 45 minutes later I had a new printout where the flight to Helsinki was changed as well, glad that I noticed!
So then I went to a cafe and tried to figure out what should I do next. I also checked the weather information, turns out that the storm is heading towards northern Vietnam :( So basically I need to get out of here as soon as possible, otherwise I'll be stuck still. I figured that I should try to get on a first flight the next day and get to Hong Kong somehow, there I would be able to communicate with Finnair at least, in case some flight is overbooked now or something - I'd be right on the spot for information and I would not need to get it done through some third person who can barely make herself understandable in English :(
So I decided to stay at the airport in order to start checking the flights early on. That was one horrible night :( First of all they closed all the floors except the first floor, so I ended up sleeping on cafeteria chairs. Second of all there was no air conditioning in the building so it was extremely hot. Then there were cockroaches and rats running around all over the place, cockroaches were on the table I sat at and climbing on the chairs and everywhere - oh it was freaky. At some point all the lights got turned off as well. OOOh it was just bad, bad bad bad I say.
Final packing action took place in the morning. I don't know how, but I managed to fit everything in :) My big bag must weigh about 30kg though :) Checked out of the hotel, ordered airport taxi for 3:30 and headed to the Army Museum. I wanted to see the army museum as I heard from other travelers that it portrays the war and occupation quite well. Just in case I read the history section in the travel guide beforehand - I'm glad I did that as the museum was not that comprehensive at all. It gave some insight to the situation but many principal reasons for certain events were not explained at all, simply the event was shown, but why it happened and who initiated was not explained. So I was very glad I had done my homework.
Since the discussion with other travelers and some questions bought up in the bus ride to Halong Bay I started to ponder about the timeline of the events and reasons behind the political and war actions taken. I wanted to get a clear overview of the events and reasons behind the events - so hence the museum visit. As I did not get what I wanted from there I did some research on the net as well - I'll have a separate entry for the history lesson a bit later as it is still in progress :)
After the museum I walked around in the area a bit, stumbled upon some well guarded memorial by Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum building, walked by the mausoleum as well, but as the body is in maintenance at the moment then did not bother going in. Found the stadium of Hanoi - it was all closed and deserted for all I could detect. Stumbled upon Literature pagoda - this one I chose to explore as well. Then my time was up - walked back, had quick lunch and shower at the hotel (this hotel I stayed at was super nice, they would help with anything one needs). Then headed over to the airport - getting all sad that my vacation is over.
At the airport first I got my big back bag wrapped in plastic and then headed over to the check in area. It was strangely empty, on a closer look I notice an information sheet saying that the flight has been canceled due to severe weather, typhoon Hagupit has taken over Hong Kong and all the passengers are automatically rescheduled for the next morning's flight at 11:05 - argh, this means I'll miss my flight to Helsinki! Other passengers were mostly rerouted, but as I was holding two separate tickets (Hanoi -> Hong Kong and then Hong Kong -> Helsinki -> Tallinn) then they were not able to reroute me. All they could do is to rebook me for the same flights with a one day delay. Which means that I'd be leaving Hanoi at 19:10 on the 24th and flight from Hong Kong would be on the 25th - so I'd get home a day later. Oh I was devastated - I had planned one day for just relaxing before heading to work, so that will not be happening.
Just in case I contacted my travel agent as well to see if she is able to change the tickets or something so that I'd still get back at the initially planned date. After about 2 hours of discussions and checks and double checks it became clear that my best option is to leave the next day - but I might be able to get on an earlier flight on standby (the one they originally suggested, at 11:05). As I was double checking my ticket I noticed that they had not re booked my flight out of Hong Kong - grrr, meaning that Finnair would simply think that I never showed up. It was whole new hassle to find the lady, explain it all to her that there was mistake and ask them to take care of it. About 45 minutes later I had a new printout where the flight to Helsinki was changed as well, glad that I noticed!
So then I went to a cafe and tried to figure out what should I do next. I also checked the weather information, turns out that the storm is heading towards northern Vietnam :( So basically I need to get out of here as soon as possible, otherwise I'll be stuck still. I figured that I should try to get on a first flight the next day and get to Hong Kong somehow, there I would be able to communicate with Finnair at least, in case some flight is overbooked now or something - I'd be right on the spot for information and I would not need to get it done through some third person who can barely make herself understandable in English :(
So I decided to stay at the airport in order to start checking the flights early on. That was one horrible night :( First of all they closed all the floors except the first floor, so I ended up sleeping on cafeteria chairs. Second of all there was no air conditioning in the building so it was extremely hot. Then there were cockroaches and rats running around all over the place, cockroaches were on the table I sat at and climbing on the chairs and everywhere - oh it was freaky. At some point all the lights got turned off as well. OOOh it was just bad, bad bad bad I say.
Monday, September 22, 2008
day 37 - Hanoi - 22.09
Slept in this morning - for once the hotel is a quiet one, can't hear the traffic with all the loud horns blowing and no construction close by. It has also good air conditioning so it was no problem to sleep long :) Breakfast is served till 11:30 - so all good!
Didn't do much interesting today. All the museums are closed on Mondays, so can't do that. Instead I spend about 3 hours shopping :), then had long lunch and then returned to the hotel in order to pack. I was dreading this packing thing for a long time already - I have no idea how I can fit all this stuff in my bag :( It took me about 2 hours to carefully wrap everything in and squeeze into a bag. I have most of my big bag packed by now - phew. Carry on bag is still waiting and that I'll do tomorrow.
I'll be going to dinner shortly - will try to find a nice place by the river and take the last of the final night in Vietnam.
My plane from Hanoi to Hong Kong leaves at 7 in the evening, I'll leave to the airport around 3:30pm. I'll be spending the night at the airport, next morning (24th) I'll take a plane to Helsinki and then to Tallinn.
I want to make it over to the army museum before I leave Hanoi tomorrow, so I'll probably do a check out around 9 to have plenty of time at the museum. I'm not sure that I will be online tomorrow, perhaps a quick update from Hong Kong airport in the evening. In any case - see you all soon enough!
Didn't do much interesting today. All the museums are closed on Mondays, so can't do that. Instead I spend about 3 hours shopping :), then had long lunch and then returned to the hotel in order to pack. I was dreading this packing thing for a long time already - I have no idea how I can fit all this stuff in my bag :( It took me about 2 hours to carefully wrap everything in and squeeze into a bag. I have most of my big bag packed by now - phew. Carry on bag is still waiting and that I'll do tomorrow.
I'll be going to dinner shortly - will try to find a nice place by the river and take the last of the final night in Vietnam.
My plane from Hanoi to Hong Kong leaves at 7 in the evening, I'll leave to the airport around 3:30pm. I'll be spending the night at the airport, next morning (24th) I'll take a plane to Helsinki and then to Tallinn.
I want to make it over to the army museum before I leave Hanoi tomorrow, so I'll probably do a check out around 9 to have plenty of time at the museum. I'm not sure that I will be online tomorrow, perhaps a quick update from Hong Kong airport in the evening. In any case - see you all soon enough!
day 36 - Perfume Pagoda - 21.09
Perfume Pagoda is situated 60km southwest from Hanoi so it was about 2h bus ride to get there. Our group consisted of 8 people:
-- a couple from UK - the guy had competed in his first Triathlon this year, half of Olympic Distance, later we talked about triathlon half way up the hill
-- two quiet ladies from Germany
-- one crabby old economy teacher from Austria
-- one younger guy from Australia
-- one economy professor from India - he was very talkative and on the way there we got to cover half of Estonian customs and half of worlds economy systems :D, second half got covered on the way back. On top of all he suggested working in Bangalore for me :) Not a bad idea huh?
There are many theories of where the name Perfume comes from since there is nothing that smells good over there :) As the travel guide explains: Perfume Pagoda is a striking complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines built into the karst cliffs of Huong Tich Mountain (Mountain of the Fragrant Traces). The only way to get there is by boat. So once we got off the bus we boarded the very basic boats - there were two narrow wooden benches where 4 of us were seated. Boat ride was 1 hour, my but started hurting after 30 minutes already though. Boat was rowed by a very professional lady and again the scenery was beautiful.
We were scheduled to visit 2 temples. First temple was close to where we got off the boats. After visiting the first temple we had a nice lunch. The second temple should have been reachable by cable car, but it turned out that cable car was broken on that day :( So we hiked up, which was not bad either. Second, the most famous temple, was situated in a cave. Cave was huuuuge and had 2 entries, on the very back there was the main altar and other altars were scattered around the cave on both sides. The way back went quickly as it was exactly the same track and boat ride.
In the evening we went out to eat with the Australian and with the guy from India - first dinner and then couple of drinks in a second story balcony cafe looking over the lake :)
I will be leaving the day after tomorrow :(
-- a couple from UK - the guy had competed in his first Triathlon this year, half of Olympic Distance, later we talked about triathlon half way up the hill
-- two quiet ladies from Germany
-- one crabby old economy teacher from Austria
-- one younger guy from Australia
-- one economy professor from India - he was very talkative and on the way there we got to cover half of Estonian customs and half of worlds economy systems :D, second half got covered on the way back. On top of all he suggested working in Bangalore for me :) Not a bad idea huh?
There are many theories of where the name Perfume comes from since there is nothing that smells good over there :) As the travel guide explains: Perfume Pagoda is a striking complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines built into the karst cliffs of Huong Tich Mountain (Mountain of the Fragrant Traces). The only way to get there is by boat. So once we got off the bus we boarded the very basic boats - there were two narrow wooden benches where 4 of us were seated. Boat ride was 1 hour, my but started hurting after 30 minutes already though. Boat was rowed by a very professional lady and again the scenery was beautiful.
We were scheduled to visit 2 temples. First temple was close to where we got off the boats. After visiting the first temple we had a nice lunch. The second temple should have been reachable by cable car, but it turned out that cable car was broken on that day :( So we hiked up, which was not bad either. Second, the most famous temple, was situated in a cave. Cave was huuuuge and had 2 entries, on the very back there was the main altar and other altars were scattered around the cave on both sides. The way back went quickly as it was exactly the same track and boat ride.
In the evening we went out to eat with the Australian and with the guy from India - first dinner and then couple of drinks in a second story balcony cafe looking over the lake :)
I will be leaving the day after tomorrow :(
Saturday, September 20, 2008
day 35 - back to Hanoi - 20.09
Bus ride to Hanoi was fine. The bus had AC and overly loud horn. In traffic the vehicles press the horn when starting to pass someone or they simply want to warn pedestrians that they are coming - so the result is that there are lots of horns being blown all the time (pretty annoying I have to admit, especially early in the morning). Now the horns, the horns sound like a melody, yeah they have a tune. The horn on the bus today, it would cut through bone and the driver was very anxious to use it whenever possible.
There was a German couple sitting right behind me so once we got to the bus station in Hanoi I asked if hey are heading to the city center. They are leaving tonight, but they were gonna go to a hotel they stayed in at the beginning of their trip and leave the bags there while looking around in town. They were gonna get a taxi and asked me to join them - maybe I'd get a good deal on a room from the hotel. So we shared a taxi and the hotel was nice. A bit pricey, but very nice. I got a discount, they included breakfast and a room with a view to the lake :)
In the afternoon I just did a whole lotta shopping :-P and went a wonderful restaurant for a dinner. Place was called Hanoi Garden and the food was best food ever.
Tomorrow I'll be going to Perfume Pagoda for the day :), this will include some traveling by bus, then by boat, then some cable car'ing and then some hiking :D weheee.
There was a German couple sitting right behind me so once we got to the bus station in Hanoi I asked if hey are heading to the city center. They are leaving tonight, but they were gonna go to a hotel they stayed in at the beginning of their trip and leave the bags there while looking around in town. They were gonna get a taxi and asked me to join them - maybe I'd get a good deal on a room from the hotel. So we shared a taxi and the hotel was nice. A bit pricey, but very nice. I got a discount, they included breakfast and a room with a view to the lake :)
In the afternoon I just did a whole lotta shopping :-P and went a wonderful restaurant for a dinner. Place was called Hanoi Garden and the food was best food ever.
Tomorrow I'll be going to Perfume Pagoda for the day :), this will include some traveling by bus, then by boat, then some cable car'ing and then some hiking :D weheee.
day 34 - Ninh Binh, Hoa Lu - 19.09
Today I got to visit ancient capital of Vietnam - city of Hoa Lu. City itself has been destroyed and only few temples remain. I visited both of the temples and found another active temple area between the narrow streets (just followed the arrows :) ). Landscape in Hoa Lu is fabulous though. In Tam Coc I got to see the rocks sticking out of the ground from distance, but now I was in the middle of them - gorgeous. Temples were like any temple - many little rooms all connected and with huge altars.
Motorbike ride was a bit easier this time, it was 15km from Ninh Binh so it was further away but the road was a bit better (or I had just mastered the art of not flying off the bike :) ). On the way there we passed through funny round tunnels, I wish I could have taken a picture of them. Tunnels took us through the hills. On the way back we took a different route and passed through some small local villages with extremely narrow streets.
Once I got back to Ninh Binh I tried to go and visit the local church here, but it was closed :( So I went to the local market instead.
I figured that I won't try to squeeze another town in, so I will return to Hanoi tomorrow at noon. The bus will pick me up from my hotel (how nice :) ), bus ride will be about 2 hours as they say, also air conditioning was promised - will see will see.
Motorbike ride was a bit easier this time, it was 15km from Ninh Binh so it was further away but the road was a bit better (or I had just mastered the art of not flying off the bike :) ). On the way there we passed through funny round tunnels, I wish I could have taken a picture of them. Tunnels took us through the hills. On the way back we took a different route and passed through some small local villages with extremely narrow streets.
Once I got back to Ninh Binh I tried to go and visit the local church here, but it was closed :( So I went to the local market instead.
I figured that I won't try to squeeze another town in, so I will return to Hanoi tomorrow at noon. The bus will pick me up from my hotel (how nice :) ), bus ride will be about 2 hours as they say, also air conditioning was promised - will see will see.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
day 33 - Ninh Binh, Tam Coc - 18.09
Today is my dad's birthday!!! Yay!!! Greeting already went on the way earlier :) Hugs will follow in a week.
Now about the day. As soon as the taxi stopped in the bus station there were 2 locals who basically climbed in the taxi through the window - wanting to know where I'm going to. Oh how annoying. So I shook them off and made my way to the ticket counter, bought one ticket to Ninh Binh. Immediately one of the guys grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the buses - at this time I already yelled at him. Then he made me sit on one of the benches explaining something to me in Vietnamese, whatever, I thought to myself. Hotel told me that the bus will leave at 7:10, but on the ticket the time is written as 6:30, hmm. Apparently I was able to board the bus as the guy waved at me intensely. Bus left 6:33.
Comes out this guy is some sort of bus guy. He boarded the bus and was hanging halfway out of the door most of the journey, sticking his hand out and making very female like wave movements when we were passing some vehicles - strangest thing ever. He also dragged people onto the bus from the street - bizarre :)
Way from bus station to city center was nice and short. I found a hotel for myself quickly, it is a very nice one with huuuge rooms, so nice. My room is on the top floor and on its own wing aaaand I got wireless in my room! It is absolutely beautiful place :)
Anyhoo, went to do some research about the tours that I could take to Tam Coc and Hoa Lu. Research means going around and getting different offers. As there is no public transport going to those places I got stuck with renting a car or a motorbike with a driver. While I was in town conducting my research I ran into the couple from Netherlands :D They told about their tours experience here and also their adventures getting to town - got some good laughs and also useful information. They are leaving today though. About the tour - I chose to rent a motorbike with a driver as this is times cheaper than a car.
After having quick shower and even quicker lunch my tour started. I hopped on a motorbike and off we went. In Sapa the ride was fun, you barely had to even hold on to the bike, so I was not too worried. He was taking back roads as agreed in order for me to see the scenery. The journey was gonna be 8km. First kilometer was fine as we were going on a city street. Oh but then, oooh my, the road got really bad. I was sure that I will fly off the bike every 20 meters. The road had huge holes and cracks and rocks sticking out - it was a nightmare. He drove really carefully and all, but the road was just very bad. I was holding on to my seat with all my strength and after a while I could not feel my fingers. But I survived of course without falling off - but barely.
First we stopped at Tam Coc - scenic riverside with high rocks/cliffs sticking out of the ground like in Halong Bay, only this time it is all on land and to be viewed from a boat on the river. Boats are rowed by local ladies mostly, there was one rower for my boat, a very nice lady. It takes about 1 hour to go one way through 3 caves and the same way back - total about 2 hours. Lady was rowing away and I was clicking pictures like mad (again :) ) when all of the sudden the boat started rocking from one side to the other. So I looked over and the lady was rowing using her feet! I saw some others doing the same, it was neat! And the scenery was wonderful again of course.
Second stop was Bich Dong Pagoda situated just few kilometers away from Tam Coc. It was a temple built in front of a cliff, inside the cliff and on top of the cliff - it consisted of about 6 units all located on different levels and locations. Probably the most interesting temple I've been to yet :)
Evening is peaceful so far - ate dinner at the hotel, uploading pictures, writing posts and watching a movie. Will go to bed soon and sleep as long as possible tomorrow morning :D Tomorrow I'll be going to Hoa Lu by motorbike again :D
Now about the day. As soon as the taxi stopped in the bus station there were 2 locals who basically climbed in the taxi through the window - wanting to know where I'm going to. Oh how annoying. So I shook them off and made my way to the ticket counter, bought one ticket to Ninh Binh. Immediately one of the guys grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the buses - at this time I already yelled at him. Then he made me sit on one of the benches explaining something to me in Vietnamese, whatever, I thought to myself. Hotel told me that the bus will leave at 7:10, but on the ticket the time is written as 6:30, hmm. Apparently I was able to board the bus as the guy waved at me intensely. Bus left 6:33.
Comes out this guy is some sort of bus guy. He boarded the bus and was hanging halfway out of the door most of the journey, sticking his hand out and making very female like wave movements when we were passing some vehicles - strangest thing ever. He also dragged people onto the bus from the street - bizarre :)
Way from bus station to city center was nice and short. I found a hotel for myself quickly, it is a very nice one with huuuge rooms, so nice. My room is on the top floor and on its own wing aaaand I got wireless in my room! It is absolutely beautiful place :)
Anyhoo, went to do some research about the tours that I could take to Tam Coc and Hoa Lu. Research means going around and getting different offers. As there is no public transport going to those places I got stuck with renting a car or a motorbike with a driver. While I was in town conducting my research I ran into the couple from Netherlands :D They told about their tours experience here and also their adventures getting to town - got some good laughs and also useful information. They are leaving today though. About the tour - I chose to rent a motorbike with a driver as this is times cheaper than a car.
After having quick shower and even quicker lunch my tour started. I hopped on a motorbike and off we went. In Sapa the ride was fun, you barely had to even hold on to the bike, so I was not too worried. He was taking back roads as agreed in order for me to see the scenery. The journey was gonna be 8km. First kilometer was fine as we were going on a city street. Oh but then, oooh my, the road got really bad. I was sure that I will fly off the bike every 20 meters. The road had huge holes and cracks and rocks sticking out - it was a nightmare. He drove really carefully and all, but the road was just very bad. I was holding on to my seat with all my strength and after a while I could not feel my fingers. But I survived of course without falling off - but barely.
First we stopped at Tam Coc - scenic riverside with high rocks/cliffs sticking out of the ground like in Halong Bay, only this time it is all on land and to be viewed from a boat on the river. Boats are rowed by local ladies mostly, there was one rower for my boat, a very nice lady. It takes about 1 hour to go one way through 3 caves and the same way back - total about 2 hours. Lady was rowing away and I was clicking pictures like mad (again :) ) when all of the sudden the boat started rocking from one side to the other. So I looked over and the lady was rowing using her feet! I saw some others doing the same, it was neat! And the scenery was wonderful again of course.
Second stop was Bich Dong Pagoda situated just few kilometers away from Tam Coc. It was a temple built in front of a cliff, inside the cliff and on top of the cliff - it consisted of about 6 units all located on different levels and locations. Probably the most interesting temple I've been to yet :)
Evening is peaceful so far - ate dinner at the hotel, uploading pictures, writing posts and watching a movie. Will go to bed soon and sleep as long as possible tomorrow morning :D Tomorrow I'll be going to Hoa Lu by motorbike again :D
day 32 - Haiphong - 17.09
The boat from Cat Ba to Haiphong was to go at 5:45, from the hotel they said I should be there around 5:30. As the pier was basically just across the road from the hotel, I got there at 5:20 just in case. There was no line, there was nobody moving in and out of the boats, people just standing around and talking. So I went closer and tried to show my ticket to one of the ladies on the pier, she barely looked at it and waved me on. I basically just picked one of the boats and boarded, nobody seemed to care :) Checked with one lady on the boat if it is indeed going to Haiphong - yeap, I chose the correct boat seems like. And surprise surprise, the boat took off at 5:31 - I'm glad I got there a bit earlier :D
The boat was very basic and very rusty, I'm pretty sure any boat in this condition should not carry passengers :) But nothing I can do I guess :) All the locals made themselves comfortable and went to sleep, I watched the scenery a bit and then laid down as well. Boat ride was 3 hours.
First task was to find a hostel - found one and got a quite decent room. Then off to the city. Haiphong is one of the main seaports and third largest city in Vietnam. It has some wonderful colonial-era buildings and wonderful parks. The parks in Asia in general are really neat - they are complex and very well cared for.
Walked around and looked up the opera house and made a circle around the city center. There is not much to do in Haiphong, but the walks are nice and streets with the old buildings are great. Another very positive thing is widely available wireless everywhere, basically every third cafe or restaurant has wifi :) So I took my time and checked my mail and bank account - haven't done that for a while and luckily everything was still under control :D
I'll be taking a bus to Ninh Binh tomorrow morning at 7:10, as the bus station is quite far from city center then taxi is ordered to the hotel at 6am. Haven't gotten to sleep in for almost a week already :(
Oh and I will be home in a week, my beautiful vacation is ending soon :(
The boat was very basic and very rusty, I'm pretty sure any boat in this condition should not carry passengers :) But nothing I can do I guess :) All the locals made themselves comfortable and went to sleep, I watched the scenery a bit and then laid down as well. Boat ride was 3 hours.
First task was to find a hostel - found one and got a quite decent room. Then off to the city. Haiphong is one of the main seaports and third largest city in Vietnam. It has some wonderful colonial-era buildings and wonderful parks. The parks in Asia in general are really neat - they are complex and very well cared for.
Walked around and looked up the opera house and made a circle around the city center. There is not much to do in Haiphong, but the walks are nice and streets with the old buildings are great. Another very positive thing is widely available wireless everywhere, basically every third cafe or restaurant has wifi :) So I took my time and checked my mail and bank account - haven't done that for a while and luckily everything was still under control :D
I'll be taking a bus to Ninh Binh tomorrow morning at 7:10, as the bus station is quite far from city center then taxi is ordered to the hotel at 6am. Haven't gotten to sleep in for almost a week already :(
Oh and I will be home in a week, my beautiful vacation is ending soon :(
Sünnipäeva õnnitlused :)
Ma natukene hüppan ajas ringi nüüd ja saadan teele õnnesoovid tänasele päevakangelasele:
PALJU PALJU ÕNNE SÜNNIPÄEVAKS KALLIS ISA!!!!
Siis hiljem teen sissekande eilse päeva kohta ja kirjutan ka tänastest seiklustest :)
PALJU PALJU ÕNNE SÜNNIPÄEVAKS KALLIS ISA!!!!
Siis hiljem teen sissekande eilse päeva kohta ja kirjutan ka tänastest seiklustest :)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
day 31 - halong bay, day 3 - 16.09
Breakfast was at 8, we had it together with our group who then took off with the tour guide to get back to Halong City by boat. We exchanged contact information and said our goodbyes. Couple from Holland is moving to the same direction as I am so I might see them in a few days.
I packed my little back bag and headed over to the beach number 2 :) I was basically the first one there :D Oh it was nice :D Like a paradise again! Sun was roasting me though and the sea did not bring any comfort either as the water was warm and it had no cooling effect of any sort. As the morning proceeded the sand would get too hot to walk on. So all my attempts to get to the water were fast running :) After getting in and out couple of times I saw a jellyfish :( All of the sudden the water did not seem that tempting anymore :( Waaaa. Also I did not manage to stay in the sun for more than 1,5 hours - the heat is just killing over here. So I dragged my expensive chair (they made me buy a ticket for the chair) into the shade and enjoyed the beach from there :) Shade was nice. But I still could not handle the heat for too long - managed to stay on the beach almost 4 hours and then I escaped into my air conditioned hotel room. Oh the heat is unbearable here and the sea is too warm as well. It definitely was enjoyable and great, but can't do it more than few hours at a time. Paradise is great - just a bit too warm ;)
As this is my lazy day then I was not too worried with doing things. Last days have been busy enough so I'm just chilling here :) Later will find a nice place to eat dinner and then will pack and get to bed early hopefully. Perhaps take even a bath before going to bed :D
For tomorrow I got a boat ticket directly from Cat Ba island to Haiphong - the boat leaves at 5:30 in the morning and will take about 3 hours. I'll try to look around Haiphong tomorrow the whole day and then move on to Ninh Binh to spend 2 to 3 days there before returning to Hanoi before my departure home.
I packed my little back bag and headed over to the beach number 2 :) I was basically the first one there :D Oh it was nice :D Like a paradise again! Sun was roasting me though and the sea did not bring any comfort either as the water was warm and it had no cooling effect of any sort. As the morning proceeded the sand would get too hot to walk on. So all my attempts to get to the water were fast running :) After getting in and out couple of times I saw a jellyfish :( All of the sudden the water did not seem that tempting anymore :( Waaaa. Also I did not manage to stay in the sun for more than 1,5 hours - the heat is just killing over here. So I dragged my expensive chair (they made me buy a ticket for the chair) into the shade and enjoyed the beach from there :) Shade was nice. But I still could not handle the heat for too long - managed to stay on the beach almost 4 hours and then I escaped into my air conditioned hotel room. Oh the heat is unbearable here and the sea is too warm as well. It definitely was enjoyable and great, but can't do it more than few hours at a time. Paradise is great - just a bit too warm ;)
As this is my lazy day then I was not too worried with doing things. Last days have been busy enough so I'm just chilling here :) Later will find a nice place to eat dinner and then will pack and get to bed early hopefully. Perhaps take even a bath before going to bed :D
For tomorrow I got a boat ticket directly from Cat Ba island to Haiphong - the boat leaves at 5:30 in the morning and will take about 3 hours. I'll try to look around Haiphong tomorrow the whole day and then move on to Ninh Binh to spend 2 to 3 days there before returning to Hanoi before my departure home.
day 30 - halong bay, day 2 - 15.09
Breakfast was served at a 7:30, but I was up way before that. I took a quick shower downstairs and packed my things. After breakfast we got go enjoy the scenery some more and then I was dropped off at Cat Ba island and others who had only 2 day tour were taken back to the coast. On an island I was joined with a couple from Netherlands. We exchanged our experiences of the boat as we were taken to the highest point on the island - 331m above sea level.
Getting to the summit was an experience. We had a small group - couple from Holland and me. First our guide only came half way up, saying that he is tired and there is only one way going up so it is not possible for us to get lost. So we continued on our own. At the end the track got quite rocky and you really needed some arm strength to pull yourself up the rocky stairs - it was pure rock climbing :) I enjoyed it, little adventure is not bad, couple from Netherlands was not too happy about it though. At the summit there was also one rusty tower with a viewing platform - view was great as usual.
After dropping things off at the hotel and having lunch, we gathered at the lobby at 2pm to go to the Monkey Island. First a bus to an opposite side of the island to take a boat. Our group had grown to 8 now - me, couple from Netherlands, couple from UK, brother and sister from UK and a guy from Japan. Very nice people. We arrived to the island just before 2:30, there was a nice beach with white sand and the island seemed to be deserted - it was just perfect. Another short kayaking trip and lots of swimming and chilling in this unbelievably warm water.
After some time the monkeys arrived - they just walked to the beach out of nowhere. By that time some other boats had dropped few more people off. The monkeys seemed innocent. There was four of them and one of the girls brought peanuts for the monkeys. She fed them a bit as we all gathered around to take pictures. Suddenly one of the monkeys jumped up to one of the guys. Ugh, scary. So we kept our distance a bit. They were eating and staring at us, walking around a bit and just sitting there. I have no idea what kind of monkeys they were. They were not very big, had light brown color, long tails and one of them got really red face. Next thing I know is that one of the monkeys is going after one of the guys, fast as lightning, so the guy runs to the water and all the other group member around him do the same as fast as they can. Comes out the guy hissed at the monkey and tried to scare it - so the monkey came after it. Luckily they don't swim I guess :) Travel guide advised people not to too close to them and warned that the monkeys are quite aggressive - I guess it is not the first time they attack the tourists.
We stayed at the island for about 2 hours, at first it was nice and quiet, only us at the beach. In the end it got quite crowded as boats just kept coming and dropping people off at the beach. I was so glad that we got there early enough to get our share of the beauty. We returned to Cat Ba island.
As we had almost 2 hours till dinner we decided to wonder to a beach and check it out. There are 3 different beaches and beach #2 is the nicest as far as the travel guide says. Indeed it was nice, with little huts and shades and a nice park right by the sand. Another swim and nice conversations, then back to the hotel for dinner.
After dinner we headed out with some people for drinks. Had wonderful time and intense discussions about Vietnamese history and world matters in general. UK couple has just started their up-to-1-year trip from Asia. I keep seeing more and more people who do that - incredible. Arrived back to the hotel past midnight. I was so relieved that I got an extra day here - no need to start packing :)
Getting to the summit was an experience. We had a small group - couple from Holland and me. First our guide only came half way up, saying that he is tired and there is only one way going up so it is not possible for us to get lost. So we continued on our own. At the end the track got quite rocky and you really needed some arm strength to pull yourself up the rocky stairs - it was pure rock climbing :) I enjoyed it, little adventure is not bad, couple from Netherlands was not too happy about it though. At the summit there was also one rusty tower with a viewing platform - view was great as usual.
After dropping things off at the hotel and having lunch, we gathered at the lobby at 2pm to go to the Monkey Island. First a bus to an opposite side of the island to take a boat. Our group had grown to 8 now - me, couple from Netherlands, couple from UK, brother and sister from UK and a guy from Japan. Very nice people. We arrived to the island just before 2:30, there was a nice beach with white sand and the island seemed to be deserted - it was just perfect. Another short kayaking trip and lots of swimming and chilling in this unbelievably warm water.
After some time the monkeys arrived - they just walked to the beach out of nowhere. By that time some other boats had dropped few more people off. The monkeys seemed innocent. There was four of them and one of the girls brought peanuts for the monkeys. She fed them a bit as we all gathered around to take pictures. Suddenly one of the monkeys jumped up to one of the guys. Ugh, scary. So we kept our distance a bit. They were eating and staring at us, walking around a bit and just sitting there. I have no idea what kind of monkeys they were. They were not very big, had light brown color, long tails and one of them got really red face. Next thing I know is that one of the monkeys is going after one of the guys, fast as lightning, so the guy runs to the water and all the other group member around him do the same as fast as they can. Comes out the guy hissed at the monkey and tried to scare it - so the monkey came after it. Luckily they don't swim I guess :) Travel guide advised people not to too close to them and warned that the monkeys are quite aggressive - I guess it is not the first time they attack the tourists.
We stayed at the island for about 2 hours, at first it was nice and quiet, only us at the beach. In the end it got quite crowded as boats just kept coming and dropping people off at the beach. I was so glad that we got there early enough to get our share of the beauty. We returned to Cat Ba island.
As we had almost 2 hours till dinner we decided to wonder to a beach and check it out. There are 3 different beaches and beach #2 is the nicest as far as the travel guide says. Indeed it was nice, with little huts and shades and a nice park right by the sand. Another swim and nice conversations, then back to the hotel for dinner.
After dinner we headed out with some people for drinks. Had wonderful time and intense discussions about Vietnamese history and world matters in general. UK couple has just started their up-to-1-year trip from Asia. I keep seeing more and more people who do that - incredible. Arrived back to the hotel past midnight. I was so relieved that I got an extra day here - no need to start packing :)
day 29 - halong bay, day 1 - 14.09
Riina set her alarm incorrectly by accident and we woke at 4:58, her taxi was to arrive at 5am. Neither of us got much sleep that night. She was ready in a snap though and off within 10 minutes. I tried to go back to sleep for 1,5 hours but could not manage to fall asleep again. Instead I watched some news from the TV and learned of a tropical storm on the coast of China moving towards Japan. The tour transportation picked me up from my hotel a bit earlier than agreed - at 7:20 only to be taken to some office to wait for another 45 minutes. At least they had internet there so I could check my mail and post an entry.
Finally the correct bus arrived. After about an hour of driving we all new each other and there were lively discussions going on, there was about 15 people in the bus, great bunch of people. Next to me sat a guy doing his doctorate in physics, he was studying light and was explaining in great detail and in enough simple turns of what it means to study light and how the studies could evolve and change the world in the future. We also touched the subject of nano computers - really great talk :) He had a dream to start a company that would specialize in research and also deliver enhanced technological products at some point. He dreamt of a revolutionizing the world through light - what a great dream.
Once we arrived to Halong City I was guided to join another group and then yet another. On top of all this my new tour guide almost forgot me at the port, I caught in on the last moment, before he was to step on a boat and reminded of myself. I ended up being on a boat with a bunch of unhappy tourists, most of them being Asian and talking in a language I did not comprehend. I was sad to be separated from the first group :( But anyhoo, the environment made all the problems disappear :D
The boat we boarded was a 3 level river boat with cabins on the bottom level, dining area on the middle level and top level for open platform with beach chairs and benches. First we had lunch, this was right after leaving the harbour. Then we were simply cruising around in Halong Bay. Travel guide talks about Halong Bay as pure art that can not be described in words - that is exactly how it is. Locals say that the islands are dragons turned into stone and are there to protect the country from invaders - apparently a bit different than what the travel guide says :D There are more than 3000 small islands or huge cliffs/rocks rising out of green-blue waters - it is gorgeous. At some point there were many boat cruising by us but after a while we were all by ourselves between those silent high rocks sticking out of the water. The day was beautiful and there was slight breeze to make it all even more enjoyable. I found myself thinking: "so that is what paradise looks like". I closed my thoughts and just stared at the beauty around me. There was sun, the islands, water, slight breeze and the boat engine silently humming on the background - just absolute bliss.
After about 45 minutes we stopped at a Sung Sot cave. This cave was discovered just recently - 1993. By now it is all set and ready for tourists - all lit up and walkways prepared. Cave was impressive though :) After looking around a bit back to the boats we went.
First night was to be spent on the boat so it was stopped between some islands around 5pm. Then we got to take a ride on kayaks for a while. We kayaked through a cave and entered into what seemed like a big lake, but was really part of the sea but surrounded with rocks all around us - we were in the middle of an island with the kayak :D So time for a swim, there was a BUT though - there are jellyfish everywhere :( There are 2 types of them - the big ones and small ones with long tail type things. Big ones are not that dangerous as their stinging is very mild. The small ones are dangerous though - their sting hurts really bad and the rash stays for at least a week :( So I hesitated about jumping in the water. Our guide said that he'd look our for the jellys as they are always on top of the water and he'd let me know where can I move. So I just did a small circle around the kayaks. Oh the water was warm, really really warm, like a bath water. It was strange and unusual for me as it did not bring any relief from the heat.
We got back with the kayaks just in time as it was starting to get dark outside. To get lost between those islands was nothing we were willing to do :) Dinner was served around 7pm and afterwards I just laid on the upper deck and studied the skies with a full moon and stars - it was beautiful. I felt so tired. Lack of sleep was getting to me. So I just went and got my sleeping bag and decided to spend the night on the upper deck :) That was great! Sleeping under the stars, between those beautiful islands, on a rocking river boat - what else can a soul hope for?
Finally the correct bus arrived. After about an hour of driving we all new each other and there were lively discussions going on, there was about 15 people in the bus, great bunch of people. Next to me sat a guy doing his doctorate in physics, he was studying light and was explaining in great detail and in enough simple turns of what it means to study light and how the studies could evolve and change the world in the future. We also touched the subject of nano computers - really great talk :) He had a dream to start a company that would specialize in research and also deliver enhanced technological products at some point. He dreamt of a revolutionizing the world through light - what a great dream.
Once we arrived to Halong City I was guided to join another group and then yet another. On top of all this my new tour guide almost forgot me at the port, I caught in on the last moment, before he was to step on a boat and reminded of myself. I ended up being on a boat with a bunch of unhappy tourists, most of them being Asian and talking in a language I did not comprehend. I was sad to be separated from the first group :( But anyhoo, the environment made all the problems disappear :D
The boat we boarded was a 3 level river boat with cabins on the bottom level, dining area on the middle level and top level for open platform with beach chairs and benches. First we had lunch, this was right after leaving the harbour. Then we were simply cruising around in Halong Bay. Travel guide talks about Halong Bay as pure art that can not be described in words - that is exactly how it is. Locals say that the islands are dragons turned into stone and are there to protect the country from invaders - apparently a bit different than what the travel guide says :D There are more than 3000 small islands or huge cliffs/rocks rising out of green-blue waters - it is gorgeous. At some point there were many boat cruising by us but after a while we were all by ourselves between those silent high rocks sticking out of the water. The day was beautiful and there was slight breeze to make it all even more enjoyable. I found myself thinking: "so that is what paradise looks like". I closed my thoughts and just stared at the beauty around me. There was sun, the islands, water, slight breeze and the boat engine silently humming on the background - just absolute bliss.
After about 45 minutes we stopped at a Sung Sot cave. This cave was discovered just recently - 1993. By now it is all set and ready for tourists - all lit up and walkways prepared. Cave was impressive though :) After looking around a bit back to the boats we went.
First night was to be spent on the boat so it was stopped between some islands around 5pm. Then we got to take a ride on kayaks for a while. We kayaked through a cave and entered into what seemed like a big lake, but was really part of the sea but surrounded with rocks all around us - we were in the middle of an island with the kayak :D So time for a swim, there was a BUT though - there are jellyfish everywhere :( There are 2 types of them - the big ones and small ones with long tail type things. Big ones are not that dangerous as their stinging is very mild. The small ones are dangerous though - their sting hurts really bad and the rash stays for at least a week :( So I hesitated about jumping in the water. Our guide said that he'd look our for the jellys as they are always on top of the water and he'd let me know where can I move. So I just did a small circle around the kayaks. Oh the water was warm, really really warm, like a bath water. It was strange and unusual for me as it did not bring any relief from the heat.
We got back with the kayaks just in time as it was starting to get dark outside. To get lost between those islands was nothing we were willing to do :) Dinner was served around 7pm and afterwards I just laid on the upper deck and studied the skies with a full moon and stars - it was beautiful. I felt so tired. Lack of sleep was getting to me. So I just went and got my sleeping bag and decided to spend the night on the upper deck :) That was great! Sleeping under the stars, between those beautiful islands, on a rocking river boat - what else can a soul hope for?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
day 28 - second day in Hanoi - 13.09
Last night we had huuge drama at the hotel. So we come back from town at around 22:30, we get to the room and switch on the lights. I walk in first and as I pass the little hallway and get to the room it seems to me that something was moving on the far end on the wall. Walls and ceiling panels are white, well they were white long time ago I should say. Anyhoo, the moving object had run from behind my bed across the wall where a table with a mirror on it was standing. By that time we had both jumped on a bed and were holding shoes in our hand to kill the bastard if we'd see it again. I was sure it was a cockroach, but I was absolutely devastated, because it was huge what I saw moving on the wall.
So then brave Riina goes and moves the table and of course there is movement and it shoots across another wall that is shared with the bathroom and goes and hides behind the coffee table. Oh we were screaming like no other. And again, we could not believe how big the cockroach was - not even big but long. So we stood there for a while then tried to move the coffee table - nothing. We were already imagining how they have made nests in our bags and moved in with whole families there. So Riina takes the insect repellent and sprays all our bags and also the corners of the rooms where we thought the animal had escaped to. We sneak into the bathroom very carefully and inspect that - nothing. So we get back to the room and sit and wait. After a while we see something coming out from behind the coffee table - I see a head - it is a lizard! I'm relieved of course as lizards are quite harmless, i was so relieved that we did not have a cockroach the size of my palm walking up and down the room here :) But nonetheless - we were not happy to share our room with a lizard.
I managed to take some photos of the lizard and we headed downstairs to the reception with our evidence. There was nobody there who spoke any English, but they looked at the photos and giggled, then sent one guy with a stick up with us. It seemed so normal to them, like it would happen every day and that it should even be this way. So he came and poke around with his stick for a while - nothing moved, no lizards nothing, so he took off. We had no choice but to get back in the room and try to get to sleep. There were tiny lizards as well besides the bigger one - they were just walking about and doing their thing. We left one of the lights on so we could at least see them when we wake up at night covered in cold sweat because of the lizard nightmares. I ended up sleeping quite well, but Riina was monitoring them all night and did not get much sleep at all.
This morning we contemplated on moving out - but that seemed like too much hassle, besides we are leaving tomorrow early morning anyways. So we stayed.
During the day we did the walking tour in Hanoi that was suggested by Lonely Planet - it was nice, got to see quite many different faces of the city. One of the coolest places was house 102 on Pho Hang Bac. It was just this tiny hallway leading in, I could barely fit in the hallway since both my shoulders were touching the walls on each side. At first it seemed that we were had arrived in somebody's kitchen but we just proceeded going inwards and then we found what we were looking for. Locals downstairs waved us upstairs and there was a fully functional temple. One other narrow staircase led even higher - on the roof there was more of the temple. We were the only explorers there - it was really neat and peaceful and quiet and yet magnificent.
It is so darn warm in here though :( It is almost painful to walk on those busy streets during the day with all the exhaust and running engines right by you. When walking then we are looking for shade and even that is almost unbearable, being in the sun can be handled only for very small periods of time. To cool down we need to go somewhere inside where they have air conditioning - it is very hot here.
Before taking the walking tour we bought tickets to the water puppet show. Our show started at 18:30. As the travel guide explains the ancient art of water puppetry is originated with rice farmers who worked the flooded fields of the Red River Delta. This art form is at least 1000 years old. Puppets used are carved out of water resistant fig tree timber and colored with glossy vegetable based paint. The considerable skills required to operate the puppets were traditionally kept secret and passed only from father to son, never to daughters in fear that they would marry outside the village and spread the knowledge. Show was great, it lasted almost an hour and had separate musical show and everything.
In the evening we packed like crazy as Riina is leaving on the 14th and I needed to put together my beach bag for 4 days :D
So then brave Riina goes and moves the table and of course there is movement and it shoots across another wall that is shared with the bathroom and goes and hides behind the coffee table. Oh we were screaming like no other. And again, we could not believe how big the cockroach was - not even big but long. So we stood there for a while then tried to move the coffee table - nothing. We were already imagining how they have made nests in our bags and moved in with whole families there. So Riina takes the insect repellent and sprays all our bags and also the corners of the rooms where we thought the animal had escaped to. We sneak into the bathroom very carefully and inspect that - nothing. So we get back to the room and sit and wait. After a while we see something coming out from behind the coffee table - I see a head - it is a lizard! I'm relieved of course as lizards are quite harmless, i was so relieved that we did not have a cockroach the size of my palm walking up and down the room here :) But nonetheless - we were not happy to share our room with a lizard.
I managed to take some photos of the lizard and we headed downstairs to the reception with our evidence. There was nobody there who spoke any English, but they looked at the photos and giggled, then sent one guy with a stick up with us. It seemed so normal to them, like it would happen every day and that it should even be this way. So he came and poke around with his stick for a while - nothing moved, no lizards nothing, so he took off. We had no choice but to get back in the room and try to get to sleep. There were tiny lizards as well besides the bigger one - they were just walking about and doing their thing. We left one of the lights on so we could at least see them when we wake up at night covered in cold sweat because of the lizard nightmares. I ended up sleeping quite well, but Riina was monitoring them all night and did not get much sleep at all.
This morning we contemplated on moving out - but that seemed like too much hassle, besides we are leaving tomorrow early morning anyways. So we stayed.
During the day we did the walking tour in Hanoi that was suggested by Lonely Planet - it was nice, got to see quite many different faces of the city. One of the coolest places was house 102 on Pho Hang Bac. It was just this tiny hallway leading in, I could barely fit in the hallway since both my shoulders were touching the walls on each side. At first it seemed that we were had arrived in somebody's kitchen but we just proceeded going inwards and then we found what we were looking for. Locals downstairs waved us upstairs and there was a fully functional temple. One other narrow staircase led even higher - on the roof there was more of the temple. We were the only explorers there - it was really neat and peaceful and quiet and yet magnificent.
It is so darn warm in here though :( It is almost painful to walk on those busy streets during the day with all the exhaust and running engines right by you. When walking then we are looking for shade and even that is almost unbearable, being in the sun can be handled only for very small periods of time. To cool down we need to go somewhere inside where they have air conditioning - it is very hot here.
Before taking the walking tour we bought tickets to the water puppet show. Our show started at 18:30. As the travel guide explains the ancient art of water puppetry is originated with rice farmers who worked the flooded fields of the Red River Delta. This art form is at least 1000 years old. Puppets used are carved out of water resistant fig tree timber and colored with glossy vegetable based paint. The considerable skills required to operate the puppets were traditionally kept secret and passed only from father to son, never to daughters in fear that they would marry outside the village and spread the knowledge. Show was great, it lasted almost an hour and had separate musical show and everything.
In the evening we packed like crazy as Riina is leaving on the 14th and I needed to put together my beach bag for 4 days :D
Friday, September 12, 2008
day 27 - first day in Hanoi - 12.09
Train from Lao Cai arrived at 5:45 instead of 5:00 as advertised - this is the first time when a transportation is late. Glad that we didn't have to catch a plane or something this time. Instead we made our way to a hotel nearby that we had picked out in advance, before we went to Sapa. The guy at the reception did not speak any English, but luckily he checked us right in and we agreed the price for 2 nights - no extra charge for early check-in as far as we could foresee by the numbers he was writing down.
Since neither of us got any sleep at the train, we slept for 3 hours and then went to town. Our first task for the day was to find Hong Kong Airlines office so we could change Riinas plain ticket since the flight time was changed. That task was easy as the ticketing office was quite close to our hotel. Next we ate as we were both starving and then another task was to find a tour for me for 14th that would head south.
I will travel south on my own on the 14th as Riina will be flying home the same morning. Finding the right tour was much more complicated than I would have thought - there are travel agencies everywhere and the prices vary for a 3 day tour from 45 to 220 USD. So try to catch one that seems suitable and where they actually have a service and decent rooms and so on. I finally settled for one medium priced one and arranged an extra day on Cat Ba island. So the plan now is:
13.09 - will spend the day in Hanoi, just looking around the town - last day together with Riina
14.09 - will head south with a tour to Halong Bay for 4 days, first day covers Sung Sot cave, Titov island and kayaking - sleeping at a boat somewhere on the sea between the islands :)
15.09 - second tour day covers Thien Long cave, some boating on canals and wild Turtle island - sleeping in a hotel on Cat Ba island
16.09 - third tour day I will be on my own on Cat Ba island (please make it so that there are pretty beaches there :D)
17.09 - last, fourth tour day we will be taken back to the coast and others will head back to Hanoi, but I will try to catch a bus from Halong City to Haiphong and will try to stay a day in Haiphong.
Most likely I won't bring my computer to the tour so I won't be posting for a while, but I'm not sure yet, just giving an early warning so you will not worry. I will definitely have my phone with me so if something urgent comes up I can always SMS to family (if there is network coverage of course). So but basically don't worry and talk to you again after the 17th :)
Lots of hugs to all of you!
Since neither of us got any sleep at the train, we slept for 3 hours and then went to town. Our first task for the day was to find Hong Kong Airlines office so we could change Riinas plain ticket since the flight time was changed. That task was easy as the ticketing office was quite close to our hotel. Next we ate as we were both starving and then another task was to find a tour for me for 14th that would head south.
I will travel south on my own on the 14th as Riina will be flying home the same morning. Finding the right tour was much more complicated than I would have thought - there are travel agencies everywhere and the prices vary for a 3 day tour from 45 to 220 USD. So try to catch one that seems suitable and where they actually have a service and decent rooms and so on. I finally settled for one medium priced one and arranged an extra day on Cat Ba island. So the plan now is:
13.09 - will spend the day in Hanoi, just looking around the town - last day together with Riina
14.09 - will head south with a tour to Halong Bay for 4 days, first day covers Sung Sot cave, Titov island and kayaking - sleeping at a boat somewhere on the sea between the islands :)
15.09 - second tour day covers Thien Long cave, some boating on canals and wild Turtle island - sleeping in a hotel on Cat Ba island
16.09 - third tour day I will be on my own on Cat Ba island (please make it so that there are pretty beaches there :D)
17.09 - last, fourth tour day we will be taken back to the coast and others will head back to Hanoi, but I will try to catch a bus from Halong City to Haiphong and will try to stay a day in Haiphong.
Most likely I won't bring my computer to the tour so I won't be posting for a while, but I'm not sure yet, just giving an early warning so you will not worry. I will definitely have my phone with me so if something urgent comes up I can always SMS to family (if there is network coverage of course). So but basically don't worry and talk to you again after the 17th :)
Lots of hugs to all of you!
day 26 - last, fourth day in sapa - 11.09
Nothing exciting happened on our last day in Sapa (well except the ride back to the train station in Lao Cai, but I'll get to that a bit later). In the morning we tried to sleep in as much as possible, but that did not work due to the heavy traffic in front of the hotel that always comes with lots of honking and also the construction across the road started at 8 in the morning :( But either way we needed to pack yet again so we just started with that. The usual routine of last sweet shower, left the bags at the hotel and then to the town. Breakfast was nice again - food is really good here in Vietnam.
Sapa is quite small so it took only a bit of time to make a trip around the town. The local seller ladies were driving us absolutely crazy with their high voices screaming from across the street already "buy from meee". We did everything to ignore them and to get away from them as early as possible and they still managed to get to us, at some point we basically yelled like a choir "NO" - I felt a bit guilty after that, but they were really pushing our limits.
About the city - well, here are lots of buildings that resemble Russian times with big yellow stars on a red background and the star figures. Apparently every town in Vietnam has a Lenin street or square :) I took some pictures of the houses and signs as well :) And oh it was a warm day - it was warm even in Sapa :(
Our minivan to the train station left at 5, it was about an hour ride to Lao Cai where the train would depart from. As Sapa is up in the mountains then the ride was mostly downwards - after about 20 minutes of driving the van was roasting, or I should say the brakes were. Considering the driving that took place and the condition of the van, I was surprised that it lasted even that long without catching fire or something :) Then the driver was breaking with the gear for a bit, but after 2 minutes was hitting the gas again like everything is fine - and we were on windy mountain roads heading down on more than 10% hills! I'd say it was a bit scary, but we made it just fine. And of course it got warmer every minute we got lower :(, the heat really hit us once in Lao Cai, even though it was evening already.
Once at the train station we noticed that the hostel had charged us 30% more for the tickets than the real price was :( Oh well, they need to earn their living some way as well I guess. We got hard sleeper tickets. Train ride was ok, but neither of us got much sleep for some reason.
Sapa is quite small so it took only a bit of time to make a trip around the town. The local seller ladies were driving us absolutely crazy with their high voices screaming from across the street already "buy from meee". We did everything to ignore them and to get away from them as early as possible and they still managed to get to us, at some point we basically yelled like a choir "NO" - I felt a bit guilty after that, but they were really pushing our limits.
About the city - well, here are lots of buildings that resemble Russian times with big yellow stars on a red background and the star figures. Apparently every town in Vietnam has a Lenin street or square :) I took some pictures of the houses and signs as well :) And oh it was a warm day - it was warm even in Sapa :(
Our minivan to the train station left at 5, it was about an hour ride to Lao Cai where the train would depart from. As Sapa is up in the mountains then the ride was mostly downwards - after about 20 minutes of driving the van was roasting, or I should say the brakes were. Considering the driving that took place and the condition of the van, I was surprised that it lasted even that long without catching fire or something :) Then the driver was breaking with the gear for a bit, but after 2 minutes was hitting the gas again like everything is fine - and we were on windy mountain roads heading down on more than 10% hills! I'd say it was a bit scary, but we made it just fine. And of course it got warmer every minute we got lower :(, the heat really hit us once in Lao Cai, even though it was evening already.
Once at the train station we noticed that the hostel had charged us 30% more for the tickets than the real price was :( Oh well, they need to earn their living some way as well I guess. We got hard sleeper tickets. Train ride was ok, but neither of us got much sleep for some reason.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
day 25 - third day in sapa - 10.09
By looking at the tours we picked a tour that goes north this time. It was a one day tour again, but this time we got to go by motorcycles :) Of course we were sitting on the back seat and had drivers - but cool nonetheless! We visited Ma Tra and Ta Phin villages where Red Dzao live. Also we took a little detour into a cave, apparently it was a very long one but as it was dark in there we did not go too far. As usual we stopped at some local homes, saw how they made their fabric and how they beat the rice on the fields. Ride back to Sapa was about 25 minutes.
Weather was beautiful, sunny, a bit too beautiful so we both got sun burnt a bit. I got a nasty pocket figure burnt right on my chest :-S , it will not be easy to tan this one even :(
In the morning we bought our train tickets to go back to Hanoi tomorrow night (train departs at 8:15 in the evening of 11th of September) and we will arrive to Hanoi early morning on the 12th. Then we have 2 days to look around in Hanoi. On the 14th early morning Riina will fly back home via Hong Kong and I will try to head south to Halong Bay to relax on the boat by the ocean for few days :)
After the tour today we were both exhausted, so we took a 2,5h nap :) showered and now we are looking around in Sapa. Will find a place for dinner and will indulge one more night in this scenic mountain village of Sapa. Tomorrow will try to sleep in, pack our bags again, look around in town and head over to the train station in the evening.
Weather was beautiful, sunny, a bit too beautiful so we both got sun burnt a bit. I got a nasty pocket figure burnt right on my chest :-S , it will not be easy to tan this one even :(
In the morning we bought our train tickets to go back to Hanoi tomorrow night (train departs at 8:15 in the evening of 11th of September) and we will arrive to Hanoi early morning on the 12th. Then we have 2 days to look around in Hanoi. On the 14th early morning Riina will fly back home via Hong Kong and I will try to head south to Halong Bay to relax on the boat by the ocean for few days :)
After the tour today we were both exhausted, so we took a 2,5h nap :) showered and now we are looking around in Sapa. Will find a place for dinner and will indulge one more night in this scenic mountain village of Sapa. Tomorrow will try to sleep in, pack our bags again, look around in town and head over to the train station in the evening.
day 24 - second day in sapa - 09.09
For today we arranged ourselves a half day private tour with a jeep :) Yeah, check the pics for the jeep - you'll get a good laugh ;) As the tour started at 1:30 in the afternoon then we got to sleep in, we slept till 10:30 - oh that was heavenly. Ate late breakfast at 11:30 and then to the tour. Breakfast by the way consisted of white bread loaf that you would cut in half in the middle and fill with an omelet and sauteed mushroom-onion-tomato mixture, it was very delicious.
About our tour - we got a jeep with the driver and we had planned to visit Tram Ton pass and the Silver Waterfall. We were taken to the pass first, is 15km from Sapa and at an altitude of 1900 meter this is the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. There was quite heavy tourist traffic, but we got to enjoy our 5 minutes of peace in there - it was fabulous, we just stared at the view without speaking for a while.
On the way back we stopped at the waterfall named Thac Bac or Silver Waterfall, it is 5km from Sapa. Travel guide knows to say the waterfall is 100m in height. There was an admission fee to make it up at the bridge - we did not even hesitate, it looked too good to miss this one. We took about 100 too many pictures there :) despite the drizzling rain that haunted us throughout our way up and also on coming down. At the bridge we met a Polish guy who was very happy about meeting people close to where he is from :D Then we were taken back to town - end of our fancy private tour :)
Hostel we are staying at has also a laundry service. So we gave some of our clothes in to be washed last night, they promised to get them back to us in the morning. When I went to get it this morning they said that half an hour more and then it will be ready - of course half an hour later there was no laundry. Then they promised in the afternoon. Once we got back from the tour I asked again if our laundry was ready - another "in half an hour" came :) Finally in the evening we got our laundry back. We were already certain that they must have lost it or something.
In the evening we enjoyed some shopping in downtown of Sapa and chose a nice restaurant for dinner. As the restaurant had nice and fast wireless that was also free then we took our time there. First we ordered two appetisers - spring rolls and tofu in tomato sauce. Spring rolls are one of the most popular dishes in Vietnam, they are made of very thin rice paper and filled with various meat or vegetable fillings and fried to be crisp and delicious. Tofu is another speciality around here. After uploading and managing the piled up hundreds of photos we ordered our main meal - tuna salad and grilled beef marinated in herbs, that came with steamed white rice. I have to say that they definitely know how to cook here - it was very good. By that time we had ordered a bottle of local wine as well. After another half an hour or so we each got a desert and then some cocktails :D Our bill ended up being 655 000 Vietnamese dong :) Either way it was all delicious and we enjoyed the nice dinner.
Before going to the room we explored the upper deck of our hostel - nice view indeed :) We even saw couple of stars and the moon was out. Life is beautiful, almost perfect ;)
About our tour - we got a jeep with the driver and we had planned to visit Tram Ton pass and the Silver Waterfall. We were taken to the pass first, is 15km from Sapa and at an altitude of 1900 meter this is the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. There was quite heavy tourist traffic, but we got to enjoy our 5 minutes of peace in there - it was fabulous, we just stared at the view without speaking for a while.
On the way back we stopped at the waterfall named Thac Bac or Silver Waterfall, it is 5km from Sapa. Travel guide knows to say the waterfall is 100m in height. There was an admission fee to make it up at the bridge - we did not even hesitate, it looked too good to miss this one. We took about 100 too many pictures there :) despite the drizzling rain that haunted us throughout our way up and also on coming down. At the bridge we met a Polish guy who was very happy about meeting people close to where he is from :D Then we were taken back to town - end of our fancy private tour :)
Hostel we are staying at has also a laundry service. So we gave some of our clothes in to be washed last night, they promised to get them back to us in the morning. When I went to get it this morning they said that half an hour more and then it will be ready - of course half an hour later there was no laundry. Then they promised in the afternoon. Once we got back from the tour I asked again if our laundry was ready - another "in half an hour" came :) Finally in the evening we got our laundry back. We were already certain that they must have lost it or something.
In the evening we enjoyed some shopping in downtown of Sapa and chose a nice restaurant for dinner. As the restaurant had nice and fast wireless that was also free then we took our time there. First we ordered two appetisers - spring rolls and tofu in tomato sauce. Spring rolls are one of the most popular dishes in Vietnam, they are made of very thin rice paper and filled with various meat or vegetable fillings and fried to be crisp and delicious. Tofu is another speciality around here. After uploading and managing the piled up hundreds of photos we ordered our main meal - tuna salad and grilled beef marinated in herbs, that came with steamed white rice. I have to say that they definitely know how to cook here - it was very good. By that time we had ordered a bottle of local wine as well. After another half an hour or so we each got a desert and then some cocktails :D Our bill ended up being 655 000 Vietnamese dong :) Either way it was all delicious and we enjoyed the nice dinner.
Before going to the room we explored the upper deck of our hostel - nice view indeed :) We even saw couple of stars and the moon was out. Life is beautiful, almost perfect ;)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
day 23 - first day in sapa - 08.09
Our train to Lao Cai arrived an hour early again. It seems to be a norm here that transportation arrives hours earlier than planned - which is fine of course :) Worse would be if it would arrive later. This time we travelled in the most luxurious class which is soft sleeper as they did not have any other tickets left. It was nothing too fancy - 4 beds with sheets, blankets and pillows. Pretty much like the hard sleeper only there was more room for each bed as there were 2 levels instead 3 and there was a door, making the area small room. I got some good sleep on the train besides the heat and noise.
Getting off the train we were surrounded by bunch of very aggressive minivan drivers who were very eager to take us to Sapa. I had read that in Sapa the currency exchange rates are very bad so I figured I should exchange money here in Lao Cai. Wasn't able to do it in Hanoi as everything was closed on a Sunday. So we got an agreement with one minivan driver that before heading to Sapa we will stop at a bank. As banks opened at 7:30, we had more than an hour to kill - we headed to a cafe for breakfast. Of course the exchange rates were bad also in Lao Cai, even worse than at the airport :( but i had no choice. Bus ride to Sapa was about an hour, it is located 38km west from Lao Cai, up in the mountains at an elevation of 1650 meters.
The city is close to the border of China so it was formerly a hill station. The most interest to visitors are the minority groups that live nearby here - H'mong and Dzao people. Day to 3 day tours are organized to visit their nearby villages.
After arriving to Sapa, we were quickly recruited by one of the hostels - as it looked decent and was quite cheap we just stayed without looking around at all. Took a shower, got changed and headed downstairs to find something fun to do for the day. At a check in we were given the tours introductions - looks great, there are 8 different tours available to all kinds of locations and destinations. We picked one 1 day tour that took us south. Apparently it was already too late, close to 10 and all the tours had left already. After some calls by the reception lady she hurried us downstairs to catch a tour that just left a nearby hotel :) Nice and quick organization :)
Our one day hiking tour was from 10 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, including lunch. The small villages that we visited were Y Liinh Ho of H'mong people, Lao Chai village and Tavan village of Dzay minority. The hikes were wonderful, the landscapes are amazing. Starting point was Sapa and we made our way downwards through rice fields and bamboo woods crossing rivers on the way. On the tour we got information about the lives of minority groups, their education (which is mostly organized and funded by UNICEF) and about general life in Vietnam.
We saw rice fields :) and found out how rice is grown. In other areas of the country they get 3 crops a year, but here in the mountains they get only 1 as they have no way to keep the rice in the water so they can only plant during wet season. As a surprise to me - rice needs to be under water only at a certain time during the growing, later it needs only sun to get the rice riped.
We were shown their school, one home of the locals and we saw lot of their lifestyle while walking by the villages. Throughout the whole tour we were accompanied by the local female people. They were wearing their national clothes and were trying to sell their goods to us. They spoke surprisingly good English though. In our group there were 6 tourists, including us, and about 10 accompanying minority group locals. They would all ask us our name, our age, if we have a boyfriend or a husband, how many kids we have and where are we from. At the midway through another set of minority group locals would join us so all the people would change and we started answering the same questions again :) Once they heard that me and Riina are around 30 and not married, they cheerfully promised to fix that :D
Their lifestyle is poor of course. Living in bamboo houses with mud floors. Rich families have TV's, a motorbike and buffaloes. Less fortunate ones might own a pig. Different minority groups have different religions and go to separate schools.
Lunch was at around 1pm, consisting of bread, eggs, cheese, tomato and cucumber slices - it was good and filling. Back to Sapa we were taken by minibus.
In the afternoon we strolled around the city, explored the market and had cake at a cafe. Sapa is said to be the coldest location in whole Vietnam. Today we got light rain occasionally and at times the jackets were needed as the breeze can get really chilly. So I get to use the warmer clothes that I brought with as well :) In the evening we arranged our tomorrows tour and sat in the internet for couple of hours at a nearby hotel that has free wireless. I'll get the pictures organized shortly so you can catch up on our doing via photos as well.
Getting off the train we were surrounded by bunch of very aggressive minivan drivers who were very eager to take us to Sapa. I had read that in Sapa the currency exchange rates are very bad so I figured I should exchange money here in Lao Cai. Wasn't able to do it in Hanoi as everything was closed on a Sunday. So we got an agreement with one minivan driver that before heading to Sapa we will stop at a bank. As banks opened at 7:30, we had more than an hour to kill - we headed to a cafe for breakfast. Of course the exchange rates were bad also in Lao Cai, even worse than at the airport :( but i had no choice. Bus ride to Sapa was about an hour, it is located 38km west from Lao Cai, up in the mountains at an elevation of 1650 meters.
The city is close to the border of China so it was formerly a hill station. The most interest to visitors are the minority groups that live nearby here - H'mong and Dzao people. Day to 3 day tours are organized to visit their nearby villages.
After arriving to Sapa, we were quickly recruited by one of the hostels - as it looked decent and was quite cheap we just stayed without looking around at all. Took a shower, got changed and headed downstairs to find something fun to do for the day. At a check in we were given the tours introductions - looks great, there are 8 different tours available to all kinds of locations and destinations. We picked one 1 day tour that took us south. Apparently it was already too late, close to 10 and all the tours had left already. After some calls by the reception lady she hurried us downstairs to catch a tour that just left a nearby hotel :) Nice and quick organization :)
Our one day hiking tour was from 10 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, including lunch. The small villages that we visited were Y Liinh Ho of H'mong people, Lao Chai village and Tavan village of Dzay minority. The hikes were wonderful, the landscapes are amazing. Starting point was Sapa and we made our way downwards through rice fields and bamboo woods crossing rivers on the way. On the tour we got information about the lives of minority groups, their education (which is mostly organized and funded by UNICEF) and about general life in Vietnam.
We saw rice fields :) and found out how rice is grown. In other areas of the country they get 3 crops a year, but here in the mountains they get only 1 as they have no way to keep the rice in the water so they can only plant during wet season. As a surprise to me - rice needs to be under water only at a certain time during the growing, later it needs only sun to get the rice riped.
We were shown their school, one home of the locals and we saw lot of their lifestyle while walking by the villages. Throughout the whole tour we were accompanied by the local female people. They were wearing their national clothes and were trying to sell their goods to us. They spoke surprisingly good English though. In our group there were 6 tourists, including us, and about 10 accompanying minority group locals. They would all ask us our name, our age, if we have a boyfriend or a husband, how many kids we have and where are we from. At the midway through another set of minority group locals would join us so all the people would change and we started answering the same questions again :) Once they heard that me and Riina are around 30 and not married, they cheerfully promised to fix that :D
Their lifestyle is poor of course. Living in bamboo houses with mud floors. Rich families have TV's, a motorbike and buffaloes. Less fortunate ones might own a pig. Different minority groups have different religions and go to separate schools.
Lunch was at around 1pm, consisting of bread, eggs, cheese, tomato and cucumber slices - it was good and filling. Back to Sapa we were taken by minibus.
In the afternoon we strolled around the city, explored the market and had cake at a cafe. Sapa is said to be the coldest location in whole Vietnam. Today we got light rain occasionally and at times the jackets were needed as the breeze can get really chilly. So I get to use the warmer clothes that I brought with as well :) In the evening we arranged our tomorrows tour and sat in the internet for couple of hours at a nearby hotel that has free wireless. I'll get the pictures organized shortly so you can catch up on our doing via photos as well.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
another sidenote :)
Our train to Sapa leaves in 2,5 hours - going to the train station now :)
Uploading pictures has to wait a bit once more - sorry about that :D Will try to fix soon (as soon as we have some steady internet in our hostel somewhere)
Hugs to all of you!
Uploading pictures has to wait a bit once more - sorry about that :D Will try to fix soon (as soon as we have some steady internet in our hostel somewhere)
Hugs to all of you!
day 22 - general notes vol.3 - cultural differences
All those culture changes are making me dizzy already. We come from China where there is no English spoken at all we enter to Hong Kong that all is English based. Then in Macau there is Portugese and now we are in Vietnam that is totally different. Vietnamese language at least does not have hieroglyphs so we can read the signs. At first glance it seems that locals speak English more freely here than in mainland China.
Besides the language differences there is different money everywhere. Today is Sunday and the banks are closed in the city - so again we were moneyless. Luckily Riina was planning on withdrawing Vietnamese Dong from ATM anyways - at least those are open :) So she took 1,5 million out :D We both got shaky knees when we saw this in numbers :D Another thing is eating utensils - we can't pretty much remember when we last ate with chopsticks, must have been in Shanghai? In Hong Kong we were never given chopsticks, only fork and a spoon. The spoon thing is confusing though, they have done it couple of times - fork and a spoon, but no knife.
And then of course the toilets :) In mainland China there was mostly the modern version of "hole in the ground", which means that the whole in the ground was ceramic and you could pull the water on afterwards, but girls still need to squat. In Hong Kong I did not see a single one of those, there were only normal toilet seats, same in Macau. In Vietnam I see the same half modern "hole in the ground" thingies.
Then there is the thing with electricity and different adapter systems. The adapter I got for China was not the same in Hong Kong, in Vietnam I don't even need an adapter :) Traffic and the streets are chaos in China and even more so in Vietnam. In China it seemed that when the traffic got a red light and we could cross the street they still kept coming :) I figured that perhaps it is the same way as in some parts of US that you are allowed to make a right turn on red by yielding. Ok, that was fine. Now there we dealt mostly with cars which was a bit easier. Here in Vietnam on the other hand we are dealing with the same situation that they just keep going on red light, but the situation is ten times worse since here are mostly rollers - meaning that there are about 50 of them coming towards us at any time, usually at least 8 of them next to each other and they make strange turns every now. As rollers go very fast, it is quite scary to get across the 3 laners here :)
We were so hoping that in Vietnam they don't make those gross snorting noises and don't spit - well, we are out of luck as this is going on everywhere here as well :(
Besides the language differences there is different money everywhere. Today is Sunday and the banks are closed in the city - so again we were moneyless. Luckily Riina was planning on withdrawing Vietnamese Dong from ATM anyways - at least those are open :) So she took 1,5 million out :D We both got shaky knees when we saw this in numbers :D Another thing is eating utensils - we can't pretty much remember when we last ate with chopsticks, must have been in Shanghai? In Hong Kong we were never given chopsticks, only fork and a spoon. The spoon thing is confusing though, they have done it couple of times - fork and a spoon, but no knife.
And then of course the toilets :) In mainland China there was mostly the modern version of "hole in the ground", which means that the whole in the ground was ceramic and you could pull the water on afterwards, but girls still need to squat. In Hong Kong I did not see a single one of those, there were only normal toilet seats, same in Macau. In Vietnam I see the same half modern "hole in the ground" thingies.
Then there is the thing with electricity and different adapter systems. The adapter I got for China was not the same in Hong Kong, in Vietnam I don't even need an adapter :) Traffic and the streets are chaos in China and even more so in Vietnam. In China it seemed that when the traffic got a red light and we could cross the street they still kept coming :) I figured that perhaps it is the same way as in some parts of US that you are allowed to make a right turn on red by yielding. Ok, that was fine. Now there we dealt mostly with cars which was a bit easier. Here in Vietnam on the other hand we are dealing with the same situation that they just keep going on red light, but the situation is ten times worse since here are mostly rollers - meaning that there are about 50 of them coming towards us at any time, usually at least 8 of them next to each other and they make strange turns every now. As rollers go very fast, it is quite scary to get across the 3 laners here :)
We were so hoping that in Vietnam they don't make those gross snorting noises and don't spit - well, we are out of luck as this is going on everywhere here as well :(
day 22 - from Hong Kong to Hanoi - 07.09
Plane ride to Hanoi was nice, just 2 hours and got a nice meal on the plane. Getting from airport to the train station was not that easy though :) First we went to the wrong train station - travel guide said that tickets can be purchased at any train station (or that is what i understood) but it was not so. On our way to the other train station we took the wrong bus - or perhaps a correct bus but just to wrong direction, no idea, we had to get off and transfer to another one. Exchanging the buses meant walking long distances in heat with our bags and crossing heavy traffic roads like locals - meaning that you just start walking across and hope not to get hit by all the rollers :D
We were lucky that we had about 10 hours to spend so we did not have to worry about travelling through the whole city of Hanoi before getting to the train station :) Finally we made it though :) Then got train tickets to Sapa for tonight and now we are sitting at a nice cafe having some cocktails and posting entries (this cafe has wireless!!!)
We were lucky that we had about 10 hours to spend so we did not have to worry about travelling through the whole city of Hanoi before getting to the train station :) Finally we made it though :) Then got train tickets to Sapa for tonight and now we are sitting at a nice cafe having some cocktails and posting entries (this cafe has wireless!!!)
day 21 - last night in Hong Kong - 06.09
Our last night in Hong Kong we decided to spend at the airport :) That is right - sleep in the terminal. This for many reasons. For one we had to check in at 7am the next morning, so we would have had to leave the hostel very early in the morning. Second was the budget matter of course. Third we wanted to try it out as on our way back we have to stay at the airport no matter what - my flight gets in at 22:00 and next morning I'll need to be back at 6:am, so no point in travelling 2-3 hrs back and fourth. And fourth - as silly as it sounds we knew we would have free internet the whole night :) Finding internet was getting quite ridiculous and we did not have time to deal with it.
So at 10 we made our way to the airport. And yes we were able to use the free wireless - but but i was not able to recharge my laptop battery as i did not have the correct adapter - grrrr.
Another strange thing was that to get to the airport we just took the airport express metro line which took us straight into the terminal, but all that without any security check!
Staying at the airport worked out surprisingly well - we both got some solid sleep in and were nice and rested, got to check-in in time without any hassle at all.
So at 10 we made our way to the airport. And yes we were able to use the free wireless - but but i was not able to recharge my laptop battery as i did not have the correct adapter - grrrr.
Another strange thing was that to get to the airport we just took the airport express metro line which took us straight into the terminal, but all that without any security check!
Staying at the airport worked out surprisingly well - we both got some solid sleep in and were nice and rested, got to check-in in time without any hassle at all.
day 21 - exploring Hong Kong - 06.09
Day started out with another packing-our-bags action, left the bags at the hostel, checked out and left to have breakfast. We had an interesting breakfast :) Basically we chose one combo that was available and as we saw around us something that the locals had as well. It consisted of 2 pieces of toast and one fried egg with little bit of ham which was ok and normal. Then there was a choice of coffee or tea. I got tea as I don't drink coffee - well the tea was some strange milky-reddish sour yukiness. Oh it was bad. And then the last thing was instant noodles in a bowl with broth and meat - it all created a soup like thingy. That noodle+meat soup seems to be a popular breakfast here. So strange :)
After breakfast we headed to explore the city. First we looked up the avenue of stars where they have hand prints of famous people inserted into the street. Of course those famous people were mostly Chinese names that we had never heard of before, but we had fun reading the strange sounding names (just look at the pictures and you will understand ;) ). The street itself was great of course, it was by water and there was a great view to Hong Kong island. We decided that we will come back here in the evening to look at the city in lights.
From stars avenue we took a ferry across the water to Hong Kong island. Morning was sunny and very hot, but by the time we got to the other side with the ferry (it was about 7-10 minute ride) it was raining :) Great thing was that we were able to walk across town without walking in the rain as all the walkways that are on the second level above the car streets have roofs :) Anyhoo, we made our way to the longest escalator in the world, it took us all the way up from Central to other side of SOHO. Escalator ride was not all in one piece though, there were some small bits every now and then that had to be made on foot. From start to finish the ride took about 20 minutes.
Having gone up by the escalator for 20 minutes we started to make our way down again. Tried to get to some churches, but they were closed. At some point we found ourselves in a park with crocodiles :) Came out that we had unknowingly entered into the zoological and botanical gardens of Hong Kong. It was this huge open park with animals and reptiles in natural environment (or course caged off) and also all kinds of plants and a green house and many fountains and play grounds and all that for free - whatta nice place this city is.
In the travel guide there is a suggestion to go and view the city from a bank tower's 43rd floor so we figure to do that. First we could not find the correct building, after some asking around we found the correct one and helped ourselves up to the 43th floor as said in the guide. Well the whole floor was empty, there were nice and big windows though so we just enjoyed the view as we were suppose to. The floor was all quiet and for a while we just stared out of the windows - view was great. It was so pretty there though - there were huuuge windows, then the ceiling and one big pillar was made of a mirror :D Riina could not get enough of standing in front of the mirror covered pillar as it made one look so skinny. So we started to take pictures. Uh oh :) We were just having fun clicking away. At some point I got an idea that we can just set a timer for the camera and set it to the floor and then look up to the ceiling and it would take a picture of us - they I would not have the camera in front of my face. Ok so we set the timer and set the camera on the floor, giggling like mad, and then stared at the ceiling our noses together. As we stared I got a feeling that somebody was looking at us, but I did not want to turn my head away as this would have ruined the picture. So there we stand with Riina staring at the window and all I can think about is that there is probably a security guard staring at us, ready to kick us out :) And I was totally right, as soon as the picture was taken we turned our heads and indeed it was a security guard staring at us :D Oh we escaped from there as fast as we could :) Oh we were laughing so hard for quite a while, we must have looked like the biggest weirdos staring at the ceiling noses together :D
Making our way closer to the water again we tried to go and see few art exhibitions at the art center. This turned out to be a failure - for the whole 14 floors we found only 2 small exhibitions :( We spent about an hour chilling in a park reading, then headed to the subway to find the night market. Got out of the subway station at the correct location and figured to make a little detour into a park. Only way we could find to get in there were some narrow stairs and lots of them, so up we go. Once we get to the top there is nothing more there than a sports field :( And on the map it looked like a nice big park. Allright, so we decide to get back down from the other side, only to find one angry guard there telling us to go back the same way we came. We were stuck :( At the end we ended up making a huuge circle to get to the night market. Night market was not all the way open yet and at that time was quite boring :(
While resting on the top of the hill we climbed I also tried my phones GPS receiver and different applications. Nutiteq did not work at all - didn't even get GPS location for me. Google maps got the location, but as there was no internet connection then I did not get a map. Built in Nokia maps worked like a charm (I had downloaded the maps previously - or Mart downloaded them for me).
Evening was spent at the stars avenue drinking hot chocolate, looking at the lit up city panorama and talking life philosophy with Riina :D This was good times :D
I just realized that half of my vacation is over :(
After breakfast we headed to explore the city. First we looked up the avenue of stars where they have hand prints of famous people inserted into the street. Of course those famous people were mostly Chinese names that we had never heard of before, but we had fun reading the strange sounding names (just look at the pictures and you will understand ;) ). The street itself was great of course, it was by water and there was a great view to Hong Kong island. We decided that we will come back here in the evening to look at the city in lights.
From stars avenue we took a ferry across the water to Hong Kong island. Morning was sunny and very hot, but by the time we got to the other side with the ferry (it was about 7-10 minute ride) it was raining :) Great thing was that we were able to walk across town without walking in the rain as all the walkways that are on the second level above the car streets have roofs :) Anyhoo, we made our way to the longest escalator in the world, it took us all the way up from Central to other side of SOHO. Escalator ride was not all in one piece though, there were some small bits every now and then that had to be made on foot. From start to finish the ride took about 20 minutes.
Having gone up by the escalator for 20 minutes we started to make our way down again. Tried to get to some churches, but they were closed. At some point we found ourselves in a park with crocodiles :) Came out that we had unknowingly entered into the zoological and botanical gardens of Hong Kong. It was this huge open park with animals and reptiles in natural environment (or course caged off) and also all kinds of plants and a green house and many fountains and play grounds and all that for free - whatta nice place this city is.
In the travel guide there is a suggestion to go and view the city from a bank tower's 43rd floor so we figure to do that. First we could not find the correct building, after some asking around we found the correct one and helped ourselves up to the 43th floor as said in the guide. Well the whole floor was empty, there were nice and big windows though so we just enjoyed the view as we were suppose to. The floor was all quiet and for a while we just stared out of the windows - view was great. It was so pretty there though - there were huuuge windows, then the ceiling and one big pillar was made of a mirror :D Riina could not get enough of standing in front of the mirror covered pillar as it made one look so skinny. So we started to take pictures. Uh oh :) We were just having fun clicking away. At some point I got an idea that we can just set a timer for the camera and set it to the floor and then look up to the ceiling and it would take a picture of us - they I would not have the camera in front of my face. Ok so we set the timer and set the camera on the floor, giggling like mad, and then stared at the ceiling our noses together. As we stared I got a feeling that somebody was looking at us, but I did not want to turn my head away as this would have ruined the picture. So there we stand with Riina staring at the window and all I can think about is that there is probably a security guard staring at us, ready to kick us out :) And I was totally right, as soon as the picture was taken we turned our heads and indeed it was a security guard staring at us :D Oh we escaped from there as fast as we could :) Oh we were laughing so hard for quite a while, we must have looked like the biggest weirdos staring at the ceiling noses together :D
Making our way closer to the water again we tried to go and see few art exhibitions at the art center. This turned out to be a failure - for the whole 14 floors we found only 2 small exhibitions :( We spent about an hour chilling in a park reading, then headed to the subway to find the night market. Got out of the subway station at the correct location and figured to make a little detour into a park. Only way we could find to get in there were some narrow stairs and lots of them, so up we go. Once we get to the top there is nothing more there than a sports field :( And on the map it looked like a nice big park. Allright, so we decide to get back down from the other side, only to find one angry guard there telling us to go back the same way we came. We were stuck :( At the end we ended up making a huuge circle to get to the night market. Night market was not all the way open yet and at that time was quite boring :(
While resting on the top of the hill we climbed I also tried my phones GPS receiver and different applications. Nutiteq did not work at all - didn't even get GPS location for me. Google maps got the location, but as there was no internet connection then I did not get a map. Built in Nokia maps worked like a charm (I had downloaded the maps previously - or Mart downloaded them for me).
Evening was spent at the stars avenue drinking hot chocolate, looking at the lit up city panorama and talking life philosophy with Riina :D This was good times :D
I just realized that half of my vacation is over :(
Saturday, September 6, 2008
day 21 - future plans
Just a quick note about our future plans. Quick because I'm not able to recharge my laptop here :( (so ironic, for once we have free wifi and now i don't have the correct adapter - grrr)
Anyhoo, tomorrow morning (on the 7th of September) we have a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi at 9:00 with Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (i don't know the flight number by heart). We will arrive to Hanoi at 10:00 local time.
Once in Hanoi we will get an overnight train to north, to a place called Sapa. So next entry will be in about 2 days (48h) from Vietnam - this is if there is internet at all :)
This is just heads up so that there are no worries :)
Take care and lots of hugs!
Anyhoo, tomorrow morning (on the 7th of September) we have a flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi at 9:00 with Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (i don't know the flight number by heart). We will arrive to Hanoi at 10:00 local time.
Once in Hanoi we will get an overnight train to north, to a place called Sapa. So next entry will be in about 2 days (48h) from Vietnam - this is if there is internet at all :)
This is just heads up so that there are no worries :)
Take care and lots of hugs!
day 20 - general notes about Hong Kong vol. 2
One of the first things we noticed when arriving to Hong Kong was that we were not being stared at any longer! What a wonderful feeling. Hong Kong is full of all kinds of people - real mecca of cultures. Here are surprisingly lot of black people, I've seen lots of Arabic and Indian people, lots of Europeans and Chinese - so the whole world is here :) and I can't even say that there is any one of them dominating.
People are overly helpful here. On a first day we had just purchased our map and I knew the street we were on but I did not know the direction we were suppose to go to (and the first 3 street corners did not help us either) so we just stood there for a little bit with the map open while all the busy people were trying to get around and past us (and there was no place to stop as the whole city seems to be too crowded for stopping on the street :) ) and one guy just stops as well and asks if he could help us with something perhaps. So nice :) It happened again and again that they approach you on their own (speaking English!) even before you realize that you should maybe ask somebody - wonderful :) gives you this warm feeling like being looked after (by strangers) :D
Another thing is this whole taking in line business - Chinese don't know how to do that :) There are special people in train stations and ticket offices who coordinate people and organize them into neat queues when waiting for something. Strange isn't it. And when there is no coordinating person then we'd take into line after the last person while next thing we know is that one local comes and just walks by to the very front of the line and just starts standing there with the very first person. So after a while there are many of them up front there and they generate a pile of people. We saw it quite often and we just looked in disbelief.
I don't understand what is the thing with intenet here? We are having the hardest time finding internet cafes and getting access - hence the long break in postings :( Finding internet access is getting more and more difficult as we move on. It is probably even harder in Vietnam.
People are overly helpful here. On a first day we had just purchased our map and I knew the street we were on but I did not know the direction we were suppose to go to (and the first 3 street corners did not help us either) so we just stood there for a little bit with the map open while all the busy people were trying to get around and past us (and there was no place to stop as the whole city seems to be too crowded for stopping on the street :) ) and one guy just stops as well and asks if he could help us with something perhaps. So nice :) It happened again and again that they approach you on their own (speaking English!) even before you realize that you should maybe ask somebody - wonderful :) gives you this warm feeling like being looked after (by strangers) :D
Another thing is this whole taking in line business - Chinese don't know how to do that :) There are special people in train stations and ticket offices who coordinate people and organize them into neat queues when waiting for something. Strange isn't it. And when there is no coordinating person then we'd take into line after the last person while next thing we know is that one local comes and just walks by to the very front of the line and just starts standing there with the very first person. So after a while there are many of them up front there and they generate a pile of people. We saw it quite often and we just looked in disbelief.
I don't understand what is the thing with intenet here? We are having the hardest time finding internet cafes and getting access - hence the long break in postings :( Finding internet access is getting more and more difficult as we move on. It is probably even harder in Vietnam.
day 20 - Macau - 05.09
Macau is another Special Administrative Region in China which grants quite high degree of autonomy in all matters except defence and foreign affairs as travel guide writes. It is about 1h boat ride from Hong Kong across the bay. Going there from Hong Kong is like going to Helsinki from Tallinn. You just go the chosen port (there are couple of them that have ferry transport to Macau), buy a ticket, go through the customs (basically cross the border to leave Hong Kong and enter Macau) and board the ferry. Very simple and convenient.
Official languages are Cantonese and Portugese, so all the street signs are written in both. Portugese traders had settled here already on 16th century. Macau itself is a peninsula off of mainland China and there are 482 000 people. I'm not able to read out the size of the peninsula, but it can't be very big as I walked from the port to the other side of the peninsula in about an hour and 15 minutes or so - so it could be max 6km by 10km perhaps (I walked the shorter side).
Closer to the port so south side of the peninsula is full of casinos - it is the Vegas of Asia as they say. Center or the old town is just like a Mediterranean city. Quite an interesting mix I'd say - there is Las Vegas and 20 minutes later you find old Spanish style houses, catholic churches, narrow and wonderful streets covered with colorful tiny tiles :D Everything is possible on this side of the globe I say :)
I visited couple of churches and Cathedral of Macau, climbed the ruins of St. Paul church, claimed to Fort Monte and took a cable car to the highest point on the peninsula called Guia which was a fort and it also had a light house. I have noticed that cable cars are very popular here and I'm starting to like those little moving cabinets hanging on the ropes :)
I also walked on the very same road where Formula 1 Grand Prix takes place in November! I believe that this November I'll be watching some Formula 1 racing :D
And the traffic is backwards here as well, just like in Hong Kong.
All in all Macau was great. At the fort of Guia I met one elderly couple who were so friendly and took a picture of me. It is always nice to talk with other travellers just to see where they come from and what they are up to :) Well this couple had moved to Thailand 2 years ago, the guy was on pension and he was born in Germany, but had lived in US for more than 30 years. He's partner was born in Thailand and had been in US for 27 years. They sold all their belongings in US, bought some land in Thailand and moved there :) Whatta nice change :D
Official languages are Cantonese and Portugese, so all the street signs are written in both. Portugese traders had settled here already on 16th century. Macau itself is a peninsula off of mainland China and there are 482 000 people. I'm not able to read out the size of the peninsula, but it can't be very big as I walked from the port to the other side of the peninsula in about an hour and 15 minutes or so - so it could be max 6km by 10km perhaps (I walked the shorter side).
Closer to the port so south side of the peninsula is full of casinos - it is the Vegas of Asia as they say. Center or the old town is just like a Mediterranean city. Quite an interesting mix I'd say - there is Las Vegas and 20 minutes later you find old Spanish style houses, catholic churches, narrow and wonderful streets covered with colorful tiny tiles :D Everything is possible on this side of the globe I say :)
I visited couple of churches and Cathedral of Macau, climbed the ruins of St. Paul church, claimed to Fort Monte and took a cable car to the highest point on the peninsula called Guia which was a fort and it also had a light house. I have noticed that cable cars are very popular here and I'm starting to like those little moving cabinets hanging on the ropes :)
I also walked on the very same road where Formula 1 Grand Prix takes place in November! I believe that this November I'll be watching some Formula 1 racing :D
And the traffic is backwards here as well, just like in Hong Kong.
All in all Macau was great. At the fort of Guia I met one elderly couple who were so friendly and took a picture of me. It is always nice to talk with other travellers just to see where they come from and what they are up to :) Well this couple had moved to Thailand 2 years ago, the guy was on pension and he was born in Germany, but had lived in US for more than 30 years. He's partner was born in Thailand and had been in US for 27 years. They sold all their belongings in US, bought some land in Thailand and moved there :) Whatta nice change :D
day 19 - Hong Kong - 04.09
Finding the correct station and line to go to from Shenzhen was quite a bit of a hassle. We walked back and forth about 20 minutes trying to figure it out of how can we cross the border and take a train and exchange money. Finally found some people who were able to help. Meanwhile we had our worst meal yet - the food was just bad as were the drinks and the dishes were so dirty that they served the food in and so on and so on - it was just very bad. This was before the crossed the border so were were glad to get to the other side.
Crossing the border was a long process as usual, one side checks you off and the other one checks you back in. Meanwhile there was lots of walking as we figured to cross it on foot and then take a metro line to the city. Metro was a breeze - so very easy. Next step was to find a hostel to stay at. The buildings (and by now I can say the whole city) is a multi level maze. For an example the hostel we are staying at has an address Nathan road 32-50 or something. Which basically means that there is one single entrance and all the firms or hostels are simply located around the building on different floors and corners. Our hostel is on 3 different floors I think and not covering the whole floor. So once you get to the correct floor then you still need to go and look for the correct area :) Sooo confusing at first. The city itself reminds a bit of the same situation - being laid out on many different levels of walkways, car roads and shopping malls with their tunnels.
Here are huuge cockroaches :( I guess everybody knows how I have long fingers, well the roaches are about the size of my thumb and they have long long legs so they move super fast. Oh those are disgusting. I hope there are none in our room (correction after 12 hours - cockroaches have been spotted in our room, but those are the small sized ones luckily).
The biggest part of the morning we were trying to arrange plane tickets for us to go to Vietnam. For this we had to navigate ourselves to the airport which was not really complicate but quite expensive. Subway system is very convenient like in most places, convenient and easy to understand. The only question we got was about switching stations as in Beijing you could buy one ticket and travel between any line without getting a new one, but in Shanghai you have to go out of the station and get another ticket for the transfer line and then come back down again - very ridiculous. In Hong Kong you can buy one ticket for most of the trains - just airport line has a separate and very expensive ticket. Anyhoo, but after finding the right counters and getting the offers from 2 airlines which were at a different sides of the airport (and this place is huuuge you know) and after double checking the offers from internet once more and calculating our possibilities about 10 times over we got our tickets to Hanoi - weheee!!! Our possibilities included flying out of Guangzhou which would have been 35% cheaper, but would have meant taking a 2h train there and flying to Hanoi in the afternoon so we would not have caught our train to Sapa the same evening - that would have been too much effort and extra cost to us so we decided to fly out of Hong Kong to make it easier. Originally we were gonna fly out on the 8th, but later we changed the date to 7th.
After running around at the airport for ever and ever and navigating there and back for ever and ever we made it to Victoria Peak. That was awesome! Well to tell the whole story we got a combo ticket including tram ride there and back + viewing platform + Madame Toussaud's museum.
Victoria Peak is 552m up on the hillside and they have pretty neat old looking trams taking people up there which are going up in a very steep hillsides at times and best of all - they stop at the very steepest places :) so you sit there trying not to fall of your seat :D Tram ride was definitely nice experience - me liked it a lot :) Going down was same - only backwards, so you actually went back first :)
Ok, but on the top there is quite a big building with all sorts of shops and restaurants and museums. We had to take about 10 escalators to get to the viewing platform - they should think about extending the tram tracks :) So the viewing platform - wept us off the feet. It was fabulous, the whole town was like on a plate, all the extremely tall buildings were silently standing in front of us - and there were so many of them. This view was best of all, beats Shanghai and New York and anything else I've seen before. Although in New York there is no such place to look where the whole town is visible as far as I know. So yes, view was magnificent with the buildings and mountains on the background and the boats and water and ports and oh uh, it was soo great.
Last we wondered to the wax museum. I've never been to one before and there were 3 floors of wax people - celebrities, politicians, athletes, rock stars and actors. There were quite many unknown Asian ones, but being in Hong Kong this is understandable I guess. After the museum we headed back down by the tram again - backwards :D
Evening was time to exchange our money (basically get rid of Chinese one), check into our hotel and get a good dinner in.
Oh and the traffic is backwards here - like in England.
Oh and you probably noticed that the days in my headings have been redone - it was a bit incorrect at first, but now it is all fixed and neat :)
Crossing the border was a long process as usual, one side checks you off and the other one checks you back in. Meanwhile there was lots of walking as we figured to cross it on foot and then take a metro line to the city. Metro was a breeze - so very easy. Next step was to find a hostel to stay at. The buildings (and by now I can say the whole city) is a multi level maze. For an example the hostel we are staying at has an address Nathan road 32-50 or something. Which basically means that there is one single entrance and all the firms or hostels are simply located around the building on different floors and corners. Our hostel is on 3 different floors I think and not covering the whole floor. So once you get to the correct floor then you still need to go and look for the correct area :) Sooo confusing at first. The city itself reminds a bit of the same situation - being laid out on many different levels of walkways, car roads and shopping malls with their tunnels.
Here are huuge cockroaches :( I guess everybody knows how I have long fingers, well the roaches are about the size of my thumb and they have long long legs so they move super fast. Oh those are disgusting. I hope there are none in our room (correction after 12 hours - cockroaches have been spotted in our room, but those are the small sized ones luckily).
The biggest part of the morning we were trying to arrange plane tickets for us to go to Vietnam. For this we had to navigate ourselves to the airport which was not really complicate but quite expensive. Subway system is very convenient like in most places, convenient and easy to understand. The only question we got was about switching stations as in Beijing you could buy one ticket and travel between any line without getting a new one, but in Shanghai you have to go out of the station and get another ticket for the transfer line and then come back down again - very ridiculous. In Hong Kong you can buy one ticket for most of the trains - just airport line has a separate and very expensive ticket. Anyhoo, but after finding the right counters and getting the offers from 2 airlines which were at a different sides of the airport (and this place is huuuge you know) and after double checking the offers from internet once more and calculating our possibilities about 10 times over we got our tickets to Hanoi - weheee!!! Our possibilities included flying out of Guangzhou which would have been 35% cheaper, but would have meant taking a 2h train there and flying to Hanoi in the afternoon so we would not have caught our train to Sapa the same evening - that would have been too much effort and extra cost to us so we decided to fly out of Hong Kong to make it easier. Originally we were gonna fly out on the 8th, but later we changed the date to 7th.
After running around at the airport for ever and ever and navigating there and back for ever and ever we made it to Victoria Peak. That was awesome! Well to tell the whole story we got a combo ticket including tram ride there and back + viewing platform + Madame Toussaud's museum.
Victoria Peak is 552m up on the hillside and they have pretty neat old looking trams taking people up there which are going up in a very steep hillsides at times and best of all - they stop at the very steepest places :) so you sit there trying not to fall of your seat :D Tram ride was definitely nice experience - me liked it a lot :) Going down was same - only backwards, so you actually went back first :)
Ok, but on the top there is quite a big building with all sorts of shops and restaurants and museums. We had to take about 10 escalators to get to the viewing platform - they should think about extending the tram tracks :) So the viewing platform - wept us off the feet. It was fabulous, the whole town was like on a plate, all the extremely tall buildings were silently standing in front of us - and there were so many of them. This view was best of all, beats Shanghai and New York and anything else I've seen before. Although in New York there is no such place to look where the whole town is visible as far as I know. So yes, view was magnificent with the buildings and mountains on the background and the boats and water and ports and oh uh, it was soo great.
Last we wondered to the wax museum. I've never been to one before and there were 3 floors of wax people - celebrities, politicians, athletes, rock stars and actors. There were quite many unknown Asian ones, but being in Hong Kong this is understandable I guess. After the museum we headed back down by the tram again - backwards :D
Evening was time to exchange our money (basically get rid of Chinese one), check into our hotel and get a good dinner in.
Oh and the traffic is backwards here - like in England.
Oh and you probably noticed that the days in my headings have been redone - it was a bit incorrect at first, but now it is all fixed and neat :)
day 18 - Last night in China - 03.09
At the bus transfer van we met one German guy who works in Xiamen. He was going to get his new visa from Guangzhou so was going to the bus station as well. He was very talkative and we had quite entertaining hour with him :) He was so vividly explaining his experiences with this snorting and spitting here - that more than once it has happened so that there is this horrible noise coming from behind him when he is walking on the street and he just growls at the thought of a person who would do such a thing, when he looks over his shoulder to take a look at the monster who can make such noises he would find some tiny lady on high heels walking behind him :) But the way he was describing the situation was hilarious, i laughed so hard that i got tears in my eyes :)
I did not even catch the German guy's name, but we got some interesting discussions in about the ways that locals socialize and spend their free time, of how the holidays are handled here and what they consider entertaining. We also talked about the health care system and education system here - it was good information. And oh the guy was cheerful, most of the time we were laughing so hard that we got tears in our eyes. So that dude was very lively and positive, he has worked here for a year and a half already and was having conversations with the locals quite freely already in Chinese. He also gave us some good hints about arriving to Shenzhen and crossing the border as well as getting to Hong Kong from there. Very useful bits and pieces of information.
All of the sudden we came to a realization with Riina that this is the last night for us in China! We will be crossing the border and leaving China in the morning and later we will take a plane directly from Hong Kong to Vietnam. There will be different money even in Hong Kong and we realized it just at the bus station that we hadn't exchanged any Hong Kong dollars! Uh oh, we will figure it out somehow.
Last night ended up being a bumpy ride :) Seriously it seemed like the bus driver was driving on the side of the road (so on the field) or something. I had hard time sleeping in a bed that was rocking and jumping that heavily. So I did not get any sleep :( We arrived to Shenzhen 2,5 hours in advance.
I did not even catch the German guy's name, but we got some interesting discussions in about the ways that locals socialize and spend their free time, of how the holidays are handled here and what they consider entertaining. We also talked about the health care system and education system here - it was good information. And oh the guy was cheerful, most of the time we were laughing so hard that we got tears in our eyes. So that dude was very lively and positive, he has worked here for a year and a half already and was having conversations with the locals quite freely already in Chinese. He also gave us some good hints about arriving to Shenzhen and crossing the border as well as getting to Hong Kong from there. Very useful bits and pieces of information.
All of the sudden we came to a realization with Riina that this is the last night for us in China! We will be crossing the border and leaving China in the morning and later we will take a plane directly from Hong Kong to Vietnam. There will be different money even in Hong Kong and we realized it just at the bus station that we hadn't exchanged any Hong Kong dollars! Uh oh, we will figure it out somehow.
Last night ended up being a bumpy ride :) Seriously it seemed like the bus driver was driving on the side of the road (so on the field) or something. I had hard time sleeping in a bed that was rocking and jumping that heavily. So I did not get any sleep :( We arrived to Shenzhen 2,5 hours in advance.
Sidenote
The days count was incorrect and I have fixed it now. Also I will be posting quite many entries in one go in a second as there is finally internet connection :) Happy reading!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
day 18 - Gulang Yu - 03.09
Got up at 9, showered and packed our bags again. This constant packing is becoming a routine already. Now i don't even need to look into every plastic bag when i need something - i know exactly where it is, i just reach and pull it out :) nice and handy.
Then we spend about 1,5 hours on the net - me sorting out yesterdays broken photos upload (i did not get it fixed) and Riina looking for flights from Hong Kong to Hanoi (Vietnam). Apparently the best for us would be to get the plane tickets from Hong Kong, apparently it is as easy as walking up to the ticket counter and just buying them like one bus ticket to Keila or something :) I guess we will see tomorrow :D
And about the pictures - i need better internet connection for this. i was so excited when i heard that there is free wireless at this hostel, but i was not expecting it to be so dead slow. grrr. hopefully we will have better luck in Hong Kong.
So today we made our way to the island by Xiamen called Gulang Yu. It had nice old town feeling to it. We wondered around the narrow and windy old streets, visited local Aquarium and then made our way to Sunlight Rock and the parks around it. We got to take the cable car again :) Got to climb whole lotta stairs again :D (those were Riinas favorite) and of course enjoyed wonderful views to the island and to the coast from the top of the rock. We spent our good 5 hours on the island. And once more we realized - life is beautiful!
On our way to the port we found one great food place on the street. Street food is great in many ways. First it is right there, you don't need to go in anywhere, it is just right there, you walk along and wham there is food in front of you. S4econd it is delicious. Third it is quick. Fourth you don't need to guess, you just look and point. Fifth it is very cheap. Sixth you can go and eat it anywhere. We had street food for our late breakfast and also got one on our way back as well. Wonderful.
Our bus to Shenzhen leaves in about 2,5 hours, there is a ticket office close by where we got our tickets and they will also provide transportation for us to the bus station - so convenient. From Shenzhen we will cross the border and take an express train to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the 5 special administrative regions so we will be leaving China and entering to Hong Kong area.
Then we spend about 1,5 hours on the net - me sorting out yesterdays broken photos upload (i did not get it fixed) and Riina looking for flights from Hong Kong to Hanoi (Vietnam). Apparently the best for us would be to get the plane tickets from Hong Kong, apparently it is as easy as walking up to the ticket counter and just buying them like one bus ticket to Keila or something :) I guess we will see tomorrow :D
And about the pictures - i need better internet connection for this. i was so excited when i heard that there is free wireless at this hostel, but i was not expecting it to be so dead slow. grrr. hopefully we will have better luck in Hong Kong.
So today we made our way to the island by Xiamen called Gulang Yu. It had nice old town feeling to it. We wondered around the narrow and windy old streets, visited local Aquarium and then made our way to Sunlight Rock and the parks around it. We got to take the cable car again :) Got to climb whole lotta stairs again :D (those were Riinas favorite) and of course enjoyed wonderful views to the island and to the coast from the top of the rock. We spent our good 5 hours on the island. And once more we realized - life is beautiful!
On our way to the port we found one great food place on the street. Street food is great in many ways. First it is right there, you don't need to go in anywhere, it is just right there, you walk along and wham there is food in front of you. S4econd it is delicious. Third it is quick. Fourth you don't need to guess, you just look and point. Fifth it is very cheap. Sixth you can go and eat it anywhere. We had street food for our late breakfast and also got one on our way back as well. Wonderful.
Our bus to Shenzhen leaves in about 2,5 hours, there is a ticket office close by where we got our tickets and they will also provide transportation for us to the bus station - so convenient. From Shenzhen we will cross the border and take an express train to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the 5 special administrative regions so we will be leaving China and entering to Hong Kong area.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
day 17 - Xiamen - 02.09
We arrived to Xiamen at 1:45 in the morning by bus. As usual we were surrounded by very agressive taxi drivers and other sales people who were overly eager to take us to a hotel. It is not a good idea to arrive to a new location in the dark and at night (so basically anytime between 22:30 and 07:00) as there is no transportation other than taxis and nobody to ask for directions. We tried to avoid it this time as well, but there was no later bus than that - so nothing we could do. Already expecting such behaviour we already new what we needed to do - just keep saying no and move to any direction as fast as possible.
After a few blocks of walking we realized that we are not anywhere close to the city center as we thought we should have been - location of the bus station was known to us. Finally we still ended up taking a taxi to center of the town. No idea where we were dropped of by the bus then :) In the city center we could not locate any hostel at all, seemed like we were at a overly crowded shopping district. After some pondering and looking through our options we took another taxi to the closest youth hostel that we found from the travel guide. Arrived there at around 3:15 :D and after going through our options once more got two beds in a dormitory room again.
Oh the sleep was sweet after 2 nights in moving locations (train and bus). I opened my eyes first time at 1:30 in the afternoon :) and oh the joy of showering, yummmm! Felt like a human being again after good nights sleep and long shower. Then to town. Arranged ourselves bus tickets for tomorrow late night to Shenzhen, leaving on 3rd of September at 22:40, it will be 10 hour bus drive. Next had "breakfast" at some local eating place at 3:15 in the afternoon :D Rest of the day walked around in Xiamen, sat in a park and simply looked around the town. Bought some more snacks, this time dried pineapple, dried plums, some sort of candy and - tadaaaa - bottle of local wine :D
During our late late breakfast we also put together our initial plan for our travels in Vietnam. We are trying to get a flight from Hong Kong (or somewhere close by) to Hanoi in the morning of 8th of September and then train from Hanoi in the evening to the northern border. More specifically later on when we have the tickets.
After a few blocks of walking we realized that we are not anywhere close to the city center as we thought we should have been - location of the bus station was known to us. Finally we still ended up taking a taxi to center of the town. No idea where we were dropped of by the bus then :) In the city center we could not locate any hostel at all, seemed like we were at a overly crowded shopping district. After some pondering and looking through our options we took another taxi to the closest youth hostel that we found from the travel guide. Arrived there at around 3:15 :D and after going through our options once more got two beds in a dormitory room again.
Oh the sleep was sweet after 2 nights in moving locations (train and bus). I opened my eyes first time at 1:30 in the afternoon :) and oh the joy of showering, yummmm! Felt like a human being again after good nights sleep and long shower. Then to town. Arranged ourselves bus tickets for tomorrow late night to Shenzhen, leaving on 3rd of September at 22:40, it will be 10 hour bus drive. Next had "breakfast" at some local eating place at 3:15 in the afternoon :D Rest of the day walked around in Xiamen, sat in a park and simply looked around the town. Bought some more snacks, this time dried pineapple, dried plums, some sort of candy and - tadaaaa - bottle of local wine :D
During our late late breakfast we also put together our initial plan for our travels in Vietnam. We are trying to get a flight from Hong Kong (or somewhere close by) to Hanoi in the morning of 8th of September and then train from Hanoi in the evening to the northern border. More specifically later on when we have the tickets.
day 16 - Wengzhou - 01.09
Train ride to Wengzhou was fine. I got to sleep surprisingly well - Riina was not so lucky unfortunately. This time we had soft sleeper which meant we had soft seats which you could recline a bit. Hard seat is the one we took to Tai'an apparently - this is where we sat on a hard wooden bench squeezed in with all the locals next to us and people standing in the aisle. The train where we had beds - this was apparently hard sleeper - soft sleeper being more luxurious with separate cabinets having 4 beds on 2 levels not 6 beds on 3 levels like the hard sleeper had.
Train arrived to Wengzhou around 7 in the morning. Got directions for the bus station, arranged a bus to Xiamen the same evening, leaving at 18:30. It will be around 8h bus ride. Left our luggage to the bus station. Also got directions on how to get to town and then back again (asked them to write the bus station name in chinese just in case as there are multiple stations here). While walking away from the station there was a group of locals who tried to get into Riinas back bag :( They managed to open the bag up but then Riina noticed them. I have secured my back bags zippers so that it is not possible to simply open them - you'd have to unclip them first, so i'd hear the clip being opened and after unclipping you still have to untangle the zipper strings to unzip the bag - pretty secure system :) . Later a local girl warned us about burglers in the bus and train station as well.
Getting to the town was a hassle as first we took a bus to a wrong direction :) It was quite difficult to get people to help us find directions once we got off the bus as first of all they were quite unwilling to help and also because they did not speak english at all. Finally one half local helped us who spoke quite good english and double checked the directions with his friend by phone. Getting to town was almost 2,5h adventure for us :D
About the town - well we walked around in a blazing sun - it was so hot hot hot, quite unmanageable. At the local pedestrian walk the only eating place we found was Pizza Hut :) so we had a very nice breakfast, consisting of hot chocolate and pepperoni pizza for me :D Pizza Hut is considerably more expensive than any local food place though. Later we walked around in town - what can I say, of all those places we have been so far, i'd say this was a totally pointless place :) To kill time we were trying to find an internet place, but the street did not have enough houses on it so we gave up and spend our afternoon at a local park bench napping and reading amongst the locals who were mostly napping :D Those benches were in shade as well so it worked out quite well - nice and relaxing.
Made our way back to the bus station and had dinner. Dinner ended up being a disaster - they wrote down our orded totally wrong, this seemed impossible though as i was mostly pointing at pictures when ordering. It was amazingly difficult to make them understand that this is not what we ordered and we will not be eating it - please bring us other food. After looots of explaining with pen and paper and pointing at pictures and showing with our hands we ended up what we ordered and got some money back for thing we did not order but they wrote down for us. Uh oh.
Later cleaned up a bit, changed clothes and then it was time to board the bus already. To our surprize the bus was equipped with beds :D :D Riina was on the lower bunk and i was above her on the upper one. There were local movies playing the whole night. Right above my head were the speakers, luckily only the first movies sound was crancked up, later the sound was turned down so it did not disturb my sleep. Another thing was the air conditioning - it blew absolutely freezing air to my feet and face :( Luckily the blanket provided was very thick so my feet were fine, for my head i ended up wrapping a blanked pilfered from finnair flight around my head and throat so that only my noze got air :D worked like a charm for cold air and for the noise as well. Got my beautisleep in without any major problems.
Train arrived to Wengzhou around 7 in the morning. Got directions for the bus station, arranged a bus to Xiamen the same evening, leaving at 18:30. It will be around 8h bus ride. Left our luggage to the bus station. Also got directions on how to get to town and then back again (asked them to write the bus station name in chinese just in case as there are multiple stations here). While walking away from the station there was a group of locals who tried to get into Riinas back bag :( They managed to open the bag up but then Riina noticed them. I have secured my back bags zippers so that it is not possible to simply open them - you'd have to unclip them first, so i'd hear the clip being opened and after unclipping you still have to untangle the zipper strings to unzip the bag - pretty secure system :) . Later a local girl warned us about burglers in the bus and train station as well.
Getting to the town was a hassle as first we took a bus to a wrong direction :) It was quite difficult to get people to help us find directions once we got off the bus as first of all they were quite unwilling to help and also because they did not speak english at all. Finally one half local helped us who spoke quite good english and double checked the directions with his friend by phone. Getting to town was almost 2,5h adventure for us :D
About the town - well we walked around in a blazing sun - it was so hot hot hot, quite unmanageable. At the local pedestrian walk the only eating place we found was Pizza Hut :) so we had a very nice breakfast, consisting of hot chocolate and pepperoni pizza for me :D Pizza Hut is considerably more expensive than any local food place though. Later we walked around in town - what can I say, of all those places we have been so far, i'd say this was a totally pointless place :) To kill time we were trying to find an internet place, but the street did not have enough houses on it so we gave up and spend our afternoon at a local park bench napping and reading amongst the locals who were mostly napping :D Those benches were in shade as well so it worked out quite well - nice and relaxing.
Made our way back to the bus station and had dinner. Dinner ended up being a disaster - they wrote down our orded totally wrong, this seemed impossible though as i was mostly pointing at pictures when ordering. It was amazingly difficult to make them understand that this is not what we ordered and we will not be eating it - please bring us other food. After looots of explaining with pen and paper and pointing at pictures and showing with our hands we ended up what we ordered and got some money back for thing we did not order but they wrote down for us. Uh oh.
Later cleaned up a bit, changed clothes and then it was time to board the bus already. To our surprize the bus was equipped with beds :D :D Riina was on the lower bunk and i was above her on the upper one. There were local movies playing the whole night. Right above my head were the speakers, luckily only the first movies sound was crancked up, later the sound was turned down so it did not disturb my sleep. Another thing was the air conditioning - it blew absolutely freezing air to my feet and face :( Luckily the blanket provided was very thick so my feet were fine, for my head i ended up wrapping a blanked pilfered from finnair flight around my head and throat so that only my noze got air :D worked like a charm for cold air and for the noise as well. Got my beautisleep in without any major problems.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
day 15 - Hangzhou - 31.08
Since at the hostel there is hot water only till 10am, I got up at 9 to take a shower (I was prepared even for lines at the shower room :)). First 5 minutes of the shower there was only hot water and from then on there was only cold water :) And all this you get used to as long as you can take your shower since you never know when/if/how and where you are able to shower next.
This morning when we woke up there was an unpleasant surprise - it was pouring outside :( Nevertheless we decided to go walking by the lake. We wrapped ourselves into waterproof clothes, packed, checked out of the hostel and headed out leaving bags to the hostel. There are 36 lakes in China that are named West Lake - the one in Hangzhou is the most famous one of them. We were pretty good at ignoring the rain as it was all worth it. The lake was beautiful. It is possible to take a walk around the lake and there are nice parks and walkways by the shore, walkways are very clean and windy, edged by weeping willows - just like in a fairytale picture book.
There are 3 islands on the lake. We took a boat to two of them, one smaller and the other bigger - the biggest of the 3. The biggest one has little water eyes inside it and during full moon it gets wonderful reflections on the water. During that night the locals come to the island and decorate it with candles - that must be worthy sight. From the biggest island we were taken back by the boat to the other side of the lake and from there we walked down to the hostel side again by special walkway. By that time the rain had stopped as well.
We had a wonderful dinner at the same restaurant where we ate last night as food there was delicious, it was Muslim restaurant. At first when we got to China we were wondering of how they manage to order so much food that their whole table is covered with plates - now we are mastering that already quite well. Of course the fact that all dishes are brought to the table at once and nothing is cleaned off before the people leave the table helps us a bit as well :)
After dinner we took one more walk on the wonderful crafts street. This time we shopped mostly for local sweets and candy. Now we are back at the hostel where we collected our bags. Loaded up some more photos and sat in a free wireless for 1,5 hours :) No idea when will the next opportunity come to visit the worldwideweb :) But now - to the train station, our train to Wenzhou leaves in 2,5 hours.
All the best to all of you!!!
This morning when we woke up there was an unpleasant surprise - it was pouring outside :( Nevertheless we decided to go walking by the lake. We wrapped ourselves into waterproof clothes, packed, checked out of the hostel and headed out leaving bags to the hostel. There are 36 lakes in China that are named West Lake - the one in Hangzhou is the most famous one of them. We were pretty good at ignoring the rain as it was all worth it. The lake was beautiful. It is possible to take a walk around the lake and there are nice parks and walkways by the shore, walkways are very clean and windy, edged by weeping willows - just like in a fairytale picture book.
There are 3 islands on the lake. We took a boat to two of them, one smaller and the other bigger - the biggest of the 3. The biggest one has little water eyes inside it and during full moon it gets wonderful reflections on the water. During that night the locals come to the island and decorate it with candles - that must be worthy sight. From the biggest island we were taken back by the boat to the other side of the lake and from there we walked down to the hostel side again by special walkway. By that time the rain had stopped as well.
We had a wonderful dinner at the same restaurant where we ate last night as food there was delicious, it was Muslim restaurant. At first when we got to China we were wondering of how they manage to order so much food that their whole table is covered with plates - now we are mastering that already quite well. Of course the fact that all dishes are brought to the table at once and nothing is cleaned off before the people leave the table helps us a bit as well :)
After dinner we took one more walk on the wonderful crafts street. This time we shopped mostly for local sweets and candy. Now we are back at the hostel where we collected our bags. Loaded up some more photos and sat in a free wireless for 1,5 hours :) No idea when will the next opportunity come to visit the worldwideweb :) But now - to the train station, our train to Wenzhou leaves in 2,5 hours.
All the best to all of you!!!
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