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10/12/2009 Hanoi, It has a pace of hundred mile an hour, thousands of Motor bikes swarm like Bee's absolutely everywhere, including the pavements, it's a noisy hurley burley city, and we love it. Crossing the road is an art form, nothing stops for pedestrians, so you just put your best foot forward, head held high and slowly mince across (no sniggers) It's amazing its very similar to when I parted the waters (we have even videoed it.) .The old quarter has narrow streets that are named after what is sold there, ie in Vietnamese jean street, cobbler street, material, and so on, this area has wonderful feel. Armani jeans $10 US, Oonagh bought an adidas sport watch for £1.60 ( shame we have no room in our bags)
Uncle Ho Chi Mingh's mausoleum is a surreal experience, guards dressed in white every 5m making sure your hands are by your side and your wearing a sombre expression, (the old fella hasn't aged a day, his beard still looks good).
14/12/09 Halong bay one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, a 3 hr bus journey is an experience in its self, women are really put into hard labour, Building roads, digging ditches and ploughing the fields by Oxon (Every western lady should come and watch) all you can see are hundreds of conical hats beavering away in the rice paddy's, Its just how we imagined Vietnam to be. As for the tour, our boat was a converted junk and there are literally hundreds working the bay in various guises, ours had 2 decks, 8 good rooms with private facilities, A good crowd of 16 guests of all nationalities and all travellers, The food was top drawer, even though it was mainly fresh fish caught that day, It is really a magical & mystical place as we slowly cruised around thousands of limestone islands jutting out of the sea, Its eerily quiet, but awesome, As we kayaked around islands, even onto some to see stalactites and stalagmites, At night as we anchored up a lady appeared in a rowing boat laden with food, fags and drinks like a floating supermarket. Our 2 day trip was worth every Dong £30 each
Hanoi is a great city for a few days, We ate with the locals at nights for 50p each, a sort of rice porridge dish with pork, vegetables and pepper (wall to wall bacteria , but really tasty), and we got away very cheaply, BUT!, we did have to keep our radar up, they are into every scam going, we probably got done? Who knows!.
Tam biet the Chaffer's
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