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We are currenty in Hoi An, moving on to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow, this is probably our last update before Christmas!
Hanoi - Is CRAZY! We were staying in the old quarter where all the shops/street stalls/food stalls spill out onto the pavement, mixed with the pavements being an extra lane for motorbikes or a car park for motor bikes. They seem to think it is normal to stop in front of you, park where you are standing and beep constantly! After our first day we escaped the constant noise and headed for Ha Long bay.
Ha Long bay we remembered from the Top Gear Vietnam episode where they made their motorbikes into boats. And it was just as we pictured it, apart from at this time of year the sun does not shine as much and it is misty a lot of the time. However this made it slightly more mysterious! We opted for a 'better' quality boat (A class) and did a 3 day, 2 night trip. Having heard rumours of rats on board the cheaper boats this was definitely a better option. We had our own cabin with en suite and a good three meals a day included. Spent our time visiting floating villages, schools and kayaking around some of the islands. Then visiting monkey island and the 'amazing' cave on route back. Floating shops come up to the boat selling all kinds of items so we managed to buy our beer and water from the locals for cheaper which they passed up via an extended fishing net!
Back to crazy Hanoi for a few days where luckily we had a quieter hotel room, otherwise I think we would have gone insane. Visited the place where Ho Chi Minh is preserved, walked around the lake a few times for a bit of peace and quiet and generally just people watched from various coffee shops. We have taken some video clips of the crazyness which will try and upload soon! As there are no road rules, cars/cyclos/bikes/people/motorbikes/street sellers all share the road and generally drive at each other beeping until one gets the right of way.
Very early morning flight to Hue (when we arrived at the airport 2 hours before our flight the airport was still shut) but as we have now realised, anything can be considered 'normal' in Vietnam! Hue was much quieter than Hanoi but we saw many rats living locally, especially in the market. First day was so hot we had to go and hide inside, however, in sympathy for the poor weather at home it rained at lot the next day and was pretty cold so we ventured out in a cyclo (one old man cycling the two of us in a cart covered from the torrential rain) to the market to buy ourselves a rain coat! Then we were all set for our sightseeing of the city, mainly walking around the Citadel once the rain had cleared up and again generally people watching!
A five hour scenic bus ride and we arrived in Hoi An which we loved from the start. There is hardly any traffic, lots of places where we feel we wont get trampled on by rats and a nice relaxed charm. However on our first walk into the old town we were approached by three motorbikes trying to get us to visit their tailor shops (every other shop is a tailors!). Having now travelled for a good few months we are starting to get used to scams etc and were good at lying saying we had already been in the town for a few days and leaving in the morning. Both of us decided that we weren't going to buy anything from a tailors however the lure of the perfect fitting clothes got to both of us and we ended up having a suit made each, shorts and a dress! Whoops! Spent a few days mainly people watching and returning to have our 'fittings' at the tailors. Tomorrow we fly to Ho Chi Minh City where 7 million people live and the traffic will be worst than Hanoi. Will we go crazy? Watch this space! We are spending Christmas in Ho Chi Minh City then travel by bus into Cambodia for New Year.
They do celebrate Christmas in Vietnam however we are not feeling particularly festive yet, despite the Vietnamese receptionist singing Christmas songs. So we welcome any tips of feeling more festive!
Have a great Christmas and New Year. See you end of January.
Love Julia and Mark xx
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