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Wednesday : sunny
Well todays the day, day 32, our last day in Vietnam, well half day really. Upsetting it was here already. It's been another Incredible experience to say the least.
North or South? I'd have to choose South, only because i think there is probably more to see, with less distance to travel between places. It goes from way down south through the Mekong Delta, went there last time we were here. Also right up to the old boarder. We spent most of our time in the South this time round too. I am sure that we could of spent an equal amount of time in the North if we had a longer visas.
The people may of made me swing it in the Souths favor as well. Although on Cat Ba island the people were very friendly, and even Hanoi the people were great especially at the hotel. I just didn't get the same vibe the further north we went. A few less smiles when we walked past, less hello's yelled out from random houses, when we strolled by. The northerners were nice, just not as nice, and it always felt like they saying something behind your back. Don't know why, but Kim feels the same, maybe the real commies are up there.
Things I didn't like about Vietnam as a whole, would of had to be the 1) Public transport, it's pretty bad, not a real high standard of finisihings or traveling times, it's cheap though. They need a proper freeway from North to South, and run a new train line beside it. 2) The taking advantage of your money because your white, there is definitely a local price and a whities price. Even government agencies would try and rip you off. You have to have your witts about you. Do some research on how much you should pay and stick with it, if they say no, just walk away, most of the time they will chase you, and give you the right price. Sad but true. Be alot easier if everything had a price tag 3) The rubbish, they just haven't been educated on the issue. Far too many times I saw people just throwing things away when they were finished with it. Throwing things on the streets, in gardens, in rivers, in national parks, oceans everywhere. They have street sweepers working non stop but it's not enough. They need a clean up Vietnam day, with 86million people it's a start. 4) The pressure some of these street merchants/transport people force onto you, they never give up. Some people were using their children to sell things, we never saw that before last time we were here. Towards the end we were getting pretty abrupt with them. They were getting worse the further north we got too. 5) Has to be the bodily functions of the Vietnamese, Kim was repulsed, and it wasn't doing any favors with me either. Also they don't know much about personal space. Maybe because they share their house with 10 others. Well that's my top 5, I'm sure the good outweighs the bad.
After breakfast we hopped into our airport transfer. The airport in Hanoi is a long way out of the city 38kms and with no real motorways in Vietnam the trip took an hour. On the other hand we moved really quick through checkin and customs. Flying is probably the only public transport that is quick and easy here, Saigon airport was the same. Tip for next time, fly everywhere. With a quick duty free shop and feed we bordered the plane.
It was an easy flight only 1.5 hrs. Only if Hong Kong airport was as quick and easy a the Viet airports. Weirdest setup we got off the plane into the terminal, down two escalators then on a train? A train inside the airport It was a long ride two. Sure HK airport is all new and flash and more organized, but the imigration lines were huge. There were 4-6 massive organized lines. 1-2 lines at either end of the big room and 1-2 lines in the centre. We went to the end lines thought they were smaller, but they were so slow. Only 3 staff working on our line, after that we got some money out and bought train tickets to take us to HK central. That train was pretty cool, it had a map of HK's train network and little led lights to tell us where we were, what station was next and what way we were traveling. Also had wifi which we couldn't use like at the airport, Tv's, carpet, places for big bags, it was very comfortably compared to Nam's trains. Once there though we couldn't just get out of the station into the street, we had to line up again for a taxi to take us outside, or to a hotel. We were still inside an a/c bubble, been inside on for over 2 hours at this point. Almost seven hours if you include the flight and Hanoi's airport. We got a taxi to our hotel.
It was almost three hrs from when we arrived till we got to our planned hotel.
A lot of police out on the roads today on the way to the hotel. Roads, driveways, footpaths all blocked off. Someone important was coming? Our cabbie could not get to our hotel to drop us off, the police wouldn't let us cross the road either.
So we went back to a shopping centre up the road that we passed. Its been over three hours now since we arrived here. We took our packs off got some food and had a break, and waited for the police to clear.
There is so much free Wifi here, on the trains, at the airport, walking the street, at this shop 12 providers showed up on the phone. but not one would let us connect properly. The bars in the phone were up, but we couldn't access anything, even email.
I went to go see if the police had moved on they had. I went to the hotel and found out that the hotel was booked out. So back in a cab to take us back central to our backup hotel. Closed for renovations, awesome the two cheaper ones are out.
Then this Italian fella came up to us and told us about a hotel he has stayed at, he said it was cheaper than the rest to. it was not to far away so we went to check it out. Sure it was cheaper than the rest still $200 per night though.
So we left and went for a walk to try and find some more cheaper hotels. No luck after an hour walk. Hong Kong just seems like any other big city. Similar Sydney in ways. a lot of whities in suites working here on HK island too.
So we had no choice to checkin. $200 per night, with no breakfast, no free Wifi, and water we still can not drink straight from the tap. Good value for money in Hong Kong. We got more for $10 a night back in Vietnam.
We had made plans to go and meet up with that Dutch couple and the HK local that we met in Vietnam tonight, but with no Internet that plan disappeared, have to sort that out.
It was getting dark now, so we just caught up on a few things in our room. At least the room had an iPod dock so we could play music. Kim was planning our movements through china and we realized that we have less time in china than we thought. Under a month, luckily we have dual entry visas, so we can come back after india. See how we go.
Off walking tomorrow to see what Hong Kong has to show us.
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