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Back again and I've had the best 2nd day of a coutnry ever, after a pretty s***ty first.
As mentioned, spent about 3days in Saigon. Went to the tunnels, got a suit made, ate some sweet food - regards to Quan for his expertise - and tried to take advantage of the banks and the black market. Seems on some days the black market buying price for US$ is higher than the bank's so if you've got the dosh you can make a little doe - a days budget - through exchanging for Viet dong(like that play on words? Viet dong, not gong). However, none of the banks would give me any US$ - probably doing the same thing out the back - so that mission failed. Bought an open sleeper bus ticket (perfect valium popping ride) which allows you to stop off at 5 different locations between Saigon and Hanoi. I used 2 - Nha Trang and Hanoi.
Got on the bus at 8pm and arrived the next day in Nha Trang ready to go. Found our mate Vijay and booked ourselves on a tour around the islands. Nice tour. Had a crack up guide who got juiced and sang karaoke and started up a "floating bar" - piece of foam - with real crap red wine for free. He called it, "s***house wine to get you minging." 'Twas. Alright day lead into a good night. Got on the double vodka red bulls for a $1. Best buck drink I ever had. Course, had too many and bombed the next day. Got back on the bus after leaving Olly - cause he doesn't have a Chinese visa - and made Hanoi 35hours later - after a six hour stopover in Hoian which I utilised by seeing an old palace.
Checked out Hanoi. Not much to see. Bought some stuff. Saw a water puppet show and kicked it at my hotel. Next day watched the Blacks roll England and after a few brews during the game gained that uncanny ability to talk to strangers. They knew more about Hanoi than I - ie. bars other than the one across the street - and we went off to watch a Philippino band play until 12am. Everything closes at 12 but they knew of an "underground" club which was pumping. Paid way too much to get in then the same amount for a drinks ticket and had my first beer in hand when the police came in whistle blowing the place up. Seems it was the anniversary of someone who had died. Not even the locals knew who.
Next day jumped on a 3day 2night tour of Halong Bay. Nice views of limestone islands. Great swimming. Average kayaking. Plying the islands were old school Asian style junks, but newly made. Pretty cool. Spent a night on one and got dropped off, after a swim, the next day on Cat Ba island. Had a nice short super sweaty hike to the nighest peak. Took some photos then spent the afternoon relaxing in the hotel. Had a few drinks with an Aus couple in the township then, the next day, was back on the junk heading to Hanoi and a night train to the Chinese border. While heading back watched a huge storm dropping massive lightning strikes into the sea and on land. Got a photo of one but it was by far not the best or biggest crack.
A hard sleeper train took me to the border town by 7am the next morning and grabbed a motobike taxi to immigration. b****** ran over a puppy on the way and, I'm sure, it was a bad omen for my first day in China (Yes, now that I'm in China there are omens and other Chinese things to consider). The crossing actually went alright. The only guy checking bags had held up a French couple to thoroughly check their bags which allowed me to slip by behind him. I got in easy and they missed their bus. Haha - that's for the quarter final! However, the omen came into play with a s*** bus ride on an even s***tier road for 14hours - we broke down and had to wait for another bus. I think I've paid for the killing of a puppy though because after that day then losing Y200 I had a great 2nd day. Met up with Sangzi, a girl I met in Lao - no, I didn't hook up with her, and she showed me around Kunming. Real nice city. It's called the Spring city because of the weather. Feels like it's always got the air-conditioning on after being in South East Asia so long. We had a local speciality of Rice Noodles over the Bridge - alludes to a story about a wife who had to get her hubby's meals to him hot while walking over a bridge to get to their rice paddy fields on an island. Then went to the bird/turtle/snake/spider/rabbit/dog/cat market. Yup. Saw a temple then met up with her friends and learned to play Majong - the popular Chinese gambling game. Pretty hard to learn the characters and combinations but managed to win the first game - beginners luck you say? Very Chinese - a person (I think the winner) rolls the dice to decide who rolls the dice to decide where to pick up your blocks and who begins the game. After, ate a good dinner of pork that tastes like fish, some slightly spicy chicken mix dish, dumplings, and sweet n sour pork. Me and Sangzi then moved on to the foreigner street - saw 4 foreigners - and took a walk around the lake. Pretty cool. Had Chinese people of all ages dancing in sync and others playing traditional, minority music. Very cool. One dude was the lead of a group blowing tunes through leaves. Impressive and all for the love of it. No money, just love and rememberance of old songs. Very, very cool. Only the 2nd day in China.
Vietnam was what I expected - a productive transit period. Doubt I'll go back unless it's to Saigon which is cool. After traveling for so long some attractions just aren't as cool as others. Now on to the enormity of China. Sweet.
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