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Archive for January, 2009

With a rest day in Hue we decided to spend a couple of hours exploring the ancient city.  We headed to the Citadel, which occupies a large, walled area on the north side of the river.  Inside the Citadel was a forbidden city where only the concubines, emperors, and those close enough to them were granted access, the punishment for trespassing being death! After avoiding the death part we explored the forbidden city, unfortunately little remains of the city but it was good to explore the local area for a few hours.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We left the chaos of Hanoi in search of a more relaxed Vietnam.  A late night bus dropped us off at Ninh Binh (about 3 hours south of Hanoi) where we had booked a stay at the Xuan Hoa Hotel.  After a good nights rest we woke early to explore the town.  When we returned to the hotel we bumped into Greg who we had met in Hanoi.

We all decided to hire bicycles and head off to explore Tam Coc.  Tam Coc is known as the ‘Halong Bay on the rice paddies’ for its huge rock formations jutting out of rice paddies.  After an 8km bike ride we arrived at the docks and arranged a rowboat along the Ngo Dong River.

The boat ride lasted over 3 hours and took us through magnificent scenery as well as the Karst caves.  Our guide showed us the rock formations as he used his feet to row the boat – A skill that took a lot of practice!

After returning to the docks we took our bikes further up the road to visit a local pagoda.  We walked up the steps carved into the rock to view the rice paddies and temples.

The trip was a great way to see Vietnam in an area not often visited by tourists.  Our visit to Tam Coc also made up for the disappointing visit to Halong Bay.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We spent a few days in Hanoi using it as a base to visit Sapa and Halong Bay.  It was a very hectic city with the streets dominated by motorbikes – It made crossing the streets very stressful!

Images of Hanoi are available in the gallery HERE

Halong Bay was our first disappointing trip of the travels.  We set off about 8am on a 3 hour bus ride to Halong Bay where we’d hoped to view the islands.

After reaching the Bay we boarded a very nice boat for our trip.  Lunch was served with an amazing sea food buffet.

After lunch we arrived at the main island where we took a tour through the local cave system.

The bay was spectacular with a good view of all the local boats.

From here we had thought the tour would continue through the islands but unfortunately we were taken back to Halong Bay.  It was a shame as we had  hoped to see more of the islands but what we did see was very impressive.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We spent Chinese New Year in Hanoi and celebrated it with some friends we’d met along our travels.  The local Irish bar was the obvious place to begin celebrating so we all headed off there for some beer and pool.

After a good night in the Irish bar we headed out into the city to celebrate with the locals as midnight approached.  We headed for the lake where we were told there would be fireworks but came up against a mass of traffic!  It made progress difficult through the city streets but we managed to get to a good viewing position.  Lanterns were being launched into the sky as the fireworks were set off.

We stayed in the city for a while before returning to our hotel.  Here the staff were celebrating with local wine and lots of local food.

More images are available in the gallery HERE

Sapa is situated in the northwest of Vietnam, close to the Chinese border.  It overlooks a beautiful valley and mountain range, with various hill tribes residing in the local area.

We set off from Hanoi at 7pm to go to the main railway station.  It would then be a 9 hour overnight trip up to Sapa.  We settled into our 4 berth sleeper carriage for a long night.

At about 5am the train conductor woke us up just as we pulled into Lao Cai.  From here we boarded a bus which would take us an hour up the mountains to Sapa. We finally arrived at the Sapa Summit Hotel about 7am and headed off to breakfast.  This was followed by a quick shower in our room before beginning our tour.

We met our local guide at the hotel and started walking to Cat Cat Village.  It was a very misty day with poor visibility but the mist lifted occasionally to give us glimpses of the mountains.  We walked through the H’mong tribe seeing people weaving and embroidering various clothes.

After visiting a local waterfall near Sin Chai village we headed back to the hotel for lunch.  The afternoon was spent discovering the French stone church and Sapa market.

In the evening we had our meal in the restaurant and managed to get ourselves invited to a TET (Chinese New Year) celebration with some of the staff.  This involved drinking lots of Rice Vodka and eating various local dishes.  It was an interesting and fun night with lots of celebratory toasts!

Day two started at 9am with a long 6km walk to the Muong Hoa Valley.  The walk was made trickier by constant light showers and slippery tracks.  We walked through the Ylinhho Village passing amazing rice terraces on our way to lunch at Lao Chai.

We finished our walk and returned to the hotel for a shower and dinner before catching a bus to the Lao Cai railway station.

More images are available in the gallery HERE

The overland crossing to Vietnam would take a couple of days on an uncomfortable bus so we decided to fly direct to Hanoi.  We had booked a flight with Lao Airlines – The only airline to fly Luang Prabang to Hanoi, but also the only airline in the world not to publish its safety records!

A little propeller plane met us as we walked across the runway.  It was only a short flight and, upon reaching 17,000ft we started our descent into Vietnam.

We were met at the airport by a driver for our hotel and, after realising the airport was 29km from the city, were glad the trip was free!  The driver soon showed us how hectic Vietnam traffic was by using his horn to force his way past other traffic but we made it in one piece to the hotel.

After a quick trip to the ATM we finally became millionaires – 2million Vietnam Dong (about 80 pounds!).

More images are available in the gallery HERE

We spent 3 nights in Luang Prabang and enjoyed it the most out of all the Laos towns we stayed in.  With a French feel to the town it was only apt we stayed at a French guest house.  Within an hour of being in the guest house we were invited to a house party at the other end of town!  A Frenchman had just moved into a new house and wanted to celebrate with everyone.  This meant supplying complete strangers like us with fantastic food, lots of ‘Beer Lao’ and several strong shots of ‘Lao Lao’ whisky!  With very strange music and dancing, it was an interesting introduction to the town.

The following day we explored the local area and walked along the banks of the Mekong river.

In the evening we walked up to the top of the Phu Si to explore the temple and That Chomsi.  Climbing various steps led us to a Buddha shrine with various Buddha images.

The night markets in Luang Prabang were fantastic, colourful and with lots of products to buy (just a shame we’re limited on money and carrying space!).

More images are available in the gallery HERE

Our afternoon trip would take us to the Kouangxi Waterfall about 32km south of Luang Prabang.

As we entered the park we first encountered a bear rehabilitation centre we specialised in looking after rescued bears from poachers.  They had a large play area and were taught to still hunt for their food.

Further up the path we came to the small waterfalls and swimming holes.  The water cascaded over various limestone formations and fell into a series of turquoise pools.

The main waterfall was an impressive sight, and even had a couple of monks nearby to add to the picture perfect setting.

More images are available in the gallery HERE

We spent the morning on a slow boat down the Mekong river to go visit the famous Pak Ou caves.  The caves are formed in local limestone cliffs and area crammed with a variety of Buddha images.

The boat ride upstream took about 2 hours with us passing locals along the trip.  We stopped for a short break at the Ban Xang hai village, otherwise known as ‘Whisky Village’.  No sooner had we got off the boat, two shots of ‘Lao Lao’ whisky were offered to us!  The whisky was good, but not at 11am!

When we reached the caves we walked around the area of the lower and upper caves.  Each area had symbolic Buddha images and statues dotted in all the small corners of the caves.

The boat ride back downstream only took an hour but it was a good rest before our afternoon trip to the waterfall.

More images available in the gallery HERE