Singapore for a day

We arrived in Singapore early in the morning, headed to town and found a hostel to stay in that was central.

The first thought I had when arriving in Singapore and taking the MRT to town is that it's so clean! Wow! It really is totally different from the rest of what I've seen of Asia in that respect.

After taking much needed showers and getting some food, we decided to go and explore Singapore. There are some beautiful old colonial buildings and next to that the new and modern skyscrapers that Singapore is known for.

Other than that, I must say that it seemed that Singapore was full of shopping malls and restaurants. I'm not sure what else there is to do really but shop and eat. What we did experience is the preparation for the F1 which was taking place a week after we were there. So the fences, lights and bleachers were being set up and the roads being prepared, it really must bring a cool atmosphere to Singapore to have the F1 there.

There was one exciting incident in Singapore, which was that I woke up in the middle of the night in the dorm to find some random person touching my leg. It was such a surreal thing to be happening that I was just not sure what was going on or whether I was just imagining things, so I pretended to go back to sleep and then it happened again, at which point I could see a silhoutte in the dark and I just properly kicked whoever it was in the face; that and my waking up Marcel resulted in a quick exit. In any case, nothing happened and whoever it was will definitely have a nice bruise on their face for a while. So yea, at least some excitement from Singapore!

Five days in paradise

We left Hanoi for a mega journey via Singapore to Bali, where we spent the night at a cute little homestay in Padangbai in anticipation for the speedboat to Gili Air. Gili Air is one of three tiny islands off the coast of Lombok. All three have no motorised transport - if you need transport you can walk, use a bicycle or take a horsecart.

The speedboat trip did on more than one occassion give rise to concerned looks from all the passengers as to whether we would make it to the island alive - the waves were quite strong and the boat was rocking quite extremely. In the end we made it and arrived in paradise.

We walked on the 'main road' - a sandy path next to the beach - and found a beautiful bungalow in a quiet area with a perfect chiller corner with a hammock of course and outdoor bathroom. We had brought our bottle of duty free vodka and enjoyed a bit of that every day after a wonderfull beach session.

The water was a perfect blue and so clear; the sand was white and snorkelling was amazing. We even saw a sea turtle!

Other than being totally relaxed, snorkelling, reading and walking around the island a little bit - it takes about 1.5hrs to walk in a full circle - we ate great seafood and did absolutely nothing. It was beautiful! Jealous?

Hanoi

We returned to Hanoi to spend the last few days of our trip through Vietnam here. We stayed in the old quarter which is full of small streets each dedicated to a specific thing - so you will find a street full of hardware, a street full of toys, a street of toiletries, shoes etc.

When we arrived our guide took us on a tour of the old quarter helping us get our bearings and showing us some beautiful old buildings and good places to eat. The old quarter is preserved in its original form, so the French influence can be seen everywhere in the architecture.

At the edge of the old quarter stands the catholic cathedral (also built by the French) - we were expecting it to be called 'Notre Dame de Hanoi', but to our dismay it was not; instead it had the very creative name of 'Catholic Christian Church of Hanoi' - we would have preferred Notre Dame, oh well.

We then went to the central lake in Hanoi - also known as turtle lake. The name stems from the fact that there are a few giant sweet water turtles living in the lake. According to legend, the general who liberated Hanoi had been given a heavenly sword that would help him in his endeavours; once this task was fulfilled, he went on a boat trip on the lake, where one of the turtles came up and took the sword from him and so restoring it to its rightful place (heaven). As a result, a small island with a stupa was built in the lake called turtle island.

Also on the lake is a temple which in itself is nothing special - except for the fact that it's on the lake. However, it is a nice and peaceful place and many older local men can be found there playing chinese chess. I watched for a while and not understanding a thing, came to the conclusion that it may be a combination of chess and nine men's morris - but don't take my word for it.

After walking around some more, we invited our guide for some tea on the street and sat and chatted to him for a while before saying goodbye to him and starting our hunt for food. We eventually found something we wanted to eat and did so. Then we went around the corner to a local Bia Hoi (fresh beer) place - where we sat and had a beer before heading off to bed.

The next day we took everything slowly, walked around a bit, bought a few souvenirs and tried various street foods. In the evening we went to see the water puppet show - one of Vietnam's cultural highlights. The stage contains a pool of water in which the puppets move. The puppets are accompanied by traditional music and singing performed by the musicians sitting on the side of the stage. Each performance represents different aspects of Vietnamese life, culture and belief. Although the show was all in Vietnamese it was very enjoyable and at times funny (though not necessarily on purpose).

We then went to find some food and for the second time in Vietnam when we wanted to eat at a local place, they made it clear that they did not want foreigners at that place. It is a weird feeling - they did not directly not serve us, but they quoted ridiculous prices, after making us wait to ask. I cannot really understand that one would not want to serve people, though I guess I can understand that it would make more work for them since they would have to think a little bit in English. In any case, we ended up finding a great sticky rise place with fun people and good food. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and then sauntered back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up and checkd out of our hotel to go and check in to the backpacker's hostel where we would spend our last night in Vietnam. It was raining and the weather extremely humid. We decided to just relax, talk to people and just do nothing. We met our friend from the train again and he joined us for the afternoon and evening. For dinner we went back to the rice place and then had a beer with our friends at the Bia Hoi place. So it was a great last night in Vietnam.

Today we're just organising ourselves and will be heading towards Indonesia later!

Halong Bay

After the horror trip from Hue to Hanoi, we had time in the morning to relax, get a nice coffee in Hanoi and sit by the central lake before the minibus picked us up for our trip to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in the running to become one of the new seven world wonders. The bay is surrounded by 3000 limestone islands popping out from the sea and is full of caves just waiting to be discovered.

We had a whole boat to ourselves and got served a wonderful seafood lunch. We explored some of the caves and then went for a cruise around the islands and past a floating village hidden in between them.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time with our guide chilling on the boat and discovering the caves.

In the evening we returned to land, checked in to our hostel and just relaxed with a view of the bay from our window.

Hue

From Hoi An we got on a bus in the morning and too a beautiful drive along the coast to Hue. The road goes through endless rice fields, lusciously green hills and next to the beautiful untouched coast. When we arrived in Hue nobody was there to pick us up from the drop off point so we found our own way to the hotel which was in a great location for walking to the Perfume River and the citadel. Once we had checked in, the guide that was supposed to pick us up turned up and gave some random excuse as to why she couldn't be there and how sorry she was. Anyway, we then spoke with her and organised to meet her the next day in the morning so that she could take us to the Thien Mu Pagoda and the Royal Tomb of Minh Mang. We would go and see the citadel ourselves in the afternoon once the heat of the day had resided.

The Citadel

Kinh Tanh, the citadel, used to be an imperial city on the banks of the Perfume River (Song Huong). It was bombed multiple times by the Americans during the war and is now but a shadow of what it used to be. Inside the citadel is the imperial enclosure, which is where the emperor's functions were carried out - what can be seen now are beautiful gardens and the remnants of what must have been impressive ceremonial halls (one or two have been restored a little, but I'm guessing not to the standard that they used to be).

Inside the imperial enclosure there is a part known as the forbidden purple city, this used to be reserved for the emperor's private life and only eunuchs were permitted to enter. Nowadays it is open for everybody and the difference progression from one part of the citadel to the next is difficult to determine.

Funnily enough, the emperor who built the citadel, had been to France to study and had western elements built into the citadel - these included a tennis court. This tennis court is open for use (at least to some), and we saw some Vietnamese playing tennis. The weekend that we were in Hue was the weekend of National Day (2 September) and so the people were enjoying a few relaxed days off from work. We watched this group of men playing tennis for a while, and eventually they invited us to join them and hang out, which we did. Of course we had to put our tennis skills to the test and got absolutely destroyed in doubles, not even making one point - quite embarassing, but at least we were a cause for entertainment for them.  

Once we started talking to them they invited us to join them at their party after they finished their tournament, which we gladly accepted. We were taken to the restaurant on the back of mopeds and got the weirdest looks us two white people walked into this totally local place with a group of ten or so Vietnamese men in sports clothing - I do concede that it must have been a sight that is not so common.

The dinner that had been ordered was goat; and when I say goat, I mean all of the goat, including its blood. I have to honestly say that I was happy that I don't eat meat, because I don't know that I would have been able to eat it - which I really would have had to have done. Having said that, Marcel did say that it tasted good and actually has no taste, it's just the knowledge that it's goat's blood that makes it difficult to eat. They did say that it is something which even the Vietnamese don't all like, so were quite happy when Marcel said he enjoyed it. Surprisingly, the food did not come with rice, but with rice crackers, some bread and vegetables obviously. And of course let us not forget the never ending flow of beer that caused substantial merriment amongst all those seated at the table.



The winners

 It was quite clear that the people we were with were of the higher class - which could be seen from the fact that they were playing tennis in the first place and by the fact that they could play well - which means that they must have had lessons (which I cannot imagine a normal Vietnamese family being able to afford). Also, most of them could either speak French (the older ones) or English and the ones that were our age had or were studying abroad. So, it turned out that most of them were either working for or affiliated with the government and were directors or vice directors of various deparments. It was very interesting to speak to them all and gain a different perspective of life in Vietnam - and surprisingly it was not as skewed a view as may have been expected.

We really had a great night and were invited to come again next year. It is experiences like this that remain memorable and cannot be appreciated without travelling and being open to other cultures and people.

The second day in Hue was as bad as the first day and night were good. It started off when we met our guide in the morning and she had not organised a car as had been discussed the day before. Then instead of being helpful and helping us figure out alternatives, she just sat there being smug - like a person will do if they know they are wrong and just do not admit it. When we said that she should try to organise a car for us please, she did so for a ridiculous price, which we eventually agreed to (anything is better than sitting around just arguing and losing the couple of hours that we had left) - and then she proceeded to say that the car was not available anymore. I don't quite understand what kind of a travel guide does not have contact numbers of more than one driver! Anyways, so our great plan of going to see the pagoda and the tomb was destroyed by this woman's incompentence of epic proportions.

Thien Mu Pagoda

We ended up taking a boat up the river to the Pagoda, which was beautiful - but over priced and of course she probably pocketed half the money. The Pagoda was founded in 1601 and is still functioning now. It lies on the river. It is the pagoda of the Thich quang Duc, the monk who burnt himself on the street in protest to the president's policies. I'm sure you will all know the famous picture of the monk burning on the street with the car in the background - the car is now at the pagoda. The pagoda is known as the pagoda of the heavenly lady and this is because of a love story, where the man saw a woman and she was heavenly - which is probably the only useful information that the guide managed to give (and she did so multiple times) - unless you want to count her telling us that "this is a bell" when standing right in front of a bell.

The pagoda and its surroundings are really peaceful, at the entrance there is a seven layered stupa representing the seven steps to becoming a Buddha. Inside the complex, there is a mausoleum of one of the main monks of the pagoda, and his stupa is six levels high, meaning that he attained the highest level, short only of being Buddha.


"This is a bell"



Train to Hanoi

After walking around the pagoda, we then took the boat back and got ready to take the night train to Hanoi. When we checked our tickets, the next wonderful surprise was sprung on us - namely that they had failed to book us tickets in the same compartment. Now this was really the straw that broke the camel's back. I fail to understand how, if we booked our tour months ago, it is so difficult for them to book train tickets for two of us in the same compartment! Little did we know that in addition to this wonderful mess, they also managed to book us into a random carriage and not the one normally reserved for tourists/foreigners. So much for a restful night - we ended up with a family of four and us in a cabin for four peopleand then when this family got out, and we thought it couldn't get any worse, a family of five joined us in the wonderful cabin.

Now, normally this would be ok, if you had air conditioning (as was paid for), but surprise surprise - there was none! Anyway, I could go on for ages about this and my irritation, but I'm over it now and we managed to have a beautiful day after calming down a bit once we arrived in Hanoi and were transferred Halong Bay.

Hoi An

Hoi An used to be one of the most important merchant towns in Vietnam; it is where the Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures mixed. The mixture of cultures is very obvious from the different architecture that is still visible throughout the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town area. Many of the buildings are very old and the still belong to private individuals. The oldest house in Hoi An has been in the same family for the past seven generations. The house is open for visitors and a nice young lady who speaks english gives some history of the house. Since it is so close to the river, it floods every year and they must move everything upstairs. The family have a wall on which they mark the water levels every year. The house is all made of wood and has no windows. Light comes from the courtyard in the centre of the house and air goes through the house from the front door and the back door. The roofing is done in a way that is called the yin yang style - with one column of tiles laid convexly and the next concavely.

Our guide took us on quite a comprehensive tour of the old town, starting with the Chinese meeting house/temple. The meeting house is still used now and was built by the substantial Chinese community that had settled in Hoi An after a change in dynasties in China caused many Fujian people to leave China. It used to be a place exclusively for the Chinese, but now due mainly to intermarriage, the meeting place is open to everyone. Many people come here to light incense and to pray for their wishes to come true; the incense burns for three weeks.

The Japanese influence in Hoi An can be seen by the Japanese covered bridge. This bridge was built by the Japanese between their quarter and the Chinese quarter so as to unite the two and make trade more easy. It is also the only bridge in Vietnam to be covered. One side of the bridge is guarded by two monkeys and the other by two dogs - the reason for this being that the building of the bridge started in the year of the monkey and ended in the year of the dog. Since the bridge was covered, the Chinese then built a small temple in the middle of the bridge (this was done without the Japanese knowing, whilst they had all returned to Japan in respect of the Emperor's death) - sneaky and quite funny.

Another thing Hoi An is famous for are its handicrafts and tailors. Walking around Hoi An it is impossible to miss the many tailors offering to make you dresses, suits, shirts skirts, shoes and anything else that you may want. Some clearly are better than others, but most will have your order ready by the next day. Many shops also sell locally made handicrafts.

We went to one of these shops, where you could watch the women stitching pictures from photographs - this really was amazing, the detail with which this is done is impressive. The same place also weaves material and straw mats. In addition to this, they have a silk worm farm - the worms have to be fed every three hours, and trust me it's not little!

For dinner we went to find a local place, so we walked in the direction away from the old town, where we eventually came across some locals drinking beer on a pavement cafe. They told us where we could get some good food, which ended up being where we ate the next day also. It was a small eatery down an alleyway that was pretty much closed when we got there - but they still served us. One of the women could speak really good English which, it turned out, was due to the fact that she was married to an Australian. On our way back to the hotel we then stopped by the pavement cafe and had a couple of beers with the locals - one of which was a boat driver, and he had to get up in the morning to drive a boat; my theory is that the only way for them to be able to deal with noisy obnoxious tourists is to just get so drunk the night before that they're still drunk when on the job! But in all seriousness, they were all very friendly and as with most businesses here it's family run, so the kids and the grandmother were also there and all smiley and friendly. Whem we walked past the next day they also waved at us and said hi.

I very much enjoy meeting locals who are not out to get something from you - it is such a different experience from talking to those that are directly involved with the tourists or talking to you in their tourist haggling capacity. The people are just friendly and interested and living their lives allowing you to be part of it.