Friday, July 20, 2007

The picturesque Halong Bay...






I soon forgot about my 'delightful' meal when we were out in the ocean going between all the hundreds of Islets that are dotted around Halong Bay! Absolutely beautiful! Although it is obviously a big tourist attraction once we were actually out on the water you felt like you were the only boat for miles.... it was perfect!
For 2 days we just lay out on deck taking in the amazing views, dived off into the great open water, stopped off at a tiny floating village, and kayaked in and out of mini mini caves/tunnels. It really was pure bliss! I just wish we could have spent longer out there.














Saturday, July 14, 2007

Hue


Hue really was just a fly by stop-off where Cindy nearly lost her backpack, we took a boat trip down the 'Perfume River', and to save us getting soaked right through when visiting the Tu Duc Tomb we purchased 3 bright purple matching rain ponchos... very sexy i must say! Ha ha!
So that was pretty much Hue in a nutshell, as we then had to quickly continue on up to Hanoi with just enough time to squeeze in a very brief trip out to the beautiful Halong Bay and then trek across the mountains of Sapa in the very north! Oh yes, and of course, to unknowingly eat fish ovaries, which i actually enjoyed until i found out afterwards exactly what i'd eaten! Yikes!

Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi in a quick 5 days!


Ok, so now we're past the half way point on our visa deadlines so time to quicken the pace a tad...!! Next stop was a couple of days where everyone goes to have clothes tailor-made - Hoi An! Another lovely little Vietnamese town sitting by the river, with quaint small french streets and courtyards amongst the endless tailor shops all fighting for your business... how do you choose!?!?! It's a tricky one i can tell you but we found one good and one VERY bad!!!

Due to my indefinite travel plans i could hardly justify having a load of nice suits or fancy clothes made as who knows when i'll actually get to wear them, so i just opted for a simple pair of trousers to tide me over for now. Really just for the novelty of having them tailor-made.... all very exciting, and for a whole $8 you can hardly complain! :)

We also dragged ourselves out of bed to get to see the hustle and bustle of the morning fish market at 5am where you really do get to see where the term 'angry fish wife' came from... hee hee! Was a brilliant sight and atmosphere though - all the women selling and buying, lifting and carting their fish and pushing each other out of the way in the process while the men having been out all night fishing would now sit back and relax, watching the madness all around them! Fantastic! :)




We also tested our cooking skills in the Vietnamese kitchen which was entertaining in itself, and of course meant that we well and truly stuffed ourselves with all the lovely food that we'd prepared.... papaya salad, noodle soup, fish wrapped in banana leaf... you name it - we cooked it!!!! And it even tasted good too, somehow!?! That would probably be due to the help from our little lady. ;) My gosh we certainly got our moneys worth - i reckon we ate enough to keep us going for the next week!