Hanoi - Bia Hoi! The Beer Scooter really does exist!

Me drinking a 6 pence glass of beer :


Today was spent chilling out good and proper. Hanoi is an amazing place to wander around aimlessly as every street in the old quarter is absolutely buzzing with activity. Anything goes on from people cutting out marble headstones on the pavement, to carving drums, making belts, to just constantly eating at street stalls. Like bits of Yangon in Myanmar, each street seems to specialise in specific types of goods from leather to paper to whatever else, and the streetnames even reflect this.

You can buy pretty much anything you want - the only thing I haven't seen in the old town is modern gadgets like cameras etc. Kick ass big televisions yes, but not many cameras...I still need my replacement, and I've just been given the go-ahead by my insurance to get one out here. There is the same old ceramics I bought in Hoi An, but they are even cheaper here at a mere $5 a teaset!!! There are 'North Face' bags by the dozen starting at $5 and of pretty decent quality (rain covers too!), and even the odd Crumpler camera bag. Knock off CD's and DVD's are all over the place starting at 50 cents for a CD, and under a dollar for a DVD. Sometimes I'm in heaven then I remember I am travelling for a long time so still can't go mental. I even wanted to send wicker baskets home!

But alas, you can only do so much shopping, so we found the Bai Hoi stands at the corner of P Ta Hien and L Luong Ngoc Quyen. Like the one in Hoi An, these sell fresh beers, but there are around 5-10 places all in the same area and they sell fresh beer straight from the keg for 2000 Dong a glass (yes, thats around 23 cents, or 6 PENCE A GLASS!). It's not the strongest, or tastiest beer I've had but I Had around 7 glasses for under 50 pence.

These Bia Hoi places are pretty well known so people come and go all day, from locals to travellers, with quite a buzz around some evenings. They are also at a great location as well - at a 4 street intersection, where the streets are really narrow, and there's no roundabout, where there would be elsewhere. We sat there for around 4 hours just watching the world go by drinking beer and a half bottle of rum ($1.25). A whole day could easily be spent, only leaving your seat to make space for more beer. People approach you to sell you lighters, books, snacks, baskets, shine your shoes, and you can get takeaway food from just around the corner for next to nothing. The female sellers with their baskets over their shoulders constantly use that catchy walk and wiggle movements and offer you everything from hot food to fruit on their way by. After a while you even start to channel out the constant honking of horns that is ever present all over Hanoi.

Transaction taking place in the middle of the road :


And I was witness to that mythical thing today - the beer scooter!! Yes guys, it does exist!! But this one brings fresh beer to replenish supplies on a Honda Dream scooter! And almost as good as this, when I got some crips they were even stamped with authority that they were an ideal 'beer match'. See attached pictures.




After being so chilled, it was just along the road for real food, then I bumped into a couple of guys from the Netherlands I drank with in Battambang, Cambodia, so had a few beers with them.

Bia Hoi stalls at night :

To Hanoi

Due to a very limited time in Vietnam, and a pretty blown 'budget' already, the flight option to Hanoi was selected, saving 16-18 hours on the bus or train.

After chilling by the pool and collecting jeans it was finally time to grab some chillout time in Hoi An. Of course, this was ultimately decided after passing by a fresh beer stop, which offered up a glass for 19 cents. The final bill for 5 glasses was a shade under $1, or around 50 pence for UK people.

Yes, you read it correctly..... 5 beers for 50 PENCE!!! That's about a sixth of the price of ONE pint of Stella Artois in some bars in Edinburgh nowadays.

I then got it in my head I was going to swap my Raleigh International cap for a Rainbow Divers, Hoi An hat which is worn as part of a uniform by many of the cyclo drivers in town. They also wear matching Rainbow Divers shirts (great advertising!). Frustratingly, but admirably, they insisted it was not possible as it was part of their uniform and they couldn't give them away.

Although completely gutted to be leaving Hoi An so soon (and 4.5 days there is more than many!) I'm looking forward to Hanoi, but know that three days there will, once again, be waaaay too short.

Hoi An - expensive shopping!

It can hardly be said that Hoi An is an expensive place to shop, but you can certainly spend a shitload, but get a lot of bang for your buck....which is pretty much what I did today. I collected all the clothing, and decided to go back and buy the ceramics....all ceramic but finished off in lacquer that had a cracked look. Of course I had to think that these were my 'fancy' set of dishes so I ordered 7 large bowls, plates and spoons, 7 of the same but in a smaller size for rice, a large bowl, two dishes, 4 sauce dishes, chopsticks, 2 ladels, and probably another few things I can't remember...it was really a set of 6 I wanted but to allow for breakages....

I reckon in a department store like John Lewis's a large bowl would be around £15...but I got all the above for $68!! £36!!
I knew I'd end up spending more than that shipping them back, but I knew the postal rates and the weight so could work it out beforehand. The helpful woman boxed it all up then sped along to the post office with the box on the back of her moto. Already armed with a few kilos of some other stuff I Had to send home (some clothes, essential souvenir guidebooks etc), I just got the post office to throw this in a box with the ceramics.

The final weight?

29 kilograms!!

Cost me $98 to send it surface to the UK. It's a bit mad as although I'm meant to be back in Scotland in June 2007 I've already got many thoughts of delaying this, but I'm sure I'll be reacquainted with my bowls one day.......

If in Hoi A, dig out this shop (although you'll find the same in plenty places) :
King X.O. Shop, 728 (new) - 10 (old) Hai Ba Trung Street, Hoi An

After this I had to go out and celebrate so it was finding a bar, a couple of bottles of wine, then went in search of a late night bar my friend had recommended to seek out a few weeks ago. It was midnight, the town was dead, but we hijacked a moto drive and went in search of the 'Dream Bar' around 5km out of town. Unfortunately (especially given the rain that started) it was closed when we got there. Of course, no moto driver is worth their job if they don't supply alternatives, so it was back into town to try the Full Moon bar on the other side of the river. Although it was the middle of the night, they still insisted on tooting their horns through town, obviously getting a kick out of keeping the population awake. This also extended to the bar owner who was rudely awaken from his slumber on the pool table by my moto's horn. Within seconds the door was open, the PC was on, and I was selecting the best of a bad bunch of an 80's stylee soundtrack for the remainder of the evening, as the pool balls were
stacked up. Only two other people came into the bar before we left.

Hoi An cycle tour

Yesterday was spent getting way too acquainted with the tailors shops and I ended up ordering 2 short sleeve shirts, 1 copy of a Mountain Hardwear shirt, a copy of a pair of trousers, board shorts, and jeans and a pair of cashmere trousers based on some linen trousers I got in Thailand last year. All this for a princely sum around $90. I spent a long time going round shops to find soft denim like my favourite old pair of jeans - of course I found this just after ordering a cheap pair, but they wouldn't settle for less than $30 which is relatively very expensive here...but they had to be ordered too! $120 on clothes? Flashpacking! Not Backpacking!

I also started to fall in love with some bamboo rice dishes a lot of the shops are selling around town for $4-8 a set (bowl, plate and chopsticks). I spent the last two days considering sending these home but thought I'd sleep on it.

Prior to going around trying on some of the clothes so they could be finished off, we were off on a bike from the hotel for the day. After around 40 minutes we were at Cui Dai beach, which stretches around 30km up to Danang and more. It was a tad wild when there so we didn't hang around and just went for a coffee then cycled around town. Cycling is the ideal way to see Hoi An as there is a lot tucked up side streets and some of the shopping is a bit of the beaten track, but worth finding. 'Un'fortunately I ended up spotting a place selling ceramic versions of the bamboo bowls, at $3 for a bowl, plate and spoon it was less than half the price others quoted for bamboo... I never buy things for my flat at home as it's just so expensive but I'm always tempted on holiday, especially in places like Asia. Dangerous!

Similar to Luang Prabang, Hoi An isn't exactly the wildest place at night with most bars and restaurants dying around 11pm at this time of year, and well closed up by midnight. There's not even a lot of places I'd describe as jumpign bars, although I'm sure they are around.

Hoi An

With a storming hangover I went and checked out a dive place, had breakfast, then headed to the airport at Nha Trang for a one hour flight to Danang for Hoi An. After my love for Luang Prabang in Laos, and everyone comparing there to Hoi An I was keen to get there. The journey was short, but with a hangover it proved a bit interesting as I wasn't the liveliest.

Hoi An was exactly as expected, if not better. There is a whole load of cheap accommodation here so it's possible to get somewhere with a small pool, nice room, balcony, breakfast, free bicycle hire etc for $15 such as the Phuoc An Hotel - can't complain.

In fact the vibe of the place was so good when I arrived at the hotel I felt no need to leave quickly and it wasn't until the evening I wandered through the town for the first time.

Although it's clear there are numerous tailors you just can't prepare for how many there are - every second shop is, and even the examples outside them show some amazing clothes, and in all varieties from board shorts to combat trousers to the slinkiest dress.

I can't decide whether Hoi An is a good destination for backpackers or not. On one side I'd recommend against it as there are just too many temptations for your wallet - tailors, art, crafts and cheap beer (starting at 3000 Dong, 19 cents or 10 pence a glass if you look around!), but for that reason I'd wholeheartedly recommend the place to anyone. A friend of mine had three beautiful suits tailored for $90, you can get jeans for $15 and all sorts of tops, shorts, dresses and trousers tailored. The custom fitting also extends to shoes, flip-flops, trainers ($13?) and leather boots ($25 or less).

It's a great place to explore on bike, foot or cyclo, with a buzzing market, a riverside, and a 22km+ beach around 40 minutes cycle from town. It's now monsoon season, so not ideal for the beach as a main reason to visit at this time of year, but a nice addition anyway.

After a few hours chilling out I went out and hooked up with Claire and Scott I met in Luang Prabang as they were in Hoi An tonight before heading their separate ways.

Here is a selection of my Hoi An pictures

Leaving the highlands and drunken 11 year olds

Leaving Delat tomorrow and heading to Hoi An. Vietnam way too rushed. Just kind passing through Nah Trangh (spelling?) as I've heard Hoi An is very similar to Luang Prabang which I loved.

Grabed a snack at a truly locals snacking 'restaurant' - some old wifie frying very little, but tasting great. First time in Vietnam, long overdue. I had watched a 'Lonely Planet Food Guide - Vietnam' the other night, downloaded back home, yet the local woman always grabbed the spring roll thingie and insisted to show me how to roll them properly, throwing in the fresh leaf herbs, etc, but obviously I wasn't doing the local delicacy justice.

Lasting image of this evening, getting toasted and smashing beer glasses by a ed guy called Choi. He was with his family in a locals 'spit-on-the-floor' kinda classy joint.

He couldn't have been older than 11.

More to write soon, given time.
Missing my small camera :-(

Dalat

Arrived in Dalat yesterday in the pissing rain. The Open Tour buses that haul (mainly) tourists around Vietnam don't really get you involved with the locals like some of the Laos transport does, but it does make travel extremely convenient, and ridiculously cheap. I even thought the hotels they would drop you at would be overpriced, but I don't get that impression (although I haven't walked around and asked others). Others also said they are really pushy if you want to select hotels that weren't on their list, but in Dalat they openly said they'd point you towards your hotel if you had one pre-booked.

Illness has hit the trip for the first time, so we're just vegging out and not doing very much which is a bit of bummer.

Like following the floods in Myanmar, and just missing a small earthquake in Chiang Rai, I moved away from the coast just as a 160km/h typhoon was about to hit, which was the cause of the rain and winds last night. With hindsight the weather had started to turn in Mui Ne with the waves coming quite close to the beach bungalow, so it's maybe no bad thing we moved from there! Not a promising start, and doesn't make the prospect of touring around with the local Dalat Easy Riders (motorbike guides) very appealing in the wet roads and rain. It may be we leave here not seeing much :-(

Dalat is like a proper town compared to other places on route. It's very popular with Vietnamese tourists, and sits very high on the tacky scale, with a small scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in the middle of town. Sounds like it may have quite an interesting market, but whether I'll see that yet is another thing. Need to stop coughing and getting cold (it is actually cold here as it's relatively high up in the Central Highlands). They even have taxis here - I mean real ones, that are real cars, the windows work, the doors work, and it all looks in pretty good nick! The last car taxi I was in was in Myanmar, and it's safe to say it wasn't the same there!

A day longer in Mui Ne

Now that I'm feeling ok, Ciara's taken a turn for the worse, delaying our escape from Mui Ne to Dalat. There's worse places to be stuck in though, and it maybe means I'll get a shot at Kitesurfing later on :-)) A lazy day all round.

In fact there was no kitesurfing to be had - I was quite happy to snooze and catch up on the laptop on the beach :-))

This was my view when typing this offline, from the front of my beach bungalow :

Mui Ne Motobike Adventures

We hired a Honda Dream scooter today which was so weak compared to the larger bikes I've hired on this trip. Needless to say, with me and motorbikes, there had to be something go wrong! Coconut (see previous post) who hired the bike assured me there was enough gas to get to the gas station. Needless to say there wasn't, so I had to push until we found one of the local petrol sellers. Lukcily this was only 100 yards away, and the bike was filled up from a glass bottle full of petrol, not quite the same quality of gas as from the proper station, but there's no way I was pushing for another one or two kilometres.




Our destination was the amazing white and red sanddunes, 30km out of town, and a walk along the Fairy Stream to find a waterfall near the source. The Fairy Stream was a classic example of having to weigh in the 'Lonely Planet' factor when travelling long term. Yes, if you were here for two weeks as a normal holiday, go and see it, but the waterfall at the end was pathetic, it was just an enjoyable walk along a riverbed through some weird eroded sanddunes.

Luckily, in my usual style I managed to befriend a couple of local kids who spoke no English, but were happy to accompany us, laughing and playing around all the way, jumping in the water fully clothed, and loving me lifting them off the ground with one arm. They picked flowers for us, tickled us, and generally just had a laugh around a couple of white folk. Unfortunately, their mood changed dramatically near the end when they asked for cash and we refused. Even the balloons I gavce them were too hard to inflate, so they were a little dejected to say the least.

Our friends during the walk :




We then headed for another 20km along a beautiful beach road, fighting the onshore wind with the poxy little bike......and failed to find the correct entrance to the amazing sanddunes. We then came back and failed to find the correct entrance to the red sanddunes, and the red canyon, which is meant to give fine sunset views. Most people didn't speak English in the area, but despite these being the only attractions in the area, any hand gestures on which way to go gets you conflicting advice in terms of direction and direction! And not one signpost in sight.

We sacked it off and headed back to town, passing the hoards of poeple heading out to find it for sunset. The only good thing was that it looked like it was going to be a crap sunset. When we got back to Mui Ne there were at least 25 kitesurfers out, around ten windsurfers, and at least the same amount again onshore. I hadn't ever thought about sports outside snowboarding that people spend season away, but this place is definitely one of those for kitesurfing, and at this time of year it's inundated with them.

Today was the first day I felt a bit ill on the whole trip. Luckily it was just like a bad cold, but I felt really weak and rundown. I decided it was time to have no alcohol for a day, today being one of only three post Raleigh days like it. The rest I've been on overnight bus journeys ;->

Mui Ne - Kitesurfing Paradise

Mui Ne sanddunes :





Reluctantly we booked the open bus tour tickets from Ho Chi Minh (saigon) to Mui Ne, Dalat, Nah Trang and Danang. After trying to travel like locals in other countries I was a bit disappointed to be catching the tourist express bus. I went to the bus station yesterday to find out about local buses, but it's just now as feasible, almost costs more, and takes longer than the Open Tour buses. Due to tie ins with accommodation providers along the way, they sell tickets from Saigon to Hanoi for $23!!! This also includes stops at the main points along the way.

After a few hours we were at the beach resort of Mui Ne which is a pretty non-descript 13km stretch of restaurants and accommodation. The beach goes on forever away round the coast. I can't complain about my wee beachside bungalow though - more expensive than other places I've been to, but $10 brings me a 5 feet walk to the beach with sunloungers, and a great view of the kitesurfers. WiFi is pretty abundant here as well so you could be sitting on the beach browsing the web, and ideal base for a kitesurfing working nomad! Only now I need to find a job like that! I'm typing this up at the moment a stones throw from the sand, listening to the waves crashing down, which is also the sound that puts you to sleep at night.

You can get Wifi internet here :


We went for dinner at a place next to WindChimes, one of the surfing outlets and started speaking to a local waitress who introduced herself as coconut (at least her nickname), so I was given the nickname of Banana, largely due to my current addiction to Banana shakes (who wouldn't at 23 pence a time!).

Kitesurfing :

Cooking and cycling

On our second full day in Ho Chi Minh we went to organise a trip to the tunnels and one of the big temples quite a bit out of town. Instead we ended up booking a trip where you cycled through the city to the outskirts, joined a local family to help cook lunch, then went out fishing on a boat in the afternoon.

Ho Chi Minh traffic :


Cycling through the city was the best part - we headed across the mad roundabouts in the main part of the city during rush out traffic, which is mayhem. If you stop and start you're more likely to end up roadkill, but if you move across slowly and confidently, you're sorted. Unfortunately the rest of the tour fulfilled our doubts when booking. We met up with a local family, in their tenement house, went to the market with them (always interesting) and watched our snake head fish get battered on the head with a wooden stick (hey at least it was fresh), then went back to the apartment to cook lunch.

While lunch was cooking we ended up playing cards with the tour guides for the best part of an hour introducing them to cheat and various other games. It was quite a laugh but not really what you want to pay money on a tour for. In the afternoon we eventually left to go to some crappy restaurant place where we tried to catch fish which you can then cook. The setting was a really naff local's restaurant with manmade pools of water, with eating platforms over the middle of them. We could hardly leave quick enough, but too late for me to make the post office to get rid of more of my gear! Not exactly the best use of $15 in Asia. I think the companies other tours of the Mekon g Delta would be quite good, they just didn't seem to nail this one.

In the evening I spent most of the time drinking, eating, and trying desperately not to overload myself with a selection of the excellent counterfeit photocopied books....

Local kids in the park :

Lazy Day, Exciting Ride

After the excitement of getting to a new place yesterday I couldn't crash easily so decided to watch a very high quality copy of the film Inside Man until I fell asleep.
Ciara from home met me today in Ho Chi Minh City on her way back from her travels in NZ. I decided to take it easy heading to the airport and add a bit of excitment to it for once I answered 'Yes' to the oft repeated phrase 'Moto Sir?'
No bags on my back for once, I needed to enjoy it. Yes I need to go to the airport. How quick can you do it?' 'Oh 20 minutes or less I think'.
This was more than ample time, but I said 'Yes, fast as you can I'm in a hurry'.

What a ride! We were whizzing in and out of traffic, scooters etc like...well, like whatever weaves in and out of stuff quickly. We got there in 15 after cutting up sidestreets, across petrol stations etc.

I decided not to get a moto back - a bit harsh an introduction on your first day in Asia maybe. It was funny watching Ciara's reaction of the hustle and bustle of Asian cities, this one being a cracking example. I realise how used I've got to life out here, handing out 'advice' here there and everywhere.... no, don't stop when they honk, no don't run across the road, do any of them you'll be hit - walk across slowly and you'll be fine (makes it sounds worse than it is, but there are just so many scooters around!).

We went to a couple of markets, but no live skinned frogs, turtles, fried cockroaches or anything at these ones so an easy intro.

Tomorrow we're binning he tunnels and the war museums to cycle to the outskirts of a city and visit a family and have something to eat after visiting the markets, then I'll start to head North through the country on Friday.

Bangkok's for pussies - get thee to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon)

Again, new country, what's the fuss? I got in to Ho Chi Minh City today, was looking at the map on the way into town (in that kinda anal way outdoors people do), then the bus man said, yeh you're hotel's back there, but we're stopping just up here. 5 mins later after almost ignoring the guy touting a guesthouse (he was touting mine but I was wary of that scam of having three of the same guesthouse names on the same street), he walked me to the door, and within 10 minutes of getting off, I was checked into my room, admiring the hustle and bustle of a new city.

HCMC (as I'll now call it - saves typing) is the most bustling city I've been to in SE Asia so far. Bustling, busy (some may say frantic) and alive. Crossing the road - no big deal, just look at the 1 billion oncoming scooters and stride confidently (but slowly) across the road. I've been walking around here like I'm walking on clouds - new city, new buzz. I rapdily overcame that new 'fear' of entering a new country. Like Cambodia, everyone warns...'oooh, you started in Laos, you may not like Vietnam'. Everything's here, and all withing spitting distance.

Knock off DVDs and CD's, great arts and handicrafts, camera shops willing to open your camera to see if they can fix it, tourist tat, moto drivers wanting to sell you anything, girls wanting to do the same (although I'm oblivious to this), and young teenagers walking around with a selection of the best 'reproduction' books. There's sports shops, and even an electronics emporium that would blow some of Bangkok's best out of the window. I can't remember seeing a couple of hundred large screen plasmas, umpteen mobile phones, cameras and video camera on the same floor before.

I sat down at a very touristy restaurant, ordered up a Vietnamese dish, then sat there delighted by the vibe, and the fantastic selection of classic tunes ringing in my ear, every track saying to me 'oh shit, who sang that one again?'. I started speaking to the waiters, who asked about Scotland, and my thoughts on Vietnam. I wish I had a copy of Culture Shock! Vietnam when the one of the waiters said 'You have a nice body, do you go to the gym each day?'. He was only about 20 and I wasn't sure if this was normal behaviour....

Yes, Vietnam will be way too rushed. In seventeen days I have to fly to Bangkok. I always get the rose tinted glasses in a new big city as well, but what a buzz.

Good Morning Vietnam! (I've been waiting to be able to say that!). Country number 36.