Vietnam (Hanoi)

We stepped of the plane to a sweltering 32°c heat at 4pm, the taxi was waiting to take us to the hostel. The hostel seems nice, clean, well located and has WiFi in our room. Drink and food seemed easy to find and we ended up staying out most of the night. At our last stop we meet some girls from Denmark who we started to talk to, they too were also looking for a Halong bay trip and mentioned they had heard from another traveller that the place we are staying at was good and worth it. They ended up following us back and getting a room at our hostel.

Day 1

Today we have several jobs which need doing including buying malaria tablets, laundry, hostels and travel to Hue, Halong bay tour as well as a few sights. We Googled a few pharmacists and went to three, all sold doxycycline but we had no idea if they were real or legitimate. In the end we went for it and bartered down and got 200 tablets - it cost 330000, about £11 which compared to england was is about 20 times cheaper as our doctor suggested, lets hope they work and are real. We checked expiry dates and went with ones in boxes with proper leaflets etc. We then walked around Hoan lake and went to the temple. We were hawked by several book sellers as we walked around the lake, I ended up buying 'Graham Greene - The Quiet American', a book that is supposedly a classic to read when travelling Vietnam. After a lunch of local Luc Lac beef we headed for the army museum and ho chi Minh mausoleum however on arrival it turns out that they are both shut Mondays and Friday and being Friday threw and spanner in the works. The day is sweltering hot at a steady 35°c so we took refudge in a cafe for a midday ice cold beer. We investigated a popular Halong Bay tour but upon arrival it felt like an 18-30's piss up and decided a more relaxing tour was for us. The evening consisted of booking our Halong Bay trip, our train to Hue, a hostel in Hue for a few days and some research on getting our next visas. (Halong bay tour:
http:// http://alovacruises.com/tour/alova-gold-cruises-halong-3-day-2-night)

Day 2

One thing Vietnam has is an unbelievable amount of Motor bikes and scooters, they must out way cars 50/1, the traffic is so constant. You see bikes piled 6ft high with boxes, scooters with dogs on, scooters the 4 people sat down all using there phones and not holding on and in terms of safety anything goes, we have seen a collision already and its not even been two days. We have now seen another crash the way home, crazy driving everywhere, its dangerous to cross the road, especially at night. Today we explored the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, after taking a wrong turn and basically adding an extra 2km when actually finding the place (not needed in blistering heat). We were then confronted by a 250m+ queue which kept going and going. It only actually took 30min to get to the viewing room where you keep and steady pace in two single file lines as you shuffle by the body. Its the oddest thing we've seen yet. The body is preserved like a stuffed animal and you can see the fully dressed body of the ex ruler lying there, hands crossed in full detail surrounded by four guards in white suits looking like there straight from the set of top gun. We found after later on that the body goes to Russia every year for servicing, its bonkers and complete weird as hell! After we found a local cafe and stopped for dinner, misinterpretation on my behalf meant I basict got a plate of rice for dinner, um lovely! We then went to the war history museum and it was distinctly average at best. Lots of planes and weapons but no history and little writing. When back at the hotel after preparing for the tour the next day a commotion kicked off big time in the hostel lobby. It turns out this crazy French we had spoken to at breakfast the day before had come back to find his backpack and room looted, his camera & laptop where gone. He's a big man and at one point I thought he said he wanted to check all the rooms! Makes you think about your life which resides in your backpack and how pissed off you would be. We both have felt safe and secure here and have only meet and spoken to what appear to be pleasant staff. We have been good and always padlocked our bags everytime we left our room but would it make a difference, would it put off an opportunistic thief? Maybe a paddlock is good as it means its a harder to get it, if they really wanted they would only need a Stanley knife. It has only reconfirmed we must always pack everything away and padlock our bags up everytime we leave our room.

Tomorrow we leave for Halong Bay for our 3 day 2 night cruise, hope its good and not dodgy. http://alovacruises.com/tour/alova-gold-cruises-halong-3-day-2-night

Honk Kong buzz

Hong kong definitely has a bit of a buzz about it, more so than Shanghai and Beijing and more akin to London. You see lots of different people from different ethnicities, religions, backgrounds etc. Interesting (or maybe not) things we have noticed about Hong kong so far include:

# The use of 999 as emergency number
# Lots of English road and street names
# Less spitting and generaly more hygienic than other places we've been
# Lots of shark fin soup and herbal remedies
# Much more culturally diverse

Day 1 (Lantau Island)

Today we went to see the giant buddha on Lantau Island. We got there about 11am and still queued for nearly an hour to get a cable car to top. We decided against the glass bottom cabin as it was a lot more expensive and I'm glad anyway as it was very high and I'm not the best with heights. The 23m high buddha is nice although it didn't have any historic or spiritual feel like some other temples we have visited. After waking around the monastery (izzi hated all the incense being burnt) and sampling some vegi delights, we headed back down to Kowloon. The subway is good and efficient like all the other major cities in China we have seen, although more expensive than the others. We walked down Nathan Road (aka Golden Mile) to see the hustle and bustle and found an Indian restaurant our lonely planet book recommended. Tea tonight however will probably not be in a resturant!

Day 2 (Hong Kong Island)

Today we decided to go to the main island even if the weather didn't look so great. The forecast seems cloudy and overcast for the remaining days we have left so shouldn't make a difference which day we go up to the Peak. We started the day by getting the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong island which was very easy, cheap and remarkable pleasant. The island is packed with skyscrapers and office blocks. Firstly we took the world's longest escaltors up 800m (over 20 escalators) stopping of at the Man Mo template which turned out to be one of the nicest temples we've seen and we've seen a lot! The midlevel escalators were fun and half way up you re in an area called SoHo which is pretty cool, packed out with little boutique shops, cafes and restaurants in varying price, we had a Turkish kabab which hit the spot nicely. We next went up the the Peak Tram which was okay, basically complete cloud cover so we couldn't see anything but the world famous custard tarts are delicious. We chilled out then headed back down and went to Hong Kong park and saw lots of terapin and birds in massive outdoor bird cage which reminded me of Jurassic park 3, although not full of dinosaurs. We headed further down past the HSBC head quarters and into Statue Square. We followed our guide book to a good dim sum restaurant but turns out that's only on between 11-3 so ditched that idea. Next we head back over with on the ferry to see the symphony of lights and avenue of stars. The symphony was enjoyable but cheesy as hell and probably could have been done better. A long day again, next we plan to go Macau for the day and gamble some money ;)

Day 3 (Macau)

This morning we got up and went to get the ferry to Macau. It takes about an hour and is easy and probably more comfortable than flying. The ferry is a comfortable ride and the sea wasn't to bumpy which made it a breeze of a trip. Firstly we got public bus to the center where we walked around a ruined church, an old Portuguese fort and the Macau history musem which was actually really good. We then jumped on one of the numerous shuttle busses to the casinos on the neighbouring island and headed for Venetian, the worlds biggest casino. Its ridiculously big, it has 600 shops including a man utd shop, a full Venice style street with gondals and a fake sky, its impressive allbeit tacky as hell. After a walk around we headed for the casino floor, we soon realised that our budget was too small and the stakes on each table were too high. It was still busy even on a Tuesday afternoon. We headed straight for the slots and small time roulette tables, we didn't do so well. Izzi kept on asking where the 2p machines were!

Day 4 (kowloon and the hunt for shoes)

So today we had a day of exploring Kowloon, we first went to the history musem which was good and learnt about Hong Kong's long and turbulent past then went on a mission to find me some shoes. We went to about 20 shops and found they only stocked up to about a UK 10/11, I tried some on but couldn't fit in them. When we were nearing the end of out tether we headed to the Croc shop and boom, UK 12 in some, and cavas shoes as well. I ended up getting them but they weren't cheap, the same price as to get the Macau and back for the two of us! Atleast I have some footwear which isn't falling apart. In the evening we headed for some food and an early night. I decided to try a local dim sum restaurant and boy was it a bad decision, dim sum is the devils work! We got 5/6 dishes and they're not for me, izzi wasn't to bothered, one of them made me feel like throwing up when it entered my mouth, slimy and sickly it was like eating and long snotty piece of shit, never again will I order dim sum!

Woop woop arrived in Hong Kong

Just got to Hong Kong and got a good feeling about the place, its bustling, got a good vibe to the streets and our room is nice even if you can't swing a cat in it.

As you can tell the internet in Hong Kong is not restricted like main land China so we can publish blog posts, get on facebook, Twitter etc. Hopefully it will be good fun.

Lets see what's to be done.

Shanghai, the first place we would live

As you can tell from the title, Shanghai is the first place in China which we have visited which we both said that we could live here, not that we are planning to at all.

We arrived by plane from Xi'an, got fed noodles or rice and got on the free Wi-Fi in the airport which looked nice and new. We had a good feeling straight away as we were presented European toilets and no squats and English signs and directions at the airport which was a first. First day we got the subway to our hostel which is really good and the people are friendly and rooms clean. We went to a local restaurant for tea the first night and got a tasty spicy beef dish, fried potatoes, rice and beer. Shanghai seems a bit more expensive then anywhere else we have been so far. A trip to the local supermarket was required to load up on water, fruit and nibbles.

Day two explored the city, waking down The Bund (the really famous city view promenade), went to the cities old town and sight seeing to the "Yu Garden's". When walking down the bund it was the busiest its been yet, helped by the fact its the cities most famous area and the final day if the Chinese May day holidays. Chinese tourists asked for our photo a few times. The place provides spectacular views across the iconic city scape, it was a clean gorgeous day which added to it. The gardens where okay, we went as its in the top sights of our book but we have seen a lot of art and temples already. Better was the walk to it through the cities old town and bazaar, a bustling, tacky and interesting experience but fascinating all the same. After this we had dinner at another local restaurant down a local street, the food was really good again, beef noddles and a curry dish. The highlight however was after dinner we went to the highest viewing platform in the world, 100 floors up. It provided breath taking views on the city, both us of were terrified to be honest but still great fun. Izzi encountered a new one when going to the toilet, an electric toilet, you could spray water on your bits and dry them, with controls on the side. We finished the day with a beer on the opposite side of the river looking towards the bund. On the way home we witnessed a women and her child going to the toilet on the platform whilst waiting for the subway, minging and not appropriate!

After we spent two relaxing days around Shanghai, we went around the People's Square and to the free Shanghai museum, its okay. We start in the park outside for a few hours but ended up getting harassed by tramps which I eventually told to f off and then we moved to a better spot. The next day we went around the French Concession, its really quaint, has low rise buildings themed in a French/Mediterranean style. We sat and had a beer while watching the world go by (2-4-1 on Carlsburg as well). We spent the afternoon in a park relaxing and watching a local roller skate lesson. For tea we went to a low budget lonely planet guide recommend restaurant called Sichuan Citizen. I liked it but izzi not so much, and it could of been hotter even though the guide book says it will blow your head off. We visited The Bund to see Shanghai famous sky line at night, it was packed but what can you expect for a Friday night.

Next to Hong kong...

Xian and the Terracotta Army

We arrived in Xi'an by 16 hr train and both felt tired, things didn't get off to a good start as it took is ages to find our hotel and in 26 degree heat with a 20kg backpack it got sweaty. Things soon got better after we checked in and got ready to go out. We visited the city walls and the Muslim Quarter then got some food in a local food court. We went to the great mosque but asked a couple of western tourists if its worth it and they said it was just like any other temple in China and probably not so ditched that idea. The hotel has WiFi which is great, nice to be able to plan a bit more and see what's to be done.

Xi'an is much nicer than Datong and the people don't stare as much, however the hotel is down a street with the horrible looking flats (see photo). We have had a few problems with Google navigation and an out of date bus route map but nothing we haven't got used to. Its Chinese holidays at present so most places are packed out but not so bad.

We went to see the Terracotta Army which was really good. We had no trouble getting from our hotel to the army and back again all via public bus, not bad as its nearly 2 hours away in total. The place is laid out in 3 massive air craft hanger style pits, a cinema and a museum. In total we spent 4 hours walking round and followed our guide book tip to do the pits in reverse for a more outstanding finish in pit 1 with nearly 6000 life size terracotta figures.

We are both a bit bored of Chinese food and splashed out on a Pizza Hut for tea, ¥100 which is more than 3x tea the day before but not bad as its only £12.

Tomorrow we fly to Shanghai and try to catch the airport express from the center of Xi'an. Our first internal China flight. I wonder if we will get fed :) ......

Datong and the epic train journey

So we've had two nights in Datong and only managed to see one of the main attractions, the Yungang Grottoes, the second we never got to see was the hanging monasteries which unfortunately was the one thing I really wanted to see.

We had some bad luck navigating around town, firstly we took the long way from the station to the hotel through streets I swear where no one had seen a white person before. Secondly we decided to see the grottoes first as we thought they were furthest away and actually it may have been other way round. We also tried in vain for most of the first days morning to get to the grottoes by bus following the guide in the hotel which turns out to be complete rubbish, ending up getting a taxi to the caves and it only being 10 mins drive.

Datong itself is a shit hole, lots of poverty and no tourists, we saw only 1 other couple the entire time. People spitting, going to the toilet in the street and generally not being helpfully, only interested in staring and taking photos of us. It felt like the place was only half built, I've never seen so many half finished buildings and blocks of flats, backed by slums and sesspits. Interesting but it was unnerving and sometimes a little scary. Its incredibly barren, all we've seen en route to and from Datong are bare fields full of dust, little or no vegetation and green to be found.

The grottoes were impressive, 40 caves dating back nearly 2000 years with magnificent Buddha carvings, the biggest was 17m high! It was also belting hot, both of us getting a bit burnt walking around them.

The hotel we had was really nice, we ate at the restaurant both nights, it was cheapish, convenient and meant we didn't have to leave the nice hotel too late. The downside is no one in the hotel spoke English so we resorted to pointing, hand signals etc. Also no wireless but wired internet, completely useless to us.

I'm writing this @ 10:30pm on my bunk bed on our 16+ hour train journey to X'ian. Comparing this to the normal seats we had on the way to Datong makes it look like a 5 star hotel. Our beds our okay albeit a bit thin and my feet stick off the end. We've had lunch and its not packed to the brim, albeit a tad smokey. Izzi is asleep and the fat man above has been cracking and eating nuts/seeds for as long as I can remember. We arrive at 9am the next day then need to take a bus to the hotel, yet another bus! Hopefully the hotel has other travellers and WiFi, praise the lord. Ill update when I know more...

En route to Datong....

Sat here in a sardine can they claim is a train carriage. No space for our bags above us so I put them further up the tin can, I now have neck cramp from tuning round every 5 minutes to check they haven't been pillaged. I feel flying or bus may have been a better mode of transport. We are half way though our 7 hour journey to Datong, my ass is numb, it smells and is over crowded in my opinion. Izzi reading, I tried but struggled. Again today we had people taking photos of us in the train station, I guess they don't see many people like us, especially Izzi with her blonde hair.

My time has been spent listening to music, so far I've had on:

# two door cinema club
# a tribe called quest
# high contrast
# jimmy Hendrix

Next I'm thinking chilli peppers?

Not sure what to expect from Datong, I want to go to see the Grottoes and Hanging Monasteries. An American we spoke to in McDonald's said it's very industrial, I've read its the coal centre of China. Not sure what that entails though.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock......

James

Beijing in all its glory

So its been 5 days and we've had ups and downs, it is definitely not the easiest of countries to navigate, maybe its as we are new to all the this travelling lark. You don't see as many tourists as I thought you would, star bucks is a must for the free WiFi and I take most any opportunity to ask a western a question if needed, most are very helpful and provide useful tips.

We've explored the great wall at Mutianyu, our group consisted of Americans, Argentinas, Australians, Russia and Singaporians. Its spectacular, we walked afew km up to the oldest part and back again, felt like a good workout. We both said in England you would need, hard hat, safty rope and safely rail. We had a big lunch together and went in a little van thing, very cosy indeed! A women from Singapore started to throw up on way just after our guide told us not to worry about bird flu! Also the roads are crazy, if there are four lanes you will get maybe 6 lanes of cars, our driver drove the wrong way down the road at one point, the traffic lights seem to only be an indication, they go on red and green regardless.

Been eating in bakers, small shops and shopping malls as its cheap and quite good, izzi got spag bol for a change, looked okay.

Spent about 3 hours booking out next few weeks, booked hotels and hostels in Datong, Xian and Shanghai, went to the train station to book tickets between them and booked flights online. No one spoke English at the train station so resorted to pointing, hand signals and pen & paper, we think the tickets are correct?

Still getting used to the fact that facebook, Twitter, blogger and other western websites don't work.

Explored the forbidden temple, its was okay. Not that much to see in my opinion, lots of pots and various other artifacts but no English or writing about them so struggled to get the jist abit. The temple of heaven was good, impressive buildings, opted out of a audio guide as is was more expensive than the actual ticket, good fun trecking around it, its massive. In hind sight audio guides for both places would of helped we think.

Next we leave Beijing for datong on our first train journey, only 6.5hours, could be interesting.

More to come....

Arrival in smoggy Beijing...

April 20th 2013

So we are here, arrived in Beijing after a long flight, sat next to a crying babe and a women covered in sick! A delayed flight from Leeds didn't impact one of our challenges for a McDonald's in every country, so even managed a cheese burger in Amsterdam :)

Been exploring the city and had lunch in a noodle bar, lots more of that to come I imagine, photos to come in time!

Hostel is okay, basic but adequate.

Culture is different, people seem to spend most of there time staring mouth open at me, maybe its because I tower over them in everyway!

Walked through a night food market, choice of snake, testicles, pigs trotters and duck, not quite ready for the balls yet! Ill get photos over the next day or so.

Tired and ready for a good sleep. Tomorrow is the Forbidden City and CCTV building.

April 21st 2013

Slept for 14hours last night, longest sleep I've had in a very long time, jet lag all gone and body clock on track.

Been to see Tiananmen square which was good also the CCTV building, it looks like a massive pair if trousers, tea round the Beihai lake and the Buddhist temple.

Street food dinner was good, duck wraps and dumplings, we both ate for about £4.40 altogether!

First problem today as our bike taxi said ¥3 but took us down a ally, stopped and demanded ¥300, an argument broke out, eventually we pushed him and ran away, shit us both up a lot, no more bike taxis ever! Good news is he was old and very out of breath from biking my fat ass around, scary though, lesson learnt!

James  Isobel

Final Farewells

So we've left Manchester, back in Leeds and Grimsby for a few days rest after a manic and busy last few days!

We think we have everything sorted bar a few small bits and are ready and set to go. We had a great night out with friends Friday, getting in to a bit of state by the end but it was great to say bye to everyone, one thing I'll miss most is definitely the great bunch of people we know and spend lots of time with.

We both had a great send off from our work colleagues, I got a wonderful present from the company and team members, it’s been a good nearly 5 years working for LeadX and have learnt so much and worked with some great people, onwards and upwards I say!

Moving out of our flat which we have lived in for nearly 3 years was hectic and stressful as you can imagine, packing up our lives into boxes is just damn weird; trying to condense your life into a 65ltr backpack is tough. I imagine after a while on the road half the stuff I'm taking will get ditched as I come to realise you don't need it and you can probably just buy it when you do. These things will come with time and experience and better to be fully prepared from day one if you ask me! It’s in the nature of me and Izzi to be quite planned and organised anyway so it is inevitable that we will probably take too much then strip it right down.

Packing my bag is a challenge in its self, getting everything in and in an orderly and organised fashion posed questions in its own right, where to put stuff, what to pack, what will I need in priority order, where do you put passports, money etc.? That's tomorrows challenge, I’ll try post a few pictures before and after to show you my progress.

With all the changes we have made and the things which are about to happen I can’t help but reflect of things over the last several years. I will have lived in Manchester for 8 years this September, living as a student loving everything about the place, maturing into a professional afterwards. My views of the city have moved from being purely based on having a great party, Manchester's clubbing and party scene has always had a draw to me more so when I was a student than now but still never a better place to have a good night out. Later morphing into a place called home over the last 4-5 years, I appreciate the place for its up and coming vibe, relaxed and liberal feel (maybe this is just my attitude?) and complete mix of people you seen and meet. Not entirely sure I have learnt to appreciate a very broad Mancunian accent yet, not sure I ever will! The fact I have some mint friends and a good job has been the main reason for me staying in the city, friends from work, friends from university and friends from nights out are all people I will miss but will definitely see again regardless of what we decided to do on our return. 

One thing about Manchester which excites me at the moment is the growing technology and start up scene, being a Geek I love the meet-ups an user groups which I have attended over the last few years, the BBC moving up has only increased this movement and long may it carry on!

Time to go, reflection over, more to come over the following months...!



James