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Vietnam the third: day 9, Sapa-Hanoi-Hoi An
Today was, simply, a travel day. We hit the hotel breakfast at 7am, just to get something into us before the day kicked off. Our goal was to get out of town before the various streetsellers, who we’d been telling that we were leaving Sunday so we’d be shopping Saturday, caught on and swamped us/set the car on fire/whatever they do in this town. Our car picked us up at about 7.45am, by which stage a few streetsellers were around, but not ones we’d encountered before. We were close to getting away clean, but our driver had another pickup right in the centre, and while the new passengers were being…
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Vietnam the third: day 8, Sapa
Mt Phan Xi Pang, at 3,143 metres (or, depending on the source, 3,174.3m) is the tallest mountain in Vietnam, and taller than anything in Australia, Cambodia, Laos, or Thailand. One nickname for it is the “roof of Indochina”. At times it can be covered in 60cm of snow. It is also probably the easiest 3,000+ metre mountain in the world to ascend. After picking up our laundry, we set off from our hotel base camp at approximately 0930, walking up the street, climbing the stairs to Fansipan St. The last couple of mornings we’re stopped there to pick us a couple of extra bottles of water, but today we figured…
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Vietnam the third: Day 7, Sapa
Folk art. No matter how cool or talented you think you are, you’re never going to be at the same level as an ancient lady in a house on a hillside surrounded by chickens and buffalo. Fortunately I know that I’m about as talented and artistically blessed as a Billy Joel concert, so a morning creating a batik design was never likely to produce a work that had any more than occasional moments of accidental competency. Batik is a method of creating designs through first applying wax to cloth then dying, then removing the wax leaving the design where the wax was. It is recognised to have been first practiced…
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Vietnam the third: Day 6, Sapa
It’ll likely be a short post today (I can hear the sigh of relief over the rain and the rampaging children from here) as, well, we didn’t do much today. Managed 14,500 steps of not much, somehow. We kicked off with the hotel breakfast, nothing too fancy but al least this way I get my daily ration of pink dragonfruit and lychees, along with what is best described as coffee flavoured mud — they keep their pot going strong, but sadly I didn’t find any condensed milk to give it what it really needed. It’s probably the first sign that I’m starting to go bamboo, actually looking to put sugar…
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Vietnam the third: Day 5, Hanoi to Sapa
“Smile, you’re travelling!” is what my alarm would have said at 6.15am had I not already been awake. For all the mumbling I make about early starts, and we’ve had a few on this trip, to be able to just get on a plane with a minimum of paperwork and fly to another country, spending money hard earned through many long hours of work, is a privilege. So many people in the world will never know this, instead are focussed on their next meal, or maybe even next week’s meals. So for all the mumbles and whinges and minor inconveniences — and they are all exactly that, minor, I mean…
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Vietnam the third: Day 4, Hanoi, Ninh Binh
Summer in Vietnam. It’s hot. Very hot. If yesterday just about knocked me over and all I did was queue, today proved that I am quite possibly congenitally unable to learn from the past. We’d booked a day trip out to the south, Ninh Binh, the first capital of Vietnam. I at least got a bit wiser, taking every opportunity to stash a few drinks in my bag, and making sure I imbibed frequently, as the weather forecast was for slightly warm. 36 degrees and humid kinda warm. Not at all comfortable for any known living creature I’d care to associate with kinda warm (even the roadside cows were unhappily…
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Holiday in Cambodia: Days 8&9, Phnom Penh
Day 8/9: Phnom Penh I didn’t sleep well that night. (Writing this from over a week away, in the comfort of home, the other side of a head cold, so these ramblings may not have the same immediacy as previous entries.) I didn’t sleep well that night. I probably slept better for the late night drag show and $4 mojitos, but I know that what I saw and felt at S21 and the killing fields will stay with me for a very long time. My time in Cambodia was drawing to an end, only just over one more day in Phnom Penh before I’d be homeward bound. I still felt…
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Holiday in Cambodia: Day 4, Siem Reap to Battambang
Today, for better and worse, was what travelling is all about. Real travel, the stuff the stories get told about, where not everything goes as expected but everything turns out okay in the end. The boat. There are two ways to get to Battambang from Siem Reap, either by road or by water. Most people travel by road: bus, taxi, scooter, whatever. It takes a few hours and if you pick right you get airconditioned comfort. By road is fast, and cheap. Otherwise there’s the boat. When you google boat Siem Reap Battambang you’re soon waist deep in travel blogs talking about how “interesting” the boat ride is, and how…
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Holiday in Cambodia Day 2: Siem Reap, Angkor Wat
I am a fortunate traveller. In the past 3 months I have both watched the sun set over Manhattan, and the sun rise over Angkor Wat. I know that I’ve also worked hard to be able to afford both the time and money to travel, so some of my fortune is of my own doing, but I’m in a count my blessings kind of mood. (Not that I’m going to literally count all of my blessings, but we can just say that I’ve probably got more than most but less than some.) Angkor Wat, a huge, impressive temple structure, symbol of Cambodia, world heritage listed, and a monument to Vishnu.…
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Holiday in Cambodia Day 1: Siem Reap
If I only make about as many typos this time as I’ve had hours sleep today then I think I’m doing pretty good. Today has been a series of fitful, uncomfortable naps, followed by food, and repeat. I got about 2 hours on the flight PER > SIN, followed by not the best airline breakfast. The staff were looking after me, though, as the inflight entertainment wasn’t working for my seat, so they kept checking to see if they could do anything else for me. It meant I got breakfast along with the dietary groups that normally get fed first, so I probably missed an extra 30 minutes sleep there.…
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Days 16-17, Krakow part 2
Krakow is a lovely town, and I think I’ll always be happy spending a couple of days here, just wandering the old town and surrounds, eating the food, drinking the vodka and beer. But after a couple of days, once I’ve figured out the maze of streets, it can start to get a little difficult to find ways to amuse myself between eats and drinks. So aside from it obviously being great to see L after her her few days in the UK, I enjoyed being with her as she discovered Krakow, seeing her fascination for the old streets and beautiful historic buildings, and as I’d only ever been to…
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Day 13: Frankfurt
I’ve hit that point where I think it’s day 13, but it just might not be. I’m not completely sure what day it is, but am pretty sure I spent most of it either getting to or wandering around Frankfurt. The flight in was good, premium economy on the Singapore airlines A380 is pretty comfy, the seats have an okay recline and a decent amount of space. First movie was South Korean, “Hit and Run Squad”, full of drama, some explosions, and lots of car chases. As the last two stops of this tour are Krakow and Frankfurt, I thought that possibly one of the most memed movies of the…
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Day 10: Mambo de la Luna: Trinidad, Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Havana
Our last full day in Cuba. Another wonderful breakfast at the casa before we hit the road. I don’t think I’ve described the breakfasts we’ve been getting, which have all been both substantial and great quality. The usual starter is a bowl or plate of fruit, which has consistently featured mango but can also have guava, pineapple, rock melon, orange, or banana. I’ve been loving the fresh fruit. Then comes some eggs, any way we like, but omelette has been a consistent choice, as we’ve also been given plates of cheese and ham. There’s also usually bread, and today we also had sweet, jam-filled biscuits that looked like dumplings or…
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Day 9: Mambo de la Luna, Salsa de la Casa, Trinidad de Cuba
Today was all about water. After a huge breakfast at our awesome casa, Hostal Ramirez aka Casa Leoslinda y Reinier, we were bundled into a taxi to be taken to Trinidad’s famed Playa Ancon, or Ancon beach. As beaches go, it’s nice. A bit touristy, but currently it’s the off-season so there’s probably not the same level of service, i.e. locals coming up and offering to get all manner of food, drink, whatever. In the two hours we were there, I was offered a lot of pizza, but only a couple of times, drinks (and the first time was when we were just arriving). The second offer was from a…
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Day 8: Mambo de la Luna, Camaguey to Trinidad
Historic Camaguey, or Port Principe. The tour started with an old church, including an offer to tour the crypt. I took the tour, hoping to get a glimpse of some relics, maybe a body part of a saint or two, or a chunk of the true cross. Sadly no such luck. They had three rooms open, each with some interesting items. The first had a candle presented to the church by Pope John Paul II, the glasses of a priest that is held in high regard the locals, some other items like 17th century art that has been found under the church. Through a very low doorway into the second…
