vietnam- the third week

long overdue and i have had trips in between... better late than never i guess!

monday february 16th
*woke up kind of early to head out on a trekking adventure through sapa.
*tom paired us with Vu, a 19 year old hmong girl (she looked about 12)
*had a mini entourage of hmong girls. there were three young girls 10-15, one 21 year old girl who was married at 14 and has tow sons aged 1 and 3.
*walked downhill for a few hours while the young girls bounced around on the rocks like mountain goats!
*the views were amazing and the weather was perfect.
*once we were to the village we were attacked by a touting mob. bought a few things from the girls who helped lead us down the mountain.
*after lunch Vu walked us through the village she grew up in. we saw her school and she told us stories about people from her village. apparently there was an albino child.
*took a van back up to the hotel and arrived back about 3. we hung around the lobby area and walked around a bit. caught a bus at 4:30 to go back to cao lao.
*got on the train, which was a beautiful business class cabin. there were bottles of water, proper blankets and air conditioning. since the person who booked our tickets messed up the dates they upgraded us for free.
*the door became jammed and we were stuck in the cabin for about 20 min. we screamed until a lady opened the door... may not have been jammed...

tuesday february 17th
*arrived in hanoi at 4:00 am.
*took a taxi back to the hotel. it was one with a speedy meter, so i had to stand up to the guy and refused to pay three times as much for the ride. we paid him about 50,000 dong (it usually costs 30,000). the guy was arguing with me but as soon as the receptionist opened the door to the hotel the taxi driver ran off.
*since it was so early our room was not ready. there was an elderly couple leaving so the receptionist gave us the key to their room so we could sit somewhere more comfortable. those people were booooze hounds. there wer three bottle of empty rum. i finished reading high fidelity and slept for about two hours.
*we had breakfast and headed to the ethnography museum abut 12:00.
*the museum was a bit further out than we had anticipated, but well worth it. it had so much information about the different tribes we saw in sapa. i think it was a good thing we went after traveling around vietnam since we were able to recognize some of the clothing etc that we had seen. out in the back there were all kinds of life sized huts.
*there was a wedding shoot going on outside. not sure it was for real or for a magazine shoot.
*went back to the hotel to write postcards. then went out for gin and tonics at a bar called mao's.

wednesday february 18th
*woke up at 4:30 am to catch a taxi to the airport.
*we were all a bit hungover from the gins... so we bought pringles and coke. breakfast of champions.
*arrived in hue and took a taxi to the hotel. since our rooms werent ready we had breakfast. then they offered to move us to another hotel (they said it was a part of the chain), which was not as nice as the hotel we had prepaid for.
*we asked another guest how much they were paying for their rooms and it turns out they were paying have as much as we had pre-paid for the other place. sandi got our passports back from the front desk and we went back to the original hotel and demanded a room.
*went walking while they got our rooms together. when we got back the rooms were ready and amazing. there were flower petals on the bed! in the bathtub! it was like a romantic holiday get away with sandi! :P
*went to the citidel for lunch. it was interesting because we were some of the only tourists so we were being watched all the time.
*we didnt have a card for the hotel so we had a hard time figuring out where to go. eventually we figured out where we were and stopped to have dinner at an italian restaurant.
*sandi and i watched a horribel thriller movie on hbo when we got back. which was a bti sad since neither of us like scarey movies!

thursday february 19th
*woke up about 7 and headed to the citidel again. bought tickets to get into the imperial citidel.
*there was a pond near the front gate full of fish. you could buy food and throw it into the water and the fish would swim all over eachother, crushing one another into the wall. it was the most disgusting thing i have ever seen.
*walked all over the gardens and through the buildings. it is a massive palace. it was very serene and calming to be there. a lot of the buildings are being restored so there was lots of work going on.
*we tried to go to the royal fine arts museum but it had been moved to the other side of town. so we trekked over to the new location, which was a royal house built in about 1917 and is currently being restored. sandi was very helpful to have along since she does similar restoration in australia.
*went to the tropical garden restaurant for dinner and saw traditional vietnamese musicians.

friday february 20th
*decided to rent bicycles and hire a boat to take us down the river so we could see the royal tombs.
*the boat we hired out was actually a family home. it was run by a husband and wife. we payed extra for lunch and stopped by the market so the wife could go in to get the food.
*they took us to the thien mu pagoda first. then we stopped on a steeeeeep bank. we had to carry our bikes up this sharp incline in order to get to the road that went to the tombs. we visited the minh mang, and tu duc tombs. unfortunately this is the only day i didnt actually write about in my journal so most of this is coming from my memory.
*it was beautiful to be on the boat going up the river. i wish that we had rented bikes earlier and had ridden around the area a bit more. to be honest i think this was probably the best day in vietnam. it was so beautiful and everything seemed so peaceful on the water and at the tombs.

saturday february 21st
*walked to the citadel from our hotel and had an 8 course imperial lunch at a touristy restaurant. it was over priced and not very good. however it was pretty cool to see the imperial cuisine.
*after lunch we had to catch a taxi in order to get to the airport for our flight to ho chi minh.
*went to blue river, it was nice to be back somewhere familiar! turns out the place was full so thuy set us up in another hotel not too far away. unlike hue we knew this was not a scam, thuy said we were her vips! she was a wonderful girl and works very hard. the place was a bit less expensive as well which was nice. also seemed to be filled with vietnamese people rather than tourist.
*i fell ill (damn overpriced imperial cuisine!) and couldnt eat the mixed noodles the girls got from a local food stall (by mixed i mean tongue, kidney, liver and who knows what else).
*watched a bit of bee movie, felt miserable and fell asleep.

sunday february 22nd
*the hotel was super quiet and since i was exhaused from being sick i slept extemely well and woke up feel like a million bucks the next day.
*moved back to the original blue river after breakfast.
*went to the ben thanh markets and went shopping crazy since it was sandi's last day.
*finally bought a copy of the quiet american (inside joke), well i didnt buy it. it was a gift from sally. it was a photocopied version so some of the words are glued into the binding...
*went to this crazy restaurant near the hotel for dinner. they had weasle, dove, pidgeon, tortise, and everything inbetween. minna and sally ordered the hot pot and the whole restaurant laughed at us while we tried to eat it.
*finished dinner then sandi had to head to the airport to head back to melbourne.
*went helmet shoping for minna.
*had massive sandi-withdrawl.
*had a beer then went back to the hotel for bed.

monday february 23rd
*massive phantom sandi attack.
*we did a bit of a quiet american tour. found dong khoi street and stopped in the continental for drinks (at 11...). we sat and talked for a few hours in the air conditioning, which was wonderful.
*took a cooking class. which really didnt have any cooking invovled, basicly we just has bowls of ingredients we had to measure out and mix together. the 'cooking school' did everything else.
*traded pictures with sally.

tuesday february 24th
*had a final breakfast at blue river.
*went to the spa and had facials.
*packed up all of our things.
*moved sally to her new hotel, he dad was going to meet her a few hours after we left.
*caught a taxi to the airport and flew back to melbourne.

my trip to vietnam was amazing, anyone who is thinking of going should go as soon as they can (it will probably get very touristy in the next few years). it was beautiful and very easy to get around. i think it is safe to say it was one of the best trips of my life. thanks so much again to minna, sally and sandi for traveling with me. if ever you get a chance to travel with any of these girls, dont pass it up.