TravelStream™ news feed for member leehorscraft on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/leehorscraft en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:41:03 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265625/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265625/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265625/tpod.html Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:41:03 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Vang Vieng, Viangchan, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Warning: this entry is quite deep and sentimental

Today as we awoke from our slumber, we all made our way one last time to the Scandinavian bakery, where your stomach is indulged by the beautiful array of slices of heaven. We all had chicken super sandwiches!! We all made our way to the hostel, jumping in the bus to Vang Vieng. Andy and me passed the time by sitting next to each other and collaborated on one of my blog entries (Andy also has a diary and our collective creative minds fused together creating a hilarious, side tearing blog entry.

We finally arrived in Vang Vieng, on the main road, after checking out a couple of guesthouses we found one which we liked and settled in. Vang Vieng is such a gorgeous town, long dusty roads packed with guesthouses and restaurants, however what makes this quaint town is the majestic limestone karst hills towering high, a bold statement encapsulating the beauty of Laos. The magnificent karst hills are only part of the appeal of Vang Vieng, despite the obvious draw of tubing the place still maintains the Lao lifestyle and hasn't been diluted yet by tourism. The neighbourhoods are full of locals putting out their laundry, shooting some snooker, calmy conversing with other at noodle stalls and children flying along the dirty track roads of the neighbourhoods. What makes the experience so enjoyable is the relaxed atmosphere of the place, well slightly away from the backpacker areas (and from the tubing area). No furious orchestra of horns or gangs of street sellers hoping to empty the pockets of westerners, just relaxed roads with smooth flowing traffic and shops that you can actually look in without being hassled every 5 seconds. Yes you heard me correctly not getting hassled by restaurant owners, no street sellers and shop owners letting you look wihtout letting their desperation drive you away.

We were all eager to start our tubing experience (tubing is where you sti in a tube and float downstream and stop off at bars alongside the river, drink and float down to the next bar, with a ton of bars), So we took a mini pickup truck to the tubing mecca, little did I know it would blow my mind and eclipse my preconceptions, I didn't know exactly what to expect until we arrived there. We rocked up and as we walked down the wooden ladder to the first bar we heard the beats and sounds of partying getting louder with each excited and curious pace taken forward, WOW! As I peered downstream I saw hundreds of semi-naked people, partying and drinking on the beach but bars, raised above the water by the bamboo stilts and platforms. From nearly every bar were humans flying through the air, in every position, somersaulting, falling, belly-flopping, some jumped from raised platfgorms, whilst others went down the slides and the zip lines plunging into the water below. One can only describe it as an alcohol-fuelled water fun park party. We were immediately offered several free shots of Vodka, which we duly obliged by accepting and downed. Josh and me were eager to have a go on the zipline, as we got to the top of the zipline it was pretty high, I expected it to be extremely fast, however it was ok, I cruised through the air before hitting the water below, Josh quickly followed suit, Soon everyone was having a go with Dan and Josh hitting the zipline stopper and somersaulting everywhere as they created huge splashes... crazy buggers.

As we progressed through the bars, picking up more alcohol en-route, we danced and sucked the beautifulness out of the buckets, a gateway to heaven: Vodka! Dan came back through the crowd covered in paint, feeling left out Andy, Josh and me got our freak on with the spray paint, I took it a bit too far, getting my face, back and front and legs covered in yellow spray paint, idiot, lol. We then in a moment of sheer brilliance and visionary clarity decided to write obscene messages on each otherse backs "muff on tap", "hamaephrodites enter here" and "homo and proud" were just a mere sample of the intellectual, witty and deep (aka low-brow) meaningful sonnets of the english language we conjured up.

More alcohol and dancing ensued, everyone was pretty drunk, I was wasted saying hello to everyone I passed on the way to the toilet. Later on I lost everybody and for some reason brokedown in floods of tears, I had earlier mentioned to Andy and Josh about my grandfather passing away, I hadn't disccused it in a while, was this plaguing me in the back of my mind? I know I got over it, maybe amongst all this craziness I just missed him. I have learnt to overcome my sorrow on my own but that pain will never entirely go away. As I thought about this the more I cried, he won't be waiting at the airport for me, who will I talk to about my table tennis, discuss the tennis with? My good friends helped my to my feet, covered in snot and tears, now cold they helped me back to the guesthouse.

I felt sorry for ruining their night but not sorry for how I was feeling, they were kind and said they were going home anyway, what a nice group of people. Other thoughts began to enter my mind, prolonging my sadness, how the people I have been so close to have to suffer. How nan suffered a painful and miserable end at the hand of cancer, yet we had become so close and her slightly overweight yet warm and welcoming figure is now merely a ghost of the past. Now the waste of space, ficticious, lazy bastard called God would have the audacity to take away my grandad and best friend and nan's love, we did not deserve that. All these thoughts were flooding my mind as I stared up awake in bed, I thought how I would give anything to have been able to say goodbye to him and told him how wonderful (although by no means perfect) I thought he was. All these emotions bombarded my oversensitive and loving heart, I realise now it was a good way to get my emotions out as I hadn't cried in a while. Its funny that I seem to write and think so beautifully when I am depressed or sad, but its equally true when I am stunned and amazed by the beauty of this world I love to portray that with words. I had briefly revisited the horrible lows of my days of depression before travelling, wondering what my purpose was, am I really that special? Why do I feel so alone? Why is my life this way?

I arose the next morning like the proverbial phoenix from the flames of despair, my heart reignited with my new found passion for life, how can I not have a ourpose now? I have seen the beauty of the world, I want these feelings of wonderment and astonishment to continue, I will travel again, making new memories, having these great feelings and new feelings, through travelling I have discovered so much about myself, my goals, what I like and don't like, my strength and doing things that were only dreams before, mere fantasies, coping with serious hardship and learning to open my mind and realise how wrong I was before, the world isn't black and white. I have learned how to try and not prejudge people so often as you can be pleasantly incorrect. More importantly I believe in myself more and being able to be truly fascinated by others. It teaches me, and I the eager pupil want to continue the teachings of life through travelling. Despite all thes changes my heart remains unchanged, my emotions, although sometimes a hinderance, are my guide and the depths I reach both high and low make me who I am. I will stop these rambling now, you get the idea, I will try and make the most of what I have and enjoy the rest of my travels as much as possible. Chow for now.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258966627/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258966627/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258966627/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:59:07 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Hanoi, Ha Nội, Vietnam

Today in eager anticipation of reaching Laos and starting a brand new adventure, Steve and myself wandered around Hanoi, looking for some US dollars for our border crossing. We were warned it would be problematic to get US dollars from the banks, we went to 3 different banks and they explained we would have to get dollars from the jewelery stores around Hanoi. After wandering into several different stores we eventually got our currency (getting ripped off on the exchange rate), we stopped off at the Colonels (KFC) for some finger licking action. Strolling around Hanoi with much welcomed sunshine made my perceptions of this place more positive, the lake near the old quarter is beautiful and tranquil, a strange and pleasant juxtaposition against the rampant traffic and furour of the roads in Hanoi. Local people having fun in the gentle warmth of the day.

In the evening we said goodbye to Tom and jumped in our taxi, meeting Hannah and Dan (from Brighton!!), wedged in between our backpacks, we squeezed into the taxi streaming through the traffic, arriving at the bus depot.

Waiting around for an hours and a half I used this time constructively by conversing with a Japanese women, Orie (who have been travelling on and off for the last 14 years!!), I was fascinated by all the interesting countries she had visited and stunned when she said she was 33 years old, she looked no older then 25! The bus finally left with a near full capacity, luckily Steve, Hannah, Dan and me managed to have 2 seats each for some level of comfort on a potentially horrific journey. Whilst setting off a wave of apprehension ran through my body, recalling the blog entries mentioning broken down buses, no toilet breaks, starving passengers, animal trafficking and 28hr plus journey times!! I shifted this to the back of my mind, as I built my tent of blankets and zoned out to my walkman, attempting to block out the brain-killing sounds of Laos music in the bus. I drifted in and out of sleep as we headed ever closer to Vientiane and the magic of Laos.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258895495/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258895495/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258895495/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:58:36 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Ha Long , Quảng Ninh, Vietnam

Tom, Steve and myself boarded the bus for Halong Bay, on our 3 and a half hour journey we met Jenny and Sarah (from England). After a brief wait at the dock in Halong City we jumped aboard our plush, classy junk boat. The boat was really sweet, with varnished finish on the wood, nice restaurant with proper dining cutlery and china. The whole boat was like going on an upmarket cruise, I felt quite posh.

We spent the start of the day cruising around the beautiful Halong Bay, gazing at the limestone rock formations that surround the bay. There are so many of these green jagged peculiar shaped rocks soaring above the calm waters. We ventured into the Sung Sot ("suprising") caves within one of the rocks, our guide (Thing) showed us around these awesome caves where you could view the interesting and various stalactites and stalagmites and the different colours of the rocks eccentuated by the artificial lighting. The caves were huge, and made more impressive by the unique look of the place, It has to be one of the coolest sights I have seen in this country. After emerging from the splendid caves, Steve and I kayaked around Halong Bay for 40 minutes. As we got back and jumped back on our lovely boat, we chiled out for a while in our rooms and then Steve and me proceeded upstairs to meet Jenny, Sarah and Tom for foodie-woodies. Later we all had foot massages, it was great, although slightly painful. I had some red wine (which I had purchased from the vendors on boatsfrom my bedroom window) and enjoyed the company of everyone, the girls are really nice people and has made the journey more enjoyable. I was knackered so I headed off to bed at 11:30pm. Today was a day of relaxation, nice weather and enjoying the stunning scenary. Today with the change in weather from Hanoi to Halong's hot weather and the blue skies, I felt optimism and excitment course through my veins, thinking about the rest of my trip. I am not looking forward to the cold and miserable weather of England. I am going to try and make the most of this last month of travelling.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258706222/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258706222/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258706222/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:58:07 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Lao Cai, Lào Cai, Vietnam

Once the train arrived in the uninteresting town Lao Cai Steve and me jumped off the train and then found our pickup minibus for the remainder of the journey to Sapa!! It was a long winding road to Sapa, up, up unto the mountains the car climbed, following the snaking road to reach the dizzing heights of this mountain town. On the way Sapa we saw a mini-bus stuck on two wheels against the side of the road, there had been an accident with a motorbike. After witnessing this event I felt incredibly enthusiastic about reaching Sapa.

When we made it to the town of Sapa, all of us jumped out of the mini-bus and were greeted by the harsh chill of the mountain air and heavy fog englufing the town, my breathes showed in the cold dampness, so I didn't hestitate to get inside to Global Hotel.

Once there Steve and myself met with Tom and sat down to line our stomachs with fuel for our treks this morning. A small amount of waiting around and then we were greeted by our friendly and well-spoken guide Hung, a nice young guy who lives in the village of Sapa. We then headed to the village of the local tribe. I was particularly freezing so I had to purchase a Northface jacket to shelter me from freezing my tits off. There was light drizzle in the air and a dreariness in the weather which reminded me of English winter (awesome!). As we trekked we had the local villagers following us. They wear headscarfs and colourful clothing to signify their tribe, with all the clothes on their bodies having been made by them. All of them carry a wicker basket on their backs for selling their hand-made materials and crafts. They are really chatty and friendly and surprisingly spoke very good english. Even though I knew at the end of the trek they would want to sell me something they were very pleasant and smiley people, brightening up the day, even if the weather was uninspiring.

After walking for several hours along the side of the Muong Hoa Valley we eventually made it to an arts and crafts shop, where the local Hmong tribe where making clothes and materials and trying to sell us some of them. We waded through the muddy, sludgy paths, gazing at the ricefields and mountains of Sapa through the heavy fog. The scenary looked great, however the greyness of the sky and thickness of the fog made it a fraction of how good it should have been. However the 3-4 hour trek was a nice experience, being with a group of people once again, exploring another part of the world!! On our journey we passed through the Lao Chai Village to the Ta Van village, where we enjoyed lunch. We eventually arrived at our homestay, a large barn type conversion, with the upstairs being where everyone slept (on the floor, on matresses). We met the second group later on in the evening, who looked a bit more interesting then our group. We were given tea by the people at our homestay to help warm us up. Amongst the beauty and harshness of nature we were based, with myself battling Hung (our guide) for pool supremacy on the table outdoors. He managed to get the better of me this time (I was rusty!). After playing cards for a while Steve and the two american girls we had met went for a walk to the riverside near our homestay, giving us time to chat and know each other a little better.

In the evening a great laugh was had playing the 3-round charades name game, It passed the time quickly and left me with some memorable quotes and visual jokes aka the "Hamburgler", Jesus and Michael Phelps!! In the evening some drunk guy kept shouting out "Karoake", asking the whole group in the dark, whilst everyone was in bed whether they wanted to join in. So far the trip has been fun, despite the weather.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265474/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265474/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265474/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:56:31 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Vientiane, Viangchan, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Warning many future entries may contain slight exaggeration

I awoke as the bus rocked up to the border. As I made my first foosteps onto Laos soil, the difference in temperature was immediately evident, it was damn freezing. Everyone huddled into the visa office to escape the brisk weather (whilst wearing shorts and flip-flops). This lifeless room contained several confusing counters. Dan, Hannah and me queued behind a crowd of people only to be told it was another counter, we queued again and the same thing happened with this counter, by now we were starting to get aggitated. Eventually we handed over our passports, the fee and 1 crisp george washington bill to get out stamp and fill the pockets of the corrupt officials. More drama and hilarity unfolded when two naive english lads from the bus (later revealing themselves as Andy and Josh) politely enquired as to why there was a fee for the visa! The plonkers were short of cash and trying in broken english to explain their predicament to the non-flinching and unimpressed officials. Andy explained to me his dilemmma and sensing he was a bit buggered, I forked out 7 USD to get him into Laos. Dan and Hannah did the same, giving the bewildered and wounded Josh his ticket to Laos, bowing in obediance and respect he accepted this kind offering from these good samaritans.

Hurray, finally we boarded the bus and continued our journey. The gradual increase in heat and morning sunshine flooding through the bus windows increased my sense of excitement about Laos. Beautiful, lazy, green, untouched, all these adjectives spring to mind, Laos will be special.

Doing well now, no crashes or breakdowns, no starvation or diarhoea on the bus and we seem to be going in the right direction, if only they would turn off that god-awful Laos comedy show on the box. Steve, Dan, Hannah and myself were feeling pretty famished. Sensing my diet of lays would not keep me conscious for much longer Dan, Hannah and me asked if we could get some food as we had stopped. We grabbed our baguettes and ran to the bus as the furious driver was angrily waving and the bus started to move. We sampled the fine Laos cuisine of the pubic baguette, feeling the fluff tickle the back of the throat as it sank into our empty tummies. Not that great.

We finally made it to the bus station. Andy, Josh, Steve, Dan and me all got the tuk-tuk into town and an instant bond was formed, this beautiful friendship blossomed whilst driving through the dusty (but quiet) roads of Vientiane we made our way to the main drag, searched for several places before settling on the youth inn. After a period of rest and showering we scowered the streets of Vientiane for a fine local eatery, Nazim Indian food was our decision. I wasn't feeling that hungry so had a couple of shakes and some chips. Everyone laughed as a bowl of cooked crisps were presented to me, feeling slightly stupid and unsatisfied I chomped on my crisps, secretly cursing the waiter. After we went down by the side of the road and sat on some mats, savouring the taste of the local brew; Beer Lao. On the way back home I ate some street food from one of the vendors, which several of the group commented bore a resemblance to pigs testicles, yummy :) We stoped off mere footsteps from the Youth Inn, craving more beer we stepped into a kebab place...

The one and only: Johnny.
A character profile by Andy and Lee

At first this place seemed normal, pleasant guests with an air of sophistication, this quickly evaporated as a cockney londoner asked us lads if we wanted some beer. We requested some beers and he said we must order some chips. He seemed slightly on edge (possibly from the heroin addiction) and the glazed look in his eyes showed a longing for love and friendship. His sale pitch of 3 portions of chips didn't go down well with the crew, we politely requested 2 portions, although he mused how they weren't a patch on english chips. We were interested and wanted to fill the awkward silences that this place had become so accustomed to. Andy pondered, then suddnely a moment of enlightenment occured and he piped up "When is it most busy here". A droplet of information poured into his cranium, as the cogs began to turn and his face twitching, his brain was being challenged for the first time since his unspent youth. Finally choosing his words with care his lips began to form words, uttering something resembling a sentence, he excitedly reacted "between 6pm and 8pm is often quite busy, I don't know why?" Josh chimmed in with a witty and snappy retort "isn't that when people have dinner". Flabbergasted and rocked to his very core, he took a backwards step, feeling the bond we had so quickly formed beginning to fray, he smiled, although he was crying inside. Hannah on the verge of breaking into wikd roars of laughter bit her tongue, whilst Steve could not help but be intrigued by the path his own life had taken. Josh sensing he had to redeem himself and stop Johnny from O-D-ing, he realised this guy was not born into a world were irony existed, spoke to this now shell-of-a human being. In a moment of incomprehensible recklessness Josh asked Johnny (still stunned, a small stench of urine eminating from his Lao briefs) if he would join our possy on our wild and wacky quest to the promised land of Vang Vieng. As Josh described tubing in Vang Vieng, Johnny sensed a brief moment of happiness was arriving, for the first time in his life, since leaving the womb, he knew god had presented him with this moment. How cruel, fate had conspired against him, his dream obliterated, his hopes popped like a puncture in a vomit and alcohol stained tube, when he realised he was working when we were heading to Vang Vieng. A silent collective breath of relief and euphoria filled the air. We had narrowly averted Sept 11th Part 2, we had stopped Judgement day, the group was safe from horus of awkwardness, a shame he would never live to experience the shroom shakes.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265586/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265586/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1260265586/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:51:02 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Vientiane, Viangchan, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Today after being abruptly woken by the drilling of the roadworks in the distance, we all eventually made our way downstairs, having to wait ages for Josh and Andy to do their hair and makeup. I had read in the bible about a delightful Scandinavian bakery, only a small distance from our hostel. We arrived at Nam Phu, the area in which the bakery was located, a nice concreted area with the centre piece a pretty water fountain. We entered this cool and air con equipped paradise of scrumptous cream, chocolate and other drool-inducing treats. We all went for super sandwiches, which were really satisfying, I had real cheese in my baguette for the fist time in ages a sandwich with proper familiar ingredients and tastes. After all feeling rather bloated after slaying the mighty baguettes of the Scandinavian empire, we decided to expand our horizons and continue our conquest through Vientiane...on a motorbike. Straightforward you would think, just borrow some motorbikes and we're off, not the case.. We had to wait for ages to get our motorbikes, Steve needed an automatic but they provided him with a manual, after sorting this out we had to wait ages for fuel. We waited for about 15 minutes before they finally bought some fuel back, after all this messing around an hour had almost passed. Finally we were off, with Steve at the wheel and me the passeger we drove through the roads of Vientiane, the wind and dust riding up in our faces and a sense of adventure.

We were going fine, driving past food vendors, garages, restaurants, watching the world fly by. Suddenly in front of us Steve and me saw 2 people fall of their bikes, slightly shocked I realised the victims were Andy and Josh. We drove up to them as they pushed their bike to the side of the road, both seemed fine and the bike didn't look too busted up. Andy inspected his lef to discover a horrific sight, drenched in blood, grit and pus, bone had pierced through his skin, reaveling the mangled skin, oh the horror!... only joking it was a bad cut. After a makeshift clean up job we were back on the road. After whizzing around the roads, weaving through traffic and attempting to follow each other, our navigator Hannah (with Dan at the helm) led us to the national monument. It looked pretty impressive, the gold looked striking against the blue of the sky as its backdrop. After Andy and Josh contemplated and pondered for several minutes we eventually decided to pay the 5,000kip entrance fee. The once impressive monument became less so upon closer inspection, the gold paint was fading and cracks appearing, however I am still glad we manged to see the monument Phra That Laung, as it is very important to the people of Laos.

At the start of the day we had all wanted to visit the Buddha park, however as the clock tciked down this was becoming less of a reality as the light in the day began to fade. The journey on the way back to our guesthouse was equally as eventufl as the journey that preceded this one, with Andy and Josh taking centre stage once more. They pulled over by the side of the road in front of Steve and me, as unknowing Hannah and and Dan continued onwards. They had punctured their back tyre, they weren't having a great run today. As Josh wheeled it up to the garage we saw a shocking site. There was a dog living at the garage who had a broken lower back and legs, dragging its limp back half with its front legs, the poor dog. We spent a good deal of time here as the sun began to set, it had been a day of hiccups but eventful all the same. Eventually Josh paid the 10,000 kip repair fee and we left. On the way back the boys got another puncture, the unlucky bastards.

In the evening I had a shopping session in the night market, meeting a nice Malaysian family from Penang breifly. Eventually after exploring the stools choc full of beautiful arts and crafts I arrived at the rooftop bar, everyone was on the jugs of beer. After a few hours we headed back home. On our journey back we were being followed, but by what? Something was hiding in the shadows!!! It turned out to be a stray kitten which had followed the group. We briefly stopped for Andy to get a pancake and the cat (which Dan unofficially adopted and dubbed "Vang Vieng") continued to follow us for another 10 minutes back to our hostel.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258896691/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258896691/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258896691/tpod.html Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:36:10 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Ha Long , Quảng Ninh, Vietnam

Today I awoke feeling incredibly comfortable in my bed, wanting to lie there for hours, however I couldn't, I had more pressing matters at hand, namely breakfast. After making myself look half respectable and drinking more of the red wine from last night, I clambered the stairs and annihiliated my breakfast. Tom, Sarah and Jenny were already awake and chirpy, the sun was red-hot outside and nice.

We had to all say farewell to Jenny and Sarah, as they continued their Halong Bay adventure, heading off to Cat Ba Island, whilst we stayed on the boat back to Halong Cuty and eventually Hanoi (yay!). It's strange the last few days I've been having weird moods, sometimes really happy and positive about the rest of my travels and other times bored and waiting for another adventure, I think the weather and surroundings make a big difference to your frame of mind(which means I'm going to be miserable when I return to England, lol). My travels have been the best time of my life, met so many awesome people, had crazy experiences and overcome barriers and fears in my path, I will make the most of my last month of travelling, make it count. I am looking forward to Xmas and seeing you all again but wish I could continue this adventure but I will be travelling again as soon as I have the money to do so. I never really spoke a great deal about Steve, he is a very modest guy, more intent on listening to others then talking about his own impressive travels around Oz, he never really gets angry either. I wish he wasn't so chiled out sometimes as it means I end up having to make decisions, as he goes with the flow (which isn't a bad thing). Its great how we can both go off and do our own things in the day and meet later on and how we can also be in each others company without feeling the need to constantly speak. A really decent guy, and hilarious when he's wasted!! Right now im lazing on the junk, closing my eyes and enjoying music as we sail back to Halong City, ready to resume from this momentary pause in time and continue to tear through the rest of South East Asia in time for going back home.

On the bus journey back I chatted with Thing, our guide for most of the time. He is a pretty funny and decent guy. I was surprised to learn that he had a lot of possessions that western adults have, an Ipod, a nice motorbike, its nice that some of the Vietnamese people are able to live a comfortable life, although still much of the country does not have this luxury. He told me about his family and showed me loads of photos from his camera, he asked me about life in England and I asked about his previous jobs and we listened to my Mp3 player and chilled out for the rest of the journey. The stop-over we had in the middle of the bus journey was cool, I got to chat to a couple of people who worked there and spoke to this gorgeous Vietnamese girl, who thought I was handsome (thats really why I love Asia, lol), a shame I couldn't have conversed with her for longer! Damn! I floated back onto the bus having just met an angel.

The bus crawled through the heavy traffic in Hanoi, we arrived pretty late in Hanoi, at 5:30pm (an hour later than scheduled!) and Tom, Steve and me arrived back at Drift and checked into our rooms and grabbed our backpacks. In the evening nothing terribly exciting happened, everyone congregated in the tv room and later on we ventured out for grub once more.
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Hanoi, Ha Nội, Vietnam

Today Steve and me did barely anything in Hanoi, having just arrived back from Sapa quite tired but satisfied from a fun trip, Hanoi as I have stated before is very city-like in that meeting local people who have time for you is more fiddicult then say Hue or Hoi-An as everyone is working and trying to make money. Also the weather is always overcast and cold, just like England. So bored by the lack of anything interesting to do here I stayed and had a film day; Predator, Commando, Kung-Fu Panda, Gladiator, Old School and 500 Days of Summer. The rest of my day was filled by going out with Tom and Steve for food and to book our Halong Bay trip for tommorow!! I look forward to more exciting days ahead.
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Lao Cai, Lào Cai, Vietnam

On our second day in Sapa we awoke for breakfast, still freezing I snuck out of bed, got my crap together and went downstairs for breakfast. We trailed the other group, as we took off for the start of our second hike. We trekked along the muddy and treacherous paths to Giang Ta Chai village of the Red Dao minority, on the way visiting the nice Silver waterfall and crossing the old, rusty Rattan bridge. The trek was pretty fun and I chatted to the Niz and Matt (from Australia) some more and also Victor (from Holland). When we eventually arrived back at Sapa, I went for a walk around the village, there isn't really a great deal to see here, mainly shops, restaurants and other shops catering for tourism here. On my way back to the hotel I got stopped by a vietnamese girl trying to sell me something, I told her I didn't need anything, to which she smartly replied "that means you don't need your clothes, your shoes, your camera. What you mean is you don't need anything new". I was impressed that she understood english so well and found it funny that she was correcting my english. She said it was ok and said we could be friends and chat. I spoke with her for 20 minutes or so, I was impressed to learn that not only did she know English, she was also learning French! I then met Carey (who I had met in the drift hostel a few days ago) who was in a cafe with Jools and her friend. Me, Steve and our german friend went into the cafe and chatted and relaxed for a while in the warmth of the cafe. Steve and me then went for food in the Global hotel and ate with Niz and Matt, whilst in the cold of the hotel, seeing our breath in the air! Later we got the bus to Lao Cai, where we had to wait for 3 hours, chatting with the American girls, Victor and the Australians. We all got our shoes shined after the Vietnamese guys persistence paid off. We eventually boarded the train at 9pm and Steve and me conversed with our room mates; 2 cute Danish girls, who are travelling for a couple of months. I was pretty tired so went to bed early, as the train made its way to Hanoi.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258673175/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258673175/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leehorscraft/1/1258673175/tpod.html Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:33:04 -0500 Lee's Round the World Tour: Beijing to Bangkok and everywhere inbetween

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Hanoi, Ha Nội, Vietnam

Today very little happened as Steve and me were trying to kill time to go to Sapa. In the evening we got the sleeper train to Lao Cai, the carriages were pretty comfortable. We met two south african girls and stayed in their carriage chatting to them and their roomates, a friendly american couple with a lovely baby. After a while we got to sleep in our room, with our roomates; a middle-aged vietnamese couple, already asleep.
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