I only just made it into Vietnam! Just as the permafrost around my bone marrow began to melt they treatened to send me back to the inhospitable climes of China. Our lovely karoke singing and violent Jackie Chan movie playing crazy bus dropped us off at 'Friendship Pass' to let us into Vietnam. After the standard skirmish, elbow-into-ribs affair I managed to get my passport out. They stamped Rob's and sent him over to the payment (obviously) section. Then delightful words 'no maddam, this is not you, bad passport.' She had a very valid point, shaking her head and tutting scornfully at me. She showed me a picture of a smiling, pashmina clad, bright blond straigtened hair, glasses-less made-up girl! I was scowling angrily back at her, wearing a very questionable browning ski jacket, hunched back, dark brown hair heaped on the back of my head. Severly disheveled I looked a shadow of my former self. I answerd a lot of very tricky questions - could I recite my passport number, what was the name of the passport issuing authoriy in my country and so on - to prove my identity and was finally let in, feeling like some kind of ugly sister!
Besides the vibrant green of neatly terraced rice paddies as far as the eye can see, the most striking aspect of our journey towards the capital was the presence of the Vietnamese flag. On houses, sheds and in fields, the red flag centred with a golden star seem to flutter with nationalistic spirit. The people are immensely proud to be Vietnamese.
The Old Quarter of Hanoi is where East meets West. Hustle, bustle and motorbikes galore! After enjoying a lovely meal in a restaurant that formerly stored missiles, we couldn't help partaking of a few 20p draught beers at a bar overlooking the lively street scene.
The next day we set off on foot to Hoa Lu Prison. Formerly used by French colonialists to house dissident Vietnamese "revolutionaries", it later became the Hanoi Hilton for US POWs during the Vietnam War. Its most famous inmate was US Presidential candidate John McCain, whose captured artefacts remain. This was a moving reminder of the atrocities fellow humans so often afflict on each other.
For the first time on our travels we were swamped with sweaty, loud and rotund tours groups at the Temple of Literature. Having seen much finer examples throughout China, it didn't get us perspiring as much as others, althought the molesting of stone tortoises supposedly for good health was a bizarre sight!
Wandering the stalls and streets of the Old Quarter, Kim bought a pair of quality flip flops. By 8pm that night they had already broken...
At 3pm on Sundays our hostel provided a free 50 litre keg of beer! Needless to say we were there. We got talking to two Norwegiains that were travelling to escape National Service back home. Jonas had "acted like a prick" in his interview so was exempt, while Peter had a court order but felt that it was "better for Norway" that he was away. Obviously a quality night ensued ending up drinking Bia Hoi (local draught beer) on street corners for just 8p a glass! It would be rude not to...
On Mondays all museums and places of interest close so we were somewhat limited with what we could do. Why not take a few million out of the bank!? With 30,000 Vietnamese Dong for every pound we became instant millionaires, but unfortunately Kim entered currency conversion hell! Posting a parcel back home with odds and ends, we saw the priceless faces of two Australian ladies who had airmailed boxes of souvenirs and clothes home, but it had only just dawned on them actually how much it was costing them in postage! Error.
Unfortunately Tuesday 26th February 2008 was a infamous day on our trip. At 3.30 am I woke just in time for the first of my twenty-three (23) "loose bowel movements" of the day. I must pay particular note to numbers 1,3 and 17 for their style and ferocity. At 3.35 am Kim woke to begin her prolonged session of vomiting, but with the added twist of "loose bowel movements" as well for good measure. However, she was fortunate enough to be accompanied by small army of field mice that had nestled below some shelves near the bathroom. Nothing like a few creature comforts!!?! An horrific bout of food poisioning had struck. The culprit = a fruit salad!? Without strength and without appetite, we wisely starved our way to recovery. Sadly we had to forgo our trip north-west to the hill station of Sapa as neither of us were up to the 10 hour overnight train with an attractive squat toilet.
We woke the next day feeling a marginal step closer to normality and decided to move on before we got charged a few million Dong by the hostel for excessive toilet paper use!
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