The north of Vietnam...finally...

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  Hanoi, Vietnam
Thursday, December 7, 2006

Well hello, hello!

here we are for another installment only this one doesnt involve motorcycles...what a nice change...

So we went to Da nang where we spent 5 days in the Quang Tri province meeting patients who have had their sight restored thanks to The Fred Hollows Foundation. It was a bit of a different experience to when I did it in Cambodia but was equally rewarding. This time round I actually went into the operating theatre and got right up close while they were doing the surgery which was interesting...

After that we went to Hoi An which is a really cute little town that becomes even cuter at night when it is lit up by lanterns everywhere

A girl on the road

. The architecture is also really nice, so its a good place to stroll around. Its also the tailoring capital of the world i am sure. Every second shop is a tailors and despite the fact that we had not planned to buy anything, Candy and I went completely beserk with our shopping. I bought three suits, two waistcoats, three shirts, one long winter coat, a dress for my niece, knee high leather boots, more leather work shoes, a skirt (!) and a leather handbag (!!). And it all came to only about $400 aussie dollars which is a bargain in the scheme of things but really could have been done without, given the tight travel budget. also, i had my wallet (including keycard) stolen in Da nang so poor candys card had to cope with all the purchases as well as her own which may have even exceeded mine! so all that stuff got sent on to europe for when we arrive and apparently i am going to be a skirt wearing, knee high boot domanatrix donning a handbag when i get there which will be a novel experience...

so after hoi an we headed to hue which was okay but nothing really to write about except that we stayed in a guesthouse where we were given the bedroom of one of the family members who were overseas and they had the most appaling backlit glamour photography all over the wall. did you know that straight men in see through mesh tops apparently look good?

and after that it was on to hanoi the capital

Candy and I at the peak

. it was hectic as most capitals are and we didnt stick around that long. caught the overnight train to sapa in the north which despite being very touristy was very cute and surrounded by gorgeous mountains. you get all these ethnic minority villages close by and the people come into sapa in their traditional clothes to sell their stuff to the tourists..so candy and i went a little beserk again with all the colourful blankets and things so there goes another box of stuff in the post to australia...

and while we were there candy decided that it would be a great "PERSONAL CHALLENGE" if we climbed Mount Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I reminded her that Lonely Planet claims it is "treacherous" and that only "experienced climbers attempt the ascent" but she was convinced that despite the fact she has never trekked in her life and neither of us is particularly fit, it would be great fun. So being competitive as i am i agreed and off we went with our guide and porter. The first day was 4 hours of almost enjoyable terrain, then we spent the night at the 'base camp' which was a wooden hut with no mattresses and blankets that had definitely never been washed before and as soon as the sun went down it was absolutely freezing. so we didnt sleep that night and then got up the next day for the ascent up the mountain. Its only 3143 metres and i have been higher than that before so i didnt feel too bad about it but let me tell you it was harder than any trek i have done before

Candy tells it how it is...

. INfact, it wasnt really a trek at all but rather a climb that never ended, a full body work out in every way. Every step required you to yank yourself up using rocks, roots or ropes (with no safety equipment, be assured). Within no time candy was exhausted and affected by altitude and crying her eyes out. So I put on a brave face and encouraged her to keep going and to overcome her fear of heights at ever cliff face she had to scale. Eventually after 5 hours we reached the top where we were rewarded, not with the amazing view of Cambodia, China and Laos, we had looked forward to, but a whole lot of clouds. Then to make it worse our guide announced lunch was ready and whippedf out a bannana and sweet biscuit each. and we were starving. So on an empty stomach we began our descent. The whole climb up and back ended up taking nine and a half hours and Candy hated every step. In retrospect i can say that despite the fact i was extremely exhausted by it, i did enjoy it but..f*ck it was hard...

so sapa ended and we returned back to hanoi to then do a trip to tam coc and Halong bay. the halong bay trip includes going out in a big boat and visiting a big cave and cruising round the many islands of limestone. you then spend the night on the boat. the cave was spectacular except that in true vietnamese style they made it really kitsch with coloured disco lights which kind of ruined the atmostphere. the boat trip was fun though and we met a fair few cool people...

and now we have finally made it to laos and despite only having been here a couple of days i am LOVING it. completely relaxed in every sense of the word...oh can i move here for good??? anyway, more about that when i have been here longer and have more experiences to share... till then, goodbye!

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Fruit for sale	Green hands.	Halong Bay	Helmut head and her friends...
Hoi An shop front	Mount Fansipan	Patients waiting for surgery	Quilted landscape
Rats for dinner anyone?	River going to perfume pagoda	The Hilton...

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