Hue

28th-31st July 2012

Our time in Hanoi over, we headed next to the town of Hue, about 350 miles south. This was our first chance to experience the Vietnamese train system. Buying a ticket at the station was more complicated than it should have been. They had a ticketing system at the entrance to decide who’s turn it was to get served. After about 30 minutes of waiting, it became clear that the system wasn’t working, mainly because the two girls behind the counter were just serving anyone who wandered up. In the end I did likewise.

Despite buying our tickets a good 7 days in advance, there were no soft sleeper berths available, so we ended up on the top bunks of a hard sleeper. This turned out not too badly. Unlike the Chinese hard sleepers, which consist of open rows of three-tier bunks, submarine style, these were very similar to the soft sleepers in that each compartment had its own door. The only real difference was there were six bunks to a compartment rather than four. The beds were fairly comfy and it wasn’t too hard to get up and down from the top bunk.

However, we were sharing with a Vietnamese family who had crammed six people into the remaining four beds – four adults and two young girls. This was not an issue in itself but two of the adults (the two grandmas it looked like) thought it would be great fun to encourage the two kids stay up talking until 2am. Then, sure enough, as dawn broke at 5am, they were up and chattering again. I’m not the best early riser anyway, but that morning I was not a happy chap, especially as when we got off the train at about 9am, they were all happily snoozing away, catching up on their lost kip. Made me wish I’d packed my trumpet.

Hue itself was very nice. We only stayed there a few days, more as a stop-off on our way to Hoi An. It’s close to the old DMZ and if you’re interested in that kind of thing, there are trips available. We chose just to relax and enjoy the scenery. We were initially tempted to hire a moped to explore some of the ancient tombs around the town but despite Hue being way less busy than Hanoi, we were put off by seeing two motorbike accidents in our first day. Luckily no-one was badly hurt. A quick review of our travel insurance confirmed that neither of us were covered so the idea suddenly became much less attractive.

In place of a moped we did, after some fierce negotiation by Karen, take a boat trip up the river.

Hue river boats

Waterlogged? Mmmm, bad, even by my standards

Water Buffalo by the river

The destination was the local pagoda.

Karen makes a new friend

View from the pagoda gardens

This tree is very small, Karen is far away

Elsewhere in Hue, we took a wander around the Citadel and just relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Citadel at Hue

Extreme exfoliation

Hue citadel

Next update coming soon from the lovely Hoi An!

Current Location: Nha Trang until 11th August
Next Stop: Saigon

Halong Bay

23rd July 2012

This post should have been slightly longer, but like our trip to Halong Bay, it has been curtailed. I blame the weather.

We originally booked a 3-day/2-night trip through Kangaroo Cafe – the original, not one of the imposters. We were on the bus from Hanoi when we learned that due to an incoming monsoon, the authorities had forbidden any boats to stay on the bay overnight. Our 3-day trip had just become a 1-day tour.

Not to worry. As the Backstreet Boys say, “You got to roll with it…”

Things started brightly with an introduction to Vietnam/stand-up set from our tour guide: “In Vietnam we like to eat dog. But we never eat our own dog. No, no. We only eat our neighbours dog.” And so on.

After about a four hour drive (plus a 30-minute stop for refreshments) we arrived at the bay. We stood around the harbour for a bit while our boat fought its way to the front and then, finally, we were off. While the boat sailed towards out into the bay, we were treated to a lovely seafood lunch. Luckily, the weather was holding so we managed to get some nice snaps.

Lots of boats

Karst hills

The view from on deck

This rock looks like a dog (supposedly)

Our first stop was a floating village and the chance to do a bit of kayaking. I’m not sure how authentic the village is but the kayaking was good fun and allowed you to get away from the tour boats and right up close to the hills.

Sea caves up close

Floating village

Girl in Vietnamese national dress

Rio 2016 here I come (hang on, where's Karen?)

Back on the boat and on our way to the next stop, the heavens opened. Luckily the next stop was the “Amazing Cave” – not a bad option in the rain. Despite the slightly boastful title, it was actually pretty good. It’s a huge cave with loads of stalactites and stalagmites (how to remember which is which: tights come down) all lit up in pretty colours. Unfortunately, with our little camera and no tripod, the photos don’t really do it justice.

It looks better in real life, trust me

View of the bay outside 'Amazing Cave'

After that it was time to cruise back to the harbour. The rain started to ease off slightly so we got a few more nice pictures.

Floating village at dusk

Bye bye Halong Bay

All that remained was to take the bus back to Hanoi. It was a pretty long day but we made the most of what little time we had on the bay. Although we were disappointed not to spend the night on the boat and visit one of the larger islands as we’d originally planned, we were glad that we’d been able to visit at all. The next night we had dinner in Hanoi (during a huge thunderstorm) and met a NZ couple (Mark and Merin) who’d had their trip cancelled due to the monsoon. I guess we were the lucky ones!

If we’re ever back in the area we’d probably want to visit it again but we'd definitely try and avoid the rainy season!

On a side note, I can recommend Kangaroo Cafe. The tour was well run and the guides were good. When we returned to Hanoi they happily refunded us the difference between the 3-day and 1-day tour price.

Next up: Hue.

Current Location: Nha Trang until 11th July
Next Stop: Saigon

Into Vietnam: Hanoi

20th-27th July 2012
It’s been a good while since the last post so I thought I’d better make the effort before I get completely out of the habit. I guess I’ve just been having too much fun.

So, where did I leave things? After Yangshuo, we had a couple of days in Nanning before getting the bus to Hanoi. The bus to Hanoi leaves from the Langdong bus station on the east side of the city. We bought our tickets the day before (with the Yunde bus company) and turned up bright and early the next day, ready for a new adventure. The journey to the border took about 4 hours including a stop for lunch (included in the price). Getting through the Chinese border controls was efficient and quick, although strangely we were quizzed by a border guard after we’d technically left the country. Not to worry, a short minibus ride took us to the Vietnamese side (again, part of the bus ticket price – if you travel independently it’s extra.)

Vietnamese border control was, well… different. On the Chinese side it was all orderly and controlled. In Vietnam there was a window with a crowd of people pressing against the glass. After a bit of standing around wondering what to do someone took pity on us and told us we had to give our passports to the guys behind the window who were methodically working their way through the pile. Every 10 minutes or so, one of them would appear from a door with a handful of passports and shout the names of the owners. After about an hour, ours worked their way to the top of the pile and… that was it! No scanning of bags, no being quizzed by stern-faced officials, we were in.

We got on a new bus, not much different to the one on the Chinese side, comfy enough, and four hours later (including an hour waiting in the car park after just missing the previous one) we were in Hanoi.

The first thing you notice in Hanoi is the traffic. It seems as though everyone, and I mean everyone, has got a motorbike and they’re all riding straight at you. I’ve heard that Saigon is worse, so that should be fun when we get there. Unlike in China, there’s no riding on the pavements, which should be a good thing, but unfortunately neither is it to walk on the pavements because they are full of parked motorbikes. So, you have to take your chances on the road, with everything else.

Crossing the road is fun too. Attaching yourself to a local works but if non are handy, just follow the Vietnamese Green Cross Code: Look left, look right, look left again, look behind you, look above you (only kidding) and then slowly edge your way across the road, trusting that all the motorbikes will drive around you while remembering to look in every direction at once. It kind of works. Alternatively you could flag down a taxi and get them to drive you across the road (an Aussie couple we met claimed they saw this happen in Saigon.)

After getting used to the traffic, there’s plenty to see and do in Hanoi. It’s more like what I imagined Asian cities to be like – windy streets, open air markets, street food and busy, busy, busy. First stop for us was to find somewhere selling the legendary Bia Hoi – the world’s cheapest beer.

Bia Hoi translates as ‘fresh beer’ and is brewed daily. At between 10 and 15 pence per glass, it’s hard to say no – so we didn’t. A few glasses later and our whistles thoroughly moistened, the hunger took over so it was off to get some street food.

Eating so fast the chopsticks are a blur

Lovely. Our first forays into Vietnamese cuisine were quite an eye opener. In our first week alone I think I’ve found half a dozen new favourite dishes, from the ubiquitous and delicious Pho to delicately spiced fish and chicken dishes and best of all, the most amazingly fresh and fragrant salads.

Our hotel was in the Old Quarter which is a mixture of the scenes above and Vietnam’s French colonial history. Most mornings we were woken up by the bells in the old cathedral.

As it turned out we had a few more days in Hanoi than we first expected. That gave us time to see a few more of the attractions (like the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature) but due to warnings of huge crowds and man flu, we didn’t do much but relax. We did go and see the Hanoi Hilton (which was disappointing – too much propaganda…) but did get tickets for the Water Puppetry. It’s exactly what it sounds like, puppets in water and was surprisingly entertaining in a slapstick kind of way! Here’s a sample of what to expect.

"Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into"

Bizarre but good fun.

Most of the rest of our time was spent wandering the streets. You never know what you might find around the next corner. A tiny dog maybe?

Watch it you! I'm guarding these hats!

Or a pretty lake right in the middle of the city.

I also got my first introduction to the Vietnamese national pastime: scamming tourists. I should say at this point that we’ve found most Vietnamese to be some of the most welcoming and friendly people we’ve ever met. However, the chance to relieve unsuspecting tourists of as much of their cash as possible brings out the worst in a significant minority.

For example, as soon as any business, especially tour companies, hotels or restaurants, start to gain some success, dozens of identically named copycats immediately spring up, often right next door, preying on the good name of the original. Luckily for us we were wise to that one and made sure we had the correct addresses to hand at all times.

On my first morning in Hanoi, I was approached on the street by a man offering to repair my sandals. Sure enough, the sole was starting to come loose: a good spot so I agreed to let him do his stuff. He proceeded to sew/glue the offending flap back on and even gave them a clean. As he was doing so he made some small talk – where was I from, how long had I been in Vietnam? When I replied that this was my first day I could see his eyes light up thinking that I’d have no idea how many Vietnamese Dong there are in a pound. Sure enough, when it came to paying he tried to charge me 800,000 Dong. Or about £25! Mmmm, seeing as they only cost me a tenner that seemed a bit steep. When I queried this amount, he gallantly offered to drop the price to 750,000 Dong. I gave him 20,000 (still an overpayment!)

Full marks to him for trying though and a lesson learned for me: always agree a price up front!

Fraudsters aside, we’re loving Vietnam so far. So much so I’m falling behind on the blogging. Hopefully over the next few days I’ll be posting updates from Halong Bay, Hue and Hoi An so look out for those.

Current Location: Nha Trang until 11th July
Next Stop: Saigon

Yangshuo

About 70km south of Guilin lies Yangshuo and if you’re in the area looking for some iconic Chinese scenery, then Yangshuo is the place to be. We stayed there for a week at the Outside Inn, a few miles outside Yangshuo and properly in the countryside.

Apart from the ever-present mosquito threat, Yangshuo is a bit of a rural paradise (aside: I have a pretty good way of avoiding the mozzies – stay close to Karen. They seem to prefer the taste of her blood to mine). There was loads to keep us occupied. We went swimming in the river, took a walk into Yangshuo and back (about 3h round trip), hired some bikes to explore the countryside and took a bamboo raft down the Yulong river.

We even got to pretend we were real explorers when our walk to the “Lost Plateau” behind the hostel turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected. The path was slightly more overgrown than advertised – we were warned good shoes were required but really needed a couple of machetes to find the path down the other side. No harm done (apart from a couple of falls and some thorns in my head).

The "Lost Plateau" - we nearly were

We also spent one morning on a Chinese cookery course and learned how to make five delicious dishes. Turns out I’ve been using a wok wrong all these years. I also got some handy tips on how to hold my chopper.

"Who you looking at?"

I cooked all that!

The cooking lesson was preceded by a trip to the local market. I learned about a few new vegetables and also not to eat the local chillies raw (I couldn’t resist, they looked like cherries and the teacher said they weren’t spicy – she was lying). I also learned to be wary of the livestock section. The cages full of live poultry, rabbits and ducks didn’t bother me much – I’ve seen similar and worse all over China, but I definitely heard barking over in the corner. I didn’t investigate further…

We had to dodge the odd thunderstorm but that was fine because it took the edge off the humidity. The food was good, the scenery was idyllic and it was a very relaxing week; a perfect end to our Chinese adventures.

Now we’ve just got a short stopover in Nanning before getting the bus to Hanoi (note to self: must learn Vietnamese on the bus).

I’ll leave you with a selection of the best photos from Yangshuo. As ever, click on the photos link on the right for loads more. I'll try and upload a few more videos from the past few weeks' adventures too.

Cooking with gas

Rice paddies and karst hills around Yangshuo

The swimming pool

Chinese farmer with water buffalo

More karst and rice

Bamboo rafts on the Yulong river

Our new breakfast buddy

Us, bamboo rafting on the Yulong river

Ah, young love (or in this case, two models getting eaten by mosquitos)

Yangshuo scenery

Distant karst hills

Raft race

Yangshuo panorama

Current Location: Nanning until 20th July
Next Stop: Hanoi

My failed attempt to switch from iOS to Android

First, a warning for those that are only interested in my travel blog posts - you may want to skip this one, it's a bit more geek-oriented than usual. For the rest of you (yes, both of you), read on!

So, despite help from around the world (cheers Oscar), nothing I tried was able to resurrect my dead iPhone 4. After quite a bit of online research (travelling around China affords me fair bit of free time) I convinced myself that the time was right to go Android. Android 4 is not quite iOS-polished yet, but it’s getting there and being a heavy user of Google products, the close OS-integration definitely appealed. A micro-SIM in my pocket meant that the list of compatible handsets was relatively short but on that list was the Samsung Galaxy S3. Having read the mostly rave reviews, what better Android handset to help sever the cords from Mother Apple?

What could possibly go wrong? Well, a few things.

I found a shop in Guilin that looked legit and was offering the S3 at a good price. Being naturally cautious, I made sure that my Vodafone SIM worked and had a brief look at the OS to make sure it was the latest version. Happy as Larry, I paid up and made off with my new toy, even stopping to buy a cheap cover for it (including haggling 50p off the price – a bit pointless considering what I’d just paid for the phone but it’s the principle dammit!).

Back at the hostel, I got the phone hooked up to the internet, started setting it up and immediately noticed a few anomalies. First: no Google Play store. Without that, how was I going to install the apps I need? Or any apps? A bit of investigation online told me that to get the Play store, I would need to root the phone – something I was very reluctant to do with a brand new handset, since it voids any warranty. I also discovered that the particular model I’d just been sold was China-specific (the i9308 instead of the i9300) – something that both the shop and the Wikipedia article on the Galaxy S3 failed to mention. This would have meant that the mobile would not work properly outside of China. Not ideal.

OK, I could go back to the store and get the correct model, but the inability to install apps was more worrying. More digging showed that a pile of other Android settings were either short on options or missing altogether.

Back to the shop.

Luckily, the nice girl who originally sold me the phone was still there. With a bit of pointing and showing, I managed to explain about the handset compatibility problem. She duly appeared with the right model, but before I left this time, I asked her to show me how to install apps.

Although she couldn’t get the Google Play store, she did get a Chinese version installed by sending the APK over via Bluetooth. A bit of a techie-hack, but it worked. I asked her to install an app to prove that it worked – the Gmail app. She managed to get it to install, but it wouldn’t run – something I suspected might happen according to one of the forums I’d read: a language-pack incompatibility apparently.

Fast suspecting that her commission was about to evaporate, she tried gamely to get it to work by installing APK’s direct from a PC. A bit of a dirtier hack and not something I fancied having to do myself. After 20 minutes without success, I finally called a halt to proceedings and demanded a refund (mysteriously, her previously good English dried up at that point and she couldn’t understand the word ‘refund’). Luckily for me the shop owner seemed to accept that a smartphone that can’t install apps is not much use and gave me my money back.

So what to make of all this? Firstly, why, if I’m buying an unlocked, SIM free handset, is Android hobbled so it only works in the country of purchase? Why can’t I just change the language to English (UK) and get on with it? Why? WHY?


I thought the whole point of Android was openness. Does iOS, with all its restrictions, stop you doing this with an unlocked phone? Not as far as I can tell.

I actually wrote a letter to the head of Samsung UK explaining all this and asking for help (no reply so far). I also pointed out that the combination of Android 4 and the Galaxy S3 had finally persuaded a 4+ year iPhone user to make the switch. I mean, I'd actually handed over my cash and walked out the store!

Now things aren't so clear cut. The issues above effectively mean that I can’t get a new phone until I get back to the UK in November – the Vietnamese or Thai versions may not have the same problems but why would I take the risk? By then the new iPhone will be out and that with all the collateral I’ve got in the App Store means I may no longer be so keen to move.

They almost had me…