What is this life so full of care we have no time to stand and stare
No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep or cows
A poor life this so full of care we have no time to stand and stare
The cheapest way to travel around Vietnam is by bus. We've spent about 48 hours lying in sleeper buses in the past week. Please don't be fooled as we were - sleeper is a lose term to say that there are beds on the bus that people of a certain height may catch about 4 hours sleep on if they're lucky. Unfortunately, Cat at 5"12'(heh), and even I have problems fitting our limbs into the beds in a way that is conducive to sleep.
All that to say that I'm writing this from my top bunk on the way to Saigon, more recently known as Ho Chi Minh City. As I've mentioned, sleeping isn't particularly easy to come by, and the lights are off so I can't wile away the time reading, I am almost forced to lay here and think.
Being one of the only people awake on a bus makes me philosophical. Or maybe it's just the pace of life recently, slow and steady.
My mind doesn't want to focus on anything specific but flits to lots of things that have happened throughout my life, things that have yet to happen, and all of the different paths I could go down depending upon tiny choices that affect life in massive ways.
I feel like I'm in the tunnel scene on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Faces of past loves are running through my head after a recent conversation with Cat. Wrong words spoken in the heat of the moment are replayed evoking quite a heavy feeling in my heart. These are replaced by thoughts of utter gratefulness for the love and enduring kindness of my family and most of my friends. Moments that have made me smile, times I've fell to the floor from laughing so hard my knees just give way.
Thank you for being there for me you lovely people.
I've begun to miss "home" a bit...
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Sapa
After a while a place becomes like home, you begin to recognise the people, the street names, the same tuktuk guys asking you if you want them for an hour.
Hanoi was very quiet during Tet, quiet in that all of the shops and many of the businesses were closed. Yet it was still really busy with what seemed like most of the extended families converging upon this city with great force.On New Years Eve we went down to the lake, which is a central part of life here, and joined with the masses to watch the fireworks and wander around the lake buying popcorn, sausages on sticks and balloons. It was great fun to see these otherwise rather reserved people really cheering and whooping with joy with the explosion of 15 minutes of fireworks.
After being in Hanoi for a week Cat and I joined a tour in Sapa, which is in the very north of Vietnam. We had been talking to people who had come back from Sapa the day before we left, and with them came the news that it was freezing cold, completely overcast but still a nice little trip. But really, not worth the trouble.
Boarding the night train with an air of complete trepidation, we began our trip. The train was nothing like we had expected, the beds were very comfortable, they provided water, and the toilet was actually of western standards! No squatting to the floor while on a moving vehicle! What we're loving right now...
On arrival we wandered around the village for a while and were instantly accompanied by Hmong women, maybe about 6 of them following us around for 4 of us girls. At this point we met the Shelias. (Loan and Jules) who became our main buddies for the trip.
On returning to the travel agent we met our tour guide with whom we walked about 16k to the homestay. The day was fantastically sunny and I got massively burned! (I blame the malaria tablets...damn them making my skin all sensitive!) Obviously it was completely muddy and slippy, but it was worth it. The views were just fantastic and the group we walked with were a cool bunch of people.One of our member fell into a rice paddy and handled it brilliantly. I will post pictures, but right now I'm unable to. While we were walking we passed a lot of children and women, but i could count on one hand the number of men we passed. Everyone seemed to be chewing on sugar cane, so I gave it a try. It tasted like chewing on a really mild sugar flavoured watermelon. So very refreshing, but I'm sure there are very few redeeming qualities within a sugar cane!
On one of our stops we hung out with some little lads who were playing a game that seemed to be rather popular. Find a really big stone and throw smaller stones off it to try and smash it. Over the next few days we saw a lot of that sort of game. I love how kids really can just amuse themselves with the oddest games!
When we arrived at the homestay we all took a short time to recover from our walk then we drank beer in the fading light and chatted with each other. Watching the dinner being prepared was something else though! The host family killed a couple of ducks right in the kitchen, and bled them, they then prepared a duck blood soup with herbs and garlic. Unfortunately, this was not something that we got to eat, I would have loved to try it! We ate the most amazing banquet of food, rice, spring rolls, vegetables, beef chicken..and lots of other stuff. But i think by this point they could have fed us poo and we would have eaten it, we were famished!
The following day we at crepes for breakfast and were on our way, up and down through the muddy marshes and across the rice paddies, then we reached the waterfall, a quick stop for pictures and then onwards to the base of the waterfall. Out tour guide promised us that it was far too cold to go swimming, but we were made of tougher stuff than that! In we went..and my god it was freezing. Certainly more refreshing than chewing on sugar cane!
We managed to gather quite a crowd of fascinated locals who thought that we were all a bit crazy!
This was slightly rushed but i wanted to get this up before going to Ha Long bay, when I'm sure that more excited and hilarious things will happen.
And my goodness, I hate my writing style here. Guh!
Hanoi was very quiet during Tet, quiet in that all of the shops and many of the businesses were closed. Yet it was still really busy with what seemed like most of the extended families converging upon this city with great force.On New Years Eve we went down to the lake, which is a central part of life here, and joined with the masses to watch the fireworks and wander around the lake buying popcorn, sausages on sticks and balloons. It was great fun to see these otherwise rather reserved people really cheering and whooping with joy with the explosion of 15 minutes of fireworks.
After being in Hanoi for a week Cat and I joined a tour in Sapa, which is in the very north of Vietnam. We had been talking to people who had come back from Sapa the day before we left, and with them came the news that it was freezing cold, completely overcast but still a nice little trip. But really, not worth the trouble.
Boarding the night train with an air of complete trepidation, we began our trip. The train was nothing like we had expected, the beds were very comfortable, they provided water, and the toilet was actually of western standards! No squatting to the floor while on a moving vehicle! What we're loving right now...
On arrival we wandered around the village for a while and were instantly accompanied by Hmong women, maybe about 6 of them following us around for 4 of us girls. At this point we met the Shelias. (Loan and Jules) who became our main buddies for the trip.
On returning to the travel agent we met our tour guide with whom we walked about 16k to the homestay. The day was fantastically sunny and I got massively burned! (I blame the malaria tablets...damn them making my skin all sensitive!) Obviously it was completely muddy and slippy, but it was worth it. The views were just fantastic and the group we walked with were a cool bunch of people.One of our member fell into a rice paddy and handled it brilliantly. I will post pictures, but right now I'm unable to. While we were walking we passed a lot of children and women, but i could count on one hand the number of men we passed. Everyone seemed to be chewing on sugar cane, so I gave it a try. It tasted like chewing on a really mild sugar flavoured watermelon. So very refreshing, but I'm sure there are very few redeeming qualities within a sugar cane!
On one of our stops we hung out with some little lads who were playing a game that seemed to be rather popular. Find a really big stone and throw smaller stones off it to try and smash it. Over the next few days we saw a lot of that sort of game. I love how kids really can just amuse themselves with the oddest games!
When we arrived at the homestay we all took a short time to recover from our walk then we drank beer in the fading light and chatted with each other. Watching the dinner being prepared was something else though! The host family killed a couple of ducks right in the kitchen, and bled them, they then prepared a duck blood soup with herbs and garlic. Unfortunately, this was not something that we got to eat, I would have loved to try it! We ate the most amazing banquet of food, rice, spring rolls, vegetables, beef chicken..and lots of other stuff. But i think by this point they could have fed us poo and we would have eaten it, we were famished!
The following day we at crepes for breakfast and were on our way, up and down through the muddy marshes and across the rice paddies, then we reached the waterfall, a quick stop for pictures and then onwards to the base of the waterfall. Out tour guide promised us that it was far too cold to go swimming, but we were made of tougher stuff than that! In we went..and my god it was freezing. Certainly more refreshing than chewing on sugar cane!
We managed to gather quite a crowd of fascinated locals who thought that we were all a bit crazy!
This was slightly rushed but i wanted to get this up before going to Ha Long bay, when I'm sure that more excited and hilarious things will happen.
And my goodness, I hate my writing style here. Guh!
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Bangkok for a Night
I can't write this journal.
I've sat here and written 3 false starts, I just can't seem to put what has happened so far into words without too much detail, reading like an obnoxious aspiring writer, or coming across a little bit too excited. But I think if you're reading this then you probably know me well enough to know that i don't mean to come across like either of those things.
Sebe has lived in Bangkok for 12 years and his place was down the street from our hostel. We met later on for drinks, drinks, and more drinks. Oh, and the best food I've ever eaten in my life. Rice, some sort of ground chicken, barbecued king prawns, bok choy, spicy papaya salad and beer. All of us ate and drank to the full, with a lot to spare for $14
Unfortunately this trip to the roadside restaurant was a bit tainted by the fact that there was a horrific looking, overweight American man sitting with a 20something year old thai woman. Fawning all over her, while she just looked very upset, and completely uncomfortable. Makes me sick.
I've sat here and written 3 false starts, I just can't seem to put what has happened so far into words without too much detail, reading like an obnoxious aspiring writer, or coming across a little bit too excited. But I think if you're reading this then you probably know me well enough to know that i don't mean to come across like either of those things.
Arriving in bangkok the weather was beautiful, just what you'd expect arriving in a country so far away from england.
As we were trying to explain where we wanted to go to a taxi driver, a guy asked us if we wanted to share. Being a trusting person (read:Naïve) i jumped at it, while Catherine mumbled something in the background which sounded a lot like, 'but you shouldn't trust strangers jessy'.
As we were trying to explain where we wanted to go to a taxi driver, a guy asked us if we wanted to share. Being a trusting person (read:Naïve) i jumped at it, while Catherine mumbled something in the background which sounded a lot like, 'but you shouldn't trust strangers jessy'.
It turns out, as silly as it was to jump in a taxi with the first Thai speaking Frenchman I've ever met, it was also the best silly thing we could have done.
 |
| Cat, Sebe and I |
One of the more hilarious moments of the night was when he was telling us about what he likes to do in his spare time.
Sebe, "...and i like to take my shoes off and walk naked in the jungle. It's just so nice to feel the ground on your feet."
Catherine, "mmmm...yeah, that's great..'
Sebe: "Yeah and when we go walking barefoot...OH MY GOD...what did I say before???? Did I say naked?!?"
Catherine: "Oh you don't go naked in the jungle..?"
We all laughed for ages, i think the funniest thing was that i realised what he meant, and Catherine genuinely thought that this man, who we had just met, was telling us about his naked adventure walking...strange child!
 |
| Cat showing off our new digs for a night |
Back to the hostel Cat and i both had a bit of a rubbish night of sleep, eaten alive by mosquitoes, lying on a bed as comfortable as marble floor and jet lagged to high heaven, i think i got about 2 hours sleep. It's an amazing adventure though. Wish I'd started before now, there's no way I'm going to fit the whole world in at this rate!
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