Chiang Dao continued...

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We mostly spent the day after the party/festival/rave relaxing at Chiang Dao Nest. They’ve got a nice shady open sided hut that you can sit in. We spent the day in there, reading and playing games. We walked up the road in the evening to Nest 2, which is run by Wicha’s sister, for some Thai food. Surprisingly, Joseph wanted to play Uno with us when we got back! It was cool though, when we told him it was 9 o’clock and time to go to bed he shot off, without so much as a ‘Good Night’!

For our last day in Chiang Dao we hired a couple of bicycles and went exploring armed with a packed lunch and Wicha’s hand drawn map. We rode the 7km into town and walked around the weekly market. Thee were quite a lot of minority people there who come down from the hills once a week to do their shopping. After that we stopped in at the Internet cafe for a quick email to worried parents. The next part of our ride was quite tricky – a bit uphill and not really a proper road. We stopped for some lunch by the side of the road and then continued to the village on our map. Chris got looked at by a pig!
Eventually we got back to the main road and enjoyed some downhill bits! Cycling is more fun when you don’t have to pedal. Feeling quite tired we cycled back to the Nest for a beer and a snooze before setting off again in the cooler part of the afternoon. We visited a nice temple/monastery which is built into a cave. Unlike the monastery that we climbed up to on Sunday, this temple in through a door and actually in the cave rather than just at the entrance, it was quite cool. Check out the photo of the golden statue though – it was really freaky in the semi darkness of the cave – it looked like a monk had been turned to gold. We treated ourselves to another one of Wicha’s slap up meals in the evening and spent a nice time chatting to Stuart and giving Joseph a final few games of Uno.

We left Chiang Dao this morning. We were sad to leave and will almost certainly go back there again one day. We caught the bus back into Chiang Mai. As we were going along we spotted some elephants out of the window – very cool! Taking a cookery class tomorrow, then traveling south to Ayuthaya before we catch our flight to Sydney on the 3rd.

Chiang Dao party

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

After some excellent pizza we got into a songthaew with Stuart and went off into the night! Apparently these kinds of festivals are held quite regularly across the area, with each village having about one a year. Chris thought that it seemed like a mix between bonfire night, an illegal rave and a village fete – and that pretty much covers it!
There was a stage where different people sang and danced in an almost professional fashion, there were food and drink stalls and there was the Thai boxing ring & VIP area. We got ourselves a can of Chang for 30p each and stood back to take it all in.
We were celebrities for the night, everyone was interested in us and smiled at us all the time. One guy asked Chris if he was going to be boxing that night! After a bit of a look around we ventured down towards the stage so that Chris could take a few snaps. We were kind of mobbed by Thai ladies and a few Thai men forcing us to dance! It was great fun!
After quite a lot of boogieing we headed over to the boxing ring to see what was going on. A couple of young lads were in the middle of their fight, and it wasn’t as violent as I thought it was going to be. We continued to stand around and half watch the boxing whilst also chatting to local people including the Chief of the village.
The rest of the evening carried on in a similar vein. The local people got steadily drunk on rice whisky while we drank more Chang, danced some more, and the adult boxers mainly drew their fights. They did some sort of strange ritual thing before each fight, praying at each corner and things. The last fight ended in a KO.
It was a surreal and very fun night (check out the photos)!

Chiang Dao

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

A few years ago Chris used to work with a guy called Stuart who upped sticks with his Thai wife and set up home in Chiang Dao. They run a guesthouse & restaurant which we thought it would be rude not to visit!

It was easier than we thought to get to Chiang Dao. We caught a taxi to the bus station and then caught the local bus. When we arrived there were a couple of songthaews waiting to take people to wherever. We climbed in with a couple of Aussies and talked cricket for the 10 minute drive.

It is beautiful. A lot of people visit the Chiang Mai area with the purpose of going into the hills trekking. We weren't sure what we were going to do in Chiang Dao but the scenery was amazing.
Chiang Dao Nest is a lovely cluster of bungalows centred on the restaurant. We arrived on the Saturday so it was quite busy. Wicha & Stuart who own the guesthouse get a lot of trade from local expats getting away for the weekend. We mostly chilled out on our balcony for the afternoon, admiring the scenery before we went to Wicha's restaurant. People also travel from Chiang Mai just to eat there! We had a 3 course feast - homemade pate & fresh bread, roasted duck, tuna in sesame, white chocolate mousse & almond ice cream. Yum Yum! Not quite what were used to in Thailand and a little more than we've been paying, but excellent food & value.
We must mention that before we had dinner we had to go and get changed into our jeans, and put our fleeces on (for the first time on our trip) as it was a bit chilly! How marvellous!
We did some star gazing that night - the sky is so clear and there's no light pollution so you can see so many stars.

On Sunday we visited the local Monastry - Tham Pha Pong. It's a bit of a climb - 200 steps then a further gentler 300, but worth it. As you would expect the view from the top is incredible and it was quite a pretty temple in the entrance to a cave. We came back to the Nest for lunch - which was of course yummy - garlic bread and warm chicken salad.
Wicha & Stuart have a 5 year old son called Joseph who likes to play Uno. During the course of our stay we've played many hands with him (most of which he won), our first session was that afternoon.
After lunch we walked down the road to the local caves. They are very extensive. A few of the caves are accessible by yourself as they are quite high and electricaly lit, but once you've been through those ones a guide is offered to you. We weren't sure what to expect but paid our 100 baht (1.50) and followed a man with a kerosene lantern into the dark caves! They were stunning, he pointed out various formations to us - the chicken, the elephant ear, the lotus flowers, the illithid (or waterfall) etc. There were many different formations and some parts that were really sparkly. Around four times we had to literally crawl through to the next part of the cave system but generally as we were walking around we had a lot of head room. Definietly worth the visit.

When we got back we had a few beers with Wicha, played some more Uno with Joseph and then Stuart joined us. A local Lisu family turned up offering Stuart a chance to watch some Thai boxing. I wasn't really sure but Stuart explained that it was quite a festival and worth seeing - it was, and deserves a blog all of it's own!

Chiang Mai

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past week but we've been up in the hills and there's not much internet up there unless you've brought your own laptop and can catch those WIFI thingies.
So anyway, we'll start from the 22nd November when we caught 2 planes to Chiang Mai - the first got us from Krabi to Bangkok and the second on from Bangkok. Luckily for us there's been a bit of a boom in budget airlines here recently so it's fairly cheap to fly and it meant doing the whole journey in a sensible day rather than several days using the night buses/trains.

So we got into Chiang Mai in the early evening and eventually found ourselves a decent enough guesthouse. There's some very cheap accommodation here - anything from about 3 quid a night, so it takes a bit of looking around to find somewhere with a private bathroom and clean walls!
Chiang Mai is quite famous for it's Night Bazaar so we visited that. It's enourmous! We didn't buy anyhting but will probably go back tonight and see if there are any clothes we need. We ate at a nice food court where you buy coupons in advance and then go to the different vendors. Very cheap and quite tasty!

The next day (23rd) we had to move guesthouses as the one we'd found only had a reasonably priced room for that 1 night. We found a nice little soi (lane) with lots of guesthouses on and found a double room for 6 pounds. We wandered around the city a bit, looking at Wat Phra Singh as the sun started to set.
We rather foolishly entered ourselves into a pub quiz at an Irish bar. We thought we'd be ok against lots of stoner hippies but when we arrived it was full of old bloke ex-pats! We didn't come last and it was fun!

The 24th brought a trip to Doi Suthep. The public transport around here mostly consists of songthaews which are pick up trucks with two rows of seats in the back (it's not quite as bad as it sounds). Some have set routes and you can also stop them like a taxi. We were on our way to the main area for cathcing the songthaew to Doi Suthep when we noticed a tall ruin that we thought might have been old wall. It turned out to be a partially ruined stunning temple complex (it's the one in the photo). We spent quite a while looking around, it was beautiful.

As we got close to the area where the songthaews go to Doi Suthep we were collared by a couple of drivers who pointed us in the right direction. Unfortunately they have to be full before they'll leave if you want to pay the cheap price, so we waited around for a bit until we had 8 people and then drove up the mountain.
The story goes that someone had an important Buddhist relic that they needed a resting place for. They put it onto a white elephant and sent if off. The elephant went up the mountain and then died. So now there's a great big golden chedi there along with other temples and areas of worship. It also has great views across Chiang Mai.
We couldn't believe just how golden a place it was, and the sky was incredibly blue that day to highlight it even more.

We caught another songthaew down the mountain and got it to drop us off at a cinema that we'd scouted out the day before. We watched Casino Royale in English! Did have to stand up before it started to show our respect for the King which was slightly unusual but apart from that a pretty normal cinema going experience, except that the tickets were only 1.20 each! We liked the freerunning scene at the beginning.

Phi Phi Dive Trip

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We had a great day yesterday (a budget buster of a day).
Chris' first dive trip since passing his open water had to be somewhere good, so we decided on a trip to one of the best places to dive in Thailand - Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee by the way).

The first stop after our 2 hour boat ride was Losama Bay. This was a wall dive along Whale Shark Wall. Chris had a bit of difficulty getting down to begin with - too little weight on his belt and ear equalisation problems, but got down eventually for a cool dive. He saw a giant octupus! Lots of other pretty fish & corals and stuff. Not down for long though - 30 minutes before he and another new diver got a bit short on air so surfaced.
The snorking wasn't bad either - after a bit of a hard swim in the current over to the wall there were lots of fish to see, including quite excitingly, some anemone fish. I got a bit scared of a jelly fish though - nasty little fellas.
After a spot of curry & rice for lunch we sailed a bit further on to Maya Bay.
Wow! They chose this location to film the film The Beach for good reasons - it's stunning. As we approached I wondered if I'd actually need to snork - the water was so clear. It was incredible. I could see at least 3 metres down, at times probably 5 metres and was surrounded by fish. Sergant Majors, parrot fish, surgeon fish, a porcupine fish and 2 kinds of moray eel.
Chris had an easier dive 2nd time round, a bit more weight and confidence. They had visibility of around 15m and saw puffer fish, lion fish, angel fish and loads of other stuff.
There's such beautiful coral around and the fish are so colourful. It was worth the money to just go to that one bay.

There was a guy on our trip who's job it is to make underwater films. He made a film of our day which we watched in a bar later that evening. He got a fair bit of Chris, including one close up of the hand signal for lion fish! We might buy the dvd when we get back to the UK and are feeling a little less stingy with our money!

If you look closely at some of the pictures you might be able to spot a porcupine fish & a moray eel!

The Beach

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

Well, not the Beach because you can't stay there, but we've just got back from a fantastic week on our very own island paradise - Koh Jum.
We caught a ferry that goes from Krabi to Lanta. Halfway across, the ferry slows and a few longtail boats chase the ferry until it stops! One of those longtails was our way to the island, we climbed down to it from the ferry and left all the other poor suckers behind to go to Lanta (which is probably nice enough!).
We weren't disapointed with the view from the boat. The island is mostly jungle which gives way to small stretches of beach along the coast line. Once we had landed we were taken up to the reception where we had a nice cool glass of fresh orange juice while a kind Thai guy took our heavy rucksacks to our house.

It's pretty basic living on an island like Koh Jum. We only had electricity from sunset to around 3am, with a fan in the room and no hot water. We also had to flush the loo with a bucket, but hey it only costs 6 quid a night and the surroundings were beautiful, plus we had a balcony!

We mostly spent our days lazing around, reading books, doing puzzles, brain training, playing cards, backgammon & xiangqi and trying to stay in the shade. They had some nice chairs to sit on on the beach and also had great beach huts where it was always shady.

We were a bit surprised by the weather. We purposefully came to the West coast of Thailand to avoid the East coast monsoon, but it didn't seem like the rainy season had completely finished from where we were standing! Pretty much without fail we had a beautiful sunny morning with a slight breeze until around lunch time when the wind really picked up, it rained for a bit and then stayed a bit cloudy for the rest of the day with a nice cool breeze. It suited us really - not too hot but still nice to sit around on the beach.

Some days when it was clear we could see all the surrounding islands, including Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed). We had agreat sunset one evening, with clear views of Phi Phi and gorgeous colours.

On our second day, it started to rain while we were sitting on the beach and as we were quickly packing our stuff up I noticed something moving up on the bank behind the beach. It was the most amazingly cool lizard! He was around 4-5ft long and had big stomping shoulders. We couldn't believe our luck at seeing such an amazing animal out in the wild. We took a couple of snaps of him before he hid from us & the rain.
We were really lucky again the next day. We we're sitting on our balcony waiting to go further down the beach for a spot of snorkling, when Chris heard the sound of breaking branches in the undergrowth behind our house. We're not sure if it was the same lizard or if a few live around the resort, but he posed for us for a long time. So very cool!

We saw a bit more good wildlife down on the beach in the way of crabs. You have to watch out for the little fellas as you walk along, and we were quite scared of the great big hermit crabs. It's quite odd to see a big conch shell walking along the beach!

We ate good food too (as long as we remebered to stick to Thai and steer clear of Western). The curries were scrummy - Mutsuman curry in particular was nice, and we had a spicy grilled White Snapper. We also thought it quite cool that we had fried barracuda.

We were just going to spend 4 days there, but at the end of the 4th day neither of us felt ready to leave so we stayed a couple more days. we think it was a family run place and they were all really friendly staff which made our stay even better.

Back in Ao Nang now where it's bloody hot! Going out on a dive boat tomorrow (Monday) to dive & snork around Phi Phi. Enjoy all the photos!

Ao Nang

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We caught our overnight bus from Bangkok to Krabi on Friday after a few days around the Khao San Road to catch up on chores and eat scrummy Pad Thai!
The 15 hours on the bus went surprisingly quickly, the only problem being that they turned the lights off at 19:30 and back on again at 23:00, off again at 1am and back on again at 5am! Still, we managed to get a fair bit of sleep as the bus wasn't full and we could spread out a bit. We shared a cab with another couple from Krabi to Ao Nang.

On first impressions, Ao Nang seemed a bit built up and not really what we had wanted from a Thai beach, but we thought it would be a good central place to start and to maybe get a trip around some islands from. It turned out htat there's a nice beach here with a cool cliff at the far end. We spent a bit of time looking around the town and checking out the dive shops. The best places to dive on the West coast are Phuket & Koh Phi Phi. With Phi Phi just a couple of hours boat ride away we're going to do a dive/snork trip there on Saturday. (We can't stay at either of those places as the popularity has priced us backpackers out of the area!)

Today we went on a 4 Island boat trip. We thought it had all gone a bit wrong this morning when they didn't show up at the time they'd said, but an hour later a guy ran up the road and put us in the back of his truck! (The main method of transport around here is converted pick-up trucks with 2 lines of benches - not too bad really, better than a moto).

The trip was beautiful , we visited a set of islands that because of the low tide were accessible, one from the other by just walkking along the sand bank. We went to Chicken Island - so called because of the stone formation that resembles a chicken's head, and did a bit of snorkling around Koh Si. A lovely day on the boat! It did piss it down with rain the afernoon, but that was ok!

Any ho - the man at the hotel wants to shut up shop, so I must go. We're off to Koh Jum tomorrow until Friday when we're back in Ao Nang. Not sure if there'll be any internet access there as we're hoping it'll be our desert island paradise, so we'll probably upload lots of idylic photos at the weekend!

Impressions of Vietnam

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

The Good, The Bad, and the Down Right Odd!

The Bad:
* People thinking that because you're a Westerner that equates to you being a walking cashpoint.

* Pavements: we've spent most of our time wallking in the gutter or in the road. Where there are pavements, they are used as somewhere to ride or park your motorbike; have dinner; set up your stall or put rubbish, making it near impossible to walk along the pavements.

* Rude Vietnamese people: They push infront of you, sweep the street onto you, put their seats right back, smoke too close to you and generally are quite self absorbed as shown by their driving habit of not looking around themselves at all.

*Phlegming: As in China, people are constantly clearing their throats and spitting on to the road. Yuk!

* Food: Whilst some food has been good we've been a bit disapointed with Vietnamese food. We were expecting great things but often only got average things. They also use far too much squid (or squit as it said on one menu) and serve up shark's fin soup in too many restaurants.

The Good:
* Vietnamese children. They are all so friendly and love to say "hello" or try out their other greetings like "good afternoon". We've had lots of smiles whenever we've encountered children in Vietnam, particularly the bunch we met in Hanoi at the Temple of Literature.

* Food: We've had some quite good food, including Cau Lao - noodles with beansprouts, pork and crispy rice cracker; Peanut toffee - they stir up lots of peanuts with ginger and carmel and then set it onto a rice cracker base - chewy & slighty spicy goodness; Ginger tea is also really good; we ate some tasty fish in Mui Ne and were ecstatic to find that the VIetnamese eat a lot of baguettes (there's no bread in China!).

*Mui Ne: We really enjoyed this sleepy beachside town. There were hardly any tourists and so not many people trying to sell you things. The weather was excellent - hot but cool in the shade, we had a pool and could see the sea.

*Diving & Snorkiling: we hadn't really planned on doing anything like that in Vietnam and it worked out nice and cheap compared to anywhere else in the world.

* Other travellers: We've met some really nice people as we've been going around - a Swedish couple on our boat trip, a German couple on our tomb tour; Vickie our dive instructor and a cool bunch of Ozzie & Kiwi guys in a Bia Hoi place in Hanoi. We've also enjoyed chatting to Vietnamese students who want to improve their English and love that we're English rather than a different nationality that speaks English.

* The Scenery: Vietnam is truly beautiful in places. The sun is completely round & orange as it sets.

The Odd
* The way the women dress: It seems that there are 3 different ways that you can dress if you're a Vietnamese lady. 1. In Western style clothes; 2. In traditional dress of Ao Dai - a beautiful and elegant long dress over trousers or 3. in pyjamas! Lots of ladies particularly in the South and particularly older ladies just wear pyjamas all day - sometimes they've even got cute kittens on!

* Trees: because of the Agent Orange deforestation, a lot of the trees are in straight lines and it looks really weird!

So all in all we enjoyed our time in Vietnam, but it definitely had its plus and minor points, with the money grabbing getting us down at times but the kids giving us hope! It's certainly worth a visit.

Halong Bay

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

According to legend, Halong Bay was formed by a dragon descending from the heavens and refusing to leave (or something like that, can't quite remember and we just sold our guide books!). Whilst it is a bay, I didn't quite realise how vast it was, there's something like 2000 islands (most of which are uninhabitable).

There are tonnes of places in Hanoi offering trips to the bay so we figured it would be pretty busy when we arrived but we weren't quite prepared for the scrum that was the harbour. You would think that since it's so popular they might have more than one place that you could get onto the boats, but not so, everyone goes through the same one person ticket check and then you have to climb onto and through several boats until you reach the one you're supposed to be on! The boats are then driven in much the same way as other vehicles in this country, so it's a free for all until you manage to get out in to the open water and the boats dispurse, you can breathe again (the fumes were choking) and sit back on the sun deck to enjoy the ride.

We are plagued by haze. The karsts in photos are crisp and clear, backed by blue sky. On our first day they were quite difficult to spot at first, but as we got further into them they were quite stunning.
We lazed on the sundeck after a spot of lunch and then arrived at a large cave. All the tours we'd seen took you to a cave for an explore and we were expecting a ittle cave at sea level. About 10 other boats were at the cave when we arrived, and little the cave was not, nor was it at sea level. We climbed up quite a lot of steps and then descended into quite an impressive cave (it's called the surprising cave because the fisherman was surprised when he discovered it!- you've got to love that logical name giving!. That particualr cave is UNESCO funded so it's pretty devoid of rubbish & graffitti which was surprising(!) and had some good lighting and safe paths around.
After the cave we had a short sail across to an island where there's a bit of beach. We got off the boat for a swim, but thought better of it when we realised the water was bloody freezing-23c, so got back on the boat for a bit more chilling out.

We sailed a bit further along the bay and anchored at our spot for the evening. The sun seemed like it was starting to set but it was time for some sea-kayaking action! (By the way, does anyone know if there's a difference between a kayak & a canoe?). Luckily for me it was a double kayak and I didn't need to worry about technicalities such as steering. We paddled our way through an opening in the karsts and through a little under pass before being in a lovelly still cove. Well worth it, but we thought we best paddle back before it got dark and we weren't sure which boat was ours anymore. A nice fresh water shower followed by some quite good dinner and then a few games of cards before bed. It was much calmer sleeping on the boat than I'd expected and quite peaceful except for the crew watching tv & drinking beer.

This morning we woke to a slightly clearer day and spent around 4 hours sailing back to the harbour. We noticed quite a large fire on one the karsts that looked as though it had started quite low down and travelled up the rock, not really sure how it started - a rogue cigarette butt maybe. There were loads of differently shaped karsts as we sailed along, we named a few - lion stone, big belly stone, giraffe neck stone & ski jump stone! There was also some good wildlife to look at - sea eagles soaring above us, and according to legend a Tarasque swimming around below us!

We arrived back in the harbour for another scrum and then drove back to Hanoi. We catch a plane to Bangkok in the morning and then are slightly stuck as to where to go! We think we'll probably go to Phuket to start with and then move on. Has anyone got any good suggestions from their visits? We're a bit worried Phuket might be a bit expensive for the likes of us!

Still in Hanoi

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We've changed our plans and have had a bit more of a look around Hanoi. We'll be heading out to Halong bay tomorrow and then catching a flight to Bangkok on Wednesday.

Last night we discovered something wonderful! Bia Hoi is fresh beer. It's made without preservatives and new barrels are delivered daily. But the best bit is that they sell it at 2000VND per glass. For those without calculators, that equates to about 7p. You don't get a full pint for that price, but you do get some well chilled, pretty good lager and a nice plastic seat on the street to sit on. Great stuff.

Anyway... Today we visited Ho Chi Minh's final resting place. Well we had a look at the building, not the corpse itself, which apparently isn't on display on Sundays, not that we really wanted to see it anyway. It was an impressive building anyway, which gets theme park sized queues outside when the dead guy's on display. We also had a look at the One Pillar Pagoda (See pic) which was originally built in 1049, but destroyed by the French in 1954 and rebuilt more recently. We then went for a bit of a wander through the botannical gardens and past the presidential palace which is a nice yellow colour, and down to the Temple of Literature.

The Temple of Literature was the first university in Vietnam, built in 1070. Not an easy place to study at; in 1733, out of 3000 students only 8 passed their exams to become mandarins. Anyway, it was one of the least gaudy temples we've been to. There was a bonsai tree exhibition on, and there was a whole group of schoolchildren mobbing us with shouts of "Hello!", "How are you?", "What's your name?", "Where you live?". Answering their questions to the best of our abilities, they all decided that they should shake hands with us, and get photographed. Very friendly kids like most that we've met.

Unfortunately, they'll probably grow up to be money grabbing bastards like the cyclo drivers. We decided to get a cyclo for the second time ever today. It nearly worked out OK, having negotiated a price that was acceptable to both of us, however having been taken a few hundred yards the driver said that we had to get into another cyclo instead and that the price would still be that same, which would have been fine if the next bloke had spoken any english and had taken us to the right place. Never mind, you live and learn. What we have learned is that the majority of Vietnamese are out to rip you off at every opportunity. That's just the way it is over here.

Halong Bay tomorrow.

Chris

It's the return of the Chicken.

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Originally uploaded by chickencoleman.

Hi chaps! I'm Back!

The Chicken

Hanoi

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

Wow - we're certainly in the capital city! There is so much traffic here, it was quite scary to get out of our taxi from the station to find a hotel. The drivers of all vehicles rarely look where they are going and beep continuously.
But we found a decent hotel, with a room on the 6th floor (many many steps).
We thought we'd give the Lonely Planet walking tour another go here. It was a good one! Hanoi's shops are mostly really narrow and long so that they could fit more onto a street. They are also in very distinct areas - hat shops, ironmongers, shoe shops, rope shops etc. It was very intersting to walk around the old quarter. Some streets have stopped selling what their name suggests. We only noticed one chicken on Ga Street. We did have to avoid women tring to put their very heavy fruit basket poles on our shoulders though! 'Photo?'

In the centre of Hanoi there is a large lake which may or may not have giant turtles living in it, depending on who you believe! We kept an eye out just in case. On a small island in the lake is the Ngoc Son Temple. We really liked it there, it was peaceful and full of interesting artefacts. Including a few cranes standing on tortoises and a preserved giant tortoise (we are very undecided as to whether it was genuine).
We booked our trip to Halong bay at the only western run tour operator. It's so difficult to go with a local company - there are too many dodgy ones who tell you one thing and deliver something far inferior. Plus they put fake signs up so even if you know the name of reputable company there's no real way of telling if you're in their office or not.

In the olden days, in the paddy fields a tradition of water puppetry developed. There is a theatre here that has continued that tradition and we saw a fantastic performance. The puppets are controlled by mechanisms under the water and puppeteers behind a bamboo screen. There were golden dragons with fireworks coming out of their mouths, fishermen, buffalo, harvest processions, lions and phoenix. It was a great performance. We didn't take any pictures as it was all a bit low down, but they sell miniature puppets everywhere so if we see a nice one we might get it.

We changed hotel this morning as the other one was only available for 2 nights. We 're here tonight before going on our Halong Bay trip (yay!) and then we fly back to Bangkok on the 6th November.

Hue

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We arrived in Hue at lunch time and checked into a perfectly adequate hotel before finding ourselves some lunch. We went to a cool local cafe where the owner is a photogrpher. You can sit and browse his pictures while you wait for your food. One group of Australian ladies left with a print each - not a bad day for the owner!
The citadel in Hue is the main tourist attraction so we wandered there avoiding all offers of motos and cyclos. Vietnamese people don't really walk anywhere, they think it quite odd when you refuse transport!
The approach to the main citadel is cool with an enormous flagpole flying the star. It was Sunday and we were watched by a couple of cheeky boys riding their oversized bike around the wide open paved space. They shouted 'hello' and 'good afernoon' at us, and tried to creep into our photos! Very funny!
As you enter the main part of the citadel you go over a bridge where, at the start you can buy some fish food. We did. These goldfish are hungry! We managed to create many feeding frenzies and got them to follow us all the way along the bridge by putting in a bit of food at a time!
The citadel was well worth the visit. Many of it's buildings were destroyed by American bombs, as the Viet Cong thought it would be a good place to set up base, but there are still some great things to see. There's an old theatre where they still perform court music - with dancing dragons & ladies with fans. We very much enjoyed strolling around the grounds in the late afternoon sunshine.
We wanted to visit a local pagoda and thought that as it was 4km away we would enlist the services of a cyclo driver.

Cyclo drivers are often non-citizens of Vietnam. After the war the vietnamese government 're-educated' all those who were in support of the American forces. After this they were denied citizenship of hte country and are not able to get jobs or own property, so Cyclo drivers they became, which explains why they are all quite old blokes.

After a healthy bargaining session we agreed 65,000 VND (2 quid) for a ride to the pagoda and back to our hotel. Chris sat up on a wooden seat while I sat on the cushion between his legs. The driver earnt his money! We're a bit heavy! The usual conversation ensued - where are we from, what are we doing tommorow. Luckily we found out that the boat tour we were planning on taking would go to the pagoda, so instead the cyclo took us around the local streets and to a lake. It was quite scary at times, having motos driving towards us, but it was a great way to see some local life.
Hue is about the most touristy place we've been to so far, we kept noticing people that we'd seen in Hoi An! The restaurant that we went to for dinner was full of westerners including an intrepid tour group.

The next day (monday) we went on a tour of the tombs. The kings spent their whole lives designing & having huge tombs built so that they would have somewhere nice to live in the afterlife. They are pretty extensive and quite impressive.
The tour took us to 3 different tombs. The first was Tu Duc's tomb - this was quite similar in style to the citadel, with a nice pagoda by the lake where Tu Duc used to sit and write poetry apparently.
The 2nd tomb was that of Khai Dinh. He took 11 years to build his tomb. The walls are completely covered in mosaic pictures - it was amazing.
The 3rd tomb was that of Minh Manh. This was bulit in the shape of a bird (?), with 2 lakes as wings. It was the most run down really but would have been huge and impressivce in it's day.
We had some good local lunch included in our tour. It was a set menu of Hue's specialities including tuna fish with seasame which you eat on bits of rice crackers. Yum.
The tour ended with a dodgy boat trip along the perfume river. The problem with the part of the river that goes through Hue is that there is no scenery. The boat was ok, but basically a floating shop with potential customers that can't escape!

We got quite ripped off when buying our train tickets to get to Hanoi. In Nha Trang we'd been close to the station so bought them ourselves, but here we went to an agent. The first place tried to charged us a few dollars more that the 2nd place we went to and even the second place charged us about 30% commisson. We weren't very impressed!
We felt quite a lot like we were being taken advantage of in Hue - with inflated westerner prices for drinks and food. Luckily we frequeted a little shop by our hotel for our water and when we went to buy our train snacks we were charged a normal fair price. There was also a very cute baby who wanted to share his biscuit with Chris!
We caught our train the floowing morning - a mere 12 hours to Hanoi!