Vietnam day 2: Halong Bay

This was the most mind-blowing day of the holiday, I'll get straight to the pictures so you can see why.

I saw this out of the bus window:

On the boat around the Bay:

(Our lunch - which my chopstick skills made a very leisurely affair)

HALONG BAY:

On a small boat rowed by a local woman:

(The Small Boats and The Local Women)

                                                   (A shrine!)               (Yeah, we went through here!)

After we were rowed around the Bay we got back on the first boat and were taken to some caves in one of the mountains! Turns out they like to light things up in Vietnam.

After the caves we got back on the boat, back on the bus and then got a sleeper train down to Hue!

AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! 

We all tried to get into our bunks with our bags on and got wedged in (turtles come to mind) because they were so small so we had to do some good twisting, grunting and flailing to free ourselves.

When we finally fell into our bunks I eagerly made mine a bit more to my tastes using my two trusty pashminas as sheets to protect myself, in a sandwich like fashion, from the bedding (and Brinna kindly lent me a scarf of hers to wrap my pillow in), popped on my long sleeved top and double-socked-it-up (minimising skin contact obviously) and I was as happy as a bug in a nice, clean rug. 

Little did I know how hygienic the next sleeper train would be....*shudder* I mean after experiencing THAT I would have been very happy to floss my teeth with the straggling threads on the blanket that I so carefully protected myself from...

(See! I DID do some work!)

Vietnam day 1: Hanoi

Vietnam rocks!

That is pretty much the conclusion of everything I'm about to tell you, so if you don't have a cup of tea and a Crunchie in your hand (Mom), or you want a two-word summary of everything Vietnam, then that'd be it because, to quote Marty Mcfly, this is going to get heavy. 

So, if you are seated comfortably, we shall begin.

OMG VIETNAM IS AMAZING! 

Everything I ate there was hands down the best asian food I have ever had (sorry Malaysia but no competition), the history was fascinating, everything went to plan and I was a millionaire *shoulder flick*. Yeah.

I was travelling with (clockwise from top left) Rob, Grace, Kish, (that's me!), Laura, Brinna and Sully.

The capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, is the northernmost place we went to and was where we flew into early on Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel and then explored the city. 

(but only after we played with our dongs) (which I, apparently, found quite funny)

After this we headed to the oldest university in Vietnam... 

...where it just happened to be graduation day! This is what they wear to graduate here:

(they were jealous of our amazing photos in the courtyard. The top photo is an example of why they were jealous)

They had some AMAZING roofs (AND topiary too now I think of it!)

And rows upon rows of these massive stone tablets carried by turtles/tortoises (symbols for longevity)

After we explored Hanoi we went back to the hotel and went down the street for dinner after which the girls went to the spa (IT WAS £4 FOR AN HALF HOUR DEEP SEA MUD WRAP!) and the boys went out exploring the night markets (...though I actually fell asleep in the room and was pretty much knocked out for all of these goings on and though I didn't get my deep sea mud wrap *sigh* I had a scrumptious night's sleep).

Saigon... shit!!!!!!

This is just a quickie post as I'm in Nha Trang right now (!) and we are about to go out for an early dinner as we have a 10 hour (!!!!!!!!!!) sleeper bus down to Ho Chi Minh City (aka. Saigon) leaving at 8pm.

So this has been our route:

Hanoi (the capital) is where we flew into early on Saturday morning, then on Sunday went to Halong bay which was RIDICULOUSLY COOL and we took a sleeper train down the coast to Hue (I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO HOGWARTS! IT WAS AMAZING and, surprisingly enough, quite clean!) where we stayed at a great hostel and saw some really cool tanks, planes and helicopters left over from the war and went through an ancient vietnamese citadel.

On Tuesday morning we took a bus down to Hoi an (the place names got very confusing!) which is the one of the only cities in Vietnam not to have been damaged in the war. IT WAS BRILLIANT! We saw all of old town (ALMOST got tailored dresses but didn't, though I still have one day to complete this personal quest) and in the evening we met this waiter who did tours of his village during the day (I know it sounds really dodgy Mom, I wasn't entirely sure about it either but there were 6 of us and one of him and he showed us all these books of people that had raved about his tours and photos of them all and it looked legitimate and fun so we went for it) and on Wednesday we did the tour and it was by far the best day of the holiday (and also because it was Dad's birthday too - sorry for calling you all through your meetings Dad!) we went fishing and did pottery and his wife taught us how to cook vietnamese food and it was DELICIOUS! Then in the evening we took another sleeper train down to Nha Trang (where we are now) which was absolutely, impassably disgusting, and I was in the upgraded rooms. I couldn't touch anything!!

ANYWAY tonight we are headed to Saigon on a sleeper bus and then I fly back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night to land at 11.05 my time.

Expect lots of pretty pretty pictures early next week!

Well, fancy that!

I'm boarding a flight in 7 hours to Hanoi, Vietnam! 

Ironically I was never really that bothered about Vietnam, I was more enthusiastic about Cambodia and Laos but they require more than a Reading Week to do properly. 

I am now, however, rather excited about it all!

We are heading south to Ho Chi Min City and will be stopping off in Halong Bay (the hills coming out of the bay, it was in Top Gear with the bar and looks kind of like the Hallelujah Mountains from Avatar!), Hoi an (for some tailor-made suits, naturally) Da Nang, and lots of other places in between.

My plans had been to head to the Philippines with Sam, Beth, Amanda, Mia and Matt but, as you know, I got allergic to my antimalarials which effectively put an end to that idea! They left earlier today 

and should be landing nowish in Clark (just north of Manila, the capital) and are headed to the Chocolate Hills tomorrow (my idea btw :P) THEY ARE CRAZY COOL!! After the Chocolate Hills they are going to work their way back up the islands until they fly back on Friday.

(see!)

Our flight back gets in on Monday evening so prepare for some uber-blogging after that!

Photo of the Day 5

As my internet is terrible and my workload is immense, today is one of those days when I must blog a Photo of the Day BUT to make up for the lack of effort I'll choose a really good photo (or two)!

(or three)

I couldn't pass up on sharing that beauty with you.

Lovely note to end on.

THE BLOG WARS HAVE COMMENCED

Check out Sam's blog at http://www.samuelsblog.co.uk/

Btw he stole the dim sum blog from me. Just sayin'.

Bring it on Curly.

It is not a holiday...

...with the Greenspans unless someone becomes ill.

This long standing tradition has given all four of us an in depth knowledge of pharmacies, hospitals and surgeries thoughout Europe and America and has given us many happy memories of waiting rooms, chundering, rash comparisons and of not being able to move because you just applied some pink cream to some inconvenient body part - it's never the back of the hand! Always the back of the knee or below your armpit or something.
  But,
I have now been where no Greenspan has been before: 

In a Malaysian A+E.

So apparently I'm allergic to the anti-malarial tablets that I have been taking for the last two months and needed to get some blood tests. I must say, the thought of going into a Malaysian hospital didn't fill me with joy. I was imagining a sort of disaster scenario A+E but with more BO. Also, my  experience of Asia so far has not been the most hygienic of experiences and I felt genuine fear at catching something from another patient/doctor who hadn't washed his hands (pre-1860's style).

When we arrived I was very pleasantly surprised at how orderly and clean everywhere was, they even had a ticket machine and screens saying which number patient to go to which number Doctor's office! It was like being in Argos!

 
All the nurses spoke english pretty fluently and wore wonderful royal blue jubahs (long dress things) and pristine white hijabs (the head scarves) with retro style white nurses hats pinned on top. It was really nice and clean looking, and the hats made me smile!

The doctor, however, was a sexist w****r.

Sam had come with me to the hospital (his first time in a hospital since birth!) and, because he kind of wanted to find out why my legs look like I had played a dot-to-dot on them, he came in with me to see the Doctor.

After I showed Dr. Ong my rash he proceeded to address Sam and only Sam for the duration of the appointment. We were both very confused as to why he was asking Sam all about my symptoms when I was right there...
I then went and got some blood taken by another lovely nurse and went back in to Dr. Ong's room on my own (both Sam and I being very taken aback at his rude attitude towards me) to which Dr. Ong immediately asked where Sam was and where he had gone (yes he asked twice, on separate occasions) and when I told him that Sam had left, he gestured for me to go get him to ask him some questions! THE CHEEK OF IT!

Dr. Ong obviously hadn't accounted for my medical experience and I willingly (and capably, despite having ovaries *gasp*!) conducted the rest of the appointment myself.
Tosspot.

Anyway, aside from that, and a slightly confusing system of payment where I paid a large deposit when I arrived at the hospital and they then refunded me what I hadn't needed to pay at the end of the appointment, (it IS Malaysia after all, it couldn't all be logical) it was a very nice, clean hospital!

OH and just so you know, I'm fine! YAY!