For non-Facebookers, here are some photos from Ninh Binh:
Ninh Binh photos
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
My internet is back!! Time to bore you all with a long post about what I've been up to recently.
Last weekend I joined my housemate Zoe to go on a walk in a random bit of Vietnamese countryside with the Hash House Harriers. A long rickety bus ride out to the middle of nowhere and a walk through the countryside. There was another group that ran the course but I wasn't up for that. The walk itself was fine but afterwards there was all this lame standing round in a circle ritual crap. That dragged and was rather tedious. Then it was another bumby bus ride back into the city.
On Sunday I up with Lou's friend Rachel and her friend John in the old quarter. We went to my favourite Pho place for dinner and then went for a drink at Le Pub. We wandered around the Old Quarter and then went for some ice cream as well as picking up soe tickets for the water puppets thing the next day.
On the Monday I had to go to a meeting at work all about the fun and games that is the Vietnamese tax system and then I went to meet Rachel and John at the Temple of Literature. We went to KOTO for some lunch and then went to the temple. We then walked into the Old Quarter and went to a second hand book store. I couldn't resist and picked up a couple of books! Then we sat by the lake for a bit before going to the water puppets show. It's a very strange thing - a group of musicians and singers sit to the side and sing a story whilst some puppets are manipulated on the water. It was good to finally get round to seeing the show after being in Hanoi for so long.
On Friday after work I went for a drink or two with some people from work, Caroline and Allison, and their partners. We started at a Czech beer hall near the language school then we went to a couple of other bars. It was good fun, and Caroline offered to teach me to ride a motorbike - I'm going to see if she's still up for this when she's sober!
On Saturday I got the train down to Ninh Binh. I travelled hard class and got to sit on a wooden seat for 2 1/2 hours. Good Fun! Once I'd checked into the hotel I went for a walk around Ninh Binh to see what I could find - not a lot! Plus there was this horrible drizzly rain going on that was very off putting. In the end I went for some food then went back to the hotel and watched a bit of TV and made good progress with my monster 1000 page book.
On Sunday morning the rain had stopped but it was still a bit overcast. Despite this I had a good day sightseeing. The hotel arranged a motorbike and a driver for 2 days for me and he took me off to all the places around Ninh Binh. We went down the back roads and through villages rather than along the highway which was cool as I got to see a bit ore of the country. The first stop on the day was a place called Mua Caves. I had to climb up 500-odd steps cut out of the hillside to a small shrine at the top. The view wasn't clear as it was misty and rainy but it was still pretty cool. All the rock formations looked pretty atmospheric, shrouded in mist and clouds.
Next up was Tam Coc. It's the biggest tourist thing in the region and you get rowed along a river through more of the crazy rocks and some tunnels. The place was full of tourists and it was pretty busy and although the scenery was cool the amount of other tourists kinda spoiled it a bit. Once the boat ride was over I got some really lunch in a restaurant recommended by my driver.
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After lunch we went to Hoa Lu - an ancient citadel that is apparently very important judging by the number of Vietnamese visiting it. It seemed to consist of two temples where everyone was making offerings. There was also another set of steps carved into a hill and at the top there was another shrine - they seem to believe in making you go to a lot of effort to worship a at a shrine! There was also a group of schoolkids clambering all over the rocks who kept calling out hello to me as I passed.
The next day the first place we went was called Van Long. It was a similar idea to Tam Coc but the boat was a rickety woven thing, the scenery was even more impressive and there were only a handful of other tourists. It was so peaceful - just the sound of oars cutting through water, birds chirping and locals who work on the river shouting out to each other every so often. It was much better than Tam Coc. The cloudy weather added atmosphere to the area.
After lunch I then went on another boat trip - this time a big engine powered boat with a couple of Aussies. We sailed along a river to a palce called Kenh Ga. It was originally a floating village thing but now most people live on the land. The river is still an important part of their life though. We sailed on down the river to a random shrine in the moddle of the river in the middle of nowhere - again its an awful lot of effort to get there!
The last place we went to was a massive pagoda complex in the middle of nowhere. The main pagoda was at the top of a monster hill. The devoted were walking up through all the smaller temples to get to the top however we whizzed up the hill on the bike. Inside the top pagoda there were three massive gold Buddha statues as well as statues of the heron things and turtles that can be found at a lot of temples and pagodas. The place appeared to be under construction - whether they were just improving the existing layout or building it from scratch wasn't clear and the driver didn't speak much English so couldn't understand what I was asking. Either way it was a monster complez and again seemed to be very popular with Vietnamese visitors.
In the evening I got the train back to Hanoi. Again I went for the cheapest ticket but this time it cost more as the train was more modern. Even though I was in the cheapest class again this time the seats were upholstered and reclining, and there were Tv screens showing lame Vietnamese TV shows. This ticket cost closer to £2 rather than the £1 I paid for the journey down which is still dirt cheap compared to trains back home. In future I'll be trying to catch the more modern ones as it was much more comfortable coming home than heading down!
It was nice to get out of Hanoi for a bit, and to be able to walk on the pavements. Unlike in Hanoi, the pavements in Ninh Binh aren't crammed with crap so I didn't have to walk in the gutter over the weekend! IT was also a lot quieter there. It was nice. Next weekend I am escaping again, this time to Danang. I'm looking forward to it!
Last weekend I joined my housemate Zoe to go on a walk in a random bit of Vietnamese countryside with the Hash House Harriers. A long rickety bus ride out to the middle of nowhere and a walk through the countryside. There was another group that ran the course but I wasn't up for that. The walk itself was fine but afterwards there was all this lame standing round in a circle ritual crap. That dragged and was rather tedious. Then it was another bumby bus ride back into the city.
On Sunday I up with Lou's friend Rachel and her friend John in the old quarter. We went to my favourite Pho place for dinner and then went for a drink at Le Pub. We wandered around the Old Quarter and then went for some ice cream as well as picking up soe tickets for the water puppets thing the next day.
On the Monday I had to go to a meeting at work all about the fun and games that is the Vietnamese tax system and then I went to meet Rachel and John at the Temple of Literature. We went to KOTO for some lunch and then went to the temple. We then walked into the Old Quarter and went to a second hand book store. I couldn't resist and picked up a couple of books! Then we sat by the lake for a bit before going to the water puppets show. It's a very strange thing - a group of musicians and singers sit to the side and sing a story whilst some puppets are manipulated on the water. It was good to finally get round to seeing the show after being in Hanoi for so long.
On Friday after work I went for a drink or two with some people from work, Caroline and Allison, and their partners. We started at a Czech beer hall near the language school then we went to a couple of other bars. It was good fun, and Caroline offered to teach me to ride a motorbike - I'm going to see if she's still up for this when she's sober!
On Saturday I got the train down to Ninh Binh. I travelled hard class and got to sit on a wooden seat for 2 1/2 hours. Good Fun! Once I'd checked into the hotel I went for a walk around Ninh Binh to see what I could find - not a lot! Plus there was this horrible drizzly rain going on that was very off putting. In the end I went for some food then went back to the hotel and watched a bit of TV and made good progress with my monster 1000 page book.
On Sunday morning the rain had stopped but it was still a bit overcast. Despite this I had a good day sightseeing. The hotel arranged a motorbike and a driver for 2 days for me and he took me off to all the places around Ninh Binh. We went down the back roads and through villages rather than along the highway which was cool as I got to see a bit ore of the country. The first stop on the day was a place called Mua Caves. I had to climb up 500-odd steps cut out of the hillside to a small shrine at the top. The view wasn't clear as it was misty and rainy but it was still pretty cool. All the rock formations looked pretty atmospheric, shrouded in mist and clouds.
Next up was Tam Coc. It's the biggest tourist thing in the region and you get rowed along a river through more of the crazy rocks and some tunnels. The place was full of tourists and it was pretty busy and although the scenery was cool the amount of other tourists kinda spoiled it a bit. Once the boat ride was over I got some really lunch in a restaurant recommended by my driver.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306377538297666466" />
After lunch we went to Hoa Lu - an ancient citadel that is apparently very important judging by the number of Vietnamese visiting it. It seemed to consist of two temples where everyone was making offerings. There was also another set of steps carved into a hill and at the top there was another shrine - they seem to believe in making you go to a lot of effort to worship a at a shrine! There was also a group of schoolkids clambering all over the rocks who kept calling out hello to me as I passed.
The next day the first place we went was called Van Long. It was a similar idea to Tam Coc but the boat was a rickety woven thing, the scenery was even more impressive and there were only a handful of other tourists. It was so peaceful - just the sound of oars cutting through water, birds chirping and locals who work on the river shouting out to each other every so often. It was much better than Tam Coc. The cloudy weather added atmosphere to the area.
After lunch I then went on another boat trip - this time a big engine powered boat with a couple of Aussies. We sailed along a river to a palce called Kenh Ga. It was originally a floating village thing but now most people live on the land. The river is still an important part of their life though. We sailed on down the river to a random shrine in the moddle of the river in the middle of nowhere - again its an awful lot of effort to get there!
The last place we went to was a massive pagoda complex in the middle of nowhere. The main pagoda was at the top of a monster hill. The devoted were walking up through all the smaller temples to get to the top however we whizzed up the hill on the bike. Inside the top pagoda there were three massive gold Buddha statues as well as statues of the heron things and turtles that can be found at a lot of temples and pagodas. The place appeared to be under construction - whether they were just improving the existing layout or building it from scratch wasn't clear and the driver didn't speak much English so couldn't understand what I was asking. Either way it was a monster complez and again seemed to be very popular with Vietnamese visitors.
In the evening I got the train back to Hanoi. Again I went for the cheapest ticket but this time it cost more as the train was more modern. Even though I was in the cheapest class again this time the seats were upholstered and reclining, and there were Tv screens showing lame Vietnamese TV shows. This ticket cost closer to £2 rather than the £1 I paid for the journey down which is still dirt cheap compared to trains back home. In future I'll be trying to catch the more modern ones as it was much more comfortable coming home than heading down!
It was nice to get out of Hanoi for a bit, and to be able to walk on the pavements. Unlike in Hanoi, the pavements in Ninh Binh aren't crammed with crap so I didn't have to walk in the gutter over the weekend! IT was also a lot quieter there. It was nice. Next weekend I am escaping again, this time to Danang. I'm looking forward to it!
Monday, 9 February 2009
On Saturday my friend Chi took me to a festival outside of Hanoi. It took over an hour to get there on the back of a motorbike through deadly traffic. People would apparently rather risk their lives driving madly through the traffic then wait for a minute or two for the danger to pass.
The festival itself was very strange. There were a bunch of stalls selling a random selection of things and then were was a parade of sorts through a field. The temple was very popular and there was a sea of people trying to get there throughout the day. There was also a selection of strange entertainment. One game involved being blindfolded in a pen with a goat and having to walk around trying to find the goat. Another involved being blindfolded and walking in a straight line towards a piece of pottery suspended from a post that you had to hit with a stick. There was also an incredibly dangerous looking swing thing. It was made out of wood and the aim of it was that two people stood on the bar at the bottom and used their weight to get the swing moving. As far as I could understand the aim seemed to be to get the swing as high as possible. It looked incredibly dangerous! The whole structure creaked and wobbled and on a couple of occasions the bar was hammered back into place at the bottom but that didn't seem to stop people from swarming around trying to get a go at killing themselves!
A lot of Chi's friends from uni were there so I was a source of fascination. They all wanted to talk to me and have their photo taken with me! They were all lovely people though so it was cool. We ate some random snacks (everything seemed to be made from rice!) drank beer and then went for some pho. I'm still not great with chopsticks so everyone was hugely entertained by my efforts to eat my lunch! As weird as the festival was it was good fun in a strange stepping back to the past kinda way.
Getting out of the festival was another adventure. We had to walk along the main road to get to Chi's bike but this was made pretty much impossible by the number of people jamming up the road. Unlike back home where people will sit in a relatively orderly fashion here everyone tries to push their way forward. It's evident in the country as a whole - for example getting on a bus is a scramble with people pushing and shoving their way on - but was even more extreme at this festival than usual. The road was surrounded by flooded fields and so there was nowhere to go except along the road. People were pushing through the crowds on their bikes and trying to get ahead of everyone else even though there wasn't really anywhere to go. Pedestrians were relegated to the very edges of the road and sometimes we had to walk right on the edge in the slimy mud.
Once back at the bike we had to drive along dusty mud paths between the fields to get back to the main road. It was insane!
Never again will I complain about getting out of festivals back home. At least there is some semblance of order there!
The festival itself was very strange. There were a bunch of stalls selling a random selection of things and then were was a parade of sorts through a field. The temple was very popular and there was a sea of people trying to get there throughout the day. There was also a selection of strange entertainment. One game involved being blindfolded in a pen with a goat and having to walk around trying to find the goat. Another involved being blindfolded and walking in a straight line towards a piece of pottery suspended from a post that you had to hit with a stick. There was also an incredibly dangerous looking swing thing. It was made out of wood and the aim of it was that two people stood on the bar at the bottom and used their weight to get the swing moving. As far as I could understand the aim seemed to be to get the swing as high as possible. It looked incredibly dangerous! The whole structure creaked and wobbled and on a couple of occasions the bar was hammered back into place at the bottom but that didn't seem to stop people from swarming around trying to get a go at killing themselves!
A lot of Chi's friends from uni were there so I was a source of fascination. They all wanted to talk to me and have their photo taken with me! They were all lovely people though so it was cool. We ate some random snacks (everything seemed to be made from rice!) drank beer and then went for some pho. I'm still not great with chopsticks so everyone was hugely entertained by my efforts to eat my lunch! As weird as the festival was it was good fun in a strange stepping back to the past kinda way.
Getting out of the festival was another adventure. We had to walk along the main road to get to Chi's bike but this was made pretty much impossible by the number of people jamming up the road. Unlike back home where people will sit in a relatively orderly fashion here everyone tries to push their way forward. It's evident in the country as a whole - for example getting on a bus is a scramble with people pushing and shoving their way on - but was even more extreme at this festival than usual. The road was surrounded by flooded fields and so there was nowhere to go except along the road. People were pushing through the crowds on their bikes and trying to get ahead of everyone else even though there wasn't really anywhere to go. Pedestrians were relegated to the very edges of the road and sometimes we had to walk right on the edge in the slimy mud.
Once back at the bike we had to drive along dusty mud paths between the fields to get back to the main road. It was insane!
Never again will I complain about getting out of festivals back home. At least there is some semblance of order there!
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Monday, 2 February 2009
I keep finding other things to do than sort through my photos! I'm going to try and get some up online tomorrow to stop people pestering me but for now here is a photo from each day of my trip:
All the first day consisted of was travel, and once I arrived I had a strange Malaysian dish for dinner. Nasi Lemak consists of rice (good), chicken and potato curry (good), cold anchovie stuff (hmm), half a boiled egg (ok.....) and some peanuts (wait, what?)
The next day I spent in KK, investigating options for trips to the mountains and shopping at the markets. In the evening I went to watch the sunset at a viewpoint up in the hills behind KK.
This day I spent in the mountain national park. It was kinda wet and coudy, but here is a pic of me at the start of the path to hike to the top of the mountain.
This was the day of my trip to an island just off the coast of KK. I spent a big chunk of the day lying on the beach!
On my last day in KK I went to the bird sanctuary and then the museum complex before watching the sunset and checking out the fruit and veg night market. These kids escorted me to the bird sancturay!
My next stop on the trip was Brunei. On the boat I met two Canadians and a German so we stuck together for our time in Brunei. In the evening of the day we arrived we went to the mosque as the sun was setting. It's a pretty impressive building at the best of times but that evening it looked even more spectacular.
We had a day visiting the tourist sights the next day - we went to a local waterfall, got a view of BSB from the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city and then went on a boat cruise to see the water villages, mosques, palaces and monkeys. Heaps of kids in the water village waved at us and called out hello.
We had a quieter day the next day and went to the mosque to have a look inside.
The others left early the next morning and I jumped on a speedboat to a place called Bangar to go for a hike up to a viewpoint in the middle of the jungle. It was hard work but totally worth it!
My last day in Brunei was quite slow. The weather wasn't too good and Chinese New Year was in full swing so I checked out some of the shopping centres and wandered the city aimlessly. I also went for one last roti and blueberry juice before flying to KL.
Had an early start to my first day in KL and went to the Petronas towers. I also saw a lion dance to celebrate Chinese New Years and in the evening I went to the KL tower.
My last full day in KL was alternated with shopping a tourist sights. I got a bus out to a cave system and climbed to the top to see some Hindu temples and crazy monkeys, and I also had a look around Chinatown until the rains started.
I had an afternoon flight back to Hanoi and spent the morning trying to cram all my stuff into my bags. I have make many shopping! Notice the jar of marmite - possibly the most exciting thing I bought!
The day after I arrived back I discovered that I had provided a feast for some bed bugs in KL. Both legs and arms are covered in these minging red bites:
Today I had a fun experience in a pharmacy trying to get some sort of treatment for the bites. The local pharmacy staff don't speak English and my phrasebook didn't tell me the translation for bed bugs so I had problems getting them to understand what was the cause of my bites. In the end I gave up and headed to a pharmacy in the Old Quarter where they spoke a bit of English and knew what bed bugs were so now I am stocked up with creams and tablets. Fingers crossed the bites go soon as I don't want to scare my students!
Also: This made me laugh hysterically:- http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/11975/
All the first day consisted of was travel, and once I arrived I had a strange Malaysian dish for dinner. Nasi Lemak consists of rice (good), chicken and potato curry (good), cold anchovie stuff (hmm), half a boiled egg (ok.....) and some peanuts (wait, what?)
The next day I spent in KK, investigating options for trips to the mountains and shopping at the markets. In the evening I went to watch the sunset at a viewpoint up in the hills behind KK.
This day I spent in the mountain national park. It was kinda wet and coudy, but here is a pic of me at the start of the path to hike to the top of the mountain.
This was the day of my trip to an island just off the coast of KK. I spent a big chunk of the day lying on the beach!
On my last day in KK I went to the bird sanctuary and then the museum complex before watching the sunset and checking out the fruit and veg night market. These kids escorted me to the bird sancturay!
My next stop on the trip was Brunei. On the boat I met two Canadians and a German so we stuck together for our time in Brunei. In the evening of the day we arrived we went to the mosque as the sun was setting. It's a pretty impressive building at the best of times but that evening it looked even more spectacular.
We had a day visiting the tourist sights the next day - we went to a local waterfall, got a view of BSB from the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city and then went on a boat cruise to see the water villages, mosques, palaces and monkeys. Heaps of kids in the water village waved at us and called out hello.
We had a quieter day the next day and went to the mosque to have a look inside.
The others left early the next morning and I jumped on a speedboat to a place called Bangar to go for a hike up to a viewpoint in the middle of the jungle. It was hard work but totally worth it!
My last day in Brunei was quite slow. The weather wasn't too good and Chinese New Year was in full swing so I checked out some of the shopping centres and wandered the city aimlessly. I also went for one last roti and blueberry juice before flying to KL.
Had an early start to my first day in KL and went to the Petronas towers. I also saw a lion dance to celebrate Chinese New Years and in the evening I went to the KL tower.
My last full day in KL was alternated with shopping a tourist sights. I got a bus out to a cave system and climbed to the top to see some Hindu temples and crazy monkeys, and I also had a look around Chinatown until the rains started.
I had an afternoon flight back to Hanoi and spent the morning trying to cram all my stuff into my bags. I have make many shopping! Notice the jar of marmite - possibly the most exciting thing I bought!
The day after I arrived back I discovered that I had provided a feast for some bed bugs in KL. Both legs and arms are covered in these minging red bites:
Today I had a fun experience in a pharmacy trying to get some sort of treatment for the bites. The local pharmacy staff don't speak English and my phrasebook didn't tell me the translation for bed bugs so I had problems getting them to understand what was the cause of my bites. In the end I gave up and headed to a pharmacy in the Old Quarter where they spoke a bit of English and knew what bed bugs were so now I am stocked up with creams and tablets. Fingers crossed the bites go soon as I don't want to scare my students!
Also: This made me laugh hysterically:- http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/11975/
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