A Fellowship around Ha Long Bay and on the train to Hue

This post covers the period we were in Ha Long Bay and traveling by Train to Hue, which is between the 2nd and midday of the 4th day of October. I am already convinced that this segment of the world tour will live long in the memory, as we have met some lovely people and we were able to indulge in some excellent sightseeing.

In fact, and I know it is early days, I think Vietnam could be somewhere near the top of the list of countries we visit, as I have absolutely loved everything about Vietnam: the history, the food, the people, the architecture and the natural beauty. It will be interesting to see the final leaderboard of countries once been 'there' and are back again to the UK, at the end of our trip.

On the morning of the 2nd October we were picked up from our hotel in the old town quarter in Hanoi and had a 1.5 hours drive to the port that serves Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay (literally 'Descending Dragon Bay' in Sino-Vietnamese) is a Unesco World Heritage site that consists of thousands of isles of varying sizes and forms, most of which are limestone, and features many islets and caves. It reminded me of the landscape from the Leonardo DiCaprio film, 'The Beaches'.

A good thing about tours is that, if you get a good one, you can meet some interesting and fun people; thankfully the group on this one was excellent - a Fellowship quickly formed. Tours will also be useful, every now and then, to freshen things up as just two of us on the road together. There were sixteen of us in the group which was comprised of Americans, Slovenians Dutch, British, French and Danish. I know it comes to us all eventually but this was the first tour that I have been on where I was the oldest person in the group... :-(

As with all groups there are naturally some that you gravitate to more than others and this group included some key protagonists from LOTR, but thankful no Smeagols:

- Merry and Pippin: A great couple from England, Mairead and Alex, who are from Oxford and Litchfield respectively. One thing I have learnt over the years is to wear a hammers T-Shirt on the first days of a tour as its a great icebreaker. True to form this initiated a conversation with Alex on football and a friendship was made; albeit Football is a sport he knows nothing about as a Stoke fan... ;-)

- Galadriel: Miriam, a life-force and real joy from sunny California. The address for her brilliant blog, which puts mine to shame and is well worth a read, is http://dandeliondiaires.wordpress.com; and

- Gandalf: An American chap called Chris, who lives in northeast China with his girlfriend Alexandra, who is wise beyond his years. He is an interesting mix of 'legal wiz by day'/'Capoeira teacher by night'. In fact Chris stepping up to the plate during the Tai Chi class, when all the staff admitted to not knowing Tai Chi (..,) was a highlight of the tour; especially his rendition of a Capoeira song about a rueful sailor who had a bad life that was wooed by the life on the high seas...

Once we arrived at port we quickly departed from land on a tender that would not only take us to our boat but be used many times on the cruise to get us from the main boat to activities in more shallow waters which included a jaunt around one of the more substantial Islands (Monkey Island), which had some spectacular caves and (can you Adam and Eve it) Monkeys, and Sea-Kayaking round some pretty bays and islets.

Apart from the activities and breakfast/lunch/dinner the rest of the time was spent on the sun deck taking in the stunning views. This also served as a safe haven to retreat to after we were subjected to an incredibly poor Karaoke system after dinner on the first day, which seemed to only have songs from the 1950s or Vietnamese/Chinese classics, played through a sound system that sounded worse than my old Sega Mastersystem from my youth. Whilst up on deck I also seized the moment to teach others an interesting version of Rummy that I learnt many years ago in Australia, which killed a few hours.

Like all tours, there were a lot of funny/embarrassing moments, of which I will share four:

- One of the staff on the boat seemed to take a shine to yours truly and continuously referred to me as Mr Bond. He seemed to get the joke when I said only if this was 'Mr Bond, the retirement years', but seemed genuinely perplexed when I announced to the group that "Odd Job had lost a bit of weight".

- I endeared myself (not) to an American woman on Monkey Island, when I used the Ghostbusters' gag to her question of, "where do these stairs go" with the answer "up". In true Mr Deane 'how to make friends and influence people' fashion this was quickly followed up with a retort to her deadpan look stating that it was a joke and when she asked "really" I said to some. Well you can't win them all...?

- After the sea-kayaking, I was summoned by two Vietnamese women on the jetty. Fearing that I was about to be tapped up for tacky souvenirs, I gingerly made my way over only to be 'bullied' by them as they groped my manboobs, whilst laughing that I had big breasts for a man. They were really sweet and laughed heartedly when I stated that it wasn't me having big breasts but them having small ones. I was relieved that Becs was there and laughing at the whole thing, as that situation could of sounded completely different when played back to her later...

- 'Vietnamese wine'-gate: I think all of the group felt a little duped when we all sampled a few glasses of seemingly complementary Vietnamese wine at lunch on day one, only to be told later that we were going to have to pay for the glasses drunk. As Becs later informed me that our package included complimentary wine with food, when it came to settling the bar tabs I made them fully aware that we wouldn't be paying for the wine.

It is amazing that in one week travelling we now are so money conscious that we made a fuss over £10 and I think others on the trip thought we must be the worst IT Manager and Investment Banking Compliance Executive, but if we overspend just by £5 each day that is nearly one thousand pound extra over the whole trip; and it was a matter of principle that you should get what you paid for.

My embarrassment was complete when, after forty minutes in the company's offices using various negotiation tactics to get them to refund the wine, Becs finds the email from Expedia that confirms that the trip is inclusive of wine served during meals, only for it to be pointed out that is a different tour. I think I will ask for actual evidence next time before going into bat...

Still, all turned out reasonably level on the budget front over the two days, as we got a couple of (complimentary) beers from the tour company, whilst in their offices 'debating' and later, at a vendor near the train station, we got at 50% discount on our food and beers, as they were delighted that we encouraged other westerners to sit down, especially as it went from empty when we arrived to about eight groups and couples by the time we left.

Like the ending of the 'Fellowship of the Ring' on the banks of the Great River, our fellowship parted ways, all going different directions across Vietnam or the world. Merry and Pippin's part in this tale is not over as they were on the same night train from Hanoi, albeit going to a different destination and were in a better class of coach; snobs.

The 14 hour train ride from Hanoi to Hue was great. As most people know, I am a bit of a transport geek but it is also another great way to meet people. In our sleeper cabin we had two really nice travel companions: a tap-dancing Japanese graphic designer called Seiya, who was travelling round Vietnam on his own, and a Vietnamese guy from Hanoi who was a civil engineer and travelling to Hue for business.

We had a far better travelling experience than Alex and Mairead who, whilst it started out great as they shared alcohol with their cabin companions, a married couple who diplomats for the UN and Japan, it all got a bit awkward when the wife of the couple projectile vomited over Alex's bed narrowly missing his head. In fact when I went to see them the next day in their cabin, before we disembarked the train at Hue, the wife was still sleeping it off and the husband was a tad tense with embarrassment. 

Ours was a great compartment as the Vietnamese chap taught the three travellers some basic Vietnamese words and Seiya treated us to a great rendition of tap dancing. Seiya also taught us a few words in Japanese ahead of our leg in Tokyo and promised to join us on one of our nights to show us to his favourite places. It was funny to see his face when the penny dropped, after a number of drawings, that 'Cumpie' (hello in Japanese) had completely different meaning in English.

The next post of the blog will cover Hue, the Demilitarised Zone, trip to Hoi An and our time in Hoi An. As we have an eighteen hour train journey to Ho Chi Min starting this afternoon, I hope to knock it out on route so that it can be posted at some point on our first day in the city. I also hope to reacquaint myself with how I can add pictures and videos into post.

Tam Biet (which is the Vietnamese for goodbye literally meaning to 'part temporarily')

A brief background to and History of Vietnam

This post contains a brief history and some key facts about Vietnam, cherrypicked from information provided by our guide around Halong Bay, called Diep, and from reading the Vietnam posting on Wikepedia.

- Population: Circa 90 million people, so it is the 13th most populace country in world.

- Capital: Hanoi has been the capital since reunification in 1976. There have been three capitals across Vietnamese history.

- State Religion: Buddhism.

- Flag: Red background with golden five pointed star. The red symbolises both the national flower and also the blood that was spilt unifying the country. The five pointed star portrays, supposedly, either the five types of people (worker, farmer, literature, etc) and also the five elements (fire, water, etc).

- Currency: Vietnamese Dong (VND) which has an exchange of x Dong to Pound Sterling. Inflation was triple-digit in the 1970s and the currency was devalued three times in 2010 alone.

- History: 4,000 years

- Largest Ethnic Group: Viet which makes up 80% of population. 

- Language: The most popular first language is Vietnamese; with French as the most popular second language amongst the educated. English is increasingly used now that Vietnam is more active on the international stage.

- Administrative Subdivisions: 58 provinces. 

- Exports: Vietnam is the largest exporter of Cashew nuts and Black Pepper, accounting for a third of the worlds exports, and the second largest exporter of rice.

- Country Motto: Independence - Freedom - Happiness.

The name Vietnam translates into 'South Viet' with Viet deriving from the Imperialist description for people who live in southern China, including what is now Vietnam. Whilst the name Vietnam was referred to from the start of the 19th century, it seems that this officially became the name after World War Two, as before this point in time it was usually referred to as Annam.

Historically, Vietnam was part of Imperial China for 1,000 years until 938 AD, from which time Vietnamese Royal Dynasties ruled until French colonised the country in the mid-19th century. At this point Vietnam was integrated into French Indochina until they were removed in 1954. During World War Two however, Vietnam when was invaded by the Japanese. The Japanese used Vietnam's natural resources to support its military during World War Two, which directly caused over two million deaths during the 'Vietnamese Famine' in 1945.

The removal of the Japanese allowed the Ho Chi Minh led Communists to occupy Hanoi and subsequently they fought against French backed loyalists from southern Vietnam. This conflict between 1946 and 1954, which was classified as the First Indochina war, created two states as a result of the ceasefire, with the country partitioned along the Demilitarised Zone.

A 300-day 'period of free movement' followed between the North and the South as many people fled the North fearing persecution by the communists. The split wasn't intended to be permanent. Elections were scheduled for 1956 that would have reunited the country but, unfortunately, fraudulent elections in the south meant that sides entrenched. This resulted in Viet Cong guerrilla campaigns against the south, subsequently caused American participation and escalated to what became known as the Vietnam War.

Following heavy military defeats and casualties America withdrew forces in 1973. This allowed the North to complete its victory over the South such that Vietnam reunified in 1976 to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The death toll in the Vietnam war is believed to have reached circa 3 million people.

After 1976, socialist reforms caused social and economic chaos across the country. Millions of Southern Vietnamese were either sent to 'reeducation camps', forced to carry out hard labour or were executed. The country also experienced triple-digit inflation during this period.

Vietnam seemed to struggle and stay on the sidelines international until the middle 1980s when the country decide to reform. Since the reforms started in 1986 Vietnam has moved from a 'planned' economy to a 'socialist orientated market economy', which has allowed more private ownership and foreign investment.

It is interesting to note that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of only four (China, Loas and Cuba are the others) remaining in the world. However, despite this and the fact that only political organisations either affiliated or permitted by the Communist Party are allowed to participate in elections, the Economist categorises Vietnam's rulers as "ardently Capitalist Communists". Although in contrast to this Vietnam, like China, still continues to formulate and adopt centrally planned five year plans.

Good Morning Vietnam (1st October)

This post of the blog covers the period from when we landed in Vietnam till the end of our time in Hanoi. To pitch a rather tenuous Lord of The Rings theme, it felt we had made our first baby steps outside the Shire and tentatively entered to into the Prancing Pony in Bree; I know I felt rather like an ickle Hobbit trying to get a beer from men when trying to cross the road; but more about that later.

We landed early morning of Wednesday 1st October and, after forty-five minutes fighting the visa processing system, were reunited with our bags and found the minibus to journey into the Hanoi Old Town. I am actually quite relieved to have spent two years in Dubai, as whilst the visa process at the Hanoi Arrivals was illogical, it was light years ahead of any government process in the Middle East. 

Basically, you had to second guess the process, which consisted of submitting completed visa application form(s) and passport(s) at a counter hidden round the backside of the visa processing department and wait for it to be processed inside. At some point afterwards, with no seeming adherence to first come first served, you were called to present yourself at the front counter. It is quite funny that there are people that I have been friends with for over thirty years and I am not one hundred percent sure of their middle names, but I know the full names of complete strangers, as they were announced to much smirking and sniggering all round. My regal sounding middle names definitely was in the top quartile of tittering decibel levels...

With the appropriate amount of U.S. Dollars paid, our passports were handed back, which on closer inspection showed that a whole one page was taken up with our new Vietnam visa sticker. This reaffirmed my opinion that I was right to get a new passport, as I only had eight pages left in my old one even though it was only two years old, and I had already used up two pages in my new one entering our first country.

So, once we located the right minibus and had waited the eternity for it to fill up, we were on our way into central Hanoi. It is amazing that all round the world the drives from the airports into their host cities are remarkably similar: haulage, car hire and distribution companies near the airport; utilities next; then the dodgy parts of town;  and a few business areas and Universities before reaching the touristy bits. 

Whilst similar to most routes into city, it was actually an interesting drive, primarily as this is my first time in South East Asia. Secondly because I was sitting next to an American graduate who seemed genuinely impressed that I had heard of the company she was starting her graduate job with after her trip, a small company called Accenture! Finally it was an interesting drive due in no small part to the fact that the driver lost interest in customer service the longer we got into trip and successive drop-offs. He started out dropping people off at the doors of their hotel/hostel. By our stop he was reduced to pointing up a reasonably main road saying that it would be five minutes that way...

Our hotel (Old Town Hotel Hanoi) was excellent and comes highly recommended by us, for both the standard of the rooms and also the excellent location. After a quick shower and change of clothes we were out exploring what Hanoi had to offer. Anyone that has been to Hanoi will testify that it is a magic place. A mixture of large green spaces, vast centrally located lakes, bustling streets and an array of spectacular architecture. We took in Hoin Kiem Lake and the outsides of the Opera House, Revolution Museum and  Women Museum before entering the Hanoi Prison Museum; which was extremely interesting. 

This was the place that Vietnamese activists against French rule, as well as American pilots captured during the Vietnam War, were incarcerated. There was even a picture of previous US Presidential Candidate John McCain taken during his captivity in the prison. It also contained artefacts, pictures and narratives of wider Vietnamese history so, all in all, it was a suitable place to dip the toe in the water to the history and culture of the country.

After some street food for lunch (I will leave that to Becs' blog on foods of the world for details - I will include her blog address in a future post) we then took in the Temple of Literature and the Flag Tower to end the afternoon wander about. The Flag Tower is similar in importance to Hanoi as Trafalgar Square is to London, as it seems like the place that people gather on important national events. 

Unfortunately the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and other buildings around the Botanical Gardens were closed in preparation for Vietnam' Independence Festivities on the tenth of October, but it was still a successful day sight seeing. We are also extremely excited to experience the 60th anniversary of independence when we are in Ho Chi Min the day before we leave Vietnam for Cambodia.

As we knew after two days at Ha Long Bay we were proceeding by train to Hue, we went to the train station to purchase our sleeper tickets. At this point I should mention the other thing that any visitor to Hanoi will remember about the place; crossing the roads. Quite simply they are an experience in themselves. Standing like Lemmings on the edge of the edge of the abyss, with no sign of traffic rules, we followed the lead of locals and slowly edged across the road, becoming isolated islands with traffic flowing around us like the currents of the city's Red River. 

Very quickly we managed spot the gaps and learn the two vital rules of crossing: 1) never stop; and 2) keep at a constant pace. Despite the chaos we never saw any accident in Hanoi. The traffic only proceeds at 15-20 MPH and all drivers seem to have respect for pedestrians.

With a few main roads crossed we managed to present ourselves at the ticket office at the train station. We tried every pronunciation of Hue: "Hue", "Huey", "Hey", "Hoe", "Hoey" etc. As a Londoner I really appreciated the devious almost slapstick humour of the residence of Hanoi as the lady at the ticket office just let us continue on regardLess whilst chuckling through her teeth and then using the first of our iterations before producing our tickets.

The next substantive post will cover the period of the 2nd and 3rd of October when we were in Ha Long Bay and on the train to Hue but my next post will be on some history of Vietnam. 

Tam Biet x

Leaving the Shire (29th and 30th September)

As readers of my previous blog on the MDS race might remember, one of my favourite quotes is one by Nelson Mandella who famously said that, "every journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step". I very much had this in mind when we left Wales late morning on Monday 29th September to head to Heathrow. 

Despite both my wife and I living reasonable full lives till now, and been living abroad for the last two years, we definitely still had the nagging feelings of self doubt and nervousness that precedes any life changing experience. It was also strange that after spending only the last week back in the UK with both families and friends, it really hit us both hard that we were leaving them again so soon. 

Still, the next six months should be magic and a once in a lifetime experience so, after lunch with an old friend and returning our hire car, we finally checked in for the flight around 5 pm. It is funny that after much debates and rows whilst preparing for the trip, the massive massive relief to finally be checked in meant that we both apologised for being dicks over the last few weeks. We both  did still have that natural fear as to whether we were going to be reunited with our bags in Bangkok but I am sure that paranoia will be with us for the next six months; along with me becoming 'Passport Nazi' who keeps asking Becs where her papers are...

So with our 'phoney war' over we headed to the lounge to start our trip in style. A good tip for travellers and holiday makers is that you can get a ticket to the SkyWorld Lounge for £30 per person, regardless of your airline and class of plane ticket. If you buy through one of the online payment websites, like Quidco etc., you actually get some money back. Besides I reckon most people spend near to £30 in an airport anyway, and it means you get unlimited food and drinks as well as being able sit in comfort, so it is reasonably cash neutral with loads of benefits.

Being in the lounge meant that we were able to indulge in one last bit of luxury, despite the waiter chucking my first glass of Champagne over me and my new love: my brand spanking new iPad. All was forgotten when Becs selflessly managed to tip hers over herself whilst laughing at me being drenched; after I first checked that my baby (the iPad) still worked.

I include our proposed travel itinerary for reference and to provide some context for future blogs:

Flight Heathrow to Bangkok and then stay for one night before flying onto Hanoi. We then work our way down Vietnam, up through Cambodia and Laos, before heading over the border into northern Thailand. We then travel back down Thailand taking in Bangkok properly and some of the islands, before spending some time in Malaysia and then arriving in Kuala Lumpur.

From KL we fly to Tokyo and spend three days there before flying onto Sydney. After 5 days in Syndey staying with friends, we head over to Christchurch and spend six weeks traveling round NZ by Campervan. Our last stop in NZ is Aukland and fly out on 24th December, landing in Rio also on the 24th. We then spend 3 months traveling around South America before flying to USA in beginning of April. 

Finally we land in San Fransisco and then do road trip via San Diego, Napa Valley and LA before flying back to the UK on 10th April, so we can be at my, elderly, sister's 40th birthday party on the 11th; that is if her care home allow her out that night... ;-)

Apologies if the itinerary makes people jealous, but hopefully others will be inspired by this blog to pull the handbrake on the rate-race treadmill and do a similar trip.

Back to the present, or the past... After being spoilt over last few years flying with Virgin and Emirates, especially as we have been either using air miles or treating ourselves to upgrades it was a bit of a shock to the system to fly Air India from London to Bangkok (via a stop in Dehli) and then Air Asia from Bangkok to Hanoi, but I bet now that if asked in six months time I would maybe rank these near the top of the airline list, as we have a few suspect airlines coming up...

I have to give Becs all the credit at this point as she has been the one doing all the planning and preparation for the trip and I only have had to chip in when we have had to make any joint decisions on timings and routes. We managed to save quite a bit of money splitting the flight into three flights and using lower grade airlines.

Still, they were a tad painful flights as my screen for the entertainment system was not working on the first flight, there was only Punjab music and Bollywood films on the second and nothing on the third. Luckily, I could still find some choice music albums on the first and played on my iPad on the second and third.

As we landed in Bangkok at one international airport and flew out of the other, we got a taster of Bangkok life so I am already looking forward to go back there in a few weeks. We even got to meet our first ladyboy; I just didn't expect them to work as a cashier at the local convince store. We stayed at the Thanapa Apartments, which was functional and clean if a little basic but perfect for us as just needed a few hours kip in-between flights.

The next blog will cover 1st - 3rd October: Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. As we will be into our travels properly then it should be less drier than the first substantive post of this blog. 

Also currently the lag between the actual event and posting the blog is about five days at the moment. Now that we have completed Halong Bay and are back in Wi-Zones I hope to be able to complete the next two on our next train ride so I can then write and post a few paragraphs each evening before hitting the hay.

Let the blogging begin

Very quick post to 'start the fans' for the new blog. Bags are packed, babies kissed and hand shook... All that is left to do is load the car and then hit the road to get back to London to see the main man, Phil 'Mendez' Mawdsely and then off to Heathrow to start our big adventure.

Oh, if you do see me on Al Jazera wearing an orange jump suit, the code phrase for knowing I am at gun point is, "Come on you Spurs" as I would never support them jokers... ;-)