Ho Chi Minh City: But my friends call me Saigon

Nothing could prepare me for the pain of waking myself up at 3am on a Vietnamese sleeper train, scrabbling around in the dark for my belonging and clambering off the train into a dark Ho Chi Minh station. Worse still, we arrived early, so it was an anxious rush to get everything together before getting off the train. Bleery-eyed and confused we piled into taxis to the hotel that my tour had booked. We arrived to find the rooms were not ready yet. Sam and I had a back-up plan, though. We'd booked a hostel. So we got a taxi over to the hostel (which was in the backpacker part of town), only to find the place closed and shuttered up. We'd told them we'd be arriving around this time. Desperately we banged on the metal shutter. We waited. Thankfully, a sleepy-looking receptionist appeared and let us in. Our room wouldn't be ready until 10am, though, so we could have a different room until then. Fine. We got into our small room, with a broken air conditioning unit and partially functional bathroom door, and immediately fell asleep.

Later that day we dragged ourselves out of bed and down to a restaurant just down the street where we refueled on a delicious full English breakfast. Then we headed out on our first mission - trying to track down a post office to send some of our (now overflowing) collection of souvenirs home. We got directions to the central post office from our hostel and decided we could walk there from the hostel, which, as it turns out, we could quite easily. It took a bit of finding, though. First we wandered into the center of town and passed a shockingly western complement of highstreet stores. Following the map we found ourselves on a quieter road just a block or two away from the busy highstreet, and eventually located a rather unassuming building which we determined must the be post office. It was the weekend though, and the post office was most definitely closed.

Sleeper to Ho Chi Minh

Another night, another sleeper train. Of to my final destination in Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City

A Christmas in Nha Trang

We got up early and drove from Hoi An to Da Nang, where we were supposed to board a day train to  the beach town of Nha Trang. The trains in Vietnam are known for being bad at timings - sometimes they're early, sometimes they're late. They are rarely on time. This one was late, and we had to wait over an hour in the rather inadequately provisioned train station. Eventually the train arrived and we all hurried with our luggage onto the train tracks to climb up into the train - once inside it was chaos, with far too many people trying to cram too much luggage down the narrow carriage isles and into their cabins.

The added bonus of this 10 hour journey was that I was meeting my friend and repeat travel buddy Sam, who had got on the train in Hanoi the night before, Understandably, he was feeling a little worse for wear after over 12 hours on a Vietnamese sleeper train, but we actually quite enjoyed the journey, watching the Vietnamese countryside roll past and drinking beer in the bar carriage. It was Christmas eve, after all, so drinking seemed to be in order! We arrived in Nha Trang around 9pm, checked into the hotel as quickly as we could and headed out to find some food and suitable Christmas eve entertainment.

Train to Nha Trang

I'm catching a train today, down to the beautiful beach town of Nha Trang, where I will be spending Christmas.

Hoi An: Land of Lanterns

After a fairly miserable few days in Hue, we drove down to Hoi An, a quaint ancient town on the banks of the Thu Bon River. Immediately, Hoi An lifted my spirits. It was a beautifully picturesque town, with narrow winding streets of yellow buildings lit by delicate lanterns. We spent the afternoon walking around the ancient town, seeing temples and visiting a traditional house that was absolutely beautiful, and totally serene. The house was long and thin with a partly open-plan layout - different 'rooms' were created with small dividers and furniture placement and the whole place felt very light and airy. Hoi An was a fair bit warmer than Hanoi and Hue had been, but inside the house air flowed easily and it was cool and relaxing. A very well-designed house!

To Hoi An

Today I will travel by bus from Hue to Hoi An.

Hue: There's No Hue I'd Go Back

From Hanoi I took a sleeper train down to the ancient town of Hue (pronounced hway), boarding at around 7pm and arriving at 8.30am the following morning. The sleeper train was much the same as the one I took in China, except this time I was sharing with westerners. Overall, though, the feel of the train was much more grimy and less modern. Western toilets, though, so I can't complain. I ate my instant noodles and we had a few beers in the train bar before they kicked us out at 10pm, and I went to bed. I slept pretty well, the rocking of the train was perfect to put me to sleep, although the mattress was fairly hard so I woke up the following morning feeling quite stiff. 

We took a taxi from Hue station to the hotel, checked in and then me and my friend Monique headed out to explore the Imperial Citadel. It was very pretty, the citadel walls and buildings felt far more ancient than anything I have seen so far, and a lot of them are really more ruins than buildings, now. It was nice to see an ancient town that hasn't been so heavily restored.

From Hanoi to Hue

Hanoi: Good Morning Vietnam!

After just over 3 weeks in China and Hong Kong, I finally headed into Southeast Asia, where my first stop would be Hanoi, Vietnam. My flight was a rather frustrating one; they changed my gate at the last minute leaving Hong Kong, then the flight was delayed while we waited for several lost passengers, and when we finally arrived, I waited over an hour for my bag to come through. After about 40 minutes waiting, as other passengers from my plane began to peel off with their bags, I was starting to sweat. Having lost my bag once before, when flying out to Honduras, baggage claim is always a nerve-wracking wait for me. Thankfully, it did eventually appear, and the relief of seeing my bulging gray and red backpack emerge onto the conveyor belt was wonderful. I caught a taxi from the airport into central Hanoi, and after about 20 minutes the fear of being robbed or swindled somehow died down. It took about an hour to get to my hostel and when I arrived I quickly discovered that I'd managed to mess up the booking. I booked a lot of hostels for the trip, a long time ago, and apparently for this one I had failed to change the month when selecting dates (which is automatically set to the current month), so I'd unwittingly booked a room for July, rather than December. Oops! Thankfully the hostel had space for me, but only a private room, which I was happy to accept rather than try looking elsewhere - at least in Vietnam a private room only cost me about ten pounds!

Flying South: To the Mekong and Beyond

Today I head to Vietnam to start the next leg of my journey. I will be flying from Hong Kong to Hanoi today, arriving at about 3.30pm (local time).

Hong Kong: A British Oasis in Asia

I arrived in Hong Kong by train from Guangzhou, and decided to walk to my hostel in Kowloon from there. I arrived slightly regretting that decision, especially since I was still dressed for the Ping'an rice paddies. I felt much better after a hot shower, though, and went out to meet my friend who was also arriving in Hong Kong that day. We wandered around for a bit, unsuccessfully looking for something to eat (I was starving!) and eventually defaulted to chips at KFC before finding a bar. We stumbled upon a very cute British bar nearby called 'Hare of the Dog', and stayed for a few beers there before wandering home for some well-earned rest. 

The following morning we went for a little wander in Kowloon park, which was right next to my hostel, and then walked down to the Star Ferry terminal, with plans to explore central Hong Kong for a bit and hopefully check out Victoria Peak at sunset. We had a lovely afternoon - after a decidedly English lunch of a smoked-salmon and cream cheese sandwich and a hot sausage roll, we took the short Star Ferry journey across to central pier. From there we meandered around central - we checked out the longest escalator in Asia (actually a series of shorter escalators and travelators, but which proved to be a useful navigational tool, and led us to discover some great bars and restaurants). Then we walked down Hollywood road, stopping off at Man Mo temple (we were both finally just about ready to see some more temples after Japan and China!!) and then we wandered down through a quaint antiques market. It was fascinating to check out what they were selling, lots of old knives and old coins, mostly.

Flight to Hong Kong

Today I leave the rice paddies and head back to city life for my last Chinese stop: Hong Kong.

Reflections on China

After three weeks in China, I feel I have finally begun to get to grips with the country, at least a little. It is very apparent that this is a country struggling to keep up with the rapid economic development it is undergoing, and it's enormous population makes this all the more complex. While politically and ideologically it is a country that still wants to keep itself separate from the rest of the world, in terms of trade and financial development it is becoming increasingly western, and the balance between these two sides of China, old and new, is very clear wherever you go. 

Yangshuo and Ping'an: A Week in the Country

After an unpleasantly early flight from Shanghai, I took an hour-long taxi ride from Guilin airport to the small town of Yangshuo, nestled between the Karst mountains. We drove through small rural farming communities between the lush green mountains which jut out dramatically from the flats in between. Geologically, these mountains are the result of techtonic movements which thrust limestone sediments up from the sea bed to heights of over 200m. Many thousands of years of erosion followed this to generate the bizarre and beautiful landscape of Guilin and the surrounding region.

Arriving at my hotel I was immediately calmed by the serene setting and quaint style of the eco hotel by the banks of the Yulong river. It was such an incredible contrast to Shanghai, and the constant noise and bustle of the Chinese cities I have visited so far. For the first time since I arrived in China over 2 weeks ago, everything was quiet. Butterflies flitted by and hummingbirds visited the beautiful pink and red flowers planted around the hotel. I sat by the river bank and drank a mug of ginger tea, watching the small bamboo rafts sail past. It was as though every bit of stress from the preceding weeks (and months!) of my life immediately left my body. I decided to treat myself to a nap.

Into the Paddies

Today I'm flying over to Guilin for a week of bamboo boats and rice paddies in Yangshuo and Ping'an.

Shanghai: A Breath of Not-So-Fresh Air

I arrived in Shanghai in the early evening and took the subway to my hostel. I had arranged to meet a friend from Tokyo there so after dropping my stuff off in my room I headed up to the hostel bar and we had a few beers on the lovely roof top terrace. I was noticeably warmer in Shanghai and I was enjoying for the first time in my trip not having to wear a scarf and hat in the evenings (and early mornings). I was pretty tired from travelling so went to bed fairly early, and set my alarm for a sociably late time in the morning (I was sick of early starts after 3 days on the Yangtze river). 

My first morning in Shanghai I had a lovely lie-in and a leisurely breakfast before doing a little work. In the afternoon Sam and I headed out to explore Shanghai. I wanted to see the famous bund buildings and the pudong sky line across the river. It seemed a fairly simple walk from our hostel, so we wandered out. Instantly, the pollution was noticeable. It was a particularly smoggy day and my sinuses and eyes were hurting and my nose running within minutes of leaving the hostel. When we got to the river bank the skyline, although impressive, was very, very smoggy. Some buildings were difficult to make out behind the pollution.

Flight to Shanghai

Cruising the Yangtze River

After a wonderful but all too brief couple of days in Chengdu, I caught a train to Chonqing. I departed from Chengdu's shiny new train station, Chengdu East, which was a stark contrast to the somewhat run-down station I had seen in Beijing. The train too was fairly swanky, and a fast train that runs up to 200km per hour, meaning you can get to Chonqing in just 2 hours. I was exhausted, and slept for a little on the train, but when I awoke about an hour in I tried to force my eyes to stay open and witness my first real view of rural China, with the ramshackle houses and terraced farms. The extremely hilly, lush landscape was really pretty.

Arriving into Chonqing was also a much more pleasant experience than Xi'an had been. It was busy, but tolerably so (have I just been in China too long?), and it felt more ordered and clean. I also wasn't immediately hassled by beggars, and this time, my transfer was waiting for me. We drove to the docks on the Yangtze river in about 20 minutes, and my guide helped me to check in to my luxury 5* cruise ship (which had been upgraded when the one I booked was cancelled!). As I suspected, my new roommate would be Julie, a lovely Canadian girl I had met in Chengdu. They'd told me they would try and pair me with another single female traveller, so when we'd realised the previous day that we were on the same ship, it seemed likely we'd be paired together, and we were. (Although I later discovered that they'd tried to pair Julie with an elderly Chinese lady, but she had specifically requested that we share a room instead).