Lanterns and romance in Hoi An

Our first night bus was an interesting and pleasant experience. After so many wonderful night trains in India, we didn’t know what to expect from Vietnam. In conclusion, they are certainly passable. You don’t get the local interaction or the constant chai as you do in India, but the seats/beds are comfortable enough and apart from it being quite a bumpy ride, we found the bus a good way to travel the large distances.

We arrived into Hoi An fairly early in the morning and the heat was already beating down on us. Thinking we weren’t too far away from a place to stay, we again refused taxi offers and headed towards the main market situated in the old part of the town. The market was already busy, with locals frantically trading with eager customers, we walked along the river bank with eyes on the buildings searching for a hotel. No luck. But we did find a little cafe – cafe des amis – and inside, it was as French as the name sounded. In fact, the entire town is incredibly French and quaint. The architecture is detailed and beautiful. With little window shutters and small balconies, it was hard to remember that we were still on Vietnam soil. Hidden speakers line the streets and play French music which creates a wonderful and peaceful atmosphere.

Truly relaxed.

With Malene enjoying her mornings fruit shake (not so French) and guarding our bags, I walked around in search of a place to stay. An hour later and I wasn’t any closer to finding anything. I’d found the main hotel strip, a small side street close to the old part of town, but prices were high; 15/20/25$ a night. Admittedly, most of them came with indoor pools and looked lovely, but we weren’t in Hoi An to spend our time in the confinements of a hotel lobby, and so I pressed on. Eventually, I found one for 6$, a 5th floor shoe box sized room with shared bathroom, not ideal, but all I could find. With my tail tucked between my legs, I headed back to Malene and told her the bad news. On our way back to said hotel, we took a little detour and found something much better. Again close to the old area, we found a family run hotel, with large rooms, tv and a bucketful of character.

After settling in, we headed back to small streets of the old town. Quiet roads with beautiful lanterns hovering above you and small shops offering a full spectrum of tourist goodies, had us captivated for hours. Next to the market area we found our first meal. Inside, what appeared to be an old town hall, row upon row of women and basic oven setups were cooking typical Vietnamese delights, the only difficultly was picking one. Vietnamese food was quickly becoming one of the hi-lights of this leg of our journey. Delicate vegetables wrapped in rice paper and sea food served with sticky rice was two of our favourites, but the menus were almost endless.

Hoi An’s beautiful streets.

A rainbow of choice.

Food glorious food.

With our bellies full, it was time for a little light refreshment. And with Bia Hoi at 2000 dong a glass, sorry, 6p a pint for those back home, it was hard to refuse. That evening we made plans, plans that got Malene rather excited. We were going to find a custom made, tailor fitted dress, or two and maybe some matching shoes for her. Not my ideal type of shopping exercise, but Malene liked the idea.

Cheap beer always makes us smile.

The following morning, we started browsing the many shops offering services that I’m sure a lot of women would dream of. The previous night, Malene had searched the internet for a dress that she liked the look of for her sisters wedding. Upon entering the first dress makers, we showed them the fuzzy image copied from google and everything went from there. First, choose a colour. Second, the material. And 5 hours later, like magic, there it was: a beautiful, hand made, tailor fitted dress. A true one of a kind. Next up, shoes. For me, it was a little too much. I headed back to our previous watering hole, blogged and waited for my beaming eyed girlfriend to reappear. This time with two dresses and a pair of shoes in hand. Success on her behalf and I had a matching tie too; all parties were happy!

The beginning of something beautiful.

A girl can never have too much choice.

That night, we strolled along the river banks and as the lanterns were turned on, more magic filled the air. French music serenaded us as we dined and the romance was tangible. Sorry for being so soppy, but Hoi An will have that appeal to all that travel here. This town quickly topped our Vietnam charts.

Watching our lanterns being made.

Romance wasn’t hard to find.

As quickly as we arrived, the following morning, we would depart. Without trying to rush around this amazing country, there was just too much to see in the short month that we had. Still, the world’s largest caves would be our next destination and Hue was planned as our base to visit them. Onwards and upwards it was.

May 2, 2013 0

River dolphins and new friends: Kratie

It was a long ride to Kratie. Lying south east of Siam Reap, the bus took 12 hours, a lot longer than we had mentally prepared for. With an endless Cambodian musical film blaring out of a million different speakers, it was hard to rest, sleep, think. In fact, it was hard to do anything other than watch. We won’t be forgetting this trip for a while. As the hours passed us by and getting no closer to our destination, we watched the sun set and ate our funny tasting meat-filled baguettes that we picked up at an over priced service stop. We hoped it would all be worth it.

Finally we pulled into the small, sleepy town of Kratie. According to Lonely Planet, Kratie (pronounced ‘Kra-cheh’) is a “lively riverside town” and a “thriving traveling hub”. Admittedly, it was 7pm, but we saw nothing that resembled ‘thriving’ or ‘lively’. Still, we plodded along, laden with bags and searched in the darkness for a place to stay. The place was dead. Shutters up and closed signs on windows gave us little hope. We started talking to a Dutch guy who had visited the town a few years ago and steered us towards a small opening between 2 chemist shops. Up 2 flights of steep steps, we could hear the scuttle of little animals; we didn’t investigate fully into what they might have been, probably not fairies though. Into our room, bags on bed and the usual sigh of relief as we fell onto the hard, unforgiving mattress. Home sweet home.

The following morning, we weren’t in any rush to get up early. We came to this town for the sole reason to see the ultra rare, fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. But that comes later. We stumbled down from our room and onto the not-so busy street and wandered to a nearby cafè. There were met a few travelers, Damian the Argentinean dancer and Canadian Sam, all of who had the same plans as us…dolphins. We checked with the information desk as to the best time to see them and were informed that our best chances to catch a glimpse of the dolphins would either be early in the morning or as the sun was setting. Our hand was dealt. It was too late for the morning show and so opted for a sunset on the river. All that remained was to plan the rest of the day. Down on the river bank, Malene and I caught a boat. We were joined by Damian and Sam and together we crossed over to the habited island of Koh Trong. A circular tour of the island was 9km, to far to walk, and so the four of us hired what must have been antique bicycles. We squeaked and grinded our way down a small track. We passed houses on stilts and watched locals farm in nearby fields. It was all very calm and felt like a world away from tourists and tuk tuks.

As we traveled further along the pebble track, we reached the waterside. Floating houses and small fish farms covered the water, like a civilasation untouched by technology. We pushed further along the waterside until we reached the tip of the island. With the heat rising and the sweat pouring after the ride, we decided to go for a swim. The cool water felt like heaven. We actually bathed like elephants and sat in the shallow, rich blue water as we got to know each other a little better. It was a perfect afternoon.

Peaceful Koh Trong.

A life on the water.

A forgotten era.

Looking for directions to…nowhere.

Back on the main land, the time was soon approaching for us to head out to the section of river where we would try and find the river Irrawaddy dolphins. We knew we had to take a tuk tuk, the problem was that there were 6 of us now and tuk tuks only take 4 (tourists, different for locals!) and so wanted us to book 2 tuk tuks. This meant the ride would cost much more; not good. It was then that we met 2 other like-minded travelers: Jo and Tom. They had scoured the streets and found a guy who would take all 6 of us: nice work guys!

We crammed ourselves into the tuk tuk, trying to balance the weight out evenly. It actually felt that the motorbike that was pulling us was performing a wheelie most of the way due to the weight. To say the ride was bumpy would be an understatement. Well, ‘bouncy’ then. But the excitement kept us from feeling sick, and half an hour later, we reached the ticket office at the side of the river. We paid and headed down the steep steps to the waters edge where a fleet of boats waited for us. We gingerly hopped on board and as the driver started his rather loud engine, we set off. It wasn’t long before we were floating in the middle of the river. With the engine cut off, we waited and watched the still water for signs of movement beneath. Like searching for the Lock Ness monster, the levels of anticipation were tangible.

And there it was. Poking his dorsal fine high out of the water, the dolphin made his first appearance. Like a magical creature, gliding through the water, we watched with mouths open, in awe of the creature. This was the first of many sightings. Occasionally, 3 or 4 or 5 dolphins would surface and swim along side the boat. One even came directly towards us and only at the last second, dived underneath and past under our boat.

The first of many sightings.

Just saying ‘hello’

Going under the boat…show off!

As the sun began to set, the evening colours came to life. Deep reds reflected on the water as we continued to watch the dolphins. Cameras were out, but predicting their appearances was a challenge. Being so close to such rare creatures, kind of brought it home for us. A once in a life-time experience of nature at its finest and an experience shared with great friends; it was all we could ask for.

Kratie was a relaxed, quite stop for us. We tried the local delicacy of sticky rice cooked with coconut milk and beans then wrapped in bamboo and steamed…I would say ‘filling’ is how I would describe that one. But more importantly, we met some great people. Damian and Sam went a different direction to us, but Jo and Tom would stick around and travel with us down to the capital: Phnom Penh. More great times were just around the corner!

Good night Kratie, thanks for the great memories.

April 23, 2013 0

First steps in Cambodia

Crammed like sardines, Malene, our two new friends Ellen and Anton and myself began our journey from Surin (Thailand) to the Cambodian border. With horror stories of lost passports and border officials over charging for visas, we made our way through the dense heat in our mini bus, fully equipped with the worse A/C system imaginable. Although uncomfortable, with our bags sat on our laps, the journey itself wasn’t too long and before we knew it, we had arrived at the desolate border. The taxi drivers, touts and guides rushed around outside the bus as we clambered out. Fresh tourist blood was here, and they wanted us! A million polite refusals later, we edged our way towards the visa office. One ‘guide’ who appeared to dismiss our refusal for help, walked in front of us and despite all the clear sign posts, he wanted to help us, and we let him. This, in all fairness, wasn’t a terrible idea.

We filled out forms, handed over our passports, payed in Cambodian Reils (not dollars like the guidebooks said) and waited as our guide ran between offices and got all our paperwork sorted out. Then came the taxi. It took us 45 minutes to haggle for this taxi. Our ‘guide’ was clearly getting commission and wanted to squeeze as many dollars out of us as possible. We argued. We haggled. We refused silly offers and nearly decided to walk away and find our own transportation. This final ploy always works a charm. The price was almost instantly dropped and there we were, shaking hands on the grand sum of 800 Baht per couple (£18).

The guidebooks claimed the journey would take around 6 hours, on roads barely fit for mountain goats. We prepared ourselves for the worse and hopped into the car, cranked up the A/C and set off. As we made our way down the high-way, the tarmac was smooth and void of any major holes, great start. As we continued along, we were still flying, enjoying the smooth ride and watching the countryside pass us by. One section of road, no more than a couple of hundred meters long, had been neglect of maintenance and we carefully plotted the best route through; this was the worse part of the ride and within 1 and a half hours (!), we were in Siam Reap. Void of broken backs and shattered teeth, the journey was smooth and extremely pleasant…thanks Lonely Planet for yet another bang on report.

Ah, Siam Reap! Even the name for me is cool in itself. Like an eagerly unread book, we were all excited to start exploring. And that’s exactly what we did, fully laden with backpacks, front packs, side packs: all the packs you can think of! We ploughed through the thick, unforgiving heat as we searched for a place to stay. Hotels, guesthouses, lodges; all seemed expensive and we were loosing hope as well as severe amounts of bodily fluids. Finally, as our exhaustion reached a new high, we stumbled on a little guesthouse that offered double rooms for 7$ a night, free pool (pool table, not a swimming pool as I first thought), hammocks and a bucket full of charm. They gave us free water and we felt like we had found a lost oasis in the middle of a sparse desert.

There are 2 main attractions that pull tourists into Siam Reap: the old market and Angkor Wat – sometimes claimed as one of the 7 wonders of the world (Angkor Wat, not the market) and we were excited to explore both. The market area is crammed full of little shops selling all the usual riff-raff, banana and chocolate pancake vendors (delicious), bars, restaurants and tuk tuks. Ah, the tuk tuks. Never have we been so bombarded by tuk tuk offers before. I personally think its a little game they play with tourists. See how many tourists they can make angry by constantly offering a ride. These guys pop up everywhere; on the street, in shops, at the bars, out of random windows – it became the standard greeting – “tuk tuk?”

Market done, we arranged to hire bicycles at our guesthouse (1$ per day) and decided to get to the Angkor Wat temple area for sunrise. Waking up the following morning at a ridiculous time, Malene and I hopped onto our rusting bikes and headed off into the morning darkness. With sleep still in our eyes, we flew out of the city and away from the street lights: darker still. As we edged closer to the temple ticket counters, the buzz was already alive. Tourists in tuk tuks arrived and we all lined up for our day passes to be printed off. The whole process was far more professional than the border crossing: set prices left no ambiguity and we even had our mug shots taken which were then printed onto the tickets. There was certainly a few things the border crossing offices could learn from a place like this.

Still under the light of the moon, we got back into the saddle and continued for a further 20 minutes. At the main steps of the temples there was a feeling of excitement as people loaded themselves up with caffeine, happily supplied by vendors, or sugarcane juice that has a similar effect. We locked our trusty steeds up and walked towards what was now an eerie shadow of the incredible Angkor Wat. Perched on the edge of a lily lake we waited along with 200 other people for the sun to rise behind the majestic temple. It was magical. A monument stooped in history and grandeur to match, we watched in silence and overcome by its beauty. As the sun rose, it became clearer and clearer. It’s colours and symbolic shape reflected perfectly in the lake, a symbol of power and grace, it was sublime.

That day, we followed meandering tree lined roads around the huge temple site. Visiting some incredible awe inspiring buildings and truly feeling like part of the Tomb Raider film. Temples surrounded by lush green forests which gave the whole place a sense of history and mystery. The magnificent Ta Prohm with the huge tree engulfing it was definitely another hi-light to what was an amazing day of exploring.

The ride back to town was hot, but well worth it as I raced a tuk tuk (and won!) and exchanged some strange glances with its occupants. Our final evening was spent watching a local circus, and as they performed tight rope tricks and insane 3 man high stunts we felt such a warm feeling (inside and out) and thought Cambodia is already incredible, how can it get any better? ‘Better’ would be in the shape of Kratie; our next stop, a grueling 12 hour bus ride away.

Crazy market, the smells were…interesting.