twelve countries twelve months

Three hundred and nine days into our trip and we finally arrive in Asia.  So far we are enjoying it so much we can’t work out why we didn’t get here sooner!

First stop was Hanoi, Vietnam.  Walking around Hanoi proved to be pretty hard work; you couldn’t walk along without tripping over the sizzling pan or bubbling cauldron of a street food vendor or bumping into a long row of parked motorbikes!  If walking along the road was difficult then crossing it was near impossible!  The road was full of erratic speeding  motorbikes and on first sight Rach suggested that we not cross any roads at all!  That would have restricted our sightseeing somewhat however, so we had to go for it, and it went something like this:

• Wait patiently for a break in the traffic
• Realise there is never going to be a break in the traffic
• Say a quick prayer
• Take a deep breath and step out into the road right in front of hundreds of oncoming motorbikes
• Walk slowly and steadily across the road hoping that, as you have been told they will, the swarm of bikes will all avoid you
• Breathe a sigh of relief as you reach the other side

So far so good, until the next time anyway!

Hanoi was great fun but it tired us out after a couple of days, so we splashed out on a luxury cruise around Halong Bay on a Chinese Junk.  As we relaxed on the sun deck with a beer and cruised around the 3000 or so limestone islands we felt like we were in the Bond film “The Man With The Golden Gun” but as I’m sure all you know that was actually filmed in Phang Nga Bay in Phuket.  Although the word on the street here is that Halong Bay is much more spectacular.  We certainly thought that it was very magical and mysterious, especially around sunset.

Feeling refreshed we took a sleeper train north into the mountains near the Chinese border.  We visited the rural hill village of Bac Ha for its colourful Sunday market, then, resisting the urge to buy a cheap Water Buffalo or a couple of pigs, we headed deeper into the mountains to the rice growing region of Sapa.

We hired a local guide who took us on an amazing trek through the lush green rice fields.  It was planting season so we got to see the people from the local hill tribes strengthening the terraces and planting the rice.  This in itself looked like hard work, then add that the women all wore their full traditional dress, and often had a baby strapped to their back.  It was very impressive.

We stayed the night with a local family in one of the remote hill villages.  It was really interesting to see how a rice farming family lived, to eat dinner with them, and then share a few glasses of rice wine!

~ by robcheek on June 4, 2010.

Posted in travel
Tags: market, trekking, vietnam, wine