Vagabond Awakenings

Arriving in Luang Namtha we quickly found the hostel we had been recommended which was great! It was a fully enclosed backpacker’s paradise. Well it was more than I had been used to for a while anyhow ;p
Quickly we made friends with some Spanish fellows who I went out on a biking trip around town with, 38km's of sightseeing!
First site we come to with a hella uphill ride we are met with an old lady charging to see it, so like the tight arse I am I back up whilst the others talk to her and take my pic! Here are a couple of pictures found along the way..
Soon I stopped at a shack to grab a picture I had some lychees I had been carrying around and this looked like a great setting to relax and have some refreshing fruit (I'd been craving Lychee's for a while now). The day is quite warm and even though we all look ridiculously good looking, we are sweating man stink from every orifice! Sooo when we came across a river with someone washing in it, it seemed like a good idea to go down for a dip... So In we get except for Jordi white. It was enjoyable up until the stage that we got out and asked ourselves what that smell was...hmm smells like poop...Oh, ok it's the river. Oh well, just have to move on. Next we go and get some food, not being able to find the place recommended we try a market and find nothing worthy of the word "meal". We spy some fruit stands and decide we will all just get lots of fruit...for some reason we all end up with a watermelon each (it was hot!). I have a lady cut me open a coconut, they really are great for hydrating (Thanks Brennan) . So we have all this fruit, then we notice a somewhat eating stand on the side of the market. One of the Spanish comes back from a reconnaissance mission and informs that there is rice! So we decide that that is more appetizing than the fruit, off we go. Now the place is not your 5 star establishments... But when you’re hungry and well you just have to give things a go sometimes and was I surprised... it was VERY good! It was very spicy, so we were glad we got the watermelon! Well onwards we continued, here are the pics

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The next day it I met a Dutch couple...and well as soon as I knew they were Dutch they were my new best friends It seems that the guy's birthday was tomorrow and they were planning to go on a motorbike trip. So we all invited ourselves to their planned birthday trip of course! The next day we all gathered for a day trip on the roads of Laos. This is what the motley bunch looked like...
Never before had the roads of Laos encountered such a mean gang of killer bikers! The Travellers of Anarchy were here!

The Chopper!

Soon in we stopped at a school where we proceeded to teach them skills that would lead them successfully through life! Arm farting!!
We got to a market and bought Lao Lao whiskey with what we had left from the bike pot, this stuff is horrid and potent! Soon we were at a Hmong village and the girls trying on some traditional clothing. They had a hard time with having bigger breasts than they were made for lol The school.. The ghost gate... we got yelled at a little for going to close...I'm sure it was for our own benefeit! The end was a waterfall (which I never saw, they wanted to charge us and we thought we'd send one up with a camera instead ;p)
Ok, so we head back and there is rain and we all are running out of fuel but luckily we reach a shack selling some in bottles, I did learn a neat trick on cruising downhill with the bike turned off then restarting again when you need to saving fuel.

Next we all head down as a group back to Luang Prabang (Love this place!) on the way to Vang Vieng. While in LP I think it is time I actually go and see some of the sites. Somehow I end up going to see the central temple/stupa? Big golden thing in the middle of town on a hill. Things always seem to be a bit different when you go at night (May know what I mean if read Japan), so at midnight I head off with another Dutch. We try to ninja our way up but there are dogs :/ and bark they do...I just hope that the monks don't come out and kick our arse! Anyhow we get to the top and its all silent and cool there are these flood lights lighting up the stupa which is gold and looks cool. All of a sudden I hear "Subadee!" ... taken aback I turn my attention upwards from where I heard the call (It means, Hello!) and I see a strange sight. There is a man climbing over the stupa with a bamboo fishing rod with a moth on the end! I'm not sure what he is doing and my Laos does not help to create a conversation on the subject but he is running about collecting moths and has this rod...fling it out every now and then. I can only assume he is fishing for bats?!??! Anyhow the point is... it's good to try sites and such at night because there truly is a different feel to them and you see things you would otherwise never know.

The next day it's time to go and see this waterfall everyone keeps going on about and have a swim. The swim was actually more the drawcard! I'm just going to fling out a heap of photos at this point. Actually before I do, there was one surprise. They had black bears there also, they seemed pretty relaxed in their hammocks Ok, now I’m gonna just give you the waterfall pics. The swim was great and waterfall surprisingly good also. Though the trek up to the top was not worth it at all :/ This is what I climbed and slipped and sweated for... hardly worth it :/ Then it's time to go home...

Since an early age I’ve always dreamt of living in the trees, building tree houses (a plank across two branches in my lazy case) and swings...forts in the forest. The star wars films only enhanced this with the Ewok villages then in later days the elven tree top homes of Lord of the Rings.

So a dream come true, I got to live amongst the canopy of the jungle in Laos!!!!

Fortunately we are able to watch the sunset from our tree house

This had been something I had been planning on since day one of researching at home what to do in Laos. I'm wrapped that I actually got to do it as there is a lot of talk on the internet about it being hard to get bookings. I sent an email and got a reply within about 2 days, others have bad stories of no contact etc. Anyhow, arriving in Huay Xai we do the normal room checks of different guesthouses till we find one (I'm with the new yorkian Theresa, who is half Laos making it much better to communicate :p). Next day we meet at the office ready to head out, we are going with three other Dutch girls and also a guy from the U.S.A. heading out there to help build another tree house...he's an architect/engineer. How he talks about the building of the tree houses reassures me that it will be stable.

Out we drive for about 2 hours, the guy from the U.S. had been here before to help build the earlier tree houses comments on how different the landscape is coming back again. As we look out the window you can see a lot of barren land with felled trees, he explains that it was all jungle last time he came... a pity. We get dropped off and shown our harnesses which we will wear for the trek into the jungle about 2-3 hours. I think to go to the toilet here quickly, being our last stop at semi civilisation. Quickly I learn that bees will be a problem in the area as there is 100 or so buzzing around me.

The trek was fine though some of our group struggled at the start, it was very humid and sweat poured off you but the guides had many stops along the way...to many if you ask me. Eventually we reached our first zip line...it was f@*$'n high! I'm not going to lie to you, I was a little taken aback. But what the hell right, if those little fuzzy Ewoks can do this then surely I can! Now I have a lack of photos mainly because I was obsessed with getting the perfect feet picture to send to my family. We have this thing recently where you take a picture of your feet where you are and post it on our chat...anyhow I have like a million pictures of my feet zipping along but failed to really get anything of the great views from the line haha AND in the end I only got a few usable shots... it's very hard taking photo's whilst zip lining and I paid for it by getting zip burns on my head...I had quite the collection by the end (If you’re not catching it, I put my head on the metal wire as I was scooting along it therefore ripping the flesh from my scalp). Now one could say that you could avoid this by wearing a hat, which is true but I was always adamant that I would not do it again. Well in the end I decided to wear my cap and ingeniously wear it backwards when zip lining...this worked well for a while until I forgot to turn it and lost my cap mid-way watching it float to the ground... (I’ve since been wearing a Laos bought trucker cap which is lopsided due to classy workmanship. I actually was filming that zip line and you can hear my wails when it leaves me...

There was a lot of zip lining and it was exhilarating every time! Finally we came to a place where the guides let us know was the tree house, it sits 150m up from the ground. The tree house was nothing short of amazing, a lot better than I had expected. It was multi storied the bottom was the entrance via zip line on one side and the other side the bathroom with toilet, shower and sink. Up the stairs you enter the main level with a sink with drinkable water on tap along the trunk and flooring surrounding with beds and a table and stools. There was another level from here which seemed to be the penthouse which you could set up another bed. Here are some pics

The architect had split up from us by now but I could see the tree they were building in from ours, you can see a blue shirt in the tree if you look closely The trees are massive and well suited to houses but all are different and designed for that specific tree. The other thing we could see from our tree was a MASSIVE tree that housed the largest amount of bees I have ever seen, those things hanging from the limbs are hives! We travelled to its base the next day to have a look

As we arrive the guides quickly prepare us some snack food, lychee, mango and honey crisps they are leaving and will be back in two hours or so...they have their own camp a little way off. Eventually they come back and bring us dinner, it's really quite nice and ample supply to fill me up. They leave for the night letting us know they will come for us in the morning, also mentioning that if we get a bad storm with big winds they will also come for us and to be ready as tree may fall...or something along those lines. That night it is soooo hot in the tent it's almost unbearable until winds start to pick up, soon I see light flash across the sky and distant thunder. Hot and bothered I crawl out to watch the incoming jungle storm, it was pretty amazing watching over the jungle canopy in pitch-black darkness the storm roll in...and it was big! So windy that I heard another tree fall in the short distance away. Constantly I thought the guides would be coming to take us but nup they never came.

The next day was much the same but we got to zip around a bit more, the guides said they would be taking us for a swim today which was met with eager enthusiasm! So after some zipping and some trekking we reach a point where we must now trek down stairs. Some may know that since Korea my knee has been playing up and these stairs killed it, by the end I was in hell pain so I definitely have some issues there. We finally reach a hut which sell beer and cold soft drink, you would of thought us gone a month by how we skull the drinks. A river is right next to the hut and we have a swim to freshen up, and then head out to civilisation by truck with retro fitted seats in the ute tray. I decide that outside will be better as I envied the people last time with having the outside breeze. Wrong decision... the road going out is crazy bumpy nearly kicking me out a few times but I make it and back in Huay Xai we meet up with our other travellers to head on to Luang Namtha.

=SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND.==

Once again my lack of preperation kicked me in the ass! I was two days off leaving to Laos and I had run out of money... I had just enough to cover the visa on arrival and the taxi to the airport. So I survived for two days on one meal and stolen sweet rolls from my Halong Bay trip (knew they would come in handy!). Heading to the airport I could only think of what I was going to do when I arrive, my conclusion was to just sleep at the airport untill I could get money out :/

After going through the normal airport confusion I head out to the plane and it is a smaller plane than I am used too. It has propellers instead of the jets. The plane trip takes only 40 minutes or so, getting off I realise my expectations of major airports in south east asia needs to be re assesed.

I head to Immigration and get my visa done, an American girl asks to share a taxi into town (I don't mention that I have no money yet). We pass customs and I try the ATM there and amazingly I have available funds....seriously like a half hour makes the difference?!

Another half hour later and the American girl is having a shower in my bathroom...I know right! Waaaiit! it's not what you think, she was all hot and sweaty... because we were walki...it was hot....ok ok what ever! Anyhow I was meeting friends from previous travels that are doing the same route, they had allready organised rooms and was bunking in with one of them...turns out that there was a hiccup in the plans and they had brought another person (I had said that the american could maybe bunk in with one of us). It all worked out though as the American and myself found a hostel and shared which was difficult in itself trying to dodge the kids bent on drenching us...we were slow and large targets with our backpacks! (Finally I have found a use for the navy seal water proof bags I have been carrying around!). Here a couple of pics ( I would of liked more but water and my camera definitely do not mix!) Not only do you get drenched but tar'd and every other dye colour with powder thrown at you, cars are also subject to decoration and if your wondering how this could happen I would get mobbed by kids looking like this at times also haha

Luang Prabang is truly beautiful, I'm not sure if it's the lush green vegitation, the mekong river surrounding the town or the many serene monks that roam the streets and temples. The pace of life is a slow one but in this heat who really wants to rush?!

Entering into a country on it's new year is a great way to start! We chose to hire a bicycle and ride around the town exploring, being drenched along the way helped with the heat. I would be drenched and then given beer and food, it was a great way to interact with the locals. I believe the reason to it all is to wash away all the bad mojo. There was a procession down the street of where we were staying, monks would sit on floats of sorts driven down the street getting pretty much drenched by people pouring water on them, but more ritualistically. In the procession I notice some fellows I'd seen before ...I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but it soon came to me, they are the evil Wing Kong of Big Trouble in little China!

Anyhow bicycling around we ended up taking a turn into a worn path heading into jungle...ending up at a small rustic (had logs for chairs and tables in the dirt) bar on the opposing side from the peak of the peninusla We happen to get there at sunset It was beautiful, only enhanced by watching the monks come down to swim and play. I had a dip myself in the water there amongst some rocks..was clean and refreshing. To get back we found a shortcut along a bamboo bridge Finding that we had to pay on the otherside we bargained half the price because we only used oneway.

The next day I spent drinking and water fighting. The gun I got was super strong and sometimes I forgot how strong... there was a small kid in a tub that splashed me and I shot a burst into his chest nearly boreing a hole through him. You know that moment when a child falls or bangs thier head and they pause, it can go either way from hysteria to it never happend. Well that was the situation, so I tried desperately to make him laugh then walked off quickly as his parents watched me disapprovingly.

The american girl, you know lets give her a name..Linda. Linda was a huge food junkie which was cool because I tried alot of stall stuff that I would'nt of normally, but there was a downside. Once she left I found myself thinking I'm quite the iron stomach food stall taster, so I suggest to the others that we go and eat down this food alley where it is only 10,000 kip (a little over $1 aus) for a buffet of food Well this was a very bad descision and I paid for it for the next 3 days! (Immodium is my new best friend) The food alley was part of a larger night market open everynight it seemed and it actually has some very nice stuff...will buy something on my way back there I'm sure.

Here are some pictures from Luang Prabang

So next was a 2 day slow bout ride up the Mekong to get to where I needed to be for the Gibbon Experience. We had heard horror stories of people having to stand and there being no room but it was fine for us on the first one at capacity and the second one was less and had alot of room (could be that going up river is less crowded).We could not get a boat that would go all the way and you needed to stay at the halfway point in Pak Beng. Here is some pictures at the half way point The next day we continued to Huay Xai, both trips taking about 10 hours or so. The boat was extremely loud if you are more to the rear so there was no conversation. If you do travel on one of these boats the seats move so move them to face each other and you have a foot rest for a more comfortable journey. Here is the boat there This was the second one And here are some random pics from the boat...Destination is Huay Xai where I will be doing the Gibbon Experience living in the trees zipping along the jungle canopy

Soooo Ewok adventure coming soon!

S.

Hot weather and cheap beer is the perfect storm of procrastination!

But enough is enough! Time to see the sights, enjoy the culture and experience that which is the descending dragon (aka, Halong Bay).

The name comes from a story of the mother dragon. You see the gods sent down a family of dragons to help defend from invaders. As they descended the mother dragon spat out pearls which landed in Halong Bay thus creating the limestone islets. These islets devastated the enemy fleet, winning the war the mother dragon did not want to return to the heavens leaving such beauty like Halong Bay and descided to stay.

All the way travelling north in Vietnam I would hear stories of the famed backpackers booze cruise. There would be lots of nudity, lots of drinking and people running amok. We decided that we actually wanted to see the bay and not have it as a drunken blur so we opted for the more expensive but chilled out version. We booked with the hostel under pressure of time, which was probably not the best descision as we paid alot more than some we spoke with. It pays to shop around a bit, you see there are travel agency shops all throughout Vietnam tourist areas and you can get some really good deals. I guess it's a risk also though of not knowing what your getting.

The morning of the trip I had got perhaps 2 hours sleep due to the evil lure of free beer and a barbie for easter at the hostel. It was a mad rush for the bus that was turning up out front and I had thought I lost my wallet and held up the bus running around franticly. Anyhow it ended up my wallet was in the bag I had brought down at the start...but I did'nt tell anyone, so Shhhh ;p I try to get sleep slinking to a corner.
Now with every tour in Vietnam there is an obligitory stop off at a souvenir shop masked as a toilet break. (Toilets are marked as W.C., I'm not quite sure why) I take this time to play my Mekong bamboo flute for Mallory to ease her hangover Sooo we get to the port and await to go on the boat, now your probably expecting a traditional wood boat with the asian sails n stuff yeah? This is what you get.. It seems that there are two stories of why two months ago it became compulsory to have a white boat. First story is that there were accidents and a white boat helps it be visible in the dark. second is that some head honcho travelled in Greece and saw all the nice white boats and decided that it would be a good look over here to increase the beauty of the bay. Our fellow shipmates consisted of three Australian couples, a Russian family and French family. Ended up being fun with lots of laughs and a little midnight karaoke (scored a 98!), kayaked and swam (even though the water is grosse :/ ) Here are some of the pictures I got, the place was fairly misty which seems to be the norm. The photo's that you see on the postcards with clear sunny days happen maybe 3 days of the year haha
Now you would think you'd be safe from hawkers in an area like this on your own boat....but no, there are these little rowed boats all over selling booze and food They also live on the water on makeshift floating homes

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I went and saw Ho Chi Minh the other day, it took about an hour in line which I would say was a kilometre long. They have him embalmbed on display. This is serious business, there was no talking, laughing, your hands straight ..not in pockets, hats off, sunnies off and these guys have guns with bayonetes so you listen. Girls get knocked back for inapropriate attire. Well it was worth it, he is looking pretty good. I was just waiting for him to do the "rarrrr!" movement....didn't happen

So 2 more days left untill 4 days of water fighting in Laos!!

Ive been boasting of gearing up with an improvised arsenal of bamboo weaponry, I should start drawing up plans... so ciao for now!

S.

Hi again!

So to continue, I thought after drinking out on the town for the first three nights I should go and do something. First I decided to check out the Cu Chi tunnels from the Vietnam war plus I found out you can shoot some automatic weapons

So we were picked up by SlimJim who was a crack up. He was named SlimJim because he eats like a bird but drinks like a fish he told us. He had so many sayings of Australia where he had learnt alot of our slang from. It took a while to get there but when there SlimJim took us through the jungle paths showing us traps that the VC used, explaining that they were not that effective except for pyschological warfare. The tunnels that were used are incredibly small, here is a picture Here is an original trench used in the war Can you see something suspicious here? How about now?
Why is it that as soon as you hold a gun you become a poseing douche? ...I mean RAMBO!
Into the tunnel I head... and ever deeper So Marc my mate from the netherlands was the one with me, we convinced a girl that was worried about doing it to come in and it'd be ok...which made it all the more difficult to make the descision to ditch her on the first exit :p The tunnel was really short and well I'm tall and it's much the same for the rest of it I was sure, so me and Marc jump out giggling because we have decided to come back in at the last exit to make it look like we did it. We run out and then run back in, it's pitch black entering in but with the noise we are making we hear a "Is that you guys?" from down the tunnel (I'm impressed with her speed). We enter in giggling and I get stuck with my backpack for a moment causing a jam, with the poor girl at the end haha Well in the end we exited with the applaude of our tour group, it seems that they all left and didn't finish. So in the end the only person who really did do the whole length was the girl who didn't want to do it in the first place! Haha

After this we were rewarded with some thing like potato, I tried my food photography at the end we were taken to watch a video. It was pretty funny, made in the time of the war it was very much propoganda. Reffering to the U.S. as demons and such and how this guy or that girl won the award for killing americans etc.. here's us watching it Here are some pics from the drive back

The next trip was the Mekong Delta. I really felt that even though I had heard mixed reviews I needed to do this, I convinced Mallory with this ideal also. The bus trip was going to be three hours or so with an early start. I would love to say that I slept these hours but I seem never to be able to sleep other than in a bed...I get close but never asleep. It is VERY annoying.

We opted for the day trip which meant that we would not be able to see the big floating market, only the "other" one. I was a bit upset with this as I had really wanted to see the teaming market like in the pictures etc. Here is some pictures of the market which really is just a few boats that had food on them going up and down the river... I did see some bartering and exchanges so I guess technically they can call it a market...maybe.

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Next they take us to be rowed on a small boat down to where we will have lunch, (Here they are waiting for us) they lady that ends up rowing us makes sighing sounds all they way there ever increasing the closer we get to our drop off point (We were told we can tip them before getting in and I assume they know this), I somehow get fooled and tip. Suprise, suprise there is a lady selling soft drink and beer...I spy a flute and ask how much expecting some stupid price but it's only a dollar. Much to the disapointment of those around me I now have a Mekong Delta bamboo flute! So we head off to have lunch then a boat trip back and another bus back to the hostel. Her are some other pics from the trip... check out the load of grain this boats taking The petrol station I bought some top gun sunnies! It's like they all have cable?!

So Ive booked my ticket for Loas, staying in Hanoi. Tomorrow I'm gonna try and see Ho Chi Minh himself, it's supposed to be crazy like...wish me luck!

S.

Well the taxi ride to the hostel was a good start to the learning curve which is south east Asian traffic. On numerous occasions I turned thinking to see a mess of bikes from the taxi just going where he pleased. He beeped his horn of course warning that he would be coming, you see the horn is a second language here! I managed to get a picture from the car as we crossed a major roundabout, a picture is worth a thousand words...

So I'm dropped off on the side of the street to a kid and told to go with him, he casually strolls across the torrent of motorbikes. Not wanting to lose him I follow jumping this way and that causeing more havoc than I wish to avoid. Once across he enters a small alleyway and that voice chirps in for a quick "You have no idea who this kid is". As quick as it comes it goes away, the alleys are not barren but bustling with shops and homes with kids playing hopscotch. People laze about in doorways watching as you pass, scooters beep you from behind weaving between people. I try to take it all in going ever deeper, finally reaching the hostel I check in and start the five floor climb with my backpack Everything checks out with the dorm plus a balcony overlooking the alley is a bonus. The view.

Soon introductions are made and we are all out drinking that night.

Where I stayed was district 1, which is the tourist district. I had not seen so many tourists for a long time and had a kind of culture shock on that aspect which was strange. The district is full of bars, hostels and hawkers trying to sell you there wares. To give you an idea of what was on offer you had smokes (50c a pack! Even people that don't smoke are smoking), sunglasses of all brands (Same same but different!), a little marijuana and an assortment of random crap. Here is a picture of one, the stall behind was my local mango smoothie maker...that was untill I saw that the lady right behind her sold the same thing cheaper...I'm talking about 2 steps to the right saves me a quarter of the price....anyhow here is it is.. and to show you how close the cheaper place is, it's that sign to the right

I got given a small map to use and all the local sights pointed out, the places all seemed fairly close so I thought I'd do a circuit. The circuit involved the war muesum, reunification building, Tham Market and Notre Dame!(Bet you did'nt see that one coming). First I went to see the war muesum thinking that it would be quite interesting/educational, that I should learn a bit about the places I'm going to see.
Expecting the politics of the Vietnam war and timelines and such I was taken a bit off guard by what we got. You see the original name of the muesum I found out was the "war crimes muesum". Basically once you enter you get barraged with horrible stories of torture, massacres and really REALLY disturbing photo's. Here are some photo's of the torture stuff, I must say I was quite suprised by what Americans did to the North Vietnamese...these photo's really do not show half of what was done, truly horrible stuff.
This picture just looked good because, well because..
After going through the torture area you head into the everybody protested against the war level showing old propaganda posters from nations such as Russia supporting the North Vietnamese, here are a couple of pictures. Oh, there was also a band playing that seemed like they were unfortunately deformed by what I presume to be agent orange, I could not help but donate and to be honest were not to bad. They were perhaps my favorite part. So anyhow the next floor was the warcrimes part I think, it depicted events when U.S. troops massacred villages and such. The finger firmly pointed at John Kerry a senator in the U.S. who was in charge of troops that did horrible things, he ended up publicly admitting to his crimes.
The next floor was about agent orange and the generations it has affected. Shocking pictures of deformed people was the majority of it, though I was a bit disturbed by the liquid preserved fetuses deformed in birth. So that was it for me! I was dragging my heels by that stage, certain I could not take the next two floors, I left.

Next was the reunification palace. This is where the war ended by a north Vietnamese tank breaking through the gates of the palace, I can't help but feel it ended like a computer game (command and conquer perhaps) where if get into the main base of the enemy you win. I was with some other people from the hostel coming here with me. I had high hopes for this place, thinking that it being a place of command there would be alot of interesting facts on the descision making in times of crisis such as the war buuutt no : / There was on the otherhand alot of rooms but I had no idea what they were for as there was no information signs. Here are some pictures of rooms...actually...check them out in the gallery if your keen. I'll not put them in just for the sake of it, but here is some outside pics (Oh by the way there is my travel bud at the moment, she's just in frame on the left, Mallory from Canada). For those that may go, take a free guide to walk you around which I heard makes it alot better. Once again I left after two levels but I thought that was all there was and waited for the others I had traveled here with, I waited for 40 minutes or so and still they did not come out so I assumed they had ditched me (Later I was to find out that it was me that ditched them, oops!) and moved on heading down the riverside to check out the rest of the city.

On the way, I go to the Notre Dame knock off and see what I'm missing in europe.. I'm not that impressed. The post office is opposite which is known for it's european architecture also.. I go in to try and get some information on sending a package, this is how the conversation goes.

Me - Hi, I was wondering if you might have a slip/form to fill out to mail a package?"
Information Lady - *Blank stare*
Me - "Is this a real post office?"
Information Lady - "Yes"
Me - "Can I have a slip to fill for a package?"
Information Lady - "No"
Me - "So you don't send mail here?"
Information Lady - *Blank stare* "No"

This kind of service I must say is quite a common occurance in Vietnam. I don't think they have yet perfected the customer service experience, most of the time you feel like your putting them out in some way and they don't hide it.

Moving on I head to the riverside passing through the Tham Market (pretty sure that's right)..
Along the river I find people netting fish that stay in the shade of the water lillies that crowd the rivers edge.
Travelling around I take random pictures but it may give you a feel for the place
It's quite normal to see a chicken clucking about, even in the city and people napping (can you spot him?) or a relaxing dog or a penguin bin...don't ask me..

Oh, this is the alleyway for my hostel
Amongst all this there is an awesome building that looms above with a crazy looking helipad

Ok, So there is more to tell but I'm gonna break it up a bit. The Mekong Delta and war tunnels to come, then to Mui Ne and Nha Trang. Currently I am in Han Noi deciding on whether I should get some pimped out silk robes made...I'm thinking red and black with gold dragons! Bringing sexy back! haha

S.