Hot Rock Scrubbing

Or 'Hot Stone Massage' as most people know it. Today I decided I would 'treat' myself to a massage. Everyone who has been to SE Asia will know that getting a massage here is generally very cheap and if you're lucky very good. My last massage in Thailand was amazing and I thought it was about time I tried one in Vietnam to compare.

As luck would have it on our first night in Nha Trang we were handed a flyer for a massage place on the same street as our hotel that offered amongst other things 'Hot Stone Massage' for just 250,000 dong, which is about £7.50. Not bad for an hour's worth of luxury I thought to myself,oh how I would come to laugh at my foolishness later on.

I think the best way to sum up the hour that ensued today would be to say it was perhaps the most comedy £7.50 I've spent since I've been here. On arrival at the Rose Spa we had to undress in a small locker room with people opening the doors randomly, then take a shower before going up some stairs in the smallest towels possibly ever made (maybe they were hand towels come to think of it) to a communal massage room where our 'talented' masseuses awaited.

I can only guess that they learnt their trade by watching an instructional DVD on how to give massage and someone accidentally hit the fast forward button, a few times. They were going on at least 8x speed. I spent most of the first half trying either not to laugh out loud or cry out in pain, but not in a good getting those knots out kind of a pain way just an actual you are really hurting me way. After that came the hot stones part. Normally it's a nice slow and firm pressure type thing, their style more scrubbing you with hot rocks, so ferociously that the stones were thrown across the room numerous times. I tried so hard not to laugh each time they scooped them up and then just hygienically continued the massage with them. And the music, oh my god! Instead of nice relaxing gentle plinky plonky calm sounds it was some kind of jazz which was hilarious, I was humming along at one point, no drifting away on a sea of calm here.

It did get worse though we had to turn over and then I knew I couldn't hide the fact I was laughing anymore, so now my cheeks have bite marks on them. I didn't want them to think I actually enjoying the torture after all. They finished with a head massage and I use the term massage loosely, at which point I actually had to ask for all 'massaging' to cease due to the bump on my head and the fact that I basically wanted the never ending pain to stop. I dodged the rockery on the way out and went to get dressed, when they came to ask for a tip I politely declined. Thinking about it now I could give them many tips.....

Food glorious food

My guide book tells me that "The quality of food in Hoi An is outstanding and the value for money is not matched by any other town in Vietnam". I can confirm that so far we have found this to be true. The only place where the food hasn't been great is our hotel but that's OK there's plenty of choice for places to eat in Hoi An. I present to you a small selection of the AMAZING food here.....

Streets International: Tofu and caramelised eggplant in a clay pot - this was utterly divine I didn't want it to end!

Streets International: Baguette bread pudding with passion fruit glaze, we wanted to lick our plates.

Gourmet Garden: Amazing food (terrible service), these are White Rose Dumplings a Hoi An speciality, filled with shrimp topped with crispy onions and in this case pork (it varies) and served with a dipping sauce.

Gourmet Garden: Peach and almond crumble with coconut topping a great pudding, British with a SE Asian twist!

19 Restaurant: Fried tofu with chilli and lemongrass, also had pumpkin with peanut sauce, both were delicious, total cost about £3.

Can't remember the restaurant name: Tofu and Vegetable hotpot, still bubbling when brought to the table, you add noodles to your bowl and spoon on the hotpot. It was so delicious and cost 55,000 dong which is about £1.70

Another unknown restaurant name: Hoi An Wantons with vegetable sauce. Delicious crispy morsels filled with shrimp and topped with sunny peppers. Yum.

Cargo Club: White chocolate chocolate brownie cheesecake. Quite simply amazing, I advise you all to have a go at making your own, you wont regret it.

Amongst other things I've also tried Cao Lau which is a traditional Hoi An noodle soup with slices of pork and croutons. The noodles are brown and thicker than others served here. It's a very tasty dish like all of the other Hoi An specialities. As I said other than our hotel which serves dubious food at best we are yet to find anywhere in Hoi An that has been disappointing. It's been a case of wanting to go back to places again but knowing that there are many more new places we should be trying. Still it's win win!

So if any of you are ever coming to Hoi An you'll be having a good time, if shopping is your thing you're sorted, if pretty olde worlde villages are your thing you're sorted, if beaches are your thing you're sorted, if good food is your thing well yes you're most definitely sorted and if you love all of the above well what are you waiting for? Get yourself on a plane immediately!

Hoi An DANGER

I finished up in Hue with a general mosey around the town and a fun day on a cookery class the day before. I got to wear a chef's hat and everything!

Don't mess, I've got a chef's hat and I know how to use it.

The lady in the market where we got some of our ingredients from.

I left Hue with my new travel companion (sounds like we're Victorian ladies) Heather who I met in the hostel in Hue. We were both heading to Hoi an on the same day and due to a lack of decent dorm rooms had decided it would be a cunning plan to share a hotel room. Lots of travellers we met who were coming from the south had told us that Hoi An was full of hotels with pools and rooms for $15 or less. Bargain.

Having fallen in love with Hue instantly the same happened in Hoi An. It's much smaller and the streets are lined with lanterns and beautiful old houses. They are also lined with tailors, shoe makers and bag makers. Hoi An is a shopper's paradise and quite frankly a dangerous place to be.

On my first visit to the tailor with an idea of having a dress, a skirt and a pair of shorts made I found I had ordered two dresses, a skirt, a pair of shorts and a winter coat. Well the coat was only $50/£31 and it's wool, and it's lined with silk and it's tailor made and well I've run out reasons other than I loved it and I don't have a winter coat, ignoring the fact I don't really need one right now or in the near future. Winter coats aren't big on the beach in SE Asia for some reason.

Today I went back for the first fitting and I loved the skirt so much I ordered another one and also another dress. Ooooops. They nearly had me with another coat too. Draw the line Kasia, draw the line! I did however succumb to the shoe makers who are as we speak, perhaps with the aid of elves making me one pair of sandals, one pair of ballet pumps and one pair of long biker boots. All made to measure from leather and all for the grand total of about £140. Boots that will fit me for the first time ever!!

I sense a(nother) parcel coming home by the way. So yes Hoi An is a dangerous place. I have now firmly locked away the for emergency use only credit card and told myself it's OK I'm allowed the treats as it's my birthday soon. I think for the rest of my time here I must walk around blindfolded but that could be potentially even more hazardous and I've already had one bump to the head!

Hoi An

Same same, but different.

I never thought I'd actually get to use this one whilst in Vietnam. A few times since I've been here whilst ordering in restaurants or bars we've uttered the words 'same same' but the other night in Hue when our food came out of the kitchen came my chance. The only problem was I was laughing too much to actually get the words out. See if you can spot the 'same same, but different' in the picture below....

Same same, but different.

Hue Hue

So pretty much straight after arriving in Hue I decided I loved it. There are some places I've travelled to in the world where I've had that instant reaction, Rome, New York, and good old Newcastle to name just a few. Sometimes I can't even really explain why I get that feeling it just happens. Here it's something about the greeness and the river and temples and general 'old' feeling the city has.

However, on my first day here I confess I didn't do much, I was pretty tired from another overnight journey, this time on the sleeper train and just when I had sorted myself out and decided to go out exploring it bucketed down and everyone who came back to the hostel looked pretty wet through and miserable so I stayed put. I met up with a girl who had been at my hostel in Hanoi and had some beers though, so the day wasn't a total loss.

We had both booked to do a city tour the following day as there is lots to see here in Hue but it is quite spread out. Another girl form our hostel Louise was also on the tour and we found ourselves at 8am on Easter Sunday (none of realising it was Easter Sunday) on a massive coach with the most enthusiastic tour guide 'Gerry' I have ever experienced. We saw many tombs of the Vietnamese kings, the first one we went to was very 'easy' according to Gerry, he had 500 concubines but only the one wife. We also saw some martial arts and had a brief stop at a incense village before a buffet lunch and onto the citadel. Mostly we just tried to avoid listening to Gerry and making sure we were back at the bus on time.

The Imperial City at Hue was once a huge site but sadly much of it was bombed during the Vietnamese War, however what does remain is impressive and they are restoring the ruins to their former glory. After the citadel it was back on the bus and our last stop of the day at a beautiful pagoda by the river. Of course lots of other tourists and photo ops, I have noticed that the Vietnamese like to take photos amongst the foliage, almost as if they are hiding. It entertains me greatly watching them so much so I might start taking my own photos this way.

Finally the tour was ending with a river cruise on the noisiest boat on the water but it was a nice way to end the day, well actually the beers later on were a nicer way. I'm getting quite fond of Vietnamese beer and who can complain at 50p a bottle.

Gerry in full flow

Minh Manh Tomb

12th king's Tomb

Hue Imperial City

Pagoda

Just like our noisey boat

Halong Bay

Well Halong Bay was a few days ago now but I've been a busy bee since then and haven't had time to stop and do anything. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and despite its famous beauty I was actually a bit unsure about going there having heard reports about the bay being spoilt by mass tourism and pollution. I did only only opt to go on a day trip, most people usually stay at least one night on board one of the 'junk' boats in the bay. Partly this was due to the weather, it's very overcast and foggy in Halong right now and partly because I'd already spent a day in Phang Nga Bay in Thailand which is a similar if not smaller version of Halong Bay.

Having just spent the night on the sleeper bus from Sapa and not got the most sleep I've ever had I was feeling a bit on the tired side and did spend a large portion of the 3 hour plus bus journey to the bay sleeping. There were many many buses taking hundreds of tourists to the bay, so when I was awake and staring out of the window I could only feel sorry for the people who live in the towns that we drove through as the stream of buses and coaches clogs up their roads everyday. There really only is one route to Halong form Hanoi and the roads can't really handle the level of traffic.

Apparently there are over 500 boats at Halong Bay and usually a minimum of 15 people on each  so it's not exactly a quiet world heritage site even if it's a beautiful one. Yes there are a lot of people but once you're on boat and sailing away you don't really notice the numbers and the pollution and rubbish? Thankfully I can't say that I saw any to be honest. It must have been all the comedy penguin shaped bins dotted around the places where you could get off the boats.

I really enjoyed my day trip, the weather was indeed foggy but it kind of made the rocks look mysterious as they appeared form nowhere in front of the boat. We saw a floating village and one of the many cave sites in the bay. Weirdly (or not as these kind of things happen all the time) I met some girls on the boat who were from England, two had gone to Durham Uni and we knew people in common. It's a small world and all that.

So all in all I would totally recommend a trip to Halong if you come to Vietnam, one day was enough for me but plenty of people stay longer and love it. I was just keen to get back to Hanoi and on the overnight train to move down south to Hue.

Some of the crowds waiting to depart at the harbour

Out of the fog

Famous rock - it's on a banknote

Floating groceries

In the caves

Lovely souvenirs

View back towards Halong Harbour

Leaving Sapa and the night bus

 I left Sapa after a very happy month and a bit there on Wednesday evening. When the time came to say goodbye it was really quite sad, I have become quite attached to people and the place in a short time. Tuesday night was my 'leaving do' we had a keg at the cafe and some snacks before heading off for drunken food and more drinks at the Hmong Sisters Bar at the bottom of town. It was a brilliant night and I laughed a lot, bizarrely (or not) it made me not want to be leaving the next day, I think that's probably always the way when you do these things though.

 The actual journey from Sapa to Hanoi was an experience in itself. I arrived in Sapa on the Night train and this time I thought I would try the sleeper bus. I'd seen a few in town and they looked OK the seats are more or less actual beds and it's about half the price of the train. You have try these things when you're travelling right? Well the first bit of the journey was grand. The bus was virtually empty I had two seats to myself and went straight to sleep (very tired from drunken antics the night before). Then we arrived at Lao Cai on the border with China and had a 90 minute stop and change of bus. This bus was very full and I ended up right at the back of the bus. It was much less fun on the second 10 hour leg of the journey but I did get some sleep and made the most of the stops to get off the bus and stretch my legs. I think at one place they were watching the champions league at half three in the morning and there was a GIANT snake in a GIANT jar. I may or may not have imagined that. Anyway I arrived safely in Hanoi and after dumping my bags and having a shower at my hostel for that night I was on another bus to Halong Bay! I'll save that for another blog post though.

The seats on the night bus

Tea at the temple

What are lovely sunny Sundays made for other than going for a nice stroll? Well in the olden days I was usually recovering from a hangover and curled up with the Sunday papers on the sofa. I do miss the papers but not the hangover.

This Sunday in Sapa the sun made a very welcome return, it has been another misty week here and I even forgot there were beautiful mountains out there which made a reappearance from behind the mist and cloud on Saturday. A few of us from Sapa O'Chau set off this afternoon up the hill from the Cafe to escape the busy town. The views were of course amazing and it was nice and quiet once you left the honking of the buses behind with only the occasional motorbike to dodge. We found ourselves on some kind of farm and then strolled our way back to the road and along to a temple we had seen on the way past.

The farm and ever amazing views

Some ladies were having a nice quiet cup of afternoon tea and they invited us to join them. They were very intrigued about the two children we had with us. Jenna one of the long term volunteers here has a four year old daughter with her called Makayla and Shu who runs Sapa O'Chau has a six year old daughter Ngoc Chau. The two of them are either the best of friends or not on speaking on terms as all childhood friendships seem to be. Anyway, they both came along with us for the walk and having a small Vietnamese child accompanying four western 'tourists' raised a few brows on the way but these ladies were especially interested. Of course none of us speaking Vietnamese meant that six year old Ngoc Chau had to be our translator! Bless her she did a good job.

After tea at the temple we strolled back to town and to the Cafe where some new volunteers had turned up. It's great to see that the word is spreading about Sapa O'Chau. I'm leaving in a couple of days and whilst I am excited to move on and see new places I am also really sad to be going. Sapa is beautiful, the people here at Sapa O'chau are so welcoming and I have made some most excellent friends. If I had longer than four months I would definitely be here for a longer stay, you never know though I may just come back!

Earth Hour

Saturday at 8.30pm was earth hour, although I'm not sure the message had reached Sapa. Here at Sapa O'Chau however we did try to tell the kids about it. Jenna one of the volunteer teachers tried to explain the principles behind Earth Hour and how we would be turning all the power off at the school on Saturday night and why. Does everyone understand? Nope. Oh well, we tried.

Sapa O'Chau Students

To make it more fun for the kids we decided that we would all spend Earth Hour together and tell spooky stories and play games by candlelight. Not entirely keeping up the environmental theme but it was fun for the kids (and us). This weekend was also some kind of holiday in Vietnam so it was especially busy here and there was a cultural show going on on the Saturday night, no chance of the lights going off then. Some of the kids from the school were involved and it was lovely to see them in their traditional clothes singing and playing instruments.

After the show we walked with the students back up to the school ready for Earth Hour activities. Our first issue was lighting the candles, no matches or a lighter. Fail! Once that problem was solved we pulled our chairs in close and started telling a scary story about students in a classroom late at night hearing noises outside and on the roof. They really got into the spirit of things with some of the braver ones going to look out of the windows to see what was there before we all SCRRRREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAMMMMEEED!! Very funny indeed! After that we talked about some of the beliefs about spirits in their culture which was really interesting, especially the water spirits, slightly scared of all forms of water now but don't worry I have washed today. We also played wink murder which was very much fun by candlelight, once we had established that everyone understood the rules that is!!

The candles are lit!

Water spirit tales

Earth Hour or not, it was a really cool way to spend an evening with the students and they really enjoyed it too. Whatever else happens in the week is always forgotten when you see them happy and smiling. I will probably always remember this night when I hear Earth Hour being talked about in the future. OK so it didn't have much to do with it other than we turned off the lights etc but it was a magical night and that is a memory to treasure.