SE Asia XXXX - England United

In Vietnam you are guaranteed to be asked, "Where are you from?". Generally it is part of a triumvirate of questions the other two being, "How old are you?" and, " Are you married?". When I say "Anh" (England) the response is always positive. It seems in Vietnamese eyes (if not South East Asian eyes generally) the defining feature of England is football, or more precisely the Premiership. Lots of Vietnamese do not speak English, or have a limited grasp of English and yet when they discover I am English they want to know if I am from Manchester. In no other country have I been asked if I came from Manchester. Manchester Untied appear to be the unofficial national team of Vietnam. I'm yet to meet a Vietnamese who supports any other team. In Laos the majority of people I spoke to support Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, or as one Monk put it, "I support the Premiership". In Thailand the big four receive a hearty following but Liverpool are the undoubted leaders. In all my travels I am yet to find a South East Asian who supports Tottenham. Although the Vietnamese upon hearing that I support Spurs reply, " Robbie Keane".

When I was in Thailand I had a long chat with a guy from Bangkok on the train to Ayutthaya who lambasted McClaren's decision to drop Beckham. In Kuala Lumpar I was in an unsavoury part of town and saw a street stall with a TV showing highlights of the England vs Croatia qualifying game for Euro 2008. When it was announced that England had failed to qualify there was shock amongst the group. In Trang I was having difficulty explaining to a group of Thais that I was English. We were at a bus stop and the bus stop had a huge Barclays Premier League advert on it, after pointing at that for a while the penny dropped. When I arrived at my guesthouse in Hanoi the manager launched into a match report on the Champions League semi-finals. In Laos whilst doing a trek through the Luang Nam Tha National park I was discussing with one of the guides his support of the Big Four.

SE Asia XXXIX - Hanoi Visa Woes

I had a love hate relationship with Hanoi. The city is vibrant. The Old Quarter is full of old buildings and has lots of atmosphere. However, the city is manic. The narrow streets of the Old Quarter are full of traffic. It feels like you are part of the traffic as you walk around and dodge the motorbikes. It felt stressful simply wandering the streets. The Old Quarter reminded me of the packed streets near the riverfront in Phnom Penh. While they are not as chaotic or dirty they feel suffocating especially when the traffic backs up during rush hour.

The traffic in Hanoi is amazing. The motorbikes swarm the streets in a constant whir of action. The sight of western tourists standing by the side of the road waiting for a gap is common. The trick to crossing is to step out and keep walking whether there is a gap or not. Moto's will carry everything and anything. A mattress presents no problem, even a family of five on a motorbike is not a problem. In such chaos I was surprised at how rare it was to see an accident.

A must see in Hanoi is Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. You would be forgiven for believing that Ho Chi Minh is still alive with the number of images you see of him across Vietnam. White uniformed guards line the way as you walk single file into the mausoleum. They are there to shush anyone who dares to speak in Uncle Ho's presence. It is a bit strange seeing his grey frail body lying there.

The first place I stayed in Hanoi was Thien Trang. I had a broom cupboard of an ensuite room for $10. When I got back from Halong Bay I moved to Real Darling Cafe. I had an ensuite for $8. Real Darling also had dorm rooms and there was a travellers atmosphere in the cafe downstairs. I stayed there for two weeks and get on well with the staff. Real Darling Cafe were very helpful and charged one of the better prices for organising visas.

I spent a month in Hanoi because of problems procuring onward visas. The first problem was that the Chinese changed their visa rules. The change occurred just a week before I applied. The change made it much more difficult to get a visa and nigh on impossible to get a double entry visa. The stop in issuing double-entry visas was a problem because my plan had been to go to Hong Kong to get my Russian and Mongolian visas. It is not possible to get a Russian visa in China as a tourist. If I went to Hong Kong then I would have to get another Chinese visa which could prove expensive or impossible. I decided to try and get my Russian visa in Hanoi. Unfortunately the Russian Embassy require that you have the original copy of the letter of invitation to Russia. It costs $35 to obtain the letter from an agent on the internet, however, getting it sent from Russia took 4 working days and cost me an extra $75! I then discovered that the Russian Embassy would only issue me a visa if I had at least a 90 day Vietnamese Visa. I only had a 30 day Vietnamese Visa which I extended once. The 90 day visa cost me an extra $115. In the meantime I got my Mongolian one which was a relatively straightforward affair.

The Russian Embassy is a huge concrete complex which is ugly even by Vietnamese building standards. The address of the Russian Embassy is 191 La Thanh. However, the Embassy is located next to 1133 La Thanh. I don't know if this is a cunning deception to confuse enemies. The Consular is on the other side of the complex down an obscure alleyway. If you follow the high walls round you will eventually find some benches opposite a steel door. The only thing to tell you this is the place is a plaque with opening hours, and a glass cabinet with pictures of Russia. Apparently Russia has aircraft carriers, women and missiles. The steel door opened a little after 9am. It did not open so much as you heard a click, whereupon the Vietnamese guard opened the door. Inside the steel door was a small square with a single door in the corner. There was no sign of the person who unlocked the steel door. I wasn't sure whether to open the door in the corner. I nudged it and it opened. I was presented with a small room and a huge metal detector. On one side was a large window with a letterbox at the bottom and a very tall beautiful Russian woman standing behind the glass. I showed her my passport and she gave me an English application form. I filled it in. While I was filling it in the Vietnamese women who had been sitting on the benches outside came in. I queued up behind two of them. A third walked in and moved in front of me. A fourth walked in and managed to squeeze herself between me and the newly arrived third woman. I was somewhat amazed and tapped the woman on the shoulder. She looked at me and giggled. These four women were thoroughly enjoying themselves peering over one anothers shoulders to see what the Russsian official was doing. The Vietnamese don't really undertand queueing and my tap on the shoulder rather than eliciting a realisation of her queue jumping seemed to signal a different intent on my part. She wouldn't make eye contact with me but her compatriots did. They looked at me, chatted with their friend, giggled, and looked at me again. The Vietnamese left and the Russian offical looked at my papers. They all seemed to be in order. It turned out that she did speak English as she asked me when I wanted my passport back. One day processing costs $55. All in all my 30 day tourist visa cost $255.

The first time I went to the Russian Embassy it was very quiet and I was shown in ahead of the few Vietnamese who were waiting. The second time it was absolutely packed and I had to wait an hour before I could skip the queue and queue inside for another hour. How quickly you can skip the queue depends on what Vietnamese guard is outside. I went back because the machine readable line at the bottom had a spelling mistake in my first name. Apparently this doesn't matter so long as your name is spelt correctly on the main part of the visa. (I didn't have any problems in Russia with the misspelt machine readable line).

The Mongolian Embassy in Hanoi is the least official embassy I have visited. The Embassy is in the new diplomatic quarter. It is off the main road behind the Pakistan and Nigerian Embassies, and the opposite the Brunei Embassy. The address is Villa No. 5 but consular activities take place at Villa No. 6. A Vietnamese guard pointed me across the road. I rang the door bell and a gentleman opened the gate for me and showed me into the house. I was lead into what appeared to be someone's living room. A large desk sat at one end with a computer and some seats. A large Mongolian with a Russian accent sat behind the deak. He gave me a form in English which I filled in, I asked for same day processing which cost $60. (I got a 30 day visa with up to 90 days before entry). I did not require a letter of invitation or an itinerary.

I arranged my Russian and Mongolian visas myself. I went through Real Darling Cafe for my Vietnamese visa extension, 90 day Vietnamese Visa, and my Chinese visa. There are a few people who work there but the best person to use is Mrs Nguyen Thi Luong who always knew what she was talking about and if she did not know the answer she phoned someone to clarify. Real Darling Cafe Guest House, 33 Hang Quat Street (0084) 48269386. I found them to be very helpful.

How to find the Russian and Mongolian Embassies in Hanoi

To find the Russian Embassy you head west along Kim Ma St until you reach the huge Daewoo Hotel, from here carry straight on along Kim Ma St until you pass a boating lake on your right (Swan boats). There will then be a large junction over to your left is a huge ugly concrete complex, this is the Russian Embassy. Follow the high walls along to the right (as you face the Embassy) and you will come to an alleyway. If you walk down this alleyway you will come to a row of benches and a steel door. The Russian Embassy in Hanoi is open Monday 9-12, 16-17, Tuesday 9-12, Wednesday 9-12, 16-17, Thursday 16-17, Friday 9-12.

To find the Mongolian Embassy go to the Family Medical Practice (on the Lonely Planet map) 298i Kim Ma Street. From the clinic walk west to the first junction with traffic lights, turn right and cross over the road, about halfway down the road is the Nigerian Embassy turn left along the street between the Nigerian and Pakistan Embassies. Follow the short street to the end, on your left is Villa No. 5, infront is the Brunei Embassy, and on your right is the Mongolian consular Villa No. 6. It is only open Tuesday and Thursday morning to process visas.

SE Asia XXXVIII - Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a beautiful area in Northern Vietnam. It is a stunning bay with over 2,000 limestone karst cliffs rising out of the water. I did a 2 day/1 night tour out into Halong Bay. I was very lucky with the group on board with a mix of young and old who were quite happy to sit around and have a chat and enjoy the scenery. The trip to Halong Bay was easily the best thing I did during my stay in Hanoi. It was so quiet and relaxing. When we got dropped off in Hanoi the noise and chaos resumed instantly. I went for the expensive tour option for Halong Bay and had a very enjoyable time.

The only negative aspects to the trip were problems that all trips will suffer from. The journey to Halong City to catch the boat takes a while, 3-4 hours. Halong Bay itself is very busy. I was aware of this but other people were a bit disappointed by the sheer number of boats around us. Even though there are lots of boats it still feels quite serene. The number of tourists becomes obvious when you go ashore. We went to Amazing Cave which is worth a look but you do fight it out with lots of other tourists and may aswell stay on board the boat and enjoy the scenery. We then climbd up to a view point, packed with tourists. We went for a swim here and I made sure not to put my head under the water. There was lots of litter in the water and some Australian girls were convinced that there were jellyfish. When we anchored there were at least 35 boats in the same spot (there are apparently only 3 overnight anchorage points in Halong Bay so they are all busy). We were on the outside of the group so it was peaceful apart from a couple of generators.

I did a 2 day, 1 night trip to Halong Bay with Handspan tour operator. It cost $155 which included a $30 single supplement, all food on board, and transfers to and from Halong City. Drinks on board were pricey (but this seems to be standard on any boat) $1 for a can of coke, $1 for a small bottle of bottle, and $2 for a can of Tiger Bee. We were on the Valentine Boat although there was nothing written on the boat to indicate the name. The only name was "Bai Tho Co Tourist" and the number 3998. The facilities on board were excellent. There was a large upper deck where you could lay on a sun chair and enjoy the view. The rooms were more like a hotel room then a boat cabin. The ensuite bathroom was easily the nicest bathroom I had during my stay in Vietnam. The food was plentiful and very good. There was lots of seafood. Our first lunch consisted of a large crab each, followed by shrimps, then spring rolls, squid with vegetables, and a fish. Dinner was a different type of crab , a huge prawn cocktail, squid in breadcrumbs, mixed vegetables, rice and another fish. Breakfast consisted of some pastries, unlimited coffee, tea and orange juice (or so it seemed). The guides were good and not mini-Hitlers. In South-East Asia the guides I have come across tend to be authoritarian, or at least the language barrier means they aren't quite so good at sugar coating their commands. The tour guide had some interesting interpretations on what the rocks in Amazing Cave represented. I'm not sure if he gives the same explanation to every group.

The choice of trips to Halong Bay present a bit of a minefield to the budget traveller. The truly budget tours for under $30 are known for problms with safety, food, theft and not getting what you were told you would get for your money. Even the mid-range tours for around $80 can be hit and miss. If you would like a full run-down of the different options for Halong Bay tours read this article on the Travelfish website. I wouldn't recommend a day trip to the Bay because it takes 3-4hours by bus to get here which doesn't leave you much time to enjoy Halong Bay.

SE Asia XXXVII - Into the North

Travellers often skip north Vietnam between Hanoi and Hue. Dong Ha and Dong Hoi do not have a great deal to offer unless you are interested in the DMZ battlefields. Ninh Binh on the other hand is a really beautiful area and a great place to relax for a few days.

Dong Ha is not the most pleasant place I have been to. It straddles the main north south highway. I stayed there because it is the closest town to the DMZ. The DMZ used to separate north and south Vietnam. It was the site of fierce battles. There are lots of sites associated with the Vietnam war scattered around the area. I went on a motorbike tour organised with DMZ Cafe costing $17. I went with Mr Khan we visited Doc Mieu Base, then to Vinh Moc, Hien Luong Bridge at Ben Hai River, Truong Son National Cemetary and then Con Tien Fire Base. The best part of the trip was visiting Vinh Moc for the tunnels. The tunnels were dug by the locals to escape the bombardment during the war. They are over 2 kms in length. The tunnels grew in complexity during the war to include kitchens and hospitals, 17 babies were born in the tunnels during the war. The rest of the sites are a bit difficult to appreciate because often there is not a great deal to see. The great advantage of having a motorbike tour was that my driver Mr Khan was an interpreter for the Americans so he was able to draw on his personal experiences in the area. He was bitter about how the Americans had cut and run. We drove along the Ben Hai river, the old border and he showed me the B52 craters sitting amongst the rice paddies. One of the sad legacies of the war is that there is no recognition of the sacrifice made by the South Vietnamese soldiers. South Vietnamese war cemeteries were bulldozed after the war or simply allowed to fall apart. We visited Truong Son National Cemetary which only has the remains of North Vietnamese soldiers. I arrived in Dong Ha from Hue by train hard seat 18,000 VND. A rather persistent moto driver took me to Ha Noi 2 Hotel 120,000 VND for an ensuite. I left Dong Ha for Dong Hoi by train which cost 26,000VND for a hard seat. A family had colonised my seat, with small children at my feet. Dong Hoi is a much more attractive town than Dong Ha. It sits on the coast across an estuary. There is not a great deal to see in the town, down to the American bombing campaign. There are the remains of the old city wall and a burnt out shell of a church. I did come across a guy who tried to speak to me in German, which he had learnt when living in East Germany in the 1980s. I didn't see any other Westerners while I was there. I stayed at Nam Lang in Dong Hoi which was new and was pretty good value at $10 for an ensuite.

One of the highlights of my stay in Vietnam was Ninh Binh. Ninh Binh has the famous limestone karst scenery that you will read alot about in my blog. It is a really pretty area and much less touristy than I expected. There are a couple of tourists spots that are over crowded but they are easy to avoid. I spent a few days cycling around the area enjoying the scenery. I enjoyed staying in Ninh Binh because it is a typical Vietnamese town. Not far from Ninh Binh is Phat Diem made famous by Graham's Green 'Quiet American'. It is a pretty little town with a bizarre looking cathedral. I was there for the Sunday service with huge crowds. I was targeted by a local nutter who wanted a fight with me. I wondered if it was because I stayed at Thanthuy's Guesthouse the main place for backpackers in town with a large dining area which is a good place to meet people. I didn't think the staff were great and certain things seemed to be priced highly. I hired bikes from Ngoc Anh Hotel the other side of the main highway. I caught the morning train from Ninh Binh to Hanoi, which cost 43,000VND.

SE Asia XXXVI - Hoi An and Hue

Hoi An feels like a time capsule. The buildings appear lovingly decrepit. There is a somewhat sleepy feel by the normal frenetic Vietnamese standards. It is unsurprising to find tourists dominating the town. Unfortunately this domination has brought all the negative aspects you would expect. There are a large number of tailors, accompanied by a fair share of craft shops and general tourist tat shops. The old shops that once existed in the streets of Hoi An have all but disappeared. The touting from these tourist shops isn't that aggressive but you wander around constantly hearing, 'come in my shop' and 'you buy something'.

While I was in Hoi An I went to get my hair cut. It was a bargain at 30,000VND. The only trouble was that I got my hair shaved off rather than trimmed. A shaven head did not cause me any problems but I was chatting to an Asian American and he was telling me that when he first arrived in Thailand he had a shaven head. The trouble was the locals assumed he was a monk and were quite confused by him not acting like a monk. South East Asians are remarkably well preened. It is not only women but men. It is not uncommon sight to see a man preening himself in his scooter mirrors. No matter what size the town or village there is always a hairdressers, if not a handful. The only real exception are in the hill tribe areas and there you see people picking lice out of one another's hair. The scruffy look is not in fashion. Men are well groomed and do not have designer stubble, the most the Vietnamese will stretch to is a whispy Ho chi Minh style goatee. Men look and act quite femininely. Men and boys are very touchy feely with one another, in a way that would appear strange in the West. It is not uncommon to see men sleeping on top of one another in the midday sun. Throughout South East Asia and on the streets of Vietnamese towns the sight of a barber is very common. They setup against a wall or a tree with a mirror and a chair. In Vietnam barbers also come equipped with headlamps and a variety of long brushes, almost a mini chimney sweep kit, used to clean people's ears out by the side of the road.

Hoi An can make you wonder whether the stereotype of Vietnamese out for every dollar in your wallet are in actual fact true. I did not find this to be true. However, like everywhere else in the world where tourists congregate they attract people who are there purely to make money from them. It is even more obvious and contrasting in South East Asia where the locals are poor and the tourists are rich. Hoi An has a problem with this because it is a small place dominated by the tourist trade. I often found the Vietnamese to be helpful beyond the call of duty. When I was in Saigon I posted a parcel home. The Vietnamese post office worker who packed the parcel was very efficient and told me that by going over a certain weight the cost of the parcel would jump. He told me to take something out. I arrived in Danong only to discover that there was an international fireworks competition taking place that evening and there was no available accommodation. After walking around all the hotels I could not find any accommodation. I stumbled into Phu an Hotel where a helpful guest translated for me with the staff who booked a taxi to take me to Hoi An (30kms down the road), a hotel in Hoi An, and allowed me to leave my bag there until the fireworks finished. That is not to suggest that the Vietnamese are not adverse to making a profit. Bargaining is required and the key is playing a game. Keeping a smile on your face and acting playfully is important because everyone saves face. It is no good losing your temper. In South East Asia to lose ones temper means you and the other person have lost face.
I caught the local bus from Hoi An to Danong which takes just over an hour. I knew that this bus should only cost 10,000VND. We set off the conductor came over to me. She started at 40,000VND which I laughed at and politely declined. She sat next to me for a while seeing if I would give. Eventually she went back to the other passengers and collected the money from them before coming back to me and settling upon a much more reasonable 20,000VND. I had already purchased my train ticket to Hue through my guesthouse in Hoi An for 95,000VND. The train was packed. The journey to Hue from Danong is particularly beautiful as the train winds its way along the coast. I enjoyed Hue because it is bigger than Hoi An and better able to absorb the tourists that visit. I felt that there was a great deal more to see ad that what was there was more genuine and less commercialised. The westerner backpacker area of guesthouses has not overrun the historical part of town. The citadel is great to look at and the Imperial Enclosure is fascinating to walk around. I spent a good few hours there without being hassled. There are certain key attractions that everyone goes to see in the Imperial Enclosure and then they leave. The Imperial Enclosure is enormous and there is a lot more to wander around and explore than most people realise. While I was there I also cycled out to the Tu Doc tomb and the Ho Quyen an Elephant and Tiger fighting arena. It looks like a Roman fighting arena and is in amazingly good condition.

I did have a problem in Hue with my accommodation. I stayed south of Le Loi at Binh III for $8. I had agreed I would move rooms the next day. Unfortunately their definition of moving rooms involved banging on my door from 7am. I got increasingly annoyed with them so that I checked out, when I did they turned nasty and tried to up the price already agreed. Unfortunately when face is lost then the rules of the game change. I moved to the guesthouse opposite Binh Dong III for $8 and was not disturbed. In Hoi An I stayed at Dai Long Hotel for $15 a night, which was a nice place but a touch overpriced.