So it begins
Our trip so far has been, well, crazy is the best way to describe it. We arrived in Bangkok late two days ago, with a simple plan - get to the hotel, sleep, spend half a day looking around the city, get back to the airport and leave. It sounded pretty simple, anyway. Having the taxi driver drop us off in the wrong place was a bad start. After a long, confusing walk through the probably the busiest part of the city we finally found the hotel. Who for some reason weren't expecting us. We're not really sure why, but I blame our friendly but incompetent travel agent, Kia. So we had to wait in the lobby for nearly an hour to wait for them to get our rooms ready. I tried and failed to kill a massive coccie, and we played cards until we finally got our rooms at nearly midnight (3am brissy time).
The next day in Bangkok was apparently some kind of special day (happens once a month) where the tuk tuk and taxi drivers get a special voucher from the government for 5L of fuel when they deliver tourists to certain shops around the city. So we got lots of friendly "advice" from english speaking Thais who came up to us and told us what a great idea it would be if we went to certain shops and factories selling "authentic products", then pointed us towards certain drivers who would take us there. We could go anywhere we wanted for very cheap, as long as we went to the shops as well. It took us a while to work out what was going on, it all seemed like a big conspiracy at first, but once I realised I didn't mind. So we got taken to some nice temples and cultural spots, and about as many shops, completely for free as it turned out.
The highlight of our brief stopover for me was the taxi driver who took us to the airport. He was a real character who had been a taxi driver for 35 years, very friendly with good english, and loved to talk about everything. We learned a lot from him, including how the "special day" worked, how thailand had changed, what was happening with the coup, stuff about the sights we saw along the way, the fate of the world, etc etc. I told him I was an engineer and he said I could be prime minister one day - after all, Arrafat was an engineer. Go figure. Like most drivers in Bangkok, he was crazy. I don't think I saw him use his indicator once, and he left barely a few centimeters of room between himself and other cars and bikes. He shouted his life philosophy at us enthusiastically, laughing and joking, and gesticulating wildly with both hands. Meanwhile, the car was drifting across the road and slowing to 60kmh on the freeway. Other cars passed us on all sides and beeped their horns, but he didn't seem to care. Luckily Blackie was paying attention or we would have completely missed the turn off for the airport.
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We've spent 2 days in Hanoi now, and the craziness continues. We have a nice hotel in the "old quarter", my favourite part of the city. Nothing could have prepared me for the assault on the senses that I got when we stepped out onto the street after we checked in. There are scooters everywhere, thousands, millions of them on the streets and sidewalks, packing the narrow roadways, zooming around the cars and people and stalls that also pack the streets.
The rest of the stuff we have done in Hanoi is starting to blur a bit, it feels like we've been here a week. Here's a list for our future reference (won't mean much to you - photos to follow later): brothers cafe, city view cafe, bar, water puppet theatre, temples/pagodas, museum, markets (brains, live crabs, raw meat, strange fruit and vegies), Hanoi hilton (prison), training school for French/Vietnamese chefs.
Our tour starts tomorrow. We met our tour group and guide tonight, they seem like a good bunch. All very positive, and everyone is enthusiastic. Looking forward to it.
Hope everyone is well, stay in touch. Time for me to sign off, the bad karaoke in this cafe is getting to me.
Brett
The next day in Bangkok was apparently some kind of special day (happens once a month) where the tuk tuk and taxi drivers get a special voucher from the government for 5L of fuel when they deliver tourists to certain shops around the city. So we got lots of friendly "advice" from english speaking Thais who came up to us and told us what a great idea it would be if we went to certain shops and factories selling "authentic products", then pointed us towards certain drivers who would take us there. We could go anywhere we wanted for very cheap, as long as we went to the shops as well. It took us a while to work out what was going on, it all seemed like a big conspiracy at first, but once I realised I didn't mind. So we got taken to some nice temples and cultural spots, and about as many shops, completely for free as it turned out.
The highlight of our brief stopover for me was the taxi driver who took us to the airport. He was a real character who had been a taxi driver for 35 years, very friendly with good english, and loved to talk about everything. We learned a lot from him, including how the "special day" worked, how thailand had changed, what was happening with the coup, stuff about the sights we saw along the way, the fate of the world, etc etc. I told him I was an engineer and he said I could be prime minister one day - after all, Arrafat was an engineer. Go figure. Like most drivers in Bangkok, he was crazy. I don't think I saw him use his indicator once, and he left barely a few centimeters of room between himself and other cars and bikes. He shouted his life philosophy at us enthusiastically, laughing and joking, and gesticulating wildly with both hands. Meanwhile, the car was drifting across the road and slowing to 60kmh on the freeway. Other cars passed us on all sides and beeped their horns, but he didn't seem to care. Luckily Blackie was paying attention or we would have completely missed the turn off for the airport.
We've spent 2 days in Hanoi now, and the craziness continues. We have a nice hotel in the "old quarter", my favourite part of the city. Nothing could have prepared me for the assault on the senses that I got when we stepped out onto the street after we checked in. There are scooters everywhere, thousands, millions of them on the streets and sidewalks, packing the narrow roadways, zooming around the cars and people and stalls that also pack the streets.
There are shops that sell everything - fresh produce, pirated DVDs, jewelry, silk, shoes, clothes, scooter repairs, shoe repairs, all for ridiculous prices. Hanoi also has a strange obsession with ABBA, britney, and pineapples.
The rest of the stuff we have done in Hanoi is starting to blur a bit, it feels like we've been here a week. Here's a list for our future reference (won't mean much to you - photos to follow later): brothers cafe, city view cafe, bar, water puppet theatre, temples/pagodas, museum, markets (brains, live crabs, raw meat, strange fruit and vegies), Hanoi hilton (prison), training school for French/Vietnamese chefs.
Our tour starts tomorrow. We met our tour group and guide tonight, they seem like a good bunch. All very positive, and everyone is enthusiastic. Looking forward to it.
Hope everyone is well, stay in touch. Time for me to sign off, the bad karaoke in this cafe is getting to me.
Brett
posted by Bek at
1:25 am
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