Travel Location: Tokyo,Japan

Travel About: big-city

It was sad to leave India after only 6 weeks, so much more to see and do there, but our flights had been booked for a while and Japan was calling.

From Narita airport we headed into Tokyo on the cheap train into Ueno, where Alex had booked us into what the Lonely Planet apparently calls ‘the cheapest accomodation in Tokyo’, and in fact it was only 4 times as expensive as our last hotel in Delhi, although somewhat smaller.

grabbing machine professionals

We headed back onto the metro to have a look around Ginza, which felt a lot like a deserted Oxford Street, in fact, compared to India the whole of Tokyo felt deserted, maybe it is the recession or something. We were also already missing all the beeping, tuk-tuks, cows and bare-bottomed children. Most strange of all was that you could stand outside a shop looking at a map and no-one would come outside to implore you to come and ‘take a look’.

Second day in Tokyo was more business like, we had to head down to the Chinese embassy to lodge our visa applications, this was VERY straightforward, we haven’t picked up our passports yet, but the whole process took no more than ten minutes, and all of the supporting documentation that we had printed out the night before was waved away as being unnecessary.

When we came out of the embassy it was snowing, actually snowing, which boded well for our snowboarding trip a couple of days later. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Tokyo Midtown mall at Roppongi Hills, we looked at all the ridiculous shops selling designer puppy wear, and diamond encrusted mobile phone jewels. And we had a great lunch in one of the many restaurants with lunch time special menus for around 1000Yen. Also visited FujiFilm’s free display, which at the moment was a collection of photos of National Parks from all over the world. It seems that there are still lots more places we want to visit…

And so to Carolyne Day. We met up at Ueno station and took Carolyne to her prison cell-like room in the hostel. The Japanese style rooms there are really not that big at all, and, although they don’t have bars on the windows they are a bit institutional. We then headed straight out to Ryogoku, where we had read there would be sumo wrestlers roaming the streets. We didn’t see any, although Carolyne claims she saw ‘a fat girl’. So, we headed into the Edo Museum. A big dimly lit affair, that covered Tokyo’s history from formation to the present day. Reasonably interesting, and warmer than hanging around outside.

Final district for the day was Asakusa, also known as Electonics Town. There are indeed lots of shops selling all manner of electronicy things, we most enjoyed going into the amusement arcades and watching the grabbing machine professionals doing a little dance as they collected their umpteenth manga figurine of the night with great skill.

Another good and cheap meal was had before we headed for an early night ready for our bus trip to Hakuba and the mountains in the morning.

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Travel Location: Singapore,Singapore

Travel About: big-city,beach

The city is divided up into several ethnic neighborboods, including Chinatown and Little India. We were staying near Chinatown, but I did not venture into that area since, again, I am living in Chinatown! Little India was more of an interest for me. It was fun to browse and people watch there. I imagine this was a small introduction of what some parts of India might be like. People out selling their wares, bright and beautiful fabrics to choose from. There were so many places to get really good and cheap Indian food! We went to that neighborhood twice for lunch-yum! One day, Michael and I took the subway over to the Arab Street area. We took a tour of a beautiful mosque in the neighborhood and there was a wedding ceremony going on inside. They had no problem with us watching and taking pictures. All the woman sat on the floor on one side of the mosque and all the men sat on the floor on the opposite side. The attendent at the entrance supplied us with simple cotton robes to wear to cover up while we walked inside the mosque. After the mosque tour we stopped at a cafe for strong and sweet ice coffee and some local pastries.

you could be fined for chewing gum in Singapore, they take their clean sidewalks seriously

Another highlight of the trip was are evening at the Night Safari. They claim that they have over 1000 nocturnal animals of about 130 species on their 40 hectares of forest. (I didn’t stop to count the animals so I have to take their word for it). We took the tram ride through the park with a guide pointing out and naming all the animals we saw. Have you ever seen an Malayan Tapir or a pangolin? Well I have!

We spent 4 days out of the week on the island of Bintan, about an hour boat ride from Singapore to this Indonesian island. (Again…another island!). The boat ride over was so rocky, people were getting sick all around us and this was an enclosed boat, no going outside! It was a rough entry to Bintan! We just wanted to get to the hotel and lie down for awhile. The main point of this trip to Bintan was to relax at this resort and that is what we did. We sat by the pool, sat by the beach, had a massage, got a pedicure, read books, and decided what restaurant to go to for dinner. It was a good getaway. One day, Suzanne and I hired a driver to take us out of the resort to the village areas to we could get a glimpse of regular life on Bintan.

Traveling in a group of seven can have its challenges, but we did quite well and I met my goals of relaxing and seeing another corner of Southeast Asia!

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Travel Location: Bangkok,Thailand

Travel About: big-city

I arrived at the Silom Serene Hotel around 8am…..hmmm mainly because the taxi driver couldn’t find it…..I was totally knackered and caught some sleep.

I had arranged to meet Natalia and Natasha later that day and go with them to the hospital so she could get checked out.

First though…..I went to the Central Plaza shopping centre…..hmmmmm managed to drop some dollars there…..they have loads of UK shops and a great department store called Setan….

I met the girls at their hotel and we took a taxi to the Bangkok hospital. My God, it was like arriving at a five star hotel……there was a concierge to open the car doors and show us to the reception area. The whole place was just fabulous. Natalia was feeling so much better seeing a hospital that was better than one in Denmark. The doctor’s checked her out and removed her bandage. She’s looking much better now and is keen to get moving again. They were off to Koh Samui the next day. We had another farewell dinner – I had steak at Molly Malone’s – OMG it was fabulous! It was probably someone’s grandmother in India but I was hanging for beef……after three weeks of chicken and vegetables…….

After that it was fond farewell’s from the girls and I went back to the hotel to wait for Stevie Rider to arrive.

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Travel Location: Hong-Kong,China

Travel About: big-city

Hong Kong Day 1 16 May 2009

Our time in Hong Kong began the instant we walked through customs the way the next two days unfolded. Kathy’s friend Su, running towards us with open arms of welcome and excitement, despite the fact that she herself had only just returned from New Zealand on the very same flight 6 hours ago!! The next two days were action packed and full, but so enjoyable.

After a trip back to Su’s apartment via the wonderful, clean and efficient Hong Kong rail system, and a welcome opportunity to freshen up we were off with Su to see Hong Kong. Firstly, a visit to the Stanley Markets via a bus up over the hills to the other side from where we were staying. We had the most wonderful traditional Chinese lunch in a very old and traditional restaurant. Then a meander through the market with many stall holders and some “Italian style jewellery” made in China which were uncanny replicas of the jewellery we sell. At least the owners were honest with us and their customers.

Then we met up with a long standing friend of mine from NZ, Bill, who has been living in Hong Kong for 7 years and loves it there. He takes a taxi to work every day (as does Su) and so it was just natural that we took a taxi to “The Peak” which is a high point with views all over Hong Kong. As it was so hot, we firstly enjoyed a lovely Haagan Das ice cream before taking an unexpected and beautiful walk through the “bush” that surrounded this area. It was lovely to walk in the shade, listen to the birds singing and see wonderfully coloured butterflies feeding on the nectar of flowers. It really was a highlight of our trip, or should I say, one of many. So refreshing and tranquil. Hong Kong has regulations about the amount of ‘green space’ and that is good. There are 7 million residents in this city and they pretty much all live in high rise apartments, some of which are truly impressive “bee hives”, with the majority living in such small areas that we in NZ would find it difficult to imagine. Then a return to the city in a taxi, all of which are the same model of vehicle, the same colour scheme and are purpose built Toyota’s, that allow the driver to open the opposite passenger’s door, which is a nice touch!

Next was a tour of the harbour on a traditional Chinese junk. Not a single nail was used in the construction of this vessel using traditional methods. It was a wonderful experience, as we sat on the upper deck of this vessel and toured the harbour at sunset. It was truly stunning to see the light on the many high rise buildings. Pity I can’t show you any of the photos I took, but that’s another story. They will have to wait until I get home. We enjoyed a cold drink and just soaked up the experience.

The day was capped off with a fantastic meal of Spanish tapas at a restaurant in the night club district of Hong Kong. So colourful and vibrant. It was a great experience to not only share this with Bill, but also to meet one of Su’s friends who is an Australian Italian. She also works with Su at the school. An evening of wonderful food and intense conversation!

Hong Kong Day 2 17 May 2009

The next day dawned a slightly clearer day, with some rain overnight to clear some of the smog away which drifts in from China and mingles with the locally generated smog, although Hong Kong is a wonderfully clean and safe place. We set off on the bus again over the hills to visit the Buddha (it was Sunday after all!!). This is an impressive sight, standing up tall and was one of the things we wanted to see in Hong Kong. We mixed with throngs of Buddhist worshippers and also visited the local monastery. The Buddha stands about as high as a 4 story building and sits on the top of a hill. Visiting the Buddha up close did involve climbing up about 200 steps in the heat and did involve a lot of perspiration, but it was worth it. After another ice cream for lunch we boarded a gondola to take us back to the city over the mountains and harbour. It was in itself a fantastic experience and the view of the city and airport that unfolds as you go over a ridge is amazing. It sweeps into a terminal that connects with the sub-way train, which we took back to the city. All beautifully clean, but people here are very conscious of the swine flu etc and it was not uncommon to see people wearing face masks, including ticket office booth holders. I will always remember the sight when we exited the subway. It was unexpected, but an impressive barrage to all senses of colour, sound and a density of people as far as the eye could see. Every where were shops of electronics and camera equipment and throngs of locals all reviewing the latest equipment. Kathy and Su went of to the “Ladies Market” which was also near by, while I browsed the array of electronics on offer. Every piece of hardware being manufactured was there. Apart from a 8GB SD card (which I got for about half the best price I have seen on Trade Me) I was also tempted by some good quality clothing on sale as well.

We then rounded off our sampling of Hong Kong public transport (which is excellent), with a ride on one of the trams to a place Su knew that would enable me to get some new open toe sandals and Kathy also was not shy to avail herself of an opportunity! My purchase was for only $20 for some leather sandals. Assuming they last, great buying.

Then off to our last venture of the holiday in Hong Kong, being another dinner out with Su, her friend Bruna, Bill and views of the harbour, including the famous laser light show. It rounded off a fantastic time in Hong Kong, and we so felt the love of Kathy’s friend Su, who had only just returned from NZ from being at her much loved step mother’s funeral.

We were up early the next morning to head off to the airport and it was quite a wrench to leave our dear friend Su, whose kindness to us in the context of her own grief was just wonderful in the root meaning of the word. We taxied to the train terminal to check in and found that the flight was delayed by one hour!! Dang!! We had got up at 5:15am to make sure we got there in time, but never mind, it was wonderful to deposit our bags in the station and head to the airport on the lovely clean train, knowing we had plenty of time.

The flight to London was full and not a memory I wish to recall! However, flying over China and Russia was a new experience and broadening to the mind to appreciate the vastness of these two countries, with many city names I had no consciousness of.

We were nervous to ensure we had sufficient time to clear immigration and customs at Heathrow, collect our bags and then change terminals to check in for the flight to Milan, but we made it fine. Being surrounded again by Italian speakers was a foretaste of what lay in store.

We arrived at Malpensa in Milan slightly ahead of schedule, tired, but excited. The airport shuttle bus to the city was miles further than either of us expected and took nearly an hour mostly on autostrada. We were just collecting our bags from the bus when our determination and concentration was broken by a cry of greeting from our dear friend Simona. What a lovely fresh surprise to embrace the warmth of her welcome and meet her lovely boyfriend Emmanuele. After packing our large bags into a small car it was a short trip to our hotel to farewell our friends and collapse into bed after the longest, most exhausting day.

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Travel Location: New-York-City,United-States

Travel About: big-city

New York gave us a rather frosty reception. Our flight from Panama via Miami had been delayed by five hours so rather than arriving in the early evening, it was gone midnight by the time we left the airport. Walking from the subway to the hotel at that time in the morning, woefully under-dressed without the necessary knitwear, we discovered that the city’s cold snap had bite.

Despite being frozen to the core, we were still excited to be booking into Morgan’s, the posh boutique hotel we had reserved before leaving England. It didn’t disappoint. After staying in hostels and a budget hotel in Panama City before we left, with well-worn sheets dating back to the early Eighties, sinking into the large bed with its soft white linen and ultra-comfortable feather duvet was bliss.

“the city’s cold snap had bite!”

The hotel was just a few minutes walk from Grand Central Station and not far from Times Square. So, after a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel (bagels and cream cheese – yum!) we spent the next day shopping for a woolly hat and scarf for Duncan, and a soft new fleece for me as an early Christmas pressie from Gap. Then, after hot chocolates in Times Square, we took a walk in snowy Central Park, which was beautiful with its white covering. We stopped awhile to watch the ice-skaters sliding around the winter rink.

Other window shopping during our trip to New York included a trip to the famous Schwarz toy shop (where I loved the customised DIY muppets!), a look inside the white wonderland of the Apple store, and of course, a wander around Tiffany’s. More serious browsing took place during many hours spent in electronics shops however, where Duncan debated the various merits of netbook computers. (Of course, none had the model he eventually settled on, so more wandering through the streets of New York to branches of different chains followed…)

By Christmas Day we were both more warmly dressed, and Duncan was the proud new owner of a teeny Lenovo computer. By this time, I had developed a full blown cold but a double dose of Sudafed perked me up no end. So, we headed out and spent a few hours queuing for and a few hours up the magnificent Empire State Building, taking in the views and listening to a New Yoyk (sic) cabbie on the audio guide tell us all about the city and its vast skyscrapers.

We had scoured the internet for places to eat our Christmas dinner. None seemed to offer the turkey and trimmings-fest we would usually enjoy but as we weren’t exactly having our traditional Christmas (and I don’t eat turkey anyway) it didn’t really matter. Instead, we had a delicious meal with bubbly wine in an upmarket restaurant. It set us back the price of around two weeks accommodation in most parts of Asia, but it was really enjoyable and hey – this was Christmas, and our little escape from backpacking for awhile.

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Travel Location: Paris,France

Travel About: architecture,big-city,nightlife,road-trip

7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo a llover intensamente. A las 8:15 ya estamos en carretera, y durante las dos primeras horas el chaparrón es constante.

Dejamos atrás ciudades como Angoulême, Poitiers (y su Futuroscope, que descartamos visitar), Tours (aquí perdimos mucho tiempo en encontrar la entrada a la autovía) y Orléans; fue en ésta última donde paramos a comer unos sandwiches de la “caja de la comida”, sobre las 13:15. En estos momentos hemos dejado atrás los nubarrones y disfrutamos de un tiempo agradable.

Tras esto tomó el volante Puro para llegar a Versalles casi dos horas después. Pese a que era temporada baja, la villa presentaba una invasión total de autobuses de turistas, sin duda atraídos por el mayor interés del lugar: visitar el Palacio de Versalles, fantasía hecha realidad por el afán de ostentación de Luis XIV y sus benditos sucesores…

Para empezar, tardamos media hora en aparcar. Luego tocó sacarse los tíckets (13,5 € por cabeza), que pagamos con sumo entusiasmo. El último trámite fue coger los cascos de la visita guiada (incluidos en el precio, claro).

Resuelto lo anterior, pudimos comenzar a pasearnos por los interminables pasillos y desmesurados salones del Palacio. El lugar es impresionante, difícilmente se puede imaginar algo más gigantesco, recargado y opulento. Dimos vueltas y vueltas pero aquello parecía no tener fin (de hecho, son 50.000 metros cuadrados de Palacio abiertos al público).

Las 800 hectáreas de jardines también tienen su miga (se alquilan cochecitos para recorrerlas…), y tan sólo echamos un vistazo general.

Como aspecto negativo de la visita, resaltaré la EXCESIVA presencia de turistas, especialmente orientales, a los que Puro empezó a coger cariño.

Nos fuimos de allí bastante cansados, la kilometrada matutina pasaba factura (600 km), y es que fue una de las mayores del viaje. Pero aún quedaba entrar en París y buscar el albergue. Puro me volvió a ceder el volante y nos metimos en la maraña de tráfico. A trancas y barrancas, entramos hasta el barrio de Clichy sin sufrir percances, pero cometiendo alguna que otra tropelía circulatoria.

Eran las 18:30 y ya estábamos en el albergue, con una habitación entera para nosotros. Subimos hasta el 6º piso cargando con las maletas por las escaleras (ascensor en reparación justo cuando llegábamos). Nos duchamos y salimos a cenar algo sencillo: McDonald’s.

Unas cervecitas en la terraza de un bar parisino sirvieron de relajado colofón a un día bastante duro. Ya en la habitación, aprovechamos para distraernos viendo unos capítulos de “Joey” en el portátil de Bur (que era lo único que había).

Con la iluminación de la Torre Eiffel entrando por la ventana, nos acostamos sobre las 23:15.

Distancia recorrida: 640 km

Gastos: 70 € (Gasolina, Peajes, Visita Versalles, Parking, Albergue, Cena, Cerveza)

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Travel Location: Helsinki,Finland

Travel About: architecture,big-city

Helsinki is AMAZING!  Such a typical European city.  Brilliant architecture, pretty street lanterns, cobble stone streets, pigeons, and talented street musicians. It feels so strange and wonderful to finally be living so near a city líke it! So far I have been there every weekend..in the summer I hope to go there every week-night. ;)  Riitta Heilimo (old friend and fellow English speaker) took me downtown my very first time one Sat. night. Although it was cold and dark, there were still so many people out and about.  We walked around and I took pictures and we went to a pleasant coffee shop to warm up (Helsinki is full of really  great coffee shops).   I have a few very bad pics of the city..they were taken that first night and it was so cold and dark that it was difficult to get even one good shot.   Some day if I remember, when I don’t have fat mittens on and it’s daylight..I’ll take some more pictures.

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Travel Location: Caracas,Venezuela

Travel About: cultural-immersion,big-city,historic

My partner and I were in Caracas for the World Social Forum of 2006.

Given the left wing press on Venezuela, particularly Chavez’s socialist allegiances, concern for the poor and stance against US oil interests, we had expected something more akin to a socialist utopia. This was perhaps foolish but while aware of the countries poverty we had the impression that social infrastructure had been put in place to render life a little more tolerable than what it actually is.

Least welcoming

In Caracas we found people to be the rudest and least welcoming of all the places we have been to in Central and South America. This is possibly because in Caracas, more than any other place, poverty is so grindingly bad that being kind to white, bleeding heart westerners just isn’t a high priority. Another explanation is that they assumed we were American. That most foreigners were in the city for the World Social Forum, with the intent of in some way working together to improve the state of things, didn’t seem to have any impact.

Admittedly, I was very sick during my time in Caracas. This may have effected my perception of things substantially.

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Travel Location: New-York-City,United-States

Travel About: big-city,tour

As I had a ‘Transfer’ arranged to pick me up at Rio de Janerio today, I needed to get a message to the ‘Transfer” in Rio de Janeiro to pick me up 24 hours later. So, I got in touch with Kate Murphy who arranged my trip to get Ushi Grant who arranged my travel in South America (both in Australia) to organise it. Murf reckoned that I lost the boarding pass on purpose as she knew that I wanted to stay in New York anyway.

I was going to make the most of my stay anyway. My mobile phone battery went flat in London(charger was in Rio, I hoped) but luckily the battery in my camera was still OK.

A personal guided tour

The Ramada Plaza was offering individual tours from the Hotel which were a little on the expensive side ($200 for 3 to 4 hours) but hey, I didn’t know whether I would be back again. I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the World Trade Centre site (Ground Zero) and I got to see a lot more, Times Square, Wall Street, especially the NYPD cars and those unique New York yellow school buses and of course the yellow cabs.

You know, New York has so much that is only New York and no where else. It is buzz to see movies that are based in New York after you have been there.

With my personal guide in an air conditioned Toyoto Prado four wheel drive LandCruiser, we set off to see the World Trade Centre site. On the way we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and I got see one of those many New York yellow cabs. When we got there, all you see is a World Trade Centre awning and a hole in the ground which of course is fenced off.

This was one of New Yorks icons. It was hard to imagine that this was the site of the 110 floor Twin Towers. They were the worlds tallest buildings between January 1972 to May 1973. On 29 June 2005, a month before I got there, they had decided to build a new 108 floor tower on this site and call it the Freedom Tower.

Then we went to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty which is the American symbol of freedom. On the way. I saw the Wall Street sign.

I also saw the 7000 pound bronze sculpture of the charging bull on lower Broadway which was originally secretly dropped off in December of 1989 in front off the New York Stock Exchange as a response to the rebound of the 1987 stock market crash. Have seen this bull in a few movies since.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to catch a ferry to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty, so had to be satisfied with seeing it from a distance. We then went to see the Empire State Building. It was built in 1931, a year before our Sydney Harbour Bridge which is one of Australias unique symbols.

On the way I saw the Manhattan Bridge. There was a lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan to go past before we got to the Empire State Building which was the tallest skyscraper in the world for 41 years.

The North Tower of the World Trade Centre became taller in 1972, and soon after the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building has again became the tallest building in New York.

Unfortunately again, I didn’t have time to stand in line to wait to see those breath taking views from the top of the Empire State Building. We then went to check out Times Square, where the theatres there have a hugh number of billboards which are lighted and have animated advertisements.

It reminds you of Las Vegas on a small scale. I then saw the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (47 Stories) which was originally built at the present site of the Empire State Building and rebuilt at its present location in 301 Park Avenue, Manhattan. This hotel is famous for creating the Waldorf salad which is salad that has apples, walnuts and celery with a mayonnaise dressing.

The Rockeleller Center which is an art deco marvel was the next attraction which was built during the Great Depression. The centre covers 11 acres with 19 commerical buildings on it.

We then saw Central Park which was opened in 1859 and was the first artificially landscaped park in the United States. It provides 843 acres of paths, lakes and open spaces and gives New Yorkers a chance to escape the concrete jungle.

I then saw the Roosevelt Island Tramway which spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. Roosevelt Island is a narrow island in the East River of New York City and lies between Manhattan Island to its west and the borough of Queens on Long Island to its east.

It was then time to head back to the Hotel. On the way I saw a couple of those New York yellow school buses and the Jamaica Hospital Medical Centre.

24 Hours was not enough time to see New York but I enjoyed what I was able to see time permitting. In the short time I was in New York, it was well worth the money spent to have the personal guided tour. I’ll be back.

Next Flight: American Airlines – AA 951(New York 2220 Sao Paulo 0840) Duration 11:57

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Travel Location: Ha-Noi,Vietnam

Travel About: food-&-wine,big-city,misadventure

This journal entry actually marks the second time we arrived in Hanoi. The first time, if you remember from our journal entry for Tam Coc, we were abandoned in Hanoi by the open bus we took from Hue, all the time thinking we were going to be dropped off in Ninh Binh. We won’t harp on again about the hassle we experienced, so if you want to know more about it, go back two journal entries and you will get what you need to know.

After finishing our tour to Tam Coc and Cuc Phuong National Park, we were taken back to Hanoi and dropped off at Thuy Lam Hotel in the old quarter area of Vietnam’s capital city. We were itching for a relaxing evening and we decided to find somewhere to eat nearby a cinema, so we could see a film afterwards. The guy at reception at Thuy Lam Hotel mentioned a cinema in Vincom Towers, which we later found out was a new and modern shopping complex in Hanoi. However, he didn’t entirely sell us on Vincom, so we decided to try the Lonely Planet’s suggestion first, to see what English language movies were playing at Fanslands Cinema.

You will see skinned, headless frogs that were still hopping around in the basket they were thrown into

Lonely Planet, as helpful and resourceful as it has been for us on this trip, has been wrong on many occasions. This has been more a result of Southeast Asia’s rapid growth and modernisation than Lonely Planet’s inadequacies, so we can’t entirely blame them. However, when we arrived at Fanslands and the only film on offer was a black and white Audrey Hepburn film from a few decades ago, we thought we might give Vincom Towers a try.

All the trekking in Cuc Phuong during the day had taken its toll and we decided to get a taxi to Fanslands Cinema. Our taxi driver was the second person in Hanoi to scam us; the first person was the tour company guy who abandoned us, on the side of the road in Hanoi two days earlier, when our open bus forgot to drop us off in Ninh Binh. Apparently, we flagged down a “private” taxi that still had a meter but the meter’s price ran up about 10 times faster than a legitimate taxi meter would have done.

In the space of 15 minutes, we owed a taxi fare of 120,000 Vietnamese Dong (around ₤4 or $7), but it should have been only 12,000 Dong (40p or $0.75) at that point in the journey. We thought something was fishy when we noticed the meter was already at 90,000 Dong and by the time we got the driver to stop, it had gone up an extra 30,000 Dong in about 30 seconds!

We argued for a while with the driver and ended up paying him 90,000 Dong to avoid any physical assault – he looked like the type of guy who may have been carrying a knife or some other weapon. Luckily, we were only a block away from Fanslands Cinema, so we walked the rest of the way. After agreeing that we weren’t in the mood to see Audrey Hepburn on screen, we decided to find Vincom Towers to see what the fuss was about. Having known that we were scammed by the taxi driver, we didn’t want to get scammed again, so we went into a really nice hotel that was fortunately nearby, and asked the concierge to help us flag down a proper taxi driver who would not cheat us out of our hard earned and saved money.

The next cinema was ten minutes away and we only paid 15,000 Dong for the taxi journey; our confidence in getting taxis in Hanoi increased tenfold. Vincom Towers surprised us when we arrived; it was even nicer than Saigon’s Diamond Plaza. On the top floor of the shopping mall, we found a nice Italian restaurant and had some good pizza and lasagne. The staff members in the restaurant were really funny when they spoke to us because they clearly had a ball practising their English pronunciation. At the cinema, there were many English language films on offer and we ended up seeing “Primeval” which was a silly, but enjoyable, horror film.

After having breakfast in the hotel the next morning, we decided to work on our travel journal. We spent a few hours writing up one of our stories, and as we tried to post the journal entry online, the internet on the computer we were using locked up. We had saved the story as a document on the computer (this had happened to us before so we thought we normally did this just in case) and we didn’t think anything bad would happen when we rebooted the computer to try posting our story again on the travel website. However, as soon as the computer started up again, we noticed that all of the documents on the desktop had been deleted. Apparently, the computer was set up to clear all files and changes which had been made by a previous user when it was restarted, and we lost everything we had written!

Many things had been planned on that day, but we decided it would be better to spend time rewriting the journal while all of the information was fresh in our heads. However, we also needed to look into travel to China, so Dan decided to search for a trustworthy travel agency that we could use to book our bus journey to Nanning, the first main city in China that you can travel to from Hanoi. Kyle got stuck with re-writing the journal, to his joy.

Lise and Tarjei, the Norwegians we travelled with to Tam Coc and Cuc Phuong National Park, were quite envious of the cinema experience that we had the night before, and since they wanted a relaxing, comfortable night out, we all decided to see a film together later that evening. We needed to withdraw money from an ATM machine as we were running low on cash; therefore, we headed to Vincom Towers a little early in order to do so. This was the beginning of many problems for us, as none of the machines we tried seemed to work. After trying all of the machines in the area around the mall, we decided to look for an internet cafe to call Barclays Bank and find out what the problem was.

No one around Vincom spoke English, but finally we ran across a guy from South Korea who spoke enough Vietnamese to translate for us. We found out about an internet cafe nearby and we headed there hoping that there would be Skype facilities, so we could call Barclays. “Nearby” was actually a 15-minute walk and, when we arrived, the packed internet cafe had one computer open that did not have Skype. None of the other computers looked like they would have the software, either, and when we tried to download Skype, it would have taken over an hour due to a very slow internet speed. We decided that our best bet, at this time, would be to return to our hotel and try to make the phone call from there.

Since we were running out of time (and money), we had to flag down a motorbike taxi. Riding through Hanoi’s congested traffic at night, on the back of a motorbike whose driver reeked heavily of alcohol, was not a very reassuring experience. Once we were safely inside Thuy Lam Hotel, we ask reception how much a call to England would cost. We had to laugh out loud when they said the call would cost over $4 per minute, and we quickly asked where the nearest internet cafe with Skype facilities was located (the hotel, unfortunately did not have Skype loaded onto their computers).

Luck was with us, as there was an internet cafe a couple of minutes down the street. Also, we bumped into Lise and Tarjei, just as they were heading back to Thuy Lam Hotel in order to clean up and head towards the cinema. Once we explained our ATM problems to them, they were happy to wait at the hotel for us, so we could all share a taxi to the cinema. Skype was ready to use at the internet cafe and in five minutes, Barclays had removed all card blocks, so ATM usage would not be a problem.

One good thing about banks keeping an eye out for card fraud is that all strange activity on an account triggers an alarm that blocks a card. The bad thing is that when you are travelling abroad to so many different countries, some of which are notorious for card fraud, you often find yourselves panicking because your card suddenly stops working, as we often have found the case to be.

With wallets full of cash, we hopped into a taxi with Lise and Tarjei and headed to the cinema, arriving just in time to see “Codename: The Cleaner”, a comedy with Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu. After the film, we headed back into the old quarter to have a late dinner. We ate burgers at a place that Lise and Tarjei ate at the night before – Papa Joe’s. The food was good and the service was great.

Our next day, our final full day in Vietnam, was a day packed full of activities. We had to visit the Mongolian Embassy to obtain visas for our trip there in June. Also, we had to fit in as many sights as possible since we didn’t make it to any the day before. Finally, we had to book our bus to China, to ensure that we would indeed be leaving Vietnam as planned.

We woke up early and hopped on motorbike taxis to be taken to the Mongolian Embassy. The address that we found on the internet was no longer correct; when we arrived at the place, it had been taken over by the Chinese. We were both quite tired when we woke up early that morning, so tired that we had forgotten the most important item for obtaining a visa… our passports. Whilst Kyle tried to find out where the Mongolian Embassy was located, Dan flagged down another motorbike taxi to go back to the hotel and retrieve these vital documents.

When Dan returned with the passports, Kyle had received the new Mongolian Embassy address from the Chinese Embassy employee who was kind enough to help him, and after a 15-minute motorbike taxi ride, we arrived at the correct embassy. There was more panic during the ride as our driver seemed to be a bit lost when searching for the embassy. We finally got there and were faced with even more worries.

The embassy was closed on Mondays and the day we chose to sort out our visas was indeed a Monday. We rang the doorbell to the embassy anyway, and luckily someone answered the door. After begging and pleading for several minutes, the guy agreed to process our visa applications, but he doubled the price; instead of paying $30 each, we ended up paying $60 each.

The man told us to return around 3pm with $120 in cash. We had enough money to pay for the visas in Vietnamese Dong, thinking that this would be okay. However, the Mongolian Embassy in Hanoi only takes US Dollars. Did you know that banks in Vietnam do not change their own currency into US Dollars? They don’t actually exchange their own currency for any other currency. We ended up finding a dodgy gold jewellery shop where we trustfully handed over 2 million Vietnamese Dong to the owner, who left the store to change our money for us. He returned about ten minutes later with our cash and ended up only taking a small commission from us (less than $1); we were happy once we confirmed that the money was not counterfeit.

Money in hand, we had about four hours to kill before returning to the embassy to collect our passports. We were not far away from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex and nearby attractions and, along the way, we walked around for about an hour, stopping off to have ice coffees and to take photographs of scary goods at local markets. All of the main attractions at Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum were also closed on Mondays, so we could only view things from a distance.

The photo album for this journal has many photographs from our walk that day, including some gruesome photos of local market delicacies, such as pig’s head, feet, tongues and hearts. You will see skinned, headless frogs that were still hopping around in the basket they were thrown into, and buckets full of snails and other sea creatures as well as some unknown things. We also saw a woman on a motorbike with a cage full of cats, heading towards a market we are glad we did not see.

Between the time we dropped off our passports at the embassy and the time we picked them up, we saw many local flavours of Hanoi, as we walked way off the tourist beaten path. It was actually quite nice that the Mongolian Embassy had been moved to a more remote location as we didn’t see any tourists for several hours.

When we returned to the embassy, our passports had been processed and our visas were attached inside. We were really happy to have sorted that out, as it meant we no longer had to worry about getting to Beijing in time to do it. We headed back to Hanoi’s old quarter and walked around some of the sights there for the next couple of hours. We visited Ho Hoan Kiem, “ho” means “lake” in Vietnamese, where a beautiful red bridge leads out to a temple called Den Ngoc Son on an island in the northern part the lake.

In the old quarter, we also visited an ancient house and a couple of other temples. Most of all, we enjoyed walking along the narrow streets, looking at the various shops and restaurants as we passed them by, and speaking with many of the locals busy at work. For dinner that evening, we asked reception at our hotel to recommend one of the places mentioned in our Lonely Planet. They suggested we try Brothers Cafe, which was our top choice, too. The place was a converted 300 year-old temple and served a gourmet buffet of freshly cooked food; we enjoyed a huge meal before heading back to Thuy Lam Hotel.

Leaving Hanoi the next morning was great. We had booked our bus tickets through Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel, which was a couple of doors down the street from our hotel. We went there to be picked up by a taxi and were taken to the long-distance bus terminal. The bus company used by the hotel was CTS, or China Travel Services, and we were very impressed by the quality and service offered by them. Getting across the Chinese border and to Nanning ended up being a much easier ordeal than we anticipated, and we quickly surmised that the two of us were very happy for a change of scene, to be entering a more developed nation than those we had been visiting for the past few months.

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