The train to Mongolia left Beijing early on Wednesday morning. We all packed our bags the night before to give us some extra time in bed but I still woke up early because I was excited. At the train station we found our train and were pleased that we had a four person room to ourselves.
The journey was around thirty hours, our longest journey so far. We stocked up on food that turned out to not be necessary because they provided some pretty good meals included in the ticket. We passed the time talking to other travellers, playing card games and amusing the Chinese train conductor without establishing why we were so amusing.
When we hit the Mongolian border we all had to leave the train because the train tracks needed to be changed to fit the Mongolian rails. We also had to go through Chinese and Mongolian customs and border control which took a few hours. Finally we entered Mongolia and it was ... dark. We could not see a thing so finally went to bed at two AM.
The next morning I woke up needing to visit the bathroom. Train toilets have differed widely so far with this one being a Russian coldwar throwback. It was some type of giant metal contraption with big pipes and a pedal. You could flush the toilet and a steel flap would open up so you could see directly onto the tracks speeding past below. Never have I looked so long down a toilet with such interest.
I have got off track talking about toilets again.
So I woke up needing to use the toilet, and opened the door to our very dark room. The whole place was suddenly filled with dazzling bright light and it took me a few minutes for my eyes to be able to adjust. Finally I looked out of the train window and could see the most incredible landscape. The ground was green with white patches of sparkling frost as far as I could see in every direction, there was a bright blue sky and nothing else at all. No houses, no people, no animals. I also then turned round and realised that I had woken up Jen by opening the door.
Finally the train arrived in Ullan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolia and we were met by some representatives from the hostel we wanted to stay at. We never arranged this, they just seemed to be fishing for backpackers. The hostel is called UB Guesthouse and it is really comfortable and friendly. The city itself is famous for pickpockets and opportunistic criminals. Yesterday someone in the hostel turned their back on their bag only to have it taken along with wallet, passport and coat at a nearby cafe.
Ullan Battar though is quite nice. The temperature however is shocking. It is currently -10 with temperatures sometimes reaching -40 in the coming months. Thankfully I have layers of warm clothes which are heavy but seem to be doing the job. The city is overlooked on one side by massive snow peaked mountains and it feels like we are about to go on a ski trip. We went to see a Mongolian cultural theatre/music show and have eaten lots of local Mongolian food. This mainly consists of Mutton, potato and soup, which is exactly what you need when it's cold.
Tomorrow I leave for a one week camping trip in the Gobi Desert with Nikki and Jen. We will be travelling for 6 hours a day in an old Russian van and staying with local people overnight. The next update might take longer as I will probably have lost a finger or two to frostbite.
bx
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Heading North
Leaving Hong Kong felt quite strange. I was happy because it was the start of a new adventure but I was also sad because I know it will be some time till I return.
The one part of me that was totally relieved that I was leaving was my liver. Since I arrived there had been endless parties and far too much drinking, the last big party not seeing me arrive in bed till 8.30am.
Nikki, Jen and I all met together at Hung Hom station in Hong Kong. We had tickets and passports and were fully prepared for the 24 hour journey to Beijing. The train was comfortable but cramped and for a large part of the trip I slept off the previous week in Hong Kong. That is one good thing about long train journeys, the movement seems to send me to sleep and it's probably the only time where it is acceptable to spend long periods in bed.
When we stepped off the train in Beijing the first thing that hit me was the cold weather. We had gone from humid and hot to cold and crazy. I say crazy because suddenly people forgot how to line up in an orderly manner, found spitting totally acceptable and toilets became an open plan design experience again.
All three of us intrepid travellers had been to Beijing before so we had the luxury of not having pressure to fill our visit doing tourist stuff. We needed to get our Mongolian visa from the embassy and this was the only important thing on our to do list. We nearly had a serious issue with the visa because the embassy stopped providing same day visa service. This meant we missed the train we were intending to take and would have to spend a week in Beijing waiting for the next service. Thankfully after substantial issues at the train station we discovered that there were two train services to Mongolia. Nikki upon hearing this announced that she loved the man behind the counter and I think she was close to kissing him.
If finding a second train service was not lucky enough, we were also in Beijing for what must be one of their clearest days of the year. We woke up one morning to blue sky, sunshine and visibility that is incredibly rare for such a usually smoggy and polluted capital city. We suddenly had the urge to become total tourists and take advantage of the weather. We went into the Forbidden City but only as far as the gate overlooking Tianamen Square. I stood where Chairman Mao once stood overlooking countless parades and celebrations. We then walked to the other side of the Forbidden City and up to a park with a hill overlooking the city and Beijing. We watched the sun set over the place where countless emperors lived and then did the very Chinese thing of going to a pub called the Den and eating pizza and drinking local beer.
There were other highlights to Beijing. We ate incredible Peking duck and I visited the Summer Palace. We also went to see the Beijing acrobatic show which left me open jawed and in awe at the flexibility and impossibility of some of the tricks and shows that were displayed.
Overall my feeling about Beijing is that it is an interesting and fun place, but after two visits I have ticked it off my list. If I return again it will be because of reasons other than seeing the sites and having a holiday.
The next stop is Mongolia. Did you know that the capital city of Mongolia is on average the coldest capital city in the world? Did you know I feel totally unprepared for this? I have purchased a big black wool hat which apparently makes me look like a coal miner. Pictures of Beijing will be added to this post soon.
bx
The one part of me that was totally relieved that I was leaving was my liver. Since I arrived there had been endless parties and far too much drinking, the last big party not seeing me arrive in bed till 8.30am.
Nikki, Jen and I all met together at Hung Hom station in Hong Kong. We had tickets and passports and were fully prepared for the 24 hour journey to Beijing. The train was comfortable but cramped and for a large part of the trip I slept off the previous week in Hong Kong. That is one good thing about long train journeys, the movement seems to send me to sleep and it's probably the only time where it is acceptable to spend long periods in bed.
When we stepped off the train in Beijing the first thing that hit me was the cold weather. We had gone from humid and hot to cold and crazy. I say crazy because suddenly people forgot how to line up in an orderly manner, found spitting totally acceptable and toilets became an open plan design experience again.
All three of us intrepid travellers had been to Beijing before so we had the luxury of not having pressure to fill our visit doing tourist stuff. We needed to get our Mongolian visa from the embassy and this was the only important thing on our to do list. We nearly had a serious issue with the visa because the embassy stopped providing same day visa service. This meant we missed the train we were intending to take and would have to spend a week in Beijing waiting for the next service. Thankfully after substantial issues at the train station we discovered that there were two train services to Mongolia. Nikki upon hearing this announced that she loved the man behind the counter and I think she was close to kissing him.
If finding a second train service was not lucky enough, we were also in Beijing for what must be one of their clearest days of the year. We woke up one morning to blue sky, sunshine and visibility that is incredibly rare for such a usually smoggy and polluted capital city. We suddenly had the urge to become total tourists and take advantage of the weather. We went into the Forbidden City but only as far as the gate overlooking Tianamen Square. I stood where Chairman Mao once stood overlooking countless parades and celebrations. We then walked to the other side of the Forbidden City and up to a park with a hill overlooking the city and Beijing. We watched the sun set over the place where countless emperors lived and then did the very Chinese thing of going to a pub called the Den and eating pizza and drinking local beer.
There were other highlights to Beijing. We ate incredible Peking duck and I visited the Summer Palace. We also went to see the Beijing acrobatic show which left me open jawed and in awe at the flexibility and impossibility of some of the tricks and shows that were displayed.
Overall my feeling about Beijing is that it is an interesting and fun place, but after two visits I have ticked it off my list. If I return again it will be because of reasons other than seeing the sites and having a holiday.
The next stop is Mongolia. Did you know that the capital city of Mongolia is on average the coldest capital city in the world? Did you know I feel totally unprepared for this? I have purchased a big black wool hat which apparently makes me look like a coal miner. Pictures of Beijing will be added to this post soon.
bx
Friday, October 23, 2009
To Beijing...And beyond!!!
Nikki arrived in Hong Kong, stepped off the plane and went straight out to Wan Chai with all her bags at 1.30 AM. This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows her. She is now joining Jen and I on the second leg of the trip back home to England by land.
I will not be able to update the blog in China so there might be a week or so till the next post. We have contacted Russia in advance to make them aware we are coming. They are stocking up on Vodka.
bx
I will not be able to update the blog in China so there might be a week or so till the next post. We have contacted Russia in advance to make them aware we are coming. They are stocking up on Vodka.
bx
Saturday, October 17, 2009
In Hong Kong
On my first night in Hong Kong I dashed into Carnegies to use their toilet on my way to meet everyone at Eberneezers for a kebab. A gigantic woman was on the bar dancing when she fell and in a manner similar to the movie Armageddon or Deep Impact I found myself in the path of a life threatening projectile. Thankfully two friends caught hold of her and I was saved.
I realised later as I munched my kebab that Hong Kong will never change. There will always be giant woman falling off the bar in Carnegies, Chicken Tikka kebabs, Dim Sum and beers at the Bridge.
Getting to predictable Hong Kong was no easy task . Jen and I left Sapa in Vietnam and twisted our way down the mountain in a minibus towards the Chinese border crossing. We checked out of Vietnam immigration and customs then walked across a small bridge to the Chinese border crossing with our bags on our backs. I was still not feeling well and could only think about the medical check the Chinese authorities were going to do before I was allowed in the country. If they did not let me in could I return to Vietnam? Probably not. Would I have to live on the bridge between the two countries till my temperature turned normal? Probably so.
Luckily for me I took two paracetamol thirty minutes before I crossed the border (a trick I learnt from my devious border crossing mother). My temperature was fine but Jen had to get checked twice because she was quite high! Amusing considering she was the healthy one out of us two.
When we crossed into China we stopped and waited. Why were we not being harassed? Where are the people crowding us and trying to sell taxis, bracelets, food, money exchange services, bus tickets, prostitutes, drugs and guns? This is what we are used to and it was not what we got in China. Nobody harassed us at all. We could have dipped ourselves in toffee and covered ourselves in banknotes and still we would have been ignored.
Eventually we found the bus station and booked a ticket to the city of Kunming on the overnight bus. We arrived the next morning at 5am and I was greeted by an experience that I will never forget in all my life. Using a Chinese public toilet.
Imagine a pig trough running down one side of a wall. this pig trough is dug into the floor and is the communal hole for where people are expected to squat and excrete. Now imagine that the entire experience is open plan, no doors, small dividers either side no larger than two foot high. The toilet was busy and it took me a while standing in the hot and smelly room before I remembered that Chinese people do not ever make orderly lines and queue up for anything. I had to stand in front of a cubicle and wait for a man to finish then dash in before an elbowing Chinese man got there first. The other typical Chinese characteristic is the ability to stare without feeling embarrassed, which is how I found myself crapping with an audience.
It took a 24 hour train to eventually get to Hong Kong. It was a different kind of relief once I stepped off the carriage.
bx
I realised later as I munched my kebab that Hong Kong will never change. There will always be giant woman falling off the bar in Carnegies, Chicken Tikka kebabs, Dim Sum and beers at the Bridge.
Getting to predictable Hong Kong was no easy task . Jen and I left Sapa in Vietnam and twisted our way down the mountain in a minibus towards the Chinese border crossing. We checked out of Vietnam immigration and customs then walked across a small bridge to the Chinese border crossing with our bags on our backs. I was still not feeling well and could only think about the medical check the Chinese authorities were going to do before I was allowed in the country. If they did not let me in could I return to Vietnam? Probably not. Would I have to live on the bridge between the two countries till my temperature turned normal? Probably so.
Luckily for me I took two paracetamol thirty minutes before I crossed the border (a trick I learnt from my devious border crossing mother). My temperature was fine but Jen had to get checked twice because she was quite high! Amusing considering she was the healthy one out of us two.
When we crossed into China we stopped and waited. Why were we not being harassed? Where are the people crowding us and trying to sell taxis, bracelets, food, money exchange services, bus tickets, prostitutes, drugs and guns? This is what we are used to and it was not what we got in China. Nobody harassed us at all. We could have dipped ourselves in toffee and covered ourselves in banknotes and still we would have been ignored.
Eventually we found the bus station and booked a ticket to the city of Kunming on the overnight bus. We arrived the next morning at 5am and I was greeted by an experience that I will never forget in all my life. Using a Chinese public toilet.
Imagine a pig trough running down one side of a wall. this pig trough is dug into the floor and is the communal hole for where people are expected to squat and excrete. Now imagine that the entire experience is open plan, no doors, small dividers either side no larger than two foot high. The toilet was busy and it took me a while standing in the hot and smelly room before I remembered that Chinese people do not ever make orderly lines and queue up for anything. I had to stand in front of a cubicle and wait for a man to finish then dash in before an elbowing Chinese man got there first. The other typical Chinese characteristic is the ability to stare without feeling embarrassed, which is how I found myself crapping with an audience.
It took a 24 hour train to eventually get to Hong Kong. It was a different kind of relief once I stepped off the carriage.
bx
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Route Change
Jen and I were always originally going to get a plane from Hanoi back to Hong Kong. Our mission being to then get from Hong Kong back to England by land.
We have now changed this plan as we are ahead of schedule primarily because we missed exploring the middle of Vietnam when the typhoon hit. So we have decided to get a train from Vietnam into China.
We are crossing the border near Sapa and then travelling through China to a city called Kunming on a nightbus. From Kunming we will then travel to Hong Kong on a 24 hour train, arriving on the 13 October.
The main reason behind this route is
a) It is cheaper
b) We can now say we have travelled from Thailand to England by land!
Southeast Asia is now ... DONE!
bx
ps: More than likely this blog will be blocked in China. Might not be able to update till I arrive in Hong Kong. Email still works though.
We have now changed this plan as we are ahead of schedule primarily because we missed exploring the middle of Vietnam when the typhoon hit. So we have decided to get a train from Vietnam into China.
We are crossing the border near Sapa and then travelling through China to a city called Kunming on a nightbus. From Kunming we will then travel to Hong Kong on a 24 hour train, arriving on the 13 October.
The main reason behind this route is
a) It is cheaper
b) We can now say we have travelled from Thailand to England by land!
Southeast Asia is now ... DONE!
bx
ps: More than likely this blog will be blocked in China. Might not be able to update till I arrive in Hong Kong. Email still works though.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sapa
I met back up with Jen when I returned from Halong Bay to Hanoi and we spent some time talking about our adventures whilst we were apart. It was the first time in over 60 days that we had actually been apart so I think it was a little bit of a novelty!
We knew that we wanted to travel north west the next morning to a place called Sapa. Sapa is famous for rice terraces and local tribes wearing colourful traditional clothing. To get there we could either go by bus or train but after investigating with the different tour operators in Hanoi we realized that everyone was marking up the price of the tickets significantly. This made me very Hanoid.
We eventually got a better deal by walking half an hour to the train station ourselves and buying a ticket directly. This is exactly what we are going to do for the transiberian trip through Russia because the tour operators charge double or triple the price for tickets otherwise. I have even learnt Russian for "three tickets to ____ please".
The train journey was ten hours to get to Sapa and when we eventually arrived we were met with cold and cloud. Sapa is 1600 meters above sea level and was originally founded by the French as a hill station. The cold was not a problem because we each had warm clothes with us. The cloud though did cause issue.
If it were a clear day you would be able to see vast mountains and rice terraces from our hotel room window.
If it were a clear day you would be able to see the mountains and rice terraces surrounding this small side road.
In fact the best shot I got of the rice terraces was this one below.
Then I became quite sick. Which is probably the best timed sickness ever because we were ahead of ourselves in terms of schedule, in a place where it was too cloudy to see anything and staying in a really nice room. I trapped a nerve in my neck which made it hard for me to get out of bed on a few occasions and also had sore throat, headache and a cough that made me seem like a chainsmoking grandmother.
I'm still in Sapa and starting to feel slightly better now but my experience of the place has been somewhat limited. I'm sure it is a fantastic destination if it's a clear day and your not ill but my experience has been mostly from my bedroom.
bx
We knew that we wanted to travel north west the next morning to a place called Sapa. Sapa is famous for rice terraces and local tribes wearing colourful traditional clothing. To get there we could either go by bus or train but after investigating with the different tour operators in Hanoi we realized that everyone was marking up the price of the tickets significantly. This made me very Hanoid.
We eventually got a better deal by walking half an hour to the train station ourselves and buying a ticket directly. This is exactly what we are going to do for the transiberian trip through Russia because the tour operators charge double or triple the price for tickets otherwise. I have even learnt Russian for "three tickets to ____ please".
The train journey was ten hours to get to Sapa and when we eventually arrived we were met with cold and cloud. Sapa is 1600 meters above sea level and was originally founded by the French as a hill station. The cold was not a problem because we each had warm clothes with us. The cloud though did cause issue.
If it were a clear day you would be able to see vast mountains and rice terraces from our hotel room window.
If it were a clear day you would be able to see the mountains and rice terraces surrounding this small side road.
In fact the best shot I got of the rice terraces was this one below.
Then I became quite sick. Which is probably the best timed sickness ever because we were ahead of ourselves in terms of schedule, in a place where it was too cloudy to see anything and staying in a really nice room. I trapped a nerve in my neck which made it hard for me to get out of bed on a few occasions and also had sore throat, headache and a cough that made me seem like a chainsmoking grandmother.
I'm still in Sapa and starting to feel slightly better now but my experience of the place has been somewhat limited. I'm sure it is a fantastic destination if it's a clear day and your not ill but my experience has been mostly from my bedroom.
bx
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Halong Bay
Around two hours train journey east of Hanoi is Halong Bay which is famous for phallic looking rocks jutting out of the sea.These rocks are the biggest tourist attraction in Vietnam.
Jen had been to Halong Bay before and had no urge to go again, so we decided to spend two nights apart and meet back in Hanoi. It felt strange to not have her around but I was not making the journey alone, since the floods in Hoi An we have adopted a German backpacker called Marco who also wanted to visit the bay.
Before we left for Halong bay we knew that we wanted to stay overnight on a boat amongst all the rocky islands. Staying overnight is quite a common tourist activity, but we also wanted to stay one night on one of the larger islands called Cat Ba.
So we decided to go to Cat Ba for the first night then start the boat tour from there on the second day.
Cat Ba island was beautiful. A large part of the island is a national protected forest and it contains a rare species of monkey with a punk haircut. We never saw the monkeys but we did go hiking to one of the highest points of the island in search of them.
The views from the top were spectacular but in addition to climbing up a mountain you had to also scale a rusting metal viewing platform that I'm sure was built during the Vietnam war.
(note the gap in the woodwork flooring just behind my feet!)
We visited some nice beaches on the island too but later when trying to organise the overnight boat through Halong bay for the following morning we ran into difficulty. Nearly all the travel services were either not offering a boat because it was off season or charging 65-75 US Dollars per person. We knew that the trip did not cost this much money and so decided to get a boat from Cat Ba island to Halong Bay and bargain directly with the boat owners rather than go through a middle man.
The boat trip to Halong Bay proved to be at first the worst then the best decision we could have made. We purchased the boat ticket from a hotel in Cat Ba but when we arrived at the ferry pier the boat operators would not accept the ticket. None of them had any agreements with the hotel to operate a service and so we had just spent 5 US Dollars each on a worthless piece of paper.
With no choice we paid another 5 dollars and jumped on a boat to Halong Bay feeling slightly frustrated that we were cheated out of money by an unfair and tricky hotel owner.
Our luck was up though when got on the boat and realised that we were actually surrounded by tourists who were just returning from the same two day one night tour package that we were interested in taking. The boat was a massive tourist junk.
This is what we learnt.
Jen had been to Halong Bay before and had no urge to go again, so we decided to spend two nights apart and meet back in Hanoi. It felt strange to not have her around but I was not making the journey alone, since the floods in Hoi An we have adopted a German backpacker called Marco who also wanted to visit the bay.
Before we left for Halong bay we knew that we wanted to stay overnight on a boat amongst all the rocky islands. Staying overnight is quite a common tourist activity, but we also wanted to stay one night on one of the larger islands called Cat Ba.
So we decided to go to Cat Ba for the first night then start the boat tour from there on the second day.
Cat Ba island was beautiful. A large part of the island is a national protected forest and it contains a rare species of monkey with a punk haircut. We never saw the monkeys but we did go hiking to one of the highest points of the island in search of them.
The views from the top were spectacular but in addition to climbing up a mountain you had to also scale a rusting metal viewing platform that I'm sure was built during the Vietnam war.
(note the gap in the woodwork flooring just behind my feet!)
We visited some nice beaches on the island too but later when trying to organise the overnight boat through Halong bay for the following morning we ran into difficulty. Nearly all the travel services were either not offering a boat because it was off season or charging 65-75 US Dollars per person. We knew that the trip did not cost this much money and so decided to get a boat from Cat Ba island to Halong Bay and bargain directly with the boat owners rather than go through a middle man.
The boat trip to Halong Bay proved to be at first the worst then the best decision we could have made. We purchased the boat ticket from a hotel in Cat Ba but when we arrived at the ferry pier the boat operators would not accept the ticket. None of them had any agreements with the hotel to operate a service and so we had just spent 5 US Dollars each on a worthless piece of paper.
With no choice we paid another 5 dollars and jumped on a boat to Halong Bay feeling slightly frustrated that we were cheated out of money by an unfair and tricky hotel owner.
Our luck was up though when got on the boat and realised that we were actually surrounded by tourists who were just returning from the same two day one night tour package that we were interested in taking. The boat was a massive tourist junk.
This is what we learnt.
- The price for the 2 day one night tour depends on your bargaining power, some poople on the trip had paid 25 USD per person and some had paid 75-95 USD per person.
- The cheapest deals seemed to have been organised through tour operators in Hanoi. (Although no one was on the boat had tried to bargain direct with the boat owners at the pier)
- The trip we were doing from Cat Ba Island to Halong Bay was exactly the same journey and seeing exactly the same sights as everyone else had seen the previous day. In one hour we were getting a snapshot of what the others had seen at a slower pace for the past 48 hours.
So we arrived in Halong bay having got the views and boat trip for a fraction of the price. I was not that bothered about sleeping on a boat and the tourists we spoke to who had done it were also not that bothered by the experience either. We quickly did not care that much about going back out to sea again.
Instead we got a bus to a nearby city where tourists did not exist. We spent the day exploring, drinking and eating on the streets with the locals and for 3 amazing meals and 5 beers each paid 4 US Dollars each. I'm starting to feel like the best places in Vietnam are the places less travelled on the guide books.
bx
PS: The hotel man that sold us the ticket that does not exist from Cat Ba Island was called Mr Thang and his contact number was 0914416785. His hotel is called the " Thao Minh Hotel" on "Cat Ba Island". The address of the hotel is 'Khu Trung Tam du lich Cat Ba - HP'. My advice would be not to trust either the hotel or Mr Thang in the future and hope that if people find blog entry by researching on google they avoid the place.
Cranium Dancing
I woke up on my first night in Hanoi standing upright, dressed in my underpants and not anywhere near a bed.
I did not know where I was. I stood on some stairs looking down and feeling utterly confused for about three or four minutes before I realised that I was surrounded by doors with room numbers. I then realised that I must have been sleepwalking.
I turned around and found our room and walked back in, except it was not our room, it belonged to someone else. The door opened fine but the layout of the room was wrong and there were two people in a double bed. I don't think I woke them up but I felt like telling them the next day to make sure they lock their doors to prevent further western men sleepwalking into their bedroom wearing underpants.
After thirty seconds I realised that I had somehow walked three floors down and eventually managed to get back to our room. I found Jen asleep with her head totally wrapped in a bright coloured scarf so I could not see her face. This was slightly surreal and I thought I might still be dreaming till I remembered that we had heard from a girl staying a floor below us that she woke up the night before we arrived with a rat standing on her face. Jen was protecting herself from cranium tap dancing rats by offering them a multi coloured disco flooring.
We stay in the nicest places.
bx
I did not know where I was. I stood on some stairs looking down and feeling utterly confused for about three or four minutes before I realised that I was surrounded by doors with room numbers. I then realised that I must have been sleepwalking.
I turned around and found our room and walked back in, except it was not our room, it belonged to someone else. The door opened fine but the layout of the room was wrong and there were two people in a double bed. I don't think I woke them up but I felt like telling them the next day to make sure they lock their doors to prevent further western men sleepwalking into their bedroom wearing underpants.
After thirty seconds I realised that I had somehow walked three floors down and eventually managed to get back to our room. I found Jen asleep with her head totally wrapped in a bright coloured scarf so I could not see her face. This was slightly surreal and I thought I might still be dreaming till I remembered that we had heard from a girl staying a floor below us that she woke up the night before we arrived with a rat standing on her face. Jen was protecting herself from cranium tap dancing rats by offering them a multi coloured disco flooring.
We stay in the nicest places.
bx
Thursday, October 1, 2009
From Tourism to Escapism, Typhoon Ketsana
Before reading any further please click the three links below to see what Jen and I managed to find ourselves in the path of.
200,000 people have now been evacuated and the death toll is around 75.
Click here
Click here
Click here
We were heading North from Nha Trang to Hoi An when it became clear that things were starting to look bad. The bus occasionally would shake from the force of the wind and the rain was so loud it felt like it had a tin roof. As we got closer to Hoi An the damage of the approaching Typhoon became more visible, trees had fallen in the way of the bus and when they were cleared we upgraded further to powerlines. The bus stopped many times to clear the roads and eventually we arrived in Hoi An.
I'm sure Hoi An is a nice place to visit but without electricity and with people in hiding preparing for the coming rains and wind Jen and I never got a chance to see much. We pulled up outside of a hotel in the bus and they only had two rooms left. By luck Jen and I got one of the rooms and were relieved to have shelter.
The hotel had electricity from a generator because the worst storm in five years was not going to stop a Vietnamese hotel owner from making cash! The phone lines and internet was down but we felt secure in the hotel and were prepared to probably have to wait out the storm for 48 hours. No big deal.
The next morning though the nearby river had burst its banks and it became a very big deal. Water had risen six foot whilst we slept and if I stood in the middle of the street outside I would have just been able to keep my head above the water standing up. We had to be rescued by a small paddle boat which floated into the lobby to take people to land 4 at a time.
Once we got to dry land we found the bus station to be underwater and the trains out of service too. Tourists were milling about everywhere but luckily we seemed to have our heads screwed on and found a taxi to a nearby town. From here we got a big bus overnight (18 hours) to take us North to Hanoi which is where we now are. As the bus shot along the highway I could see the water rising and cars/bikes having to turn back in the roads. Sometimes there was so much water that the bus driver could not tell the difference between the highway and the rice paddies, he was driving on instinct and I am convinced that if we had left it any longer we would still be stuck in the middle of Vietnam.
All safe now though, and pictures will be added soon (though check Jens blog as she took most of them and should be updating now)
bx
200,000 people have now been evacuated and the death toll is around 75.
Click here
Click here
Click here
We were heading North from Nha Trang to Hoi An when it became clear that things were starting to look bad. The bus occasionally would shake from the force of the wind and the rain was so loud it felt like it had a tin roof. As we got closer to Hoi An the damage of the approaching Typhoon became more visible, trees had fallen in the way of the bus and when they were cleared we upgraded further to powerlines. The bus stopped many times to clear the roads and eventually we arrived in Hoi An.
I'm sure Hoi An is a nice place to visit but without electricity and with people in hiding preparing for the coming rains and wind Jen and I never got a chance to see much. We pulled up outside of a hotel in the bus and they only had two rooms left. By luck Jen and I got one of the rooms and were relieved to have shelter.
The hotel had electricity from a generator because the worst storm in five years was not going to stop a Vietnamese hotel owner from making cash! The phone lines and internet was down but we felt secure in the hotel and were prepared to probably have to wait out the storm for 48 hours. No big deal.
The next morning though the nearby river had burst its banks and it became a very big deal. Water had risen six foot whilst we slept and if I stood in the middle of the street outside I would have just been able to keep my head above the water standing up. We had to be rescued by a small paddle boat which floated into the lobby to take people to land 4 at a time.
Once we got to dry land we found the bus station to be underwater and the trains out of service too. Tourists were milling about everywhere but luckily we seemed to have our heads screwed on and found a taxi to a nearby town. From here we got a big bus overnight (18 hours) to take us North to Hanoi which is where we now are. As the bus shot along the highway I could see the water rising and cars/bikes having to turn back in the roads. Sometimes there was so much water that the bus driver could not tell the difference between the highway and the rice paddies, he was driving on instinct and I am convinced that if we had left it any longer we would still be stuck in the middle of Vietnam.
All safe now though, and pictures will be added soon (though check Jens blog as she took most of them and should be updating now)
bx
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