Ha Noi 25/26

Arrived in Ha Noi with 2 things in mind
1. Sort Chinese visa - this based on anecdotal evidence & the official Chinese website is like a cross between Catch 22  & a Kafka novel (The Trial). Have now decided to attempt this in Vientiane where despite the same rules success seems much more likely.
2. A cruise on Ha Long Bay which turns out to be superb scenery & great fun too

Our 1st day consisted of cruise out into bay , excellent lunch, trip into largest cave in the bay, kayaking, dinner & an attempt to catch squid.
Day 2 opened with coffee at 6am then Tai Chi at 6.30  before breakfast . At 7.30 we set off to Can Ba - the largest island  in the 2000 island group. Once there I did  3 climbs up the rock face ( Jenny 1) which was exhilarating despite the lacerated hand & shin after slipping on the second. You cant see the terror on the photos ! Another excellent dinner that evening & we slept very well. Day 3 was our return to Hanoi

Hue - Imperial City 21-24 April

The  3 hour train ride ($3 each) from Danang hugs the coast & the views as you climb up & through the intervening mountains are spectacular.Hue is the Imperial City of the Nguyen dynasty & is still the provincial capital The old Imperial city is a walled & moated site 400x600M sq on the banks of the Perfume River built between 1805 & 1833 with a number of outlying tombs now in the suburbs. The old city was badl damaged in the wars of 1947 (Independence war) & the Vietnam war in 1969 and much of the most important central Imperial palace lare now in ruins or non existent. It is still worth a $4 visit to see what remains ( particularly the small exhibition of old photographs & costumes . It is an oasis of calm amidst the newer buildings & constant hum of thousands of motorcycles outside.
The city is used by many tourist as a base for tours of the Demilitiarised Zone from the Vietnam war but we decided to pass on these .

Hoi An 18-22 April

Uneventful journey here & arrive at the Hoi An Glory a 10 minute walk from the old town. Hoi An has been inhabited since 2nd century AD & was until the 17th century a major trading port with India, China, Japan, ,Holland & latterly the French. The port was more or less abandoned when the harbour silted up  & trade moved 20 miles to DaNang. As a result the old town (4 x 4 blocks) is a time capsule of buildings in a mix of Vietnamese,Chinese & Japanese style with a culture to match. The town at night is dotted throughout with thousands of paper lanterns & a fairytale atmosphere. It was also very quiet as the shopkeepers seemed to outnumber the tourists and we found it difficult to understand how they could all be making a living. Stand out meal was a tasting menu of local dishes at Miss Ly's Cafe 22 all of which were beautifully presented & tasted wonderful.
 The town is set amidst a delta of small agricultural islands joined by an assortment of ferries & bridges of various types. These we explored on a half day cycling tour with Heaven and Earth Cycle Tours ( http://www.vietnam-bicycle.com/ ) withour excellent guides Lan & Lin. Our tour started with a 45 minute boat trip to an island in the delta where we had demo of straw mat weaving ( in a typical Vietnamese home) by an 86 year old lady who had been doing it since she was 10 ! We then saddled up for a ride across a series of bridges and a 3 foot wide sandy & rutted path with a shrimp farm on either side - no place for the unsteady we thought. We then arrived at the floating bridge a 100yard long 3 feet wide path undulating in all directions & with 2 way traffic - not for the faint hearted i.e. Jenny. This was followed by a cool drink & a demonstration of : the construction of a basket boat similar to a coracle ; then how to paddle it & a chance to try it ourselves which is not as easy as the demo looked !  Next up was a cycle to the brick factory to see that process ( 10 hours a day for $2.50) & then the process of inlaying shell in furniture ,etching & polishing it. Our final visit was to a boatbuilders yard for a brief look at the structure of the local boats before getting 5the ferry back to the old town. We only cycled 10 kms but it was a fascinating trip & great value for money.

Nha Trang 12 April

The train ride wasn't so bad -we had booked "comfy" seats - at least they were 20 years ago. Nha Trang is a beach resort & our choice of hotel ( 18 quid a night & it's new) puts us a block away from the beach with a huge choice of bars/restaurants & even a brewhouse on our doorstep. Excellent Indian restaurant "Ganesh" & Tex-Mex "Texas Steakhouse" + numerous good cheap Vietnamese.
Apart from the beach there is little else to do in town but we went on the "4 Island Tour" which is really only three as you only set foot on these. We had a chance to swim & snorkel - not much use to the visually impaired - and at a swish island resort with a final visit to a somewhat bizarre aquarium on island three. The highlight however was the lunch & "show" ( an aging vietnamese duo on drums & guitar see pics) with an assortment of the staff & tourists singing & Jenny dancing . After this it was time to take a jump off the top of the boat to wake up - quite exhilarating. We were the only western couple on board but had a great time with anassortment of Vietnamese,Thai,Korean (always up to party it seems) & Cambodians.
After the rest here its off to Hoi An by plane for serious cultural immersion tomorrow.

Ho Chi Minh City

The first thing that struck me here was the number of motorcycles & the lack of tuk-tuks as we travelled from the airport. So far we have visited Reunification (previously Independence ) Palace a french designed but Asian influenced building which is a snapshot from the past in its furnishing as well as housing lots of military equipment in its original settings from the time of the war.
A visit to the "War Remnants Museum" was much more sombre as it is sited in the prison used by the south vietnamese  ( & their American allies/CIA) to interrogate prisoners of war. This may have been where the US acquired some of the techniques used subsequently in Cambodia & much later elsewhere in the world ( Iraq etc) e.g waterboarding or a variation on it. They also used equipment left by the french i.e. the guillotine - one of which is the first "exhibit" that we saw- and brought back into use an island prison  built by the french when the South Vietnamese were fighting them for independence. The equipment on show used in the war was nothing compared to the statistics on the volume of bombs & mines used by the US in the conflict - particularly those containing napalm & dioxin (agent Orange) to defoliate vast tracts of the North. The birth defects from these are still appearing 40 years later !  They also exhibit  a lot of photos  which appeared in the west at the time of places such as Mai Lai where some 600 people - mainly women,children & old men were slaughtered by the US Marines.
Even the contemporary arts museum in HCM City - a lovely mix of French & Chinese architecture -is heavily influenced by the war , not surprising I suppose but does contain some beautiful pieces. After HCM w are looking forward to a more relaxed time in Nha Trang & only have to spend 7 hours on a train to get there. 

Angkor revisited

Our second visit to Angkor was to see Baphuon temple & adjacent elephant & leper terraces & we intended to complete our sightseeing with a view of of sunset from Phnom Bakheng . Due to a grey late afternoon sunset was not to be but it was a good view of Tonle Sap Lake.  We did on our final night find "The Indian" restaurant which was better than most of the food that we had tasted in India itself. Overall eating out in Cambodia has been very good & extremely cheap - average 15$ US for a meal with a couple of beers or up to 30 if you go upmarket & have a bottle of wine. Tomorrow we depart for Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Siem Reap & Angkor

A 3 hour ride & we are delivered to the Siem Reap bus station. 10 mins later & we arrive at the Cheathata hotel . We are a 5 minute walk from pub street where numerous restaurants,bars of varying cuisines are situated  & if these are not enough there are at least 4 within 100 yards of the hotel front door - handy for a khmer whisky nightcap. After a days rest we book for a full day trip to Angkor Wat. An 8'oçlock start gets us there before the heat of the day & we visit the Wat itself crossing the causeway over the moat first to see the frieze round the walls that was 2 mtrs high & stretched 130 x 150 mtrs. Our guide endeavoured to identify the main characters royal & godly ( at least one thought he was both) & the supporting cast of demons,monkeys used for their armies. This was easy for him but with a site built over 600 years by people with similar names it did become a little confusing for us especially following the shift of religion from hindhu to buddhist with some gods recognised by both !Next we went to to Ta Prohm (featured in Tomb Raider apparently) which was fascinating as it was difficult to tell whether the building was supporting the trees or vice versa - both were true. Some minor restoration is being carried out here but the amount of numbered stones lying around(100's of square yards) suggest a nightmare of  a 3 dimensional puzzle. At the centre of Angkor Thom is the Bayon Temple one of the last to be built which has countless serene Buddha faces at every turn. By 3 oçlock we were exhausted & decided to call it a day as we still have 2 days left on our site pass.