Hanoi again

Hi All,
Sorry for the delay but not much to write about.
We have spend a few weeks in and around Hoi An, and the highlight for me was a overnight camping trip to a tropical island (Cham islands) as part of an organized snorkelling trip. Our only organized trip! Very relaxing, but as usuall some children get bored easily no matter what they do, but hey travelling with kids is certainly not the same as travelling as a couple.
Nat had some clothes and shoes made in Hoi an with mixed results!
Spend the night in Danang where the airport is from where we took the flight back to
Hanoi. Flying is the same price as train.
Danang is not very touristy except it is famous for "China Beach" where the GI's in the war had there surfing holiday.It is however all go here as elswhere in Vietnam. Buildings popping up everywhere, new bridges etc. No recession here!
Anyway took the 6am flight to Hanoi and we are staying here another 2 nights before leaving for Holland. We all can't wait to go and see everyone and to get out of this impossible HEAT.
38degrees and smog everywhere. I am coughing my lungs out.
Thanks for all your replies, very much appreciated and thanks for all the dutch readers for going through the trouble to understand my English writing.
Much Love from Stephan, Natalie, Chloe and Lotus.

Ps. I think we will have to get used to Western prices again. Booked a hotel in Amsterdam for 135Euros! Could have spend a whole week here fro that sort of money.

Hoi an

Hi All,
We are now in the historic town of Hoi an where we will stay for the duration of our time in Vietnam.
A really beautifull town and also great beaches. However the weather is not so great. Really hot but overcast for 5 days now. We are planning to go to this small island.
Lotus is ill for a few days now, but it is hard to get her to stay in bed and rest. Too exited. We are now staying in an appartment in the city center. Hopefully we can keep Chloe entertained.
She is getting a dress made and has to fit it today and is really excited.
Can't do too much but we are all a bit tired of moving around so we decided to stay put.
Thanks for all your comments, really appreciated.
We have decided to fly back to Hanoi as the price for a flight was the same as for the overnight train.
We are all looking forward to going to Holland now and seeing all the family!
I will add some photos soon.

Cheers,
Stephan

Hanoi

Hi All,
We made it to Hanoi a few days ago.(yesterday in fact)
Enjoyed our tramping through the villages and the mountains. Stayed at homestays along the way and had a great waterfall swim.
The first night we slept in a small town full of H'mong people. very persistant sales people who walk along you and expect you to buy something of them at the end. I was not going to fall for their stories. The first night we met this really interesting guy from Deventer (actually born in Delden, so perhaps Tessa knows him)in holland, who lives there and is a tour leader for Baobab travel from holland.  The girls and us had a few laughs about some of his comments I will not repeat here...... His name is Eddy Verdriet.
Next day watched the soccer in the house we stayed. Anyway, took the car back to Sapa for another night stay. We spend some time in a cafe waiting for the bus to leave and we found out the owner to be Dutch. He knows my father from cycling. His name is Eddy Goselink and he has been living in Oldenzaal, the town where Lotus is born. He is a honnourable member of the OWC cycling club and has been setting out biketrips around Vietnam/Laos for the last few years.
Very Interesting...................
We are in Hanoi and of course too many shops. I actually like Hanoi very much, it is a real asian city with lots of unexpected shops and little alleys. Except for the scooters, they are everywhere trying to knock you of your feet!
Went to a waterpuppet show yesterday.

The heat is really intense after our time in the mountains of Sapa and Laos. 37degrees today!
We will be taking the sleeper train to Hoi an on the 15th.
Good luck with the game tonight!

No comments needed......

Running out off space? just tip it on the road...

Sapa

Sapa Vietnam

Hi All,
Finally made it to Vietnam (Sapa) a nice town in the north of vietnam at 1650m altitude so nice and cool! It actually snows here in winter. The Town is in the shadow of the "Fansipan" mountain which is 3100m high, so very mountainous here. Tomorrow we will start a 3 day trek through the mountains and villages. Looking forward to that. Quite a journey to get here, first day 6 hours from Laos via a remote border access point to Dien bien phu. (Where the french lost a decisive battle to the vietnamese in 1954) Not much to do there, so took the bus the next morning to Sapa.
Arrived at the bus station at 6:15 am only to discover the bus was already full. Looked like someone sold too many tickets. We did end up with a seat however after treatening to ask for our money back for each missing seat, so everybody had to get of the bus end and re-enter. Some not full paying passenger had to end up in the isle, but I think that is only fair enough when they pay only a small fare and have no reservation. The trip was hidious due to slips and bumps in the road. The girls took it pretty well, so after 9 hours we were pretty shaken but the scenery lifted the spitits quickly.
Very difficult road, lots of huge slips where being cleared and also the road follows the construction of the biggest hydro dam in south east asia the son la dam.
Anyway.. made it to Sapa with lots of great eateries (after 1 week without!) Had pizza and pasta last nice so that was a nice change from rice and noodles. Really enjoying Vietnam after sleepy Laos.
All go here. The hilltribe people have populated the town so lots of H'mong people in town dressing in traditional dress trying to sell you stuff.
The weather is going to be great for the next few days. Better than in NZ I gather?

Sapa vietnam

Slip along the way Vietnam

Instant noodle soup

Hitchhiking with the local Bob treecare.

Near Muang Khua Laos

Muang Khua

Hi All,
I hope you are all well. Thanks for your responds from opposing sides of the planet.
Found a town (Muang Khua on the border with vietnam)with power and Internet! I will have to keep it short as the keyboard is in Lao and google as well so hopefully I get this posted. We will need to hand around this town for a few days as our Vietnam Visa starts on the 5th.
Had a great time with some trekking and staying in a ethnic village. Lots of LEECHES! The Monsoon has started here so got soaked this morning. We just came back from a 5 hour boat trip as no road to the town we were staying. Got a Lift on a truck from the local Bob roborgh, only he cuts bamboo instead of timber! great adventure.
The food is getting very basic here and esp. the girls are having trouble finding to eat what they like but that should all improve ones we move to Vietnam.
Photos later as no Usb connection.

Stephan

Still in Luang Prabang

Hi All,
Still enjoying this beautifull city. Lots of things to do here.
We have met this really nice family from Holland who are travelling with their 4 children. They are staying in the same guest house, and the kids have lots of fun here. Luckely the owner also has 2 children so lots of hide and seek and drawing. Went accross the mekong today to walk to a small village. The locals where very friendly and loved the 6 blond children!
Went to see the royal palace yesterday and the day before went to a amazing waterfall for a swim where there was a bear rescue center.
Meanwhile planning ahead the rest of our trip. Next stop Nong khiaw on wednesday or so.
Not much to talk about other than that we are really enjoying our peace and quite time in this homely environment. Weather: sweltering hot-afternoon showers.

Stephan

Luang prabang

Hi All,
Sorry, it has been a while.
Finally a internet that works. Quickly called my dad to wish him Happy birthday!!
We left Vientiane on Monday for VangVieng.
A grazy place where you can go tubing on a river and stopping at these water bars for a drink. Or you can go on the slide of death while stoned or worse. Many young backpackers die here every year.
We stayed in a quite area outside town. A very beautifull area.
Spend 2 days here and left for Luang prabang. The road was very windy and high. Unfortunately it was cloudy so no nice views, but still worthwhile.
We found a very nive place to stay in. The owner is from belgium and his wife is half Lao/american.
(Father is a soldier from the war she has never met and does not know he has a child in Laos)
This is a Unesco protected town by the river Mekong and used to be the capital.
Really special place with lots of tourists.
The night market is huge with lots of goodies for our house to buy.
We want to stay for about 10 days here to catch some breath.

The weather is getting closer to Monsoon and very hot. Looking forward to going to Holland.
Stephan

Vientiane

Hi All,
Back to the world! We all had a wonderfull time in a place called Tat Lo in the Bolevan plateau near Pakse in south Laos. We stayed with a very nice Laos family with 3 little children. We cooked every night together after buying the ingredients from the local market. At the market you can buy:
Snake, batt, toads, frogs, lizards, squirrel, owl, snails and all the rest that crawls or flies! I only had some snake and toad to try and of course it taste like: yes you quested it right, chicken!
The girls did some elefant riding, swimming in the waterfall, hiring motorbikes and just hanging out in town. We had a great time. The little girl, Pinkie, was the star of the show. Laos is really easy going, really enjoying it. People are very sincere and relaxed. Great to travel this country with children.
Last night we took the night bus to vientiane. A sleeper bus that is. Called the King of bus. A huge bus with beds. Arrived this morning in Vientiane.  Will stay here for a few days. The problem if you go travelling with 3 females, you always end up sooner or later in clothes shops. I hate shoppping for the sake of it, but am in the minority. Probably will need to do some things on my own.
Next stop Luang prabang.

Stephan

Don Khon

We moved to this island a few days ago and have been really enjoying ourselves.  Very relaxed in Laos if we had to compare it with Cambodia.  We loved Cambodia as well but the post war stress is always in the background there.  Laos is how it is tourists or no tourists, the people just go on with their lives and tourists fit in which is nice, authentic and everyday so interesting as there is no real division and there is so much to see.   The first night on Don Det which is the young party hangout I thought there was a burgerler just outside our bungalow, I think we were a bit paranoid after watching some war movie which was based on a real life story of the vietnam war, not really what we felt like watching but we had front seats on a 12 hour bus trip.  Anyway we did not have a burgeler it was actually two water buffalo's having a midnight feast just outside our door.  We have really been doing alot of biking, seems to be the best way to see alot and still take it in on a sensory level.  Great food, very cheap here compared to Cambodia,  We are back on budget again , the first month we went way over.

The girls have found a friend, a gibbon called Hoi Hoi, unfortunately it is in a cage but a big one and it is just like Lotus's toy gibbon at home Mango.  The first day we arrived their was a very old monk there who is the monkeys best friend and comes everyday to visit the monkey.  We were allowed to spend some more time with Hoi Hoi and the old monk was massaging the monkey and we joined in, so soft and Hoi hoi would stick her legs out to have a foot massage as well.

We went to an amazing water fall with about 20 waterfalls coming into one which was really amazing, the locals believe this is were the spirits are trapped and many people as well as tourists have died here as if you go too far down the river you fall down the rapids.  Also we went to see the Irrawaddy fresh water dolphins, their faces are alot flatter than the saltwater variety.

We went to a local beach(river), spending the whole afternoon sitting on rocks and riding the small rapids as it was very hot.  Afternoons we receive the rain which is always nice and relaxing.  This afternoon we were actually out on the river tubing when the rain came down.  When we got home we had our first hot shower, we haven't needed one yet.

anyway thats us for now we are headed to another place reccommended to us tomorrow - tat lo

Natalie

photos to follow

Laos

Hi All,
Went to Phnom penh. Had a good time celebrating Chloe's birthday.Bought her an Ipod to keep her entertained on these long bus trips.Phnom penh is a reasonable sizes city. 2.000.000 people and the same as the rest of Cambodia changing rapidly.Intended to go to a fun park fro her birthday, but a really big thunderstorm put the spanner in the works! All the roads where flooded.
Me and the girls went to the Laos embassy to pick up the visas through the flooded streets and thunder everywhere. Looks like the monsoon is about to start here.
Phnom Penh is not as poor as I expected. Some areas are really funky with a lot of french influence and expacts living her. Went to a susi train bar and had too much food, so had to suffer the whole night.
Next morning caught the bus to Laos, a 12 hours journey. Lucky the bus was very good. Drove all along the Mekong to the Laos border. Took an hour to get past. After a short drive in Laos we had to get of the bus and on to the boat to go to the 4000 islands. We were late so the boat had to go in the dark. We could not go to the island we wanted to so ended up on a party island full of backpackers for the night.
Really like the feel and people of Laos. Looking forward to spending a month here.Lao people are soo relaxed.
Not sure what we are going to do after this place, but will spend some time here and work our way up north.
We want to spend 2 weeks in Luang prapang later on.

Stephan