Hanoi

When we eventually reached the Hanoi bus stop we were so relieved to be off the bus after 26 hours, but realised that we were still not in the centre of Hanoi and needed to take a taxi from the bus stop. The two girls we met on the bus were going to the same part of the city as we were, so we decided to save on costs and share a taxi together. The usual group of ten desperate taxi drivers were crowding around us, so we chose one and walked towards his taxi. Seeing the meters on the taxis, we were reassured as the driver couldn’t rip us off as easily (or so we thought). It was only when the four of us started putting our bags in the boot that the driver started protesting, saying that he could only take two of us and the other two would have to get in his mate’s taxi. This was obviously beneficial to them but not for us. We insisted that we were travelling together as a four and got in the taxi while the driver and his mate were almost having a punch up. The driver then got in the car and we set off.

Jonno had set up the navigation on his map to show us where we were going, and after a while we realised that the driver was taking us an extra long way, and the meter on the taxi was increasing quite a lot. But seeing as we didn’t speak enough Vietnamese to question him, we just had to accept that he was ripping us off, and we were too tired to argue. When he dropped us off, we had to run to an ATM over the road as we did not have any Vietnamese dong, and we gave him a note and waited for the change. The driver just took the money and did not make any attempt to give us change, and when we asked him he refused, shut the doors and started driving off. I managed to grab the car door handle and sat in the back seat again and demanded the change. He reluctantly pushed a few notes in my hand (which was still short of the right change) and then drove off.

Takes a lot of skill to balance it all

We hadn’t booked a hotel, so followed the girls towards the hostel they wanted to stay at and found a hotel nearby which although wasn’t as cheap as we were hoping, it had friendly staff, breakfast included and a nice room. We put our bags down and went in search of some proper food as we had been surviving on the bus with mainly biscuits and crisps.

Locals spending time by the lake

The next morning we were armed with a long list of things to see and do in Hanoi, and had to try and work out how much we could cram into the two days we had allocated for Hanoi. While eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we stated talking to a Vietnamese man who lived in England and France but came back to Hanoi every year for a few months, and he gave us some useful information about the country. As we were brought a plate of watermelon, he explained that the locals referred to watermelon as ‘Vietnamese Ice Cream’. He also helped out the hotel staff by teaching them some English, which we got to see one evening. We thanked him for the advice and went out to explore. We stepped out from the hotel and were immediately assaulted by a variety of sights and sounds; a completely different experience to the laid back Laos! Scooters and bikes were coming from all angles with items precariously balanced on them, from boxes to huge bouquets of flowers to poles and even some had dogs as pillions. We were used to seeing people being inventive with carrying things on scooters in Southeast Asia but there were definitely more in Hanoi. The streets were also bustling with market stalls and street food vendors with new and interesting delicacies.

The first thing on our list was Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, which was only open in the mornings for a few hours. After a half an hour walk we arrived at what seemed to be the building, and after a bit of looking confused and searching we found the entrance. We went through a few security check points, Jonno had to put his camera in a special camera bag provided, and we were ushered into a long queue of solemn faced people and lead single file into the mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader of Vietnam from 1941-1965, and was loved by many Vietnamese for gaining independence from French rule and fighting for a united, independent Vietnam. When he died, his body was preserved and set up in the mausoleum for people to pay their respects. We entered the dimly lit but immaculate building, and were just behind an old man with a very long thin oriental style beard who was shuffling along. He was helped up the stairs by uniformed members of staff; it was obviously a great effort for him to have got here. The body of Ho Chi Minh lay in the centre of the room, and we were only allowed to walk around the edge of the room without stopping. Upon seeing the body of his previous leader, the old man became overwhelmed and started weeping. This had a profound effect on us- it was clear how much Ho Chi Minh meant to the people of Vietnam even to the present day. I can’t think of any British leader who could bring me to tears with such devotion. (Jonno – Margaret Thatcher comes to mind but brings tears to my eyes for differing reasons!)

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

After this eye opening experience, we came to the Presidential Palace and the house on stilts where Ho Chi Minh lived. He refused to live in the grand palace, and instead chose the simple house on stilts behind the palace, where he had minimal possessions. We also checked out the museum on site too, but it was difficult to understand as the information was in either Vietnamese or French.

After leaving the Ho Chi Minh complex, we continued our walk down the streets, passing a few other museums but none that took our interest enough to warrant a visit. We did stumble across a photographic exhibition which aimed to highlight the living conditions of construction workers in shanty houses- a small room was set up as a row of their accommodation, with sound effects and layered photographs of household items.

Another place on the list was the Temple of Literature- a temple of Confucius and Vietnam’s first national university. Although temples don’t excite us as much as they used to now, this temple had a different style and was beautiful to look at.

Temple of literature

The last place on the list for that day was Hanoi Prison. Hoa Lo Prison was built by the French and used to detain political prisoners who supported communism, and later for American prisoners of war in the Vietnam war. It showed the conditions that the Vietnamese political prisoners lived in, some of which were in tiny, dark cells with their feet shackled to the walls. Another part of the museum showed what life was like for the American prisoners of war- there was definitely some propaganda going on as the music and environment suddenly changed, it was brighter and more upbeat, and the pictures were of the American prisoners playing games and smiling. It was an interesting place anyway.

Hanoi prison- reconstruction of the prisoners in the cell

The following day we had another museum to see- the Museum of Ethnology. It was pretty far away from where we were staying but seeing as the taxis were not the cheapest and we couldn’t work out how to use the buses, we chose to walk it. This took about an hour and a half but we passed lots of interesting things to see so didn’t mind too much. The Museum of Ethnology was dedicated to the different ethnic and minority groups who live in Vietnam and in various other parts of Southeast Asia; it went into detail about the origins of the different groups and how they have split up or migrated to other areas or countries. In Vietnam there are over fifty different ethnic groups so there was a lot of information. They had traditional costumes on display and household items and tools from villages.

Reconstructions of rural village huts

Burial hut with some very tasteful carvings

Lots of people and websites had strongly recommended a trip to Ha Long Bay, where rock formations emerge from the expanse of water to create some stunning scenery. And it’s no surprise that where tourists want to visit, there will be thousands of tour companies offering a package trip. Usually we would fight these to go on our own, but due to the limited time and the recommendation to do an overnight stay on a boat we decided to go for one of these organized trips. We visited a few companies who all said pretty much the same thing- there are three tiers of boat; the basic budget one which apparently was very old and basic and if you’re lucky it won’t sink, the middle range one which they all wanted to sell us, which was a bit more expensive but apparently the quality was so much better, and the fancy ones which they didn’t go into much detail on- I think they realised there was no point in trying. After a while of umming and ahhing about if we wanted to spend an extra $30 on a better quality boat with luxuries such as air con, a cooking class and free beer for 2 hours in the evening, we decided to treat ourselves and go with the mid range one. We were told that we would be collected from our hotel early the next morning for the two day and one night trip.

The following morning we checked out of our hotel and were taken to the minibus by our tour guide. There were thirteen on our particular boat, most of whom were on two or three week holidays rather than long term travelers. The minibus took four hours from Hanoi to reach the harbor, and included a rest stop where we had the option of buying a wooden engraved dining table and chairs set, or a five foot ceramic vase- not the kind of things I would usually shop for in a service station. We arrived at the harbor, and were taken to our boat. The boat itself was okay, it had a dining area with a bar, a lower deck for the bedrooms and an open air top deck with some deck chairs. Our room, which we had been sold to as a big room with glass shower doors and air con, was a box with about 20cm space around two sides of the double bed, and a tiny wet room with a shower attachment from the sink, and the air con was only turned on for a few hours overnight. This was a reminder why we don’t usually go on organized trips- the description and pictures are usually very exaggerated! We were summoned to the dining room for lunch, which we were allowed about 15 minutes for before getting to our first stop- the caves.

Rave caves

As we have now seen endless caves we did not have much excitement when entering the cave, but this one was a fancy cave, with a proper path and steps in place and colourful uplighting everywhere. This at least made the cave look pretty and a bit more interesting, a bit like an accountant dressed in drag. The guide took us along, telling us that if we used our imagination there were lots of formations of various animals and scenes in the cave, such as a crocodile, a dragon and a sexy woman.  This took a lot of imagination to see, and would have been a lot easier if we were on LSD I am sure. After this enlightening experience, we were hurried back on the boat for another short ride before we got to our next activity- kayaking.

Again, it was kayaking as promised, but expectation vs reality kicked in. The kayaking was only in a designated area the size of a large pond and a couple of archways, and we arrived to find that quite a few other boats were there doing exactly the same. We had to wait for a kayak to become free, and were then allowed 30 minutes to paddle around the designated area before returning to the boat. Jonno and I had a kayak between us, I sat at the front and Jonno at the back. We paddled through one archway and found ourselves in a peaceful area surrounded by rocks, so stopped paddling to appreciate the silence and peacefulness. We spotted what looked like an eagle flying over ahead, which was miraculous, although we’re not bird experts so it may have just been a fancy pigeon. Then, for reasons completely unknown to me, Jonno decided that this was the perfect time to start rehearsing for the circus and he could start with standing up and balancing on the back of the kayak. One moment we were appreciating the serenity, and the next moment I was thrown out of my seat and into the water, luckily not having anything electronic on me and managing to catch my sunglasses. While we both struggle to try and turn the kayak the right way up, Jonno then exclaims that one of his shoes has come off in the water, so starts wading around to try and find it. The bottom of the water was not deep, but was covered in sharp jagged rocks and thick slimy mud, which meant that we managed to cut up our feet and the lost shoe seemed to be swallowed by the mud and was lost forever. So we gave up on the shoe, and instead put our concentration into getting back into the kayak- easier said than done. Every time we tried to turn the kayak upright, it was filled with water and was too heavy to lift out of the water to drain. We fought with the kayak for about ten minutes before realizing there was only five minutes until we had to be back on the boat. So we climbed into the bath that was our kayak, and started to paddle back to the dock. The mass of water in the kayak, however, meant that it kept trying to overturn itself, and every slight movement wobbled us dangerously on each side. With a lot of effort, we managed to pull up to the dock, where we were interrogated by the guide about why us and the kayak were no longer dry. We then hobbled back onto our boat, one shoe lighter.

Views were not so bad...

We then had a short period of time on the boat before we were summoned to the ‘sunset party’ on the top deck, which was held at about 4pm, two hours from sunset. We were given a complimentary shot of red wine, and a big plate of watermelon. Jonno saw it and said to the guide ‘Aaah…Vietnamese Ice Cream!’ The guide then looked at him, frowning, and said ‘No, it’s watermelon”. Of course, silly Jonno.

We were then told that we could go swimming around the boat, which seemed like a nice way to cool down as we had now dried out from our previous dip in the water. We climbed down the ladder at the side of the boat, and were immediately hit with the current which was pushing us back towards the boat. We either had to constantly swim away from the boat to stay in the same place, or cling onto the ladder to stop drifting away. After about 10 minutes, a few members of the group started scrambling back up the ladder onto the boat, and soon after that I noticed a lovely layer of black, oily scum floating on the top of the water that was beginning to surround us, and promptly followed suit of exiting the water.

After a much needed shower/dribble of water from the shower head, we got changed and went back up to the top deck to watch the actual sunrise, before going back downstairs for dinner. When dinner had finished, the guide then told us the rules for the 2 hours of free beer which was basically that we got a jug for each table and could fill it up ourselves from a big barrel. Let the games commence.

I awoke the next morning pouring with sweat; they had cut the electricity in the rooms so there was no fan or air con and the sun was blazing through the windows. After getting dressed and checking out quickly to escape the heat, we went up to the restaurant for a predictably disappointing breakfast. We made a short journey to an island where half of the group got off; they were doing a three day trip, and some more people got on the boat. As we made our way back to the port to get our bus to Hanoi, we were given a ‘cooking class’  which was basically rolling the pre prepared spring roll mixture in soggy rice paper. The boat then stopped and we got off, were herded onto a minibus and had another four hour journey back to Hanoi.

Just like making fajitas but more asian

We had been researching the best way to get around Vietnam, as we had limited time and lots to see and do. Buses were the cheapest option but they take the most time. The trains looked really good but were actually quite expensive, and it turns out that internal flights can be a lot cheaper than the trains. So we decided to treat ourselves and take a flight to our next destination.

All our photos from Hanoi can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132802327@N02/albums/72157659433444693

All our photos from Halong Bay can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132802327@N02/albums/72157661060948519

Luang Prabang

We arrived at the Laos side and gathered with a large selection of westerners whilst we waited for everyone to cross over. Eventually, after a short lesson in phrases of the Lao language, we were told we could save some hassle when we got to Pakbeng by booking a guesthouse in advance for a special rate. Not knowing how easy it would be, or how much it could cost, we decided we'd go for it to make it easier, and then we were channelled into a nearby coach that had just pulled up.

The coach stopped at the river bank, where a number of shops were dotted around with drinks and food for the boat trip ahead. We bought a couple of sandwiches in baguettes, something we hadn't seen in a long time, and most of the other people getting the boat stocked up on beers. We were given a ticket to allow us on the boats both days, with a seat number written on. Our seat was facing sideways, more of a bench with a cushion cramming as many people as possible in. Further down the boat, people had what used to be car seats placed in tight formation. A good 100+ people were on board, and we set sail.

The journey took around 5 hours, mostly a fairly social event with a river backdrop and occasional stops for locals to hop on and off. The Mekong didn't seem to be the cleanest body of water we'd seen, whether it was due to being the rainy season or it's always a muddy brown, we don't know, but it was certainly a smooth and relaxing experience.

We pulled up to shore in Pakbeng and grabbed our bags. A few tuktuks were pulled up waiting for us to take us to each respective guest house. A kiwi woman was running around trying to get people to go back to the guest house we had paid for, so we hopped aboard and waited. Only then did we find out we'd overpaid for the room by double. At least that wasn't a huge amount of money, but somewhat annoying.

A few people decided they'd walk to the guest house instead. Once the tuktuk set off we realised why, it was perhaps a 1 minute drive at most. We climbed out just as everyone who decided to walk arrived and were handed a key to a fairly standard room. We headed to the restaurant area which overlooked the Mekong and treated ourselves to a beerlao, the country’s main beer and about 5% volume.

We understood there was very little to do in the area, so after using the cripplingly slow Wi-Fi we gathered with a few other people who were also on the boat. After a while this turned into a game of cards, and soon escalated into playing drinking games. We were joined by some people from a guest house over the road, apparently we were having more fun than they were.

The next morning we picked up some more sandwiches for the second leg of the boat trip and had a fairly unexciting breakfast. We checked out fairly early compared to when the boat left as we didn't have reserved seats, so now knowing how short a walk it was we headed straight down. When we got there, similar seats to what we had before were available, so we grabbed then whilst we could. We were sat next to the kiwi woman and her husband and friend, who had stayed in the town one extra day and missed their boat to take ours instead.

Whilst this doesn't sound like a problem, apparently it was, as the person collecting tickets informed them it wasn't valid for that day and was for a different company. This turned into a huge standoff as they were demanding more money, and the New Zealand couple and their friend were insisting they were told it would be fine. After around 20 minutes of nobody budging, with the entire boat held up and all its passengers eavesdropping and hoping they'd just cough up the cash so we could all go, they told them they would only pay 1/3rd and handed over the money. By now, everyone was losing their patience and a round of applause and hearty cheering took place as we could now set off. Only we couldn't because someone then realised they'd left their phone at the guest house, so a crew member quickly gave them a lift on their bike so we could set off ASAP.

The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, apart from the stop to bring a catfish wearing a harness on board very little of interest really happened. This boat journey was another 2 hours longer and it definitely felt it, by the time we arrived in Luang Prabang we were pretty sick of boats.

Good views at least!

We headed towards the tuktuks and were handed some business cards from guest houses in the town. The one we got last seemed cheap and offered free coffee and bananas, so we figured we'd check it out and see what it was like. For some reason the tuktuk driver took us half way, turned around, drove all the way back, told someone something and then we headed back to town again, it never was explained what exactly happened but we weren’t in a hurry.

We arrived at the guest house and they showed us their cheapest room, a separate building with 4 walls and a bed, not the worst we'd stayed in buy we could handle it, we thought we'd check what the option for an extra £1 a night would be like anyway. A somewhat substantial upgrade, decoration, comfortable beds and Wi-Fi in the room. Seemed worth it.

We headed out for food. The night before a basic meal had been over £1.30 each, not exactly expensive but more than we were used to. Figuring that was because the town was mostly for people coming from Thailand so they had no other choice, we wondered how much cheaper it would be in a town. Not much, if at all, to our surprise. Seems we'd have to get used to paying up to 5 pounds a day for food. Shocking. Anyway, we found a huge night market where they had a food stall offering one plate of food for just under a quid, buffet style. Diana helped herself to a bit of each, I checked carefully for terms and conditions on the height of this stack. Mentioned nowhere, I managed to get my money's worth, resulting in some laughing and pointing from nearby people, if not the stall owner. Should have been more specific.

The next day we decided to do as much of the town as we could on foot, which included a few monasteries and temples, and a museum in the centre. Unfortunately, and typically, the main part of the museum had just closed, but we got to see some of the old presidential vehicles and boats. As we turned to leave we could hear some music in the background and headed in its direction. We found a small theatre area, where they held a traditional dance show three times a week, the next one being that night. We decided to check it out.

View from the temple on the hill

The dances were accompanied by a number of musicians playing what we were told was traditional Lao music. First, some Lao ladies came out doing a graceful dance involving careful positioning in sync with each other and their hands flattened and carefully extended, like a fancy Macarena. The 'headline' act involved dancers who wore costumes and masks, quite heavy looking full-head masks. They took it in turns to prance around, depending on the part of the story they played, acting out killing and fighting, worshipping and praying. All the while, some dancers dressed as monkeys were scratching and rolling around in the floor and generally doing what they fancied. Whilst we found it interesting, apparent another group didn't, as they walked in about half way through and left before the lights had even turned on. Each to their own. 

We took a proper look around the night market, discovering what was on offer. Disappointingly, although huge, most stalls offered exactly the same stuff, mostly aimed at tourists as souvenirs. Being as I was sick of markets anyway, this certainly wasn't my favourite part. We found another buffet style dinner, this time instead of a plate we got a bowl so I felt a little less like it was a competition. 

Time to explore some of the local area. We hired a motorcycle, and headed for a waterfall and bear sanctuary we'd heard about and one of the main nearby attractions. Whilst not a particularly difficult ride, the roads potholes put anything in England to shame. The couple I didn't spot in tone to dodge were bone jarring and Diana was fairly terrified by the end.

We arrived and bought some sandwiches and vegetable crisps, an exciting picnic with actual (teddy) bears! As we walked towards the waterfall, the enclosure was about half way.

Fluffy cuddly fella

The bears were, well, fairly lazy. Most of them had been rescued to prevent being used for 'traditional medicines', usually their bile. They seemed fairly content with having been rescued and most of them were lounging around posing for tourists. We read up some of the nearby information on the organisation (save the bears) and carried on for the waterfall.

Is YOUR favourite bear listed??

We made it to the waterfall to find that we certainly weren't the only ones here. Plenty of people were stood around, swimming, or jumping from a nearby tree. It seemed to be mostly Koreans, especially doing the jumping, at least eventually as most of them stood at the top, screamed for a bit and then jumped in with all the elegance of a dying walrus to a chorus of applause from everyone else, a strange sight. Diana had a swim about and we settled down for our picnic.

Awaiting plunging Koreans

Picnic!

Content with our lunch we figured we'd exhausted all this area had to offer, and, getting a little lost on the way, headed back to the bike. We spotted a sign saying there was a butterfly park only 500m away, so decided to see what it had to offer and started walking there. What felt like 18 miles later we changed our minds about walking and went back for the bike. We found it, probably about 501 metres away but it felt a lot longer, and wandered in. It seemed pretty dead, but all signs indicated it was open.

We eventually found a reception desk, manned by a British girl who was volunteering there for a month, but had only been there a day. After looking at the two pounds entry fee and trying to work out if we wanted to spend an entire 4 pounds to be entertained, we decided we could fit it in our budget and had a look around. 

It was a very well maintained and pretty area, all sorts of flowers and cacti growing and another part of the waterfall. We entered an area with heavy blinds across the door, and sure enough, butterflies! Many of them, all sorts of shapes and colours. We went in a room and tried to work out what its purpose was, until we spotted a number of caterpillars and cocoons attached to plants. A lady from Holland then came in and started explaining about the place and the life cycles of caterpillars and butterflies. She owned the area and had been running it for 4 years.

Hungry hungry caterpillar

Butterflies eating... Uh... Sugar sponges.

We carried on around and found some pools of the fish that attack your feet so we had a go at that, Diana now almost enjoying it rather than being entirely terrified of the sight of a fish, a (slightly) changed woman in that regard. We took a good few photos of butterflies and flowers and continued on our merry way.

Butterflies and fish in one venue, what more could you need?

We heard about another waterfall nearer town and headed towards it. Apparently a little more hidden away and not as popular, we followed the route carefully looking out for the sign. Once we found it, we had a 2KM drive down an unmade road with huge potholes and thick mud, but survived and arrived in a deserted car park. Unfortunately we didn’t get away without buying a ticket, as there was a vehicle just about to leave but we’d just caught them and they hopped out to take our money, most generous! We headed up the path towards the waterfalls, apparently there were two here, and according to the sign there was a detour to see a nearby village also.

We started the path, and very quickly it turned into a real life game of Tomb Raider. Without any exaggeration, we had ledges to climb, logs to walk over sheer drops, jutting out roots to jump over, narrow bridges that gave way as we walked them, plants to duck under. In fact, the whole thing cost me a shoe, as my sandal was completely wrecked by the time we made it to the first boss level.

Mind your step!

Bit of ducking and diving, and of course, the odd limbo

We made it to the first waterfall. Well, no we didn’t, we found a dried up excuse of a ledge where there may have once been a waterfall. Apparently the wet season wasn’t quite wet enough to put on a show. We continued through various pitfalls and eventually saw the turn off towards the village, which we figured we’d take a look at.

Deadly spike traps lay beneath. I'm sure.

It was a fairly different experience, as usually when we’ve visited a traditional village it’s been with a tour group, or an area where tourists are usually present pretty much daily. This felt a lot more untouched though, although I’d assume they get tourists from time to time the same way we found it, it comprised of mud roads, wooden shacks, people sat around outside or preparing vegetables or doing washing and cleaning. Children were running around without a care in the world, dogs looked at us like we had an extra head and immediately started warning the villagers of our presence. Unfortunately we couldn’t really have any conversations as there was certainly no English here, but smiles and waves from everyone and a few children laughing and giggling at us sufficed for communication, and we headed back into the wilderness to find the second waterfall.

Whilst we never found an actual waterfall, again, we found the remnants of what probably had been a waterfall at some point, but right now there was absolutely no falling water to be seen. Shame, but it had been good exercise getting to this point, and after getting sufficiently lost trying to navigate back to the entrance (the route was a circle, but seemed to have a few forks where we had no idea which way was correct), we hopped back on our trusty steed. 

Give the children bigger knives!

A fairly long bike ride back, feeling fairly shattered at this point, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day. Unfortunately this evening I developed some sort of fever and headache for no apparent reason, so other than dropping off the bike back at the shop the following morning as Diana wasn’t too confident riding a semi-automatic, I ended up spending most of the day feeling sorry for myself.

Fortunately, the day after I was feeling better. We’d heard there was a good route to take a motorcycle around the area, seeing villages and some of the local area. Thinking this would be a good plan, we rented the same bike again and set off in the direction of the start point.

Whilst the guide book that had mentioned the route stated it should only be approached by competent motorcycle riders as the roads used were very underdeveloped, it failed to mention that it, by no accounts, should be attempted after rain, especially rainy season monsoons. After getting around a kilometre up the road, which was terrifying Diana no end, we came to a road of pretty much 3 inch thick mud and clay. Attempting to stop the bike once we realized how bad the area was, I had to put both of my feet down, neither of which found any traction at all, and proceeded to skid a good 2 feet before any source of friction got a grip. At this point Diana had to get off the back, barely able to stand without slipping over, whilst I carefully did a U-turn and we completely abandoned that route.

One of the better bits of road...

Our next bright idea was to try the route in reverse, as the end of it was a highway and should (note, should) be a better road surface. In fact, we did manage a number of kilometres without a problem, except I missed a turning and carried on far too long, until the point we got to a part of the highway they hadn’t considered paving. Realising at this point we’d overshot it, we headed back to the turning, only to find this was another unpaved road and decided we didn’t really fancy it after all. 

In the end we did very little with the day and the bike. We visited the market again but at this point we were pretty much done with Luang Prabang. Upon consulting some guides, we decided our next destination would be a place north of here, called Nong Khiaw (non – khee – or), apparently quite a sleepy village based on a river, with good scenery and trekking. We arranged with our hotel to get a minibus directly there, apparently a 3-4 hour journey.

The next morning, before a tuktuk arrived to take us to the bus depot, we had one other thing to do which we were in two minds about. As is a Buddhist tradition, monks leave the monastery early in the morning to collect food from the locals who wish to give alms. This is a traditional act for any monasteries in a setting where it’s viable and is usually the primary source of food for any monks, nuns or novices. As Luang Prabang is quite a bustling town with many temples and monasteries, it of course takes place here, although if you checked a guide book you’d assume this was the only place it happens.

As I said, we had a bit of a moral dilemma with seeing this one, as we’d heard many tales that this act of tradition was now ruined due to the tourism in the area. Apparently this is so popular with tourists that the monks were planning to stop their tradition in this area as it had lost it’s meaning to them, only to be told by the government that if they did stop, they would recruit actors to continue this for the tourists. We decided we’d go, but stand back and observe from a distance to see what it was like.

Not too surprising they don't want to continue

We had already seen a more ‘traditional’ sense of this in Bagan, Myanmar, where when getting a 5am horse and cart to our guesthouse in the dark the shadowy shapes of monks could be seen queuing outside residences. This was a much different experience. Stalls had been set up on the roadside so tourists could buy food to give to the monks, similar to a petting zoo. When we arrived we figured we’d missed the monks as all we found were huge crowds of tourists. It soon became apparent we hadn’t missed it, but the ratio of tourist to monk was off the charts, and they weren’t taking the same standing-back approach as we were, no, some people were quite literally standing in the middle of the line of monks to take a selfie of themselves with them. An absolute joke, honestly, and made me feel embarrassed to be a tourist in this country. It seemed most of the people may have been Korean or Japanese, but a fair amount of Europeans were joining in. I wouldn’t particularly recommend it to anyone, I only felt pity for the monks trying to go about their rituals.

After getting some rest as we’d had to wake up at 5am for that ludicrous display, our tuktuk arrived at 8am and collected us and a number of other people to our minibus, where we’d head to our next destination, Nong Khiaw. 

Agh! Stock up quickly!

Hsipaw

We arrived in Hsipaw in the early evening, and despite the fact that Jonno was having a great time with the chundering man, we got off the minivan and went to find a guesthouse. Most of the websites we had looked on had recommended a place called Mr. Charles Guest House, so we went to check it out. It was a very pretty building with most of the interior being wooden, which gave it an old English feel about it. We asked for the cheapest double room which was $14 with a shared bathroom. Unfortunately the building neighbored a before and after school programme, which started at 6am and finished at 10pm. It seems the only way people learn anything in Myanmar is by chanting things as loud as possible and as many times as possible, which was not great for when we wanted an early night or a lie in. We also discovered that even though we were in a twin room there were in fact three of us occupying the room, one of which was small and squeaky with a long tail. After attempting to position our bags so that our new friend could not nibble at them easily, we went in search of food and found a cheap roadside place with some noodle soup and returned to our room to be lulled to sleep by the chanting that sounded like some kind of satanic verse.

The next morning we took a look around the town of Hsipaw, which mainly consisted of a marketplace with various fresh and packaged food stalls. As we walked through the maze of market stalls, we saw lines of small nuns in pink robes and hats make their way around too, singing and receiving donations from the local people. I had brought along a pair of my trousers which were held up by elastic, and in some places the elastic had broken so they did not really stay up anymore.  For a while I had been meaning to take them to a tailors to see if they could replace the elastic, but had forgotten to take them with me. After about a month of forgetting, I finally remembered to bring them along so we went in search of somewhere that could repair them. We passed a few who shook their heads when I tried to explain what I needed, but one old man in a small shop took the trousers from me, dropped the fabric he was working on and began ferociously sewing away on his machine. When he had finished I asked him how much and he shook his head and would not accept payment, just one of the instances that show how friendly and kind the people of Myanmar are. It didn’t really matter that his work made no difference at all because he didn’t replace any elastic he just sewed a line where the elastic should have been, I appreciated the gesture anyway.

The nuns visiting the market stalls

On the map that the guesthouse had on their wall of the area, we noticed there was an old Shan Palace that was open to visitors, so decided to go and investigate. As we turned off the main road and onto a small path that lead to some gates that had become overgrown, we wondered if we had the right place. We saw a small sign on the gate with opening times, so gingerly opened the gate and went through. What we found was a fairly old English looking house but nobody in sight except a grumpy little dog that wouldn’t stop barking at us. As we turned to leave, a woman came out of a door and invited us inside, where there were two other tourists. She let us explore the room which was covered with old pictures and books, and then started explaining the history of the building. The Shan state of Myanmar previously had royal families for each area, and this was the home of the ‘sky prince’ of Hsipaw. The reason it looked English was that he had been sent abroad to England for university and adopted a western style and wanted his home to look the same.  He had married a woman from Holland who later wrote her story in a book called ‘Twilight over Burma: My life as a Shan Princess’. The woman who was telling us the story was his niece and now lived in the old palace and wanted to share her story with visitors. In 1962, the Burmese government arrested all the Shan princes in secret, and then denied that they had anything to do with it, but nobody ever saw the princes after that. The family are still trying to get the government to admit responsibility but to this day they still deny any involvement. The woman who now lives in the old palace started sharing her family’s story in the 1990s with her husband, but the government was not happy with this and imprisoned her husband who was released after four years. She and her husband continue to receive visitors, and have lots of stories and photos to share. It was fascinating listening to her accounts, and gave us an insight into what the people of Myanmar have experienced in recent history. Mid way through her talking to us, she heard some people outside and tutted, telling us she was sorry but some people just turn up uninvited, which is exactly what we had done but we didn’t point this out.

The old Shan Palace

Inside the palace- definitely an English influence

After thanking the woman for sharing her story we walked back towards the hotel. One of the other tourists at the palace was also staying at our guesthouse, so we walked with her. She was from Germany and had been travelling to some of the places we had also been to, so we shared stories. She told us that the guesthouse offered advice and information on the treks that they offer, and we had heard that the area was good for trekking, so we joined her in asking for information. The guide that was at the desk explained about the 1, 2 or 3 day treks they offered. Although we had done a bit of trekking, we had not tried any more than a day at a time so we thought we would challenge ourselves and try a 2 day trek, which would take us through villages and we would stay overnight in one of the villages. The german girl also booked the same trek which would start the next morning. Still not being too sure what we were getting ourselves into, we prepared our day bags with the things we would need and got some sleep.

The next morning we gave our main bags to the guesthouse to store them and went to find our trekking group. There were five of us in the group; us, the German girl we had met the day before and 2 German guys. We were introduced to our guide and off we went.

And we are off

The trek started out with a nice easy path through some fields and past a cemetery which had different sections for each nationality that was buried there, and as we continued we hit some steeper inclines but it was manageable and we stopped for breaks a few times. The guide had brought some local sesame seed cookies for us which we all fell in love with.

We stopped for lunch at a family home in one of the villages. They had set up a small table for us and some cushions made from sacks that we could sit on, and served us an amazing vegetarian lunch of local dishes with rice. We then had about an hour to relax in some deck chairs before we continued on our journey.

Taking some much needed rest at lunch

You don't need language when you can bang on a plastic chair together

The trek took us through beautiful scenery, from farmlands where families were ploughing fields with buffalo to jungle areas where the guide had to break a path through the trees. He had lots of knowledge about the area and showed us interesting plants like the mimosa leaves that curl up when they are touched and fruit trees like jackfruit, banana and avocado. The guide also explained to us that there are only certain areas in the Shan state which allow foreigners in and even Myanmar people from surrounding areas would need a good reason to visit the restricted areas. This is because there are armies from different parts of the Shan state who have camps in the jungle, and there is often fighting between these groups and the government. As we passed some of the villages, the guide told us that it is often difficult to get the villagers to engage with politics and the issues of the country, as they often govern themselves so don’t see the relevance. We also discovered new things about the German culture with three Germans for company, which has given us an urge to travel Germany now- the difficulties of having the freedom to travel the world, there are far too many countries! The great thing about German and English is that we have a lot of words that are the same or similar (one of them being hoof as we discovered) so even when they were speaking German together we could pick out a few bits of the conversation. Jonno also had a great satisfaction as a few days before he had said how much German people love strudel and we overheard the Germans talking about their favourite types of strudel, so I was given a ‘see I told you so’ look.

The whole family works on the fields

Beautiful scenery

We arrived at the village of our homestay about an hour before sunset, after trekking for around eight hours, and were taken through the village and up a steep path to see the Monastery at the top. There was a group of unkempt looking children playing around the Monastery, who were very excited to see us and ran up to us waving and shouting hello as we passed. One little boy only knew how to say ‘ta ta’ so he repeated this over and over again.

Meeting the local kids

We entered the monastery and the guide beckoned us to sit on the floor in front of the shrine of Buddha statues. On the platform there sat one monk of 14 years old, with an elderly nun praying at his feel. The guide explained that monks are always higher than nuns, regardless of the age. It did seem very strange to see this hierarchy in a culture where you should pay respect to your elders. After the nun had finished praying to the monk, he brought a flask of green tea for us which was definitely needed after the long walk. There were about twenty other monks and novices in a room next door watching a black and white film. The guide showed us a gold statue of a bird and explained that the village had been saving up for this statue and it was going to be placed on the top of a pole outside the monastery in a ceremony the following morning. He told us the meaning behind the bird is that there is a story where a bird challenges the sun to a race which he initially is winning but then death catches up with the bird. Apparently this is a reminder to Buddhists of the inevitability of death. The guide told us we were invited to the ceremony of placing the statue on the pole the next morning, which we said we would like to attend. The guide also explained the reason behind the bells on the top of every pagoda which chime when the wind blows them, as when people were in the jungle and wanted to find their way back to the village they could just follow the noise of the bells, as every village has a pagoda.

The village school, surrounded with barbed wire

By this time it was almost dark, so the guide lead us back down the steep path to the home which we would stay the night. The house was spacious but basic, and we were introduced to the family who lived there. There were grandparents, parents and five children living in the house together, and they welcomed us in with more green tea and lots of smiles. We were shown where we could take a shower- a concrete block outside with a trough of water and a bucket, and were served another delicious local vegetarian meal. The bedroom was a large room upstairs with mattresses on the floor and a mosquito net over each one- cosy enough and after a long day of trekking it was very welcomed!

Our homestay

A pretty big mosquito that has been caught by the net

We were awoken in the morning by a man with a terrible hacking cough, and then the grandfather of the house coming in to chant some prayers to the Buddha shrine in the corner of our room. We got ourselves ready and went downstairs where we were served a breakfast of rice, vegetables in a broth, omelette with anise leaves and a very strong smelling dried tofu dish. Some of the children were getting ready to go to school, but also had to help with the younger children by feeding them breakfast and getting them dressed. It was the calmest household with that many children that I had ever seen- most scenes of getting children ready for school involve parents rushing around frantically trying to get their children organised (If you have seen the programme ‘Outnumbered’ this has been my experiences). This was completely different- the children who were attending school were quietly getting themselves ready while their parents sat and chatted with the tour guide. Whatever parenting techniques had been used were clearly very effective! We left our bags at the house and walked back up to the Monastery for the ceremony, to find out that it had already finished and the bird stood proudly on its stand with a sprinkling of popcorn around the base of the pole as an offering. We went back to the house, gathered our bags, said goodbye to the family and set off, our legs feeling achier than the previous day.

We missed the party but went to check out the result

The second day of walking was easier than the first, with most of the journey on flat paths or downhill. We passed more farmland and villages, and after 3 hours reached a dirt road where we were met by a rickshaw and we all gratefully bundled on. Our legs may have been thankful for the rest but it definitely was not the most comfortable of journeys- the road was full of rocks and holes and we were flung around the vehicle. We were taken to a place that had some hot springs- they were man made pools but were pumped with natural hot spring water. One was pure spring water but it was extremely hot, and the other had some cold water added to it but was still the temperature of a bath. It was so nice to float around in them, stretching our achy muscles. 

Relaxing in the hot spring

After a while of relaxing, we were ready for lunch but when we got to the path, the rickshaw had gone and the guide explained there was something wrong with it so the driver went to get it fixed and would be back soon. This caused a slight panic as some people had left their belongings on the truck, including the German girl’s shoes, as we had assumed it would wait for us there. After about 20 minutes of waiting, the guide suggested we walk 5 minutes to a local restaurant for lunch there while we waited for the driver to return. We made our way to the restaurant, which wasn’t easy for the girl with no shoes, and the guide ordered us a local dish of Shan noodle soup which is a type of thick, sticky noodle in stock (it is pretty good). The rickshaw reappeared 15 minutes later to everyone’s relief, and took us back to the guesthouse where we said goodbye to the guide and had a very much needed shower. That evening, we went up to the communal balcony area where we ended the day with some drinks, including an interesting concoction made by the German guys of rum, hot water and sugar.

A banana- the latest hair accessory

The following day we felt that we had earned a day of rest so had a lazy morning, and then in the afternoon had a walk around some more of the town. There was an area which had been named ‘Mini Bagan’ and even though the prospect of more temples and pagodas wasn’t that exciting, we thought we might as well check it out and see if it actually did resemble Bagan. The answer was, not much, apart from it being a small collection of ruins of payas and pagodas, but it gave us something to do. We also paid a visit to the nearby Nat shrine which has lots of animal statues, and a monastery with a bamboo Buddha. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a peaceful café with some fruit juices and booked our onward ticket to Inle Lake for the following day.

Someone has great taste in shrine decor

Buddhist gangsta statue with handfuls of cash

Making sure all the animals are well fed

'Mini Bagan'

A tree growing out the top of the ruins