Bia Hoi

Thought I'd mention it one last time (promise) THE BEER HERE COSTS 11p !!! Its the cheapest thing to drink - its cheaper than water !!
Hicup
Chris

Blogging Blind.

I can't view the Blog in Vietnam, i reckon it's some communist/soviet wierd restriction. I can still post to it, so don't blame me too much if the wrong photos turn up, or the editing looks abit off. I hoping its just a Vietnam thing, and that the Blog isn't really down. I checked Dereks Blog and you can't view that either. Anyway, if anyone knows why, please e-mail me, as I am no longer a geek and don't have time to work that stuff out anymore. There is bound to be someone in Nortel with nothing to do.

Blogging Blind.

I can't view the Blog in Vietnam, i reckon it's some communist/soviet wierd restriction. I can still post to it, so don't blame me too much if the wrong photos turn up, or the editing looks abit off. I hoping its just a Vietnam thing, and that the Blog isn't really down. I checked Dereks Blog and you can't view that either. Anyway, if anyone knows why, please e-mail me, as I am no longer a geek and don't have time to work that stuff out anymore. There is bound to be someone in Nortel with nothing to do.

Thai Fishing Pants..

You may of seen Harry wearing his Thai Fishing pants. They are big nylon trousers they have about a 50 inche waist, which you wrap around your waist and tie up. They are very baggy and very comfy. You generally just by 2 pairs when you arrive in Bangkok, and then just wear them for the rest of the 12 months you are travelling. I have some red ones and a yellow pair, Sam has a some pinks one, and purple ones.
They are so baggy you can get away with not wearing any underpants.
Unfortunatley because they are baggy, and tie up, you can sometimes find yourselve a bit exposed.
Yesterday I had a classic moment after we had been walking down the beach, we stopped at a bar for a beer. I reach to take off my cagole (spelling?) which comes off over my head. So i look down to see something i didn't expect, and at first glance i didn't know what it was......wait a minute....thats my **** !!! Oh my god! I`m standing in a Bar with my pants around my knees, and my **** hanging out! I apologise loudly to everyone gather up my trousers and sprint to the toilet to tie myself back up.
Sam is on the floor cracking up when i get back. I now use a double knot when getting dressed in the morning.
No comments aloud on this post..

Beaches Are Best When...

Beaches are best when it's a grey overcast day, a little windy and cold, when there is nobody else on the beach apart from you in a big fat coat. It was just like that yesterday when we hired two pink girls bikes with only the front brakes working and cycled to the beach, we walked for 1 hour on the beach, then had a few beers in a empty beach bar.
Perfect.

I think there may be lots of people who disagree with this, and say beaches are best when hot. I put it down to going on hoilday to a beach in Exmouth (Devon) called Sandy Bay for the first 14 years of my life, where it was pretty much always wet and grey.
I reckon Harry is on my side, and i know Simon C is, but Alex, Adil, and Sam are hot beach people.

A Quick Post on Hoi An

Hoi An is supposed to be the place you have to come to if visiting Vietnam. It is a small fishing village half way down the coast. It is very small, and sits on a river bank, the river runs a further 5km from the town into the sea. There is a beautiful beach at the end of the village.
The architecture here is kind of French/Japanese. All the buildings are small, and painted a kind of yellow colour with lots are thick dark wood beams etc..

The streets are narrow, and centered around 'The Old Quater' which is closed to motor vehicles.
There is also a large market that sells everything, but mainly food.

I bought a Hammock of this guy for 4 pounds. He makes them himself, and it takes 4 hours per hammock.

There are street sellers everywhere in Hoi An, you can either let them really annoy you, or you can have a laugh with them (the later usually works best, although you end up buying aload of stuff you don't want), yesterday we ended up buying, a wristband, a pair of nike socks, a hammock, and some tiger massage balm.
Anyway - enough of the boring stuff, i promise to do we will get up to something entertaining soon.

18 hours later...

Our longest journey so far (EVER!) was the 18 hour coach journey from Hanoi to Hoi An. Made all the better by the drugs they sell you in Vietnamese pharmacies to make you sleep!
We arrived in Hoi An and the place is very pretty but unfortunately the weather is pretty bad,it's raining and grey (much like home I expect!). This is the place to get taylor made clothes, they can make perfect copies of anything you like, even Oscar winning dresses. Oh if only there was room in the backpack (Matt what's that UPS account number again?) and also Chris is upset because the beer Hoi here is more expensive and costs 15p!
We've got a nice hotel with a pool (raining though) but it's nice to have a comfi bed and clean surroundings.
Tomorrow we're going to wrap up in our cagoules, hire a dog, and take it for a walk down the beach.
Hope you're all enjoying your time off and getting to play with your Christmas toys, Chris will feel much better when you're back at work next week. Can someone who went skiing in Austria last week send us a detailed report please???

We'll put some pics up when we find a better place to use the net (v. slow here).

Suki suki $5,

Chris and Sam

We are back......did we or didn't we.....

We left the internet cafe and called a taxi, a vietnamese local had written directions to the snake restaurant on our lonely planet map. We showed the taxi driver who looked at us with a little horror in his face. He called up his boss to find out where it was, and started driving. 10 minutes later we were over the bridge in a part of Hanoi no other westerners go. We were very nervous. I (Chris) had been a bit cockey about eating snake earlier in the week, but now all i wanted to do was tell the driver to turn around and take us back to Hanoi. Sam was a bit like at our wedding - nervous the week before, but fine on the day.
The taxi driver had to stop twice to ask directions (not a good sign), we turn down a small dirt track street, and pull up by some guys house - its now that Sam gets nervous. Some part of us hoped that the resturant would not be open - or even exist. We ask the driver to wait for 2 minutes, we walk into his house and see the pickled cobras in his lounge.


He and his wife can't speak a word of English, but he beckons us with a big smile to his back yard. It's here that he keeps his snakes in a large cage. He gives us both an umbrella and tells us to stand back, he opens the door to the cage and walks in.
Its Sams worst fear and she tells me that she doesn't feel well and doesn't want to do it. I agree and we decide just to watch as the snakes rear up and dart at the guy stood in thier cage. We have no idea what flavour of snake was in the cage, apart from the cobra and python that we recgonised from nature programs.
He comes out of the cage and we ask how much for one snake --- $50 !!!! NO WAY, we say we can't afford it and start to leave.
But then he pulls me back and shows me his menu. Oh - yes we can have Snake soup, snake spring rolls, and Cobra Wine (Picked Cobra with snakes blood).
The taxi driver agrees to wait, but indicates that he won't eat with us - he will go down the road.
We agree on a price and order the lot.
He pours one shot of cobra wine, which I split and make him drink first. he necks it, then its my turn - check out the regret in my smile....


It tastes kind of rank, but hey - i downed it and its all over.
This guy has a missing finger because a King Cobra bit him and he had to immediately chop it off!

Next is the snake soup. It looks a little thick and slimy. Sam takes the first, her second and third gulp. Her face drains of blood and she looks at me in horror.

I take my first gulp - it tastes like mushroom soup and the snake meat tastes is tough and chewy and looks like snake...
He then brings out the spring rolls... This time Sam tuks in, and I think it's horrible. We order some beers, neck them, pay a fortune then run to the taxi. The driver can't believe that we ate it, and neither can we..
Back in Hanoi we order a bottle of Shiraz to take away the taste.
Theres one thing we will never be doing again, and thats ask you lot what we should eat for Christmas.
Love you long time
Chris & Sam
P.S Snakes doesn't taste like chicken - it tastes like SNAKE !

Snake !

Noooooo.... Snake won by 1 vote! So whilst you are stuffing your face with turkey sandwiches on boxing day, we are off to some remote village outside of Hanoi to eat a snake. We are a little bit worried as it can be dangerous, but we met a vietnamese guy the other day who showed us where to get it and said that it wasn't too dangerous or tasty. Here is and excert from the lonley planet about eating Snake:
"Laws regarding the capture and sale of snakes have made it a rarity. However you are still likley to see it around since it is believed to have medicinal properties and widley touted as an aphrodisiac. The more poisionous the snake, the worthier its reputation. Cobras are a favourite, though Pythons have alot more meat. Feasting on such delicacies is not cheap, and be aware that eating undercooked snake meat can prove dangerous"
Sam says the would prefer a pork sandwich, and apple sauce anyday.
Right off to do it now.... hope we survive.
Feeling a little sick.
Over and out
Chris & Sam.

P.S We are travelling down to south vietnam tonight for 2 days on a bus so you won't get the photos or any updates for a while.

Snake for Starters and Dog for Dinner ?

The votes for our Christmas lunch are drawn so we have to leave it open for a few more hours so that someone can make the decision. We weren't sure what to do with Gazzas vote as he mentioned 3 things, but we counted it as dog (is that right Gaz?)
Anyway keep voting. (If this post doesn't make sense to you, then read ' I'm a celebrity , get me out of here' below)
Laters
Chris & Sam

Snake : 7
Dog : 7
Crab : 4
Insect semen : 2

Merry Christmas!!

Finally we have Christmas over here. We are in Hanoi for Xmas, and have booked ourselves some 5 star for the 24th and 25th which has a Gym, Sauna, etc… Hanoi is well into Christmas, there are whole streets dedicated to selling Christmas decorations, everywhere has a Christmas tree, and its 0 degrees at night here!. The hotel is playing Jingles bells right now. Sam and I are going xmas shopping for each other tomorrow (23rd) then Xmas eve we will just lounge around etc..
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas, especially the guys who are boarding in Austria right now (jealous!)

Motorbikes

Just a quick fact on motorbikes in Hanoi. There are 4 million people in Hanoi, and 2.5 million motorbikes !! Mental.

Halong Bay

Hello. Just got back from a 3 day boat trip in Halong Bay. Wicked fun. Caving, kayaking, swimming, and drinking. Met some cool people. Olly, Mich, Laura, A french family who own a campsite in France and his best mate owns the Valle de Cantobre !! Don't want to leave too long message as you will get bored so i have attatched some photos.

I'm a celebrity, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

Oh Dear! Just had a few Hoi Beers, that's draft beer for 6p in the streets of Hanoi, dangerous!!! They we went to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet, which so far have been great recomendations, though this time I think they got it a bit wrong. I am sure that someone had a shave in my food tonight as I kept finding lots of little hairs (the type you'd find in a Gillette Match III) mmmm.... I think if any of my spanish relatives came here they would die of starvation you see because when you need to go to the loo you often need to walk through the kitchen (yeah I know!!) and...well walking throught the kitchen tonight (luckerly after my hairy dinner) reminded me a little of the TV show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here".
Now there's a point to this story because Chris and I have been wanting to do something interactive with you guys, so it reminded us of a brilliant idea we had a few days ago which went something like.."Why don't we tell our friends and family about the things you can have to eat in Vietnam and then get them to vote on what local delicacies we should sample?"

So that's what this entry is about (conveniently at Christmas so hopefully not too many people will vote), here are the options, please us the comments to vote on what you think our Christmasey feast should be spiced up with:

Option 1 :Frogs legs
(Neither of us have tried them and despite people saying they taste like chicken....they look pretty slimy to us!)

Option 2 : Woof woof!
Yeah there's dog on sale just round the corner in the market. According to the Vietnamese it's good luck top eat in in the second half of the lunar month - so lucky us if you vote for this one! Chris says he will give dogs a knowing and masterful look from now on if he knows he has eaten one (as a psychologist I'm slightly perturbed by his illusions of grandieur).

Option 3: Snake
But not just any snake, oh no, why not have it brought alive to your table and then they can pour it's blood into a goblet so you can drink it(aparently it makes you strong but don;t even bother voting for this one, I'll just stage it, there's no way I'd do it!)

Option 4: Sauce made of refined insect semen
It's a dipping sauce. I think the title says it all. It is what it is ok.

Option 5: Chicken
Ooooh this is a dangerous option! You can't even get eggs here at breakfast because of bird flu, it's that bad! You can vote for it but it'll be on your conscious if we die!!!

Option 6: A whole crab
It's called soft shell crab and you can have the whole thing in batter or breadcrumbs, just imagine those little black eyes staring sadly at us though.

Option 7: Cake filled with meat
All I'm saying is...if you love us you'll vote for this one! Disgusting but I think I can do it.

The rules: a) no annonymous votes will be counted, b) we WILL do it and post a photo evidence for your entertainment c) remember we know where you live AND it's the season of good will.

Love you all LOTS!!!!!

Spam and Crisp

P.S. Be kind x

HANOI !

We caught a flight from Vientene to Hanoi yesterday. We left the airport and began the race to get to Hanoi, a guy runs up to you at full sprint, and grabs both of your bags, i started to take chase but realised we were heading for his taxi, so i backed off a little. He threw the bags in the boot and sprinted round to the drivers side, i realised we were in a rush so started yelling 'Go Go GO', Sam joined in and we sped off. Holy C**p ! They drive like complete nutters, our driver was about 12, and had a nervous twitch in his neck, and beeped the horn continuously at everything, motorbikes, buses, pedestrians - even things that weren't in the way. We were cracking up in the back, and not too sure the drive was happy with us joining in and making beep noises aswell.
After the first 3 km i started counting how many times he honked his horn. We arrived in Hanoi after a further 20km and i was on beep number 312! No Joke. I gave up soon after.
Hanoi is crazy - the craziest city I have seen yet, there are thousands of motorbikes, they are supposed to drive on the right but we have seen bikes driving the wrong way up a daul carriage way - but thats ok because he was honking his horn.
We both nearly died 40 times today crossing the road, there is a skill involved. If you wait for the road to clear - you will never cross, you just have to take a leap of faith and start walking, as long as you keep a steady pace the bikes avoid you. Buses on the other hand - if one comes towards you , RUN!
At first glance I reckon we are going to love Hanoi, its crazy, the people are crazy, the shops crazy, the food is crazy (we have a cool blog entry coming up soon where we are going to list all the mad stuff you can eat here, then you guys have to vote for what we eat, we will do it and post photos, oh BTW its past half way through the month, so they are allowed to cook dog now.
Each street in Hanoi sells different things, so for example the adjacent street to ours (hotel) Hang Be, sells shoes, the street that runs 90 degrees to ours sells rucksacks, the street that runs alongside the Stadium sells Gym equipment. Our street (where our hotel is) sells......... gravestones !! The street is full of guys sat with a chisel and hammer chipping away at a piece of stone to carve in date of death and name. The spooky thing is that they don't shut up shop until midnight, so when we were lying in bed last night, all you could hear (along with the beeping) was tap...tap, tap, tap.....tap tap tap.....tap tap tap.... a bit unnerving, especially when you know you are going to have to cross a road tomorrow.
Any way 'nuff said.
Roger, out
Chris

In Vientiene - Capital of Laos

Hello,

We're in Vientienne now until the 18th when we fly to Hanoi (Vietnam). We've done lots of walking along the weird and wonderful Mekong River, but that was mostly trying to track down this T-shirt that Harry had stolen which he bought in Laos. Not that he stole it!! Just that he had IT stolen from his car.
Now, if you know Harry you know that he likes things that are a little bit different. But we thought well it's a Lao PDR T-shirt and we'd seen loads so it should be easy right? WRONG!!!! They had them in blue, yellow, orange, kaki, green, white....blah blah...even in pink! But could we find one in grey??? We have looked EVERYWHERE in Laos, in fact the only reason we came to Laos was to find this T-shirt. So, you're probably wondering if we found it...Oh this is costing too much in internet time now, so....BYE.

Will write from Vietnam, and Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

Sam x

Been Tubing

Hello, sorry for the delay in posting, we have been tubing for a while in Vang Vieng - its a bit addictive.
Tubing is simple. You get a tractor inner tube of a guy in town, squeeze into tuk tuk with 8 other people then drive 3km up stream, where you sit in your tube and float down stream. It can get quite busy as you can see on the photo, but not so bad as the M4 on a Monday morning.
There is more to tubing than you first think, the locals have set up wicked bars along the way, so as you float past they pull you in by bamboo sticks, you get off your tube then sit and drink Beer Lao with loads of other tubers, when you have had too much sun you get on either the flying fox ( death slide, fluffy slide (depends which country you are from)) and slide into the river, or you hang off a tbar handle, stand on a platform about 8 meters high and jump so that you swing until you let go. See the photo below of me doing it below. Sam did it the first day, but those of you who have seen her dive know that she is not that graceful, and she has had whiplash ever since (shes fine now though Gaby!).
Once you have done some floating, sun bathing, drinking and swinging you get back in your tube and float 100 meters to the next bar where you do some sun bathing, drinking and swinging, then you get back on your tube and repeat until the sun sets, when you freeze your ass off running home for a hot shower.
We met loads of cool people Sharon, Scott, Carl, Garlie, Pierre, Chris Hankey lookalike from Scandanavia, and loads of other people. We ended up having to book a bus out of Vang Vieng in advance otherwise we would still be tubing now.
Out
Chris

Luang Prabang

After the white-knuckle speedboat here we're finally in Luang Prabang. It's a beauiful city with lots of Frech influence as it used to be owned by France, so there are colourful wooden shutters on the windows and lots of french style cafes. It is beautifull with the Mekong River & the Nam Khan Rivers surrounding it, we have fallen in love with this place! People told us that Laos was like Thailand about 20 years ago but this isn't the case in Luang Prabang! In fact it's quite the opposite now with this area being a protected heriage area which is entitled to charity funds,Luang Prabang seemsmuch more developed than many Thai villages of the same size. We had a great day walking around in the sun,being tempted to buy prints from local artists and sampling LaoBeer! I love Luang Prabang and I'd thoroughly recommend it.
We took some gorgeous pictures of little boys smilling for he camera but this one is my favourite,he didn't partake in the playing but he was the most gorgeous and soulful little boy I've seen.

S xxxx

Beer Laos

Best beer in the world - get some. (You may be able to tell we have just had a few).
P.S meet Shava, and Leicester last night. (Leicester used to work at Sandy bay - my hero)

Been travelling

Haven't updated the blog for a while because we have been on the move. Day 1 was from Pai to Chaing Kong, a 9 hour bus journey - 'nough said. Stayed in Chaing Kong - pretty uneventfull, but were woken up by buddism drumming at 5 in the morning (much like staying at Harrys for a night). Caught the ferry over to Laos in the morning 9crossed the border) Then had to make the hard decision of Slow Boat to Luang Prabang (2 days trip) or Speed Boat (6 hours). Ummmmmmm - went for Spped Boat, we had hear some horror stories about the speed boat but were game for a laugh.
At 11 o'clock we got into our speed boat. I haven't laughed so much for weeks, these things are about 1 metre wide and 7 meters long, extremely pointed at the front and have a 200bhp Toyota engine on the back (with no case), 6 of you sit on the floor of the boat with your knees bent up to your chin, you strap on your Crash helmet and hold on for dear life. Then they start the engine....... Bloody hell these engines are loud - they sell you ear plugs before you get on, but Green Day at full power through my ipod did me fine (although you could still hear the engine). Then you get started!!!! They are the fastest things I have ever seen on water, no joke or exageration they must hit about 100kmph, the Smiles on our faces went from ear to ear until we hit the first bit of chop....your spine shatters with each 2cm wave on the river!
The drivers (or pilots, as they call themselves) are amazing...the Mekong river is wide, and dangerous there is just Limestone cliffs and jungle on each side, with rocks, whirlpools, waves and giant catfish (3m in length), and the 'pilots' cane it down the river so that you think you are within 1 inche of losing your life at any second.
I haven't had so much fun in ages. You peg it past the people on the slow boat and you can see them laughing at you, but we are all just so amped everyone just waves thier fist and shouts back. If anyone ever reading this has to make the decision about slow boat (and most people take the slow boat) and the speed boat - take the speed boat!!!
To make things even better on the last leg of the journey - the boat that we were racing against had engine problems, so every 20 minutes we had to stop to fix their engine, so we ended up doing the last 1 hour in the dark ! The river turned so flat like a mirror, and the 'pilot' cranked up the speed, but knows the river so well that we did it without a light.
AMAZING!!
P.S Sam will write the next post about Laos and Luang Prabang - but I have to give a big thanks to Harry fro recommending Laos as it is the COOLEST place i have ever been on earth, Luang Prabang is amzing - kind of a French/Swiss architecture town placed between 2 major rivers. The people here are wicked, and Sam and i have spent all day walking round winding up the kids, picking them up off the floor and mending their bikes when they fall off. AWESOME, everyone has to come here.
Out,
Chris

Monday

Got up at 8.
Walked to Town to pick up my Motorbike.
Drove to the Hot Springs in the Jungle and boiled 2 eggs in the spring for breakfast (see eggs in photo).
Came back to the bunglow ate Chorizo sandwiches on the deck in the lake.
Went to the local waterfall.
Got caught in a Tropical storm on the way home.
Went to sleep for an hour.
Had dinner.
Played Cards
Updated Blog.
Started to miss Christmas celebrations at home a bit. Want a Christmas tree here but the Palm trees don't quite match up.

Pai Radise

We moved out of our shack, and now have a place in Paradise for 8 pounds a night, we are staying in a luxurious bunglow looking over a lake, we decided to try and detox ourselves as we have had too much fun recently, and there is no better place to chill out and relax for a few days. Plus it's beautiful blue skies and about 27 degrees at the moment.

High up in Pai

We left Chiang Mai yesterday and caught a 3 and a half hour minibus journey up North to a place called Pai. The whole journey we kept going further and further up the mountains and finally arrived very late and tired in Pai. We thought we could just turn up and find accomodation easily (which has been the case so far) but this weekend is special because it is the King of Thailand's birthday and so all the guesthouses where full!!
I stayed with the bags and a Chang beer whilst Chris trekked around trying to find ous a bed for the night. Eventually he returned, he found us a shack in a place called the Paddy Fields. He warnned me that the shack had holes and wasn't exactly what we'd been used to (which wasn't very much in the first place). But we got there and it was cool!!! A guy from cornwall Ben and his wife Pot (who worked in the kitchen) owned it, it was very hippy and we had a great curry and rice, loads of beers and chatted to Grace, Magda and Julie from the UK and NZ. They where lovely, and like us this was the only acommodation they could find. Our shak was so cute! Multicoloured matts on the floor, and it was on stilts. the loo was outdoors and open air, so you can sit on the loo and look at the stars, it also had a little garden around the loo.

There was only one problem - GIANT spiders!! The girls found a massive one in the toilet and then this morning they found another one in their shack which was a bit to o unnerving for us all.
Anyway, Pie is beautifull and it's like being in a documentary when you look around you, it really is stunning, see pics of our huts when the mist rolled in this morning.

Love,

Sam and Chris

Rock Climbing

We went rock climbing at Crazy Horse rock in Chaing Mai. It was just the two of us and 2 Thai guides. We turned up at the rock face, one guide asks who wants to go 1st - nervously Sam agrees to go, so Sam get tied to her harness, and told to start climbing - no instruction, no helmet - nothing , just Sam and a 40 meter vertical cliff face.
After Sams jaw is scraped back off the floor, she turns and starts to climb. 10 minutes later she is at the top, and bounces back down, not having slipped once. She looks at me (a little whiter) and smiles, the kind of smile that says 'I hope you lnow how much i love you to do that'.
So its my turn now, and i think this is going to be easy, I get half way up, and reach the overhang, I'm using all the strngth i have to hold myself on the tiny ledge, I stop for a minute to rest, and take a look down, my left leg starts to shke uncontrolably, then my hands start - i realise that i am scared ****less. I cannot believe for the life of me how Sam climbed up this rock face, it is the scariest and hardest thing i have ever done. I made it to the top now in shear ore of what Sam had just done, then absail back down, Sam and I look at each other with knowing looks and disbelief at what we just did.
We carryied on and did another 4 climbes which got increasing difficult , we started to enjoy it abit more when we relaxed and went slower up the rock, and got big rushes from making it to the top.
Check out the photos attatched - you may have to look close to see Sam as she is wearing black trousers.
We arrived back in Chaing Mai, and went straight for a few beers, the naturally ended up in a Private Karaoke booth with an Irish man, French girl,and a Gay Lady boy. Then on to a club called Bubbles. At the end of the night i fell out of a tuk tuk.
Cracking day!
Sam & Chris