Thwarted once more

It has been a while since I posted any photos so I made it my mission this morning to do just that. I sat with the girl in the photo shop as she put the contents of my memory card onto CD. She liked some of my photos and, weirdly, said that she would keep them all and look at them sometimes- not really sure what to say to that, I just smiled and nodded. Must come back in a few weeks to see if she has printed them all out and stuck them on the shop walls.

Clutching my newly burnt CD in my sweaty little hand I eagerly approached the internet cafe

'Can I use my CD here?'
'NO'

Again and again the answer was the same. So I have a CD which I can't look at, can't share and barely even makes a servicable frisbee. Ah well, at least I can clear my memory card now.

So instead of a much of photos you are stuck with plain text once more. Sorry! Not a lot I can do about that. I could trawl the net for other people's photos, rip them off and post them here but I have promised 100% original photos so you will just have to wait.

I am still in Hanoi but tonight we are leaving on another overnight train to Lao Chai and onto Bac Ha tomorrow morning. We have heard that Bac Ha has a big market on a Sunday which attracts the hill tribes from all over the local area. We have a plan to buy a water buffalo and release it into the wild. There are buffalo everywhere in this country and yet I am still to get a decent photo of one. I guess that if they were actually walking the streets of the cities I would get more than the blurry photos taken from the bus windows that I have currently. I have high hopes of the market offering just such an opportunity.

We met with some friends last night and had dinner in a place which had a whole selection of frog dishes on the menu. I was all about the sweet and sour frog until I noticed that they had pizza on the menu- sadly lacking in frog toppings. It seemed safer all round to go for the pizza. That said, I did order one in Hoi An the other week only to be given ketchup and chicken on bread. Ever heard of cheese, Mr Restauranter??

We have been in Hanoi since Monday. Last weekend we were on a three day boat cruise around Halong Bay. The boat was small and the crusing seemed to consist a lot of the driver saying 'we stop here for three hours, you swim' as we gazed with dismay into murky litter strewn waters. Nah, it wasn't all bad. Only the toilet really hurt. We did some kayaking and kayaked through a cave as bats swirled around our heads. We went to Monkey Island which was dismal but did in fact have some monkeys there- the first that I had seen not chained by the necks. All four of them. We seemed to be an endless form of amusement for those who had opted for the tour boat rather than tiny boat option. They stared at us all the time as we lounged on the deck, slowly sweating.

Vietnam is hot, make no mistake about it, and it seems to get hotter at night. I go to sleep wrapped in blankets only to throw them off a few hours before dawn in a fit of stifling panic. The first hotel that we stayed at in Cat Ba told us that the reason the air conditioning wasn't making the room cold was because of the sun shining through the windows and heating the place up. They had no explanation for the heat at 1am.

We moved hotels. The next place was lovely and air conditioned all day, despite the devious sun that plagued the last place. And I am sure that we would have been a lot more comfortable at night if it wasn't for the fact that the entire island kept losing power periodically. On our last night there we had no air con at all, all night. We tried to get a discount- you pay extra to get the remote that controls the AC unit- but they weren't having it.

We went to Cat Ba National Park where we sweated got rained on and had a fight with the moto drivers that had taken us there. But it was beautiful and the frog song was amazing.

To get onto our boat from Cat Ba we had to walk across a very wobbly jetty and through a fish farm. We thought that getting off at Halong City would be a breeze in comparison. In fact, someone's grandma rowed over and we had to get off our little boat and onto a smaller one. She kept asking us for money despite the fact that she had already been paid.

We got on a minibus to take us to Hanoi. While we were pretty cramped- two kids were sharing the one seat next to mine and overlapping a little- at least we weren't sat on plastic stools in the aisle like some folk were.

Tuesday was a day of relaxation after a night on the beer on Monday. Wednesday morning we got up early to go to Lenin Park and watched the Vietnamese go through their morning exercise routines. Badminton seems to be a must here, with pavements frequently turning into impromptu badminton courts. We declined a few games, took a few photos and went onto Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.

We had followed all the rules about dressing respectfully and acting politely but still Clare got told off for talking, while others chatted around us. And all three of us were given a mighty shove by a guard who left the natives untouched as we shuffled past the great man himself. Uncle Ho had requested a quiet cremation so I am sure that he would be thrilled to see the massive monument raised to house his embalmed body. It is not my history and I have no idea how the Vietnamese feel about viewing him but I felt that it seemed a nasty thing to do to someone, however respectfully people behave.

Thursday was butterflies, monkeys and walking through rainforest to see 1,000 year old trees. Friday was post office day- yes, it really does take an entire day. Everything had to be packaged by post office staff with a variety of things they pull out from under the counter. They nearly put my friends' wedding present in an aluminium bucket which I am sure would have confused them a lot on arrival, trying to work out what the bucket was for!

Today is for relaxing and meeting mates. Long journey tonight.

And that is me, pretty much up to date. Have no idea on the internet situation in Sappa but am heading back to Saigon on Friday and flying to Perth on Sunday- another month, another country, you know the deal!