WARNING: DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING BLOG IF PICTURES OF DEAD ANIMALS OFFEND YOU Nihn Bihn, Hue and Hoi An (Vietnam)

Went down the local bus station in Hanoi, against the advice of our hotel, and got on a little bus to Nihm Bihn. 5 tickets for the 2hr journey -just over £1 each. Lovely bus trip and then got picked up by taxi (for free!!) by the hotel. WOW! Now that hasn’t happened often.

Nice little place apart from a couple of shelves stacked with demi-johns filled with snakes, frogs, lizards, and other unsavouries. Gross, and why? The owner prided himself on his ability to speak English, which was good. Even got an entry saying the same in The Lonely Planet. However, the rest of the staff had little or no English so that made for some interesting and funny exchanges. My 4 words of Vietnamese didn’t get us that far.  Unless we wanted rice, noodle soup or to thank someone, we were left somewhat wanting. Thankfully beer is bia.

After a hearty lunch of rice and noodle soup we went off to explore the town. Fairly run of the mill at first glance. Then we came across an outdoor swimming pool, ready to open in an hour. The minis nearly fell over themselves with excitement. What a choice they had – journal writing or going for a swim? We went swimming, surprise surprise. It was great except we were a bit of a spectacle being the only westerners in the joint.

On the way back to the hotel a few hours later we walked through the market. Not a tut market but a proper local market for local people.  We saw some sights…… It was essentially a food  market, live, dead and everything in between.

THE FOLLOWING IS GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!   CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED. IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THE SIGHT OF DEAD ANIMALS LOOK NO FURTHER!! (TOO LATE, SORRY)

There was buckets and bowls of frogs, (put into bunches for easier killing, by being battered with a mallet thing), ducks everywhere, pick which you want and they “prepare” it. From slitting its throat to feather plucking, to gutting. All done there and then. Chickens fared the same.  And then came something much more shocking…….woof, woof.

This little old lady was really pleased to let Scarlett have a photo with her,she even let us photograph her pooch!!!

She even turned its head so i could get a better picture!!!!!

You pick your chicken/duck she will kill and pluck it for you in 10 minutes, now that is FRESH!!!!!!!!!!

Next day we decided to visit the Cu Phuong National Park. So hired a driver for the day and off we went. A bit over an hour later we turn up to the primate sanctuary and had a short guided walk. Had confiscated or injured langurs and a few gibbons. Some injured and unable to survive n the wild, some being rehabilitated. Although the guide did say that the rehab not going too well. Not many successful jungle returns. They have some golden headed langurs of which there are only 70 left in the world!  Interesting and sad place. The keepers seem to be trying hard  to care for the monkeys but have a real uphill struggle in Vietnam as environmental and nature issues are way down the list of priorities (or not on the list at all).

Red flanked Langurs only 70 of these left in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the path was a tortoise/turtle  sanctuary caring for endangered and/confiscated  animals. Only 4 left!!!Of one type of giant turtle.

Lovely bit of rainforest though, and teeming with wildlife of the 0, 6 or 8 legged variety. New bugs! Great to see creatures that were new to us. And so many. We saw more insects in half an hour here than we had seen in Borneo and that’s saying something. With this in mind we told our driver that the estimated 2hr trek may take us a little while longer. We estimated half hour longer but that was wishful thinking. 3 hours with an almost running pace at the end. Some much to see, so much to photograph. It was fantastic, primary rainforest. Stick insects everywhere, spiders everywhere ( a few too many of them), caterpillars, butterflies, lizards and birds, and Joe spotted a snake. Just when we thought we were getting tired of travelling around, packing, unpacking. No, it’s worth it.

A different type of shield bug.

This was a first for us.

Strange fluffy one.

Hardly any mammals left in the jungles here but loads of everything else. Hopefully they will develop that side of tourism and not get rid of all their forests. A great day.

Next day we visited an “ancient” village somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Was ok, a few temples and stuff. Passed by a little barber shop and the calling was too much for the boys. In they went, one at a time for a bit of a tidy up. Joe decided the time had come to get rid of his locks so off they all came.

Joe decided that the time had come.

Short hair again, i think he got sick of people saying whats HER name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What we did see that was a tad weird was a whole roadside town that seemed dominated by something to do with bears. Almost  the whole length of the main road had signs with pictures of bears. We had to stop and find out what the story was. Paul and I were sure it was going to be something unsavoury. So we stopped and had a look around. It was horrible. Inside each warehouse/garage were cages with rather bedraggled and depressed looking black bears. At least 15 in this one place alone. I dread to think about what they are being used for. No one about to ask, the driver didn’t know, imagination left. Bile collection  for the good old Chinese medicine market was our guess. It was disgusting and disturbing. Its one thing killing animals to eat them but this was sickening none of us said a word we starred in total disbelief, it is by far the worst thing we have seen so far on our travels.

This poor bear lived in this cage along with about 15 others in this so called shop, we were all speechless.

This one has callous on its head where it rubs against the cage, and had lost an eye.

Went to a few little eateries and had Pho Bo, pronounced in a very strange way. Sometimes they understand clearly and sometimes we get the blankest of looks. Food ok as long as we watch out for any sneaking in of fermented fish sauce.

So Nhin  Bihn was ok. Interesting market, great rainforest, friendly people. Saw an elderly lady with the black enamelled teeth that we had read about at the women’s museum in Hanoi. She gave us a whopping big smile. Wow, strange  fashion to have black teeth.

Organised the night bus to Hue via the ever enthusiastic Phuong from the hotel.

Hue

Arrived at Hue from Ninh Bihn on the overnight bus. Another good journey we paid $48 each per ticket this entitles you to 5 stops traveling north or south that you can use within 2 months. Luckily for us the company we used had just purchased a new fleet of purpose made vehicles so everything was brand new which was great especially as they have a toilet on board! Minis slept yet again for the whole duration Clare and I just a few hours as usual.

Brand new and purpose made.

Each person has their our bed/seat.

We were staying at the Nhat Thanh hotel $15 per room per night. As most of the buildings in Vietnam are thin and tall (you only pay rates on ground area not height) Clare and I were on the 3^rd floor the Minis were on the 2^nd. Only one room per floor! We spent a day sightseeing, markets, temples, citadel (old enclosed/moated city) and museums and then rented 2 scooters to get about on. Easier than walking especially in the heat of the day. On the second afternoon we decided to try and find a beach for us to chill out on. We looked at the guide book and off we set. We got there and saw just row after row of corrugated roofed restaurants with plastic tables and chairs right on the beach, each restaurant must cater for at least 200 covers!!!!!! They were just like beach huts in a row for about 200-300 metres (absolutely horrific) I know that the Vietnamese like beach life after work so if you are looking for a quiet chill time this is not the place to be. We bypassed this stretch and carried on. The small coast road was a real joy to drive along. You went through small fishing villages and cemeteries: even after death people want a sea view!!!!!!! The cemeteries are really elaborate and big, considering the Vietnamese people are not the most wealthy the graves must cost a fortune to construct. We had travelled a couple of km out of RESTAURANT  ZONE when I saw a small sign saying “BEACH BAR 900 m” off we went and after a few more signs we were there. You parked your scooter in a makeshift car port next to a old Peugeot convertible and a Citroen convertible (I later found out the Citroen was from 1934). The scooters were left and we followed the sign to the beach, when we got there it was paradise. A huge stretch of white sand, a small circular bar, large cushions to flop in and shade!!!!!!!! with small bamboo huts around the perimeter to chill in, what more could you want.

This was one of the best beaches we have been on in Asia so far.

The Minis quickly got in their swimmers and in they went, Clare and I opted for a beer and a large cushion in the shade. This was another little gem that we found by accident  that was not on the tourist map yet.

Next day we went for breakfast in the “Hot Tuna Hideaway”. As we were sitting there another family came and sat on the next table to us. You automatically have a connection with another family travelling so it wasn’t long before I struck a conversation with the”Oostmeyer/Peters van Nijenhof  family” They were made up with Renata/Arjan/Dominque Aged 13 and Sebastian aged 10. They were saying that they fancied doing the Hai Van Pass trail on scooters that was featured on “Top gear”. This is a journey of 120km from Hue to Hoi An up a mountain pass and down the other side, the scenery is supposed to be spectacular. We arranged to go back to the beach that afternoon and discuss tactics. Over a few beers on the beach it was decide that we would go in convoy. The arrangements were made that evening, 2 scooters and our luggage taken by bus to our hotel in Hoi An. Up nice and early, breakfast, convoy on the road!!! I had Joe infront of me with Sam behind and Clare had Scarlett, I know that most people reading this will think that this is irresponsible and dangerous and it is, but it had to be done. You cannot imagine how much fun it is doing it with your kids, they loved every minute, all that excitement/danger all in one activity.

On route.

On route we stopped of at the well known  Elephant Springs (Suoi Voi ). We forgot one thing:-  it was the weekend and was crammed with buses, coaches and scooters. This must be the number one attraction for miles because I am sure that 99% of the Vietnamese population was there that day. It could be beautiful but yet again a natural beauty turned into a theme park. Individuals have dammed the river to make their own swimming pools with platform/jetties overhanging the water you can order food and drink and just sit and chill with your feet dangling in the water which sounds idilic it was not!!!!!!!!! The sheer volume of locals that have done the same thing was amazing. As you walk on the path following the river there are smaller paths that lead down to these areas some of them even have loud music playing and KARAOKE. Drinking is always on the locals list of recreational things to do there, which is fine (afterall who am I to judge) but they seem to get drunk very easily and quickly. So it was quite amusing watching young Vietnamese men trying to impress the Ladies with Bright ORANGE life jackets on because they can’t swim. A practice that we have seen all over Asia (only the life jackets I add) They look particularly stupid because some of the jackets are large and they are small so as soon as they enter the water it rises up so all you can see is their head within the jacket, it amused me any way. We all wanted to get out of there as quick as possible if it wasn’t for one thing, RAIN and loads of it. When we got there it was fine but within 15 minutes (the time it takes to walk to the top) it started. From under one of the shelters we kept peering out but to no avail. It was chucking it down and showed no sign of stopping, after about ½ hour waiting and no sign of it abating we decided that we had to go for it, we still had about 3-4 hours riding to do and we still hadn’t got to The Hai Van Pass.

Rain, rain and more rain at least it was amusing watching the locals, not forgetting the orange jackets.

We got to the bikes and got the kids in their ponchos, I didn’t bother because I was soaked and just wanted to get going which was fine apart from the fact that Clare’s and my scooters wouldn’t start. The water had got everywhere, I struggled for a while got them started, then they would cut out. Soaked and really pissed off some locals took pity on us and got us going but we had to keep the revs up in order to stop the engines cutting out. We made it down to the road after  having to navigate some flooded roads and a few more problems from engine failure. We got to the main road in the end. Once back on track we kept the revs up and were stopping for no one. Lunch next on the agenda we stopped of at a road side café and ordered what we could. They spoke no English we (Clare) spoke little Vietnamese so food can always be a surprise, it turned up, chicken something, vegetable something and pork something. I had last choice as per norm the pork. I knew as soon as I set my eyes on it that it was coming my way, it looked like a huge lump of fat with oxo cube size bit of meat attached floating in some kind of noodle soup. I detached a piece of meat from the fat and in it went, at first the taste was strange and I couldn’t put my finger on where I had tasted it before. I swallowed it quickly and gulped a large volume  of water, but the taste was still coating my mouth it was then that I remembered when you floss your teeth and you remove a piece of meat that has been rotting and festering in a crevice then that was the taste the pork it was rancid. Now I recognised the taste it was even stronger in my mouth I kept drinking water and some of the Minis coke to get the taste out of my mouth. My appetite had now gone but I couldn’t get the thought out of my head of that piece, sitting in my guts was it going to raise its ugly head again?????????? I really hoped not. Back on the bikes off we went, still raining with very grey skies. We arrived at Hai Van Pass and started our assent. The weather was absolutely abysmal, the higher we went the wetter and greyer it got, it was a real shame because the views are supposed to be spectacular. We reached the top and the rain had appeased but it was still grey. We stopped for a quick photo and started our descent, we reached Hoi An at about 7 pm. The Ride from Hue to Hoi An was great. We covered 132km on scooters, got completely soaked, ate rotten putrid pork, but still enoyed it. (the ride not  the pork) the Minis loved travelling on the scooters !!!!!!!!!!!!!! And luckily the pork never reared its ugly head again, I would definitely do this trip again, but next time in the sunshine!!!!!!!!!!

Soaked through but still smiling !!!!!!

A great view from  The Pass.

We will never forget the Hai Van Pass.

Hoi An

Woke up next morning full of the joys of spring.  Well not really, we were knacked, we had to concentrate so much on the 132 km ride due to the atrocious conditions that we were still worn out but we are only in Hoi An for 3 nights so we had to go exploring.The minis were really happy as the place we were staying had a swimming pool. As soon as they could they were in, and didn’t come put for hours. Dominiqe and Sebastian were there too so everyone happy. We even left them for an hour and went exploring the town on pushbikes.

What a lovely town. Really picturesque and quite arty. It is famous for making clothes and almost every other shop is offering thick winter coats made to measure. About £35 for a wool or felt jacket. Bargain. We didn’t indulge as a real pain to carry about. You could also get shoes or boots made to measure but we couldn’t be bothered. Hoi An is known as the lantern city so as you would expect there were lantern shops everywhere too. Looked really beautiful with all the different colours. Hoi An was a great place I can see why this is on the tourist map and we would definitely come back.

Hoi An the “Lantern city”