Wednesday evening I said goodbye to my dear friends and family Fran, Vy and Jonny. I lug my bag over to the waiting area for the bus where I get chatting to a friendly girl called Lauren. Being from Milwakee, I did of course make a Wayne's World reference when she asked if I knew it. She was mildly impressed, but refused to show it. So the bus turned up, and unfortunately we weren't next to each other, but I loaded my bag and then found my place on this sleeper bus. A strange layout, but it kind of works. Two stories of three aisles, each person had a space to sleep in, conveniently two inches shorter than me, and two inches narrower. What was really helpful was the lack of space to put my little rucksack. I filled my time experimenting with the best way to go about cramming myself and my bag of tricks in, with methods such as hugging my bag, threading the seatbelt through it so I didn't have to keep a grasp on it, but finally settled with using it as a lumpy pillow. It had a novelty value, so I naturally started marketing it to fellow travellers as the right way to go.
A troubled night ensued as a mozzie made residence in the footwell of my bed-cum-vice. About three hours of sleep I totalled, and eventually we got to Hoi An at about 6am. I introduced myself to Carla and Kirsty, two girls from Weymouth and Shrewsbury and we walked into the centre to try and find a spot of breakfast before carrying on to Hue. We failed, but found an early morning coffee and chatted as we wandered the streets of Hoi An, which felt very different from 3 weeks ago. Being so early in the morning, it was like the Hoi An I once knew, almost devoid of tourists and just populated by local people working in the market, on the boats and sitting on streetcorners playing Chinese chequers.
Back at the bus office, very quick and improvised wash in their toilets and a change of shirt before boarding the next leg up to Hue. Boarding the bus I made eye contact with and smiled at a couple of very friendly looking girls but left them to sort themselves out and get comfortable while I hopped into my bunk and studied a bit of Bach. Now thinking I was being a little antisocial and realising they did infact speak very good English, I started looking out of the window, waiting for something interesting enough to follow with my eyes until I was looking backwards at the very lovely Jennifer and her friend Helen. Smiling at each other we made conversation throughout the entire journey, greatly enjoying each other's company, it was really nice after a couple of false starts with other people :) Jennifer and Helen, their names.
Both of them from a little village near Birmingham, they were on some extensive travels throughout the region and had some great stories of people they'd met, bizarre things they'd done, all sorts! They'd been VIP guests to a meeting of kung fu masters where they presented prizes, were plied with drink and with food. I managed to ruin it by saying "I imagine #everybody was kung fu fightiiiiiing" but thankfully it was appreciated!
Arriving in Hue felt rather a shame to me, having gotten on with them so well. I gave them my number should they want to have lunch, but I never actually got a text. I think they got caught up at the post office, their first destination while I tried to find the citadel. Rather stupidly I got lost in what was once a familiar town, but I wandered on the river bank and down tree lined streets whereupon I got chatting to a local man who spoke very good english. He was waiting for his daughter to arrive on the bus, but she'd gotten delayed so we went and had some drinks together. Many a beer was consumed as we chatted about our families, my travel plans and our jobs. A very friendly man and a Buddhist, we got along famously until I told him I had to go to find my friends and have lunch with them. I still hadn't heard from them but I wanted to be available incase they should text. Nothing ever came so I got lunch at an old restaurant I remembered from last time called Lac Thien, a little restaurant run by a deaf mute man and his family.
Got lost again, but eventually found my way back in time for the next bus that would again take me overnight into Hanoi. Oh my what a journey it was becoming. Now knowing no-one and running low on sleep and energy, I settled into my bunk now well into the routine and now accepting the fact that I will never have a reading light that works. Night came and I was just so knackered that I actually fell asleep.
Morning came, I dismounted the bus upon our arrival and stumbled into the back of a taxi, giving the address of my lovely couchsurfing hosts.
Later I found myself being nurtured by a house of two couples, one Australian, one New Zealand. Caz let me in as she went to work and settled me down on the sofa, pointing out where the shower was and suchlike. I washed and napped before chatting to John, Matt and Lindy. All of them are absolutely lovely. I went for breakfast with them and then walked around Hanoi for a bit, absorbing the Temple of Literature. A beautiful place, this monument to knowledge and the teachings of Confucius, it was rather juxtaposed against the remarkably busy streets encircling it. I wandered around, cursing the rather unappreciative general public that made their way noisily from one bench to socialise on to another. And many of these people were infact native, a large schoolgroup making up the majority.
There are some beautiful temples in Hanoi, but I must admit this city is yet to really inspire me. It's grey, pretty bleak and very loud. The food isn't quite as good as down South and while there are some gorgeous bits of old colonial architecture as well as the temples, it all seems rather few and far between. The lakes are nice to have, or would be if they were properly kept. Some stretches of water look stagnant and black, thick with goodness knows what.
Anyway, after much much walking I eventually got back to the house I'm couchsurfing in and met the couple also couchsurfing here - Delphine et Arno, a French couple who were very friendly, then got ready for supper where I met even more people! Friends of Matt and Lindy's, all really nice people from all over the world. I was knackered though so didn't stay late, but I was really nurtured upon our return, with Caz putting some sheets on the sofa for me and then as I settled down, Lindy got back and poured me a glass of water, got me some extra pillows, made sure I was ok and then I was out like a light. I always listen to music before going to sleep, but I woke thismorning to find the ipod still in my hand, waiting for me to actually select something. A great deal of laziness then commenced with a remarkably slow start to the day with much chatting over weasel coffee. Delphine and I chatted for ages about music and the arts and cultural aspects, both good and bad, of today's world, comparing France and the UK.
Delphine and Arno have now left, sadly, but I did eventually get out of the house at about 4ish after doing lots of research into what I actually want to do after Hanoi. I walked around the Old quarter in the fading light, but still don't feel I saw very much that was particularly old, nor a huge amount of French architecture. Nor did I see the paving slab sticking out of the ground that saw the end of my little toe, now broken and bending in the wrong place. Very annoying, but it does almost help me with my decision on what to do next....
My three main options are to either get a coach to Luang Phabang in Laos for their new year, meaning I'd have to leave on Monday or Tuesday. However, if I decide that new year isn't too important to me then I could hire a bike for 5 days and cruise down to Mai Chau, a pretty region with lots of villages, cheap food and accomodation, and spectacular scenery. Thirdly, and now least likely, was a very cheap 3 day sojourn around Ha Long Bay but if I'm being rendered in a fair amount of pain, I'm not sure how much I'll really be able to enjoy it. However, it feels a lot better than it did initially, so either the codeine has kicked in, or it was just a very bad knock rather than a proper break and my eyes were just fooled by the low light. But bugger me, did it hurt.
Still, the idea of Mai Chau appeals to me more and more as I think about it, it'd be relatively inexpensive and a real discovery, enabling me to really go off the beaten track. I can still go to Laos, but New Year there does seem to me to be more of a family and religious event, so it may well be that I can't see as many of the Wats as I would be able to otherwise, and therein lies the problem - I just don't know, and no-one in this town nor on the internet seem to know either.
Anyway, tomorrow is another day, with more things to come and potentially a bit of clarity. Jennifer and Helen messaged me on facebook to say they're now in Hanoi if I wanted to meet up, and I've told them about the cheap Ha Long Bay thing I've spotted, so we might end up doing that together, which means I miss Laos new year, but I can still do the biking afterwards and then work South and into Cambodia instead, see Angkor Wat and suchlike. Hopefully it'll all become clear soon enough :)
Not much else to report, but have some photos for you.
First are the stellae at the Temple of Literature. These are mounted on the back of tortoises to symbolise the longevity of knowledge, and then there's also a close up of the text, describing how important learning is.
A monument to the King who established this institution in the 14th century, and then it's one of the gateways between different courtyards of the gardens there. I was starting to get a bit miffed because I couldn't get a single shot without people in it because of these ruddy teenagers who didn't move for an age. Youth of today..
Lastly one of Hanoi's most charming lakes. Yes.. Complete with swans.
I now see that blogspot have put them in a completely different order and missed out the last one, but A. I'm sure you'll work it out and B. You're not missing a lot..
Bed now, nightnight!!
ps. on closer inspection, there's also a little bit sticking out with a very localised bit of purple, so yes. Yes it probably is broken.
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