Snap back to reality

Saturday 29^th August 2015

This morning I left Vietnam! I woke up early and checked out. Annoyingly the breakfast wasn’t ready even though it was supposed to start at 6.30am so all I got was bananas.

I shared a taxi to the airport with another girl and checked in straight in and walked about the airport where I bumped into a guy I met in Cambodia we caught up for a while then I went and boarded my plane.

I slept most of the three hour flight but woke up to a swollen throbbing arm I had to wait for everyone to get off the plane as everyone was in a rush to get moving.

I got out of the airport and got on the bus into kl Sentral along the way we stopped a few times to watch the Bersih protest at the station I got the LRT (train) to Pasar Seni and came out in the midst of the protest and had to navigate my way to the hostel.

I checked in and was upset to find I had been allocated a top bunk and also that there was 6% GST on the cost as well making it more expensive. So I had to go out for more cash.

I found some food and chilled in the common area for a bit before going to bed to watch a movie.

Sunday 30^th August 2015

Today was a really lazy day I woke up and waited for ages hoping someone else would wake up so that I could get down from the top bunk without smashing my face. Unfortunately no one got up so I had to brave it and successfully landed on my feet.

I got ready for the day and then went down for breakfast and ended up chatting to a girl for several hours. Eventually I had to go back upstairs to move beds and ended up having a nap for a while when I came down I went out to get some food but it was a struggle to find anything vegetarian.

On the way back to the hostel I picked up some cookies and sat drinking tea and munching all evening whilst watching big hero six.

At about 10.30pm I went out and got some food and watched the end of the Bersih protest and the countdown to Merdeka which was an amazing experience it was like a carnival atmosphere which was really interesting. We spent some time talking to a really lovely family who explained everything and translated things the crowd was chanting etc.

By the time we got back I was exhausted and fell into bed tired.

Monday 31^st August 2015

This morning I woke up needing the bathroom and thinking it was the middle of the night so was surprised when I came out and it was really light and it was actually 8am so I got up.

I had a shower and had some breakfast and then around 10am went to the Merdeka (Independence Day) parade but it was mostly over which was a shame but we saw some huge balloons and lots of people cheering.

I walked through the central market to the train station and got a train to KLCC where I walked around and killed a few hours having a picnic for one in the park.

Back at the hostel I sorted the last of my Vietnam photos and chilled out for a while in the evening I went for dinner in Chinatown then watched a movie in the hostel.

Tuesday 1^st September 2015

I had a last lazy morning sitting around watching CNN news but began to feel a little depressed by all of the stupidity and doom and gloom of the media so headed out.

I got the train to KL Sentral with another girl and we had amazing pancakes at a place in the mall before walking to little India.

We spent the late afternoon strolling along looking in the many shops and chatting to people who stopped me to comment on my tattoo (and take loads of photos)

We weren’t really hungry but a really nice woman recommended a vegetarian Indian restaurant so we had an early dinner before continuing on our way. While we were eating it started to rain heavily and was still drizzling as we walked back to the train station.

Back at the hostel we sat about for a bit then walked to Chinatown to get some fruit then chilled out till it was time to seep.

Wednesday 2^nd September 2015

For some unknown reason I booked a haircut for 11am so had to actually get up and moving. I had a shower and some breakfast then got the train to KL Sentral and found the salon. The result wasn’t exactly what I had in mind but hopefully after a wash I can fix it how I want as currently it’s very sleek.

After the cut I walked around the mall a bit and then went back to the hostel to watch a movie. I sat in the common area and streamed a couple of movies interspersed with occasional conversation with other people hanging about.

In the evening a friend and I went to the mall at KL Sentral to get some food we ended up at a burger bar right next to Celebrity Fitness and stuffed our faces whilst watching spin and Zumba. I’m not sure I’d be happy to exercise while people stared through the windows some people were even filming the Zumba class on their phones…

We felt pretty stuffed so when we got back we took a walk around Chinatown arriving back at the hostel just in time to farewell another friend. I watched a bit of a movie on the TV in the common room and then retreated to bed.

Thursday 3^rd September 2015

So today was my last full day travelling and I spent it doing nothing so spectacular. This girl in my room woke up around 5am and spent an age rummaging around her bag and going in and out of the room only to finally take a shower and go back to bed! It was hugely annoying and I couldn’t really get back to sleep.

Eventually I got up and had a long breakfast before sorting through and packing my bags. Once that was done I sat about waiting for things to charge so I would have movies and books for the plane.

Around 2pm I went for a walk just to get some fresh air and ended up walking to Bukit Bintang which is s huge shopping area. The pavilion mall there is huge and I got lost in there searching for something to eat. I ate and then had to search for my way back out and walk back to the hostel. Along the way I encountered (yet another) literal wanker calming jerking himself off on a bench.

I got back to the hostel and chilled out in the cool ac before getting an early dinner the food was pretty good but overpriced and the place lacked atmosphere so we didn’t stick around long.

We walked through Chinatown and picked up some sacks as we were still a bit hungry and then went back to the hostel and spent the evening watching movies.

Friday 4^th September 2015

Last night it was a bit hard to sleep as I knew that today I would be getting on a plane back to the UK. I got up and dressed and went to meet my old KL flatties for breakfast. We were supposed to meet at 9am but due to traffic there was a bit of a hold up.

Emily and I had breakfast and then walked about ten minutes to the bookshop where she works (as she had to be back at work) and we met the others there. Mic arrived with a friend who is staying with her and a bit later Sidney arrived as well.

We walked to another café close by and I had tea while the others ate and we caught up on the last two years! Around 11.30am I had to leave to get back to the hostel in time to pack and check out. I checked out and then had a shower and got all my things together ready to go.

I spent my last few hours willing time to move a bit quicker and drinking endless cups of tea in preparation for England.

Now I have less than an hour before I leave or the airport! The last 291 days (yip that’s how long I’ve been on the road!) have been amazing! Huge thanks to everyone who has been a part of the journey I hope that our paths will cross again somewhere someday! See you all on the other side (of the world!!!) Peace and Love xxxx

Hanoi round two – otherwise known as the time I sat twiddling my thumbs and cursing travel insurance companies as well as cheap airlines…

Sunday 23^rd August 2015

I spent the morning lounging in bed between breakfast and catching the bus. The return journey to Hanoi was much the same but third time was busier and we picked up a ton of locals.

In Hanoi the hostel we wanted to stay at was full and so we had to go elsewhere. We showered and had a bit of food while we waited for the others who didn’t arrive until 10.30pm by which time I was ready for bed but the ac was broken and the room was cooking. After several complaints we ended up in private rooms which was a win!

Monday 24^th August 2015

We got up and had breakfast which was disgusting just like the staff! Not wanting to stay another night we walked to the hostel we stayed in previously and sorted out beds then went back checked out and got our bags.

By the time everyone was in one place and checked in it was about 2pm we went for food and fruit shakes and took a walk around the lake. We sat talking to some students for about an hour as they wanted to improve their English.

Come evening we had one last dinner together and then everyone went out but I went to bed.

Tuesday 25^th August 2015

I got up early to have breakfast with and say goodbye to some more peeps after which I went back to bed. I managed to sleep a little more and when I woke up I spent a stressful morning buying a new flight.

Once that was sorted and I had got ready for the day I went for food and a smoothie and a walk around the lake with some  folks (pretty much the same as yesterday) before sitting sorting out a hostel for KL as well as banking and yet more paperwork for insurance

In the evening a bunch of us went to dinner at a local place and I had an amazing grilled eggplant dish. Once we had eaten we went and chilled in a beautiful little spot called the lantern lounge with seating on the floor and lots of lanterns.

At about 11pm and the boys continued on and I walked back to the hostel and into my bed.

Wednesday 26th August 2015

 Last night I slept horrifically mostly due to three young English girls who have been travelling for four weeks and think they are world wise before they even woke me up they annoyed me with their selfish childish behaviour and when they came back at 3am with a guy in tow turned on all the lights and proceeded to shriek about their night as well as take selfies in their underwear I had enough. Thank goodness they left.

I  got up and a group of us had breakfast and then I went back to bed for a while before getting up to shower and go to a bakery for cake. After cake we said farewell to more of the gang and went and had a cheap lunch and a fruit shake. Back at the hostel it was hot and there was nothing to do so we went to the cinema.

We came out several hours later went to get some dinner during which it started to pour with rain so we had to hang out for a while and wait for it to pass.

Back at the hostel I watched a movie in bed.

Thursday 27th August 2015

I got up and ready to see some sights this morning but it didn’t turn out well. I started off by walking to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Considering the man wanted to have a simple cremation the mausoleum eems a bit ridiculous it’s a huge concrete structure (once voted the 6^th ugliest building in the world in a CNN poll) inside uncle Hos embalmed body lies for eternity. It’s supposed to be open until 11am but when I got there at 10.45am it was already closed. There were heaps of workmen around building temporary structures and cutting the already perfectly manicured grass as its independence day soon I can only assume the surly closure and work is for that.

Next I wanted to see the presidential palace but it proved very difficult to find in my search I found the Ho Chi Minh museum which closed at 12pm for a two hour lunch leaving me 30mins to walk around but on the plus side I got in for free as they overlooked selling me the ticket in their rush to get me inside.

At 12pm I resumed my search for the palace and found out it was closed for the rest of the day so my plans to sight see were scrapped.

I walked back towards the hotel and got a fruit shake and some street food before heading back to the hostel to sit around and twiddle my thumbs in the ac.

In the evening me and another guy walked along to the lantern lounge where we hung out a few nights ago they have a veggie menu which was grand and it’s a cool place to hang out. We got back to the hostel and I wanted to go to bed but two guys in my room had invited about 15 others to drink in there eventually they left but disturbed everyone (in the sense of disturbed sleep as well as mentally disturbed) by coming back and having loud sloppy fake sounding amateur porn sex at about 4am.

Friday 28^th August 2015

Today was my last day in Hanoi so I made the effort to see something and went to the Hoa Lo Prison museum. In typical Vietnamese fashion it was closed from 11.30am- 1.30pm so before I went I got a fruit shake and headed to the post office to post a bunch of scribbles.

It was first used by the French to hold revolutionaries who were beaten, tortured and starved. The place was a tad contradictory first claiming to be one of the more secure facilities of its time and then telling stories of many escapees.

Later during the Vietnam War the prison was used to hold American fighter pilots shot down and arrested. In comparison to how the Vietnamese inmates were treated it sounded as though the Americans were at a summer camp and the many pictures showed the many freedoms they were allowed.

I came out of the museum feeling hungry and hot so I got a snack and then went back to the hostel and ended up chatting with a bunch of people. I left to pack my bag ad when I came back everyone was absolutely wasted which was rather amusing.

Since it was the weekend the streets were closed and the night market was happening. I walked about and watched some Vietnamese dancing and several choirs all strutting their stuff on a small stage set up on the corner. Then I had my last dinner in Vietnam and a chilled evening chatting and saying farewell to new friends

Cat Ba Island and Lan Ha Bay- doing Halong Bay for half the price and tourists!!

Thursday 20^th August 2015

We didn’t have to wake up early this morning but since I haven’t slept much since I broke my arm I was awake. I got dressed and lingered a little too long over breakfast meaning packing was a rush.

By the time we had all checked out the taxi was waiting for us so we piled in with all our bags and made our way to the bus station. We tried unsuccessfully to sell our extra ticket (but got almost half of the money back from the conductor on the bus!)

The bus ride was ok taking about four hours but we did have to change buses once not that we were told and bags almost ended up returning to Hanoi without their owners! From the bus we got a 30min ferry and then another bus to Cat Ba Town.

In town we had a late lunch and the found a hostel and went to the beach we got there in time for sunset which was pretty beautiful. We returned to the hostel and showered before finding a place to eat I had pizza as I felt like I needed something big and it did the trick. Back at the hostel I pretty much just headed to bed.

sunset!

the beach!

Pizza dinner!

Friday 21^st August 2015

We needed to be up early for our boat trip today but that wasn’t a problem as I no longer seem to sleep. We had breakfast and then at 8am walked to the jetty and got on the boat. It was the prettiest boat on the water, painted white with beautiful furniture which made us happy.

We started off by sailing through Lan Ha Bay which is the smaller less touristy version of Halong Bay but has the same limestone rock formations which are so iconic to Halong Bay. The boat cruised at a steady pace for a few hours before stopping so everyone could kayak through some caves. Of course I couldn’t get off the boat and so I sunbathed and took photos from the top deck.

About an hour later everyone came back and we had lunch on board. The vegetarian selection left a bit to be desired and although ok tasting there just wasn’t enough (except for rice we had enough plain white rice to feed a village)

Once we had eaten we drove again to a swimming spot where a few guys tried snorkelling but the visibility was shit of course I was still stuck on the boat. Thankfully on Monkey Island I could go down on the beach which was beautiful I sat in the water with my arm above my head.

Back on the boat it was home time. We had been on the water since 8am and by 5pm we all felt hot sticky and hungry after showers it was food shortly followed by bed

Saturday 22^nd August 2015

After yet another bad sleep I was up and ready for the day early I had breakfast and we said goodbye to a couple of the group who needed to head back to Hanoi and then sat around all morning relaxing.

In the afternoon we walked to the beach. There are three and we were told the second one was were it’s at so we set up camp there under an umbrella. It was scorching so I sat in the sea a while but the current was knocking me about and it was hard to keep my arm up so I got out.

We hadn’t been sat for long when this terrible music came blaring out from the speakers behind us we couldn’t even talk to each other and it was defiantly ruining the peaceful relaxed vibe we were searching for. Thankfully pouting gets you everywhere and we were moved to the third beach which was music free and was far prettier anyway! We got some food and chilled out for a few hours.

In the evening we walked up to cannon fort to watch the sunset it was cool exploring the fort and the views were pretty stunning.