Living on a Narrowboat
Trip to Vietnam 2015.
Or water puppets, as they call them.
First developed from bored peasants in the paddy fields of north Vietnam, this is one of the unique attractions you might find in Hanoi.
The main stage is locate by the north corner of Hoan Kiem lake.
Showings start at 3pm, so there is no point in showing up any earlier.
The Chinese firmly believe in hot water, or at least warm water. I’m not a great fan. I prefer mine chilled. Thankfully.
Looks like the woman at the Chinese embassy didn’t know what she was talking about and I actually DON’T have a valid visa for China.
Luckily, I’m one of those people that doesn’t believe what he’s told, and rather than chance it at the border, I decided to call it a day in SE Asia.
Had a good look around this city. Seems a cool place – in many ways, not least because the weather was about 11 °C.
I took some photo’s and mooched the streets.
On many days it was raining, at least in the afternoon.
There are many places to eat in Hanoi. Perhaps too many.
Shopping is also good. There are many nick-nacks to be had. Prices are cheap, bargains can be struck and there is an abundance of other shops to try if the price doesn’t suit. Continue reading “Chinese Hot Water”
Turns out some of my calculations with regard to Visa extensions were incorrect.
It’s now No Longer Possible to get a 1-month extension without paying $100+. You can get a 7day extension for $50.
This has come as a surprise, and changed my plans –
I took a visit to the Chinese embassy this morning, to check things out there. They told me I still had a valid Visa for travel to China.
Having spoken to the agencies, I’m not totally optimistic that I’ll be able to find a job there AND sort things out within 30 days.
Got another motorbike for $4 and headed to Alba Hot Springs. These are located in Thahn Tan, 20km or so outside Hue – and made an interesting distraction for the day.
The road down there is particularly nice, and un-congested by Vietnamese standards.
When you get there, you can put your feet up and soak in amongst the hot water. There some cool springs and some hot springs – 5 pools in all in the complex I visited.
I jumped from the cold to the hot, this lasted about 40 mins. They recommend you don’t do any more than 45. I managed to stay in for stints of 10 minutes max.
I had an ice-cream, took a walk around the complex. There was a little park at the perimeter with pigs and deer – Vietnamese pot bellied pigs.
There are many other things to do in the park and apparently, the Vietnamese tourist board is trying to make it more attractive to tourists by reducing the prices.
It was 100,000 VND when I went or 170,000 if you wanted to pay for the luxury enclosure.
The rest of the day, I spent looking around the beach. This was less spectacular, but I had some juice in the tank. I took this picture of a view over the bay.
Not actually the bay, but the view back – it’s a series of lagoons formed by the fisher people using the sand and the water from the rivers flowing toward the sea to create lagoons to farm fish and crustaceans.
Tonight I’m catching the bus to Hanoi, where I will renew my VISA and get out pronto.
Bus departs at 9.30pm so I’ve got some time to hang around.
Will have dinner, then go, I guess. My kidney is still dodgy. Still drinking plenty of water.
Sunny by day
Sunny by night
