Laid back Hanoi, busy Saigon

Hanoi will seem quite chaotic to many first-timers arriving into the capital but the streets in the old Quarter are surprisingly very well organised - you find a street full of shops selling all kind of shoes, from $1 slippers to the latest sneakers, street selling the latest movies in DVD for only £1, or if you are hungry, hunt down the street where it is lined with roadside stalls selling dried cuttlefish, grilled in the most delicious crispy form. Head over to Hoàn Kiếm Lake at first light or evenings and join the locals in their morning exercises as the sun glitters over the water.

I sampled some really good and cheap Vietnamese food at cosy Little Hanoi 1 (recommended by Lonely Planet), and enjoyed getting lost in the maze of streets that all looked the same in the Old Quarter. Avoid the night food market that is highlighted in guidebooks as the prices can be 2 to 3 times more expensive for foreigners than what you get elsewhere, and they are not necessarily better. Walking or motorbikes are the best form of transport as the city is relatively small and you can explore all the little sidewalks where the cars are unable to get to easily. If you are a coffee lover, make sure you try the Viet coffee, not really to my taste, but you might immediately fall in love with it. I especially like buying the different kinds of tropical fruits peddled by the hawkers on bicycles at incredible cheap prices, and eating so much till I ended up having stomachache on both days. The only disappointment was not seeing the Vietnamese women in the traditional gown called ao dai, which always seem so graceful and elegant in pictures, together with wooden hat.

Paid 1.3million Dong for a upper soft sleeper bed on the Reunification Express, the price partly inflated by the commission charged by the hostel, meaning it is definitely a better idea to get the tickets directly at the train station, or check with the hundreds of tour agencies dotted around the city. The locals mentioned that domestic flying can be as cheap as $50 one way to Saigon but have also heard about stories about the flying experience. For me, it was always only gonna be one option, by land, meaning either I take the historical rail slowly humming along the coast to the south or go cheap by taking one of the hundreds of open tour buses on offer that takes you from Hanoi to almost anywhere south. The thought of experiencing a train journey holding the world record of the slowest speed for a railway proves too much to turn it down, which I am sure some of you must have immediately rolled your eyes immediately at this point!

Settled into a compartment with an elderly couple and their grandson, as well as another bloke who joined us on one of the stations along the way. Amenities were bare minimal, so don't expect too much. The conditions for the hard sleeper (6 berth) and sitting were alot "tougher", but I am sure they are just fine after you get used to it like what the locals do. There is a restaurant cart which serves rather nice Viet food at very affordable prices, as long as you ignore the local habits of throwing bones and leftovers on the floor.



The green padi fields along the way seem like a world lost in time, with farmers still using water buffalo to plough their fields and move harvested grain. Occasionally, the train goes pretty close to the coast and smell the fresh sea breeze from the South China Sea, making one feel like jumping into the glistering waters immediately. The 30 hours journey seem like forever, not helped by a kid that was getting restless and was constantly throwing tantrums. Mr Obama's first autobiography was a big help to passing time, and was very impressed with the book.

Arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) late and found a guesthouse along Pham Ngu Lao area for $8. As this area is packed with guesthouses (there are no hostels in this city), one can see travelers enjoying a beer at the many pubs and roadside stalls. The city definitely looked far busier than the capital in the north. Booked a bus into Siem Reap the next morning for $16 after checking around the many travel agents in the area, enjoyed a nice local Pho Bo and strolled around the area before turning in for the night.

Head south, from Hong Kong into Vietnam

Heading to Vietnam from Hong Kong is usually a breeze but the efforts increase slightly when you limit your transport options to be only land based. First leg of the journey involves taking a China train heading in the direction of Guangzhou. You can either take to Guangzhou East station and take a cab to another station in the city for the train heading to Nanning. Instead of crashing into another mega Chinese city, I bought a ticket to Foshan, (佛山, home to the legendary gongfu master, Wong Fei Hung 黃飛鴻) instead and transfer to the next train heading to Nanning in the same station after a 3 hour wait. Do take note that you will need to re-enter China at Foshan and standard visa requirements will apply for relevant folks. Another cheapest ticket meant that I was again allocated the top bed in the 6 bed berth layout, only this time, the compartments are all open plan. Most of the locals brought their own food whereas some simply bought the meals from the push trolleys that come by every 10 minutes or so. I did the same and it was pleasantly quite edible, and at a very affordable price of 15Y (~£1.50). It was quite interesting to see the varied food brought on board, ranging from traditional dumplings to spiced chicken drumsticks conveniently vacuum wrapped in ready-sale packs.

Arrived in Nanning at six the next morning and got my next train ticket to Pingxiang for 30Y, leaving at 8am to the Chinese/Vietnam border town in 3 hours. Managed to grab some porridge with you tiao (kind of fried dough fritter) for breakfast before the clouds opened and started to pour. As the train snake through the hills and valley completely covered with lush greenery, the train attendants started to come around the cars selling strange things from toothbrushes to UV mini torchlights (they argued that it was very useful to spot fake notes) to 3-for-10Y "top range" socks. One do need to be always wary of everything that is going around you, especially keeping an eye on your belongings as the train was completely packed to the brim. At Pingxiang, bargain hard with the rows of mini vans and tuk tuks lined up outside the rail station. It is worthwhile to exchange some Vietnamese Dong from the ones carrying stacks of millions in their hands as I did not see any ATM machines at the border. Paid 5Y sharing a mini van of 5 to the "Friendship Pass", named to signify the warm relationship between the countries. Locals are not entirely surprised to see backpackers crossing into Vietnam from here but it is still quite unusual, which is good as it meant that prices are kept to the local standard. The Chinese immigration was a breeze but over at the Vietnamese end, one will need to hand over your passport together with the immigration forms to the counter and wait for your name to be called out after it has been verified and stamped. After which you will have to pay another 3Y for a "doctor" to certify you OK before you put your bags through the scanner. Outside the border, look out for buses that head directly into Hanoi, another 4 hour slow journey due to the country's speed restrictions, costing roughly 80,000 Dong for the trip. With the cheap price comes the need to share with fellow "travelers" as the mini van will attempt to pick up as many people heading into the direction of the capital as possible along the way. At one point, it was so crowded that people literally had to "stand" in the van! I was hastily dropped off along a road in Hanoi to take a xe om, or motorbike to the Hanoi Backpackers' hostel as the van was not willing to drive through the Old Quarter. Been a frugal traveler, I ended up taking a 20min stroll through the hustle and bustle of the city landscape, lined with narrow streets filled up with roadside hawkers selling tasty snacks and fruits, crossing the roads like an old pro with millions of motorbikes screaming past, always making sure that the motorists can see me, and avoid me...

Bingeing in Hong Kong

The overnight train T97 from Beijing to Kowloon was almost filled to the brim with most heading to the southern part of the country in particularly, Guangzhou province. I had bought the cheapest bed on the sleeper train - top bed in a 6 bed compartment. The 24 hour journey turned out to be one of the more boring train rides of my trip so far as I barely chatted with the locals in the bunk as I ended up staying along the corridor most of the time since it was just too crowded to have 6 people squeezed in a tiny compartment. As the train steamed towards the south, the main highlight has to be the moment when the massive Yangtze River came into view and the train rolling over the fast flowing water carrying millions of tons of silt from inner China.

My dive buddy was waiting for me at Wanchai MTR station (Hong Kong's Metro) before we headed to her flat where I will be bunking in for the next 2 nights. People along the streets were mostly wearing face masks as the first H1N1 case was found in a hotel just few blocks down the road. The 300+ customers were still in quarantined which meant plenty of reporters lining up the streets with cameras prying into those trapped within.

Hong Kong is very similar to Singapore, slightly more crowded in terms of population, flats are a tad on the smaller scale too due to the rocket high property prices. Everybody are used to literally rubbing shoulders with each other, either waiting to cross the street junction, taking a lift to your office or squeezing into the public buses and metro. The traditional trolley buses still plowing many of the routes on the 2 main islands are a must for anyone visiting, very similar to London's now-extinct Routemaster buses but much narrower in size - probably due to the smaller built of Asians.



We met up with another friend for dinner headed out to the famous Lan Kwai Fong
bar area after. The area is another of those tourist checkbox to tick against, but it really lacks any serious character unless you want to see and to be seen. Caucasians hang around here alot especially with folklore saying that you can literally pick up a local everytime you head to the bar counter to buy a drink. We met more friends after a mini bar crawl and ended up in a very loud club which we stayed on till the wee hours of the morning.

After a night of unusual high alcohol mixing and intake, I woke up surprisingly unscathed, with my the loss of my voice the only minor annoyance. As the day turned out to be quite nice, we headed up to Victoria Peak for a panoramic view of the country, on top of a 7 storey new shopping complex built at the top of the hill. The tram up the incredibly steep slopes is another interesting sight, else you can either take a cheaper alternative in the bus or even take a 30min slow walk to the top. If you have more time, I will definitely recommend you to head over to the rural Cheung Chau to escape from the urban crowds.

In this country, you can find food in every corner of the street, literally. There are so many "Tea cafe" which sell anything from buns to wonton noodle soup to roast duck rice. Even the 24 hour convenience store (7-eleven) is packed with snacks that can pose a serious danger to people like me to stuff ourselves to death with food! Dim sum is the other must do in the city, especially those older restaurants that still have the steaming hot buns and dumplings coming around in push carts by elderly ladies shouting at the top of the lungs the food that they have. Shopping is also brought to another new level of meaning when you wonder over to Mong Kok in Kowloon where billboards hug every square inch of the space above your head, where thousands of stores lined up the streets, selling from the latest electronic gadgets to shoes wore by the top sports athletics. For ladies, a visit to the "Woman Street" will sound a temptation unlikely to be missed, where the latest hand bags, cosmetics, shoes and lingerie are sold at prices and varieties matched only by those in Bangkok. After dinner at another roadside store, we joined the hundreds by the harbour to watch the "not-so-spectacular" night view of the office blocks that lit up Hong Kong island. Been a weekend, most of the buildings were down to their minimal lights and thus lost a bit of its wow factor that you see in postcards. Instead of taking the metro back, we decided to take the very affordable ferry across the straits instead, becoming a part of what thousands of locals do daily to get on with their lives.

Reliving my adolescent years

Today has to rank as the most enjoyable day which I had the most fun in my entire trip so far. Rented a bicycle and started cycling to Angkor Wat, along the way reliving my adolescence of my childhood. I was completed broken by the end of the day - a total of 30km covered, 80% of it on the 2-wheelies. The chirping of the birds, deafening noise from the crickets, the incredible hot sun, forests of trees, dust and dirt from passing trucks and my $2 RayBan from Vietnam made life seem so carefree all of a sudden. I am treasuring days like this even more as I close in to the island I call home.

Beijing, a metropolis with a twist

Hutong - Traditional Chinese housing typically with a large communal courtyard built around the Forbidden City during the long Chinese history. Toilets are usually shared amongst a few households along an alley with hundreds of families living in each narrow street. These historical buildings are fast disappearing to make way for more roads and modern buildings.

Marie miraculously arrived 20 minutes after us at Leo Hostel located in the middle of the Hutong area south of the Tiananmen Square. She did however spent 3 times the taxi fare to get here. Paul was giving me a cheeky grin as if to thank me for been able to speak to the cab driver and get here in the shortest time. During cab journey, the lady driver laughed at me for coming to the Chinese capital only for the first time at this stage of my life (she would obviously be even more unimpressed if she had known how old I was), which was kinda of weird as if thinking that all Chinese should visit this ancient city once in their life, just like a must for the Muslims to visit Mecca.

The rest of the day was spent sorting out the travel arrangements to Hong Kong as I only found out that the Chinese Railway has changed their Beijing-HK schedules, meaning I was only able to leave 1 day later than originally planned. Decided to pay a slight commission to the hostel to help sort out the tickets rather than to spend time queuing up at the train station. Had a quick taste of the cheap and wonderful Beijing dumplings with Paul before strolling to the massive People's Square.

Next day, after another very early morning wake before seven, I headed out to the Hutong area for some rather authentic breakfast of hot soya bean milk, porridge and fried dough fritters, all for only 50 pence! The neighbourhood was incredibly charming, with the young on their electric bikes heading to work, whilst the mom and pops continue on their trusty traditional bicycles to the nearby market, with stores owners breaking the calm dusty air with their shouts for business. A walk through it seems to take you back in time, especially for one who has been so used to living in a city like environment like myself.



As the sun rose higher, raising the temperature ever higher under the smog of dust covering the city, I headed towards the Forbidden City, avoiding the People's National Assembly and Mao's Mausoleum due to the massive queues. Joined the lines of thousands past the Tiananmen where the Chinese guards maintained a level of orderly flow by shouting at the crowd to move forward and not stop to take any pictures. Few enterprising locals were already doing a brisk business by charging 20Y for a picture taken for them and printed out immediately.

Paid 50Y for the entrance fee and another 5Y for a simple guide brochure of the city with some explanations and pictures. On first entry, I was quite overawed by the grand scale of the palace - it was just the size but the immaculate details that are put into each and every corner. My memories immediately drew me back to the days when I watch this on TV, and finally here I am, seeing it with my own eyes of this magnificent city within a city. I wasn't alone, as I can just see the amazement and glitter in every single person the moment they walk through the gates. The numerous tour guides will always start off with each tour group asking if anyone know how many rooms in total are there in the city - the answer is supposed to be 9,999.5, which they will then continue to add that a new born child will be 28 years old by the time he or she finished staying in a room for each day of their lives. To really absorb the history of the city, one should really join one of the hundreds of tour groups visiting for a true learning experience. As usual, I went for the "free" option, staying close to a group whenever there is one nearby, listening intently with my rusty knowledge of the language.

A few more metro lines have since open for service since the Olympics Games last year and are excellent forms of transport to explore the city at the cost of only 2Y per single trip. Tried to find a place called "Jiu Ba Qi", literally translated to "987", where art galleries and chill out cafes are awash in the area, but ended up in the bars and nightlife area of "SiMaiTai" instead. Slightly disappointed, I decided to head towards the Olympics Park instead after tucking into some Pho Bo at a newly opened Vietnamese outlet behind a brand new shopping complex that seems to be sprawling out in every corner of the city.

If you are thinking of doing the same, you might want to consider going after dark as that is when the lights come on for both the Olympics Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" to the locals, as well as the Aquatics Center. The pride and joy of their success in the Olympics last year can clearly be felt in the air as hundreds of locals congregate to take pictures beside these 2 incredible human architectures. I probably spend the same time helping others to take pictures and my own. Some of the locals were even asking how much I charge for a picture as they mistook me as a freelance with my big camera and tripod setup.

Paul and I joined 8 others from the hostel for a trip to the "Secret Wall", which was basically an unrestored section of the great wall about another 30 minutes drive from the the touristy Baidaling. It took almost 2 hours before we left the famed city morning rush, jammed packed with ever increasing number of cars. I will really exchange that for millions of bicycles instead anytime. An elderly man met up in the village at the foot of the Great Wall and been the only Mandarin speaking person of the group, I was naturally "promoted" to be the translator. The 30min climb up to the wall proved to surprise a few as some of them were huffing and puffing by the time we reach the top. But the view was well worth the efforts - an incredible crumbling wall snaking around the peaks of the mountains as far as the eye could see in the thick layer of smog, just the way it has been for thousands of years, no restoration, no touts selling you drinks and best of all, no need to jostle with thousands of other tourists. It was just the eleven of us, enjoying this amazing piece of Chinese history at our own pace. At times, the elderly man will try to spice up the journey with some stories about that section of the wall, which I will translate back to the group. Apparently it was very steep in history as the rebel Li ZhiCheng was said to have invaded the Beijing from here.

Back in the capital, I brought Paul out for another local dinner in the Hutong area which both of us enjoyed a great deal. The next morning, I brought him to try the breakfast that I had the other day and took advantage of my last day to stroll through this wonderful heritage that is in danger of disappearing as the city steams into the 21st century. In the cab to Beijing West station to catch my train to Hong Kong, I felt an unusual disappointment to leave the city. It has been the one and only place in my travels so far where I have felt so much at home, primarily due to my language advantage, but also because it has turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. Maybe I was falling into my comfort zone, which is unhealthy and best to leave on a bright note.