Apparently we are "same same...but different!"

Hanoi, Vietnam 

With only a short time to cover three countries we rather reluctantly left Chiang Mai and headed to Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi is very like Bangkok in that it is really busy all the time. There are motorbikes/mopeds/bicycles everywhere and there appears to be no lanes on the roads so people drive anywhere. On our first night we were given a lesson by a girl staying in our hostel who had two weeks experience at crossing Vietnamese roads. The only way to cross is to just walk! There are green men but they are ignored by drivers and are therefore pointless. As long as you keep a steady pace the bikes avoid you- although sometimes only just. In Vietam the houses are all really tall, thin and cramped together. To avoid paying rent twice people own a shop and then live above it or in the back, while doing everything else on the street, like eating for example. We even saw someone washing their hair over a drain! It is an odd experience walking past a family, usually all in their pjs, feeding their kids on a step in the middle of a busy street.


Our first trip planned from Hanoi was Halong Bay. It was only a three hour bus ride from Hanoi to Halong harbour where we went aboard the Liberty Junk. It unfortunately didn't look anything like the pictures in the brochure but it was still a very enjoyable way to travel. We were shown our cabin for the night which was nice enough even though the windows were jammed open, the bathroom door wouldn't shut and the A/C flooded when switched on.

Style of the boats in Halong Bay 

Beautiful limestone rocks and floating village 

Our sun deck - without any sun! 

We stopped to visit the biggest cave in Halong Bay which was really impressive. However, there's nothing quite like queuing behind hundreds of Chinese people to get into a cave. The cave was discovered 20 years ago when locals were trying to find shelter from a storm. They saw some monkeys clambering into a hole so followed them and found the massive cave which had been eroded by the sea.

Turtles are lucky so people put money on the rock that looks like a turtle in the cave

Halong Bay is generally very touristy and so it was nice to go back aboard our boat and escape by sailing between the thousands of islands. We anchored near Cat Ba Island and had a great evening, there was even karaoke. One of the best moments of the whole trip was when one of the crew members, wearing his bright karaoke shirt, sang the backstreet boys without looking at the words.

The next morning we trekked up one of the peaks on Cat Ba Island. Our guide was a small Vietnamese who they call Monkey Man as he would climb up the vines and pose for photos. He would also run ahead, whilst we struggled in the heat and then fan us as we passed him.

Monkey Man

Once back on Cat Ba Island Sarah got her first experience on a motorbike before we then got on another boat to visit Monkey Island. As opposed to the harbours, the water around Monkey Island is beautiful so we went for a swim. This was interrupted by the arrival of some monkeys who have learnt to drink from cans and steal peoples stuff from the beach.

"If anyone wants anything there is a shop coming!" 

Floating village (check out the dogs wandering around) 

Monkey Island 

Cheeky Monkey!

We then proceeded to spend the evening chatting and drinking cocktails with a couple of girls we met on Monkey Island. Every bar seems to have a happy hour which lasts at least three hours!

Thailand Part 2

Having walked with lions in Africa we though it was only appropriate to lie down with tigers in Thailand. We had been a little skeptical about this as many had said the tigers are so drugged they can't move but this was definitely not the case at Tiger Kingdom. As we waited to visit the older tigers we watched the youngsters playing and fighting in their pool, one even pounced on the fence when a girl was taking a picture! Then the friendly guidees introduced us to Roy and Rabbit (both 18 months). Since they are hand reared you can lie down with spoon with them which was a unique experience. Roy sat up for his photo shoot however Rabbit barely moved- the guides joked she had drunk too much scotch whiskey!



Amusing sign at Tiger Kingdom!



youngsters playing



cuddling Rabbit



Sarah and Roy

 From there we headed to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which is the biggest and most spectacular temple in the Chiang Mai area. Since it was sat on the top of a hill we had to climb over 300 steps to reach it (luckily we had a coconut pancake boost half way up!) The temple itself is mainly made of gold, which was slightly blinding in the sun, with a view of the whole of Chiang Mai.


Stairs and our friend Colleen



A lot of gold!

Next on our itinerary was an adventure say of rafting, swimming and elephant handling. Along with two other couples we went bamboo rafting, which involves sitting on 8-10 long bamboo logs strapped together. A man stands at the front and uses a bamboo stick to paddle which often means the back flings around and hits off rocks. This made the raft sink a bit-but it always rights itself eventually leaving us wet! Since we were already  wet we headed to a waterfall to go swimming. It was really fast flowing and even though we are strong swimmers our attempt to reach the base of the falls resulted in us swimming in the same spot.

Then after a full banquet lunch (of more chicken and rice) we changed into some very attractive elephant handler outfits. We thought we would be pros after our African experience but we were wrong! These were not wild elephants and so they are very comfortable coming right up to you to say hello, especially the baby who demanded bananas! We set off on a trek sitting bare back on the elephant and were left in charge with only Mahout words to control them. These words are more like noises and our elephant just did what she wanted anyway. When she headed towards the river our excitement about bathing with her soon changed to terror when she charged! Having seen some more elephants up ahead she decided they were having more fun and so she wanted to join them leaving us screaming and gripping on for dear life! After this adrenaline rush we were more than happy to get off her and play with them in the water. The best part was when you told the elephant to suck up water and then use their trunk as a water pistol.



pretending we are in control



An elephant kiss



Water pistol!

After all this adventure we thought we would treat ourselves to a massage-turns out a Thai massage is more like being beaten up!



Our colourful hostel in Chiang Mai

Thailand Part 1

The next leg of our adventure got off to a horrible start when we were delayed for 3 hours in heathrow. First of all engine no. 4 didn't work and had to be jump started. Then whilst on the runway a man had a seizure and so we had to go back to the gate for the paramedics to get on! Arriving into Bangkok went a little more smoothly until we had trouble getting a taxi and then communicating with the driver, who's english went as far as "Bangkok....good shopping!" Luckily for us our mood was brightened by the comfy, air conditioned Nap Park Hostel. We spent 3 nights in Bangkok where our days were spent wandering one of the most famous backpacker streets in the world, eating phad thai and chatting to other travellers whilst lying on the padded floor of the hostel! 

We also decided to take a day trip outside of Bangkok which included visiting Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market. This is Thailand's biggest market and it takes place in narrow wooden boats on a series of waterways. We took one of the boats through the market passing stalls selling everything from tourist souvenirs to everyday items for the locals. Some of the women were even cooking using a gas stove on the boats. We had our first successful barter and tried some weird and wonderful fruit. 

The day continued to a zoo where we saw elephants doing tricks and a man stick his head inside a crocodiles mouth and then finished with a visit to the Rose Garden where we saw some Thai boxing and dancing. 

After the busy, smoggy city of Bangkok we were happy to move north to a place called Chiang Mai. We took an overnight bus for 12 hours (which exceeded both our expectations as we were given food and a blanket!) and arrived at a very multi-coloured hostel. A Thai cooking class was the first activity on the agenda, which turned out to be on of the best nights so far. We met our teacher at a local market where she taught us about the different ingredients we would be using and the alternatives we would need to use at home as many of the ingredients we had never heard of! It was then off to the kitchen where we made 4 dishes each, such as chicken in coconut milk soup and sweet sticky rice with mango. 

Before...

...after! 

Having eaten more in one night than ever before we headed back to the hostel for a lie down before hitting the night bazaar. This market is open every night till midnight and sells everything from souvenirs to knockoffs. Along with two Americans from our hostel we wandered around and ended the night with a foot massage at midnight when they were supposed to close however they kept it open for us for only £2! 

"buses" in Chiang Mai

Having a whale of a time!

Having lunch with our franklin friend (bird)

Our last week in South Africa we spent in true style. While we were in Botswana our wonderful grandparents arranged a trip around the southern peninsula with a family friend that runs a tour company. Blair, who's usual clients have an average age of 65, had to put up with us for 5 days but what an amazing 5 days they were! We travelled for three hours along the coast to a nature reserve called De Hoop which in Afrikaans means "the Hope". The reserve covers an area of 34000 ha and includes a Marine Protected Area (you biologists out there should know what this is!). Within its grounds are endangered species such as Bontebok and the Cape mountain zebra which are thriving due to the lack of large predators. Also, luckily for us this meant that we could wander around the grounds without worrying about coming across anything more scary than baboons, and anyone reading our blogs knows that we have had plenty of experience with baboons already! De Hoop is famous for its stunning coastline with vibrant fynbos vegetation and towering sand dunes, so the first thing we did was head for the beach. It was at this point that we discovered another attraction of the site....whales! At this time of year Southern right whales can be spotted near the shore in the crystal blue/green water, and they are even more obvious when they fling themselves out of the water to breach. We spent hours on the small beach resulting in bad tan lines but we had a whale of a time (ha get it?).

First whale sighting!

Bontebok and baboons

De Hoop sand dunes

Blue crane- national bird of South Africa

  The next leg of our journey took us round the coast to Stanford (including driving through a wee village called Beard Cutting Forest. There are some weird names in Afrikaans). We drove through the shark cage diving capital of SA while Katie closed her eyes, and despite the flooding in the area we finally made it to Mosaic Farm. The lodge is usually on a peninsula which sticks into a lagoon behind Walker Bay where sharks, whales and seals can be spotted. However when we arrived the peninsula had become an island due to the flooding and we were transported from the main house to our lodge in a military vehicle called a unimog. While we were being tossed around in the back of the vehicle we were reminded more of a theme park ride than a ride to a luxury lodge. And that's exactly what it was...luxury! Our beds were turned down every night, with a chocolate on our pillow and glasses of Amarula waiting for us. As we headed out of our lodge for the first time we noticed a visitor, who was from then on called Jerry. Jerry was a fairly large mole snake who often blocked our path to the diningroom. We decided for the sake of our rumbling tummies we would leave our lodge in a mad dash every morning.

Sundowners on Walker Bay

Can you spot Jerry?

Mosaic Farm from the sky- check out the flooded road! 

miserable weather in Hermanus

waving hello!

Other than a little swimming and quad-biking our time was spent looking for whales. This was done during a sunset trip to the beach with a couple of drinks and also during a small plane ride over the bay. This plane ride was more successful than the last one in that Katie didn't chunder (hurray!) and our pilot was very friendly. We saw so many pairs of mothers and calves, including a white whale, which are just not visible from the beach. We are really struggling to describe how amazing this was so just take a look at the pictures below.

white whale lying on its back