Hello China

Nanning, China

We couldn’t believe that we were coming to our second to last destination as we crossed the border into China. We would have stopped and reflected on this fact even more had we not managed to lose our group. It’s amazing how all the English signs and speakers we’d been seeing over the past few months vanished the second we left Vietnam. We were the only Western people on the bus and were soon left behind as the others meandered through security with ease whilst we blundered painfully through each step, eventually emerging alone outside the checkpoint with no idea where to go. Just as stress levels were about to peak, we were saved by a Vietnamese boy who came over to help the hopeless, stupid white people.

We soon forgot about the ordeal as we took in the view on the way to Nanning, but things didn’t get any easier once we stepped off the bus.

We, being the organised people that we are… - Sorry, Kerry, being the organised person that she is, had our hostel name written down in Mandarin on her phone. So, we thought we would have little difficulty in getting a taxi to the hostel. We flagged one down and showed him the address. He shook his head, and drove off.

Strange.

We stopped another and tried again… same result.

Very strange.

We tried again, and again.

That’s when we started to panic. There was no way we could get our bearings either, the signs and symbols meant absolutely nothing to us, we didn’t know what street we were on, we actually started to wonder if we were even in the right city at all… what kind of taxi driver doesn’t know the city they drive in. To make things worse, there really wasn’t anybody around who could speak any English whatsoever, so the taxi drivers couldn’t even begin to explain why they wouldn’t take us.

Just as it was getting dark and we were deciding which bin to spend the night in, we tried one last time. Once again, the driver shook his head. I tried asking him why, asking him which way we should go and, in my desperation, asking if we were in Nanningat all.

He didn’t understand a word.

He was, however, a very nice man. Either out of sympathy, or perhaps pure frustration at our lack of understanding, he told us to get in. By this point we didn’t really care where we were going or how much it would cost, we just wanted somewhere to stay.

5 minutes later, we pulled up right outside our hostel with just 2km and about a pound to pay on the meter. To say we were relieved would be understatement. We thanked him to the point of harassment and finally arrived at the hostel: English speaking staff, maps, help desks and a bar… everything we needed.

We were told by the staff at check in, that taxi drivers won’t take clients if the fare isn’t good enough, the fact that we were just 2km from the hostel meant the ride wasn’t worth it for the drivers, the fact that they couldn’t speak English meant that they couldn’t explain why they were leaving us on the pavement.

Well, now we know.

Besides the hassle of getting here, we’re already enjoying China. Although stressful at times, the lack of English and illegible writing actually makes travelling here quite exciting, we don’t know what we’re eating, where we’re going or what we’re buying, but it’s all part of the experience. As a result, we’ve had some incredible street food and seen ridiculously big markets selling things I don’t even know the English name for. Let’s just hope we manage to get our flight out of here when the time comes. 

Photos - Halong Bay

Our mini cruise

Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam

The busy city of Hanoi wasn’t our favourite place in Vietnam. The friendliness of the locals seemed to completely disappear and everyone seemed to be after our money. One lady hung her basket of fruit on my shoulder and asked for a picture which I’d obviously have to pay for. Another guy ran after Jack pointing at his shoe, he bent down and whipped out a bottle of glue, insisting that Jack needed his shoes repairing. I don’t know whether we were just unluckily picking places to eat but hardly any of the waiters/waitresses smiled and they barely said a word to us. However, having said all this, we only really stayed in Hanoi as it’s the gateway to Halong Bay – which totally made up for it! We spent 2 days on a lovely little cruise ship surrounded by gorgeous scenery. We were taken to one area to kayak between the stunning mountains that protruded from the water. We saw beautiful jellyfish that swam alongside our kayak (good job we didn’t fall in) and visited the biggest cave in Halong Bay(which was pretty damn big). The following day we chilled out on the deck of the boat before having a Vietnamese cooking demonstration. 

Photos - Hue

With service like this you'd think we'd be spending more than £3 a night!

 The Imperial Citadel 

A stop for photos on our 100 mile road trip

100 mile road trip

Hue, Vietnam

Hue is a small city along the east coast of Vietnam. We stayed in a hotel with the most generous and caring staff you can imagine, every time we returned after a day out, they would sit us down, bring us cold towels, drinks, fruit and local food to try, they would ask us about our day, help us choose where to eat and where to go. We felt like we were staying in luxury! Not bad for just £3 each a night.

We visited the imperial citadel and, once again, rented a moped to explore the area. We ended up riding over 100 miles across some of the most incredible scenery we have seen this trip. We rode through tiny towns where the locals waved or gawped as we went past, we went though mountains, over lakes and along remote coastlines, eventually stopped at a place called elephant springs - a little haven used by the locals to swim and relax. We rode back against the backdrop of an awesome sunset and dodged our way through the limitless hazards back to our hotel, where the owners, once again, cooled us down with towels and drinks, happy to see that we’d made it back alive – or that we’d bought the bike back in one piece.

Photos - Hoi An

More beautiful beaches

One of Jack's interesting sunbathing positions

Buffalo are friendly

Goodbye to this lovely couple!

Gorgeous sunsets

Quirky little town

Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An was one of our favourite places in Vietnam. A cute little ancient town, lit up by lanterns at night, only a few kilometres from a stunning, white sandy beach. We stayed in a homestay run by a lovely Vietnamese family who couldn’t be more friendly. We had our own private section of the beach with sun loungers where we could order food and drink. The town itself was beautiful; very quirky, lots of little shops and cafes alongside the river.

We said our final goodbyes to Laura and Graham as they made their way up North, ready to catch their flight back home after being away for a full year!