Finally we can all enjoy some London photos!!

Ok I finally have some photos!
Thanks to Sally I have some photos of us at Trafalger square and also some from today. We met up at Russel Square tube station and walked to the British Museum where we visited the momuments from all different origins, Egypt, Africa and Asia, my favourite were probably the Egyptians monuments. I have heard that the Egytptians want all the momenuments back because the British kinda stole them, but then again they may not have still been in the great condition that they are had they still been in Cairo . It was a big mueseum and really we could have spent all day there but we kinda got the feel for the place and decided to move on.
We went to Harrods!! But by that time we were hugry for lunch so we didnt stay long and we didnt get photos so we wil probably go back and I'm going to stock up on my designer brands and sample all the healthy stuff!
Anyway hopefully I will be able to put up my ones from Vietnam soon as well. Picture mania!!

London News

Hello!
Thanks so much again to everyone who has commented and taken the time to read my blog, its been a long time since I updated and I have been away from home now for two weeks! I have been applying for places to live and been sending out my resume to job networks during times when I wasnt sure what to do next!
I have been having fun riding hte double decker buses and have just been jumping on a off to see where I would end up and then seeing how I would get back, I have to say the tube is a lot more easier to use than the buses though both are very regular. A couple of times I wasnt even sure where I was but whereever I go there are always good shops to look at if nothing else.
I didnt go to Hyde Park as planned because the weather was miserable and so was I with a cold which was inevitable given the long travel times and the changes in the weather but I'm glad i got sick here rather than Vietnam!
So the last couple of days have not been terribly exciting and I probably should have rested up more on Monday and Tuesday rather than bussing about, mostly going to the shops and taking short walks.
On Wednesday morning it was quite warm and I decided to walk rather than take the bus and managed to end up in the Kensington Gardens which adjoins with Hyde Park, the area is huge and would take longer than I had to be explored completly. I saw the Peter Pan momument which was really nothing special and also went to a small art gallery which was very abstract and very boring sorry to say, I wouldnt have paid to see it. I also saw the huge big gold statue of Price Albert which was apparently erected because of "services to the people" he must have hand fed starving children to a earn a momument that huge because it was incdredible and extremly detailed and well crafted, I want to know what I have to do to get one.
That afternoon I caught up with Sally Cleary my older, fantastic, beautiful, kind, giving (well you get it) cousin for those who dont know and she and I went to Trafalger Square which is the area outside the National Gallery and took some pictures. Then we took the bus to her friends Kellys house and we made spaghetti and stayed the night. The next morning ( Thursday 6th) was quite lazy and we got ourselves up and moving to first pick up keys to Kellys from Tim at the BBC and he gave us a tour though all the studios were empty...maybe they knew we were coming but it was still fun. Then we went and had burgers at the pub and started on some op shop exploring in Hammersmith, Sally bought a lovely suit and I bought some rad shoes because all I have are my runners and thongs, these are like sketchers only brown and pink and they are practical but also cool...I'm pretty happy...then that night we met Sallys mates Erin and Dave at the pub which was smoky so we moved on down to pizza express and we both ate a salad....no really...and we all had a good time and I hope all goes well with their wedding!
Well I hope I have more adventures to right about soon, Sally still has lots she has to show me so I will keep everyone informed.
thanks everyone again for commenting and I hope everyone is well!
xoxox Emily

Round Two - Edgeware road, London, England

Hi everyone! 26/03/06
I have been in the UK for two days and havent set foot inside a pub, I think I have broken a record! Ok London has lots of pubs but thats not to say there isn't so much more to do. After leaving Vietnam I was transfered through Paris Airport and arrived in England early in the morning. On the same flight as me was a young couple from Melbourne Lauren and Joel who have both been to London working before and helped me on the tube (they even bought my ticket thanks again guys!) The underground system is fantastic and much more reliable (so far) than the trains in Melbourne and they come every three minutes or so!!
London was very cold at first but I think I'm getting used to putting on ten layers of clothing before going out the door now, actually it can be quite fun but thats just me.
On my first day it was quite a releif to be able to wash my clothes properly and be somewhere cleaner and drink the tap water! Everything is seeming just too easy after Vietnam and I'm hanging out with Aussies most of the time so it seems almost like Australia except colder and much more expensive mostly because when I buy I convert everything roughly into Australian dollars, I should probably stop doing it but it helps me to budget!
On my first night I did a Jack the Ripper London walk which was more historical than spooky but still interesting and it was quite a big group so it was also quite fun. I havn't really talked to a lot of English people yet just on of the roomates here and people who have been have been helping me get around.
On the second day I hopped on the double deckers and let them take me to the National Gallery which was very intersting, they had paintings by Monet, Picasso and Da Vinicis Madonna on the rocks, its was quite surreal to see them right in front of me, more interesting than I expected even though every second painting was the Virgin Mary and child or Jesus on the cross, you would think there is nothing more interesting for people to paint about!!!
I went on another walk that night, it was a ghost walk and really was more about the history of England (if what they are saying is true there are a lot of ghots floating around in London) and was just as good as the Jack the ripper tour!
Today (Sunday) I went to the Camden Town Market which was fun but very goth/punk but had good deals, I found ear muffs!! It actually had a very good vibe about it and it had good food! There werent too many goths, it was mostly tourists who were there, after awhile it was boring because it was much of the same thing. I got a long warm jumper, postcards and leg warmers (i know but they are warm!) There are a few other markets I have to check out, I have learnt that you shouldnt buy until you've seen all the prices! I went to my first London pub tonight Fountain Abbey and had three glasses so your all a little foggy! A good day all around and I plan to go to Hyde Park tomorrow and reply to some job and apartment adds!
Take care everyone
xxoo
Emily

Back to Hanoi - Last day

Hi and thank you to everyone who has posted comments so far! Its so great to read them so keep them coming...please!
I am back in Hanoi after the train ride, it was getting back to the hotel that proved to be the most difficult, because they tell you one price then change their minds! I road a motorbike for which will hopefully be the last time, its weird because I think I am starting to enjoy being on them!
I really have prefered the places in Vietnam which are further away from the city, they are much more relaxing and are more ideal for holiday vacation! If I was going to reccomend vietnam to anyone I would say just skip the cities and go as far from the city as you can!
I walked around town for most of the afternoon wanting to stretch my legs before going on the train, I had spicy noodle soup for dinner and had some yoghurt for the first time in 7 days! That's a record for me I think!
I think I am looking forward to getting to London and I am definetly ready for a different adventure and a change of pace...I dont really want to work but hopefully something good will come up. I have a few good souveniers, I wanted to bring some rice wine with me but they charge you at the airport. I also accidentaly withdrew about a millionVNDong so I'm going to change it at the airport...Vietnam has been good, confusing and a big fat challenge for me but I think it has made me a little more sure about what I am capable of and how tough I am, but I was singing down the street so some things just never change.

xxoo Emily
xoxo Emily

Sapa

Ok so I left Hanoi at 9pm to take a train ride to Sapa, I would be arriving 6am the following night which meant a night sleeping on the train, the beds were fine though the train a bit noisy, I met Neils from Holland and Rudy from Belgium and Ben from Israel and had a good old chat before settling in a top bunk. Arriving at the train station was hectic but fairly well organised and were taken by mini bus up the mountains of Sapa to the Sapa Royal Hotel. Many of the people here wear the much more traditional Vietnamese clothing and are recognised by the difference in their attire, such as colour and how they wear it. I had breakfast at the hotel, I had noodle soup and we met our tour guides and in my group was Rudy from the train, Gui from Canada and Lucy from Slovakia and Wang who lived in Belgium but has Vietnamese background, who were great to talk with and had lots of great advice (being older and more experienced) We walked down the fabulous mountains for about two hours meeting a lot of the locals along the way. We visited four different villages and were completly swamped by people wanting us to buy their stuff, at first it was young children who are so poor they have to sell their stuff rather than go to school. It was OK at first but soon got very tiring, I consider myself fairly patient but even this was testing my patience. They just wont take no for an answer and when you tell them you've already bought, its "buy more, you buy from me" or you say "no thank you" they say "yes thankyou". Perhaps the most remarkable thing is they speak better English than most people in the city, also many of them demand you give them money if you want to take a picture. After lunch we continued on to where we would be staying that night, it was a traditional looking house with an outside toilet and cold shower. We were sleeping on matress on the floor and they honestly werent too bad. My group had a fabulous dinner prepared for us and was more of the food that I was expecting in Vietnam, compared to the boring things that we were served in Halong Bay.
The next morning we had pancakes and banana with Chocolate syrup for breakfast and continued walking, the different types of villages and the tidbits our guides informed us of along the way made it enjoyable, the whole walk was not as much a challenge as Cham in Halong but much longer and you get very hungry. Its amazing that the locals climb up these huge mountains all day long because it is exhausting! After lunch we visited our last two villages before coming back up to Sapa Royal for a free afternoon. It was so nice to have a hot shower but I was actually suprised how much I enjoyed the whole experience, I could definetly do this trek again, or maybe something similar in the different country. Sapa was an eye opener to the different types of poverty in Vietnam and was quite ehxhilerating.
Tonight I will have dinner at the Hotel before I board the train back to Hanoi at 9.15pm for my last day in Vietnam, in Hanoi. Maybe I will finally get some postcards out.
xoxo Emily

Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island

Hello!!

I have spent the last three days and two nights in Halong Bay which is close to three hours drive from Hanoi.
I befriended a older couple from Brisban Paul and Tony and a youger couple from Chilie Hector and Mariella. I was picked up from the hotel at 7.30am and driven to Halong Bay Town, where we all were borded ships which were like olden day pirate ships which we would spend the night on.
On board the ships we had lunch which was rice, spring rolls, tofu and vegies plus meat dishes. After a two hour cruise on board we approached Halong Bay which is a formation of about 3000 huge old rocks and very beautiful - after that we explored the Cung & Du Go caves which were also fantastic, but very hard to capture on camera (OK no pics yet prob non till I get to London...sorry) it has more to do with the atmosphere and I was enjoyiong just looking too much to bother taking photos on my phone.
We were then shown our rooms which were quite comfy and spacious considering and they were very clean though no showers, but I think the best part was simply to wake up the next morning and see the view!
After breakfast on board we were all taken to our hotels for the second night, which were also not too bad and we had very little time to relax before we climbed a mountain in CAt Ba which I think was called Cham. It was muddy and quite a challenging climb but actually really enojoyed it. I met a few girls from England who were teaching English in Vietnam who were really great to have a conversation with, which made me more excited about London!!
The scenery was pretty fantastic and it was very satisfying once I got to the top!
After shower and lunch we were taken back out to Halong Bay with a different group (it was great because we were never with the same people for long, the tours are orgnaised pretty crazylike because you dont really know whats going on but you just have to trust that your guides do...) via Monkey Island which yes, has monkeys and they own the place, we weren't allowed to feed or go too cose because they have been known to attack people.
After which we went Kyacking around Halong Bay and I paired up with a guy from AUS Jamei and made friends with his friends who were from Germany and pretty cool!
We were shown the fish farms which host HUGE fish which bite you and jump out of the water and can get up to 2 meters (I thought they were sharks but the message didn't quite get across, language barrier is very tricky). After dinner Hector, Mariella and I met Jamei and his mates at the Green Mango where I had a Pina Colada, it was about four bucks!
I found out that my room mate (in the hotel) was a girl from Thailand called Cherry and after one night sharing a room she gave me a small present so we have exchamged email adresses and will catch up in future. I have swapped email addy with quite a few people so far!
That morning we made the trip back to Halong Bay and on the boat I met Lin from Singapore and her friend J. That very same night we caught up and they introduced me to street food which was better than anything else I had eaten in Vietnam so far! We explored some of the city together before I had to take the night train to Sapa. I really loved Halong Bay and it was a great change from the noisy city!! I bought some black pearls and met some really great people who I hope I can catch up with!
xoxo Emily

Round One In Vietnam- Hanoi!

Hello!
I have arrived in the Vietnam after a very long flight,I had to change flights at Saigon which meant by the time I got to Hanoi it was quite dark.
I was taken by bus by the escort from the Hotel which proved to be quite an adventure mostly due to all the motorbikes on the road which also not having helmets seemed to have no inhibition whatsoever. Well it was interesting watching them all stare down the gun barrel till I found out I had to ride one! It was quite fun and exhilierating without a helmet, and giving it some serious thought I doubt a helmet would help me much if colided with a bus, a truck and 20 other bikers anyway.
My room was thankfully very clean and the staff very friendly. The bed was a bit hard but still I managed to sleep and I was past caring really, I had arrived...alive!!
I was given breakfast for free in the morning and informed I have free internet use whever which is pretty handy! Though there are lots of internet cafes around here anyway!
In the morning I decided to have a walk and around and "discover" the place.
Its not the cleanest place I have ever been and it sure is noisy and everyone likes to honk everyone else and every five minutes someone wanted to make me their biker babe! Everyone sits on the side of the streets on little chairs and eats and there are also quite a few clothes, jewellry and sport shops but probably all stuff to just take up room.
I managed to find the Ho Chi Minh Masouleum which was unfortunely closed (actaully I was happy just to get there) so I continued on my way to the Temple of Literature which was the first University in Vietnam, it looked nothing like any Uni I have ever seen and it seemed they (men) all used to study outdoors, its now a shrine to the founders and teachers and is very fun it your feeling snap happy. I decided to try the Art Muesum (it was just up the road and i figured i couldn't get lost finding it...I did) which featured 2000 paintings and sculptures and artifacts, the themes were largely the war, young women and vietnamese life which was all well and good but it was mostly different interpretations of the same thing. I'm not an art buff so maye I missed something but it was good to go and see.
Tomorrow I am going to Halong Bay to spend one night on board a boat - I am looking forward to it especailly getting away from the noise and seeing some of the landscape rather than so much of the grimy city
xoxox

Emily

Round One - Leaving for Vietnam!

Hello everyone!

We have to leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow morning.

See you all there!