Hey hey..
sorry its been so long but its pretty hard when you have to pay for internet and the connection is slow to do an update... we are all doing well and are currently in laos. I have uploaded some more pics from back in the day in Vietnam from Sapa and Hoi An.... have a looksie...
From The Travelling Trio we are wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2010 will be a good one for everyone!
Monday, 28 December 2009
Monday, 7 December 2009
A bit of an update & a history lesson too.
After a fun day bus trip we landed in Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia. As soon as we arrived we were attacked by tuk-tuk drivers as usual, and it took us a little while to get our bearings, figure out where we were and figure out we need a tuk-tuk driver. We managed to get our bags on the tuk-tuk without it falling over from the weight of them and we were off. We went to the area by the lake to look for accommodation after the first few places didn't have a room for all 3 of us we got 2 rooms. We them went downstairs to the bar to get a beer - thats right I said beer.. Slowly but surely I am training myself to drink beer. Let me tell you its not easy. I am diluting it with sprite, but slowly slowly the sprite is getting less and less. It makes a huge difference when beer is 50c and a drink it $3. The bar area was pretty cool as it jutted out on the lake and was very pretty as the sun was setting. Within just this short time of being here one thing that sticks out is that Cambodians are far more friendly then the Vietnamese, the difference is massive and we are enjoying it already.
After we settled in with our beer one of the waiters did come over and offer us a bankie of weed... hmm.. maybe this is the reason for the relaxed and happy mood?!?!
The next day we had our tuk tuk driver pick us up and after bumping into Bryce last night (one of the guys we met in Halong Bay) who just happened to be in the guest house next to us he joined us to on our days adventures.
We started our day off by learning more about the war in Cambodia. and visited The Killing Fields and the S-21 Genocide museum. I did not know much of this war that was going on and was quite shocked to learn all about it and found that I took more from it then I did at the war museum in Vietnam.
I will give you a quick brief history lesson in the war if you would like to know. If you are feeling sad this in no means will cheer you up (everything that is highlighted is a link if you want to click on it for more information):
in 1975 (not that long ago) there was a group Called the Khmer Rouge took over when the government at the time was overthrown. They were under the leadership of Pol Pot. His aim was to set up a solely agrarian society and rid Cambodia of all western influence. In his mind to achieve this he had to make all the people 'equal' and to do this he killed all intellectuals - doctors, people in the old government, lawyers, people of middle to upper class and even people with glasses. All people were to work in the fields and base people (people who had lived their lives in the country) were seen as the best kinds of people as they had not been corrupted by western influence. Cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished.
People that were part of the ole regime were taken to a prison (which is now the museum) and tourchered to give up any valuable information or to say who other people in the government were.
Basically if you now living in the country and they found out you have been lying about your identity or you were an íntellect or were not a good enough worker or for whatever reason they thought you were taken to reeducation camp which was basically a cover up for you are going to die. People would disappear and just not be seen from again.
The war lasted for 4 years and approx 2 million Cambodians were killed from a population of only 7 million.
The killing fields is the actual site that people were taken to where they were killed. It is a massive plot of land where they have excavated about 83 mass graves and found over 8000 bodies (there are sill about 45 mass graves that have not been excavated). people were shot or when they didnt want to use ammo where beaten to death or buried alive and young children were often thrown against trees to kill them. It was quite eerie to be around that.
It boggles my mind to think that people could do this to their own people. I have read an amazing book written by a child survivor of the Khmer Rouge and gives you a lot of information about it. It is called First they Killed my Farther by Loung Ung if you are interested.
After all the depression we then went to the Palace to see some pretty shiny things, but gave that a skip when we found out how much it was to get it and instead we went to the river side to walk around there. After some walking we stopped to have a drink and relax a little. After a while at the bar along comes an elephant and his keeper just walking along the streets. He then stops right at our bar and they bring out some food for him and you can feed him while he just chills there. Johnson you would have been shitting yourself as the elephant was only about 10m away from us. It was pretty crazy..
For dinner we headed to get some Khmer cuisine and there was chicken amok (curry) and Beef luk lak which has the most incredible sauce. We then took part in a pub quiz with 2 Canadian guys we roped in. It was not an easy quiz, as some people know my pub quiz skills are not the greatest.. but it was good fun anyways. We came 5th out of 12 teams.. not to bad I would say!!!
After a good time in Phnom Phen its time to hit the beaches.
After we settled in with our beer one of the waiters did come over and offer us a bankie of weed... hmm.. maybe this is the reason for the relaxed and happy mood?!?!
The next day we had our tuk tuk driver pick us up and after bumping into Bryce last night (one of the guys we met in Halong Bay) who just happened to be in the guest house next to us he joined us to on our days adventures.
We started our day off by learning more about the war in Cambodia. and visited The Killing Fields and the S-21 Genocide museum. I did not know much of this war that was going on and was quite shocked to learn all about it and found that I took more from it then I did at the war museum in Vietnam.
I will give you a quick brief history lesson in the war if you would like to know. If you are feeling sad this in no means will cheer you up (everything that is highlighted is a link if you want to click on it for more information):
in 1975 (not that long ago) there was a group Called the Khmer Rouge took over when the government at the time was overthrown. They were under the leadership of Pol Pot. His aim was to set up a solely agrarian society and rid Cambodia of all western influence. In his mind to achieve this he had to make all the people 'equal' and to do this he killed all intellectuals - doctors, people in the old government, lawyers, people of middle to upper class and even people with glasses. All people were to work in the fields and base people (people who had lived their lives in the country) were seen as the best kinds of people as they had not been corrupted by western influence. Cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished.
People that were part of the ole regime were taken to a prison (which is now the museum) and tourchered to give up any valuable information or to say who other people in the government were.
Basically if you now living in the country and they found out you have been lying about your identity or you were an íntellect or were not a good enough worker or for whatever reason they thought you were taken to reeducation camp which was basically a cover up for you are going to die. People would disappear and just not be seen from again.
The war lasted for 4 years and approx 2 million Cambodians were killed from a population of only 7 million.
The killing fields is the actual site that people were taken to where they were killed. It is a massive plot of land where they have excavated about 83 mass graves and found over 8000 bodies (there are sill about 45 mass graves that have not been excavated). people were shot or when they didnt want to use ammo where beaten to death or buried alive and young children were often thrown against trees to kill them. It was quite eerie to be around that.
It boggles my mind to think that people could do this to their own people. I have read an amazing book written by a child survivor of the Khmer Rouge and gives you a lot of information about it. It is called First they Killed my Farther by Loung Ung if you are interested.
After all the depression we then went to the Palace to see some pretty shiny things, but gave that a skip when we found out how much it was to get it and instead we went to the river side to walk around there. After some walking we stopped to have a drink and relax a little. After a while at the bar along comes an elephant and his keeper just walking along the streets. He then stops right at our bar and they bring out some food for him and you can feed him while he just chills there. Johnson you would have been shitting yourself as the elephant was only about 10m away from us. It was pretty crazy..
For dinner we headed to get some Khmer cuisine and there was chicken amok (curry) and Beef luk lak which has the most incredible sauce. We then took part in a pub quiz with 2 Canadian guys we roped in. It was not an easy quiz, as some people know my pub quiz skills are not the greatest.. but it was good fun anyways. We came 5th out of 12 teams.. not to bad I would say!!!
After a good time in Phnom Phen its time to hit the beaches.
Saigon birthday adventures and other things
Saturday 21 November:
Well thanks to the joys of exhaustion and the wonders of a sleeping pill from Nicola, I at least managed to sleep the whole way from Nha Trang to Saigon. I got abruptly woken up as the bus driver hit a massive bump at speed and slammed on the brakes. Felt for sure that I would die from heart failure from such an epic wake up call.
We arrived in Saigon at 6:30am to the joy of morning traffic and having to find accommodation. With everyone charging exorbitant rates we ended up at our first choice for a bargained down price of $24 a night for the 3 of us. But it did include a free roll with peanut butter. Once we were checked in we had a little lie down due to sheer exhaustion - or at least Nicola and I did. Stacey was a champion and organised our lives for the day. Stacey organised to meet a family friend at midday to go for lunch so he could give us the low down on Saigon. When we met up with him at the hostel we decided that it would be great to get a proper Vietnamese lunch for mid-range prices (i.e. slash out as budget travelers) as Clive knew a good place to go. Well we grew slightly worried about his idea of mid-range prices when we went to his chauffeur driven car, and even more worried when the restaurant we went to had live seafood in tanks downstairs! But we rolled with it and just let Clive choose good dishes for us all to share. We then regaled him with tales of our adventures so far and shocked him with how much we were paying for accommodation. When we mentioned we were paying $24 a night and thought it was expensive he thought we actually meant each. No wonder he offered to pay the bill when it arrived - he probably thought we were starving! After lunch Clive kindly dropped us off at the market so we could do some shopping. Unfortunately the market experience only lasted until about 6 Vietnamese ladies tried pulling me in all directions to see what they had for sale - I then demanded that we leave. On the way back to the hostel we ran into some members of the Halong Bay cruise who told us they had $15 a night accommodation. So we instantly headed there to make sure we had a room for the next night - what a saving and the place is absolutely brand new! We then also ran into Mads on the street and made plans to meet up with her later on. Wasted some afternoon hours watching TV and then headed out for some beers while waiting to meet up with Mads at GO2 Bar. Sounded like a good idea at the time until we realised that beers were 30,000VND each - the most expensive ones so far - so we shared one and sipped it slowly while waiting. The one thing the bar had going for it was that it was on a busy corner so we got to watch the world pass by. Mads joined us a little while later and then we randomly ran into Bryce (also one of the Halong Bay crew) so I guess there is a benefit to hanging out on street corners drinking expensive beer. All headed for a great dinner at Chi's Cafe which included mash potatoes for me and they were almost the most amazing thing I had eaten since I left the UK - really strange the stuff you miss.
Sunday 22 November:
First thing in the morning we changed accommodation and then met up with Mads and Bryce. All headed out on a walk along the river to see the sights. It took us a while to work out exactly how to get to the river and when we did we were wondering why we bothered as it was all construction work. We persevered and it payed off with quite a nice morning spent wondering around. In the afternoon we headed to the War Remnants Museum (15,000VND entrance) were we learned all about the Vietnamese war and got suitably depressed. As we were leaving we were offered a rickshaw ride back to the hostel. As we could think of nothing better to cheer ourselves up we accepted. What it meant was that it was 2 girls to a rickshaw and Bryce had his own. This all sounds good in theory until you realise that you really can't actually fit 2 people properly on a rickshaw so it was a bit of a laugh on the way home - and a bit of a scare at one point when we headed straight into oncoming traffic! We then treated ourselves to another truly magnificent meal at Chi's Cafe, and I am sure this will be a trend of ours. Then it was another quite afternoon at the hostel watching Sweet Home Alabama before heading out to meet Bryce for some cheap beer. Cheap beer in Vietnamese is called Bier Hoi and only costs between 3,000 - 5,000VND for a large glass. Totally worth it and much better tasting. Had a bunch of beer and chatted for a couple of hours before calling it a night due to our early morning the next day.
Monday 23 November:
Happy 28th Birthday to Me! Although without a massive run up to the main event this year totally didn't feel like my birthday. Especially at 7am when we boarded a bus to go and do some sight seeing of the Cu Chi tunnels. After a sleepy bus drive there the first thing we did was watch a 20 minute documentary shot during the Vietnam war by the Vietnamese. It was actually pretty funny especially when people took a break from firing guns to grin at the camera. Our favourite line from the film was "fighting to kill the American invaders while working hard to rid Vietnamese from the American invaders by killing them" - you get the general idea. We then got to actually see the tunnels that the Vietnamese used during the war. The ones we saw had been made larger for Western bellies but were still pretty small and we had to shuffle crawl through them. Neat to see but totally glad I didn't have to live in them. We then headed back to Saigon for some birthday cake, which was pretty average, but at least there was cake, and a song which is important. I then treated myself to a birthday leg wax which was a massive mistake and walked out with bruises to prove it. Headed back to the hostel for a super quick change and then off to our favourite restaurant to meet Bryce and have dinner. By this point the staff at Chi's Cafe are greeting us as we walk through the door!
Then it was time for the drinking games to begin! We had bought a cheap bottle of Vodka and mixer earlier on so headed back to our room and started playing. The next people to join the party were Emma, Mike, Johnny, Emma and Danielle from Halong Bay - with then staying just upstairs from us it wasn't a far way for them to go. Plus as it was also Emma's birthday we were all in good spirits. Then got a very pleasant surprise when Andre, Breno and Rafael arrived. Stacey had told them where we were staying and they had promised to try and join us for my birthday. They did, and they had also booked into the same hostel as us - so it was a full house of party people. The Brazil boys also bought gifts! They bought me a silver crown with pink fur and sparkles on and a great plastic trumpet that made very un-trumpet noises. Loved them!
We played drinking games until we ran out and then hit the town - or at least headed down the block until we were convinced by offered of buy 1 get 1 free to go for a drink on the roof of GO2 Bar. While there the girls bought me a birthday shooter - of Sambuca! It was gross but it was drunk and I am very proud of me for that. After free beers we headed across the road to Crazy Buffalo for some birthday dancing which is a mandatory thing really. There was dancing until the early hours of the morning until sore feet set in about 3:30am. Headed home and had a pre-breakfast snack of complimentary watermelon that we had received earlier in the evening. Then bed for a tired birthday girl.
Tuesday 24 November:
Sleepy tired girls finally got out of bed mainly due to hunger and not a lot else. Headed off to Chi's Cafe for an amazing chicken mayo and cheese sandwich with some truly delicious watermelon juice. Great breakfast. We then all wanted to head back to bed for some naps but due to the fact that there was a leaking pipe in our bathroom they were fixing it and there could be no napping with all that noise. We were pretty thankful though that unlike all the other party people from the night before we we not up and on a bus at 7am! So we walked around town a little and watched bad movies on TV. Also booked our tickets to head into Phnom Phen in Cambodia the next day. Dinner of course was one last affair at Chi's Cafe. We really will miss the food from here as it is just such great tasting, big portions for a great price. Early night for all. Cambodia adventures await!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Nha Trang
That was pretty much breaking point and Nicola then went to switch the music down. It shocks me the consideration they have for other people on buses.
Arriving in Nha Trang we gazed out the windows to the beaches to find howling winds, rain and rough seas. This was not good.We arrived and got out the bus all lacking in sleep and not happy about the weather conditions! We decided then to skip Nha Trang (cos what is the point of being at a beach town if it is always raining) and head to Saigon so at least there would be more site seeing stuff to do.
After a long breakfast we headed down the beach front and after seeing the rough seas we were glad to not be staying. it was then out to find the boys & Mads to do some site seeing. The boys had seen all the things we wanted to see so they went to Monkey Island & Mads joined us on our days adventures.
We walked to the bus station to get night buses for that night to ensure we had a spot and then went for the long walk to what felt like the other side of town to a photographers gallery which was amazing and the guy had some awesome shots.
We then went to see the white Buddha which as you are walking down the street you can see towering over the hill. We went inside and to the temple which was closing so we had to do a quick look around but got the most of it. We then walked up the hill to go see the Buddha, about half way up there was a reclining Buddha which was just massive and was quite amazing standing next to it to see the sheer size of it. Just its feet in length were about my height. It was then right to the top to see the main Buddha which was humongous (30m in height) and just towers above you.
It was then getting pretty late so we headed back to have dinner before heading off to have some more fun times on the night bus. On the way back we stopped off at a street stall to get some food for a snack which looked quite interesting and had half the people from neighbouring shops come by to tell us what things were (and to marvel at the white people buying street food) and also picked up some mystery pastries to try.
After dinner it was onto the night bus where we found out that all the locals had numbered seats (how convenient) and we the tourists got booted to the back of the bus which is a wonderful 5 person sleeper so you are pretty much on top of the person next to you and get to feel pretty much every rock you go over and JC and i didn't have foot rests so when the driver decided to brake it felt as if we would fly off. Our saving grace was that the guy didn't hoot at all. Its really never a dull moment on the night bus!
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Photos
We got a chance to upload some photos for your viewing pleasure:
Click Here for Bangkok photos
Click here for pictures of Hanoi & Halong Bay
Click Here for Bangkok photos
Click here for pictures of Hanoi & Halong Bay
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Apparently you can forget how to ride a bicyle
Well after the rather sleepless train ride we had a day of doing nothing but hanging out at the backpackers for the day until our overnight sleeper bus to Hoi An. We wasted the day with repacking our bags, eating some great food at Kangaroo Cafe (again) and getting out chip roll dinner prepared for the bus.
We headed to the bus at 7pm and got to choose our sleeping spots. The sleeper bus is rather unique as all the "beds" are very similar to pool loungers in that they look almost exactly the same, don't fold down as far, and are for skinny short people. All the sleeper buses have 2 levels with 3 in a row. Somehow we managed fine. The main things stopping us from getting sleep was in fact the bus driver. They really should learn to use their side mirrors in this country and then they wouldn't have to hoot at each other constantly! But we did get to meet some great people on the bus. Met Madeline (UK), Andre, Rafael & Breno (Baazil) who were in the seats behind us - they got the ones that are 5 in a row and super close together so it is more of a cuddle puddle than anything else.
We were meant to go straight on to Hoi An after the bus stopped in Hue, but because apparently the bus drivers in Vietnam are on their own schedule we missed the connection and had to spend 6 hours in Hue. We were tempted to maybe stay over the night, but the beach was calling our name. In fact it was calling the Brazilians and Mads too so they got the afternoon bus with us. That put us into Hoi An at 5pm and thankfully the hotel room we had reserved was still saved for us. After Sapa and Halong Bay, individual huge beds and a giant bathroom was a revelation. As was the air con.
Met up with the other 4 travellers and all headed out to get some dinner. Walked around a bit and then were drawn into a restaurant/bar called Before & Now that had great art on the walls and a great menu. It was definitely a meal to go a little off budget and treat ourselves after chip rolls on buses. After dinner we moved downstairs for some drinks, pool games and of course that old favourite Fooze Ball - turns out I am still not any better at Fooze Ball. Headed back to the comfort of our beds to dream about sunny beaches.
Got up the next day to discover conditions were perfect for a day at the beach. Had a quick breakfast and rented bicycles for 15,000VND (less than a $1) for the day, but our beach things in the front basket and headed off on a 4km ride to the beach. Such a nice ride as it was mainly flat and the traffic in Hoi An isn't even a 1/4 of Hanoi, so we weren't always in fear for our lives! Plus as it had been a very long time since any of us had ridden a bike it took us a while to get back into the hang of it. Had to pay 5,000VND to park our bikes at the beach side, but at least this way they are there when you got back. Went and set ourselves up in some dappled sunshine and lay around for ages reading and listening to music. Around midday the Brazilians and Mads found us so we headed over to the sun loungers and set up camp there. Turns out you can lie there all day for free as long as you order drinks and food from them - if only we had known sooner. Also got in a good amount of swimming - I can also tell you that the sea isn't as salty as home over here, no idea why though as Halong Bay was super salty. Spent the day at the beach until the sun set and it started getting cold. So much for getting a nap in! Headed back for showers and changing before heading out to dinner.
As a side note, we kept getting sucked into watching bad Vietnamese soap operas as long as they have subtitles. That are awful and yet at the same time SO good!
Headed to dinner at a cheaper restaurant right across the road from our hotel for dinner and big bottles of Tiger beer. The Brazilians are hilarious. Every time we go out for dinner they negotiate the price of beer so we can get it cheaper with claims that we will drink more. Personally I feel they would drink the exact same amount, but who is going to argue about cheaper beer when you are on a budget.
Then it was time to hit up some bars. We headed over the bridge to where there are a couple of places that have drink specials to reel you in. The place we ended up at gave you a free Rum and Coke and then it was buy one get one free on mixers. We all thought this was a great deal, until we tasted the free Rum. Or should I say Rhum. Never trust a bottle that can't spell the name of the alcohol in it correctly. That stuff was awful - you could fly planes on it. So we quickly moved on to 2 for the price of one, which I think is there plan. The best thing about this place was that they had a computer set up and you could choose the music you wanted to listen too with their iTunes. We were soon all throwing shapes to some awesome classics and trying out some rusty boy band moves too. Then it was back to Before & Now as we were actually the only people in the bar there. Nicola went home early as she had gotten absolutely zero sleep on the bus and was pretty exhausted. We only let her as we were pretty sure she would make it up to us on another night.
After some more pool and Fooze Ball (still no better than the night before) we found out that from this bar we could hop onto a free shuttle to a beach bar and carry on there when the bar in town shut down. Of course we were all up for this and headed out on the 1:30am shuttle. Once there we found to our delight that there was a swimming pool, so we instantly jumped in and cooled off. People arriving after us were giving us some strange looks but we knew the pool would fill up later on so we got in early. Then it was off to dry off on the dance floor. Next thing you know it is 3:45am and we are needing to get the free shuttle at 4am. Thank goodness there was a free shuttle as the skies had opened and it was a bit of a torrential downpour going on. We got decidedly wetter on the short walk from the shuttle drop off back to the hotel but with a warm bed to snuggle into we were soon dreaming of sunny days on the beach again.
Sadly this dream was not to be as the next day dawned overcast and drizzling. Best excuse ever to have a lie in though. Later in the day Stacey and Nicola went off to have some shoes and clothes tailored. Hoi An is apparently the place to go if you want a whole wardrobe tailored for you in a couple of days and costing hardly anything. I wondered down to the market place to check it out and just did a general wander around town. I really like it here. All the shops have great French architecture and it is all just so quaint. Because of the rain there was hardly anybody walking around either. Later on in the day I was on hand to help the girls decide what type of dress they should have tailored up and it was driving me nuts. All those pretty material and dresses and no shopping for this girl. Which is when the girls decided that for my birthday they would have me a dress made too. Great surprise and made an overcast day sunny again in my eyes. So got measured up, chose material and then headed back home happy. Met up with everyone again and headed to a restaurant I had seen earlier in my walkings around called Banana leaf Cafe. Had a really great meal there, and ended up really full and happy. That might have been mainly due to pumpkin soup and then a giant plate of home made pasta with great sauce. Just what I felt for after lots of rice dishes. Then it was an early night for all.
Next day was pretty much the same, except that we went and had outfits fitted and made slight adjustments to what had been made. Spent the rest of the afternoon in a french cafe drinking hot chocolate and plying card games with the Brazilians and Mads before they left on the sleeper bus. Once we said goodbye to them it was time for an early dinner and an early bedtime - after watching a cheesy movie on the movie channel, in English mind. We had also booked our sleeper bus ticket for the following night to Nha Trang to hopefully get some beach time in as the weather wasn't due to improve in Hoi An for a while.
Check out the next morning, collected all the tailored outfits, the girls posted their shoes back to the UK so they wouldn't have to carry around boots for three months in a hot climate. Had some dinner and got the restaurant there to make us up some peanut butter sandwiches for the bus ride. We were more than willing to pay an extra 2,000VND for extra peanut butter as there are very sparing with it in Vietnam. Then it was off to the night bus at 7pm and on to Nha Trang. Hooray the night bus!
More from Nicola soon on Nha Trang. Also as soon as were are back in a country where facebook isn't blocked we will be able to load up more pics and then share them with all of you.
We headed to the bus at 7pm and got to choose our sleeping spots. The sleeper bus is rather unique as all the "beds" are very similar to pool loungers in that they look almost exactly the same, don't fold down as far, and are for skinny short people. All the sleeper buses have 2 levels with 3 in a row. Somehow we managed fine. The main things stopping us from getting sleep was in fact the bus driver. They really should learn to use their side mirrors in this country and then they wouldn't have to hoot at each other constantly! But we did get to meet some great people on the bus. Met Madeline (UK), Andre, Rafael & Breno (Baazil) who were in the seats behind us - they got the ones that are 5 in a row and super close together so it is more of a cuddle puddle than anything else.
We were meant to go straight on to Hoi An after the bus stopped in Hue, but because apparently the bus drivers in Vietnam are on their own schedule we missed the connection and had to spend 6 hours in Hue. We were tempted to maybe stay over the night, but the beach was calling our name. In fact it was calling the Brazilians and Mads too so they got the afternoon bus with us. That put us into Hoi An at 5pm and thankfully the hotel room we had reserved was still saved for us. After Sapa and Halong Bay, individual huge beds and a giant bathroom was a revelation. As was the air con.
Met up with the other 4 travellers and all headed out to get some dinner. Walked around a bit and then were drawn into a restaurant/bar called Before & Now that had great art on the walls and a great menu. It was definitely a meal to go a little off budget and treat ourselves after chip rolls on buses. After dinner we moved downstairs for some drinks, pool games and of course that old favourite Fooze Ball - turns out I am still not any better at Fooze Ball. Headed back to the comfort of our beds to dream about sunny beaches.
Got up the next day to discover conditions were perfect for a day at the beach. Had a quick breakfast and rented bicycles for 15,000VND (less than a $1) for the day, but our beach things in the front basket and headed off on a 4km ride to the beach. Such a nice ride as it was mainly flat and the traffic in Hoi An isn't even a 1/4 of Hanoi, so we weren't always in fear for our lives! Plus as it had been a very long time since any of us had ridden a bike it took us a while to get back into the hang of it. Had to pay 5,000VND to park our bikes at the beach side, but at least this way they are there when you got back. Went and set ourselves up in some dappled sunshine and lay around for ages reading and listening to music. Around midday the Brazilians and Mads found us so we headed over to the sun loungers and set up camp there. Turns out you can lie there all day for free as long as you order drinks and food from them - if only we had known sooner. Also got in a good amount of swimming - I can also tell you that the sea isn't as salty as home over here, no idea why though as Halong Bay was super salty. Spent the day at the beach until the sun set and it started getting cold. So much for getting a nap in! Headed back for showers and changing before heading out to dinner.
As a side note, we kept getting sucked into watching bad Vietnamese soap operas as long as they have subtitles. That are awful and yet at the same time SO good!
Headed to dinner at a cheaper restaurant right across the road from our hotel for dinner and big bottles of Tiger beer. The Brazilians are hilarious. Every time we go out for dinner they negotiate the price of beer so we can get it cheaper with claims that we will drink more. Personally I feel they would drink the exact same amount, but who is going to argue about cheaper beer when you are on a budget.
Then it was time to hit up some bars. We headed over the bridge to where there are a couple of places that have drink specials to reel you in. The place we ended up at gave you a free Rum and Coke and then it was buy one get one free on mixers. We all thought this was a great deal, until we tasted the free Rum. Or should I say Rhum. Never trust a bottle that can't spell the name of the alcohol in it correctly. That stuff was awful - you could fly planes on it. So we quickly moved on to 2 for the price of one, which I think is there plan. The best thing about this place was that they had a computer set up and you could choose the music you wanted to listen too with their iTunes. We were soon all throwing shapes to some awesome classics and trying out some rusty boy band moves too. Then it was back to Before & Now as we were actually the only people in the bar there. Nicola went home early as she had gotten absolutely zero sleep on the bus and was pretty exhausted. We only let her as we were pretty sure she would make it up to us on another night.
After some more pool and Fooze Ball (still no better than the night before) we found out that from this bar we could hop onto a free shuttle to a beach bar and carry on there when the bar in town shut down. Of course we were all up for this and headed out on the 1:30am shuttle. Once there we found to our delight that there was a swimming pool, so we instantly jumped in and cooled off. People arriving after us were giving us some strange looks but we knew the pool would fill up later on so we got in early. Then it was off to dry off on the dance floor. Next thing you know it is 3:45am and we are needing to get the free shuttle at 4am. Thank goodness there was a free shuttle as the skies had opened and it was a bit of a torrential downpour going on. We got decidedly wetter on the short walk from the shuttle drop off back to the hotel but with a warm bed to snuggle into we were soon dreaming of sunny days on the beach again.
Sadly this dream was not to be as the next day dawned overcast and drizzling. Best excuse ever to have a lie in though. Later in the day Stacey and Nicola went off to have some shoes and clothes tailored. Hoi An is apparently the place to go if you want a whole wardrobe tailored for you in a couple of days and costing hardly anything. I wondered down to the market place to check it out and just did a general wander around town. I really like it here. All the shops have great French architecture and it is all just so quaint. Because of the rain there was hardly anybody walking around either. Later on in the day I was on hand to help the girls decide what type of dress they should have tailored up and it was driving me nuts. All those pretty material and dresses and no shopping for this girl. Which is when the girls decided that for my birthday they would have me a dress made too. Great surprise and made an overcast day sunny again in my eyes. So got measured up, chose material and then headed back home happy. Met up with everyone again and headed to a restaurant I had seen earlier in my walkings around called Banana leaf Cafe. Had a really great meal there, and ended up really full and happy. That might have been mainly due to pumpkin soup and then a giant plate of home made pasta with great sauce. Just what I felt for after lots of rice dishes. Then it was an early night for all.
Next day was pretty much the same, except that we went and had outfits fitted and made slight adjustments to what had been made. Spent the rest of the afternoon in a french cafe drinking hot chocolate and plying card games with the Brazilians and Mads before they left on the sleeper bus. Once we said goodbye to them it was time for an early dinner and an early bedtime - after watching a cheesy movie on the movie channel, in English mind. We had also booked our sleeper bus ticket for the following night to Nha Trang to hopefully get some beach time in as the weather wasn't due to improve in Hoi An for a while.
Check out the next morning, collected all the tailored outfits, the girls posted their shoes back to the UK so they wouldn't have to carry around boots for three months in a hot climate. Had some dinner and got the restaurant there to make us up some peanut butter sandwiches for the bus ride. We were more than willing to pay an extra 2,000VND for extra peanut butter as there are very sparing with it in Vietnam. Then it was off to the night bus at 7pm and on to Nha Trang. Hooray the night bus!
More from Nicola soon on Nha Trang. Also as soon as were are back in a country where facebook isn't blocked we will be able to load up more pics and then share them with all of you.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
A new cell phone number for JC!
Hello lovelies,
Just wanted to let you know that you can dry your tears because I am available on a cell phone again. Hooray! The number is a UK number and is +447564031464.
Thank you to Miss Sarah for sorting this out for me. You are truly amazing!
Just wanted to let you know that you can dry your tears because I am available on a cell phone again. Hooray! The number is a UK number and is +447564031464.
Thank you to Miss Sarah for sorting this out for me. You are truly amazing!
Tracking the Trekkers in Sapa
At about 6pm we headed off to the train station very excited for or nice 10hr train journey.
The train carriage carrying the commoners (aka the 2nd class hard sleeper passengers) was a carriage with 6 beds each side had triple bunks and there was a small space to stand in between. There is not much space to stand or sit around so all we could do was climb into bed. Trying to sit was quite an adventure as there was hardly any space and you needed to do some awkward contortionist moves to get anything done. We were glad to provide some entertainment for the locals by being the 'white folk' in their carriage, cos we are all sure a few telephone calls were about us.
After a splendid train trip we got to Sapa at about 5:30am were we found a minibus to take us into town. Wowwee that was an adventure... As soon as the mini bus filled up we headed up the windy road. A road just big enough for to card,barely. The minibus would overtake trucks on a bend and scooters would just swerve out the way. It was best to just close your eyes and not look. I don't think I will ever be able to get used to the driving in Vietnam, there doesn't seem to be any rules or correct sides of the roads to drive on!
After getting to Sapa we ran around trying to get prices for trekking tours. after we had got a few we went to mull over them over a nice breakfast and decide which one we wanted to go for and if we wanted to do the hard or easy trek. After breakfast we were just randomly walking past a place and went in to ask how much and seeing as it was 29:20 and the tour left at 9:30 we thought it was to late to go, but alas it was not and the lady who was very sweet said 'Why Not?' and made a plan for us. 'Why not?' seems to be her answer to any question we asked her, it was quite funny.
Soon enough our guide Quay was at our side ready to lead us up the treacherous hills in Sapa. We decided on a 2 day 1 night tour in the hills of Sapa, with the night in a homestay of one of the ethnic minority tribes we would be visiting.
We headed off down the road followed by a bunch of girls, basically they are girls from the ethnic minorities tribes that come into town to sell stuff to the tourists, you will get hassled by them pretty much every 2 steps you are walking in the town.
Quay told us that the girls would just follow us. We headed off into the rice paddies and every little while Quay would stop and tell us some interesting facts about the people and the land. Like when a man wants to marry a woman his friends will literally pull her into a hut and lock her in there and will cook and woo her for three days. During these 3 days if she doesn't want to marry him she cant eat anything, she can only have water and if she accepts she can obviously eat. If she accepts the man will go ask 'permission' and the family will tell him how much he must pay (ie 3 boofalow, 7 chickens, 6 pigs and 7L of Happy Water). If he cannot pay all the 'labola' he will have to live with the family until he has paid it all off.
Then we were off up rice paddies, round rice paddies past the Buffalo (now pronounced boo-fa-low), all with the girls still following us. It is crazy to think they will follow you for pretty much the whole day so that you will buy something from them. On the way we stopped for rest breaks where we could have some water and have a sit down and get out the sun for a bit. on the way up and down many hills we stopped off at a little house where they were making some clothing using the indigo plants that grow there. they soak the indigo leaves and then add the material and it dies it and then they have to hang it up to dry... just like that its done :) It was then more walking over rivers, jumping rocks (feeling like a right old fool getting a helping hand from the girls who were following us - who were about half our age, and wearing flip flops!!)
As we got to the place we were having lunch we got swarmed by all the girls that were fo9llowing us, and the many more that were waiting round at the lunch area. Obviously feeling a little bad we brought something from some of the girls that were following us... but only brought like one thing each...seriously how much did they want us to buy?
As we got to the place we were having lunch we got swarmed by all the girls that were fo9llowing us, and the many more that were waiting round at the lunch area. Obviously feeling a little bad we brought something from some of the girls that were following us... but only brought like one thing each...seriously how much did they want us to buy?
After lunch we went to see a school and some more tribes. They are all pretty close together and there was no defining line really between them. I'm not sure how they keep track of who's chickens are whos?? We went past a bunch of marketie stalls which we weren't to keen on getting anything so just carried on walking. We arrived at our homestay at about 3pm where we put our stuff in the room big enough for 17 for only the 3 of us!! and got in our cozzies to cool off in the river. Boy oh boy did we cool off, not the warmest river ever I would say and pretty much after my pinkie toe was in I was cooled down, but we braced ourselves and took the plunge, and quickly got out to sit in the sun and warm up again! :)
(Darryn this will be your favourite bit) After an amazing shower (no not that bit) we sat on the balcony and got some chips, but no these were not any chips they were possibly the best chips in the history of chips and had some butter and garlic on them.. words cannot express the tasty taste sensation! After that we moved inside to have dinner with the family (1 man, a lady and a granny) and we were greeted to a table full of food. We got given a shot glass of Happy Water which is pretty much rice wine that some locals make and all locals drink. We had a cheers (another interesting factoid is that you cheers according to age so the oldest person will have their glass higher then a younger person as a sign of respect). The men just smashed the whole shot glass but we decided to take a sip and by golly gee wizz I am glad we did, I think it burnt a hole in my oesophagus. It was then on to the food which was pork, chicken and beef dishes with veg, crumbed pork, spring rolls, joko (a local veg), some other stuff which was super spicy, bac choi and rice. we didn't stop eating and if you did either Quay or someone else dumped some more food in your plate until we actually could not fit anything else into our stomachs. And then rolled off to bed after a long day.
Day 2 we got up and had pancakes for breakfast which is a nice change compared to the normal bread, butter and bananas (and no Mom, JC & I haven't started eating those) and then we headed off to face the day. Today was slightly more challenging as in the evening the mist had descended upon us and there was a slight drizzle, just enough to make the ground nice and damp! The view would have been amazing if we could have seen most of it! So we headed up rice paddies, on rice paddies, up hills, down hills and through trees and soon enough I found out my shoes had no traction. so there I was slipping and sliding around, and JC a bit and there was Mountain Goat Thomas, just hopping along over streams from rock to rock. It was a rare beauty to see a Mountain Goat Thomas in her natural environment. an not so slight down hill later I decided it would be faster to slide down and did that for a little finding I didn't get to much further buy had a nice leg full of mud. A little while later while rock jumping over a river I thought it was best to cool down and slipped off the rock into the puddle and got a shoe in the watter and a graze on my knee and a hole in my jeans!! Thanks goodness it was almost lunch as I was tuckered out. Mind you if JC or I got tired I'm sure Mountain Goat Thomas could have strapped up to her back and carried us home no problem.
By this time we were freezing cold and all to glad to see soup for lunch. It was then up one last hill and to a car who was waiting to take us back to the hotel where we could shower and change.
It was then back to the train station to get another sleeper train to Hanoi. Had a wonderful mini bus ride back, the guy said our trip would be VND20,000 each and in the middle of the journey when JC gave him a VND100,000 for all of us the guy only gave us VND10,000 back. We tried to reason with him politely and more forcefully, but in the end he wouldn't give our money back which made us all super mad!!! We stormed into the train station to by a sleeper ticket and were helped by the nicest man who translated for us and gave us prices etc. What a difference...
The sleeper on the way back was the hardest loudest train ever. It felt like we were sleeping in a piece of cardboard and that at any moment the train carriage was going to break away from the rest of the train!!
(p.s the pic is not ours, we will upload pics as soon as possible... the computer cant seem to read the pic CD we made)
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Hanoi and Halong Bay
Right-oh, seems like it's my turn to make an update to this blog....
JC left you at our last night in Bangkok, which feels like a lifetime ago already!The last week has been busy to say the least, and one thing we've learnt really quickly is that travelling is so not like a holiday. Not at all.
We arrived in Hanoi last Saturday morning and it is even crazier than Bangkok, especially traffic wise - it's absolute carnage on the roads and pedestrians are shown no mercy whatsoever. There are scooters EVERYWHERE, the roads are swarming with them, the pavements seem to have been made purely for the purpose of parking them, and they seem to be welcome guests in most shops / houses too. And man alive the Vietnamese drivers could teach New Yorkers how to use their hooters (high fiiiiiiiiiiiive), they seem to beep their horns to convey any manner of messages, i.e. Get out of my way / coming through / I had eggs for breakfast / did you watch that show on TV last night etc etc, this must be the case because they just use them non-stop. We haven't really found too much to endear us to Hanoi, the one good thing about it just seems to be the fact that you experience Vietnamese city life. The pavements, when not in use by parked scooters, are occupied by street cafes. All you need for a street cafe seems to be a number of tiny plastic stools and one-or-two steel pots. We sampled some street cafe food on our first day in the city, it was made up of various pastries containing mystery meat products which were to be dipped in hot water containing noodles and apple-slices. It was alright taste wise, not too exciting though. We went to a show at the Water Puppet Theatre on the Sunday which was really fun - the stage is taken up by a giant water bath with backdrops all around it which hide the puppeteers, it sounds odd but is actually pretty good viewing!
The hostel in Hanoi is probably one of the best things about the city, as it is popular with backpackers so we've already met loads of people and picked up loads of great travel tips. Quite a few of the people that we've met are doing the same route as us so we're sure to bump into them later on in our trip which is pretty cool.
We'd been told that a trip to Halong Bay on the east coast of Vietnam was an absolute must as it is an area of incredible natural beauty, it's also a UNESCO World Heritage site and you get to go on a boat so these were all reasons enough for us! We decided to do the tour offered by our hostel as it was well reviewed by the people arriving back from the bay, and apparently it can actually be a minefield choosing a tour as there are so many tour operators that are sharks, so going on a tour that other people have actually been on is ideal.
The Halong Bay trip was a 3-day, 2 night trip that consisted of one night spent on a junk (boat) and the second night spent in little open huts on a private beach that the hostel somehow managed to purchase (I say 'somehow', but based on their mark-up on goods and tours and the dollar-dong exchange rate, this doesn't seem so far-fetched). Also YES, the Vietnamese currency is called Dong!Too funny. The exchange rate is around 18000 dong to 1USD, which takes some getting used to. For e.g when you are paying 30000 dong for lunch you can't help but think that it's outrageous when it is actually less than 2 dollars.
But I digress.
So we left for Halong Bay on Monday morning - we had a 3hour transfer bus ride to Halong City from where the junks leave, so we had to meet at 07:30am(this has been one of our LATEST starts since we've been here, for serious) to ensure we got there in good time.Our group turned out to only be made up of 15 people, compared to the 34 people that can go on each trip, which was ideal as it meant we each had a lounger on the boat (I do not know how the people in the bigger groups coped, I mean banish the very thought of not having your own lounger!?). As we made our way to Halong City our guide reassured us that we would be making a stop along the way so we could all visit The Happy Room, their name for the toilet. Why the happy room? Because everyone comes out happy! He then told us that the Vietnamese say the Happy Room is like a marriage, people on the outside want to get in, and people on the inside want to get out.We laughed for a while at that. Having a smaller group also meant that we didn't separate into little groups and instead everyone chatted to everyone on the boat so by mid-way through the first day. We were of course all bessie-mates by the time we got back to Hanoi.Not really, but we were all friends by the end of it and we were lucky because we got a really great mix of people - a mix of British, Canadian, Polish, Aussie, Kiwi, French and of course, South African.
The first day was spent on the boat sun-tanning,kayaking and then there was much jumping off the boat and swimming in the bay.Halong Bay is absolutely stunning but unfortunately it is also a massive tourist trap so by the time the nighttime came we could see the distant lights of Halong City and the much brighter lights from the city of junks moored in the same aread. The evening was spent bonding over drinking games and really doing our bit to promote continuing education amongst adults. Polish, French and many british people do not seem to be well aquainted with the fine sport of drinking games, but no fear, once we were finished with them not only were they fans but also budding amateurs. Having to stray out of the budget a bit to pay for the tour we decided to save ourselves some money by bringing our own alcohol on board, the most affordable one turned out to be Vodka (the brand-name) - 'A Cereal Fermentation Alcohol, Unique Taste'. I really only ever want my vodka to taste like Vodka to be honest so luckily the 'unique' taste was close-enoughish to keep us happy.
Drinking games seemed like an exceptionally bad idea the next morning when we had to wake up at the crack of dawn to catch our transfer boat to the island. We were gently woken up by the insistent ringing of a 140 decibel bell. Awesome.
We then transferred to the 'private beach' which sounds a lot more impressive than it really was - really a strip of reclaimed land about 100m long and with the sandy part approximately 3 metres in width with the tide in. It was all pretty rustic with everything outside - the 'huts' in which we slept were open on all sides with a really low roof, and we were provided with a mattress and mosquito net each (nothing else at all). Unfortunately we didn't have the best weather for being on a remote island, so it kind of put a dampener on things (figuratively and literally) but it was still fun to be out there. The day consisted of much lounging around reading and not much else, Stace and I eventually decided to go for a swim (the only two that ended up getting in the water) and we swam out to a jetty that was little way out. The water was very murky with bad visibility, so Stace decides that it is a good time to question whether there are sharks in the water.She did this while were still on the jetty and still had to swim all the way back to the shore. Then while we are actually swimming back she says 'wow, I wonder what is underneath us, could be anything' and I'm like 'pick your moments woman!' These are ideas to be pondered once back safely on dry land.
Anyway, there are, thankfully, no sharks in the water only stingrays apparently.
The evening was spent drinking again (only a very moderate amount) and eating our way through 5 varieties of meat from the barbecue - chicken, beef, calamari, prawns and sausages.
The next morning we were again softly roused from our sleep by the 150decible boat horn which went on for approximately 5 years or so. Long enough to wake us up and also to ensure that we have tinnitus at least until the end of our trip. We then headed back to Halong City for our transfer back to the hostel in Hanoi.It was interesting seeing the country side of Vietnam during our drive back to Hanoi. The buildings are quite odd - they are all free standing, at least a metre or so apart and all of them are only as wide as one room. They are then approximately 3 rooms deep and always at least 2 stories high. So they are really thin and long. They paint the front facade in bright colours and it is often nicely decorated with balconies and pot plants etc but the two side lengths don't even get painted. So they are left concrete grey and,on most of the houses, windowless. Weird. So they look like a block of flats sliced up with the slices separated from one another. Maybe this preserves heat in winter and keeps them cool in the summer? I dunno, must be helluva dark inside though. Anyway, we got back into Hanoi at around 3 and went straight to the train station to book our beds on the sleeper train that was leaving at 8pm that night for Sapa(in the north of Vietnam). That gave us enough time to have sneaky showers in the hostel, stow our bags in their baggage store room and a quick beer on the roof-top bar. The hard-sleepers(ha ha ha) on the sleeper-train were to be our next adventure, but Stace will be back to update you on our Sapa trip, I am so over typing.
Nics xx
Saturday, 7 November 2009
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
We arrived in very hot Bangkok on Wednesday nighjt after a very long trip via Dubai - all a little bleary eyed from lack of sleep. Once we had made it through passport control (think JHB International on a really bad day) we collected our baggage and headed off to find a taxi. One good thing about the cabs there is that you know the price of the ride before you head off so the bill at the end isn't a massive shock.
We had booked ourself into a guesthouse just West of Ko San Rd so were just off in the sidelines of the chaos at At Home Guesthouse. Once we had made our way with heavy packs up 5 flights of stairs there was a definite need to get out and about in the cooler night air to take in the chaos of Ko San and get some dinner. After that it was a pretty quiet one as we had lots to see the next day.
Thursday was all about seeing the sights thanks to Stacey waking up 3hrs earlier than us and planning our day for us. We headed out, got confused, stopped to double check our map and hit our first patch of luck. We ran into a local who was helping us find out where we were and he wanted to know if we knew what day it was. When we said we didn't he told us that today was a special tourist day where we could take a tuk-tuk for 3hrs and only have to pay 20BHT which is insanely cheap! So we jumped on it and headed out with our driver Pho to see the Lucky Budda, Standing Budda (45m tall), Black Budda, a tailor shop, and then back to have some lunch. There was great enjoyment to be had wizzing down streets on the wrong side of the road, mainly due to the breeze! We then had to have a break from the heat of the day by having a nap - it needed to be done. After the nap we headed off to check out the night bazzar, again with an insanely cheap tuk-tuk. Had some dinner and took in the sights of everyone just passing by. Before we knew where time had gone it was pumpkin o'clock and we had to get a tuk-tuk back. Unfortunbately because it was so late at night we had to pay 200BHT but it was worth it for the insane driver we had and the wolf whistles from other drivers.
Friday was a lazy late sleeping day and then off to see the Grand Palace which was insane! It is all gold, shiny and closely built. Best part of the day was when all the Chinesse tourists kept asking to have their picture taken with us. That is correct, not by us, but with us. I think it must be lucky to have pictures taken with pasty white girls or something. With it being over 34 degrees we decided to get the water taxi back to our hostel and grab some beers on the street and watch people pass. Also there was some repacking to be done as some of us had way too much luggage (i.e. that JC girl). With an early trip to the airport at 4am we had an early dinner and got to bed at a decent time.
Next update will be all about our adventures in Hanoi, Vietnam - which is looking to have plenty to offer us.
So sing it with me:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
We had booked ourself into a guesthouse just West of Ko San Rd so were just off in the sidelines of the chaos at At Home Guesthouse. Once we had made our way with heavy packs up 5 flights of stairs there was a definite need to get out and about in the cooler night air to take in the chaos of Ko San and get some dinner. After that it was a pretty quiet one as we had lots to see the next day.
Thursday was all about seeing the sights thanks to Stacey waking up 3hrs earlier than us and planning our day for us. We headed out, got confused, stopped to double check our map and hit our first patch of luck. We ran into a local who was helping us find out where we were and he wanted to know if we knew what day it was. When we said we didn't he told us that today was a special tourist day where we could take a tuk-tuk for 3hrs and only have to pay 20BHT which is insanely cheap! So we jumped on it and headed out with our driver Pho to see the Lucky Budda, Standing Budda (45m tall), Black Budda, a tailor shop, and then back to have some lunch. There was great enjoyment to be had wizzing down streets on the wrong side of the road, mainly due to the breeze! We then had to have a break from the heat of the day by having a nap - it needed to be done. After the nap we headed off to check out the night bazzar, again with an insanely cheap tuk-tuk. Had some dinner and took in the sights of everyone just passing by. Before we knew where time had gone it was pumpkin o'clock and we had to get a tuk-tuk back. Unfortunbately because it was so late at night we had to pay 200BHT but it was worth it for the insane driver we had and the wolf whistles from other drivers.
Friday was a lazy late sleeping day and then off to see the Grand Palace which was insane! It is all gold, shiny and closely built. Best part of the day was when all the Chinesse tourists kept asking to have their picture taken with us. That is correct, not by us, but with us. I think it must be lucky to have pictures taken with pasty white girls or something. With it being over 34 degrees we decided to get the water taxi back to our hostel and grab some beers on the street and watch people pass. Also there was some repacking to be done as some of us had way too much luggage (i.e. that JC girl). With an early trip to the airport at 4am we had an early dinner and got to bed at a decent time.
Next update will be all about our adventures in Hanoi, Vietnam - which is looking to have plenty to offer us.
So sing it with me:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
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