Vietnam ::Hue::.

Sauce and Mustard arrived early in the morning from Ninh Binh on a sleeper bus (300,000ð), and were greeted by hotel scouts. Within 5 minutes the price for a private room has dropped dramatically from US$15 to US$6. However on arriving at the hotel, the lady in charge refused to honour the deal, after much bartering, Sauce and Mustard paid US$7 for the room and hired a flash as brand new scooter for 80,000ð.

Accommodation sorted, showered, feed, Sauce and Mustard were on their way out to explore the city of Hue.

They circumnavigated the old imperial palace and went tomb hunting. Driving through the city in some spots was a challenge, putting Sauces skills to the test.

  

  

Buying train tickets for the scenic train ride from Hue to Danang the next day was interesting. First when Mustard spoke English to buy the tickets, she was told that it was sold out. But when she approached a different counter and spoke Vietnamese, she was rewarded with two hard seat tickets to Danang.

Vietnam ::Ninh Binh::.

The bus from Hanoi to Ninh Binh leaves from Ben Xe Giap Bat and cost 50,000ð. The two and a half hour journey dropped Sauce and Mustard off in the middle of Ninh Binh. Straight off the bus, scouts from the New Mini Queen Hotel offered them a free scooter ride to their hotel. Sauce and Mustard declined the offer, preferring to walk.

As they walked away, the scouts dropped their price from US$8 to US$6. By the time Sauce and Mustard had made their way to the hotel, they were offered a nice clean room with hot water and Wi-Fi for US$6 and a scooter for 80,000ð. They spent the next two days exploring the Ninh Binh area on the scooter.



Tam Coc, just 8km out of town, consisted of a river meandering through lush green rice paddies amongst the karst limestone peaks, similar to Ha Long Bay. Sauce and Mustard spent a couple of hours on a boat tour along the river where the oarsman row with their feet.  On their way back to shore they were meet by a small storm that sent everyone ruining for shelter.

Safely debarking their rickety dingy, Sauce and Mustard took shelter in the nearby embroidery shops and did some shopping.With some new artwork and plastic ponchos to keep them dry, they made their way west and discovered the poor cousins of Tam Coc. The local villagers offered them boat tours to a different part of the river for a third of the price and showed them the way to a couple of pagodas.

The pagodas had free entry, but parking cost 20,000ð. The pagoda was a Buddha cave that lead to a thrilling mountain climb with spectacular views of the surrounding area.

On the way to Mua Cave, Mustards camera stopped working. When they stopped to fix it, a family of neighbourhood kids swamped them, pulling on their bags and ask to take photos with them. Mua cave has a whole lot of steps that takes you up to a dragon adorned peak. You can also see the Tam Coc river from the top.

The next stop at the Trang An market was a waste of time. After paying 20,000ð for parking and seeing stuff all, they left for Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam.

As they approached Hoa Lu, Sauce and Mustard were offered free parking with the purchase of two bowls of Pho De (Goat Noodle Soup). There wasn't much to Hoa Lu, the only thing that was left of the ancaient citadel was the temple. Although Sauce and Mustard had a fun walk (climb) up to the summit.

Directionally challenged trying to find the stilt village of Kenh Ga, and with the sun steadily declining, Sauce and Mustard gave up and made their way back to Ninh Binh, in order to catch the sleeper bus to Huè.

Vietnam ::Sapa::.

Getting transport to Sapa from Hanoi was a day in itself. It first started with the possibility to buy a motorbike and self drive. Sauce and Mustard went and checked out the bulletin board at Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. There were all sorts of bikes for sale from other travellers leaving the country, priced between US$250-$350. However, this plan fell through, as neither Sauce nor Mustard wanted to learn to ride a manual bike in the busy city of Hanoi.


The next option was to catch the 11 hours train. Train tickets from Hanoi to Sapa were US$18 for a hard sleeper, US$11 for a soft seat and US$7 for a hard seat. However, the train tickets were sold out.


While Sauce and Mustard were weighting up their options, they inadvertently found a cheap all inclusive 5 nights 4 days tour package from a laundromat. For US$78, they had their transport, accommodation, all meals, entrance fees and local guide covered. So they were all set to go on their adventure to Sapa the next day.

Sauce and Mustard woke up in the morning from the 11 hours sleeper bus, for a full day ahead in Sapa. Greeting them were a couple of local minority people in their traditional dress. They were then taken to their hotel for breakfast and met Mong, their local guide.

There were seven people in the group, a Polish couple, three Spaniard and the two kiwi condiments. Mong led the group on a 5 hours trek to her local village for the homestay experience. Along the way, the group were followed by a vanguard of local minorities down through amazing rice terraces.

Sauce and Mustard got to see how the local village people live their lives. The village women make their living by making and selling handicrafts to tourists. Most of them learn to speak English by following tourists around from a young age. On the other hand, the men does the more physical jobs like, plowing the fields, construction work and fishing. School is optional in the villages and children trend to work alongside their parents from a very young age.

Sauce and Mustard had a quick stop for lunch at one of the villages and were surrounded by old women and young girls selling their handicrafts. Mustard bought a mini satchel, a bangle and a headband and got a handful of friendship bracelets for free.

After that the group was introduced to their homestay family, and were given time to won't around the village before dinner.Sauce and Mustard went down to the river for a swim and washed their clothes. At dinner, Sauce shared some home brewed rice wine shots with their homestay host.

Waking up to the noise of roosters, roused Sauce and Mustard to an endless pancake breakfast with banana, pineapple and honey.Full of hearty pancake energy, the group set off for a walk to the next village, that took them through more beautiful sceneries.

The group stopped for a short break at a waterfall and once again, Sauce went off the beaten track and ended up falling down to the bottom of the waterfall, breaking his head. After his rescue, the group wound their way through a refreshing bamboo forest that overlooked the valley and had noodle soup for lunch.

Cat Cat falls the next day was nothing spectacular, but it was still a nice walk on a warm day. At Cat Cat falls there is a cultural theatre built out of an old hydroelectric where Sauce and Mustard got to enjoy a cultural performance.

While in Sapa, Sauce and Mustard also had some spared time to explore the markets and did some shopping.

Vietnam ::Halong Bay::.

The overnight trip on a Vietnamese junk around Halong Bay begun at 8am at the Cat Ba Town wharf. Onboard with Sauce and Mustard were some interesting and colourful characters. It was a misty day. As the junk forged its way through the fog, hundreds of awe inspiring limestone islands appeared in all shapes and forms, all having concaved bases created by the ebb and flow of the sea.

After a couple of hours of sailing, the boat anchored up by a floating fishing village where Sauce and Mustard got to go kayaking. As they paddled around the amazing islands, they found a hole which led them into a hidden lagoon. Coming back out of the lagoon, Sauce and Mustard found themselves disorientated around the mist shrouded islands and soon became lost. Fortunately, the junk eventually came to their rescue and the two lost kiwis were the butt of the joke over lunch.

Lunch on the deck of the boat was basic, but filling. Sauce and Mustard enjoyed good conversation and excellent views of the bay. Before too long, the boat arrived at Sung Sot Cave (cave of surprises). It is the largest cave in Halong Bay.

The boat then moored in a clam area where Sauce and Mustard kayaked to another magnificent hidden lagoon. This time they made sure they stayed with the group. As the day warmed up, Mustard took a dip in the cool water of Halong Bay.

Saying good bye to the interesting and colourful characters on the boat, Sauce and Mustard were left to enjoy sometime alone. They stayed overnight on the junk and had the boat all to themselves for the next day where Sauce and Mustard did more kayaking without getting lost and visited Monkey Island. They didn't get to see any monkeys. Sauce had a refreshing swim back to the boat while Mustard waited like a beautiful maiden for the ship to pick her up.

After spending some quality time together on a private cruise, Sauce and Mustard got dropped off back at the wharf at Cat Ba town. The price for a bus-boat-bus ticket back to Hanoi was going to cost 220,000ð but Sauce and Mustard insisted on only paying  190,000ð.