Halong Bay

It's all very well looking at Halong Bay on Google and admiring it's beauty through pictures, but it's a completely different experience actually being in its presence.
We got picked up from the hostel at 8am after a classic bread and jelly (which tastes worryingly alcoholic) breakfast. The bus ride took four hours with a stop to go to the happy room half way. Happy room, toilet, mean same same according to our guide Sonny. During the bus ride we got a presentation on Vietnam from Sonny all about the history of Vietnam and Halong Bay. It was a very funny presentation due to Sonny's lack of English and our lack of knowledge. Though with the help of some loud Australians, intimate Colombians and practically mute Danish (actually they weren't so helpful) we got through the presentation.
We arrived at 12.30pm to board our boat 'Song Bien', and started our journey to Halong Bay. On the way we had a lunch of some classic Vietnamese dishes which were very nice, apart from the whole fish plonked in front of us. I avoided that one. After lunch we were able to go up onto the deck of the boat to watch this national heritage site approach us. It was seriously beautiful. It consists of thousands of stone islands with marvellous shapes rising out of the sea. We took A LOT of pictures! We also had the opportunity to go in a little bamboo rowing boat, rowed through caves for us by a Vietnamese woman which was amazing.
To round off the trip we had a tour round the third biggest cave in the world, which was only discovered in 1993. The tour guide revelled in showing us the naughty shaped stalagmites and stalactites.
We got back on the boat and back to the harbour just in time as it started to pour with rain.
It was such a great day and really made us think about how amazing the earth can be.

Hugs and Kisses
The three in awe of planet earth

Vietnam

After the pitiful sleep we'd had in Don Muang airport the night before we were all super pleased to have a free airport transfer to our hostel (the Little Hanoi Hostel) in the centre of Hanoi. Arriving to a large welcoming committee we soon understood what everyone was talking about when they said the Vietnamese were extremely hospitable! We were ushered in by Miss Kim and another guy we think was brought along to speak to us in English as he was American, although we're not sure why as Miss Kim's English is brillo-pads! We were given breakfast of a crusty role, butter and jelly like jam, and told our room was ready whenever we needed it!... Well immediately was the answer after falling asleep in the breakfast the had provided! We practically ran up to room 204 and collapsed in a heap on the beds only to wake up five hours later feeling a little more conscious and alert! We decided we were all rather pekish (standard) so headed out for some food.

Walking the streets of Vietnam is like playing a game of Russian roulette with your life. The trick is just look forward and don't panic, they'll go round you! When I say 'they' I mean the thousands of mopeds darting across every possible walkway. Oh the fun we had trying to cross the roads! After mooching around, getting very lost and almost being run down for the 20th time we came up with a plan... We were just going to grab some bits for dinner and head back to our room that has a TV with an American movie channel to pig out for the evening! It was perfect, I don't think our emotions or reasoning could have handled much else given the amount of sleep we'd had.

Hope none of you are as tired as us!

Missing you all

Three very sleepy girls

Xxxxxxx

Thailand in a day/few hours

Touching down in Bangkok we had no idea what we were going to do! We had 17 hours until our flight to Vietnam. We didn't have a room booked anywhere.. Planning on sleeping in the airport we had to fill some time in between...

First stop was food, obviously! Making our way into central Bangkok we were totally clueless! Walking the from the MRT (metro) all we could see were office buildings.. No food! With our heavy rucksacks breaking our backs we were desperate. We found a McDonald's. It was our only salvation, so we grabbed it with both hands and it was good.. Really good! You might say we were lovin' it!!

But what were we to do next? Well, we thought Thai.. A Thai massage of course! We researched it fully in our travel books found a taxi and told him which one we'd chosen. The taxi driver then proceeded to tell us we were crazy and took us to a completely different one! But he was very nice so we trusted him fully (might just point out we were tres tired at this point so our judgement may have been slightly clouded!) arriving at what was actually a delish spa we got to work having our feet washed! Dressing us in some bizarre outfits the masseurs all worked on us for an hour and a half each! It was bliss after a flight followed by a long trek to Maccy D's! Leaving there we were told to get the 29 bus back to the airport... Much easier said than done during rush hour! Anyway long story short, with the help of a lovely Thai girl we got on the right bus and made the very sweaty journey back to the airport to spend the night sprawled across our luggage protecting it while we slept (ish) .

Was an experience to say the least, but we enjoyed it!

Vietnam next kids, will be updating soon!

Xxxxx

Goodbye Yesinn @ Causeway Bay

So we left Hong Kong on Wednesday morning! Saying goodbye to our hostel was totes emosh! Our home for the last week was a great way to start the trip, easing us into the traveller lifestyle. The hostel was perfect for us.. Special shout out to them! Our room (a nine bed dorm) was cosy, having our own area and with lockers everything felt safe. The common room had a massage chair, a kitchenette, computers and there was always cool music playing! Very suitable for three young wipper snappers such as us!

We will miss it but it's off to Vietnam, via Thailand for the next part of the trip!

Laters taters

Xxxxxx

The Races HK

On our last day in Hong Kong, we spent most of our time just absorbing the atmosphere as much as possible. We collected our Vietnamese visas in the morning and then that evening we made our way to the race course. The $10 entrance fee seemed far too cheap for the atmosphere that was provided. After placing our bets we eagerly awaited the first race and we all lost -.- I was done after that, if it doesn't work first time round I'm not willing to risk a second go. Han and Em on the other hand are cray so continued betting! Emma, the lucky devil, came away with an overall addition of $5, Han had no such luck, losing, waahh.

Betting aside, the races were a great buzz, we really enjoyed the atmosphere and would fully recommend it if you're ever in the area!

Laters chickens

Xxxx

Kowloon

Kowloon was an adventure... In the rain. The three of us struggled to get up this morning, but Imogen had been awake since six and had been furiously whatsapping us. She still hasn't got over her jet lag, I never seemed to get under it lucky for me! After a nice brunch we got the famous Star Ferry over to the mainland, Kowloon. Unfortunately when trying to look at the view across the harbour, there was nothing to see but mist and the rain was slapping us in the face. I don't feel we got the true ferry experience but fun all the same. After arriving we relied on Imogen, our resident tour guide to show us the things to do in Kowloon. Little did we know she was almost more clueless than us. But luckily enough our plan for that day had been to wander aimlessly in torrential rain. Not. It was indeed an adventure, we hopped in and out of a few outlet stores purchasing bits and bobs here and there. With the extreme air conditioning in these malls I thought the raindrops on us could potentially have frozen. A visit to the Nike outlet store was a must for a few, though it was rather a trek. Myself and Imogen were up ahead leading the way, not such a good idea with both of our poor sense of directions but we got there after a stop for tea and cake in a lovely McCafe.
We rounded the day off with a trip to the Ladies Market which we found by accident. Typical. Imogen spent her budget for the next two days in one shopping trip, when she realised this we swiftly got the metro home.

Despite being soaked to the skin and feeling as if we were in England we had a lot of fun together.

Lots of hugs,
Three drenched ladies

Temple Street Night Market

We had read a lot about the night market in various guide books and our love for shopping drew us like a moth to a flame! One particular love was strongest here though, Hannah May Stockley lost her mind it seems. Whilst Emma and I were strolling from stall to stall bartering and chatting to the market owners making the occasional purchase Hannah was sprinting from stall to stall buying everything in sight, she had the shopping sweats, her shaking became increasingly worse with every purchase to the point where we had to intervene. We cut her off. I think it was after the 7th Marc Jacobs make up bag (all the same style, just different prints!) The only problem was by this point we were too far into the abyss that is the night market to fully control her. It goes on forever and we were stuck in the middle. To get her out without handing over anymore money we had to act fast. We decided to stop for food. This was... Interesting to say the least but managed to take Hannah's mind off things for a while! The journey back was tough but we were able to dodge the majority of the 'missy you buy' calls and focus Han on the prospect of actually saving her money so she'd be able to survive the rest of the trip! Don't worry Stockley family, we got her rehabilitated just in time! She shouldn't be needing a bail out for a while!

Hannah's craziness aside, the night market was amaze. A definite must do if you're ever in Hong Kong.. And don't have any serious shopping habits that need controlling!


SHOPPING ADDICTION IS NOT A JOKE, PLEASE CONSULT A DOCTOR IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO BUY EVERYTHING WHEN SURROUNDED BY PURCHASABLE GOODS.

Stanley

Stanley is a fella we met out here.. He's really lovely and...
JOKES GUYS!
Stanley is an area of Hong Kong reminiscent of a countryside town back home. We'd been told to visit by the travel books and by our friend Imogen who lived there! Dressed in shorts and flip flops with bikinis in toe, we were all prepared for a little shopping in the market then a nice little chill and a sunbathe on the beach.... Buuut no. The weather decided to turn on us! Cheers then! It was overcast and a tad chilly! I'm sure you can all appreciate how annoying it is when you're in shorts and flip flops and there's a slight breeze in the air! Just so frustrating! (Tee to the hee) Anyway we did have a look around the market and had a nice little sit on some sort of ledge that over looked the ocean. I went rock climbing (see photo 1.) and Hannah and Emma pursued their new found Buddhist belief, taking a moment for afternoon prayer (see photo 2.)

We then found a local who invited us up to her apartment, she gave Hannah some pills as she had a headache and have us all food and drink! Lol, no need to panic it was only Imogen! The same Imogen, who invited us to the yacht club that night for dinner! It was lovely, the first nice meal we've had since we've been here, and boy did we use it! Hannah devoured two starters, Emma had a gorgeous looking chicken borito and me, a ma-hussive burger with fries! Deeee-lish! Then to top it all off, dessert consisting of plentiful amounts of chocolate (cake, mousse, sauce..) and ice cream! Yum yum!

Hope you're not having too much fun without us!

Missing you all

The three 'slightly chilly' ones!

The day I became Buddhist

The day started like any other day, the alarm failed to go off so once again we woke up late, some later than others (Hannah). But eventually we were all showered and ready for the day. We decided that we would go visit the big Buddha so once again we went to the very familiar metro line and got on our way. Once we got there we hopped on the cable car taking us up the mountain to a small village on top, we were sharing out cable car with some locals who like many other decided to take our picture without asking very obviously but about half an hour later we arrived and behold in front of us waiting in the distance there he was... BUDDHA in all his glory, I was immediately taken in as we're Hannah and Tash but not to the same level as me, Buddha and I had become one. We wandered through the village with Hannah and Tash under very strict instructions not to stop and look at anything until after we had seen Buddha and before we knew it we were at the bottom of the 266 steps up to my new found love. We were up the steps quick as a flash without even breaking a sweat, so eager to get as close as possible. It was a visit none of us will ever forget. On the way back down we visited the po Lin monastery which was decorated immaculately and was full of incense as we left we all commented on how calm and spiritual we all felt and at one with the world, I personally felt this was Buddhas influence, Tash however commented that she thought it might have something to do with the huge amount of incense we had inhaled. All in all though we all greatly enjoyed our trip to buddha not only was seeing him spectacular but the view overlooking the whole of hk island wasn't bad either :) as we walked back to the cable car we decided to indulge on some snacks Tash getting candy floss twice the side of her head and us all sharing a traditional waffle. The beautiful views on the journey down all added to the already perfect day.

Love from us three newly converted Buddhists

Ocean Park HK

Day two consisted of a trip to Ocean Park. This, for those who don't know, is like a magical land full of roller-coasters, water rides, giant pandas and sea-lions... Literally! They also managed to wack in some penguins, dolphins, arctics foxes, a talking tree and a railway!! To get from one area of the park across to the other, the only mode of transport in a cable car that reaches great heights giving views across the whole of Hong Kong. We were all bewildered with the amount of different attractions they had but soon got to work taking advantage of them all. Hannah and Emma (the adrenaline junkies) went on all the roller-coasters whilst I hung back with the bags (because who else would guys??) We went to see the sea-lions which was literally the highlight of my life as they are my favourite animals ever! Hannah compared me to a sea-lion, which she thought was a faberooni insult but I just took it as a compliment! We also saw some giant pandas, which actually weren't that giant but then again I've never seen a panda before! By the end of the day Han and Em both managed to convince me to go on the scariest ride in the park I almost died.. [ummm Em here, definitely wasn't the scariest, in fact Han and I were relatively bored! But we'll let Tash think it was a huge feat!]

That night we went out to celebrate with the rugby sevens brawl that had filled the streets of Wan Chai. Everywhere was packed but buzzing with drukards in every possible fancy dress you can imagine! 'twas brill..


Anyway off to see a Buddha, will tell all tonight!

XOXO HK GOSSIP