Working hard in Vietnam

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I’d expected to post more while I was out here, but I’ve been incredibly busy with work so simply haven’t had the chance. I’m working as a Tour Guide for the Hanoi Backpackers’ Hostel which is a 6-on-1-off working week. When I’m “on”, I’m away at Ha Long Bay with no internet and I don’t take my netbook with me.

I’ll explain the trip first, then tell you why it’s such hard work after!

The trips are hard work, very tiring, but also great fun. The trip involves 4 hours on a bus to Ha Long harbour where we jump onto the Jolly Roger, our private boat. There we chill for a bit until lunch, then have fun diving off the top of the boat into the water. Our kayaks then arrive and – tides allowing – we paddle off to an island nearby with a lagoon hidden inside. As far as I know it’s only our tour groups that go here.

Back on the boat, we chill out till dinner and then happy hour begins. This usually involves the start of the drinking games, dancing, loud music and partying in general.

Next day, some people head home (though we usually convince them to do the extra day as it’s definitely worth the extra) while the rest of us swap onto a smaller boat for the 90 minute trip to Castaway Island. Here, we do wakeboarding or banana boat and rock climbing. Kayaks are available so anyone can just take a boat out and explore the surrounding area.

Overall it’s really chilled out until after dinner when – again – it’s party time. Around midnight we usually try to get everyone into the water to enjoy the bioluminescent plankton. On a good night, of you reach the pontoon about 100m from the beach and stand there, it looks like millions of blue-green fireflies are swimming towards you!

Next morning, it’s a 7am rise for breakfast followed by 2 boats and a bus ride back to Hanoi for happy hour at the hostel.

The hard work is mainly in the hours. I’m up at 7am on day 1 to gather everyone up and make sure we’re not missing anyone. We then split into two buses if required and have a 40hour journey. Then it’s corralling everyone to make sure we all get tickets and onto the boat, often in groups if there are too many – the transfer boat seats 20 at most.

A lot of the work is just keeping people in line. Making sure they follow rules, hoping that nobody minds sharing a room with a stranger – sometimes with just a double bed! I shared with one of the guys on the last trip. Thankfully he didn’t snore.

Safety is an obvious concern, especially when people are jumping from heights and messing in water. We had a guy on the trip before last who couldn’t swim but who still wanted to join in. Fortunately I had a great group who were very supportive. We got him a life jacket and two girls taught him some basic swimming. He even did the wakeboarding on the Island. Ken, I salute you!

With the kayaking, it’s the sense of what the hell are you doing?! when I set off (at the back of the group) to see 18 kayaks all over the place instead of following the Vietnamese guide at the front. If anyone reading this is going to do the trip, please save us a lot of stress and don’t go paddling off randomly. It is possible to get lost in the Bay given the fact that it’s 1500km2 in size. The 2000 rock formations can look a little similar after a while.

Next up is judging the group. When you play drinking games you’re going to divide people – those who are game for anything and those with some level of reservations. Also, if you have a large group it’s often hard to hold interest if you have to circle 40 people.  One of the guests on an earlier cruise taught me Hacienda which is great as you can rattle through it with 40 people in 10-15 minutes, everyone gets drinking and nobody gets a chance to get bored. It also doesn’t involve forfeits so it’s a chance to loosen everyone up without pressuring anyone.

As the night goes on, it either gets wilder (usually) or the group divides which can make things better as you’re only overseeing the ones who have few inhibitions. Less embarrassment!

The partying can run on until 4 or 5 am on the boat. Most people forget that they have to be up at 7:30 for breakfast. I have to be up earlier than that to make sure they do indeed rise. Fine if it’s a smallish group who go to bed early. Hard work if it’s a large group and I have to sleep on the deck where they’re partying!

The island is relaxing for me during the day as the guests chill or go out on their watersports. We may organise a game of volleyball with the Vietnamese staff if anyone’s up for it, or take a small group out in the kayaks. Again, though, I have to get the party going after dinner. I do have the help of the resident wakeboard instructor, another of the hostel staff, which takes some of the burden off me and does give me someone else to “play off”.

Again, this can go on until 3am or so when the staff turn off the generator so they can get some sleep! And again, people forget there’s an early rise. I’m up before 7 to bang the breakfast gong. We have a long trip back to Ha Long and then to Hanoi, where I usually catch up on some sleep.

If that sounds like a lot of partying with little sleep, remember that I take out two trips back to back. I get back from one and straight out on another the next morning. The night I’m back I may also end up taking a group up to Snake Village, which means drinking shots and snake wine with the group.

At least there are gaps in the day when I can catch up with a snooze but it’s really tiring! It’s also incredibly rewarding though. We had two birthdays on the last trip and one girl told me it’s the best party she’s ever had. That made my trip for me.

Tonight’s the England v USA game and I’m in two minds about watching it as it’ll mean bed at 4am or thereabouts. I don’t want to be a mess in the morning!

When I get home I have my year’s probation to go through to qualify as a teacher. Right now it’s seeming as if that will be my holiday!

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Road Warriors

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I hooked up with another backpacker, Chris, not long after I arrived. He’s currently trying to offload a Minsk motorcycle that he’s been using for the last month or so. In the meantime, he’d planned a day trip out up the Red River Valley.

Seemed like a nice idea, so I hopped out and rented a moto for $8. Nothing anywhere near as rugged as the Communist tank ridden by Chris, but it had two wheels and didn’t stall so it was fine by me. I rented from Voyage Vietnam on Luong Ngoc Quyen, not far from Bia Hoi Corner. I’m happy to recommend them – lovely people.

The original aim was to try to get to a lake around 200km out of town. However, getting out of Hanoi is not very easy, even if you have a map.

Between the one way system, helpful locals who pointed us at the wrong highway and our utter lack of a sense of direction we finally passed the city limits after over 90 minutes. We didn’t manage this by any kind of navigational means, more by circling enough times that we achieved escape velocity.

Instead of heading north west, we found ourselves going more directly north towards Noi Bai airport. Not a huge problem until at one point I realised we were the only motorcycles on the road, surrounded by trucks, cars and buses. It seems the large bridge on the way up is for non-bikes only. Which would explain why the police were waving frantically at us to pull over before we got onto it. Oops.

We swung a left at the first roundabout onto what was clearly marked as a highway on the map. Thing is, “highway” in Vietnam basically means “the main road from A to B”. The quality of that road is indeterminate until you’re on it.

In this case, blacktop gave way to dust and potholes very quickly. Chris’ Minsk had far fewer problems than my little around-towner.

However, we really didn’t know where we were. As Chris put it, “I think we’re having a Top Gear moment”.

Navigating by the sun (that is, guessing) we headed north west, finally passing a couple of towns marked on the road atlas Chris had stored in the ammo boxes he used as paniers.

The roads varied a lot from nice tarmacced ones to potholed dirt tracks. The thing is, they can change very suddenly. Whereas Chris’ Minsk had no porblems dealing with this (except his seat falling off at one point), my little bike needed a bit more care an attention, so I was a fair bit slower that him.

In many areas, the roads were covered in grass as the locals used it to make hay. At least it would give a soft landing if we fell off (we didn’t).

Realising time was a little short, we crossed to a different road and worked our way back south east again. After a petrol stop, we pulled in for a couple of beers at a small shop. Very quickly we had a small fan club – a grandfather (70, but looked 50) with his little grandson, another old chap and a few other members of the family.

The grandad took a great interest in Chris’s Minsk, first circling it for a good couple of minutes before squatting and staring at the motor. I guess he used to have one or perhaps rode one in the war.

We were made most welcome, and had a great time taking photos of each other and trying to converse. This is what makes little day trips out in Vietnam so enjoyable. The scenery and so on are lovely, but the people make it.

Hanoi was in rush hour mode by the time we got back, so it took a lot longer to return to the hostel than intended. Still, despite losing track of each other we managed to both find the place again even if it was an hour after the bike shop had closed. I returned the bike the next day and they only charged me $3 as they’d stayed open an hour late waiting for me. I’ve no problem with that and would recommend them.

My forearms are sunburned, but it was worth it. As Chris said on the way back – “Great day out.”

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A couple of days in Pattaya

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So, what have I got up to since I arrived? Well, in honesty not a lot. But there was never any plan to do much in Pattaya so I guess I achieved it!

If anything, I did less than I’d hoped as the dived I’d booked on Thursday morning were cancelled at the last minute. I had my pickup, arrived at the dive shop and the owner regretted to inform me that the propeller had dropped off the boat! They would be taking a group of Adventure Diver students out to search for it, which works for them as such tasks are part of the course.

I won’t mention the company as a) they were incredibly nice about it and b) the last time I said anything negative about a dive company they jumped down my throat and threatened to get legal. I doubt this group would do such a thing, but I’m not taking the chance. If I do make it back through Pattaya on the way home (I may, I may not) I’ll definitely give them another shot.

Other than that, Wednesday saw me doing more walking than I’ve managed in some time. Ditching my hiking boots, I walked from my hostel in Jomtien to the dive shop on the infamous Soi 6 of Pattaya. Barefoot. Well, it didn’t look *that* far on the map. It took me around 2 1/2 hours. Whoops.

After buying some sandals, I popped into one of the nearby cinemas to watch Ong Bak 3 followed by The Losers, then picked up a fresh-cooked corn cob as I walked all the way back home again, this time via Walking Street. This is, essentially, roughly 500 yards of glitzy, loud go-go bars. If you want somewhere for a quiet drink then this isn’t it. I did stop at a biker bar nearer to the hostel which had much better music – three Thais covering rock and metal tracks.

The weather did pick up on Thursday but I spent a lot of it crashed out in my room as my body clock sorted itself out. This was fine as it let me aclimatise somewhat as well as get through other tasks. I had paperwork and online form-filling to get done for next year, and the hostel’s wi-fi was superb.

Dinner was at a place called Double Dutch on one of the streets full of bars and restaurants along Jomtien Beach Road. I can’t complain at a large steak with pepper sauce for 250B, though this would have been even cheaper 4 years ago before the Pound collapsed.

On Friday I once again chilled out. Breakfast at some other random place and the I sat on a wall by the beach finishing the book I started on the flight out (Dean Koontz‘ Brother Odd since you ask). I then had enough time for a quick email check at the hostel before grabbing my bags and getting a sawnhthew out to the other end of Pattaya Beach and walking to the northern bus station.

The last bus from here to the airport is 7pm run by Bell, although I’ve been told there are other services running as late as 9:30pm. They don’t appear to leave from here, though.

Jomtien Hostel, where I stayed, was lovely. I settled on a dorm instead of a private room and ended up with a 4-bed room to myself. TV, hot shower, fan and speedy internet for 240B per night is great in my books. It even had a sea view if you stood on the balcony and craned your neck a bit. Staff were lovely, too.

So, Pattaya. I wasn’t wholly impressed and I didn’t expect to me. For a start it’s out of season so the number of tourists is pretty low. Those who are kicking around are, to a large degree, dodgy old guys picking up Thai ladies to “accompany them” while they’re there. If I was on a lads’ holiday or a stag do then this would be somewhere half decent. But as a single guy who’s seen enough ping pong shows for one lifetime, it doesn’t offer a lot in the evening. I just wanted somewhere quiet I could have a drink and read my book – not an easy thing to find!

However, I did start having a dig just before I left and there are quite a few other things to do. Gibbon Experience have a branch nearby, there are quite a few half-decent dive sites, the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is meant to be quite good, the go-kart track looked ace when I walked past… so if you plan something and have some cash to spend then you can make of it what you will.

One person on Lonely Planet‘s Thorn Tree message board told me to “get a life” on Thursday night as I was only in Sin City for a short time and was spending it online. Sorry, but if going out to spend 2000B (or whatever it costs) catching a venereal disease is his idea of getting a life then I’m quite happy with the alternative. I cleared up enough other bumph to know I have very little to worry about over the next 2 months – time well spent to me.

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Blue Dragon: House 52 Shelter Appeal

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Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Here’s the deal – Blue Dragon need to raise $60,000 by the end of July or they’ll be kicked out of their current location. This is a hell of a shame as they’ve put a lot of work into making it a fantastic place for kids to drop in and be looked after. Also, if they move then it takes time for word to get out so future street children know where they can go to be safe.

Planet Wheeler have been hugely generous in agreeing to match every donation dollar for dollar – so BDCF “only” need to raise $30,000.

Please, please, please go to the following links and donate a little bit. If every friend I have on facebook donated the value of 1 beer we’d have almost $1500 to start with!

http://bdcf.org/dragon_house.html

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Bangkok Airport to Pattaya

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[quick note – I’ve updated the tagline quote for the blog for the first time in almost 4 years. This is in (slightly belated) honour of Towel Day]

I had some great help from people on Lonely Planet‘s Thorn Tree forum regarding buses from Suvarnabhumi Airport, and it’s very easy. My main concerns were over transportation during the recent unrest, but now things seem to be back to normal.

To get to Pattaya, it’s actually cheaper than getting into the city of Bangkok. I went for the stand next to the Airport Express on level one, near exit 7. Very easy to find. There’s a service every two hours from 7am to 7pm at a cost of 124 Baht.

The alternative is Bell Travel Service who run every 2 hours from 8am to 8pm and charge 200 Baht. This included drop-off right at your hotel, so it could be worth the extra if you don’t fancy a walk. However, you do have to book this service in advance on the internet, although you aren’t charged until you turn up. I gather this is a recent thing, so again could be due to the recent problems.

The weather here sucks at the moment. It’s just gone midday and it’s drizzling – I just missed it chucking down. Having said that, I’m not a beach bunny and I’m here for the diving and the chill-out away from any issues in the city… although I’m still tempted to head back into Bangkok on Thursday night.

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