Rice and Rock Concerts

Wow. I was last in Hong Kong 20 years ago. Back then central was a skyline to beat skylines, but now Hong Kong's suburbs, Central, Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Kowloon, Mongkok - the entire 360 degree view is commerce and skyscapers...

Sometimes when travelling the opinion of the city is often as good as the accommodation that you've scored for yourself, and staying with my cousin has given me a great start to my trip. To those who've done some travelling in dodgy places you'll appreciate the comfort that you get from safely leaving your bag in your room and knowing that it won't be empty upon your return. So Bec and Ryan, I'm extremely grateful for the bed - the fact that it's on Peak Rd is just an added bonus!

Culture and news haven't made it my agenda yet - knowing that I'm in Hong Kong for a week has given me the chance to just relax and explore the place without worrying about seeing 752 different sites per day, and ensuring that the day is filled from dawn to dusk. A culinary journey though is still a culinary journey and plenty of time has been set aside for the senses to be amazed by the guandong chefs. So far my only 'rookie' mistake has been to go to a dim sum restaurant where you ordered dishes rather than just grab them from the passing waitress - loving everything I generously ordered four dishes for myself; unfortuantely each dish could have served at least 3 people, so I ended up with quite the banquet (and bill) for myself. Regardless, no one is really going to knock a serving of Chinese food that is fit for a dozen men, so I bravely marched on best I could, washing it down with litres of tea until I could leave feeling as though I'd at least dented the bowls of food.

Another thing I've also fallen in love with since arriving in Hong Kong - the MTR. Seriously, Hong Kong, or the Brits, or a crafty engineer, someone, they knew how to move a lot of people fast, and it was underground in trains. The system just works, swipe a card, get on the train, get off at your stop, swipe your card, and head off. Rann, you could avoid Portland, Oregon and take a look at Hong Kong, China.

I'm not sure if Asia is Long Necks, or if Long Necks are Asia, but the only continent I've visited where serving 640mL bottles of beer mid afternoon is acceptable is Asia, and I love them for it. After much seeking I've learned that bars are expensive (dearer than Australia), so if one finds themselves in need of lager then one heads to the street food vendors on Temple Street in Kowloon. The choice between standard and premium is an easy one, as it's 60c for a serious improvement over the $2 offering. A big thank you to Sarah for the forwarding of the Guardian's article on cuisine in Hong Kong; the dim sum that we enjoyed yesterday in central was to die for, even if our choices were predominately desserts rather than savouries (furher, I'm not convinced this was a bad thing.) The market in Mongkok yesterday was so-so, but the Temple Street market was a lot fun where bargains on jocks, headphones, antique watches, beer and bok choy with garlic occurred. Today was spent on Kowloon but when it comes to writing about the day's adventure I'm coming up short - it was just one of those days where time flies and you have a great time and you tick none of the aforementioned 752 boxes.

We did do one touristy thing - the lightshow in the harbour. In all honesty I couldn't tell the lights from the normal lights. Let's face it; Hong Kong with a light show is a little bit like Ben Hur with horses - big deal, it's kind of what I was expecting. Don't get me wrong - the harbour at night is like a piece of art, I just don't think it needs a bad soundtrack and some lights flashing to improve it. The quest to find a different angle to joe tourist seemed to attract attention though. Simply walking down the steps to a foot or two above the South China Sea raised the ire of the 'pilot' boat and I was given my own lightshow with a spotlight flashing in my face. As the boat approached the pier with numerous government men aboard I realised that some press freedoms are worth fighting for, and other battles are best to be walked away from. I chose the latter; sorry Reporters without Borders. We might duck off to Macau tomorrow, and I'll be sure to give an update on the Vegas of the East.

Have you ever wondered how english songs end up in the charts in non-english speaking countries? We spent an hour or so at a bar in Saigon called 'Acoustic'; a pretty plush live music venue. Until covers of Jon Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams came on we were entertained by local Vietnamese music that was actually pretty good.

Today was one of those days tourists need when they have travelled for a few weeks - sleep in, grab a late breakfast, shop, shop, shop, grab lunch, shop, shop, hotel for shower, beer, meet shannon, beer, meet shannon's new girlfriend, have dinner with shannon, steve, lizzie, quan, and jenny, then go to aforementioned bar. To anyone trying to contact me by mobile I apologise - whilst in Asia my phone bill became due and from lack of net meant it was late by 7 days, and 3 Mobile in their wisdom has cut me off. So, to 3 Mobile, reconnect me seeing as my bill is paid! Quite possibly the most average service I have seen from a telco in a longtime.

We fly back tomorrow night and while we've loved every minute of our trip it will be nice to be home and not living out of a pack and moving every couple of days. A retrospective and a 'culinary journey' update is due shortly. See you all soon.

Three Suits, Four Dresses, Five Skirts, Four Jackets, Three Coats, Thirty Six Shirts, and Six Pairs of Shoes; Hoi An of course!

There is more to Hoi An than their tailors, but we certainly ensured that we had plenty of time to get everything made that we wanted. We arrived in Saigon last night from Hoi An, and I'm about to head down the street for some pho so I'll update some pix now, and do some writing this afternoon, but this means the blog is almost back up-to-date.[gallery]

I think we forgot to be tourists in Hanoi. Whilst we rolled our eyes when Shannon sent us a message telling us we were going to spend Saturday in Hanoi at the Aussie Big Day Out, once we were there we loved it. More of a trade fair than a rock concert, it was hosted by Auscham, and was a place for the Australian/Vietnamese business communities to come together and watch the Dream Team AFL Match (which was a crock concept, and result,) eat hotdogs, and drink a lot of beer.

We were pretty novel as three tourists rather than expats, but Lizzie spoke to economists, Steve chatted to importers about wine, and I kept busy speaking with media and NGO's. By the end of the night we all agreed that after a fortnight of non-stop travel it was good to have a day off from thinking.

Lizzie and I caught a cyclo and went to see Ho Chi Minh lying in state in his Mausoleum, and though I found the concept slightly weird, to see the complex and the regalia attached to it was fantastic. That was seriously about it for Hanoi; bought some DVDs, ate KFC, yes, KFC (none of us woke up 100% after the BDO), and then caught a lift with Shannon to the airport in his Australian Embassy Landcruiser, complete with Chauffeur.

Note to anyone flying Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi - pay the $10 'fee' and relax in the Business Class Lounge. We did, and ate and drank far more than it cost us to enter. There will be no receipt issued though, and we're pretty sure it didn't go in the till!

I'll update with a few happy snaps from the weekend later today.

I don't know if it was the nine hour train trip from Sapa, the 4am arrival, the five hours in a hotel in Hanoi, or the 2 hour train trip to Ninh Binh, but it didn't get off to a great start.

Lonely Planet and few other sources had talked up Ninh Binh, 97 km south of Hanoi, as a place to see the real Vietnam. Rice fields, farms and pushbikes, but having taken the train through the mountains to Sapa we'd seen it all and more. The city is sleepy and whilst that is a characteristic that shouldn't be considered undesirable, it's perhaps something we were looking for in a small town rather than a big, loud city.

Lizzie wanted a hairwash and cut, and Steve and I were well due for a shave, so we found a 'salon' around the corner. Steve went first, and at the halfway mark I decided to stick with the beard. This left Lizzie nervous as to what was in store for her, but she escaped fairly unscathed with clean, and slightly shorter hair. Not at all confident that we weren't at a motorbike repair shop rather than a hair salon.

Ninh Binh does hold the record for our cheapest meal in Asia - 57,000 dong for a bowl of duck pho and a bottle of coke for the three of us; AU$1.20 Each! The next day we rented motorbikes and paid for a guide so we zoomed off chasing our man into rural Vietnam. To its credit Ninh Binh did have some amazing scenery that we would have greatly appreciated had we not just been in the North West Mountains. A climb up thousands of stairs and we had a great view over the rice fields and limestone stacks, and if there was ever a place for a coke machine it was a the top, but alas, just a strategically placed pagoda.

Once we were on the motorbikes we found the journey far more fun than the destinations - Tam Coc near Ninh Binh is on a river where we paid to be rowed in a boat through the limestone stacks, but it was too hot, and suffered from day-trip package tourists from Hanoi venturing down and ruining the serenity.

The road-toll in Vietnam is horrific, on average 36 people die per day, and given their population is just four times Australia's they're clearly doing something wrong. We rode motorbikes through tunnels under construction, on roads inches from rollers and graders, and at one stage on a huge concrete storm-water drain on a 45 degree angle. We loved every minute of it and with a decent motorbike and a GPS I could be very tempted to go on a moto odyssey through Asia.

We went to a National Park on the next day which consisted of a 6km walk. The Vietnamese are not big users of trundle wheels though, and it was more like 10km, and our guide, nor map mentioned it was up and down a mountain. The park has a monkey sanctuary that made the long trip worth it; endangered species are bred in captivity, and reintroduced to the wild. Dozens of zoo's from around the world have donated funds and expertise, and it was good to see the Adelaide Zoo was a contributer.

Before we knew it and we were on the train back to Hanoi, where we were meeting Shannon for the Australian Chamber of Commerce's Big Day Out. To be continued![gallery]