Auz and USA - about 1.6ish
dollar : 1GBP
Malaysia - about 5 Ringits : 1 GBP
Thailand - about 50
Baht : 1 GBP
Camodia - everyone uses dollars, the Riel is fixed to the
dollar at approx 4000 R : 1US
So far its been pretty easy to do a
quick bit of mental arithmetic to get and idea of costs, so its a bit
of a shock when arriving in Vietnam to find that there are approx 31
000 Dong to the pound. Simply ordering a coffee entails counting the
zero's on the menu, a situation not helped when some cafe's and
shopkeepers "help" by ignoring the last three zero's on the ubiquotous
pocket calculators that are used to show the prices of goods to the
linguistically challenged tourists. Even the shortlived thrill of
becoming a millionaire every time you visit a cashpoint wanes as you
try and count a thick wadge of 50K notes.....
Much as its great to
immerse ourselves in a dynamic and exciting city like Hanoi, sometimes
the frenetic pace of life can get a bit too much. The city is home to
what seems like millions of scooters, and it becomes almost impossible
to even cross the road. The only resort left is to do as the locals do,
and cross the roads one lane at a time, often with cars and bikes
whizzing past on all sides. Several times we ended up being helped
across the road by friendly locals without whom we might never have
made it back to the hostel!
Vietnam has taken to selling tourism with
a zeal that is remarkable, even by the high standards set in other
parts of south east asia. Every other business seems to be a tourist
biased restaraunt, tour company or trinket shop, and the sales
techniques are undeniably pushy, with touts making the presence felt
virtually 24/7. At one stage Ursh was even offered a small (surprised
looking) child, to take home as a souvenir!
Through the deservedly
highly rated "Little Hanoi Hostel", we booked our onward travel to
China and the relevant Visa's. As scams are rife, we decided to use our
trusted hostel to book everything, so while waiting for the visa's to
be processed, they also arranged our three day tour to Ha Long bay
marine park.
Ha Long Bay is home to thousands of islands, the vast
mojority of which take them form of peaks that seem to rise vertically
from the sea (Karst geography apparently). There are also endless caves
present, and whole area is simply stunning, especially when viewed from
on board one of the boats that tourists can stay on. In addition to
staying on the very comfortable boat, we got to do some canoeing, and
also managed to get some walking in on the mountains, all of which was
a great antidote to Hanoi's mania.
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