Sorry to hear of your hotel experience.

When we were in Penang, we purchased a book on street food and picked up brochures at the E&O. These were fabulous for finding the best hawker food. Many of the people highlighted were in their 80s, so I expect they are all gone now. I'm glad to hear they are still publishing such brochures.

Kathie, it really is great street food, I should have asked this guy how old he was, they have no problems asking us !

Ipoh adventures.

After our Hainanese chicken rice for breakfast at 3.45 pm, we were sated, but still somewhat frazzled. So we found a bar and settled in. The Sinhalese bar was established in 1931, it's a bare bones and no nonsense place, where we had a fantastic time talking with another patron and the owner. They also have a delightful tortoiseshell cat who soon curled up in my lap...not exactly what you need in this heat, but who can refuse a cuddly cat ? We stumbled back to cell block M, and collapsed.

Both feeling a bit ordinary the next morning, we went in search of Crellstons recommended dim sum restaurant via taxi. It was closed, so we settled on the huge and popular one opposite. I estimate at least 400 people were eating, with not a single westerner in sight. The dim sum were great. We paid MYR 32 for about six plates of various dumplings/potstickers and other things, custard tarts plus jasmine tea.

Out on the street looking for a taxi, I spied a wallet on the ground. By then we were around the corner, nothing was open, and no one around. I picked it up and realised it was stuffed with cash, a Malaysian ID card, credit cards etc. We stood there looking at each other for a few minutes, hoping some man would come running back in a panic, but nada. Shortly after a police car came by which we flagged down. He pointed us in the direction of the police station, and we started walking. A short time later he came by again, and offered us a ride.
My first time in a police car ! I hope any karma lost by ripping off the taxi driver was recovered by handing in the wallet.

We hailed a taxi for a tour of every hotel in Ipoh that has "boutique" as part of its name. This was despite having a map with the hotel circled and a card for the hotel. Seriously, not one taxi of the three we caught during our 20 hours in Ipoh knew where this hotel was. I didn't buy a sim for Malaysia as we had only 5 nights planned. Perhaps I should have, it might have saved a bit of todays frustration.

Check out, and off to the train station for our ride to Kuala Lumpar. I don't understand why our high speed ETS train cost MYR 46 pp for the 2.15 hour journey, and the KLIA express cost MYR 55 pp for the 25 minute journey to the airport....I guess they have to pay for the tracks somehow, and at least it was a lot quicker to buy the tickets.

Hanoi - from the sublime to the ridiculous (or vice versa).
When we left KL it was 37 (felt like 47) now in Hanoi it's 25 (feels like 15). I think my ideal temperature is 30 so we meet somewhere in the middle.

Thanks to @CaliNurse for the recommendation of Essence D'Orient hotel which is superbly located in the Hanoi Old quarter. It is within an area now designated as "walking streets" where roadblocks are set up around 6 pm which prohibit cars and limit motorbikes. It doesn't mean you won't see any motorbikes, but you won't see as many, and, as usual, they do their best to avoid hitting you.
We're on the fifth floor, overlooking the chaos of Bia Hoi corner.

I had nothing planned for this day, other than visiting a few places we frequented on our last visit here in October 2009...jeez, six and a half years ago, how time flies.
It rained nearly all day, and DH (with a poor choice of footwear - leather flip flops) was seriously in danger of a broken bone on the smooth and treacherous tiled footpaths. He was carrying the camera too ! We taxied back to our hotel for a change of shoes.

Back out on the wet streets, we accomplished the mission of finding those previous places, enjoyed nem (spring rolls) one serve of pork, one with crab for lunch, dinner was pho ga and a bit of shopping in between.

Our Mai Chau Valley and Ninh Binh tour.

I organised a 4 day/3 night tour with Ethnic Travel who came highly recommended by forum members. Dealing with them by email was easy, they were flexible and seemed willing to change plans to suit us on the ground.

We were picked up at 8 am as agreed, by our guide Chau (a woman early 30's) and driver Tinh (a man late 20's) in a comfortable Toyota Innova to begin the 3.5 hour drive to the valley.
There were several stops along the way. Two stops were looking for a gadget that plugged into the cars lighter socket to allow a usb stick to connect to the cars radio. Yes, we had Vietnamese pop music for the next four days ! I got to like it actually, and music helped us connect, I played some of our music too. Another stop was for fuel "breakfast for the car" they said, and finally a local market overlooking magnificent valley views where all sorts of delicacies were on offer. I'd never seen red sweet corn before.

Lunch was at Na Ri village in a restaurant associated with Ethnic Travel. Several times on our tour we would stop at places that had the ET signature of handwoven chair covers, padded seats (thanks ET) and all amenities for a western audience. The food here was great, we ate with our guide and driver, then relaxed for a bit until it got cooler. Cool is a word open to interpretation, to me it felt like 40 C, which I don't consider cool.

So we start the 3 hour trek to our home stay for the night, and I soon realise this is not for me. Luckily our hero guide was able to call the driver and send him back to get me. The last two months of hill walking at home have been for nothing ! I tried to get conditioned, but when you have paved roads and smooth footpaths, it doesn't prepare you for scrambling over rocks in slippery mud. I saw a fall disaster happening, and bailed accordingly. DH continued on, and is still feeling his leg muscles 3 days later.

The lodge is in Mai Ha village, quite remote, and run by a White Thai ethnic minority family. It was comfortable, we felt welcome, and shared a meal with the family, two other guests, plus our two drivers and two guides. Again the food was delicious. The views over the paddies to the mountains were special, the house was up high on stilts and all wood. A thunderstorm blew through at 4 am, with torrential rain, loud thunder and presumably lightening which we couldn't see through the wooden shutter windows.

Next stop will be the Pa Co Sunday market.

So interesting and very vivid. Thank you and please keep it coming!

So interesting and very vivid. Thank you and please keep it coming!

I'm following along as well.

Moi aussi! (but autocorrect keeps changing aussi to Aussie!)

Following along and enjoying!

Thanks for your comments guys. Progol, moi Aussie is very appropriate for us !

In the interests of continuity I'll retell the getting to Ipoh story, and how we ripped off a taxi driver ....somehow this got lost, I probably hit undo typing.

It was a short taxi drive to the filthy bus station in George Town. We were soon on a garishly decorated large bus with few other passengers. We arrived at the Ipoh bus station which is miles out of town at noon. A woman with a loud hailer hearded us sheeple on to a local bus. This bus stopped every hundred meters or so to drop off and pick up passengers. 45 minutes later we arrived at the Ipoh central bus station and had some difficulty organising a taxi via the taxi wrangler there.
In the end the wrangler drove us 300 meters to the train station where my aim was to buy tickets for tomorrow's train to KL. The driver came inside with me while DH waited in the car. The deal here is you take a ticket, and wait your turn to buy your ticket. I got ticket number 358, they were currently serving number 249, oh oh.

The taxi driver wanted to take us the hotel to drop our bags, then bring us back to the train station. I just wanted to get it over with. I tried to pay him for the 300 meter trip to the station, but he would have none of it, and said he'd come back for us at 2 pm.

We grabbed our bags and waited and waited. Meanwhile we got chatting to a man named Raja who is a guide and claims to be mentioned in Lonely Planet. He had ticket number 355. Tickets bought, he then offered to drive us to our hotel, so we jumped in his car, and noticed the taxi driver circling the station. We ducked down. That's how we ripped off a taxi driver !

Raja took us on a short drive around Ipoh old town, pointed out the quickest way to walk to the old town from our hotel over a footbridge and wouldn't even accept a coffee in lieu of payment.

The room safe debacle happened next, and we had skipped breakfast believing we'd be in Ipoh by lunchtime. That's how we ended up eating breakfast at 3.45 pm, and why we were so frazzled.

Trying to feel sorry for the taxi driver you ripped off... Nope! Can't do it! I have been screwed over by too many in the past.

Not surprised you bailed on the hiking if temps were circa 40c, it was more like 15-20c when we were in the area.

Great stuff Sartoric. I am enjoy following along - just taking a break from packing for our South America trip which starts next week.

Ha ha Crellston, I felt like we got one back on all the taxi rip offs we've experienced, and not necessarily in developing countries. Have a great time in South America, I look forward to your blog.


The Pa Co Sunday market has (amongst others) Black Hmong people selling their colourful fabrics and clothing. Our guide Chau is from Sapa and from the Black Hmong ethnic group, so she explained many things. Tinh joined us too, I think he's hoping to learn better English and enjoys being along for the ride anyway.

I saw piglets being picked up by the hind leg and stuffed headfirst into a piglet sized loose weave cane basket, which was closed with more cane and then carrier handles were attached for easy transport. Pig in a basket. Chau told me these were destined to be pets, but by now she knew of my love for animals, and I reckon they will end up on the table at some stage. They cost about 120k VND per kilo.
We bought peaches and a pineapple for snacks later.

We drove into another village and walked through buying produce to take to the homestay where we would have lunch. At this place Chau had to supply the ingredients and help with the cooking. I was amazed that long green gourd type vegetables were peeled for us by the shopkeeper, we also bought small white eggplants and various herbs. At a street cart we got fresh pork, then at another cart processed meat of two varieties.

It was a 30 minute drive with spectacular views of the Black river, some waterfalls and always the mountains to lunch at a bamboo house in Rang Ho village overlooking the river. The elderly owner was very welcoming, he spoke English well and talked about his background and culture. With the food preparation I could help or not. The main mans slightly younger wife and Chau prepared and cooked lunch in an outside kitchen. I'm interested in food and cooking, but this was an open fire and it's very hot. I watched for a while taking in images of the kitchen, the ingredients and utensils, then retreated back to the house to sit and drink green tea with the main man.

What a delicious meal with this family and our new driver/guide family ! We also tried a special "happy water" (read rice whiskey with medicinal herbs), lots of glass clinking and "Chu Su Que" spelling likely wrong but it means "good health " in Vietnamese. We taught them "cheers".

After lunch the son took us on a long tail boat tour for about an hour on the Black river. We see many more waterfalls that were no doubt assisted by last nights torrential rain. It is such beautiful scenery, we are mesmerised, though still very hot.

We spent the night at Mai Chau Valley View Hotel. I'd recommend this hotel. The rooms have views over rice paddies to the mountains, are clean, spacious and have floor to ceiling windows which allowed a front row view of the 9.30 pm thunderstorm. Lying in bed, watching torrential rain and sheet lightening light up the sky was exciting and calming in a strange way. There was also a great breakfast, lovely staff, and a friendly owner.

Dinner was with Chau and Tinh at a local restaurant. These two were so much fun, we enjoyed a few beers, great food, and lots of camaraderie. Tinh's wife is due to give birth to their first child in a month or so, he quizzed me endlessly about popular girls names. He used Google to research any suggestion I made, we settled on Sarah.

Tomorrow to Ninh Binh.

So , it doesn't sound like you recommend Ipoh.

Your time in the Mai Chau Valley sounds very interesting... though I'd want to go at a time of the year when it isn't so hot!

Love your stories, sartoric! I'm especially touched by the description of your dinner with the family and, later, the sweet exchange with Chau and Tinh and deciding upon a name for their firstborn!

Never saw the word "sheeple" before, but will definitely remember it. I'm sure it will come in handy sometime!

Kathie, several things conspired to make our Ipoh experience less than ideal. The extra hour on the local bus, the train station wait (I had tried to buy tickets online, but couldn't make the website work in English) and then the room safe debacle. My lack of research was a contributing factor. I wouldn't rule it out, I'm sure Ipoh has it's charms, we were just too over it to search them out. With hindsight we would have had less stress staying an extra night in George Town, then training or flying straight through to KL.

Thanks Progol, Tinh will have to convince his wife of the name choice. I guess we may never know, but it was nice to be asked !

The next day we headed to Ninh Binh province for more spectacular karst scenery. The drive took a bit more than 2 hours. We stopped for snacks along the way somewhere and ended up at Van Long where a woman rowed us in a bamboo tub around serene waterways with lots of bird life. This is good I thought, not another boat in sight until we pulled into a cave where about 20 other tourist boats were sitting in the shade. On the way DH spotted a langur, the native monkey-like creature, they're black with a white bottom.

It is punishingly hot again, so it was nice to be in the cool of the cave. Our boat lady parked us back to front from all the other boats (a French tour group). It was like facing the wrong way in an elevator, weird. On the way back to the dock we spotted five more langurs and watched them cavort for 5 minutes, before pleading to move on and get back to the aircon in the car.

Lunch was at a local restaurant in Kinh Ga village where we enjoyed a superb dish of glass noodles stir fried with baby clams and green onions, plus several other dishes, and the mandatory rice and soup. I was disturbed at a small cage holding 8 identical dogs outside the restaurant next door, they were clearly not socialised, and I suspect destined for the pot. I asked Chau about this, she avoided my question.

Another drive saw us reach the Ethnic Travel lodge at Yen Mo village. This lodge had private double rooms, each with a wet room style bathroom and wifi. We arrived about 3 pm and our room wasn't ready, so the host set up a table and chairs in the cool part of the garden. It was adjacent to the driver/guides dorm, so we chatted with several guides as they arrived.

There were six other guests at the lodge tonight, on three separate private tours. We enjoyed chatting with couples from Germany, France and Hungary. A cooking class was offered. We watched as another guest frustratingly attempted to slice vegetables for salad with a blunt knife, and saw overstuffed spring rolls which had to be rewrapped after falling apart in the fry pan. We had to eat all this of course, but it actually was very decent food. Local wine was available for USD $10 per bottle, not a patch on what we could buy at home for the same price, but drinkable and we shared with others.

This was the only night that we didn't eat with our guide and driver, they had a separate meal with the other drivers and guides.

Thoroughly enjoying the ride so far Satoric.

Am sat in Heathrow Terminal 2 at the moment waiting for our flight to Houston, and then on to Nicaragua [Managua], for 4 weeks of diy.

LL have a great time in Nicaragua !
We just arrived in Hue after the train ride from Da Nang, it was pretty funny actually, story coming up later ...

Chau wanted to try my Vegemite, the quintessential Aussie breakfast spread, so last night she arranged for bread to be bought in preparation for breakfast today. The way you'd normally eat Vegemite is to spread it on hot buttered toast, however we had slightly sweet bread rolls, no toaster and no butter. I wouldn't eat it like that, but she bravely ate the whole roll, and said she enjoyed it. No foreigner has yet been taken by my Vegemite offers, but I guess most Vietnamese will eat almost anything. We had yummy sweet potato pancakes with sugar and a squeeze of lime.

We said our goodbyes to the staff and the other guests, paid our bar tab (an honour system, help yourself to the fridge) and we're off to Tam Coc. Here we are promised a flat walk, no ups and downs ! Well, yes, there was no elevation, but we are walking on a rocky and very uneven path, with strategically placed mud pools and the odd motorbike sharing the trail. It was very scenic walking along the riverbanks with a few homes built into caves of the karst mountains. There's a legend about this area that Chau described in detail.

We watched women in flat bottomed canoe type boats checking their fish/crab/shrimp traps. Gee that's hard work in the hot sun, and they were standing up as well. Chau commented that she would die doing that job, as she can't swim. To fill the rest of this mornings time, Chau suggests we take another boat trip. This time an aluminium dinghy with a man rowing. I turned around to see him leaning back against a pop up backrest and rowing with his legs ! Ingenious way to go, leg muscles being so much larger than arms. For about an hour we meandered through stunning scenery, watched bird life, and ended up in another cave.

Lunch was at another home stay associated with Ethnic Travel. The setting was delightful in a small breezy pavilion with views to the karst mountains. This meal was different again, we never ate the same thing twice in a total of ten meals (apart from rice, there was always rice) !

Chau told us the other guides were jealous that she had such friendly and easygoing tourists, hearsay of course, but nice.

It was a bit over two hours drive back to Hanoi, where we said our goodbyes and checked in to Golden Legend Diamond hotel (thanks to Crellston for this recommendation). It's small but perfectly formed, with the most welcoming staff, a delicious brekkie spread, fast wifi and is very central to many sights.

Tomorrow we have a date with a Hanoi kid.....

Sounds like Ethnic Travel really came through for you in setting up this trip.

Chau deserves a medal for eating the vegemite!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.