Vietnam

Sunset Mui Ne

Mui Ne Beach

White sand dunes near Mui Ne

Cool biker

Leona and friends, Red sand dunes

Hoi An oldest house and oldest man (maybe

cooking course, aubergine claypot

Hoi An Sunset

Hoi An waterfront

Biking Hoi An

Beach near Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay

'Our' hut and 'our' Dog

view from hut

cave kayaking, Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Junk, Halong Bay

Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Ho Chi Minhs masoleum, avenue side

not every dog has his day..no I didnt eat it Penny

seamstress, Sapa (you shouldve seen her tooth)

traditional Naxi women, Sapa

Hello..

Almost at the end of our Vietnam stage, so I thought I'd do loooooooooooooooooong another update, just in case you needed it...

At the end of the slightly arduous bus ride from the terraces we arrived in Lao Cai, the Vietnamese border town. Arriving in a new land, with of course a totally new currency has it's complications of course. Thinking we were pretty aware of Chinese con-men and the such, we werent really prepared for the Vietnamese, a totally new ball game.

It wasn't really a problem that we paid 3 times to much, (we found out later) it was rather the 2 hour free city tour, while the mini van driver drove from friend to friend, casually answering his phone, all the while giggling away at us, as if we were missing out on some big joke.

As it was, the city is rather un-amazing, and he was bideing time for the arrival of a train, and of course, the chance to stuff his van, full to the brim. After coming through Chinese customs onto the Vietnamese side, the air temperature was considerably warmer, and this 'must' have dabbled with my calculating abilities. Our guide told us the distance and the price one has to pay (normally) for the 40 km journey to Sapa, was 1.5 US dollars, but this just seemed to be too cheap to be true. So I went along with his higher, (still reasonable for China), price, and trusted my intuition. I should've listened to Leona! She knew the book doesnt lie!
Well we arrived safe and sound in Sapa, a little late of course, but the drive through the valley to this old French hill Station was really beautiful. More Rice Terraces, but this time Vietnam-style. A little smaller, a little quainter, a little more run-down, but also very eye-catching.

The town of Sapa lies close to Vietnam's highest mountain, Fansipan, the town being I think about 1500 metres above sea level, so the air was clean and crisp, a welcome change to the muggy onslaught from the border town. For those interested in history, it also is close to Dien Bien Phu (I think this is right), the town where for the Vietnamese a very important battle was fought against the French, leading to the country's independence.

The first day involved a hike along a mountain road, nothing steep or overly strenuous, just a road winding through a valley, giving us spectacular views of the mountain range containing Fansipan, and in the general direction of the 'Silver Falls'. The route took us past numerous farms and small roadside huts, villages and townships. The guide said it was only 8km away, but ended up being more like 12, so I now had a little justification for not trusting everything the book says! Needless to say we hitched a ride back into town, after some friendly and creative bartering with the driver about the price. It seemed that tourism is really here to stay in Vietnam, and whereas in China everything and everyone had a pretty much one-price-fits-all mentality, here everything to do with money is worth discussing.

Also in Sapa I had my first Vietnamese coffee, a heavenly drip-coffee variation, generally the beans are roasted in chocolate and vanilla, which drips down into about a centimetre of condensed milk. It may seem too much, to sweet, to decadent, but the creamy, thick flavour is hard to beat (in my opinion). And, when ice is added, its really addictive!

The food also took a turn for the better it seemed. Having almost gotten used to the fatty, oily and at times stodgy Chinese food, Vietnamese cooking is alot fresher, crisper and (mostly) healthier. It also has it's 'very weird' stuff, and the sparrow I ate, although a little odd looking on my skewer was really quite nice. Poor little thing..

The next day we were walking again, this time down quite a steep winding hill, to a small village called Cat Cat village. We had to almost fight off the offers from motorbike guys offering lifts, licking their lips seeing two westerners, (stupidly), going it alone and walking 'all' the way down. It turned out being not too steep, a little sweat-inducing of course, but nothing like what they were trying to lead us to believe. All part of the fun and games of course, which after only a couple of days in Vietnam we were quickly getting used too, after being left largely to our own devices in China.

That evening we headed back to Lao Cai (paying the right fare this time), for our night train to Hanoi. We arrived there at 7 in the morning, at not such a central stop, just off the rail bridge, on the other side of the town, during rush-hour. Wow, that was a sight. From sleepy, relaxing Sapa, we got off the train, bleary eyed, to be greeted by the drone of thousands of motorbikes, a little like a busy hornets nest. It was an amazing sight, a foggy morning, and unlike in most of China, where the motorbikes are electric and therefore silent, this was a honking swarm of people, a little unnerving when crossing the street, weighed down by luggage.

We finally found a cheap Hotel and after 2 breakfasts, (the first didnt seem adequate so why not!?) we organised a boat trip to Halong Bay, then spent the rest of the day dodging traffic in the cluttered old town streets, the inner city lakes, shoeshops, markets, and the normal mish-mash of amazing 'stuff', which 'is' a largish Asian town, which was loads of fun.

The heat as well, was something new- very humid and somehow pressing at your face, letting you know its constantly there. The next day we also spent in Hanoi, first walking around the Temple of Literature, the first University opened about 1000 years ago in Vietnam, a beautiful serene park, quiet amidst the noise and honking of Hanoi.

Huge, ancient bonsai's and colourful orchids lined the cobbled pathways, and the old temple like rooms and study quarters must have been an amazing sight back in the time it was built. We then walked to the park housing Ho Chi Minhs final resting place (against his wishes), and of course in true Communistic style, his masoleum. Strangely looking like a carbon-copy of Stalin's masoleum in Moscow, this was also in a great setting, a large park with massive bamboo tree clusters, and a whole range of trees helped humanise (or botanise) the masoleum.

Unfortanately, as Uncle Ho was in Moscow, getting his beard re-enabalmed, we missed out on seeing him as well as Stalin, so instead we sat on the sponge-like grass, peeled some fruit, and watched the soldiers from the near-by academy do their excercises and laps around the park. As the sun set, swarms of dragonflys zipped about, and old people gathered for their evening shake-up, a truely quiet and relaxing come down. Of course there was still dinner to be had, and we'd heard there was a large lake nearby which had a good reputation for seafood. Being deprived of anything of the sort for months it seemed, (seafood and fish was available in China, but never looked edible, just disgusting), we set off in the direction of the Lake.

The route took us past a massive, truely grandiose Palace built evidently during the French colonial time, probably for whoever needed somewhere at the time to house the 'missus', but also used by Uncle Ho as a headquarters and home, after he'd thrown the French out. (Facts maybe misleading and incorrect, im a creative historian!)

The restaurant we chose was right on the lake, a great view of the lovely paddle-boat swans, decked out in their gaudy sky blue, pink and mauve colours, perfect it seemed for romantic newly weds, and the restaurant seemed to be popular with the locals. Luckily it was dark, and the menu we were given was in Vietnamese, so we ordered 'what theyre eating', pointing at an adjoining table, a hot pot feast of some sort of fish. Luckily it was dark, as the fish (I think it was Carp, it had a slightly muddy flavour), came with scales, guts, brains and all, so we quite literally had to 'fish' around, finding the good bits. To our suprise, when you found a good bit, it was delicious, the sauce, spices and flavours were great, but when you encountered a slightly glibbery, wobbly part, it was better left alone.

We set off the next day, stomachs still intact, to Halong bay, where I had been mezmerised by the 'relax-option' of the brochure, including 2 nights on a deserted beach island hut semi-resort. After constant go go go, we thought it would be nice just to sit down, get sun-burnt, and well, of course eat more!

The Halong bay islands of course had to be navigated, and were amazing. A bit more karst landscape, this time flooded with water, so as they say here in Vietnam 'Same Same but different!' About half way through, we stopped for some sea kayaking, in a secluded bay, where we crammed ourselves into a double kayak (those extra breakfasts, dammit), and set off, through caves, under rocky jutting bits, and into a lake in the middle of an island (sounds weird, hard to describe but was nice..).

Then, back on board, we headed out onto the open water (which was rolling quite nicely, had a couple of people gripping the seats), towards 'our' island. The next day was a general lay down and read day, plunge into the sea, and enjoy. Forget where we were, where we are going, what we doing, who you are, it was a welcome change, to sit down and relax- the food which seemed to never end wasnt bad either!
The next day was filled with slowly cruising back through the thousands of islands dotted throughout the humongous bay, into town, and catching the bus back to Hanoi, where we had to catch another night train to Hue.

A smallish and ancient city, Hue was the former capital and leading academic centre in times gone by, and was just a shortish stopover for us. We bought a ticket for the afternoon bus to Hoi An, and whilst waiting for the bus, walked around the slightly derelict and crumbling old city, and Purple Forbidden City. Unfortunately Hue was one of the places the Americans really didnt hold back on. Almost totally destroyed during the war, its amazing the people, and of course Vietnam as a whole are so welcoming, friendly and good natured about the throngs of westerners and others that visit the country. After such a terrible war, where the country was pretty much abandoned, torn in two, destroyed and left to her own fate by the Americans (and followers), its amazing the people are still so open and warm.

Hoi An was the next stop, the weather had improved from cloudy and stormy in Hue, to blue skys and scorching heat. The countryside also improved, lush and green, farmland rich and tropical. Dragonfruit, Banana and Sugarcane plantations were everywhere, as well as lime green and golden yellow fields of rice, the un-harvested heads of rice flickering in the wind, while along the roadside, the small modest houses were humming with activity.

The next day we hired push-bikes and drove around Hoi An, a small coastal village, still with its old French Colonial heritage intact, so the architecture, and the streets were beautiful, old, rustic and perfect to wander around in, while all the time seamstresses, tailors and other shopkeepers called out to you to try something on or taste something. It was relaxing, small and with the bikes we had no trouble getting around, no worries about getting run over, and headed to the local beach for a swim.

The next day we took part in a really nice cooking course, which involved a short boat trip down one of the river estuaries, to a secluded spot, where we learnt how to make rice paper summer rolls, vietnamese pancakes, aubergine claypot, and to finish it off some bbq fish. The food was amazing, and since food for us is a big thing, we loved it. Since we were indulging ourselves, we thought a nice white wine to go with the fish at the end would end a perfect few hours, but the sunset as we trundled home on the boat topped it all.

We got on the bus the next evening onwards towards Mui Ne, another smallish coastal town further south, about 3 hours away from Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as the locals still call it. The trip to Mui Ne involved unfortunately a sleeper bus, and true to form, didnt dissapoint.

The roads here are, well, at best a minefield. Especially the main coastal roads, where everyman and his dog share the thin 2 lane highway. I mean everyone, from trucks, to buses, to kids coming home from school, to water buffallos.

It was no suprise to me when, at 4 in the morning on the way we had to stop for 2 hours, to (wait) for a blazing inferno of a truck to 'cool down'. The fire brigade didnt arrive for about and hour and a half, and as far as I could tell (id escaped outside, the air in the bus was getting a little thin), no one was hurt. The truck had half rolled and hit the rock embankment and burst into flame, so no-one could pass, until the fire had been put out.

Thankfully it seemed the driver had gotten out in time it seemed, as we passed the gutted wreck. It was not the only accident we came across on this 'little' road. Another bus, like ours, had come off the road, moments before we passed by it. Flipped and mangled, it lay in a ditch on the other-side. As we slowly passed by, as if this sort of thing occurs often, I could only hope the people being tended to by others on the side of the road werent seriously injured or even dead, I couldnt tell. Then 2 hrs later, in the middle of the road a bus had collided with a bicycle, the bike rider I couldnt see, but the bike, bent in two had been dragged and had left scrape marks along the road for 20 metres. All rather harrowing, and senseless, but hardly suprising, on these chaotic roads. Its a good thing that every motorbike driver here wears a helmet, so things could be worse.

Anyway, after negotiating the road without further ado, we arrived in Mui Ne, another smallish coastal town, although a little more 'resorty', than Hoi An. Because it didnt lie on 'the main drag', we hired a motor-scooter (with helmets of course!), and spent the day driving to the red and white sand dunes, and a nearby fishing village, before finding a secluded beach to swim and watch the (again), amazing sunset. It was the sort of beach life one thinks 'I could get used to this', nestled amongst coconut trees, the water gently lapping the shore, and the warm air and water just engulfing you.

We spent altogether two days there, enjoying more fresh fish, and huge shrimps, and took an uneventful bus ride (thank god), to Saigon.

Thats where we are now, another city of bikes, where tomorrow were heading off, through the Mekong Delta towards Cambodia..

Thank God Ive finished that, I took a few beers I tell you! Sorry about the verbosity, hopefully youre getting as carried away as I am! haha

Love to all

Joe and Leona