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VIETNAMGeography Location: Southeast Asia, bordering the South China Sea, between Laos and the Philippines Area: Land boundaries: total 3,818 km, Cambodia 982 km, China 1,281 km, Laos 1,555 km Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands) Maritime claims: Climate: tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October to mid-March) Terrain: low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands; hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil deposits, forests Land use: Irrigated land: 18,300 km2 (1989 est.) Environment: occasional typhoons (May to January) with
extensive flooding |
A grey and drizzly morning – a good day to be leaving home for the winter. Our tenant gave us a ride to catch the 9:30 am ferry which was late and we had made arrangements to have Susan pick us up at Horseshoe Bay as would have missed the 10.03 bus to town. We had a comfortable flight, our first with JAL, and we were in Tokyo 9 3/4 hours later. A special bus took us to our hotel (Nikko Narita). We made ourselves Japanese tea in our room, watched the CNN news and were in bed by 7:15 pm (2:15am Vancouver time).
We dozed/slept fitfully, and had been awake for hours before the buffet opened for breakfast at 6:00 am. We checked in for our flight at the hotel, paid the airport tax ($35 US) then went for a walk around the hotel grounds, by which time (8:00 am) the sun was just appearing through the mist. From leaving the hotel at 9:30 am we got through all the formalities amazingly quickly –in only 18 minutes we had gone through a passport check on the bus, checked in, been through two security checks, transferred to satellite terminal by train and got to the departure lounge. Japanese efficiency!
We had heard so much about the high cost of food in Japan we had brought snacks from home to tide us over until breakfast. We had heard of someone who had paid $45 for a drink and a snack in Tokyo airport, which seems hard to believe. Drinks (tea, coffee, soft drinks) were $2 US each, and you could get a hot dog for the same price, or a plate of chow mein for $3 US.
Our plane to Bangkok was completely full. It was cloudy almost all the way until we got over Laos. There was some turbulence and they had to stop serving drinks until it was over. As we approached Bangkok it was obvious they had had a lot of rain – fields were flooded and everywhere was green, in contrast to flying over Cambodia and N.E.Thailand which was brown.
There were long line-ups at all the bank currency exchange booths; when it was finally Denys’s turn they had run out of money and he had to go to the back of another line. On the other hand we were spared any taxi hassles as our hotel was only a 15 minute walk. (Got the info from the Internet). The Don Muang Mansions was expensive ($25 US) for what it was, but it saved us the hassle of travelling back and forth into the city and was far cheaper than anything else close to the airport. Our room had everything a higher priced room should have – a/c, cable TV, fridge, balcony, bathtub with hot water, but no comfortable chair, dim lights and the whole effect was rather dismal. There was no control on the a/c and we were really too cold with it on, but at least it was a good sound barrier.
We went out for a walk around the area and for a bite to eat (it was around dinnertime), although we weren’t very hungry, what with a big buffet breakfast, and a good-sized lunch on the plane. The market, not far away, had lots of interesting stuff but we were satisfied with some barbecued bananas and a couple of packets of nuts from the plane. We settled down for bed soon after 7:00 pm again, but we had gained a couple more hours.
Awoke at around 2:30 am, the same as last night, and were making tea soon after. We managed to wait until 6:30 before going out looking for food. We found what we were looking for – coconut milk "pancakes" near the market. Morning rush hour was underway as we walked back to the airport. Standard transport in this area was motorbike taxis, girls going to work riding side-saddle on the back with extensive leg displays below their short skirts. There was no line up at check in or immigration (last time we were leaving Bangkok this took so long we almost missed our flight) and we were through all formalities in only 25 minutes after leaving the hotel!
The flight to Hanoi was only 1 hour 25 minutes, during which drinks and a meal were served, including brandy after. The meal was totally bland – chicken, boiled potatoes and carrots/broccoli – hard to believe this was Thai Air.
Hanoi airport was small and quiet. Ours was the only foreign plane and there were only two other planes on the ground. Each immigration officer had his/her cap precisely placed on the front left-hand corner of the counter. As well as producing your passport and visa (which was on a separate piece of paper), you had to provide a copy of your visa application form and another photo. You wonder what they do with all that paper. Fortunately we had come prepared with several odds and ends of passport size photos, although some were several years old. In exchange, we received what became a vital document for us in Vietnam – a green immigration form. This had to be produced at every hotel, and could be handed in instead of your passport
There was a higher proportion of westerners on this flight than the one from Vancouver, and we shared a taxi into the city (35 km) with an Australian couple. It was totally rural from the airport into the city, with no extensive suburbs. It was a bit of a surprise to see that the driver had a cell phone – it rang and he pulled over to answer it. Hardly the image you expect of a very poor communist country. The taxi dropped us off on Hang Bei (Street) where we knew there was plenty of budget accommodation, right in the heart of the old city. We settled for the first one we enquired at (Binh Minh Hotel). We have a big room with a high ceiling, two beds, two easy chairs, a big bathroom with hot water for $10 US. It seems that is the normal bottom price, but for that we are getting more than we are used to: soap, towels, toilet paper, and the room cleaned daily.
Streets around here are tree-lined and narrow, with 3-4 storey high narrow fronted buildings with shops on the ground floor. Sidewalks are parked up with motorbikes. There are food stalls/eating places everywhere, most selling pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) in the morning and a different kind of soup in the afternoon/evening. We discovered that these old streets had been set up according to certain guilds such as silver, shoes, jewellery, paper, funerary objects, and although the guilds no longer exist the tradition endures. We ate at a travellers’ hangout (Queen Cafe)– a plate of spring rolls with dipping sauce, fried rice/veg and fried noodles/veg with a large (640 ml) beer, all for $2.50. The cheapest beer is Chinese and very good. We ran into two Canadian girls from Vancouver, the boyfriend of one of them has a cabin at Hood Point on Bowen Island! We were falling asleep by early evening but it was too noisy for us to sleep well.
Not adjusted to local time yet (18 hours ahead of Vancouver time) so awake far too early again. We ate breakfast (some sort of fried rice cake served chopped up and sprinkled with soy sauce) on the sidewalk outside our hotel, sitting on 4 inch high stools. All the street eating places have these tiny seats. The only fresh baked baguettes we could only find were at sandwich stalls. Denys had his filled with a mixture of sliced pork, pate, salami and cucumber while Jill opted for a plain one (margarine only) which we took back to our room to eat with our coffee.
Jill had talked about going to the lake (Hoan Kiem) early to do tai chi but we were obviously too late for that, although we did see plenty of older people doing Chinese exercises. We enjoyed exploring the French Quarter with its wide boulevards. All the architecture is very photogenic. Sat by the lake for a while and watched the world go by, including an amazing number of westerners. Right under the nose of a police post we saw a minor traffic accident between a man on a motorbike and a girl on a bicycle, which finished up with a bent front wheel. All was dealt with in a very low key way. A mechanic who happened to be stationed at that corner fixed the wheel (police orders). Nothing was written down as far as we could see.
We ate dinner at Lonely Planet Cafe where we talked to two German men who both told us to be sure to go to Laos and Cambodia. Enquired there as to the cost of visa for Laos – tourist visa $100, transit visa (5 days only) about $50. Seems like a lot of money. Struggled to stay up a bit later, after 8:30 pm.
We have now discovered where the breads are sold in the morning. They are only around early on and have all disappeared by 8:00 am.
We spent the day sightseeing. Walked for about 5 1/2 hours at browsing pace around the western part of the city. The Hanoi marathon was being held this morning and there were large numbers of police everywhere ready to close off intersections. Passed a number of embassies in the posh section including the Canadian which had a particularly choice location close to the square of the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Unfortunately the mausoleum was closed, HCM having been sent to Moscow for his annual "maintenance". Nearby was the "One Pillar Pagoda" and another old temple where a lot of Buddhist nuns were chanting. We decided to leave the nearby botanical gardens for another time, remembering the disappointing quality of the French botanical gardens in Pondicherry. Near the mausoleum Jill spotted a house she would like to sketch, with peeling yellow ochre walls, balcony, etc and hopes to come back another day. We then headed for the Temple of Literature, stopping on the way to refresh ourselves with a "bia hoi" (local draft beer produced and consumed the same day) in a pleasant shady park, helped down with a couple of packets of JAL snack mix. We didn’t let it bother us that it was barely 10:00 am! At the Temple of Literature, a university dating from 1010, we encountered our first tour groups. Here we also saw several young American couples with new-born Vietnamese babies which we assume they have just adopted. We admired all the planters in stone and pottery containing bonsaied trees and shrubs. We got to hear some traditional music performed on bamboo instruments, for the benefit of the (mostly French) tour groups.
We bought our first bananas of the trip. Yesterday we walked away from an outrageous price and would have done so again had it not been for the help of a Vietnamese speaking American who negotiated for us. It’s always difficult figuring out what is a reasonable price in a new country, especially with all the different banana varieties, some of which are not very choice, although you don’t know until you try them. Stopped for a bite of lunch on the way to the cathedral, a small-scale replica of Notre Dame, but had to be content with just the outside view as it was closed.
We enjoyed another sit by the lake in the afternoon, and bought a pirate copy of a Lonely Planet Vietnamese phrase book from one of the vendors. We made a couple of trips to the local market – first to see if it was possible to find dinner there, and then back again to pick out stuff which we took back to our room and ate. We felt rather sorry for the tour groups we saw being marched through the market with barely time to take photographs never mind take it all in.
Today was a great day for snacking/street food: baguettes (with La Vache Qui Rit processed cheese triangles), bia hoi, bananas, steamed buns, pastry and coffee, fried tofu, french fries, bean sprout/cole slaw salad with a great peanut sauce. Total cost for us both was $3, so although accommodation is more expensive than we are used to, food is still great value. Booked a tour to Halong Bay for tomorrow through one of the travellers’ cafes. We don’t normally go on tours but in Vietnam it’s a lot easier and cheaper to do it this way.
Early Impressions of VietnamNo beggars. No obvious poverty. No shanty towns as you leave Hanoi. No substandard housing. Almost no cars but streets filled with motorbikes and bicycles. No stop signs at intersections, so every one is a free-for-all. Very few buses in Hanoi and not many on the highways. Tall, narrow buildings (10 ft wide, 5 storeys high) which in new developments are built in isolation (looks very strange). Often a hideous clash in style - glass and steel, wrought iron, red-tiled medieval tower on the roof. Girls all wear hats, either the traditional conical one or fashionable big floppy straw hats with a flower on them. |
Had to set our alarm to be sure to be up and out for our bus to Halong Bay at 6:15-6:30. It didn’t show up until 7:00 but we considered ourselves lucky to get a double seat together behind the driver which was surprising since we were the last to be picked up, but it had been used for luggage before we got on. A rather grey day, the first non-sunny day since we arrived. Distance to Halong Bay is only about 120 km but it took almost 5 hours. Traffic on the road out of Hanoi in the morning rush hour was mostly motorbikes and bicycles with very few cars or trucks. Road was under construction almost the whole way, and with the bus suspension shot, it was a rough, slow ride. Landscape was dead flat, mostly rice paddy, until we got to Halong.
Halong City, at least the part we saw, is nothing but hotels and restaurants, including some large fancy hotels. The whole waterfront is under development as a park. The 15 people on the bus were assigned to three different hotels according to where we were sitting on the bus. We had lunch as soon as we arrived, basically good ingredients, but very bland. Apart from a young overseas Vietnamese couple from Australia, both doctors, everyone else in the group was French speaking, and most of them were complaining about their rooms. What did they expect for $8? Our room was fine, the hotel almost new.
We were booked on a 5 hour boat cruise in the afternoon. Halong Bay has 3000 islands so is a total maze. Limestone islands rise vertically from the water, very spectacular, with layer on layer in the distance. The boat was large and could easily have accommodated three times as many people. We had one stop, at a cave to see some stalactites. At one point a small boat came alongside hoping to sell coral, but no-one bought any.
It was well after dark when we got back. Because there were so many boats already docked we had to climb onto and cross three other boats. We went out looking out for Chinese beer before dinner but there was none available and we had to settle for regular priced Singha. Dinner was similar to lunch, but with different dishes – beef, fish and shrimp whereas lunch was chicken, pork and squid. We went to bed early and slept well.
A sunny morning but the islands in the bay were still hazy. After a breakfast of baguettes, bananas and coffee we had a 3 hour boat cruise, this time on a much smaller boat with no deck to sit on like yesterday. When we set off there seemed to be a whole armada of boats with tourists leaving, but they all soon disappeared in the maze of islands. There was one scheduled stop for swimming. We were not at all tempted although the Europeans who went in said they enjoyed it. After a quick lunch we were hustled onto our bus back to Hanoi. Turn around time is minimal and in fact we passed the incoming group before we were out of Halong Bay. It seemed much warmer now and we were glad of the a/c, particularly since the windows had to be kept shut because of the dust. Traffic was much heavier, especially as we got closer to Hanoi, with more trucks, and schools disgorging swarms of bicycles. Amazingly we didn’t see one accident even though there was a lot of atrocious driving and non-stop horn blowing. We couldn’t believe cyclists still ride two abreast on a narrow trunk road and expect other traffic to go around them.
We were back in Hanoi at 5:00 pm. We were all dropped off at one spot by the lake. We only had a short distance to walk to Binh Minh hotel but many others had heavy bags and had expected to be dropped off at their hotels. Dashed off to the Queen Cafe for a Chinese beer – we were bone dry – and pineapple pancakes. Great evening for travel info especially from Bea (Swiss) who has travelled a lot in this part of the world. She passed on a lot of useful info about Mekong Delta and Cambodia. We heard on the radio that the Mekong Delta has had the worst typhoon in 90 years, hundreds killed or missing and hundreds of thousands of houses destroyed plus major crop damage.
Spent the morning sightseeing and attending to business. First to the train station to buy tickets for Lau Cai (for Sapa). Very easy, no line-up. Of course you have to pay the special price for "Foreigners and Overseas Vietnamese". On this train we had the choice of hard seat, soft seat and hard sleeper, with the price rising in that order. We couldn’t get any information about what you got exactly so we opted for the hard sleeper. And it really was hard we found out -just a straw mat on solid wood. Soft seat coaches looked like they had nice reclining seats.
Next we went on to the Laotian and Cambodian embassies to get more information about visas and crossing points. Seems like it is very difficult and expensive to try to get both Laos and Cambodia in on this trip, since you can’t cross from one to the other except by air. A Laotian visa (for Canadians) is $67 US, also you are supposed to book a tour and get the visa through a travel agency, which increases the cost. It is not clear whether the tour requirement would be enforced. Cambodia is easy to get into but the only overland border open is to Vietnam so you have to fly out if you want to get to Thailand or Laos. Our already expensive Vietnamese visa doesn’t permit re-entry if we leave. At this point we are thinking of going Vietnam-Cambodia and flying out of Cambodia to Thailand. Then depending on the time, we can stay in Thailand, go to Burma, or go to Laos with the $50 US visa on arrival at the Thai-Laos border. We talked briefly with another Canadian at the Laotian embassy who was just as perplexed as we were. At a nearby travel agency we enquired about the airfare Cambodia to Laos and were shocked to find it is $150 US one way.
We wandered back by a different route, passing the Opera House, Central Bank, international hotels, fancy restaurants, and embassies. All major buildings are being well maintained.
Ate lunch on "our" street corner, chatting to a British ex-pat who is presently working in Vietnam. He says that of the many countries in Asia he has worked in Vietnam is the worst. All the controls and higher prices for foreigners eventually get to you, he said. His company has to pay the government $200 a month for a maid who receives only $20 of it.
We had to check out of our hotel at noon so were homeless until we get on the train tonight. Spent some of that time sitting by the lake, fending off shoeshine boys and vendors of postcards and cakes, – but they were nothing like as persistent as in most of Asia. Saw two wedding parties having their pictures taken. Went to market to stock up on food for our journey and Jill had to buy another cap to replace the one she left on the bus from Halong Bay.
Spent an enjoyable three hours of so in Queen Cafe downing four Chinese beers and two plates of excellent veg spring rolls for about $2.25 and chatting to other travellers. Met more people who are leaving tonight for Lau Cai. Two people (Brit and Aussie) sitting at the same table discovered they both had friends in common in Bristol and they spent the rest of the evening reminiscing. Pirate copies of the new LP Vietnam (complete with personal notes of whoever owned the original) which has only been out a couple of weeks are already on sale.
The train station didn’t look much different from those in India, with lots of people lying down and otherwise spread out on the floor and benches. We had no choice but to stand around until they opened the doors to the platform to let us on the train. There was no mad stampede or pushing and we found our coach and berths without problem. Layout is like the Indian 3 tier sleeper but with no upholstery and with a door on the compartment. We had chosen top berths (which we prefer in India) but these were so close to the roof you didn’t have enough room to sit up. (On the plus side there is an alcove to stow your belongings). Also we had to endure the smoke rising from the cigarettes of the other four occupants. One of them was Joe, a Scot we had met earlier in Queen Cafe. The bed was very hard, only a reed sleeping mat and pillow provided. Later we managed to get a cover by leaving our tickets as deposit. Joe told us that although the cheaper soft seat coach seemed a better option, security was a problem and he knew someone who had his stuff stolen from under his legs while asleep. Spent a good deal of time trying to get comfortable but the 10 hours didn’t seem so long so we must have got a reasonable amount of sleep.
Vietnamese LanguageAt first sight the Vietnamese language looks like it might be relatively easy since it is written in recognizable Roman characters. However, it is a tonal language and any given syllable can be pronounced six ways (with six different meanings) depending on level, rising or falling tones. The many accents on letters in Vietnamese script indicate the tone. In short, the language is similar to Chinese and the roots of many of the words seem to come from there. There are some words clearly of western (usually French) origin, e.g. bia= beer, oto=auto, xe mang=cement. |
Coffee vendor was a welcome sight shortly after we got up around 6:00 am. The train was running up a deep valley alongside the Red River. Somewhat surprised to still see sugar cane and bananas growing. Thought we would have climbed above that by now. Arrived in Lau Cai on the Chinese border at 8:00 am, only a few minutes late. Tickets for the minibus journey to Sapa were on sale in the station at 25,000 dong but we had been warned that it was better to go outside and negotiate. Within minutes we had two front seats for 20,000. It took almost an hour of steady climbing to reach Sapa. Scenery spectacular but visibility poor because of low cloud and mist. No traffic on the road, not even bicycles here – no doubt too hilly. Passed through several Hmong villages. Clothing is all black. Women wear knee length shorts with leggings wound round their lower legs. Their long hair is coiled up inside a circular hat and they wear huge silver hoop earrings. The men wear black trousers, often rolled up to the knee. Both wear a blouse and tunic, and the women often wear an apron as well.
The bus stopped at the edge of the village where there were a number of guesthouses/hotels and we chose the Viet Hung (or Friendly) right where the bus dropped us. Our room, on the front with balcony, costs $6. There are two beds and two blankets, and we are assured we can get quilts if we need them. Had a milk coffee and baguette as a second breakfast before setting off to explore the village. Lots of different ethnic groups around. As well as the Hmong we were able to recognize the Red Zao by their big red head-dresses. Obviously these people hope you will buy their crafts, but many are not selling anything and are very friendly. No one is asking for handouts. Bumped into the Aussie couple we shared a taxi with when we arrived in Hanoi; they are only paying $4 for a nice place.
Ate a small lunch (those fried rice squares) and bought a kilo of mandarins in the market before setting off for an afternoon walk. Sapa sits on top of a hill with the river hundreds of feet below. We followed a winding dirt road down the hill towards the river, admiring the piles of rock which was being collected for construction and road building – black on the outside but when broken is a beautiful silver/white marble-like rock inside. Seemed a pity for it to be crushed for road gravel. Terraced rice paddies all down the hillside but obviously only one crop a year, which has already been harvested. Given the low temperatures you get here, supposedly down to freezing, we were surprised that the vegetation was still quite tropical, some of it new to us. We got down to the river with a bamboo bridge but after crossing we had trouble finding the path and turned back.
It had been hazy when we arrived this morning, but by late afternoon this had thickened to almost fog density – very Novemberish – and it was quite chilly. Our restaurant was filled with locals watching soccer on TV. With the door half open, it was only marginally warmer inside than out. We retreated to our room after we’d eaten and we put on more layers to try and stay warm. Jill asked for an extra blanket and got a heavy quilt instead. She went to bed wearing all her clothes, fleece included. Her bedding, blanket folded in half plus the quilt was so heavy she could hardly move. Surprisingly we slept well. Probably the exercise this afternoon helped.
Sapa - 1600 mWas a small remote hill station in French days but had long been neglected until its recent "rediscovery" by travellers. Must have been very little here ten years or so ago before the dozens of hotels and restaurants were built.since there is not much else. Weather seems to be always cloudy with sun perhaps breaking through weakly for a few minutes in the morning, and perhaps a bit of rain in the afternoon/evening. |
Weather much the same – low cloud and mist. Enjoyed our breakfast of omelette and baguettes before setting off to do the other popular hike to three villages – a 6 hour walk. Passing through the village we met Bea who told us a Canadian man (cameraman with a film crew) had died here yesterday. A helicopter had been chartered to rush him to Hanoi but he died before it arrived. Shortly after setting out we joined a Dutch couple we had met in Queen Cafe and stayed together until we decided to head back after the second village. Interesting walk along rice paddies and through Hmong village. Everyone helpful, no hassles, although a few little boys asked for pens. Crossed the river twice on suspension bridges. Water is brought to the houses along channels of bamboo split lengthways. Grain mill was using water power to pound grain – stream ran into container on one end of see-saw causing it to go down. When full it tipped allowing the hammer on the other end of the see-saw to crash down on the grain. The cycle repeated about once per minute.
Ate our picnic lunch by the river and then turned back at the second village/bridge while the Dutch couple continued on. We later heard they were exhausted when they got back and regretted not turning back with us. We found it a tough grind back up the hill to Sapa, with several unpleasant patches where new rocks had just been dumped. Joe passed us on the way on his rented ("no guts") Russian motorbike, having a bit of trouble with the road. We were ready for a beer and stopped at the first opportunity. Bea was passing by with an entourage of young Hmong girls. The eldest, dong, was 15, which is the normal age for marriage. There seem to be plenty of these girls around, not selling or wanting anything other than friendship. They are very affectionate, always wanting to hold your hand. They have a sense of humour, always joking, and very generous. Both of us were given friendship bracelets and peanuts. They speak better English than Vietnamese (first language is Hmong), even though they have never been to school and can’t read or write. Their village is about 2 hours walk away. Arranged to have dinner with Bea and had a great evening with several other travellers we had met in Hanoi. Busloads of package tourists are arriving for the weekend market. Restaurants are all full and turning latecomers away. Dread to think what tomorrow will be like.
Denys woke with a cold and a bad chest – probably what Jill was fighting from the beginning of the trip. Certainly the weather doesn’t help. It was hard to leave our nice warm beds on such a cold and foggy morning. and the restaurant downstairs is always chilly because of the door being left open.
More tourists than locals now and the village has become somewhat of a zoo with massive telephoto lenses and video cameras pointing everywhere. Many more hilltribes around now, some in spectacular costumes. There was a lot of liquor of some sort being sold in the market, siphoned out of big jerry cans into empty water bottles. Saw the effects later with a couple of Hmong men gearing up for a fight. dong has very sore eyes, a common ailment here. She had been rubbing them a lot yesterday and again this morning, then holding our hands, so we are expecting we might get the affliction next. Must remember to wash our hands when we get back. She gave us more peanuts. We feel under some obligation although she herself doesn’t apear to be selling anything. We would buy if there was anything appealing. Their "silver"jewellery looks great on them, big dangly earrings, long chain necklaces, bangles, etc. but looks tacky on westerners. It can’t be silver at those prices. We wonder if we should be giving them something (perhaps buy some eye ointment) but didn’t in the end. They seem to get genuine pleasaure from giving and it would seem a shame to deny them that. We heard of a French Canadian who had given $5 to a child in a village "because it was so cute"! Don’t they realize they are teaching these kids to be beggars?
Spent most of the day in our favourite restaurant and said goodbye to Dong as we came out. She had been waiting there for hours, specifically for Bea -who had been there since 11:30 am as she was going back to her village tomorrow. We had been planning to go the market at Bac Ha tomorrow, but after today’s circus we decided to skip it and move on. Jill regretted having washed all her underwear today – it will never be dry by tomorrow. Joe was also waiting for washing to dry. All he had left to wear on his lower half was a pair of thin pants and no socks so he had to stay in until noon when it warmed up slightly.
From Today's BBC NewsTyphoon Linda which hit southern Vietnam earlier this week is now being referred to as the "Storm of the Century". Over 3000 killed and thousands homeless. Vietnam appealing for international assistance, very out of character for Vietnam. Complete devastation over a large area of the Mekong Delta. Destroyed most of the fishing fleet in an area dependent on fish. Hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed |
Because we are leaving today we have blue skies with only a few clouds, the best weather we have seen in Sapa. For once all the mountains are visible including Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam (3143 m). We walked the 1 km up the road to the intersection to catch the bus to Lai Chau. We’d been told to be there no later than 8 o’clock. Other people (all hilltribes) were waiting around too so we felt confident we were in the right place. Buses came and went and took most of these people. Eventually, at 10 o’clock, our bus arrived, already pretty full, from Lao Cai. We managed to get two seats on the side of the engine next to an old man, who chattered, to us in Vietnamese and sign language the whole way. Next to us in the stairwell were several Hmong girls. The old man pointed to their large hoop earrings of a dull silver colour, shaking his head, and then carefully unwrapped a silver coin from his possessions, obviously meant as a comparison. He also proudly showed us two medals – must have been Viet Cong. He was very concerned about our packs, which were on a wooden rack over the engine, and kept sliding back and forth. Since the journey consisted of nothing but hills he was kept quite busy trying to adjust them for us.
The scenery was spectacular. First we climbed high over the ridge of Fansipan, where the pavement ended. (For the next two days we were on a single track unpaved road, often very rough and muddy.) Our speed averaged under 20 kph. When we dropped down from the pass we got into warm weather again with real tropical vegetation, including some nice displays of poinsettias, often 10 ft tall or higher. Every few miles we passed into the territory of a different hill tribe, recognizable by their different dress (some with pleated skirts nd patchwork in red, white and blue on a black ground.,especially headgear. Most of the houses now were built on stilts and made out of thatch and mud.
We had a big argument with the conductor over the fare. He wanted $10 which was outrageous, even talking into account that foreigners routinely pay many times more than the local price. He kept insisting the other fare was for Vietnamese only – you had to show a Vietnamese ID card to get that. We eventually got him to accept 70% of his asking price, then when we had paid we found the bus was only going as far as Thung Tho, only half way to Lai Chau!
Since Thung Tho was only a small community, we had visions of spending the night in some hovel or the local police post as it was already past one o’clock when we pulled into the almost deserted bus station. However, we were told to get into a beat up little van already loaded with people and baggage. We squeezed ourselves in, our packs went were wedged into the back and we set off for Lai Chau within minutes. There was another "discussion" about the fare, but this time we weren’t the only ones to dispute the amount asked. We ended up paying about double what the locals paid. The old man also transferred with us and promptly started to eat his packed lunch (rice and hardboiled eggs). When he got off half an hour later at what looked like the middle of nowhere, he shook hands with us and said goodbye.
After about an hour we got a flat tire – not surprising on such an appalling road. We were relieved to find they had a spare so we were only delayed about 40 minutes. We took advantage of the stop for a bathroom break – no stops except to pick up and drop off passengers. The woman with the chickens went to a nearby house and came back with an old wicker carrier which she put her chickens in after tying their legs and put the carrier on the roof. Most of the way we were close by the river, presumably the one which is to be dammed and flood Lai Chau. Other times we were high up on the side of a steep valley.
By the time we reached Lai Chau it was dark. We stopped at an unlit intersection (there was no sign of any proper town, and no lights in any direction) and were told to get off. Someone pointed town a side street and said "hotel". We walked for about a kilometre, past some small shops, across a river and through some fields before we saw what must be the hotel. After the trouble we had in getting here we were horrified to find it full of French package tourists (albeit in hired jeeps) – and the only available accommodation was across the street in the annex – basically a dormitory where all the guides and drivers were put up. They all trooped through our "room" to get to the staircase and their accommodation. The outside toilet, difficult to find in the dark, was through another room, which was also occupied. To have a shower we had to cross the street and pass in front of the restaurant. For this, one of the weirdest places we ever stayed in, we had to pay $8! The people on the expensive tour were also complaining about the standard of their accommodation. Meals were expensive and the waitress was almost apologetic. Most of the items on the pretentious European style menu (in French of course) were unavailable and an Australian motorcyclist we were sitting with stormed out in disgust. At least he had transport to go and look for something else (turned out there wasn’t much). The fried noodles and veg cost three times what we normally pay. We consoled oursleves with a large beer each, hang the cost! A very disturbed night, with people coming and going all night and then at about 2:00 am a big truck deafened us revving up right outside our door.
Chatted with a French couple, part of the package group who were on a very expensive three week mountain tour of Vietnam and Laos; they were finding it rougher than they expected, with hotels not up to par, etc. After a quick light breakfast we set off walking to the bus station, over 2 km away, and got there for 8:00 am. We had been given conflicting information last night about departure times, but after enquiring at the bus station (which we could have easily walked right by if we hadn’t known the word for bus station) we found there was one leaving at 9:00. Since we had plenty of time to spare we went for another breakfast where we had just seen two foreign motorcyclists (a Brit and a Norwegian). They were heading in the opposite direction to us and were interested to know about the condition of the road, etc. We had barely finished eating when someone from the bus station came to hustle us out as the bus was there, at only 8:40. We bought tickets from the office (fixed price) and boarded the almost full minibus (similar to the one we had yesterday) and left early. It was already pretty full but Jill got a stool between two seats and Denys sat at the back with a hilltribe family. The hilltribe people are always made to sit at the back of buses and Vietnamese won’t sit next to them. The mother wore no headdress but had her hair all swept up and filled out with fibre or something, almost like the "bee-hive" hairdos of the fifties. We have to admit to a certain amount of pleasure in passing a fancy Mercedes van filled with the French tourists which had got stuck in the mud. We never saw it again, even though we ourselves got delayed with a flat tire, again. (We now look upon such delays as handy pitstops). Scenery was much the same as yesterday along valleys with occasional climbs before dropping down to another valley. There were some very muddy patches and the road was unsurfaced as before, but we made reasonable time. Just before Dien Bien Phu an old man who had been sitting nearby shook Denys’s hand before he got off.
It was hot when we arrived in Dien Bien Phu. For a change the bus station was right in town so we didn’t have to walk far for a hotel. The only obvious one we could see wanted $45 for their lowest priced room! Someone pointed to another one nearby, which we had ignored because the guesthouse sign had been obliterated by masking tape and there didn’t seem to be anyone around. We made a good deal there – a nice room on the front with balcony, TV, for $10, sharing a bathroom. That was no hardship as there was only one other guest. Jill immediately set to work doing laundry, which dried in no time on a drying frame on the balcony.
Dien Bien PhuOn 7 May 1954, Viet Minh forces overran the beleaguered French garrison at Dien Bien Phu after a 57-day siege, shattering French morale. This Vietnamese victory forced the French government to abandon its attempts to re-establish colonial control of Indochina. It marked the end of over 80 years of French colonial rule in Vietnam. Although it is situated in a large flat valley which accommodated a large airfield, Dien Bien Phu is surrounded by mountains with steep-sided valleys which would favour guerilla activity. |
Exploring the town in both directions, we saw that all hotel and guesthouse signs had been obliterated. The "language police" must have been at work – shades of Quebec! The town was very uninteresting, basically just three streets. The most notable sight was a large new white building like a palace, which we were not allowed to approach. It was the local communist party HQ – even flew the hammer and sickle as well as the Vietnamese flag. Another large building was the DBP People’s Committee building, essentially their city hall. Public access not permitted – obviously you can’t influence city hall. We booked our seats (numbered) on tomorrow’s bus (the only one) to Son La, leaving at 5:00 am. While we were having our bia hoi the power went off – we actually saw someone switch it off at the main transformer. We stayed there with a candle until the power came back on an hour later as we didn’t fancy trying to look for dinner in the dark. We had a difficult time even with a phrasebook, trying to communicate. We pointed to various phrases, then tried repeating them. We thought fried vegetable noodles would be easy enough, but when it came there was a hefty amount of meat and no veg.
We tried to pay our hotel bill before bed so we could get our papers back, but have to wait till tomorrow. We are sure there will be nobody up that early.
No problem getting up – we were awake at 3:00 am. Denys had to wake the manager up to pay the bill but he was pleasant, enough considering it was only 4:30, and handed us a bottle of mineral water as we left. There was already plenty of activity on the street and we were able to buy hot baguettes. Good thing we went straight to our bus as ten minutes before scheduled departure time the driver jumped in and took off like a rocket! As usual, the road was very winding and several passengers were soon hanging out the door and windows leaving streaks down the side of the bus. (Jill swears by Sea Bands on journeys like this). The road was paved now but still only a single vehicle wide. Fortunately there was practically no other traffic. Some of the bends were so sharp there were mirrors by the roadside. We had good seats right behind the driver but the upholstery was broken down and you felt you were sliding downhill all the time. It came light after an hour and there was spectacular scenery for the rest of the trip, constantly climbing via switchbacks out of one valley, then dropping down into the next. Rice harvest seemed to be in progress everywhere with women carrying baskets of grain in for de-husking. Again we passed through several different tribal areas. As we got back to more "civilized" areas we noticed changes in hilltribe costumes. The women of the tribe near Son La wear blouses with elaborate pieces up the front and round the high collar made in the same pattern but using modern fabrics – the sheer synthetics favoured by most Vietnamese girls. They wear long black velvet sarongs. The men wore no identifiable costume.
We stopped for breakfast near Tuan Giao and the best pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) yet. We reached Son La by 10:30 am, less than half the time Lonely Planet suggested. It was sunny and clear and quite warm now – the warmest we have felt so far this trip.
We made ourselves green tea in our room (hotel across from the bus station)– using their teapot and tiny cups, which made a nice change. (We normally make tea using a small electric immersion heater in our stainless steel Indian beakers). We went looking for a snack lunch and some fruit, but had to be satisfied with pho again. We would have liked a papaya but there were only mandarins available.
We did some walking in the afternoon, first to the old French penitentiary, used by the French to incarcerate Vietnamese dissidents. It was largely destroyed by American bombs in the Vietnam war and has now been partially restored. Then, following the directions in our LP guidebook, we set off to visit a hilltribe village but Jill got tired and we turned back, hoping for a rest with a cold beer, hopefully on reasonable seats. We count ourselves lucky if we get child size resin chairs in this country – it’s usually plastic footstools or low hard wooden benches at low tables. No Chinese beer to be found, only the expensive Tiger beer and not cold. We had to settle for bia hoi in rather insalubrious surroundings sitting on th usual tiny footstools. The beer was at least cold, although neither of us was keen on the taste of this particular brew. At dinnertime we went into a couple of restaurants and were ignored, so we ended up at the same restaurant where we ate lunch. We have now figured out how the system works, at least in the type of restaurant where the food is prepared and displayed at the front. You just point to what you want and it is delivered to your table, accompanied by rice, soup and a sort of salad. It was unbelievably cheap at 3000 dong each (about 25 cents)
Our backsides are starting to suffer from too many hard seats and bumpy rides and we were glad to lie on the bed during the evening.
Didn’t buy our bus tickets last night as buses back to Hanoi seem to be quite frequent – every hour from 5:00 am -and we thought we’d see what time we felt like leaving. Awakened before 3:30 am by louspeakers across the street at the bus station and we decided we may as well get an early start. Jill had had a bad night – a cold as well as the bronchial asthma she has had on and off since arriving in Hanoi At 5:30 Denys went to see what action there was at tbe bus station and found a bus was leaving at 6:00 and we could have our choice of seats. Mad panic while we tried to check out in time. After a lot of banging around, a bleary eyed girl appeared and said that someone upstairs had to give us our green papers, but she was persuaded to unlock the reception place and get them for us. The bus took off as soon as we got on, with no other passengers. Only a few people got on in the first hour and it was never crowded. We were going on long stretches of fairly flat road in valleys then climbing over a pass into another valley. Most of the valley bottoms were in sugar cane with corn on the hillsides. The road was paved but still only one vehicle wide. A lot more truck traffic today, much of it carrying sugar cane, but still very light by normal standards. Jill got desperate for a pit stop, and was just getting ready to ask the driver to stop when someone else asked. Everyone piled out for the same reason.
We stopped for lunch after about 3 hours. Just when it seemed about time to get back on, our driver indicated to us to sit down, and the driver and conductor drove off back in the direction we had come. Jill got really worried about our bags, especially when someone from another bus that was stopped there said we had to get on that one for Hanoi.as ours had gone back to Son La! In fact the conductor came over and tried to drag Denys by the arm. Denys didn’t seem too worried – lots of other people had left their bags on that bus. It did eventually reappear and we got on along with the others, only to be told to get off again and get on another bus which had just arrived. We were shown seats to sit on which clearly belonged to people who had just got off to eat. All the other passengers from our bus were put in the back but we were shown into good seats in the middle. Naturally there were some "discussions" when the passengers whose seats we had taken returned. We did wonder whether we would be asked for more money but we weren’t.
This was a faster bus and we made good time. We passed a lot of limestone hills and cliffs, some of which were honeycombed like Swiss cheese. We passed through Moc Chau, a big tea growing area. After Hoa Binh the road was two lane, but everything still drives up the middle because of the number of bikes and motorbikes who only pull over to the side, with much horn blaring, when something else big is approaching. It was at our last stop before Hanoi where we finally discovered the local price for Coke is 2000 dong and we have been paying double that. The bus was washed down at this stop and in little more than half an hour we were dropped off at the bus station in the southwest of the city. The journey had taken only 8 1/2 hours including stops and we had expected 10. From here the only transport seemed to be motorbike taxis which Jill was not keen to use – most intersections are free-for-alls, with no stop or yield signs – but she actually enjoyed the ride and saw a lot more of the old quarter where we are staying. Checked into Binh Minh again. A different room – same price ($10) but smaller with no window. Beds now have quilts on for the cooler season, but it is unseasonably warm and we needed the fan. Headed for Queen Cafe where we saw Chris (met a week ago and then in Sapa) and enjoyed our usual – Chinese beer, veg spring rolls and banana pancakes.
Today is a rest day to get ready for moving on. Walked to Canadian Embassy to get Radio Canada times and frequencies, and latest info on Cambodia. All they had was the advisory dated 13 August which we had seen before we left home. Had to wait a while to talk to anyone – everyone was involved in the Francophone summit about to begin. Jill had a go at sketching an old house near HCM mausoleum but she was out of practice and wasn’t happy with the result. Went to see HCM’s old house but got sandwiched between German and French tour groups which sort of detracted from it. Stopped at Darling cafe for lunch then home for a siesta.
It had been grey and almost drizzly early this morning but it soon cleared and became sunny and quite humid. Sat by the lake for a while, then went to find a pharmacy to buy our anti-malarial pills for Cambodia. (We have now decided to go there instead of Laos.) Staggered at the cost, but still a lot cheaper than at home. The bill for 16 Lariam and 30 Atarax for Jill’s allergies, which have been flaring up, came to more than 1/3 million dong ($30 US)
Went to the Water Puppet show in the evening. Arrived half an hour early to make sure we got good seats and were shocked to be told it was sold out. Seats were still available for the 9:30 show. No good for us – we’d be falling asleep by then. We were told to come back just before 8 o’clock in case there were seats not claimed, and at 7:45 we got tickets for good seats in the middle of the row near the front of the economy section. Best of all the only two empty seats in the place were the two in front of us so we had an excellent view. Really enjoyed the one hour show, made up of about 15 sketches. As many as 10 puppets operating at one time. Puppets are on long poles and operated from behind a screen where the puppeteers are also standing in the water. No idea how they get the incredible range of motions. Puppets even come up from the water breathing fire!
Leaders of Francophone Nations ConferenceToday the conference of leaders of Francophone nations begins. Whilst we have been away from Hanoi lights and banners have been put up. Also every place of interest has a new sign with a little Canadian flag on. We found out at the Canadian Embassy that they had been funded by the province of New Brunswick. Wonder if New Brunswickers know that. Also found out that the conference was being partially funded by Quebec. Ironic having the conference in Vietnam when there is little French here - hasn't been taught in schools for many years. Now teach English, previously Russian. As well as Vietnam such notable French speaking countries as Egypt and Bulgaria (!) are represented. The conference is being broadcast in full on the one TV channel (all in French of course) and because people are so addicted to TV they still sit and watch. |
Went to Queen Cafe to buy our tickets for the night minibus to Hue. Saw Joe who had just returned from Sapa and a stint helping an Australian doctor. He said they badly need more supplies, especially eye medication and lice treatment. Spent the morning wandering around the old city. Whilst we were in Darling cafe having lunch, we watched an old woman washing her hair in the street – must have taken her half an hour to carefully shampoo and rinse and then comb out. Denys got a haircut in the afternoon; Jill bought some bronchitis medicine. Tried unsuccessfully to buy airletters (aerogrammes) at the main post office but they didn’t seem to know what we were talking about.
Bus for Hue left from Queen Cafe a few minutes before 7:00 pm. We were next to last to be picked up but we got single seats in the middle of the small bus (2-1 arrangement). Only 9 adults plus two children and two drivers. Clear sky and a full moon so we were able to see something. Route was basically flat the whole way. Road was quite good except for a few rough patches. We had hoped to be able to sleep but the seats didn’t lend themselves to that – too upright and not enough room. Everyone else seemed to be having trouble sleeping and in desperation two Norwegian girls tried lying on the floor, but the road was too bumpy. Only two stops in 16 hours. First stop the toilet was next to an indoor pig pen in the back of the restaurant – a fairly common arrangement we later found.
Had breakfast at second stop. Just as it was coming light we had to cross a big river by ferry, a tug pushed barge. Crossed 17th parallel, the old demarcation line between North and South Vietnam and through the DMZ. Supposedly, lots of war effects are still in evidence but we didn’t see much. You couldn’t distinguish between craters and the many excavations, and farming had removed other craters. A few bullet marked buildings, but most buildings were post-war. Saw several North Vietnamese war cemeteries by the roadside, but we never seemed to see any South Vietnamese cemeteries when we travelled through the south.
Arrived in Hue an hour later than scheduled at 11:00 am. It was sunny, hot and humid. You could really feel the climate change of the 689 km drive south. Bus stopped in front of the rather plush Dong Loi hotel, and after being shown a number of increasingly deluxe rooms (starting price was $15) we got a nice one for $8. We had noted the overpriced hotel restaurant, but were happy having seen two small restaurants right across the street.
Couldn’t think of doing anything until we’d caught up on some sleep. Napped from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and then set off to explore the neighbourhood. Had dinner at one of the restaurants across the street. Nice people but meal only so-so. Cabbage was the main ingredient, which was a disappointment when we see such a wonderful variety of vegetables in the markets. We were served a nice anise flavoured Vietnamese tea after; which turned out to be a feature of most meals in the south.
Hot, sunny and humid again. Took a day-long boat trip on the Perfume river for $2.50, including lunch and being picked up from the hotel. Our dragon boat had a mixed contingent of about 16 people: Australians, Canadians (French and English), English, Japanese, Vietnamese and French. Visited several sites:
Thien Nin Pagoda – Nice site with well landscaped grounds, pagoda, temple and several other buildings. One contained the Austin car made famous in the 1963 self immolation of a monk – he drove to Saigon in it and it appeared in photos of the immolation.
Hon Chen temple, Khai Dinh tomb, Minh Mang tomb and Tu Duc tomb – All of these had hefty admission charges ($5 for tombs, $2 for temple) which we knew about in advance so we didn’t bother trying to go in them. Would have cost $34 for the two of us and you would only get to spend 20 mins or so in each. The Khai Dinh tomb was 2km from the boat landing and we walked along the quiet rural road far enough to see it. Cyclos and motor bikes are available to drive you. We got hassled by vendors at some of the stops (it was Sunday), mostly for cold drinks at inflated prices. We needed to drink plenty when we got back to rehydrate. Children at tourist spots are beginning to become a nuisance, asking for handouts.
Lunch was served on the boat. The comfortable resin chairs were moved out of the way and the meal set out on mats. There were four dishes: fish, noodles, veg (cabbage again) and omelette plus rice – quite good.
We walked quite a way (Sinh cafe) to find an alternative to our "local" restaurants. Denys had a roll-it-yourself Vietnamese roll which came with a heap of good meat, salad and a dipping sauce. Jill’s Vietnamese pancake was fatty and not authentic. The best part was the ice cream – avocado which was very popular with the locals – must be a Sunday evening treat since everyone who came in ordered it. While we were there we found out that we can buy bus tickets direct to Ho Chi Minh City, with multiple stop overs en route, on a new bus operated by Sinh Café, for only $24.25.
Awakened around 4:00 am to the sound of heavy rain. Windy too, as evidenced by the number of tree branches littering the sidewalks. It was very grey when we set off to do our sightseeing – what a contrast to yesterday. Walked across the bridge over the Perfume river to explore the old part of the city. Again, you are faced with a $5 admission charge for the Forbidden City, which was almost totally levelled during the Vietnam war. Hue was the scene of major fighting and was the only city actually captured by the North Vietnam army before the final collapse of the south. There were vendors everywhere selling plastic ponchos. Reminded us of Hong Kong when everyone is selling umbrellas when it rains. Wandered around the big market and then stopped for a snack at a restaurant listed in LP – Jill had pineapple pancakes (actually little fritters) served with chocolate sauce (described in LP as "awesome"). As the wind got up and the weather became even more threatening (should have brought our nylon rainjackets) we started heading back. We were in the Sinh cafe buying our bus tickets (Hue to Ho Chi Minh City) – only a 15 min walk from our hotel – when it started to rain. We were dripping when we got back. The rain never let up and so we stayed in all afternoon, dozing/writing/reading and perusing the Vietnamese phrasebook. Have now learnt "Go away"! Dashed across the road for a combined lunch/dinner. Felt sorry for those people on package tours if today was their day for the Perfume river cruise. At least we have the luxury of staying put when we want.
The disco next door to the hotel was playing Jingle Bells (in Vietnamese) tonight. We had already seen plastic Christmas trees for sale in Hanoi.
Ao DaiTraditional women's dress. Two piece closely fitting tunic top with mandarin collar, split to the waist, worn over wide leg pants, usually white. In Hanoi only seen on formal occasions but by the time we reached Hoi An it is worn by schoolgirls, sometimes in self-patterned white polyester. When cycling some of them sit on the ends of their tunics to stop them from flapping. |
Another grey day so we are happy to be moving on. The Sinh cafe owner came with a car to pick us up and drive us to the hotel where we catch the bus for the first leg to Hoi An. We were the first ones there and had our choice of seats on the new (8000 km on the clock).45 seater. It really felt luxurious, especially with good music playing – all for $24.25 for 4 days (over 1000 km) of travelling, with sightseeing stops along the way. The driver was really careful – wonder if he wasn’t used to driving a full (Western) sized bus yet. Wonder how the company can make money as that particular leg on the Open Tour costs only $5. You would be crazy not to take advantage of this deal – $45 Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City, stopping as long as you want between each leg of the journey.
Set off in steady rain – everyone wearing plastic raincoats and capes. Made several stops along the way. First at Lang Co Island – not quite as idyllic as it sounded in LP, with grey skies and big breakers rolling in. Still, it was nice to get out and have a walk down the beach. Soon after that we climbed the 500 m to Hai Van Pass (called Col des Nuages by the French). We weren’t in the clouds and could see down on both sides, Lang Co Island to the north and the big expanse of Da Nang Bay to the south. Lots of concrete bunkers on the pass, as well as the remains of an old French fort. It was only about 3/4 hour from there into Da Nang where we got caught up in lunchtime traffic – thousands of schoolkids cycling home for lunch. Girls were elegant and photogenic in their au dais, tunics floating out behind them. Had a bite of lunch but didn’t go into the Cham museum – have seen enough Indian sculptures and carvings in India.
Only half an hour out of Da Nang, we stopped at the Marble Mountains. Michael Palin did this one on his "Full Circle" round the Pacific Rim series. Lots of caves, temples and buddhas and an entrance fee of $4 to climb the steps to see them all. If we spent all the $2 and $4 admission fees and took all the available tours, we would end up spending a small fortune between the two of us. Instead we walked the few hundred yards to China Beach, the famous vacation spot of American soldiers during the Vietnam war. It is several km long, with big breakers crashing in. Small boats there are round baskets about 6 ft diameter, covered in pitch and propelled by a single oar. We had a walk down the beach before doing a tour of inspection of the marble workshops/stores in the village. Denys jokingly said he’d buy Jill one of those big fat smiling buddhas for her birthday (next week) if she would carry it home! We saw a hawker going round the village with two cages containing dogs on the back of his bicycle – obviously for the cooking pot.
Arrived in Hoi An around 3:45 pm and were transferred to three smaller vehicles (no big buses allowed into the old town) – a pleasant surprise as we thought we’d have to walk. Made several stops to inspect hotels along the way but didn’t manage to make a deal – don’t think anyone else did. – until we reached the centre of town. Had to try several more, including the government owned Trade Union Hotel. That was nice enough, with a garden out front, but they would not budge below $10 until Denys went off, leaving Jill with the packs, and soon found a nice place only 25 yds further on for $8 with a covered balcony overlooking a nice garden courtyard. Then the Trade Union place offered us a reduction to $9. After a pot of tea we did a quick tour of the town and market and had an early dinner –Jill was "starving" – our first Cao Lau, the speciality of Hoi An. Really tasty bowl of thick noodles in broth with lots of herbs, greenery and croutons and topped with BBQ pork slices. Finished off with banana/honey and pineapple/chocolate pancakes. Saw lots of attractive restaurants and many, many tailor’s shops. Hoi An is THE place to get your clothes made nowadays. "100% copies from Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire"!
We have discovered teas are different in the north and south. In the north it is more like the Chinese tea we are used to. In Hue it had a different aroma – something like Thai basil. Here in Hoi An it is the jasmine variety
Heavy rain started around 5:00 am and it looked like it was set for the day. At 7:15 am very loud martial music blared from loudspeakers at the kindergarten across the road. Good thing we are early risers. Had a pancake breakfast next door, very mediocre, and more expensive than in the north. Managed to get some sightseeing done between showers. The town is full of old houses, assembly halls (actually temples) of various Chinese congregations, such as the Hainan congregation and the Fujian Chinese congregation, also various Vietnamese temples. Supposedly, the old town is closed off to motor vehicles but motorbikes still roar up and down. At least there are barriers to keep them off the old Japanese covered bridge.
Ate delicious Vietnamese pancakes stuffed with beansprouts, greens and a peanut sauce for dipping at a market stall. Two places were asking 2000 dong, which seemed rather expensive, but the price soon dropped to 1000 when we laughed and started to walk away. It gets tiresome, knowing that you have to go through this every time you buy something. The Vietnamese "rip off the tourists" policy is rampant and it is hard to find what a reasonable price is. When we are fairly sure what the price should be, we try to give the correct money without asking and ignore any protests. On the way back from the market, where we had to shelter awhile during a particularly heavy shower, we bought a bottle of fruit wine for our pre-dinner drink. Too cool and wet for beer today. Stayed closer to home for dinner (another cao lau) in case of bad weather.
Since we crossed over into the former South Vietnam, we have not seen one man wearing the colonial type sun helmet universally worn in the north. We also noticed there are fewer war cemeteries in the south. Apparently, the North Vietnamese bulldozed them after they took over.
Clear skies, so a hot day. Decided to spend the day just "hanging out", since we have seen most of the sights. Spent almost an hour on a bench by the river, watching the world go by. Spent another hour with a coffee on the main street. Saw the two Norwegian girls coming out of a tailor’s shop with dresses, then the Norwegian guy (the one we first saw on a motorbike in Lai Chau and who was also on the overnight bus from Hanoi to Hue) told us he was having suits and shirts made for $30, It must be a better deal than Bangkok, but who needs to carry extra stuff around.
After lunch, Jill stayed in the room and wrote letters. Denys rented a bike (35 cents) and rode out to the beach 5 km away. The beach was quite nice, fine sand, but the water was a bit rough. There were shelters and deck chairs, but he walked on and sat in the shade of some big coracle type boats. Lots of school kids around. We learned that today is "Education Festival" and schools are closed. That explains why we saw so many kids carrying bouquets of flowers and gifts – must be for their teachers. There seem to be a lot more tourists around town today, probably because yesterday was a dead loss for sightseeing.
We had lunch and dinner at a restaurant (Than Than) Denys had seen recommended on the Internet. They had an exercise book full of rave reviews from satisfied customers. Denys splurged and had the beef in hot vinegar at 25,000 dong, normally enough to buy both of us dinner and a beer. We were served an appetizer first, something like a big poppadum with a dipping sauce. The beef dish was essentially a hot pot, a plate of thin sliced raw beef and an electric hot plate with a bubbling sauce (containing vinegar). You cook the beef then roll it with some salad in a rice paper, then dip the roll in the boiling sauce, then in a the dip, and eat. Delicious! The salad contained different herbs so there was a real kaleidoscope of flavours. Jill unfortunately had lost her appetite and could only manage a cao lao. Paid our bill at the hotel and got our green papers back. We were assured there would be no problem getting out at 5:30 am.
Vietnamese Hotel RoomsHotel rooms in Vietnam were much higher standard and better equipped than we are normally used to on our travels. Most of our hotels had:
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Had to climb over the iron gate (good thing there are no spikes) as everything was still locked up. We had just got over when a voice shouted "key, key". He was probably meant to let us out but watched us climb over instead. The bus, another new 45 seater, left for Nha Trang – a journey of 11 hours – at 6:00 am with only 14 of us. Scenery was much the same as previous days – mainly flat through rice paddy, with the occasional climb over some hills. For some of the way we were by the sea. We passed one area where the sand was almost white, and nearby was a small plant which purified the silica sand for export to Japan. The road gradually improved – wider and better surfaced – even occasionally had white lines painted. Not that anyone observed them. Saw our first accident – a truck missed a corner and rolled over. It was loaded with cages of dogs going to market. We stopped briefly at a couple of beaches and bought a pineapple at the second one. Our lunch stop was at a seafood restaurant where a busload of French tourists was also just arriving. We decided to walk down the road a bit to a more congenial (ie less touristy) place, where the family greeted us with obvious pleasure. Pretty good pho with squid and shrimp.
It was dark when we drove into Nha Trang and the outskirts of the city had a power outage. We weren’t looking forward to finding a hotel in the pitch black, but by the time we got to the centre the lights were on. The bus stopped at a big hotel, which we thought looked rather expensive. However, someone from the hotel came on the bus and announced that rooms were $8 including breakfast, so we opted to stay. We have a very nice big room and staff are pleasant. These prices must be low season (this is a seaside resort). Tackled some laundry which has been piling up with us moving on so frequently. Of course, hotel regulations (which we deliberately avoid reading when there is laundry to be done) always say no laundry in rooms. Power went off briefly when we were listening to the BBC. Hope it doesn’t go off during the night or we shall suffocate without the fan. The room was really hot when we first came in.
Vietnamese TVMost of the rooms we had included a good colour TV. Unfortunately there is only one channel and that entirely in Vietnamese. Much of the programming is of Russian origin, as is much of the international news, with lesser amounts coming from China and CNN. When programs are dubbed into Vietnamese, only one voice is used. |
An easy day today. Had the free breakfast in the rooftop restaurant, after eating part of the pineapple we bought yesterday. Excellent baguettes along with our omelettes. By 8 o’clock we had our spot staked out at the beach under a coconut palm. Lonely Planet calls it one of the best municipal beaches. Didn’t mind that it was cloudy so we can get used to the sun gradually. There were a few vendors (peanuts, fruit, fresh shrimp – to be cooked to order on a portable burner) but not too persistent. Didn’t go in the water – it seemed quite cold to us. Returned in the afternoon after a siesta, then walked along the promenade for a kilometre or so to the Post Office at the north end, passing the Pasteur Institute on the way. Mailed an airletter to Michael and got it franked so the stamps wouldn’t get stolen. On the way back, weary and dying of thirst, we stopped at a sidewalk café and had two glasses each of a superb bia hoi (San Miguel) only 4000 dong (33 cents) for four glasses, and walked home feeling pretty happy. In the half hour or so we were enjoying our beer, only one car/van passed us. Traffic consisted of motorbikes (70%) and bicycles (30%). Had a good dinner at Cafe des Amis.
Sorry to be leaving Nha Trang. Almost tempted to linger another day or so, especially when the girl from the tour company whose birthday was coming up on Tuesday (same day as Jill’s) suggested Jill stay on so they could celebrate together.
Bus left at 8:00 am with only a dozen of us. Scenery hillier now, no longer just the flat coastal belt, and it became more arid as we drove south. Skirted Cam Ranh Bay, a large sheltered bay that was a big US naval base. Passed through Phan Rang, the centre of the grape growing area. Stopped at some Cham ruins, the Po Klong Garai towers, four brick towers constructed at the end of the 13th century. They sit atop a cactus-covered hill with good views of the surrounding countryside. These were built when most of Vietnam was ruled by the Chams, who had become Hindu through commercial contact with India.
Here we left the coast and started heading inland where the landscape was quite different because of the dryness. Passed a cotton research institute. The lunch stop at a restaurant owned by the hotel we stayed at in Nha Trang was something of a disaster – overpriced food, limited menu, and incredibly slow service. To add insult to injury, there were some mineral hot springs, nicely landscaped, which we hadn’t been told about before we left Nha Trang, so no one was prepared with their swimsuits handy. We started climbing steeply from the flat plain into the mountains, following closely two massive pipes bringing water from a mountain reservoir to a hydroelectric station at the base. The road wound round and round before reaching a big plateau, where there was a lot of intensive vegetable farming. Trucks were loading big baskets of vegetables, which no doubt would be in Saigon’s markets by morning. In one small town we saw ancient Peugeot station wagons being used as share taxis. In this area (also in Dalat and the high country around) we saw bright yellow flowers, growing all over the place, up to 8 ft tall. After the plateau we started climbing again. Now there were persimmon trees everywhere, and persimmons were for sale at roadside stands for miles. Then we passed fields of gladioli being grown for cut flowers.
The town of Dalat is very spread out. The bus took us to a hotel that seemed some way from the centre. It didn’t seem such great value at $10, but we took the easy way and stayed. We have a nice view over the town, flowers on the balcony, and nice quilts –but the beds are hard, the drains are smelly and it is quite noisy. We later found out from others who did look elsewhere that, although there are dozens of hotels, almost all of them are forbidden to take foreigners. The only ones permitted to take foreigners are those owned by Dalat Tourism, the government agency responsible for tourism, which are greatly overpriced, the big international hotels, and one or two private hotels, including the one we are at. Dalat is apparently one of the last towns/cities still under the tight control of old-fashioned Communist Party officials from the North.
After a pot of tea we went foraging for food, which turned out to be a longer walk than anticipated. By this time Jill was so hungry she had lost her appetite and we had one of those frustrating sessions where we go round every food outlet and nothing will do. Eventually we got some snack food to keep her going while Denys had a baguette sandwich with hot meat balls and a very spicy gravy. The cheapest stuff was being sold by people from the hilltribes on the steps near the market. We were told they are only tolerated there early and late in the day. At other times the police move them on.
DALATDalat, at more than 4500 feet, is located in temperate evergreen forests. It is called the City of Eternal Spring. Local industries include growing flowers and vegetables; tourism, aimed particularly at Vietnamese is also very important, and it is the most popular honeymoon resort. |
Those hard beds were worthy of India, so not a good sleep, and we were already awake when we heard "reveille" – must be a military academy in Dalat. We went our separate ways for breakfast. Denys had beef noodle soup while Jill got confectionery from a bakery.
An interesting journey to Saigon. Today we saw cotton, rubber, coffee and tea growing, also coffee beans, rice and corn being dried on every piece of flat ground in front of every building. Most interesting, we saw pineapples in flower. Never given it a thought before as to how pineapples flower. In fact, the small lavender coloured flowers grow out of all the "eyes" on a small immature fruit. We had a very early (10:30) lunch stop – reason given was there were no suitable restaurants after that. We saw plenty we thought would have been far more suitable than the usual expensive places we stop at, but the criteria for suitability must include good toilet facilities. We bought food and drinks across the street.
Approaching Saigon the population density increased, with larger and more frequent towns. Very large number of Catholic churches (several, some very large, in each town). Approximately 20% of population of Vietnam is Catholic, and since these are concentrated in the south the percentage here must be much higher. Bad traffic jams as we got into the city, very impressive modern buildings and trees. We only needed to walk around the corner from Sinh Cafe, where we were dropped, to find great accommodation. For $8 we have a western standard room in a brand new hotel. Great neighbourhood for restaurants including several vegetarian. In the next alley it is quiet and peaceful and you can hear birds singing (in cages unfortunately).
Jill’s birthday today (her 60th) and she is happy to be incognito and away from any "surprise" parties, etc. at home. No present but she gets to choose all the restaurants today, and eat whatever she feels like. Started with banana honey pancakes sitting in the sunshine outside the Zen restaurant.
It has become something of a tradition to spend birthdays at foreign consulates or visa offices, and today is no exception. We are heading to the Cambodian consulate to make our visa application. Many of the streets here are very pleasant, wide and tree-lined, although we did pass one stretch of wide sidewalk which appeared to function as the local bathroom. Went past the two hotels famous from the Vietnam war, the Rex and the Continental, and the gingerbread style Hotel de Ville, now the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee building. (public keep out). The French consulate has a massive compound, a full city block. The Cambodian consulate is an old colonial house set in nicely landscaped grounds with a swimming pool. We filled out our forms, paid $30 each and we go back to collect the visas at 4:30 pm.
On the way back we took a different route, stopping to visit the War Remnants Museum. It was formerly known as the American War Crimes Museum, but times are changing and American tourists are important. The emphasis was on the terrible things done by the Americans and the anti-US support received from around the world, including the US. We also walked by the presidential palace, built in the ‘60s, now called Reunification Palace. By now Jill was too tired to do any more sightseeing and was glad to stop for lunch, burrito with guacamole and salsa on the side. Not totally authentic but a good enough birthday treat. Won’t see those in Cambodia!
After lunch Denys went to the Immigration Police office to get the exit point changed on our Vietnamese visas from Lao Bao (where we had intended to enter Laos) to Moc Bai (for Cambodia). Had hoped to get the change made on the spot but has to return tomorrow. After that the Cambodian consulate to pick up the visas. He went by the cathedral and post office, the latter a really impressive French building in the same style as the Hotel de Ville. Walked back with an English guy who was trying to get a ticket for the bus to Cambodia. Went with him to the ticket office but it had closed. He says the bus now leaves at 4:00 am, a ridiculous time. We will look for an alternative route.
Jill had planned to take a siesta while Denys was out but electricity went off and the room soon became suffocatingly hot. She sat outside where there was at least some air, although it was a hard concrete bench. Went for a cold drink at the cafe across from us and discovered the proprietor also trades in books. We may possibly do a deal (Vietnam for Cambodia LP).
The Alleys in SaigonBehind the main travellers' street in Saigon there are two quiet alleys which are a real oasis of calm in the city. Our hotel, along with several others, was on one, and the two restaurants where we ate frequently (Zen and Bodhi) were on the other. They were peaceful residential streets where families sat eating their meals. Cages of song birds were set out every day so you could always hear birds singing. People still came to the restaurants by bike and motorbike and always parked them so the entrance was totally blocked. |
Hired a cyclo to take us to the Binh Tay market in Cholon, formerly the Chinese part of the city before most of the Chinese left in the anti-capitalist (hence anti-Chinese) campaign in 1978-79. Surprisingly nice market with a big, well-landscaped courtyard in the middle with a working fountain with twin dragons. Great place for people watching, which we did for about an hour. A funeral procession stopped outside the market, the mourners got out from the hearse – a large black vehicle decorated with silver medallions, with space for mourners to sit on both sides of the coffin. A band then played lively music for 5 minutes or so and the mourners got back into the hearse and left. Obviously the intent was to be seen by as many people as possible. Since it was near a very busy intersection, traffic chaos quickly ensued.
Denys went to the immigration office for 3:00 pm to pick up our visas as instructed. He was at the counter at 2:45 and was told to wait till 3:00. The clerk disappeared at 3:05 and didn’t reappear until 3:35. She asked for our passports and said to come back again tomorrow! Denys told her we were due to leave in the morning so she relented and said to come back at 4:30. He debated whether to sit down and wait, which would have been boring with nothing to read, so decided to walk the 20 mins back. When he went back again at 4:30, the waiting room was deserted – it was obviously now closed. He noticed a woman bending down behind the counter so he went up to her and said hello – no response for about 3 minutes, when she finally looked up and acknowledged him. He said he had been told to come back at 4:30, whereupon she went on with whatever it was she was doing. Finally, she showed him the receipt he had given in earlier to check if he was the same person, asked for the $10 fee and produced the passports and visas. In fact, the visas were dated the previous day, so why the messing about is a mystery – presumably the Communist bureaucracy keeping tourists in their places. We heard that the it is routine that you have to go back twice to collect your visas. He was good and ready for a beer when he got back to the hotel. We ate at the Indo-Pak Muslim restaurant – tasty food and a nice change from Vietnamese, although rather overpriced. Owner is Pakistani married to a Vietnamese woman. Booked a 2 day Mekong tour for tomorrow from the Sinh Cafe.
Left at 8:00 in a minibus, the only English speakers in a group of 14 Europeans. Our tour guide was born in the north, near Haiphong but moved to the south as a child. After 1954 when the country was partitioned, the population had 30 days in which to move from one part to the other. He told us he had wanted to marry a Chinese/Viet girl but his parents would not allow this, although it is OK for a Chinese/Viet man to marry non-Chinese.
Our first stop, not far out of Saigon, was at a place where they made rice wine, plus something stronger since they had a simple still set up. One glass was passed around for tasting (many people refused on the grounds that it was too early in the day). It tasted thick and was muddy with sediment. We saw big jars of wine with snakes and various other dead things in, including one with a whole hen, complete with feathers. Next stop was in a small village where everyone was involved in the manufacture of sedge mats. The villagers were all catholics who came from North Vietnam in 1954. Everything is done by hand: sedge is spun to form the long threads. Two girls work on a mat (2 m x 1.5 m), one threading the long pieces of sedge through with a stick, the other packing. Two girls can make 5 mats in one day. The ends and edges are then tied and the mats are dyed with synthetic dyes using stencils and big brushes. These mats, used for bedding, last only 4 months. Children in the village were very friendly and came running to greet us with wild flowers and wanting to hold our hands as we walked around. One little girl got quite upset when a younger girl wanted to hold Jill’s hand. Neither would agree to share, one hand each. The older one ran off and came back with a gorgeous red hibiscus flower for Jill’s hair. We were sorry not to be able to buy something here, but we couldn’t use a mat and there was no food/drink.
Crossed a branch of the Mekong by ferry (1 1/2 km). The bus crossed separately and we had to wait on the other side for about 3/4 hour near all sorts of food stalls, but we held off (apart from a cold coconut each) because we were told our lunch stop was only a few minutes away. Rather ordinary place (good toilets, of course) where we had an abysmal overpriced noodle soup with veg. Wandered around the market at Vinh Long, where the most prominent items on sale were yellow-fleshed watermelons. Bought a third coconut to drink and a papaya. Our guide had told us on the bus that he had two "ladies" in Vinh Long but he never spoke to them and they never spoke to him. He pointed them out to us – they were tailor’s models! We have noticed that Vietnamese seem to have a good sense of humour.
We had a one-hour boat ride, which finished up in Cantho where we were to spend the night. The boat, with a noisy long-tailed engine, was a good-sized one and easily accommodated the 15 of us. Everywhere we went, children and even adults waved to us from the riverbank. The most interesting stop was a walk through a village along the river’s edge, quite an eye-opener for some of the less travelled people in the group. We saw soy beans being crushed up and boiled in big containers until a skin forms. This is skimmed off to make tofu paper, for making spring rolls. The hygiene of the operation left something to be desired!
It was a 10-minute walk from the river to our hotel. Our guide warned us that, because of a conference and an agricultural show in town, all hotels were full. If we didn’t like our room we were to tell him and he would see what he could do. One of the group said he had heard bad reports of this hotel so we were a bit apprehensive. It was the only government owned hotel we stayed in in Vietnam and you could tell the difference, also the only one in Vietnam without hot water. It was adequate though, and reasonable value at between $8-9 (although the price was included in our package). Our room was up five flights of stairs. Maybe that was the reason when we requested a thermos of hot water, it took 20 minutes to arrive (along with a little packet of tea). We had expected to pick it up at the desk ourselves.
There was a loose arrangement to meet as a group for dinner at 6:30 pm for those interested. We stopped for a beer at a pleasant sidewalk cafe along the riverfront, facing a park and a statue of Ho Chi Minh, and ended up eating there, good spring rolls with a sweet/sour dipping sauce, and squid with vegetables. We strolled in the park which was illuminated. Lots of young people sitting on benches and strolling too. Two girls were reprimanded by the park police for littering. We were amused to see all park benches bore advertising slogans (under the stern gaze of Uncle Ho) and across the river were 5 big illuminated billboards: Samsung (Korea), Hewlett-Packard (USA), Sony (Japan), Phillips (Netherlands) and Tiger (Singapore) – not exactly what you would expect in a communist economy. Jill drank two pots of tea (10 small cups) before bed. It had been a hot day and we could hardly keep up with our thirst.
Our guide came knocking on the door at 6:00 am – everyone has to be ready to leave on time at 7:00 for our three hour boat drip. We saved time by eating breakfast in our room – coconut butter cakes, papaya and coffee. Walked to the river near the market and boarded two small canoe-like boats with long-tail engines. Went through big areas of water spinach, which can be cropped every 20 days. Whole area was marked out in small patches owned by individuals. Our boat was about 3 ft wide, the "seats" raised a couple of inches from the bottom – not too comfortable. Travelled through narrow canals lined by dwellings of various standards. Had a rest stop (this company is very good at toilet stops) at a citrus orchard with a nice garden, then a stop at a noodle "factory". Rice was ground up (in river water!) to a fine slurry then poured on cloth stretched over a steam source to give the rice paper disks, which are dried in the sun and sliced up into noodles. Unsliced they would be spring roll wrappers. . Our boat had been having engine trouble, probably caused by weeds getting caught in the propeller, and finally the propeller broke. We were all transferred to the other boat (much more comfortable seats/backrests) until ours could be fixed. Cut up pineapple was passed around – a welcome snack. We moved into the big river to see the floating market (difficult to manoeuvre with so much traffic) which seemed to be mainly wholesale. A boatload of cabbages, or oranges would be sold off by the basketload. This concluded our 3 hour boat trip and we boarded the bus for the half hour trip to Phung Hiep. Here the market is famous for its snakes and snake wines. Drying on the sidewalk in one place were thousands of snake bile sacs – good for potency and back problems we were assured. We got a quick tour of the market (only one small section was devoted to snakes and snake meat). A lot of duckling chicks were for sale at only a few cents each. Near rthe market we stopped at a rice husking mill, a large operation of Dickensian technology and almost a cartoon representation ( Ronald Searle?) of a factory, with drive belts, conveyor belts, shaking screens, dust separators, all with no protective guards, all the aisles filled with sacks of rice – dust and cobwebs everywhere.
We picked up a baguette sandwich for lunch from the market to reduce our dependency on whatever restaurant was chosen for the lunch stop. In fact, we stopped in Cantho where there was plenty of choice. Delayed in leaving because the battery had to be fixed. It was 5 hours back to Saigon, including two ferry crossings across branches of the Mekong, and a rest stop, mainly for the "crew" (driver, mechanic and guide) to have a smoke. There were two big pythons there, which many people "enjoyed" playing with. When we got back to the hotel in Saigon the family welcomed us warmly and we got our old room back.
Stopped by Sinh Cafe and were overjoyed to see that two more names (both Canadians) had been added to the list for a share taxi to Moc Bai making it a certainty. The alternative would have been to take the Sinh Cafe bus to the Cau Dai temple and pick up a motorbike from there to the border.
