Mountains, Junks and Dead Pigs

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One of the purposes for us in writing this blog is to make sure we don't forget the little things, the special things that tend to slip away in the mass of material that floats by while we are travelling in a new country. We haven't been in a position to post for the last 10 days and already some of the details may be fading. A function of age perhaps but also, possibly, just a function of how much we are seeing and enjoying.

Having been in the country for 3 weeks now we are probably becoming qualified to comment on the way it works. At first you wonder whether there are any rules at all, particularly as you are immersed in the traffic, but you realise fairly quickly that, notwitstanding the motorbikes going every which way, push bikes doing u-turns on highways, buses blasting their horns and driving through an intersection and cars overtaking in the face of on-coming traffic, very few dead bodies are in evidence. The traffic struggles against a very serious infrastructure deficiency. We have hit some good roads and clearly there is a lot of work going on but, even when the road is new, there is always a bone shuddering bump as you enter or leave a section. The concept of smooth roads has not made it to the road builders here.

Leaving the roads and traffic aside there are other systems that work, or that almost work. Rubbish collection for instance. If you don't want something you simply dump it. This makes for countryside that would cause an environmental health officer to have nightmares for years. There may be some system in place to get rid of this rubbish but it is not in evidence and, if it is there, it isn't working well. In towns people keep their own area clean and tidy, including their street frontage. If paper and sometimes plastic builds up they will burn it right there on the street. There is a rubbish collection that seems to happen daily with a person with a cart and a bell whose job it is to gather the rubbish from a street or an area and bring it to a point where a truck picks it up and takes it to the dump - or possibly just to a roadside somewhere. Streets are washed or swept pretty regularly and the cities that we have been in are generally cleaner than some other cities we have been visited.

It is not possible for a visitor to walk down the street without being approached to buy something - books, watches, cigarette lighters, fruit, motocycle rides or cyclo rides - but there are relatively few beggars. Once or twice a day you might receive an approach from a beggar but they are very quiet and, so far, never harrass or push the issue. It may sound bad but most of the beggars are reasonably well dressed and don't appear to be in too distressing a state. Maybe it is the social system that operates or maybe it is the work of the state but most people seem to be able to make some sort of living doing something that provides, at least, for their basic needs. If you can legitimately judge a country by the state of its poorest people then Vietnam seems to be doing better than a lot of other countries. I should say though that it is unlikely that we have really been exposed to the poorest of the poor.

The other system that we have observed and that seems to work is that dealing with tours. We have now taken a few shortish ones and they have all worked. You do tend to get what you pay for. So far we haven't felt that we paid a lot and got less than we should have but we haven't bargained all that hard on tour prices. It seems that you can bargain hard but, you can run a risk of downgrading the level of quality of the tour. You don't seem to be told of this at the time. Of course, as seems typical in SE Asian countries, it often looks as if nothing is going to work but, eventually, it kicks in and you get to where you are going.

While I wouldn't become to carried away about it, there is a difference between north and south Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City was frenetic, Hanoi is frenetic, but maybe not quite as frenetic. The traffic is not as crazy here and I don't think it is just that we are becoming more used to it. In Hanoi people go to sleep at night - or at least go quiet. In Saigon they seem to be going all of the time.

One feature of all Vietnamese towns and cities is the parks and central squares. Even in relatively small places you will find a central park normally with a very well manicured garden and sometimes, as in SaPa, a large fountain that sprays water everywhere.

Back to the chronicle.

The hard sleeper from Hue to Hanoi goes into the 'Experience' category. I should make it clear that it wasn't really that bad but it wasn't something that we would repeat without a good reason. You see Tet takes a long time to go. When we were travelling so were a lot of other people. Hanoi people going home after the holidays with their children and a lot of luggage. We had allocated berths so no worries about having a bed. It might be hard - I didn't know that you could get foam mattresses that skinny - but we had a bed. In the compartment were 6 bunks occupied on our arrival by 9 soundly sleeping people. Tickets shown, hand signals given, children woken, baggage shifted and we had our two spots. Not a lot of room for our packs so one of the big ones plus the day packs had to join us on our bunks. The kids settled down reasonably quickly, the smell of cigarette smoke gradually faded, the rhythm of the train kicked in and we slept or dozed for about 12 hours.

The stories of the Hanoi taxis and hotels with people being carted to places they didn't want to go and being charged large amounts for the privilege had reached us. We had booked a place through Hostelworld and had arranged a pick up at what was probably a pretty high amount. Other travellers we have met have not had a good experience with pick ups but, so far, for us they have worked. Our hotel, the Loyalty Hotel in Hang Hanh, is about 200 meters from the Hoan Kiem Lake. We have a view of the street and the noise, but then nothing is perfect. There is also a building site next door but so far it has not been a problem. At $22 USD for the two of us including breakfast it seems to us to be a good deal.

The plan was to get ourselves up to SaPa and HaLong Bay leaving our packs in storage in Hanoi. We booked our tours at the Mahn Dung Guest House. This is a popular backpacker place and recommended in Lonely Planet. We didn't actually stay here. It was more expensive than the deal we had at our other place but it was very friendly and the atmosphere of the place was welcoming. They certainly looked after us on the tours we booked. The staff were some of the best we have come across.

The train to SaPa is another overnight sleeper and doesn't actually go to SaPa. In fact, it goes to Lao Cai which is about 3 kms from the border with China. We arrived in Lao Cai about 6 in the morning. A bit of frantic activity when we found we were actually stopping at the Lao Cai station with us trying to get off the train before it took off again. It didn't take off again. This was the end of the line but we didn't know that and no one around could tell us. They just helped us get our stuff together and smiled.

It was fairly warm in Lao Cai. We were happy with this. We had heard horror stories of the cold in SaPa but had checked the weather in Lao Cai and it wasn't too bad so we had left most of our cold weather gear behind. Travelling light. Lao Cai is just 37 km from SaPa. But SaPa is lot higher up. We hadn't counted on that.

Bus to SaPa and into the hotel - a large, cold hotel. The program has changed and we are to do the 12 km trek today rather than tomorrow. A quick re-pack to get just the essentials into one daypack for the two of us and off we go. 12 kms is not a long way and we have often walked the distance in a day but we have very little recent experience of walking up and down steep slopes on muddy paths. The Northern Territory just doesn't have hills like this. I should say that the first bit was on the sealed road. After that we walked down into the valleys through the rice terraces. The scenery was spectacular. Of course it wasn't always realistic to look at the scenery. A failure to concentrate on what your feet were doing could lead to slippages that, for the locals and the 5 younger Australians on our tour, were not too much of a problem, but had me with visions of having to clamber out of here with one leg if a knee gave way.

We were accompanied on this trek by local ladies and assorted children who operated in relays as we hit their villages. They chatted to us along the way, helped us through the difficult parts and generally provided company. There was no hard sell - until we came to their village. Then it was on. Smart business really. By the time we made it to their particular village we had a relationship. We knew their names, ages (they lie), their children, etc etc. It is hard to say an outright no to them. So we didn't and ended up with cushion covers and other assorted material that we were unlikely to buy otherwise.

The night was spent in a homestay in the vilage of TaVan. We stayed in a larger house with a room upstairs with mattresses where the 5 others on our trek slept. Being old and a couple we rated a double bed in a room on our own downstairs. There are advantages to being old on occasion. The food was excellent, the company was fun, the beer was not expensive and the rice wine - a bit like a rough sake - made by our host and stored in plastic bottles became better and better as the night wore on.

For entertainment the next morning we had the killing and butchering of a large pig directly across the narrow road from the homestay. The killing of this pig was done in the way that I believe it used to be done most places. A spike driven into the jugular and the blood gathered for later use. None of this quick death business here. About 4 blokes killed and butchered the pig in a little over an hour. Not one for the RSPCA.

The next day was just an 8 km trek. No sealed roads this time. Up and down through a bamboo forest to a waterfall. A bit more difficult than day 1 but satisfying. We both made it to the end covered in mud but without injury and without embarrassing ourselves too much in bringing up the rear for a lot of the way.

Our guide on the trek was a 19 year old girl who speaks the best English we have encountered from a Vietnamese with an interesting Australian/New Zealand/South African accent. She did her job very well paying attention to whether people were getting tired, giving useful advice as necessary and, most importantly, being prepared to chat about any subject along the way. We found out a lot about the life of ordinary Hmong, customs, lifestyle and beliefs which made the trek doubly worthwhile. Unfortunately, she doesn't read English but I hope that she has the chance to learn in the future. She is a mature and intelligent girl who should go far.

It wasn't excessively cold down in the villages. We were comfortable. Not so when we made it back to SaPa. Seeping wet cold that gets into your bones. By the middle of the afternoon the entire town is covered in a heavy mist that doesn't lift until the next morning. Our hotel room was nice enough. Even had a bath, but it was cold and there was no heating of any kind. By dinner time - a couple of hours - we decided that it was either get a heater or find some firewood. A check at reception and for a paymentof 50,000 dong (little less then $5) we had an electric heater which took the chill off the room very quickly and gave us the added advantage of being able to dry our washing.

Our third day was only a short trek down to a village that is set up for tourists. Our Australian backpackers had moved on and the new group of 6 people may not have enjoyed the longer treks. We were very lucky in hitting the one morning of the year when the local village puts on a celebration to mark the end of the Tet. Hundreds of people all in traditional dress engaged in a range of games and activities all gathered in a large rice paddy. It only lasted for the morning and when it finished everyone went home. We went back to town and hung around SaPa until it was time to head down the mountain to catch the train.

Apparently, the drivers prefer to make the trip down to Lao Cai in daylight. We were pleased with this.

Back to HaNoi and to the Mahn Dung Guest House to pick up our bus to HaLong Bay. This was supposed to be a flash sleeper and quiet. It was nice but it was not quiet. The train was probably the noisiest we had been on but it got us there.

A change to the train timetable meant that we made it to HaNoi an hour or so earlier than we was originally scheduled. We weren't sure whether we had a pick up but, in any case, were quite confident that we could get from the station to the guest house without difficulty. The usual mass of taxi drivers and others were there but after all of our practice in the mountains what is a short walk in the suburbs? We decided to hoof it.

It was nice walking through the streets at 5.00am. I like the feel of a city that is waking up and the traffic is more quiet. Unfortunately, we turned at precisely 180 degrees to the direction we should have taken when we walked away from the station. No problem though. We eventually sorted ourselves out and headed back the way we should have gone. There are dangers in being relaxed walking the city streets in the morning. I headed across a road and came the closest I have come to being taken out by a motor scooter carrying a massive carcass of a pig. A squeal of brakes and a bit of cursing and that was that. Just brushed me but it could have been messy - for both the pig and me.

The trip to HaLong Bay takes about 4 hours in a bus. Yet again the roads are not terrible. It is just that they are not smooth for distances longer than a couple of hundred metres at a time. Where sections connect there is always a bump and, at the back of the bus or over the wheels, the bump becomes a nuisance after a while.

The system worked again and we ended up on a boat for an overnight stay. The weather was OK but unfortunately it was pretty hazy. The Bay has hundreds of limestone karsts that are formed as islands. There are caves, caverns and shapes of all types. The waters of the Bay were completely calm for the time we were there. All in all the place is beautiful. It seemed to us to be reminiscent of the Hundred Islands off Lingayen on Luzon Island in the Phillipines but not as laid back - but that was many years ago and it is probably quite different now.

We sailed, under diesel power, out among the islands and outcrops along with a hundred or so other similar boats. Once we were into the area, though, the majority of the other boats disappeared. For most of the next couple of days there were a few boats around but, except fot entrances to caves or special areas, it was in no way congested. The boats/junks come in a variety of forms. The 'proper flash' seemed to be larger, have higher quality fitting out and probably better tucker. The middle range (ours) had an upper deck for sitting and sun bathing, a main cabin for eating etc, and 7 or 8 cabins, including a couple with double beds. The food was OK without being great. The breakfast was not particularly good but then I was not eating so didn't really care.

Again being older and a couple came in handy and we were allocated a room with a double bed and an en-suite. Another couple of the same sort of vintage were allocated the other one. We did have a drama caused, I suspect, partly by the Vietnamese approach to yeild management and partly by the recalcitrance of an American traveller. It seems that our guides, or someone, had assessed the number of males and females against the mix of double and single cabins left. They punted, I think, that they could have the males share rooms and leave the one 'additional' female in the only single room. Probably would have worked out except that one of the older Americans insisted on a room on his own. He asserted that he had paid more than anyone else for his berth and had some sort of anxiety problem. Anyway he forced the issue and a woman was forced to share with another older American bloke. She was not happy about it but wore it after expressing her concern. The guides were left in a difficult position but didn't take the option of telling the first bloke to get a grip and sleep on deck or on a bed in the room he was allocated.

We were only there for 2 days but HaLong Bay was a very pleasant interlude. Quiet, relaxed and not in any way frenetic, even though we were required to eat when we were told to do so.

Now back in Hanoi where we will see the sights, get our third rabies shot from the competent and well organised Medical Clinic, try to get a broken filling fixed, perhaps buy some clothes, try out as many restaurants as possible, continue getting ourselves organised for India, Iran, Syria (?) and maybe a bit to do on the African trip to come later in the year. Oh, and recuperate from a bout of gastro that I seemed to have picked up somewhere.

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Photos

Hoan Kiem Lake
In Hanoi near our hotel in the Old Quarter. Lights at night make it look a tad better than it may in daylight

Mucking Around
in the moonlight

A Giant Ginger
root. Note the special effects in getting the image of the watcher into the photo

Soft Sleeper
Not to bad at all this one. The extra people plus their baby arrived a little later.

SaPa
and yes we walked down there - and back up again

Morning
View from our homestay at the TaVan Village

Wonders of Technology
An Ipod brightens up a day. I guess they will be all over here in a few years but this was a first.

Pat and our Guide
looking into the mist

They Smiled
and then hid their faces. Smiled again when I showed them the photo but would not look up again.

Crowd on the Hill
Just a small part of it really. there were several hundred people here all in traditional dress - which seems to be everyday dress pretty much

Getting to the Top
It wasn't easy. I could see a lot of Aus mothers freaking as their kids headed up this pole. Money was involved

The Start of a Race
Straight up the hill. At a sprint. Through the paddies and over the bushes.

The Winner
has the red flag. The bloke with the blue one came second but he didn't make it back down before we left. Too buggered I suspect.

SaPa in the Mist
Every arbo about 3 o'clock down it comes and it doesn't leave until the mid morning

Sun through the Star
Another bloke took an age trying to get this shot. I lucked it in on the first go

Comments

[s]

Hope you get better soon, old man! Can't take too many risks at your age.

[SusieQ]

Very impressive photos. Hope the gastro didn't last too long.