"Sin chao" from vibrant Vietnam (1)

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“Sin chao” everyone (“Hello” in Vietnamese),

I’ve already been in Vietnam for a week now and everything is going fine! The good thing is that everything is cheap here. After I’ve been paying very high prices for everything in Australia, these low prices are a good relief. A couple of words to describe Vietnam the way I’ve seen it so far: “Cheap, chaotic, beautiful, charming”. Overall my experience here has been good so far. I’ve been a little bit sick for a couple of days though, I got a cold but it’s all better now. I might have got the cold due to the air pollution here in Hanoi. The currency here is the Dong: For 1 US$ you get about 16.650 Dong and for 1 € it’s about 21.250 Dong.

When I left Sydney, Australia, I flew to Bangkok, Thailand (via Hong Kong) where I stayed just 2 days and I only rest and relaxed there...didn’t do any sightseeing or so whatever because I’ve already been here about three years ago. I just took massages and I also had an appointment at the same hospital where I spent a week after my eye-infection. The same doctor checked my eye and everything was fine. Recently there was political unrest in Bangkok, but I didn’t notice anything other than a street that was blocked by the police (which was near mu guesthouse).

With Air Asia I flew from Bangkok’s new and modern Suvarnabhumi Airport to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and former capital of North-Vietnam. The city has more than 6 million people and is a big, chaotic, polluted but charming city. Most buildings have three-or four stories and have a narrow shape. On several buildings you’ll see French architecture. The traffic here is very bad. Thousands of scooters and cars trying to move around the streets of the city, especially in rush hour it’s crazy. The Vietnamese economy is growing at a steady rate and in 15 years the half of these scooters could become a car...which means a massive problem for the city if they don't improve the infrastructure and especially public transport. The air pollution in the city can be very bad, which is the reason why many locals wear like a nose-and-mouth cover mask. At the airport I took a shuttle to the Old Quarter, which is basically the centre of the city and the area where most accommodation, restaurants etc. are concentrated. The ride costed 50.000 Dong (US$ 3). Locals in the shuttle were paying less than that. This is typical for these countries, always ripping you off. Off course US$ 3 is still very cheap, but still prices should be equal for tourists and locals. Food is very cheap. A proper dinner with a drink shouldn’t cost you more than US$ 3 or 4. On the streets several sellers try to impress you with their goods so you buy from them. When asking the price, always say you’ll pay less than the half of the amount they tell you....finally you’ll end up paying around the half. I bought a very good (quality) pair of flip-flops for US$19, but she started with a ridiculous price of US$35. When taking a taxi, always take one with a meter and ask in advance if they use a meter. Some refuse to use a meter and try to charge you too high prices. Finding a place to stay was easy in town. Jason and Frances from the UK, who I met in the plane, also stayed at the same hotel as I did. Just US$10 per night for a single room, nothing luxurious, just basics but including a decent breakfast and 1 hour free internet per day. We explored the city together as well, visiting the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Ho Chi Minh was minister president and later president of the communist-governed “Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. The museum dedicated to Ho Chi Mihn’s life and work in Vietnam. One of his dreams was to re-unite South and North Vietnam, which became true after the USA lost the war against North Vietnam in early 1970’s. Ho Chi Mihn died at the age of 79 in 1969. Today he’s still seen as a national hero who fought to liberate the Vietnamese people (from the French imperialists) and had the best wishes and desires for it’s people. However many Vietnamese who fled the country and/or experienced the war, hate Ho Chi Mihn and think differently about him.
Around the museum there is also the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where Ho Chi Mihn’s embalmed body is displayed (couldn’t get it, the place closes at a ridiculously early time) and the Presidential Palace. We also visited the Temple of Literature which is the site of the oldest university in Vietnam, founded in the 11th century during the reign of King Ly Nhan Tong. During this time, Vietnam was occupied by China and that’s why there is a lot of Chinese influence all around the country.
At the remnants of the Hoa Lo Prison you could see how prisoners were imprisoned and executed, what clothes they wore etc. The prison was built by the French imperialists in 1896. It was the largest in North Vietnam and a place were thousands of patriots and revolutionary fighters were imprisoned and tortured, both spiritually and physically. During the Vietnam War, this prison’s inmates included several American soldiers and pilots arrested in North Vietnam, including Senator John McCain, who is a candidate to become the new president of the USA. Only one-third of the prison still stands today and is used as a museum.
The Vietnamese people in general are very short, and, like most other Asians, very shy. Not as many people here speak English compared to Thailand for example, but I think it will get better in the near future as more and more tourists come to Vietnam. People eat a lot of rice in Vietnam, not a lot of meat but more vegetables. Most places where you eat, they only give you chopsticks instead of cutlery. When you ask for a fork and knife they'll give it to you, but it's interesting to try with the chopsticks. It's not too difficult.

I spent 3 days in Halong Bay, which lies 4 hours east of Hanoi. I booked a 3 days/2 nights tour in Hanoi. The bay consists of thousands of limestone islands and rocks of different sizes and heights. I spent one night on a boat and one night on Cat Ba Island, which is one of the largest islands in the bay (maybe even the largest of them). On Cat Ba Island we did a trekking through the rainforest, going up a hill from where you can enjoy nice views of the area. During the trekking it rained a little which was not so great, but I was prepared. Halong Bay is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam, both for locals and tourists. There are several nice caves in the area which were impressive, but too crowded...too many people visiting the caves. There are beaches also in Halong Bay, but they’re not very nice. The water is not very clear, it’s like a light green colour. There are also several fisherman villages in Halong Bay, floating villages. All the houses here have at least one dog. I kayaked around one of those villages. People are always waving and saying “Sin chao”. In Halong Bay I bumped into Romain and Michael by coincidence, who are two French that I’ve met in Darwin....the world is small (they are really cool French I must say, not like that other one I travelled with 😉 ).

After Halong Bay I made a trip to Sa Pa, which lies in the northwest, close to the border with China. The highest mountain in Vietnam, at about 3142m, also lies in this area. I arranged everything at my hotel to go to Sa Pa. I took the night train from Hanoi. The trains are in good condition and I slept well during the trip. The train takes you to a town called Loi Cai and from there it’s another 30km to Sa Pa, which lies further up in the mountains at an altitude of about 1600m. There was a bus ready to take all of us to Sa Pa, where we had breakfast. The town of Sa Pa has less than 10.000 people and another 40.000 live all scattered in tiny villages all around Sa Pa. In Sa Pa we did a lot of trekking, which is basically walking through the valleys, near the rivers, across suspension bridges and through the tiny villages and I stayed overnight at a home stay, which is the home of a local family. This family had a TV and they ad mobile phones, so it wasn’t too bad for them. There is a lot of poverty in the area, it again reminds me of how lucky and fortunate we are. But the poverty is not extreme because there is enough food and there is running water and electricity in the villages, although not everyone is connected. Many kids don’t go to school, you see them walking and playing in the fields. Some even try to sell you stuff. But there is not a lot of begging around. The area of Sa pa is home to many Hmong people, which is an ethnic group who lives in southern China and northern parts of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. The largest group of Hmong people outside China (more than 3 million), live in Vietnam (ca. 900.000). These people have their traditional clothes, but I’ve only seen women and girls with traditional clothing. You see them everywhere in groups, sitting down and sewing stuff, also the little girls...I always ask the women if the girls don’t go to school. Our guide, a 21 year old Hmong girl, was married for just a week with a 17 year old guy. This guy was not Hmong and he had to pay 8 million Dong to the parents of the girl because he married her. That’s a well expensive choice he made at such a young age and he still owes 6 million Dong 😉 . Tourism is now obviously a very important source of income for Sa Pa, but other than that agriculture has always been important. The whole area has rice fields, lying on terraces on the hills. You’ll also see many water buffalo’s and dirty pigs in the area.

Now I’m back in Hanoi where in a couple of hours I’ll board a sleeping-bus heading south. I’ll get off in Hoi An where I’ll spend just two days. I’ll skip Hue due to lack of time, a pity. I’ll try to write a blog next week again from southern Vietnam.


Have a nice day,
Elton

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