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Published: March 30th 2009
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Well after all the stories we read and heard from fellow travellers, we expected the worst for Vietnam. To begin with the traffic is supposed to be manic and also the people are supposed to be more stand-offish and all out to rip you out. For us, the journey into Vietnam was fairly pain free although the border crossing was a little odd, they take your passport from you then call out names one at a time to come forward and receive a entry stamp, not the quickest of methods. We arrived in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh) and found the place to be fairly laid back along the main tourist stretch. Finding a hotel was fun as we were directed to several ones in a small chain before finally arriving. At that point we made our first road crossing on foot. I have been crossing roads alone for as long as I can remember, but this experience is something else. We had heard that it is best to cross with locals, keep moving and never step back once you have committed yourself. It was a little scary at first but soon we had mastered the act. The city itself is
like lots of asian cities with many new western chain stores and local markets intermingled. As we had a 14 day visa, we decided to have a day in the city and visit the War Remnants Museum. There are several rooms exhibiting many hundreds of photos from the French Colonial, the American war of the 60's and 70's through to the continuing effects of Dioxin chemical deforrestation agents used in the jungles (the infamous Agent Orange).
The following day we headed north along the coast, by train. to the seaside town of Nha Trang. Here we chilled for a couple of days with walks on the beach before taking a night bus to Hoi An. The journey was not too bad, the bus ticket was for a sleeping seat which you could actually get a few hours sleep in. We arrived fairly fresh and decided to take a morning tour of the local ancient ruins, a little like the 'poormans Angkor Wat'. The town of Hoi An is famous for tailors who will happily supply any garments, made to measure. As we had no space in the luggage we declined their offers and moved on to the nearby city of
Hue to the north.
Hue was the ancient capital and has the remains of a Vietnamese 'Forbidden City', where the kings lived with there many hundreds of wives and concubines. We also took a tour of the many Tombs in the area, but quite frankly, they were not so impressive following our days around Siem Reap. Heading north overnight we arrived in the capital, Hanoi. Damp, foggy, cold weather greeted us upon arrival as did the many thousands of scooter drivers. These guys have to be seen to be believed. Crossing roads is known to be hazardous in Vietnam, here the pavements are of little to no use, as they are used as extra scooter lanes. Pedestrians are the lowest form of life here, and as such, are completely ignored by nearly everyone. We both decided that spending too long here was not an option and we therefore booked a trip to the far north of the country for a couple of days trekking in the hills. The trip began with an overnight sleeper train and then a coach trip through the winding mountain roads to arrive at the village of Sapa. This formed the base for the trek, which
involved 2 days walking through the rice terraces and small settlements of the area. We were guided by a local girl who told us much about the typical lives of the locals and the impact tourism was having on the place, both positive and negative it seems. We spent a night at a very basic yet very friendly homestay in a small village with a group of fellow trekkers from all over the world. We arrived back in Hanoi the following morning at 5am and immediately - well, we had to wait for the agency to open at 7am - booked another overnight trip to Halong Bay, to see the famous off shore limestone pinnacles and islands. We had feared the weather would be less than great as it had been fairly miserable recently so we had a good surprise with sunshine and clear skies during our day around the Bay in Junk and kayak. The kayaking was real cool going through short cave passages into almost secret lagoons. That night was spent on a private island with a few other couples before the return journey to Hanoi, including a couple of hours cycling across the island of Cat Ba,
for our flight connection back to Bangkok.
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