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Published: October 19th 2011
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Colorful market
that is the main market in Hanoi Crossing the border from China, suddenly the house style changed, narrow and tall houses are built there, now I am in Vietnam, heading to Hanoi. Arriving in Hanoi, the bus stopped on a street, and that was final stop, it didn't look like a bus station, and then I discovered late the most of bus in Vietnam just end on street.
There are another two people coming to travel together, Lais from Brazil and Gundi from Latvia, and we stayed all three in Tracy Lee house, a very funny and active couchsurfer from Hanoi.
The traffic in Hanoi is some kind of chaotic, actually it is the way to drive in Vietnam, and we rent a motorbike there, it is really a good option for transportation, also very cheap, about USD 5 per day. There are so many museum in Hanoi, really a good way to understand more about Vietnam, and basiclly there 4 phases, Chinsese influency, French influency, Vietnam War and nowaday. Last in Hanoi each one of us had different activities, Lais went a cooking class, I went to a small village by motorbike, and Gundi went to Halong bay, so she will take a train by 11PM, Lais
A mess of wires
There is a typical electrical system in Hanoi and me by bus at 6PM.
Leaving Hanoi, heading to Hue, a city in the middle of Vietnam, near to old DMZ, which divided the North and South Vietnam. Actually I wanted to go by train, but somehow the train in Vietnam is very expensive, like almost 4 times than bus. Hue was the capital of Vietnam in the empire time, there is a forbidden city also, just like China, tombs and pagodas are also the sights of the city. After one day tour in the city, Lais decided to leave Vietnam and go to Thailad, then join us later in Cambodia, Gundi's train broken, so she arrived quite late in Hue and she didn't have a city with us. I decided to rent a motorbike to go to DMZ by myself next day, and Gundi will have a city tour.
Drive motorbike in Vietnam is nice, it is cheap, easy and it gives a huge freedom, the bad thing is Vietnam was raining too much. DMZ is about 90km from Hue, but my destination was Vinh Moc tunnel, a incredible underground system made to hide from American bombing, it is a little farther than DMZ, driving about 100 km
City and farm
in Hanoi, the extension of the city is the farm, or the extension of the farm is the city? under rain was crazy, but the scene of countryside was interesting enough to distract me, I just couldn't take the pictures on the road because there was raining too much.
Next place was Hoi An, a old but modern city, famous by your laterns and some ancient building around, but I just stayed few hours there, and I was going to Nha Trang to get a bus to Da Lat, Gundi decided to stay in Hoi An one more day, then she will meet me again in Ho Chi Minh city.
Nha Trang is a beach city, when I arrived there the weather was wanderful, it was 5 AM, I spent few hours there, walking on the beach, seeing the Vietnamese to have fun there and doing exercise, that was really relaxing, the beach culture is always the same, relax.
On the way to Da Lat, there was a old man sitting by my side, and the last thing I expected was he could talk English, so he surprised me, basically we talked almost the whole 3 hours trip. Da Lat is the highest place in Vietnam, also was a favorite place of French, that is why the constructions have
a lot of European elements, there were also a lot of waterfall around, but that was a pity, because it still raining, not strong but enough to make me stay only one night, then I am going to Ho Chi Minh city, the last city of my Vietnam trip, also to meet my father, he is living there.
On the way to Ho Chi Minh city, I met a interesting girl, Loan Pham, a Vietnamese from Switzerland, she learned the Vietnamese from home, but she didn't like to use because the people didn't treat her well as when she talked in English, I am in Vietnam as foreigner, so I always felt Vietnamese very friendly, but as Loan Pham said, the treatment for foreigner is better than for Vietnamese, that was same in China.
My father was living in Vietnam for more than 15 years, so talking to him I start to understand better the Vietnamese language, that is basically Chinese words with French grammar, it made a mix of France and China in Vietnam, romantic and sexy from French, traditional and believing from Chinese.
During the day my father had no such time because of his work, so he
Motorbike
The most popular transportation in Vietnam, also the easiest way to reach the places leaved me with Sunny, a lovely Vietnamese Chinese girl, she showed to us a lot of delicious Vietnamese food, we found out the price for foreigner is more expensive than local one, the difference could be more than 4 times in some cases, sometimes I just be quiet and they think I am a local, I also found out the tickets control wasn't tight in some museum, also in Cu Chi tunnel. Sunny has a huge will to travel around, but she is blocked by traditional thinking, these days we did a lot of things, she was very happy doing the new things, and I hope she can really do what she wants, at least I think that is the way to make people feel happy.
Ho Chi Minh city is not the capital of Vietnam, but it is the most developed one for sure, my father said only Ho Chi Minh city is responsible for 40% of paid tax in Vietnam, but this is not the reason I spent almost 5 days there, that was my father, I planed to visit him when I started to plan this trip, I think I don't remember anytime we had a lot
of conversation like this time, that was amazing!
I will miss Vietnam for the freedom of motorbike, for the foods, for that traditional Vietnamese dress, for the people I met there, and specially for my father, see you all.
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