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Published: October 22nd 2007
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i have now reached the relative calm of the relaxed city of savannakhet in southern laos, having escaped the motorcycle (and other) madness that is vietnam, earlier today.. vietnam is, despite its smallish geographic area, the 11th most populous country in the world, and it feels like it, people everywhere!!! still it is the most enjoyable place so far on this trip.
i spent 4 days in hanoi, good to find some good food. ie fresh baguettes, tropical fresh juice and cakes, after the relative culinary desert of most of my route thus far.
everything was so cheap in vietnam, especially with the american dollar so weak, as everything here is priced in dollars as well as vietnamese dong. a 3 course meal in a decent restaurant including drinks can be had with change from a 100,000 dong note (the equivalent of about 3 uk pounds!!
lot of hassle from people wanting to sell stuff, counterfeit lonely planet guides, necklaces, cyclos, shoes, old bananas(!), hammocks, t shirts, tailor made suits etc. some you just say no to, but a few suddenly seem to have forgotten what "no" means in english!
the classic hassle is from people on
the back of motobikes, of which vietnam is the world capital for sure. they are everywhere, when the parked ones arent blocking the way, the ones with drivers are either trying to run you over (because you have to walk on the road as the pavements are for motorbike parking!), blast you with there over used horns, or offer you dubious. albeit cheap, services, eg the "4 M s":
1. Motobike taxi (usually to a dodgy club full of whores or similar, or to a equally dodgy rip-off joint posing as a shop).
2. Marijiana.
3 "Massage", either by the driver, or to be taken to another dodgy place masquerading as a beauty salon, but is likely just a front for a brothel.
4. the final desperate line when all else has failed, you want ME, play bom bom?!
needless to say (and because my mother is reading this blog!)
i studiously refuse all offers from the backs of motobikes (something ive learnt from thailand), even when they grab your arm tightly as you walk by! though its easier in vietnam for myself as most of the offers seem to assume you are a hetrosexual man, whereas in
TAKING THE TRAIN FROM HANOI TO HOI AN
NICE SCENERY, SHAME ABOUT THE WEATHER! thailand i guess they are very much more gay aware...and where there is a whole industry catering for that market.
talking of which i plan to arrive in bangkok next saturday 27th october, a few days early, which allows a week for immersal on the bangkok scene, before the tefl course starts on 5th november.
from here in savannakhet i am taking a bus further south in laos, down to the city of pakxe. then on friday im taking the overnight sleeper (my final train journey for a while i hope) to bangkok from ubon ratchani in northeastern thailand.
to get here, i took a bus from Hue, in central vietnam. i spent last night night there, its one of the biggest cities in vietnam and attracts tourists due to some old temples and tombs (im not really a temples and tombs person, but the city was nice enough and quite lively as it was a saturday night. the bus was meant to be a direct non stop tourist air con bus, however it wasnt, we had change twice, two different cramped minivans to the vietnam/laos border and a deprepid painfully slow Lao local bus from there,
HOI AN BY NIGHT, DAY 1
I ARRIVED THE SAME EVENING AS THE FLOOD WATERS WERE REACHING THEIR PEAK IN THE OLD TOWN! so was a total scam. shared the journey with an ok dutch guy and two fairly annoying chain smoking european female teenage gap year travellers. i shant bore you any more about my instant dislike of them!
before Hue, id spent 3 days in the charming old town of HOI AN, which was a bit of a small detour south, but worth it. last time i went there i was too ill to enjoy it and i also accidently threw my film with pictures of it away a few days after... it is about the only place in vietnam that has old buildings. it is also a great place to pig out on very cheap french/viet "fusion" cusine. There was a nice beach there, although the sea was too big rough for swimming, with huge pacific rollers coming in every 2 seconds (its the only place in mainland se asia that is fully exposed to the ocean, ie not protected by other land masses or islands). unfortunately i caught the sun that day, as i fell into the old trap of not thinking i was getting much sun, because it was cloudy and blowing a gale, but alas i
was!
to get there, i had took the train from hanoi to hoi an, which was 8 hours late getting in due to delays caused by severe flooding on the line. this was still from typhoon "lekima", which had hit the area a fortnight ago. we spent several hours at a standstill waiting for the tide to go out in order for the train to safely pass over the submerged tracks! but we got through eventually. before we hit the floods the train passed accross the old border between north and south vietnam, which is still rather a desolate place where little can grow due do various war effects...and interesting to see a lot of american jeeps still being used as tractors!
by the way, all the blog pics you can view full size by clicking on each one...
I will also do one more written blog when i reach bangkok next weekend, and that will then be the last one for a while.....as i will have reached the end of this epic journey!
ps thanks for the comments, and i hope its been a enjoyable read so far.
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