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Published: June 19th 2008
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Boat Captain Extrordinaire
He rows with his feet, Tam Coc, Vietnam Vietnam really is a country of stunning beauty! We've had some trials (which we'll tell you all about soon!), and are having a hard time loving the country as unconditionally as we had when we first got here ... but despite the blah, it's still such a beautiful country! We've been in the north now for about 3 weeks and the highlights for us have been the towns of Ninh Binh and Sapa...
Ninh Binh itself isn't that great, but using it as a base, we stayed for a few days and took in some of the coolest scenery this country has to offer! The first day we rented bikes and headed to Tam Coc, which means "Three Caves" and is a waterway surrounded by scattered rice fields and giant limestone rock formations. We spent two hours lazing in a boat while being paddled through the rice fields and caves. It was a pretty touristy place to go, but we didn't mind the crowds because the scenery was so amazing! We did however, mind the dance with the vendor lady in our boat. She uh, sorta ruined the ambiance! For the first half an hour we made pleasant chit
Ladies Man?
Throw up your gang signs! chat, but then it turned to the usual "You buy something???". We declined, but she was persistant and it continued for the entire ride, which was annoying...
The second day we hired motos and drivers to take us to the village of Kenh Ga and Trang An. The villages themselves were nice, but the real catch was the ride! We've been hesitant to rent moto's because the rules of the road are so different here (uh, as in there don't seem to be any), so the experience of being on the back of one was really worth it!! We didn't see one other foreigner that day, and saw so much of traditional country life! We zoomed through villages and around mountains, seeing ladies working the rice fields, life along the river, kids playing with water buffalo (or telling them what to do, not sure) ... it was such an awesome day! Trang An is like Tam Coc, in that they have grottos (caves) to paddle through, but it is not nearly as touristic. We were relieved not to have a "hassler" in our boat, but got a unpleasant surprise at the end of the trip when our paddler
Army Boys?
Not sure if they are Army or Police, but they were having a good time! demanded we double her tip (because apparentlly 20% is not enough). We felt that paddling us around for 3 hours was certainlly worthy of a tip... but when we handed it to her, she pointed at Trevor and said "This was just for her, now you give me some." Uh, this has happened a few times; of course we said no!
And last but definitelly not least, we spent a few days in Sapa. Sapa is rice paddy country!! The train from Hanoi to Lao Cai (the connector town) was an overnighter, and possibly the most trying part of our time in Vietnam came when we arrived in Lao Cai and tried to get a bus to Sapa. It's only a distance of about 40Km, but in keeping with the whole "let's ruthlessly rip tourists off" thing, touts outside the train station start prices at $10 - $20 US per person. The actual price for the ticket is just under $2. We bartered and bartered and held our ground, but they held their ground too, and the best we could get the price down to was $3.75/person.
That was fine, but then came the men insisting
that we "pay now" because "We leave now!". We knew better than to hand over money, but they started to yell, so against our better judgement, we paid. The next hour of our lives were miserable. It turned out that the men had no intention of leaving, instead they wanted to wait for other trains to arrive so they could fill up their buses. And we had just paid, so we were stuck. We tried to get our money back, they refused, we tried harder, they refused harder, and it got ugly. The man we gave money to had suddenlly disappeared and was replaced by 10 or 15 other men who surrounded the bus laughing and sneering at us. It became a standoff: they were angry we were causing a ruckus, we were angry that we had paid double and were still sitting in the parking lot! Not good! The situation was resolved when another driver took pity on us and ushered us into his van, saying "No money, no money." We were sure that too would backfire and we'd either end up being left in the middle of nowhere or that he'd demand a ridiculous sum, but he was
a nice man and it worked out just fine.
Once we actually arrived in Sapa, we loved it!!! Many travellers head to Sapa to do monsterous treks, but that's not really our thing. We went to see rice paddies and to take pretty pictures. We did end up doing a day trek though. Our thought was that maybe we'd be walking on flat, marked trails, but uh ... we slid up and down muddy slopes, trampled through corn fields, wobbled over edges of rice paddy terraces, trekked through bamboo forest,and landed in some ginormous mud pits (that would be Ms. Kristena). We were a mess, but it was so much fun! One day was more than enough though, thanks to the excess of miscalculated steps (ie: bruised bums), the following few days were a little rough! Sapa is also known for it's minority tribes, so it was a chance to see another side of Vietnam and to get some amazing shots! The little old ladies were our favorite, they're so cute and double as drug dealers when it gets dark (not kidding, "You want to buy hashish or opium? Good price for you!").
Some other interesting
Rice Paddy Balancing Act
Just a few seconds later her foot went in! things ... we've been noticing a big difference between what we "think" we've ordered restaurants vs what arrives at the table. Trevor notices it most with his coffee ... it's been an ongoing (daily) struggle since we left home. Coffee doesn't exist in the rest of the world like it does at Tim Hortons! Sometimes it's thick enough that he can chew the grains! Once it happened another time with "banana bread". The menu said "banana bread", leading us to think we're getting a beautiful moist piece of baked bread with mashed up banana chunks ... but uh ... the waiter brought to the table a white bun and two fresh bananas. Voila! Banana and bread! Carbonara pasta is usually a gamble too ...sometimes it's a plate of raw eggs, other times some mayonnaise and ham on spaghetti, one time it was just butter ... we've given up. Fried rice it is! And once it happened with "hot sauce", the waiter brought a little bowl of chopped up chili peppers. It makes us laugh and reminds us that one way of doing things at home is not necessarily the way the rest of the world does it! Anyways, enjoy the
The Water Buffalo Showdown!
This man was yelling and screaming, because we took this picture! pictures!
Trevor and Kristena Rule the World ... Heh Heh Hehehehehehe :D
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Adrian
non-member comment
that's awesome how you guys get to see the real Vietnam. too bad you always have to deal with people ripping you off. and I though Egypt was bad. yikes.