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Published: November 3rd 2008
Wet Vietnam
The first few days were wet and misty, but the scenery was still impressive We crossed into Vietnam early in the morning with tender backside from sleeping on the benches at the Lao border. We decended to Dien Bien Phu with heavy rain and a skeptic mind as Carl had filled both me and Carter with scare stories of Vietnam when he visited 10 years ago!!
The next 6 days we cycled through unspoilt mountain scenery towards Hanoi. Along the way we came across some mega friendly hill-tribes as they waved at us, shouting "hello", giving us fruit and posed for pictures in their colourful dresses. This was the opposite of what Carl and Rob received 10 years ago... I think it might have included stones (but this is a completely different area)!! The traffic was light, but you could see the potential building up as we got nearer to Hanoi. The lunches were very different around here, as we were given a buffet style lunch, with a big bowl of rice, tomato and tofu dish, BBQ pork, spring rolls and green tea all for 70 pence each. Mad!! We also met a few other cyclist who were doing the Hanoi, Sapa, Dien Bien Phu section.
The run into Hanoi was
interesting to say the least. The traffic got crazy the closer we got. There are very little cars on the road but many buses, trucks and millions of scooters. There is no problem with them over-taking you as they give you loads of room, however when they are over-taking coming towards you, you need to have your wits about you.... There is an average 13,000 deaths a year on Vietnamese roads!!! It is one of the worst places in the world. We will let you do the maths per day.
All in one day we had a truck run us off the road as he was overtaking a scooter, we saw a poor young dog meet its maker as it shot out in front of us and under the wheels of an oncoming bus (luckily for us the bus driver kept his nerve and did not swerve towards us), and finally a truck loose its load of red-bricks onto the following car...
The closer we got to the centre the less truck incidents we saw, but these were replaced by scooter incidents. Hanoi is truthfully the scariest city I have cycled into. Red lights mean nothing,
as scooters fly through like they are on a suicide mission. Your side of the road can have two-way traffic to look out for, with scooters nipping pass you and predestians just crossing the road without a care in the world. We actually realised that the safest way to cross the road was by just walking straight out in front of the traffic whilst looking ahead and the traffic will hopefully just go around you..!!
Hanoi is a bustling city with mayhem happening on most street corners and down the alleys of the old quater, it was around here that we found the bargin of Vietnam. From 5pm most evenings little shops with "Bia Hai" open up and sell glases of beer from the barrel for a massive 9 pence a glass. We got giddy one night and a few too many. It was after this night that I realised that I am no longer young and that if I have anymore than 2 glasses of beer in one evening I now feel very rough the morning after... I did not drink anymore alcohol in Vietnam after that, however I have now become addicted to lemon flavoured green
tea instead!! Makes you feel better about yourself!!
We checked out the different museums showing Vietnams history from the influence of China and France, through to the independance of Vietnam from France in 1954, with the key battle at Dien Bien Phu through to the American War (known as the Vietnam War in the west) in the late 60's and early 70's. The propaganda photos and posters used by Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese Army are pretty impressive for both the war and the re-building of Vietnam after the war. Carl's favourite was "Look after your buffalo and your buffalo will look after you!!!" (He even pruchased one)
Hanoi is scattered with lakes throughout the city, it was in one of these lakes that American President Candidate John McCain was shot down into in 1973... He can now no longer lift his arms above his head due to the torture that he received whilst in Hanoi "Hilton" Prison... (A bit of history for you there...) Ironically all the photos that you see of the US soliders show them making Christmas decorations and playing volleyball or sat in communal areas reading. Sounds just like Guantanamo
Bay!!!
We did an overnight trip to Halong Bay, where after a 3 hour bus journey we appreciated the fresh sea air and leg room!! Halong Bay is classed as one of the natural wonders of the world (well its trying to be with a campaign going at the moment for one of the new 7 wonders). With its limestone jagged rocks and island scattered around the bay with lush green vegetation growing on some of the bigger islands, it is a very beautiful place, it's just a shame that it is full of tourist ferret touts. We did visit a cave, which was only found ín 1993 on one island and was the most impressive bit of the trip especially with all the different coloured lighting that they have placed inside.
Afterwards we spent time relaxing on the boat as we sailed past other islands and then into a private bay where we did a spot of kayaking and swimming, this is where Carl met one of the local jelly fish!! He was a brave boy and managed the pain, thankfully we had some insect sting cream with us!!
Due to only having
26 days on our visa we had to cover some of the northern flat section by train. This was an experince in itself getting the ticket and handing the bikes in the night before ... were they going to get there, would we ever see them again??? We then covered 500km in a slow and steady 15 hours that actually went fast thankfully to a lovely Vietnamese family who fed me fruit and coffee on the way down. (Carl and Neil were sat in a different section... their lost!!)
Hue was our next major stop as we started to see some of the destruction caused by the American bombing, one church was riddled in bullet holes and had half of the roof missing. The scenery was also very barren and sandy looking due to the effects of extensive bombing and Agent Orange. Small trees are just starting to stand on their own without support.
Hue is an old city with a large wall and old section, with a large 30 m flag pole seen for miles around. It was here that Carl tried his one and only 'chick hard bold egg'. Put it this way I
Vietnamese milk
They also do great chocolate, ice cream and yogurt was not hungry!! Whilst in Hue, Carl found the deaf cafe that he had visited 10 years previously with Rob. It was this place that inspired him to study sign language and work with deaf people.
The only bad thing about heading from north to south is that you end up on Route 1, which is very busy in sections. We wanted to do the Ho Chi Minh Trail, but time was against us, so we had to put up with crazy buses and trucks over take us with oversized loads, however this does not compare to the loads that the scooters carried, varying from ducks and chickens (20-40 on a bike); full sized pigs and dogs (2-6 on each bike getting ready for slaughter, dogs are popular at the moment!!); and full sized washing machines and freezers. The list keeps on going... The other dominant thing about Route 1 is the noise, it never stops, from horns blarring to the different reversing songs from the Lambarda, Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday with my favourite being Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star beeping out in a cheesy doorbell sounds. There are not many places in the world where you get
a experience like this though.
We went over Hai Van Pass, which is a lovely climb with the ocean to our left and lush greeness to our right and offically is the cross over between north and south. Da Nang is the first major city/town you hit and it suddenly feels alot more westernised and major, plus this is where the Americans landed during the Vietnam war. It was then onto Hoi An an old river town, which is influenced by Chinese and French style buildings. It had lovely architecture and was very nice, but we had a lack of time to explore and it was very touristy.
The days heading south started early with an average get up between 5.30-6.30am to cover the long miles and avoid as much heat as possible. Unfortunately the further we headed south the higher the temperature rose, meaning many a cold refreshing drink stop was needed. Carl and Neil soon became addicted to Vietnamese ice coffee, which is very strong and sweet over here. Imagine your typical Italian male orientated cafe, times that by 3 then you will get close to what the cafes are like over here... It
was great being the only female in these establishment, especially when I took my helmet off and they saw I had blonde hair!!!
Much of the scenery on the way down was a mixture of rice fields, forests and mountains. With some gorgeous golden arched bays, many with colourful blue, green and red wooden fishing boats. The pattern seemed to be 2 days of flat followed by a mountain range to climb before another couple of days of flat. Put it this way your backside was greatful when you came to a climb. Many of the local farmers where harvesting the rice and putting it straight into a thrashing machine. The left over shoots and bad rice was then being dried at the side of the road, along with coconut and mushrooms. This created a nice obstacle to avoid on a already busy and not to wide Highway 1.
Thankfully we left the flatish coastal area and headed towards Dalat and the mountains. However, before we could go any further Carl had to do some bike maintenance, or neither of us would be able to climb. He finally changed the middle front ring, cassette and chain after
doing 9500 miles since leaving the UK, he was pretty proud how well he had maintained them and how much we had got out of them in the 10 months. We then climbed from sea level to 1500m up a very Alpine-like climb onto a mini plateau before it climbed steeply over the last 500m. It felt nice to stand out of the saddle after so many days of doing long flat miles...
Dalat is a big Vietnamese tourist town, where the locals come to cool down at this altitude from the usual 30*C at lower levels. Truthfully it felt bliss not sweating our butts off, not having to listen to the hum of a fan all night and yes wear a fleece.......... We gradually decended over a couple of days from Dalat towards Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) with the rain properly getting us as we cycled through forests, paddy fields and river valleys onto the plateau. The closer we got to HCMC the busier that traffic became, but thankfully nothing compared to Hanoi.
HCMC is a lot more modern compared to Hanoi with more plazas, cars and western advertisement. We spent a couple of
days there investigating the War Museum, which is one of the most graffic museums I've ever visited as you see photos of the effect of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese people and their children in the years to follow, with some of the worst photos from the My Lai Massacre. There is even a glass jar containing 2 feotuses of deformed babies.
We also visited the Independence Palace, which is where you have the famous photo of the tanks ramming the gates down at the liberation on 1975. Notre Dame Cathedral, Rex Hotel and the Post Office are both lovely architectural buildings surrounded by the height of posh plazas and parks. HCMC is a place where you could relax for quiet a long time.
Vietnam has been a real pleasent surprise compaired to what we where expecting. The people have been really friendly, the food has been great and the hotels/hostels have been good and even better than a lot of Thai places we have stayed in. Vietnam is a country that is moving fast with a lot of influence coming from China, Japan and Thailand. We started on a caffeine high as we entered the
The tank
This is the famous tank that knocked the gates down going into the Palace in HCMC country so we decided to finish on a caffeine high as we had one last ice coffee stop before we crossed over the border to Cambodia... Magic...
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stotty
non-member comment
jobs..
i think all 3 of you need to get jobs and work...like me