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Last Day in Ha Noi May 22
The last night in Ha Noi was not so good cause my iriver (music player) busted and I couldn't fix it. That has to be fixed since I will be travelling long ass distances in China on train or bus. Need to drown out the hoarkers! Totally sux. I was catching the overnight train (9:55pm) so I had all day to do nothing once again. Well actually I went to pickup my china visa in the morning, which thankfully was ready. But the only thing that I didn't think about was the fact that it was activated the date of issue (17 May), so I have already wasted time not being in China. Doh. I went to the Ho Chi Minh masoleum and the museum after visa pickup. Man, now just being in such an organized line was something else. I had to leave my bag with my camera and other crap at the front and was a little weary because she said to be back to get it at 10am and it was already 9:15am. She said that I could do it but I had my doubts. Had to pass through
security and give my phone to another counter which you get upon exiting. 9:45am I was still in line, way in the back and not even part of the single line to the masoleum. There were two lines and you had to be 2 x 2. I felt like I was in primary school...surprised we didn't have to hold hands. Once my section of the line was allowed to proceed, it just kept moving as more people filed into the masoleum. Walking into the masoleum was quite chilly, guess it has to be to be Uncle Ho from melting. We were herded up stairs and came around the corner and into a darkened room with Uncle Ho in the middle of the room in a lit up glass casket. I was kinda creeped out by it. I went to put my hands in my pockets and as soon as I did that, one of the many security guards started approaching me, and I remembered reading that you can't have your hands in your pockets. Now I don't know if it's really Ho Chi Minh's body or from Ripley's Believe or Not wax museum. That took all of 5 seconds. Once
out of the room and descending more stairs to leave the masoleum, I looked back at this Aussie couple I was chatting with in line and made some humorous comment but got chastised by another of the many security guards. Whoops. Hehehe. It was exactly 10am when I left the building, I picked up my cell phone and burned it back to the entrance to get my bag. Bag safely on my back I headed for the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Now this was a very weird museum - abstract, kind of collage of his life. Walked back to the old quarter, no hits by motos, didn't see any muggings so it was a good day so far. Since I still had lots of time to kill I went to a real cafe, like back home, not some whole in the wall, and had an "expensive" earl grey tea while planning out my China travels. Had my last tasty dinner of steamed rice and veggies at this one guesthouse I went to for most of my Ha Noi dinners, and then took a moto to the train station. Oh ya I totally splurged on some new undies (15.000vnd - close
Village girls that kept us company on our walk through Cat Cat Village
but then wouldn't leave us alone for the whole time we were in Sapa. "You buy from me".to a dollar) but I thought I was paying for Calvin Klein instead I got Kalvin Klain - what a rip 😊
The night train from Ha Noi to Lao Cai wasn't that bad. I paid for a hard sleeper on the top bunk (166 000vnd - ~$10USD) with no A/C and was expecting a worse experience than the time on the Bangkok - Chiang Mai train sleep. But it was actually pretty decent. I was in a cabin with 5 other vietnamese guys that seemed to have a/c and had a door so you didn't have to deal with people walking by. The hard sleeper wasn't even that hard because the mattress was alright. I was worried about where I would put my big bag but there was a compartment for those on the top bunks by your feet to put bags. Pretty damn sweet. I talked with two of the guys in my cabin, one his english wasn't very good and the ones was very good. Again they always ask how old I am and whether I am married. Still cracks me up cause they are always surprised when I say I am not married considering my
age. Put my eye shade thing on so I could sleep and busted out my earplugs just in case and ya I totally needed them cause there was this real bad snorer. It was brutal. I got some sleep though but not much.
SAPA - May 23 - 24
Arrived early morning, I think around 5:30/6am. Too early for the touts but they were there offering minivan rides to Sapa. The first guy said 50.000VND and I just laughed in his face. The foreigner price is 25.000VND (local price 10.000VND). He asked what I will pay and I told him 10.000VND and he just didn't bother with me anymore and went to find other suckers. As soon as he left there was another one right by my side. He was saying the foreigner price, again I laughed and told him 10.000VND but he said everybody including vietnamese pay 25.000VND. Ya whatever but he wouldn't budge. Ran into Tom (british dude I had met in Sen Monorom, Cambodia) in the parking lot. *Don't remember if I mentioned in previous blog that I ran into him in Ha Noi* So we were together again, crackin' jokes. How I missed his
smart ass remarks to the moto drivers and touts. Hehehe.
The drive was beautiful, passing over the Tram Ton Pass, the highest mountain pass (1900m) in Vietnam. The mountains were pretty damn high and lots of rice terraces, just what I have been waiting for - one of the many visions when one thinks of Vietnam. Tom and I shared a room for $4USD, so 2 bucks each - cheap cheap! I mean it did have cockroaches but it already trapped under a tea cup, I assume from the previous guest. The hot shower felt super good and I totally took all the hottness. Hahaha. It was nippy outside but I wanted to wash my only pants so I had to wear my skirt with my running shoes cause it was too cold for my flip flops. I felt kinda gay wearing a skirt with running shoes but it reminded me of when I was super young, when I wore a dress with whiky kicks. Had some really bad breakfast. The fried eggs I got were basically deep fried I think. You just never know what you are going to get when you order fried eggs. These ones were
the worse yet. Met the first maritimer, a Newfie, Shannon!! She was fuckin' rad. She was teaching in Taiwan for 2.5 years and was heading home but with a couple of stops in SE Asia. I totally couldn't tell cause she lost her Newfie accent but sometimes it would come out. Hehehe. She met up with this dude from Denmark, Espen and we all went for a walk to the closest village, Cat Cat. Along the way, we ended up with 3 followers. These girls were from another village but accompanied us for the whole time we toured the village and even all the way back to town. We knew why either had to pay them or buy something from them but they made for good pictures. Cat Cat village was alright but the surrounding views were awesome, in a valley surrounded by treed mountains and rice terraces. The villagers went on about their daily functions, like putting yarn on spools using this cool leg controlled contraption (resembled a reclined bike), transporting sticks and harvest on their backs in baskets, and whatever else they do. It was pretty steep in the last leg of the walk but this was on
the road which wasn't really scenic but of course there were moto drivers just waiting to relieve us of the pain of walking. They saw us coming a mile away and one guy even ran up the mountain to be the first guy to get our business but unfortunately for him he wasted his energy cause we didn't want his service. At the bottom of the hill more motos were waiting but I think they were a little preoccupied with whatever card game they were playing...that was until Tom yelled "moto" and they all jumped up and ran to us. Hahaha cruel joke. Saw several marijiuana fields, randomly among the rice paddies. Back in town our followers hit us up for some money but not asking directly for money but to buy bracelets or something from them. I didn't get anything although I do regret not getting this one bracelet, I just wasn't in the mood to bargain with her.
At lunch, Astrid and Jacob, the two Canadians I did the Ethnology museum with in Ha Noi walked into the restaurant after their 2 night Fansipan trek. I couldn't chat for long cause my stomach was not liking the
museli I had for lunch. It was totally the feeling like the one in Kon Tom after eating the soup. I felt barfy and total explosion out my arse. Feeling somewhat better I headed back to the restaurant to see if the Astrid and Jacob were still there and figure out buses to China. Because I was already losing valuable China time, I decided to leave a day (24th) earlier than intended. I figured as well, I already saw one village in Sapa and I was going to rent a moto with Tom for the afternoon to see the surrounding areas of Sapa so no point in sticking around an extra day. They also came to the same conclusion so we all got "discounted" bus tickets to Kunming. We paid $23USD for the
12 hour, air-con with toilet, sleeper bus, plus 30.000VND for the minivan to Lao Cai but being taken directly to border (extra 5000VND).
Tom and I shared a moto while Shannon got her own. Sapa is beautiful! It is the best to get out on your own, out of the town or city to see what else there is around. The landscape was gorgeous, what you
picture when one thinks of Sapa or northern Vietnam, rice terraces covering the mountains. We went up this one mountain side and I finally got a decent photo of a guy plowing the rice paddies with a water buffalo. There were huts up the mountain, kids killing a snake with a stick, and a lady carrying a load of wood on her back taking a rest and talking a cell phone. Heading back to town, I just couldn't get over how beautiful and peaceful this place was. It was nice to just be able to take in and enjoy the scenery while Tom drove. We asked for dog at dinner and the waiter guy said it wasn't on the menu but they had it. Well once we sat down and ordered drinks then the food. He told us, there wasn't anymore dog but tomorrow. Ya whatever. Bastard. So I had to settle for chicken and rice while Tom got wild boar. Heading back to the guesthouse the village girls, other ones from earlier, whom I liked because they didn't push you to buy anything, they just wanted to chat, walked and talked with us. They kept insisting that I marry
their uncle who was 19 years old but I kept saying that I was too old for him. Hehehe those girls were cool.
Didn't do much the day of leaving. Went for a bad breakfast of banana crepe with honey which didn't even fill us up, packed my shit up and checked out but left luggage at reception. Said goodbye to Tom who was renting another moto for the afternoon. He was catching an overnight train back to the hateful city Ha Noi. I roamed the streets and met up with Shannon, we hit up a bakery for some treats then went for lunch cause the breakfast was just not filling at all. We went back to the place we had dinner the previous night. All I wanted was bread and jam but this time they didn't have any jam! No dog, now no jam! I braved another fried egg but it was actually decent, no too oily and some yok still runny. Shannon tried to explain scrambled eggs but he didn't get it because she didn't want a fried egg. Well she got a really greasy omellet, and this was the worst yet. She had to send it
back cause she couldn't eat it. Hahaha funny. I'm surprised this dude didn't charge us for the extra tomato we ordered and all the trouble we cause him. Boh well. Said goodbye to Shannon and went to get water and goodies for the sleeper bus with Astrid and Jacob.
The minivan picked us up at 1:30 but didn't actually leave Sapa ti 2pm cause we had to fill it, not excessively so, which was a good thing but it was still annoying, driving around town then waiting at this bus stop area. While waiting, I saw the two british chicks I hung out with in Dalat. They had just arrived but that is pretty much all the info I got cause the van was leaving. We got dropped of at the travel agents to pickup our ticket for the sleeper bus but we ended up getting screwed out of 5000VND (hahah not that much) cause the border was like a 2 minute walk and the guy said we would get taken there directly. Well that is what we paid for so we asked for it.....got the girl to walk us there. Hehehe. I still had like 260.000VND (~$16USD) on
me and wanted to change it for USD at a bank but the one I went to didn't exchange.....which sucked.
Leaving Vietnam was an easy process. No lines. We just went straight through with no problems. So long Vietnam. Hello China!!
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scenery is awesome!