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Published: February 11th 2008
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Alas, Vietnam…
After hearing a lot of mixed opinions about Vietnam, we weren't quite sure what to expect. Upon checking it out for ourselves, however, it proved to be one of the absolute high-lights of our trip thus far!
Hanoi is a vibrant city full of colours, sounds, smells (some good some bad), people, and yes tonnes of motorbikes. OK seriously, four million people live here, and 3.5 million of them drive motorbikes. It is crazy and dangerous if you are new to Hanoi. Crossing the street at any given time of day is risking certain death. 😊
But we enjoyed it here. There is so much to see, so much going on. After a while it gets a bit overwhelming, especially with the motorbikes grating on your nerves. But dollar for dollar, this place rocks. It is so cheap and what you get is amazing value for money. We’re talking full-on meals for less than $1: eat until you can eat no more.
There's lots of strange shopping to be had at the local markets. You can pretty much get anything you want including live eels, frogs, dogs, and various other disturbing meat products.
It was a bit tough for us to see, but here it is normal life and survival. They are carnivores to the extreme, and seeing it all kinds of turns the stomach-- especially for the vegetarians. The locals seem to love dogs as pets, but love them even more on a skewer with a bit of sauce. Sorry. I’ll stop now.
Spent a few days in Hanoi, then signed up for the famous trip to Halong Bay - which did not disappoint. It is one of the most breathtaking places we have ever seen. It almost seems haunted. Except for all the boats and tourists everywhere. We imagine what it would have been like even 5 years ago. So amazing. Check out the pics for yourselves…
After Halong Bay we returned to Hanoi for a few days and did a proper city tour which was, yes, touristic but proved very interesting and worthwhile.
Next stop was our lovely little trekking extravaganza in Sapa, a town in the far far north of the country, and only 3 kms from the Chinese border. It was so beautiful there as well, and we took so many pictures that we cannot possibly share
them all. But we snuck in a few to give you a taste. Essentially, Sapa was a French colonial town built on rolling hills and is surrounded by the very primitive villages of the indigenous peoples. It is an experience all unto itself. And it was cold - We’re talking ‘see your breath’ cold in Sapa. We had to buy fleeces and long pants-- in Asian sizes none-the-less. And that tends to make a person feel extremely large when the XL doesn’t even fit! You can imagine Ron’s dismay to find his XXXL sweater more form fitting than the boob-tube top of a bar girl at hooters 😊 So in other words, if you need to stock up on clothes, don’t do it here. But on a serious note, Sapa is a must see if you ever get the chance. And staying at the long house with a traditional family was a great experience for us too.
Next on the agenda was a little trip down to Hue: not so exciting for the downpour of rain, but a cute little place anyway. Didn’t do much here except sample the local cuisine and try to see the sights. Which
was indeed not so fun in the rain.
So we moved on via overnight bus to the lovely HoiAn. The bus ride was hideously unpleasant. Never take an overnight crowded bus if you can help it! But the place was lovely. We loaded up at the tailor shops with great quality, well-made clothing, from suits to winter coats, to dresses, to ties, to even shoes. Yes we had shoes made. There is something great about having a pair of shoes that you know are custom made for your own feet. So we sent home over 12 kgs of stuff. (Thanks again Anita for putting up with our unending need of postal pickups and storage!!!). Next time I go to HoiAn I am fully scouring every fashion magazine for all the latest unaffordable clothes and bringing the pics with me. They seriously make anything! Highly recommended.
After HoiAn we went down to Nha Trang, which is the famous Vietnamese beach town. Would have been oh-so-enjoyable but for the rain again. So no real reports from the beach aspect. This is the place where we hooked up with our Easy Riders motorbike friends who took us on an amazing and informative tour
from Nha Trang to Dalat. The journey can be done via bus on the freeway in about 6 hours or so, but we took 4 days on the bikes on back-country roads. We loved it. This is the way to learn about and experience a country-side. These guys stopped at many interesting and educational local places and we got to see how things are really done in Vietnam. These country people work hard, using only hand tools and lots and lots of hard labour! Try carving stones the size of a Volkswagon Golf into squares of half a meter size, using nothing but hand tools. Like I said, hard labour. Saw loads of cool stuff on the bike tour, and had a great time with Son and Phuong. Again, highly recommended.
Finally, 4 days later we arrived in Dalat which is a big and quite beautiful lmedium-small city with lots going on. Loads of market-like shops, and fresh fruit with people hustling and bustling everywhere. And yes, millions of motorbikes here too. And cold again. But pretty and pleasant, with crisp mountain air. We spent a few days here just hanging out and seeing the city, then headed off
to Saigon. We quickly caught our flight out of Saigon to Bangkok, so did not see much of it.
And that ends the Beautiful Vietnam part of our adventures! In a nutshell, loved it here with its diverse and gorgeous landscape and friendly welcoming people. Kinda hard to understand why the Americans bombed the daylights out of it. I guess ya really gotta watch out for all those dangerous Buddhists of the world.
You should go!
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