Vietnam - The land of 10000000000 motorcycles

---

English version below... 29.3. - 8.4.

Uh...toliko casa se ze nisva javila po blogu, da neveva vec kje naj zacneva. Skratka tokrat objavljava dva bloga zaporedoma, prvi je Vietnam, drugi pa juzni Laos (da ne bo kdo kaj zgresil😊

Torej po naporni 28 urni voznji z avtobusom sva koncno prispela iz zaspanega Laosa v hekticni Hanoi...1000000000 motoristov na cesti naju je takoj zbrihtal😊 V centru sva nasla enega najboljsih hostlov oz. hotelov za 10$ na sobo...cisti luksuz! Naslednji dan sva cel dan prezivela v centralnem Hanoi-u, kjer nama je Uros splaniral celo walking turo, ki je vkljucevala vse od marketov do muzejev, do shopinga in kosila z lokalci na ulici...res super dan! Za naslednje tri dni sva rezervirala izlet v Halong bay, izjemno lep in lahko bi rekla velicasten zaliv iz katerega "strli" nesteto kraskih stolpcev. Tako sva naslednje jutro ze sedela na najbolj turisticnem avtobusu in se za tri dni prepustila obcutku kitajskih turistov z vodicom z zastavico😊 Cela tura je bolj ali manj nateg ce si dopustis da ti pride do zivega...ampak mislim da sva kar dobro skozi prisla, ker sva se navsezadnje. kljub dezevnemu vremenu, imela odlicno!
Prvi dan svo vec ali manj "kruzali" okrog otockov, se ustavili v eni lepsih jam, kar sva jih kdaj vidla (res da ze dolgo nisva bila v Postonjski😊 in noc preziveli na ladji. Drugi dan so nas ze ob pol 7h skipali v kajake, kjer smo si lahko malo bolj od blizu ogledali par zalivov in stolpicev (otockov). Sledil je kratek vzpon na enega od vrhov Cat Ba otoka, ki je najvecji izmed otokov Halong Bay-a, kjer smo bili delezni super razgleda popoldne pa imeli prosti cas na Cat Ba otoku za raziskovanje plaz. Imela sva to sreco, da je bil tisti dan ravno velik festival, saj je na ta dan pred 50leti otok obiskal Ho Chi Min (kar je ocitno cel big deal😊 Tako, da je bil otok poln lokalcev iz neturisticnih delov Vietnama in so naju vsi pozdravljali, se hoteli slikat z nama (Uros je bil seveda se vecja zvezda-so skakal zraven njega da so videli, ce lahko skocijo tako visoko...) Zvecer mi je Uros kupil Fifija...no sej boste videli😊
Tretji dan je dezevalo kot iz skafa tako da smo bolj ali manj pobrali sila in kopita in sli nazaj v Halong Bay, kjer sva prakticno samo zamenjala avtobus in sla z spalnim avtobusom! v Hue.
V Hue smo prispeli enkrat zjutraj, kjer je se vedno lil iz skafa...spet nama je uspelo dobiti odlicno sobo, z enormno teraso in super pogledom za 8$(nevem kdo je rekel, da so prenocisca v Vietnamu ful draga in bedna!) Koncno sva dobila priloznost updateat blog potem pa sla okrog po mestu. Hue nama je bil zelo vsec, se posebej naslednje jutro, ko sva rentala motor in si sla ogledat 3 temple malo izven mesta. Narava v Vietnamu je resno cudovita...vse je zeleno! Popoldne sva ze sibala v Hoi An, v mesto krojcev kjer sva si reeeessss dala duska in prakticno tri dni pocel skoraj nic drugega kot hodila od krojaca do krojaca. Uros si je naredil zelo lepo obleko za Juretovo poroko, jakno, zimski plasc, dve srajci. Jaz pa 4 oblekce-ena bo za poroko. Cez 4 dni sva koncno rekla kar je pa prevec je pa prevec in zapustila Hoi An (ki ima mimogrede super mestece in ima eno lepsih plaz!) in se odpravila proti Laoski meji. Ce primerjava Vietnam in Laos so vietnamci definitivno bolj energicni, kar ti velikokrat da veliko boljsi obcutek kot zaspani Laoscani, ki jih moras prakticno prosit, da ti kaj prodajo. Problem pa je, da imas v Vietnamu skoz nek beden obcutek, da so te nategnili za ceno...torej pot v notranjost, proti Laosu je bila ena velika in naporna nategavscina, non stop eno pregovarjanje in cisto predolga. Ko sva po 9h urah koncno prispela v KonTum (mesto blizu meje) nama je bilo ze tako vseeno, da sva sla samo v prvi hotel, ki je bil napisan v Lonely Planetu in jest! KonTum ni bil ravno nekaj posebnega, sicer sva pa potiho ze komaj cakala da greva spet v Laos.

Se pravi ne pozabit prebrat naslednjega bloga o Juznem Laosu!

ENGLISH VERSION:

First of all...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

OK..We're a little behind with our blog updates but we try the best. So to continue where we stopped...we left the North of Laos and started a pretty silly journey...we decided to go on a 28!!! hour bus ride from Vang Vieng directly to Hanoi in Vietnam...and asa you can see, we survived. The ride was pretty funny in a way...first we had a easy 4 hour ride to Vientiane where we changed the bus for Hanoi...we started at 19:00. OK..we're driving for couple of hours and then in the middle of nowhere the bus stopped..the driver puts the lights out and goes to sleep in the luggage compartment...and we're all like WHAAAT?? So the time was around 1 am in the morning...totally dak outside and nobody spoke English or even try to explain us what is going on. So after a while we discovered that we're waiting for the border to open which was 7am. BUT...why does then the bus starts at 19:00???? Anyway..we made it to Hanoi.
Hanoi was a big change from sleepy Lao to a really energetic Hanoi where even crossing the street is a problem.. I mean this city has soooo many motorbikes on the street!!

Otherwise we were really surprised by the Vietnamese people..they were really friendly (coz we heard a lot of bad experiences from other travellers). We went around the city, did some learning at history museum, had some problem with our passport and visas, normal stuff 😊

Then we went on a 3day/2 night organized trip to Ha long Bay. It was the first really "organized for mass tours' trip we took, but it was fine. we went with a boat around the bay..got some spectacular views (even that weather was not that good), visited some caves, did some kayaking,... First night we slept on the boat and the second on the island (Cat Ba). We had this luck that there was a festival right the day we were there so we had a lot of concert and some shows...we also met some locals...they wanted to take pictures with us, again :P

After ha long bay we went straight to Hue...on a sleeping bus...it was a first time We ever took a sleeping bus...pretty funny. We arrived in Hue, which we really liked. We went with bikes around..again met some really nice locals...details of sightseeing at the picture sections :P

The next city was Hoi An...or tailoring city...and thats what we were doing for the next 4 days. There is hundreds of shops with tailor made clothes...basically you step into a shop..point out what you want..and they make it in a day tailor made for you. So this was the result 😊) Uros: 1 suit, 1 jacket, 1 winter coat, 2 shirts, 1 slippers 😊) Anja: 4 dresses, 2 slippers 😊) Ok we also went to the Beach one afternoon but that was it from the city. Otherwise...really nice city but we had to leave. The city we wanted to go was not really a common tourist city so also the way to there was strange. First we had to take a motorbike journey for 10km to an intersection where we stopped the bus (minivan) on the road which took us to Kon Tum. But a lack of English speaking people resulted in a misunderstanding of the way. So we did not go on the direct road for 5 hours but all the way around for 8 hours. And they even dropped us only in the nearby city so we had to take another bus, hehe. But we made it. The reason that we wanted to go to Kontum that we crossed the border back to lao there and it was the closest to south of lao.

What can we say about Vietnam in general...we liked it..specially the nature...everything is really green..and also the people are friendly..except in some cases where they want to really screw you for your money.

So till next time...

p.s. there are two different blogs this time...one on Vietnam and one on south of Lao. So you can read both 😊)
Uros & Anja

---

Photos

Hanoi
Busy streets...crossing the street is a big problem :)

Hanoi
interesting architecture

Hanoi
The best room ever (for 10$)

Hanoi - old quarter
Hoan Kiem lake...and the island in the middle

Halong Bay
Ha long means 'where the dragon descends into the sea'

Hoi An
Really nice beaches

Kon Tum
A perfect garden for breakfast

Hoi An
Vietnam is really green

Hanoi
first church in couple of months

Hanoi
The best room ever (for 10$)

Hanoi
Bikes everywhere

Hanoi
no really...bikes everywhere

Hanoi
Hoan Kiem lake

Hanoi
Hoan Kiem lake

Hanoi - old quarter
Enjoying bia hoi on the street

Hanoi
Railway goes straight through the town

Hanoi
Telephone wires