Hello's, Goodbye's And Lots Of Smiles in Vietnam

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Well it's been quite a month in Viet Nam (well, short of a month by 5 days and can't quite believe where the time has gone!). I've spent some time relaxing in Hanoi (it is possible, once you get used to the thousands of motorbikes and cyclo drivers all trying to give you a lift/run you over), chilling at the beach, trekking in the northern highlands visiting tribal villages and getting some clothes made down on the coast! In between times, I said goodbye to 2 absolutely great travelling companions (more about them later) and hello then goodbye to 2 of my best friends from home - so all in all, a busy one!

I crossed the border into Viet Nam from China at the Friendship Pass, having taken a variety of transport - train to Pingxiang near the border, then an auto-rickshaw (tuk tuk) to the border itself. This was a laugh as we marched off the train and were met by a bloke with a Mandarin phrase book with bits handwritten in English that he showed us at appropriate points such as "trip to the border?/what price will you give me in my auto-rickshaw?/do you want to change money?/do you want to change more money?/(and my favourite phrase) don't worry, this money isn't fake". The 3 of us crammed into the little 3 wheeler with our bags as we weaved in and out of the traffic, heading to the motorway-type road, as we braced for being blown over by anything larger than a car that passed us. Rob's leg was hanging out the back as he clung on to the fabric walls and we got a brief respite when we stopped at the bottom of a hill, giving the engine a breather (we were clearly proving a test)! This also gave the driver the opportunity for saying "do you want to change more money" - we all just laughed and off we went again.

We eventually got to the border and walked across the Pass and through the border gates. After filling out the various forms to get let out of China and then into Viet Nam we were on our way. I was cross-questioned about my passport as at the time of crossing I had a beard (and yes, ok, less hair than in my passport picture, but it was 6 years ago!) and I was told it didn't look like me, but as I knew when my birthday was, I was allowed in. We then had to pass a medical test. Thinking the worst (surely not the Marigold rubber gloves, please, no) we were asked to pay VND2000 (about 6p) and were given a ticket and hey presto, we were healthy enough to be let into Viet Nam (our money was clearly good here)! Then it was a taxi ride and then bus to Hanoi. We'd been looking forward to crossing at the Friendship Pass as it was where my travelling hero, Michael Palin also crossed, under the stone archway. Unfortunately, it's currently undergoing a lot of construction work so doesn't look quite as spectacular as when he was there but then we didn't have a BBC camera crew with us! Whilst on the subject of Michael Palin, I should mention Will and Rob's brush with fame with the man himself in Latvia. Clearly looking like locals, some guys approached them asking if they knew any local folk tunes as they were making a programme for the BBC. As they looked around, confessing that no, their knowledge of singing didn't extend that far, they noticed a man saying to camera "Hello, I'm Michael Palin". The man himself - and they even managed to get a photo taken standing with him. Talk about jealous! Well, guys, maybe it was a good omen to meet him as it was a great trip indeed (does that mean I know him by association?).

It was then by taxi and finally minivan to Hanoi - we were dropped in the centre of the Old Quarter and found our way to the cool Hanoi Backpackers Hostel in town which was our base for the next few days. Hanoi is a real hub-bub of lovely old buildings with French-looking upper parts whilst underneath is a mixture of homes and shops. Different streets specialise in particular things - there's a street where you can get glasses made, another makes motorbike seats - they all hang up outside the shops, whilst another has men and women working on sewing machines mending and making clothes. Other streets specialise in household goods, one street smells of glue and pesticide whilst around the corner you can get metal cabinets made. Workshops fixing bikes abound, people working to keep the fleets of motorbikes running. Nearby you'll find a lone person sat on a stool with a bike pump and a bowl of water, ready to fix any bike punctures. People sit out on the street on small plastic chairs eating and cooking - their doors open showing inside their front room, with TV and beds towards the back. Large groups of people congregate, eating the lovely street food - pastries, some of them fried and containing meats and veggies and drinking the local brew called bia hoi. This is a fresh beer - so no preservatives, is ice cold and costs about VND2000 a glass (the same price to be declared fit and healthy at the border!).

You can never escape the sound of the street - cars and bikes honking their horns. There never seems to be any aggression - people hoot to say they're coming through and that's it. People accept it and move out of the way - and everyone gets where they're going to. If someone's bigger or faster than you, you give way. (Imagine that at home - there'd be fights breaking out all over the place with stresssed-out drivers not wanting to give an inch, but still arriving at their destination, just more wound up than when they left). I haven't seen any accidents (apart from a few westerners with bandages on, presumably from having a go on the motorbikes on their own) - it all just works. Crossing the road is exciting - you have to step out into the middle of a road teeming with motorbikes whizzing towards you and keep walking. Everyone then judges your speed and drives around you but only if you walk slowly. If you run, you're done for - although it does feel like the best thing to do sometimes! A good way to get around is to use a motorbike taxi - sitting on the back with someone who knows what they're doing is so exhilirating - they manage to find spaces that never existed, weaving in and out of the traffic and all of a sudden, you've arrived. Usually with a huge grin from ear to ear. Alternatively you can opt for a slower more sedate pace, by taking a cyclo - a 3 wheeled bike with a seat at the front. These drivers show no fear (maybe it's because you're their front crumple zone?) and they just laugh and ring their bell as they amble into the middle of intersections. Everywhere you hear "motorbike?" or "cyclo?" as you walk by, to see if you want a ride - when they see you shaking your head, they reply with a shrug of the shoulders and a resigned look, "maybe later?". Everywhere I've been so far it's been the same and everyone laughs - locals and travellers alike.

After a couple of days in Hanoi the 3 of us took a trip to Halong Bay to spend some time on a junk and go for that much needed swim. After 3 months of travelling, this was the first sea I'd seen since the Arctic Circle (and no, I didn't swim there!). As we moored up amongst the beautful islands of Halong Bay, we jumped off of the boat and 3 month's dirt and travelling grime just seemed to wash off - it was so beautiful, like jumping into a large, warm bath. The junk was lovely - we slept onboard for 1 night making the most of the drinks under the stars and the next day we cruised to a floating village, home to maybe 100 people, complete with a primary school and fish farms, which was where we bought lunch for our seafood barbecue. They farmed all kinds of sea life - including a type of shark, horseshoecrabs, king prawns and various types of fish. We then headed off to swim some more and to relax on the beach (where I'm ashamed to say I fell asleep whilst everyone else swam!).

The next day we sea-kayaked through some beautiful caves and into a sheltered lagoon to watch bats and monkeys and although the kayaking was hard work (we were actually going backwards at one point, despite paddling the right way!) it was a great way to explore the coast. That night we headed to an island 3 miles from Cat Ba island to stay in some beach huts on stilts, overlooking the bay. This was idyllic - our small group of 12 were the only people here and we enjoyed another meal of seafood together, watching the lights of Cat Ba in the distance and grateful we were somewhere so quiet instead. After a few games of pool listening to Jack Johnson and sipping some local Halida beers, we were sufficiently mellow to see the night out.

We headed back to Hanoi the next day and this was to prove a tough day as I had to say goodbye to Rob and Will, my travelling companions for the past 2 months. They had to head south to get to Cambodia and onto Australia ahead of me. It was in fact 2 months to the day that we'd all met in St Petersburg and we'd never have imagined then that we would have travelled together for so long (maybe they just didn't know how to get rid of me!). We'd travelled the Trans-Siberian railway together along with our Irish friends who we also met in SP, visited Siberian towns, watched sunsets over Lake Baikal and stayed in dodgy places in Moscow and Irkutsk. We'd traversed the Gobi desert and into China together, sat in Tiananmen Square and almost got dragged into a dancing fest in Chengdu! So saying goodbye to both my Irish friends and Will and Rob was the hardest thing I've had to do on this trip. I know that we'll all be mates for a long time to come and the memories that we all have will last a lifetime. You couldn't hope to meet better guys to travel with (and they've met Michael Palin!).

After saying goodbye to Rob and Will I spent a few days wandering the streets of Hanoi, generally chilling out and getting a few things done like applying for my Chinese visa and booking a trip to Sapa. Everyone I'd met had told me how beautiful Sapa is and I have to agree with them. It's a small town perched on a hillside with luxuriously green rice terraces below it - all shades of colour that you can imagine. The train ride to Sapa was surprisingly the roughest I'd had in 3 months - it seemed to rock, roll and clank it's gentle way to the highlands from Hanoi overnight, with the occasional tree scraping the window as we climbed into spectacular scenery. The train was carrying a load of backpackers who were then herded into a series of buses and vans to the town itself where we'd meet our guides and begin our trek.

We started our trek just outside of Sapa, leaving our big packs behind and cramming overnight stuff into day bags - and we'd been told to bring along swimmers. The temperature in Sapa is already a lot cooler than in Hanoi so the thought of jumping into a river didn't actually appeal, although we all went with it and off we went. We were quickly joined (well, they met us off of the bus, they were that prepared!) by a group of local H'mong tribeswomen. The local kids in Sapa had already grilled us in perfect English about who we were, etc. and these women did the same - "what's your name; where are you from; are you married; why not?". It was all a good laugh - especially when we asked the same of them and it turned out that they were the same age as me. Of course it wasn't long before they started whispering "will you buy something from me - maybe later?" as we made our way along the tracks to our homestay village. They were clearly far more nimble than us - as I slid on my backside down one muddy slope, legs akimbo and arms in the air, I felt a hand grab me and pull me up. It was one of the ladies, trotting along beside me in her flip-flops. It was clear who was helping who here.

We walked alongside some amazing sights - a large valley opened up to our left as we walked through the ladies' village, watching their families working on the paddy fields below. We crossed a couple of streams, walked next to waterfalls and past water buffalo wallowing in the shallows until we finished climbing and descended to the homestay where we'd be staying (at this point carrying all the handicrafts we'd brought from the local women!).

We followed our guide to the house where we were to stay and met our very friendly homestay hosts. As we'd been chatting along the way, I mentioned it was my birthday the following day - and bizarrely it was someone else's birthday in our group as well! I was walking with 2 Norwegian girls and a bloke from Canada who proved to be a great laugh, so that night our guide organised a special birthday meal for us - duck, pork and chicken in a variety of dishes with bamboo shoots, various sauces and spices, all washed down with, you've guessed it, rice wine. The meal was superb and felt a really special way to celebrate my birthday and we had load of toasts to friendships, birthdays as well as Vietnam/Norway/England/Canada!

The next day we made our way to the nearby river for a swim (rather brief as it was absolutely freezing!) and we lounged around on rocks, sunning ourselves to warm up and then trekked back to a bus after we'd dried off. It was a fantastic experience - we'd had to trek for 6 hours to get to this house and on a walk around the village, saw farmers working so hard, surrounded by water buffalo pulling ploughs and elsewhere women sliced up the various greenery that had been harvested. Other women tottered past with a pole across their shoulders, carrying large baskets of food at either end, their small steps and grimaces giving away just how heavy their loads are. On reflection I wish I'd stayed there longer if it were possible but I guess hindsight is a great thing and I do take some great memories away from there.

I had a few days to kill in Hanoi before travelling to Hoi An to see my friends from the UK on their holidays, so I caught up with a few things and went to a few local places to eat (including an all you can eat ice cream parlour - costing less than a Pound!), but this included a rather different place. I went to this nice restaurant with some good friends from the hostel in Hanoi and we noticed on the menu that it included some very unusual dishes - roasted stink bugs, scorpion and fried silk worm. We decided none of us could face that, so instead we went for something different. Crispy fried crickets! Well, if we'd known just how big they'd be when they arrived, I'm not sure if we'd had ordered any - they were as big as your thumb, with big eyes staring at you. I did manage to gobble a couple and they tasted like nuts. But don't think I'll be doing it again in a hurry!

It was in Hoi An that I finally met up with my good friends from home, Mike and Hils. They were here on their holidays and travelling up from Saigon and we met up in a bar (a frequent occurrence!) and had a thoroughly chilled out time, lounging around, catching up on 3 month's worth of news. It was really great. We then succumbed to the Hoi An speciality - tailored clothes. I'm clearly not known for my fashion sense so this was a foray into the unknown, but it's so cheap I went for it. 4 shirts, 1 winter jacket and a suit later, all costing $200, I was spent! The shops were all full of holidaymakers getting fitted for clothes - suits for work, morning suits, summer dresses and shirts, the whole lot. And all ready the following day.

Whilst at Hoi An we made our way to My Son - an ancient Cham centre of worship. It's similar to Angkor Wat, but a lot smaller in size and surrounded by "jungle" it's very atmospheric. Inhabited between the 3rd and 16th Centuries it was almost bombed out of existence by the USA during the war, but enough of it remains to walk around and see the Sanskrit and Hindu influences from India and Java carved into the walls.

Hoi An proved to be a great place to chill out together - 1 day we hopped on bikes and made it to the beach, the rest of the time we explored the narrow streets, taking frequent (and much needed!) refreshment stops along the way! On our way north we stopped in Hue which because it was enduring torrential rain like I've never seen before, we didn't get to see a lot of it and the following day I continued north and Mike and Hils flew south to Saigon. It was superb seeing them and I was so glad that they'd made it all the way over to take their holidays.

I'm now in Hanoi and loking back I've realised that I've rambled somewhat! However, I hope that you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed remembering it all. I'm off to China on tomorrow, heading back across the Friendship Pass and onto Guilin and Yangshuo for a few days before making my way to Tibet. Keep in touch - thanks for your comments so far and it's always good hearing news from home.

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Photos

Halong Bay
Watching a sunset from our junk

"The Hanoi Hilton"
Memorial at the Hanoi prison where locals were interred by the French, and later American prisoners during the war

The Floating Village
Picking up supplies

Local H'Mong Tribeswomen
I'm the one in the middle

Our Homestay
Home for the night

The Farmland Around Sapa
Terracing

Crispy Fried Cricket
Do you want fries with that?

The Seafood Market In Hoi An
A great place to wander around, although maybe not with a hangover at 7am

My Son Champa Temple
The pics don't do it justice, as it was worth leaving Hoi An at 0530 to get there, just to avoid the buses and to soak up the atmosphere (and rain)

Comments

[mikersaxer]

Front Page!
Andy! Your blog is first on the page! Well done! Photos look good; Sapa was a pleasure...lost all my photos (hubris), but got them back in Hong Kong. Currently in Chengdu. Happy travels, motorbike. m

[Claire]

hi
Hi Andy, Glad to see how much you are enjoying yourself, sounds like you are having a great time! Hard to believe you have gone that distance without stepping foot on a plane. Good luck with the rest of your travels. Claire