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Published: December 6th 2007
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Walking the streets of the Old Quarter
Admiring everything from dried lizard to fresh pomegranites It turns out that the crazy capital of Vietnam is definitely not a “City that never sleeps”. A small crowd of motos were waiting for the arrival of our 4h30am train, but as we entered in the usually hyper-active Old Quarter, we struggled to recognize the streets. All of the small shops were locked up and the streets were deserted. Not a trace remained of the pavement vendors and motorbikes that clog the streets by day. You can’t help wondering where they all disappear to. The only people wandering the dark alleys were a handful of backpack-laden tourists, clearly all having arrived by some form of inconveniently-timed transport and all at a loss for what to do for the next couple of hours.
We ended up killing a few hours in a smoky 24hr internet café, the only place open, until a few of the hotels started to serve breakfast. We managed to find a hot breakfast buffet for $2, and with a few cups of strong Vietnamese coffee in us, we were in much better shape to make something of the day. We dropped our bags at the Ocean Tours office, hopped on a cyclo and paid the guy
Well, he's looking relaxed
Cruising the streets of Hanoi to take us around the city for 2 hrs.
It was both hilarious and nerve-wracking weaving in and out of the hoards of traffic on a slow pedal-driven chair, but we really got a good look at the city. We stopped to taste a selection of fruits we’d never seen before and to look at a tall Buddhist pagoda before reaching the Temple of Literature. As an interesting change, this temple was built to honour the students of Confucianism, rather than some Buddhist monk. Constructed in 1070 (ages ago!) it was Vietnam's first university. The gardens around the temple were almost eerily peaceful in the middle of the now very much awake city. The shade of ancient trees and lotus ponds were definitely a welcome break from the horns and exhaust fumes. The temple itself was much like those we’ve seen in Korea, with intricate wood carvings, gold decorations and pungent incense. The highlight was a group of musicians in one of the rooms playing music on traditional Vietnamese instruments. The instruments were mostly percussion and strings, but very different to anything we are used to.
After ending the trip back in the Old Quarter, we caught a
Pedal powered Transport
Squeezed into our cyclo taxi to the airport, and checked onto our plane for Nha Trang. Once again we were caught at metal detectors for carrying a nail file and small pen knife, but this time we went back and checked them in with our main baggage. Haha! Small victories.
Arriving at the small rainy airport in Nha Trang was pretty much a matter of grab your bags while simultaneously negotiating the cheapest taxi fare into town. We paired up with 2 other backpackers and got an okay price. Our car almost refused to start, but it did, to the disappointment of all the other waiting cabbies, and soon we were driving through the drizzle along a beautiful road that wound along the coast towards Nha Trang. We were tempted to stay in Nha Trang to try to get some scuba diving in, but with the weather turning bad we booked tickets onto the evening bus south to Mui Ne.
We had a few hours before the bus would leave, and so took the chance in a break in the rain to go for a walk along the beach. We found a good spot for supper, which turned out to be a
Death to the Capitalists
Another monument proclaiming the victory of communism over evil Capitalism. Not the usual propoganda. tuna fish hotpot with rice - delicious! By 7pm we were on the bus and 15 minutes later we were fast asleep and on our way to Mui Ne.
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Anne/Mom
non-member comment
sleeping anywhere
sounds like you have learnt an Asian trick!! take a look at www.sleepingchinese.com