Vang Vieng - The pleasure of nothing

Location: Luang Prabang
Country: Laos

---

From Hanoi got a one-hour flight to Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos.
Hanoi and Vientiane could not have been more different. Hanoi is a crazy city with motorbikes everywhere and loads of people and you cann’t even walk on the pavement without fear of being ran over, everything was so manic.
Vientiane on the other hand looks like some small town stuck somewhere in the 50’s, it is really quiet with hardly any vehicles around. When you see that this is the capital of Laos, you understand what sort of country you have come to – very backwards, very laid back, very calm.
I did one day of touring round Vientiane with a tuk-tuk. It consisted mainly of seeing temples, but it was nice.


The next day I got a three-hour bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a backpacker’s paradise. It has everything a backpacker could want or need: Cheap rooms, great scenery, good food, chill out places by the river, films and shows on the restaurant TVs all day. Also active things for those who want (not me), such as trekking, bikes, kayaking etc.


My first day there, I actually was talked in to an active day by this really nice American couple that I met, what a mistake.
It started off with me having to go on an inner-tube (haven’t done that since junior school) in freezing cold water in to some cave and having to crawl round inside there.

This for me was a bad start; little did I know that it would be considered the best part of the day by the time I was done.
The next part was kayaking. I was fully aware in advance that this really was not for me, but I thought it would be a short thing and will be over with quick enough, but no. I think we were rowing for like 2 hours.
Well, the first part of the trip it could be said that I wasn’t exactly rowing. Very skillfully, I managed to arrange that I be on the same kayak as the guide, which meant that 1) I let him do all the work and 2) We didn’t tip over in to the water. I think he was getting quite annoyed with me for not helping, but I guess I kinda ignored him. I did try to row a bit at the beginning, but it’s really hard.
For some reason, after the break he did not want to be on the boat with me anymore, most offending.
He put me with one of the other tourists and then I was forced to at least pretend to row, my arms were killing me by the end of it. Never ever kayaking again.

Though the activities of the day were far from my liking, the day was pleasant enough, as we had a nice little group.

I made a decision that the rest of my time in Vang Vieng, I will be doing absolutely nothing, and I sure did stick to that decision.
I spent more than a week there, and when I paid for my room in the end, I was quite shocked by the amount of nights; I have no idea where the time went.
My day went something like this: Get up at about 12:00, go to one of the restaurants where they screen “Friends” 24X7, spend 3-4 over breakfast there, spend some time reading and get organized for the evening activities – finding the restaurant showing the best film to have supper in and after that, just hanging out.
It was brilliant. I had the best time.

About the restaurants, there were three next to each other that all screened “Friends” 24X7, I am not exaggerating, they showed nothing else. It was really funny standing between them and hearing 3 different episodes going on at once.
If I never see another re-run of that show again, it will be fine with me. When I hear the title song, I now get the same reaction as the guy in “A Clockwork Orange” when he hears Beethoven’s 9th.

After more than a week of mind numbing activity in Vang Vieng, I decided that I had better move on, or it may never happen.
Got a 6-hour bus today from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, it was a beautifully scenic ride.

The Lao people are the least annoying Asian people I have encountered so far. They don’t harass you, it’s so nice, you walk along the streets without getting some remarks every 2 minutes. There are also no beggars around (I think Laos is quite a poor country, so I do wonder were all the poor and the beggars are, maybe the government takes “care” of them….). It is such a pleasure.
Saying that I like them would be pushing it a bit, but they seem to be the best of a bad bunch.

Sapa

Location: Hanoi
Country: Vietnam

---

I used my free day around Hanoi to do some sight seeing.
I went to the Ethnology museum, which was extremely impressive; I was kind of expecting something on the level of museums I had been accustomed to in India, but this was one proper museum.
It had displays about all the different minorities in Vietnam (apparently there are many), and they managed to keep me interested enough to walk round for about an hour (I have a very low tolerance for museums, so that is quite impressive, if I stayed for an hour it means that other people would be there for about 3).

I then visited the Ho Chi Min Museum, which again was very impressive; it was designed in a modern art fashion that was very interesting. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was interesting about it, as they only bothered to put information and explanations up in Vietnamese, which I am not quite fluent in yet. So I spent a whole of about 7 minutes there.
Near the museum is the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum, and I could have got to see the man himself if only I had woken up early enough, it’s open only till like 10:00 in the morning, so I decided I don’t want to see him that badly.
After Ho Chi Min, I felt I had the energy in me for one more museum, so I went to the Hoa Lo Prison museum (AKA Hanoi Hilton).
The prison was first used by the French during colonial times to hold Vietnamese political prisoners, and later used by the Vietnamese to hold American prisoners of war.
It was quite interesting.
The really amusing part is that throughout the museum you are told about the terrible atrocities committed against the Vietnamese by the evil French colonialist who held them in the prison, and then when you come to the section about the American prisoners of war, you are told how well they were treated by the Vietnamese and are shown pictures of healthy and happy looking Americans. I think not…

That night I had a night train going to Sapa, was heading there for a 3-day trip.
Sapa is in the northwest of Vietnam near the Chinese border. It is a beautiful area with the most amazing scenery. Loads of green hills with rice terraces everywhere, valleys and streams and mist coming and going.
Most people go up there to do trekking, which needled to say I did not do. I chose the guide with a motorbike option.
(Note: The idea of auto rickshaws / tuk-tuks does not exist in Vietnam, so I have had to do many of my trips on the back of motorbikes, not really to my liking, but no choice in the matter. Mum – I am telling you this after the fact, so there is no point in worrying now).
We drove round a couple of days, mostly visiting minority villages. But the best part for me was just riding around looking at the amazing view.


As I mentioned, the weather was supposed to be freezing, but I was really lucky and it wasn’t that cold. There was still a need to have all my winter cloths on, but with them on it was warm enough, even had some sunshine.
I am glad to report that Sapa was well worth a visit.

Arrived back in Hanoi at 05:00 am this morning, and decided to update the blog whilst sitting around waiting for a room.
I have one day to spend here, which I will dedicate to sorting out some bits and pieces, and tomorrow I am off to Laos.
Thought the trip to Laos can be done by bus, I have decided to take a flight. The bus ride can take anywhere up to 30 hours and is said to be a total nightmare.

Some point to sum up my short visit in Vietnam.
* Vietnam is a very pleasant country to visit, very easy to travel in, locals quite nice, level of guesthouses is very good, but not many point of interest.
* The place I found most interesting were the Mekong Delta, the Cu Chi tunnels in Saigon, Halong Bay and Sapa. Basically all the middle of the county is not really worth seeing.
* If someone were to ask me whether to visit Vietnam as a primary destination, I would have to say no, but as a short visit on along trip it is OK, though not a must.
* I am glad that I came here as I have mentioned I have always wanted to see Vietnam, but I’m glad I did not dedicate too much time to it.
* The travelers here are very nice, met some interesting people along the way. The country seems to be swarmed with Ausis, must be a popular destination for them.
* The Frogs seem to have done a much better job here than the Brits did in India, their influence is still very much felt, the towns are filled with beautiful buildings and a nice atmosphere.
* I have been extremely lucky with the weather. Vietnam is notorious for it’s bad weather, and it is not uncommon to have days and days of rain. I basically have not suffered from the rain at all, and have not had it affect my plans in any way.
* Of course, the coolest part about my visit here is that I will now be able to start a sentence with “Back in Nam….”

Halong Bay

Location: Hanoi
Country: Vietnam

---

From Nha Trang I got an 11 hour night bus to Hoi An.
On the bus met a nice German guy, originally from Korea, he actually wasn’t gay for a change, but the Korean look doesn’t exactly do it for me.
We shared a room in Hoi An and hung out together there.
Hoi An is a lovely little town, with a beautifully preserved old town that is a world heritage site.

Spent the day we arrived just wondering round the town, enjoying the atmosphere and the beautiful buildings.
The next day we went to Marble Mountain, which is, well, a mountain made out of marble, and there are these small caves around. It was ok.

Hoi An is known for it’s many cloth and tailor shops, so I did some shopping for warm things that would be needed in the north of Vietnam.
I also couldn’t resist buying this really nice coat for home, as it was so nice and cheap, but I think I may regret it at some point, it is a rather heavy addition to my already heavy bag.

From Hoi An, I had the pleasure of spending 19 hours on a bus to Hanoi, I think I now have a fair idea of what hell will be like when I arrive there, it was a pretty rough trip. They don’t even have sleeper buses here, which made it all the more fun.
It sure was lucky though that I bought some warm stuff in Hoi An, otherwise I may just have frozen to death.

I arrived in Hanoi pretty shattered, managed to find a really nice guesthouse, and just hung round there that day. But from what I managed to see, Hanoi is a pretty crazy, hectic city.

The next day I took a 2-day trip to Halong Bay – Finally a place in Vietnam really worth seeing!!
It is something like 3000 small green islands in the sea. It is also a world heritage site.

There were 11 of us on the trip, and I got friendly with a group of four 20-year-old Australians (again I was the old woman) who were really sweet, and we sat playing card when we weren’t being disturbed to go see sights.
We visited this amazing stalactite cave called Surprise Cave. As explained by our guide, it is called this because the people were so surprised by it’s beauty when they discovered it (he loved this explanation so much that we got to hear it about 10 times).

We slept on the boat, and had a really nice time.

I am now back in Hanoi, will tour round the city tomorrow a bit and in the evening I am going on a 4 day trip to Sapa, which is also supposed to be very good, but freezing.
Though Hanoi and Halong Bay were also rumored to be very cold, and so far I have been lucky.

I was made to sew for the first time in my life the other day and I think that if any one had been watching me, they would have been highly amused.
The zip in my small bag was coming apart and I didn’t have time to take it to someone to get it fixed, so I decide to attempt to sew it myself.
Thanks to Dad, I have a small sewing kit with me.
Having never done this before, I had no clue how to go about it, but eventually, after several failed attempts, I think that I kind of succeeded.
I am now interested to see how long it will last, so far it has been 2 days, so I think that is already an impressive achievement.

Vietnam - Nice but not fascinating

Location: Nha Trang
Country: Vietnam

---

Just by chance I happened to be in Saigon for New Year's Eve, and I'm very glad it worked out that way.
In Saigon there is the main street where all the backpackers stay (the equivalent of the Kaosan), that street was closed to traffic and there were different shows going on, and loads of stands selling food and silly souvenirs (felt like Yom-Ha'atsmaut in Netanya).
They had acrobatic shows, dances with dragon costumes and singing (looked just like something taken out of the 80's). It was really fun to sit and watch.

As I was sitting there drinking my beer, I was joined by this really sweet English guy and we ended up spending the whole evening together (and having a token kiss at midnight), he was really funny and we had a great time (don't get your hopes up Mum, he was gay). Ended the night rather tipsy and very cheerful.


The next day I had to drag myself out of bed at 06:00 (I have no idea how I managed it), as I had a bus to Mui Ne.
The bus took about 6 hours, as I got off and was trying to figure out which guesthouse to head to, I was spotted by 2 Israeli guys (you don't meet many Israeli people in Vietnam).
We went searching for a guesthouse and on the way met 2 more Israeli guys that they knew.
Prices were quite high there, so I shared a room with 2 of the guys.
They were all just after their army service and I felt like an old woman, but they were really sweet.
Mui Ne is a beach town, but no self respecting Israeli would spend time on that beach, it was pathetic.
The next day we all hired a jeep together and went to see the "sites" around Mui Ne.
Turns out there is nothing much to see there, saw a bad excuse for a waterfall, some sand dunes and a couple of other uninteresting places. But it was quite a nice day, as they were an amusing group.

The next day we all got the bus to Dalat.
It was supposed to be a 7 hour journey, but the driver took some shortcut through the mountains and we got there in 3.5 hours. Nothing more fun than thinking that you still have hours to go to get to your destination, and suddenly finding out that you have arrived.
Dalat is a really pretty town, it was built by the french when they had the colony here, and there are beautiful, colourful buildings all around.

I went with 2 of the guys on a day trip there that was really fun.
Some of the interesting things we saw :
* Crazy House - This is a guesthouse that looks like it has been taken out of a Disney film, it is really cool. Each room has some sort of children theme, and the actual building is amazing, hard to describe, you can see in the picture.

* Silk making factory - We saw how they keep the silk worms to create the silk and then how they actually turn it in to silk products, it was really interesting.
* Truc Lam Zen monastery - Even though I have had more than my fill of seeing temples and the like, I have to admit that this monastery was quite impressive.
* Elephant waterfall - As opposed to so called waterfalls we saw in Mui Ne, this waterfall was really impressive.

There were a bunch of school kids there who seemed fascinated by us and were dying to communicate, but all they could do was to keep repeating the one question they knew in English - "What your name?".

* Cable car - Always fun, great view from it.
In all, it was a really nice day spent in good company.

The next day I got a 6 hour bus to Nha Trang. Separated from the guys, as they were heading south and I am heading north.
Nha Trang is a pretty beach town, there is a really nice beach, though the weather isn't quite warm enough for it in my standards.
I took a boat trip to the 4 Islands around Nha Trang : Mun, Mot, Tam and Mieu.
It has to be the lamest thing I have done lately, I felt like such a pathetic tourist.
They had a guy in charge of entertaining the dumb tourists, he was telling jokes and we had a singing session. It was so bad.
On top of that, the weather was quite cloudy, so there was no way I was joining in all the water activity, which was most of the day.

Today I took a day tour around Nha Trang, not that much to see around here, but it was a pleasant day as the guide was really nice.
Saw a couple of pagodas and a really nice waterfall.


I wouldn't have minded spending a couple of days by the beach here, but unfortunately the weather is against that idea.
I am now waiting for a night bus to go to my next destination - Hoi An.

I have to say that travelling round Vietnam has a much nicer feeling to it than travelling round India, the towns are much more pleasant and clean. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be that much to do in each place. I haven't spent more than 2 nights in one place since arriving in Vietnam, and that isn't because I am rushing it, there just isn't that much to do.

The Internet here is a pleasure, they have ADSL (fast Internet) everywhere and it is really cheap. The Vietnamese seemed to be quite obsessed with the Internet, you see them sitting in Internet Cafes all the time playing online games (you would fit in well here Shahar).