Saigon: 27 al 31 de Octubre de 2008
Despues de pasar un mes en Camboya, la llegada a Saigon (oficialmente la ciudad se llama Ho Chi Minh City, HCMC, pero suena mucho mas romantico y mucho menos politico mantener el antiguo nombre) es sorprendente. Esto es super moderno le digo a Annemarie. Estamos los dos sentados en el bus que hemos pillado en Phnom Penh unas 6 horas antes. Y efectivamente, Saigon es mucho mas cosmopolita que la capital de Camboya. La poblacion aqui es de un poco mas de 6 millones de habitantes y cada uno de ellos debe de tener al menos una motillo porque sino no me explico como puede haber tantas... De echo, cruzar la calle aqui es de valientes! Pocos semaforos y los pasos peatonales se lo pasan por el forro. (ver video mas abajo). A parte de eso nos gusto bastante andar por las calles, comer cerca del mercado central de Ben Tanh y visitar diferentes museos. Nos gusto particularmente el museo "War Remnants" en el que se expone los daños que sufrieron y siguen sufriendo los Vietnamitas por culpa de los bombardeos de los EEUU durante la guerra del Vietnam. Recoge las diferentes armas baccteriologicas que utilizaron y explican los daños que producen. Tambien hay una exposicion fotografica en la que solo aparecen fotografias tomadas por reporteros que no se salvaron de la guerra. Salimos un poco tocados del museo pero merecio la pena para acabar de atar ciertos cabos.
Para alegrarnos un poco, esa misma tarde fuimos a la terraza del Sheraton desde la cual hay unas vistas muy chulas de Saigon. Para subir la moral, y tambien la masa corporal, un dia encontramos una pasteleria llamada "Tous les jours" y eso fue nuestra perdicion. Todas la mañanas fuimos a tomar nuestro desayuno ahi. Tienen un pastel con pasas insuperable! Se me hace la boca agua solo con recordarlo.

Saigon: 27 - 31 October 2008
After a 6 hour bus journey and a border crossing in Moc Bai we arrived into the chaotic city of Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh. After spending a month in the much poorer Cambodia, arriving in to Saigon almost felt like arriving back in Europe. Big wide streets, fancy hotels, modern clothes shops etc, although the 10,000 scooters that zoom past you every time you try to cross the street reminded us that we were still in Asia! Yes crossing the road in Saigon is an experience in itself!!! If you ever want to cross the street the only option you have is to step out in the middle of the crazy traffic, hope for the best and try to dodge your way to the other side. It aint for the weak at heart as youll see in the video below! Despite the madness of the city we really enjoyed our time there. We pretty much visited all the main sights of the city and got an insight into the Vietnamense war with an afternoon spent in the War Remnants museum. Although neither of us are very "museum-ey" people, this one was really interesting and opened our eyes to the horror of war. They have a photo exposition there which would bring a grown man to tears. The night after our visit to the museum we cheered ourselves up with a visit to the rooftop bar of the Sheraton Hotel. It is definitely worth a look as you have an amazing view over the whole city. However even after all that one of our favourite places in Saigon...and Im almost ashamed to admit this...was a French bakery called Tous Les Jours. They had some of the best pasteries we had ever tasted..seriously! I think we probably spent more time and money there than anywhere else in the city! Hey you gotta have a treat from time to time! :-) We found the people in Saigon to be quite friendy as well, its known as the worst city in Vietnam for theft etc but thankfully we had no problems. One afternoon we even hung out with some local students who approached us in the park. When you talk to the locals you really see that their world is a totally different world from ours, our cultures are like the north and south pole. However thats what makes talking to local people so interesting. By the end of the afternoon we had a small group around us asking us questions as more and more random people just came over and joined us. We almost felt like we were famous! I did have one bad run in with a local though, literally 2 minutes after stepping off the bus and on to the streets of Saigon a woman came up and started insulting me and calling me an animal?! Not really knowing how to react I said nothing and thankfully she soon got bored, then she started to walk away but kept giving me the fingers. Some people started to stare and I felt like shouting 'I swear i didnt nothing wrong!!" but seeing as my Vietnamese is non existant there wasnt much point. Ah crazy Saigon with its French bakery!

Delta del Mekong, Vinh Long:31 de Oct al 1 de Noviembre de 2008
Salimos desde Saigon con nuestras mochilillas con lo basico para pasar un par de dias. Dejamos nuestros macutos en el hostal para asi poder viajar mas lijeritos. Tardamos unas 4 horas para llegar a Vinh Long, ciudad que habiamos elegido para explorar la zona del delta del Mekong. Elegimos Vinh Long porque en frente de la ciudad esta uno de los 9 brazos del Mekong, con la particularidad que hay unas islas importantes en este mismo brazo. Nada mas llegar pudimos pillar un ferry para ir a una de las islas: An Binh. Estuvimos un buen par de horas pateando por los caminitos, algunos asfaltados, otros no. Al habar terminado las temporada de lluvias hace poco, el nivel del agua esta bastante alto y hay agua por todas partes. Las provincias del Delta del Mekong aseguran la produccion de arroz para todo el pais, y gran parte de la producccion de frutas y legumbres. Por algo sera.
Volvimos a Vinh Long ya de noche, probamos la version Vietnamita del perrito caliente (no me pregunteis que carne era porque no podria deciros y de echo es reconocido que aqui se come perro...) antes de encontrar un hostal y pasar la noche. Al dia siguiente nos unimos a un tour para ir al mercado flotante de Cai Be. Tambien vimos como producen las hojas de arroz que utilizan para los rollitos Nemh, y como se hacen los pasteles de arroz. Fuimos todos a comer en un restaurante de una de las islas y reinaba un buen ambiente. Dentro de nuestro tour habia una pareja de Franceses muy majos, Christiane y Christian de Grenoble. Tambien habia una pareja de Polacos (no es oficial que sean pareja pero eran dos chicos que viajaban juntos desde hacce ya 9 meses y segun sus planes de futuro parecia que estaban juntos) que estaban en el mismo dorm que nosotros 4 meses antes en Melaka, Malasia. En otro barco, pero que comio con nosotros, estaba Mireia, una chica super maja de Barcelona. Despues de comer nos volvimos todos a Vinh Long y nosotros reservamos el bus para volver a Saigon. Dio la casualidad que Mireia estaba en el mismo bus que nosotros asi que aprovechamos para charlar. Ella tambien tenia planeado ir a Dalat como proxima etapa asi que quedamos en ir a cenar juntos ahi.
En resumen, nos gusto la visita al Mekong Delta y tambien como lo hicimos. 2 dias por la zona nos parecio suficiente, sobre todo con todo lo que nos queda por ver...

Mekong Delta, Vinh Long: 31 Oct - 1 November 2008
From Saigon we went on an overnight trip to visit the Mekong Delta. Its a very fertile farming area in Vietnam thanks to the large Mekong River which passes through it. It is also therefore a very wet area, full of canals, rivers and islands. In fact they say that a boat is more useful to have there than a car or any other form of transport. We decided to base ourselves in the town of Vinh Long to explore the area. We chose that town as it was near the famous Mekong Delta Islands and also not far from a floating market, more about that later. After arriving on the bus from Saigon (3 hours) we decided to get the local ferry straight across to one of the islands, An Binh. We were not disappointed as it was a great place to get lost for the afternoon. We spent over 3 hours wandering around the island, crossing small bridges, walking down narrow dirt paths which lead to peoples houses and seeing how people live there. Then we got the ferry back to Vinh Long that night, had dinner (some sort of unidentifible meat!) and found a hotel. The next morning bright and early we went on a boat tour which took us on an 8 hour trip around the river/canals/islands. As well as enjoying the boat trip itself we also got to visit the floating markets of Cai Be and see how different local foods are made (rice paper for spring rolls, rice popcorn, coconut sweets etc). The floating markets are really unusual, the boats which have stuff to sell have a sample of whatever it is they are selling tied to a bamboo stick hanging over their boat, then the people who want to buy come along in their small boats and do their shopping. Beats pushing a trolley around the supermarket!!! We also stopped off for some local food for lunch and got the chance to go in a rowing boat down some of the smaller canals, its hard to believe that people use the canals everyday as their only form of transport. The people on the tour were really nice so that added to the fun. We met a nice French couple, Christiane and Christian from Grenoble, and also a Polish couple, two very sound guys doing a world tour like us. We also met a lovely Spanish girl who was in another tour, Mireia from Barcelona. We hit it off immediately with her and ended up in the same bus with her back to Saigon that evening. After Saigon we were all heading to Dalat, Mireia that same night and us the following morning, so we arranged to meet her there the next night for dinner and drinks. Meanwhile it was time to say goodbye to the Mekong, get our big backpacks which we had left in Saigon and continue into the highlands. We really enjoyed seeing the Mekong Delta, seeing as it produces all the rice and most of the vegetable and fruit for the whole country, it has earned a visit. However two days and one night was enough to get an idea of whats its like, how the locals live etc. Any longer would just have been a waste of time for us, it would have been more of the same. So the highlands here we come!

Dalat: 2 al 7 de Noviembre de 2008
Que gusto, tanto para los ojos como para la mente, llegar a Dalat es como llegar a los Pirineos! Bosques con pinos, temperaturas frescas y deportes de montaña esperandonos. Estamos a unos 1500m de altitud, en una ciudad creada por los Franceses que colonizaron Vietnam y que buscaban un sitio para escapar las altas temperaturas de Saigon. Yersin, que descubrio estos bosques de pinos, recomendo el sitio a los inversores Franceses de la epoca, que no dudaron en crear lagos artificiales, caserios enormes y un centro medico de investigacion (Institut Pasteur). El resultado es una ciudad muy agradable, completamente diferente de todo lo que hemos visto en Asia. La mezcla entre casas de estilo Frances, lagos como se encuentran en Suiza, hoteles de lujo con jardines tipo Versailles y pagodas budistas hacen de Dalat una ciudad para pararse unos dias y volver a utilizar tenedor y cuchillo... Nos hospedamos en un hotelillo muy simple pero con vistas a campos de cultivo. La fruta y legumbres de esta zona son excelentes y quedan pocos valles sin aprovechar para la agricultura. El mercado de Dalat esta lleno de colores y de sorpresas...Efectivamente, al pasearnos por los puestecillos, nos llevamos una buena sorpresa cuando vimos un perro descuartizado, listo para ser pesado y pasado por la barbacoa. Cabeza, patas, rabo y costillas, seguro que por cuatro duros...
Mireia, que habiamos conocido en Vinh Long, esta tambien en Dalat asi que quedamos para cenar. Nos sentamos los tres en una especie de terraza y pedimos vino. A ver que tal es este vino, uno de los pocos que se producen localmente. Llevamos meses sin tomar vino. Veredicto: no esta mal, pero que no se compare con nuestros vinos. Mireia es muy simpatica y nos cae muy bien a los dos, decidimos repetir al dia siguiente. Cuando llegamos a su hotel para ir a cenar, esta con el guia que le llevo de visita durante el dia. Le ha invitado a cenar y le ha tocado apechugar con un 3 por 1 ( :-)) Asi que vamos los tres a casa del guia y cenamos ahi. Viene un amigo del guia (los dos tienen entre 22 y 25 años) asi que cenamos los 5 y charlamos sobre diferencias y similitudes de nuestras culturas. Nos gusto tener esta interaccion con unos vietnamitas sin que fuera por motivaciones economicas por su parte. Gracias Mire!
Al haber bastantes rios y cascadas, un dia fuimos a hacer canyoning. Salimos de la cascada de Datanla y nos tiramos toda la mañana haciendo rappels por barrancos y saltos al rio. Annemarie se vicio tanto que no querria parar. 18m de vacio y con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja, se dejaba deslizar por la cuerda hasta llegar al agua. Memorable el rappel de 25m que hicimos en medio de una cascada. El agua cae sin posibilidad de esquivarla, la mano agarra la cuerda con firmeza, pero guardando sensibilidad para dejarla correr lo suficiente para descender lentamente. Los pies resbalan sobre la piedra, la cabeza lucha para quedarse fuera del agua, la adrenalina fluye por el cuerpo y se meclan una sensacion de intemporalidad con la gravedad que te pide a gritos que llegues abajo. Finalmente, te encuentras a pocos metros por encima del rio, sueltas la cuerda que desliza irremediablemente por el "ocho" y te ves liberado de todo peso, penetras en el agua. Momentos despues te encuentras flotando en el agua, llevado por la corriente hacia una piedra en la que puedes recuperar tu aliento. Nos pararemos poco despues para comer y observar la cascada por la que acabamos de bajar. Nos sentimos vivos y felices. En harmonia con lo que nos rodea. Somos dos y nos queremos.
Al dia siguiente alquilamos unas bicis y nos fuimos hacia el Norte hasta el lago de Ankroet. Los 20km para llegar hasta ahi se hacen por carreteritas tranquilas que transcurren por bosques y campos con invernaderos. Nos llevamos el pic nic y nos lo tomamos sentados a orillas del lago. Otro dia muy agradable y desde luego diferente a lo que hemos venido haciendo estos ultimos meses que hemos estado en Asia.
Hasta nos tomamos un dia de descanso antes de seguir hacia el Norte. Proxima etapa, ir a la costa y pasar unos dias en Nha Trang.

Dalat: 2 - 7 November 2008
Arriving in the Highlands (1500m) was like leaving South East Asia and going back to the hills of Europe....the temperature dropped enough that we had to wear trouseurs for the first time in months, instead of drinking iced everything people here were sipping on hot steamy drinks, and the countryside was no longer flat and tropical, but mountains covered with good old pine forests! We loved the contrast between here and the lowlands and actually enjoyed getting wrapped up for the first time in ages, not to mention sleeping with no need for a fan or air con! The city was built by the French during their stay in Vietnam and this is evident as there are many examples of French architecture around town. This is another factor which makes it hard to believe that you are still in Vietnam and not somehow magically transported to a small town in the French Pyrenees. We found a nice simple hotel with a small balcony and views over some farmland below, it was a nice change from the built up city views in Saigon. The town really is a lovely place to relax for a few days. Right in the middle of town there is a lovely lake which you can walk around, there are numerous building to see from churches to pagadoas to palaces, and thats not mentioning the Central Market. Around Dalat there are lots of farms and as a result there is an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables being sold in town in the Central Market. It really is a colourful place and worth a visit. Although if you don't want to get your stomach turned with the sight of fresh dog meat for sale (since the head was also on show there was no mistaking what it was!!) then perhaps you should avoid the meat section and stick to the fruit & veg! Yes it is official, the Vietnamense eat dogs! Up until our trip to the market I was hoping it was just a vicious rumour! A few nights in Dalat we met our new friend Mireia for dinner and drinks. (We met Mireia in the Mekong Delta and traveled with her back to Saigon.) The first night we hit one of the local restaurants in town and tried some of the locally produced wine. Dalat is really the only place in Vietnam known for it's wine so we had to try it! It was drinkable but definitely not comparable with the French stuff!! 10 points for Annemarie in the eyes of Antoine's family :-) Although thankfully I had drank some of it as it calmed me down a bit and meant that I didnt leave the restaurant screaming when Mireia spotted a mouse near our table. Unfortunately seeing mice while your eating is something that you kinda have to get used to here in Vietnam and in Cambodia. We got on really well with Mireia so we arranged to meet again for dinner the next night. (We couldnt meet during the day as Mireia was on a pre organised tour.) The following night we got a nice surprise when we arrived and Mireia was waiting for us with a local guy. It was a guy who had been her guide for the day and who had invited us all to his house for dinner. It was a great experience to go to a local's house and enjoy dinner in a real Vietnamese environment. The guy invited another friend of his for dinner so there were five of us and the craic was good. Dinner was accompanied by some local wine and for dessert we had some guitar playing and a sing song. It was a fun night and great to get to interact with the locals. Well before you go thinking that all we did in Dalat was eat and drink, let me put you right. Like most mountain towns there are different types of adventure sports on offer and one we couldnt miss....a day canyoning down the nearby river and waterfalls. Yes we spent most of the day jumping into the river and abseiling down gushing waterfalls. It was my first time doing real abseiling (when I am the one controling my own ropes) so you can imagine the adrenaline rushing through me as I lowered myself off my first 18m cliff!!! After my first one I was hooked, both Antoine and I loved it. We abseiled down cliffs into the river below, sometimes lowering ourselves into the strong currents of the river and sometimes letting the ropes go near the end to freefall into the water...what a buzz! The most nerve wrecking and exciting one was going down a 25m roaring waterfall. Stepping off the top gave an immedite adrenaline kick and the slippy rocks with water hurtling over you made it unforgettable! It is definitely up there with one of the top 10 scary things I have done on this trip and so worth it for the thrill! The following day we were still on a high so we rented some mountain bikes and cycled north of Dalat to the Ankroet Lake. We cycled 20km to get there along forest lined roads and enjoyed a picnic once we got there under the trees on the edge of the lake. Once again the scenary made us feel like we were far away from Asia. After two active days we had one last lazy day in Dalat before getting the bus back down to the lowlands and to the beach town of Nha Trang.

 

 

Nha Trang: 7 al 9 de Noviembre de 2008

 

 

Nha Trang: 7 - 9 November 2008 

After the cooler weather of Dalat arriving at the beach town of Dalat we felt the force of the roasting Vietnamese sun once again. Although we were not complaining as a friend we met there told us how it had been raining up until our arrival! We keep reading in the papers how there is heavy rainfall and flooding in some areas of Vietnam but thankfully all we have got so far is sun, sun, sun. Lets hope it lasts! Once we arrived at Nha Trang we got a really nice hotel and spent a few relaxing days just walking around and sightseeing. The first day we went for a long walk on the beach and the second day we spent walking around town visiting different temples etc. One of the momuments we visited was perched on top of a hill and it gave us some amazing views over the whole town and the coastline. Although its nothing out of the ordinary Nha Trang is definitely a cool place to hang out for a few days and relax on the beach.

 

Hoi An: 10 - 12 November 2008

The only way from Nha Trang to Hoi An was a night bus with special beds instead of normal bus seats. It turned out to be quite comfortable for me but not for poor Antoine who couldnt fit in the bed! Being tall in Asia is a definite disadvantage, these countries just don't cater for anyone over 5 ft 6! We heard that Hoi An was perhaps the best town in the whole of Asia for finding good hotels at very cheap prices, and we were'nt disappointed when we found a really nice hotel with a swimming pool and breakfast included for only 12 dollars! You dont get bargains like that back home! Hoi An is a gorgeous little town with it' s still intact old quarter giving it lots of charm and character. We got lucky to be there for the Full Moon Party to see all the old town lit up with lanterns and coloured flags. The town is set along a wide river which was also lit up on Full Moon night with the locals and tourists alike placing floating candles on to the river. Apparently it is a tradition dating back from years and years ago. The whole Full Moon night was magical and we had dinner along the river with a German girl we met in Dalat, again in Nha Trang and once again in Hoi An. Cristiana we promise we are not following you! However the river had overflowed slightly so we had to walk through the river barefoot to get to the restaurant and back. We kept telling ourselves it was a clean river! One of the days in Hoi An with Cristiana (our German friend) we walked from town to the beach. The beach is really long and quite pretty but the best part was almost the walk to get there as we walked through the countryside and got to see the locals going about their daily lives. The beach was worth it too though and we stopped for some coconuts before making the walk back to town. Drinking fresh coconuts on the beach, what more can a girl ask for! Hoi An is also one of the main places in Vietnam where you can get clothes tailor made to fit you. Everywhere you turn you see clothes shops and although the temptation was huge we managed to resist. All in all we really liked Hoi An, it is definitely one of the more charming towns in Vietnam.

 

Hanoi: 13 - 14  November 2008

We had thought about stopping at Hue, another town just a few hours up the coast from Hoi An but in the end we decided to skip it and go direct to Hanoi. Once again we took the night bus but this time after some good advice from Cristiana we took the bed seats at the very back of the bus and that way Antoine was actually able to stretch out his legs. We both slept great in the bus and arrived in Hanoi raring to go. However no hotel would let us check in until 11am and we arrived at 7am so our energy was focused on going to a nice cafe and having a long lazy breakfast of coffee and croissants. Not very Asian I know but way more tasty than rice in the morning! Eventually we did get checked in to a hotel and after a good shower we began exploring the city. We stayed in the old quarter which is the most charming part of the capital. It is full of small narrow streets, jammed packed with people selling everything from food to clothes. During our few days there we also visited the numerous lakes around the city, walked and had some Vietnamese Jack Fruit on the Long Bien Bridge (designed by the same architect that built the Eiffel Tower) and went to the Temple of Litterature. During our visit to the Temple of Litterature we met a lovely Swedish lady who we later went for lunch with to KOTO. If you visit Hanoi you should go to KOTO, it is more expensive than your average Western restaurant in the city but the money goes to a good cause as it is set up and run by former street kids, plus the food ain't bad at all. We pretty much saw all the sights of the city over our few days there including the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex and the city's main lakes ( Hoan Kiem Lake, Ho Tay and Truc Bach Lake), after which we came away with a nice impression of Vietnam's capital. It isnt as hectic as Saigon and it has more appeal with it's lakes and old area. However it loses a few points as it doesnt have a Tous Les Jours!! (our favourite french bakery EVER with the best raisin bread EVER!).

 

Halong Bay: 15 - 17 November 2008

During our two days in Hanoi we also visited some different agencies and booked our trip to Halong Bay. There are tons of agencies in the city and they all pretty much offer similar packs, however we found one agency called Hanoi Tours who had a more active trip to Halong Bay. Instead of arriving on one of the islands and having free time this agency offered us kayaking, cycling and hiking. We also decided against the cheapest option (as apparently you really get what you pay for and the cheapest option may include some rats on your boat!) and in the end paid 86 dollars each for three days and two nights (one night sleeping on the boat and the second night sleeping on Cat Ba Island out in the bay). All in all we were delighted with our trip. The boat was really nice, the food was good and we were kept busy over the two days with different activites. There were 14 people in our group and thankfully everyone was really nice, that makes a big difference! It was the first time either of us had really slept on a boat so we were very excited. Thankfully the sea was calm and we slept like babies. Halong Bay really is an amazing place, Im not surprised that they are trying to classify it as one of the wonders of the world. The water is transparent and all around you see these huge limestone karsts which tower over the sea. Cat Ba Island was also a nice place to spend a night but I preferred the smaller Monkey Island which we visited during the second day on our kayaking trip. It is tiny and really like something out of a film, it's only inhabitants being, as you might have guessed, monkeys. After three days of boating, kayaking, cycling and hiking through gorgeous scenary, we arrived back in Halong City and got the bus back to Hanoi very happy with our choice of agency and delighted with our trip. Hanoi Tours treated us really well, I forgot a pair of swimming shorts when we left the boat (I had hung them up to dry in the shower and forgot them! Duh!) and although I told our guide straightaway, someone from the boat got to them first and took them. Eventhough it was clearly my own fault the agency took me shopping the following day in Hanoi and bought me a new 20 euro pair of really nice shorts! I didnt bother to tell them the ones I lost cost me about 2 euro in China two years ago and were falling apart!!! We were really surprised by their kind gesture as from what we had experienced previously in Vietnam, the level of customer service is not usually very high.

 

Hanoi: 18th November 2008

Once we got back to Hanoi we spent another night and day there before leaving the following night on the very long night - day 24 hour bus to Laos. We went with the girl from Hanoi Tours to get my shorts (jeje), went for a final walk around the old quarter and lake, had a typical Vietnamese lunch of noodles and spring rolls in a small street stall and tasted an Asian fruit called custard apple (very tasty!). Then at 5pm it was time to go to Sinh Cafe and get the long bus to Laos. Cherrio Vietnam, Laos here we come, our last country to discover in South East Asia.