I don't know why but somehow Tom kept mentioning the name Hoi An to me for the entire time we were travelling through northern Vietnam. When Tom found out that this city is famous for its delicious food - there was no question - we will go to Hoi An and stay there for some time.
Arriving by motorbike, we directly got a climbs of the old town in the evening - beautiful with lanterns everywhere.
However, Hoi An was not the place we felt at home at. Yes, it had a beach and the beach was nice but it was too cold. And yes, the old town is beautiful but it is full of tourists which destroyed the beauty a bit. Of course we are also tourists and we also like touristy places but when it's too much, it's too much. The atmosphere was just not right. Tom was not that satisfied with the food (it was not bad but not as good as expected!). So instead of staying here for some time - we decided to move on. Instead of taking a bus - we rented a motorbike for 2 weeks!
We were missing the adventurous feeling as south east Asia was making is everything so easy. We knew that it's not allowed for tourists to ride a motorbike without a license but we did it anyways - feeling as adventurous as ever!
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Hue - exploring the rich but sad history of Vietnam
Our 2nd time to visit a DMZ - this time not an active war zone anymore but a place that tells the history of Vietnam. From Hue, we booked a day tour to see the old DMZ, the vinh moc tunnels and the old US army base.
Unfortunately we spend most of the time on the bus as everything was so far away. But when we got out and went to the actual places it was very interesting. Especially the vinh moc tunnels where for 6 years people lived to be protected from bombing. There was even a nursery in these tunnels and 12 baby's were born there. It felt strange to walk through there - 10 to 15 meter underground - and to imagine the life here during the Vietnam war and not seeing the sun for 6 years.
Unfortunately we spend most of the time on the bus as everything was so far away. But when we got out and went to the actual places it was very interesting. Especially the vinh moc tunnels where for 6 years people lived to be protected from bombing. There was even a nursery in these tunnels and 12 baby's were born there. It felt strange to walk through there - 10 to 15 meter underground - and to imagine the life here during the Vietnam war and not seeing the sun for 6 years.
Ninh binh - drawback of china, Guillin
Limecast hills - a beautiful sight of nature we have seen three times already (yangshuo, china and vang vien, Laos and Vietnam, Halong bay). Somehow they keep on coming back, great - I love the beauty!
We only spend one day here, so we tried to see everything during that day. Instead of taking bikes like most people we rented a motorbike and drove through the countryside. People rent bikes cause of the small dirt road between rice paddies. However Tom was confident enough to do it with the motorbike. It was a full day, It was a beautiful day. Like the next days that are coming
We only spend one day here, so we tried to see everything during that day. Instead of taking bikes like most people we rented a motorbike and drove through the countryside. People rent bikes cause of the small dirt road between rice paddies. However Tom was confident enough to do it with the motorbike. It was a full day, It was a beautiful day. Like the next days that are coming
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Day 1-2-3 biking the highlands
As Nina explained, we missed the adventure. Simply cause we had so much adventures which tented to be much more adventurous than South East Asia. By this we mean China. Only because there you are not a money cow plus the bigger majority doesn't speak a word of English. We had to work with hand and feet language making noises. Like making a bus with sounds and all to find out were the bus station is... This doesn't excist anymore in SEA. Everything is run down by tourists and the country is set up just for them making everything easy. And at one point we were done with that! The tourists are the tourists, and the tourists towns are not the real sights of a country. We were up for a adventure! And in vietnam that means, get two Wheels beneath you and roll. With summing riders on the storm felling alive as ever.
To do so we rented a bike for two weeks and had to cover around 1500 kilometers. With around 300 the first day. With Nina, me and 1 backpack on a 135 cc yahama motor bike. Also we had to plan the road. At first we had to stay away from high way one as that's know to be a death trap with only dust and trucks. So why bother. After research we came up with this map: ADD LATER
During the First day we rode 300 km to Kon Tum. All was good till like 100 km before Kon Tom, the so called sitting area became quite painful and the road not paved and dusty as it gets, needless to say the last 100 km took as long as the other 200 combined. Note to our selfs get face masks the next day! The road was as always, beautiful, as highlands are supposed to be. Happy to say that we made this choice else it would be by a boring bus were you see nothing at all.
The Next day, 250 km to Buan Ma Thot, yay less kilometers.... NOT. With still pain some pain in the bud we crawled back on our bike to see how far this dusty dirt road would stay a dusty dirt road. Apparently nearly the whole freezing way! No asphalt for at least 200 km with a highest speed of like 50 kmh but mostly 30 kmh it took forever. Atleast we got our face masks, which was the smartest thing we did that day. Somewere in the middle of nowhere we stopped for our daily coffee break. The coffee in vietnam is so delicious that you at least need one per day! The owner of the little shop was still building the place but offered us a coffee right away. He was so happy to see us that he came and sit down with us and shared his cigarette with Tom (of course not with the woman....). Well, you can't say no to that so here we were: sitting on a small Woden chair, drinking coffee and Tom smoking together with the owner. He told us that the sandy road will continue like this for the next 100 km. so driving on the other hand was not so much fun anymore. After 12 hours on the road we arrived and after a fast dinner (delicious com tam) next to the random hotel I was sound asleep.
Day 3, to Dalat. Dalat is the coffee area of Vietnam. The road to here was luckely a asphalt rods straightforward through the mountains without a lot of traffic. And to say the truth, I'm glad it was so after these last two days! Without issues we arrived im dalat in a nice little guesthouse outside the town and somehow full with dutch people sitting by a campfire. Can it get any better?
Top gear Vietnam - hai van pass
For the top gear fans, the famous mountain pass in vietnam. Google it!
We decided that it was time to hop on a bike again even though its illegal for us foreigners to do so. But for someone who wants to experience something special and amazing must sometimes bend the rules a little. I mean, vietnam is corrupt as hell as I'll write later. A Few dollars get you far in this part of the world.
We searched online for a reliable motorbike rental which also had a shop in the next city, Hoi An, so we would't have to drive twice. Tripadviser being quite usefull as always set us up with a nice shop, which even gives free knee and elbow protection with the rental. Instantly this shop was favored by Nina. Yet, first I had to show that I could drive! Also a first timer in Asia. Normally they are like "here is the bike, bye". With a guy from the shop on the back I drove around Hue trough the masses like i don't know any better. On the way the guy asked were I learned to drive as I drive like an Asian. It's ofcourse a compliment but I wonder if ill ever be able to drive in Europe again. Apparently I'm cut from the same wood.
The pass was amazing. Loads of bends next to the ocean with amazing views. No trucks since these all go through the tunnel. It's there only for the people willing to drive, needless to say in the low season we are traveling in that we merely had the road to our selves. I wished I could show pictures but sadly..... Our laptop broke with water damage. So for the last 3 posts and this one there wont be many pictures unless we took a few with our phones! I took the liberty of taking one from the internet, a picture says so much more. It's amazing! In imagine the picture shown below and then think it is only a small part of the whole Mountain pass.
Cat Ba - traveling our way to Halong Bay
Everyone who visits Vietnam goes to Halong Bay. And the reason is simple, it's breathtaking. However, the prices are also breathtaking. Taking up a tour will cost for starters atleast 100$ and then you have a crappy tour. A price on the decent tour easily goes up to 200$ or even 300$. So we had to think of a way around that. Luckely we meet quite some people who have the same troubles. One day we met a nice couple who told us of Cat ba. The biggest island in Halong Bay. And telling us that this is a good and affordable way to go there and do inexpensive day trips from there. After some research it was clear that this was the way. The way we prefer to go, especially since it ment that we would be almost the only travelers.
After our bus, boat & bus ride we came in Cat Ba town. Deserted as it was we had no problem finding accomodation. We hired a scooter and rode around, watched the stunning sunset over the sea and all the islands of Halong Bay.
We wanted to do a day trip in the famous bay one day and were asking around were to do so. We ended up at Ali Baba's guest house. While asking for the price and what we would do etc we overheard Korean people talking. On our way out we said hello in Korean and drunk as they were, so happy they were for us to talk Korean. We directly got a beer pushed in our hands and shrimps & crap from the hotpot they had for dinner. We were pushed to explain how we know Korean (1 word?) haha and were we have been. Somehow we had been in a town they were from and thus the evening started with even more beer haha. Like in Korea itself we end up drinking with them.
We decided to do the tour and asked the Koreans to join us too. Even though at the tour itself they were drunk before lunch was served. Wodka doesn't do Asian people well. The tour was brilliant. Kayaking through caves, swimming at secluded beaches and best of all. No other boats! We have read so much stories about halong bay and it's gift & curse. Yes it's beautiful. Also ugly because you are with atleast 100 boats at the same spot. We skipped that part and did the Lang Ha Bay. Which is the same, just smaller and quiter. Best decision ever.
Last day the Korean people coocked us delicious food. Spicy pork something. So happy as a child who gets a new toy i (Tom) was. I missed the taste and was not really that fond of the taste of Vietnam. A great few days to look back on!
Hanoi - Asia at his best
Hanoi is full (really unbelievable full) of scooters, locals, tourists, restaurants, shops and a great atmosphere. Maybe we liked this city so much because we haven't been in a big busy city for more than 2 months, maybe it was the mix of locals and tourists on the street or the delicious food. And maybe it was a mix of everything.
I love Hanoi! - this was a sentence I repeated about every night when we sat down with out 0.20€ beer which ended in Tom eating donor kebab haha. The feeling to be in the city, just walk around, be able to do everything you want, go shopping, many delicious street food vendors - a total different world compared to the small villages we visited in Laos.
To learn a little bit more about the history of Vietnam we decided to visit the famous "Hanoi Hilton" (aka Prison). The visit was interesting but it was also totally weird to see how much propaganda was used in the prison. We had the feeling that Vietnam wanted to say "first the French treated us badly here in this prison (and in this country) but we treated the American pilots who were prisoners here so well". It actually showed pictures how the American pilots played basketball and decorated a Christmas tree. Strange.
Even though Hanoi is huge, the old quarters are pretty small and we kept on meeting other travelers we met before in Laos. Of course that's a reasons to have a beer or two. That's how we spend our night, drinking beer - discussing life's.
It seemed that the locals in hanoi sit down at a street cafe's drinking lemon tea and eat sunflower seeds the whole day. So we joined! Watching the busy city passing by while drinking and chatting. I could have continued to do this for more than 5 days, but our visa time was limited and Vietnam is big - so it was time to leave this beautiful city and move to the coast.
I love Hanoi! - this was a sentence I repeated about every night when we sat down with out 0.20€ beer which ended in Tom eating donor kebab haha. The feeling to be in the city, just walk around, be able to do everything you want, go shopping, many delicious street food vendors - a total different world compared to the small villages we visited in Laos.
To learn a little bit more about the history of Vietnam we decided to visit the famous "Hanoi Hilton" (aka Prison). The visit was interesting but it was also totally weird to see how much propaganda was used in the prison. We had the feeling that Vietnam wanted to say "first the French treated us badly here in this prison (and in this country) but we treated the American pilots who were prisoners here so well". It actually showed pictures how the American pilots played basketball and decorated a Christmas tree. Strange.
Even though Hanoi is huge, the old quarters are pretty small and we kept on meeting other travelers we met before in Laos. Of course that's a reasons to have a beer or two. That's how we spend our night, drinking beer - discussing life's.
It seemed that the locals in hanoi sit down at a street cafe's drinking lemon tea and eat sunflower seeds the whole day. So we joined! Watching the busy city passing by while drinking and chatting. I could have continued to do this for more than 5 days, but our visa time was limited and Vietnam is big - so it was time to leave this beautiful city and move to the coast.
Sapa - The Christmas vibes
All along we had been looking forward to Sapa and the amazing rice terraces. However we found ourselves a bit unlucky here. It is winter in Vietnam. Not meaning it is below 0 and snows but cloudy and A Asian version of cold. Cold it was and more cloudy than ever. During the night it dropped below 8 degrees and during the day it would't go higher then 15 and the vision would be less then 5 meters.
All with all, our stay should have been bad here in the mountains of Sapa. However, it had a cosy feel. The cold was nice once we baught a few fake jackets and it felt as Christmas. There were " heisse Maronen" and even glühwein. Also the trees were filled with red, green and white lights and thus the whole village felt like a winter sport village dressed up for Christmas. As everyone ran away from Sapa we somehow lingered there for a few extra days. Went to authentic northern Vietnamese markets were they sell all kinds of colorful things and less colorful meat of all sorts of animals. All sorts!
Land Border crossing from Laos too Vietnam
While we resent that we had to leave Nong khiaw and our most dearest restaurant Deen's. (Thank you India for your delicious foodies) we had to move to our new destination! Vietnam. Nina's whole reason for traveling as Pho lover (pho is the famous beef noodle-soup) and the time was nearly there.
We looked how we should cross the border as most of the "backpackers" fly into Vietnam. A lot of money we do not wish to be spending on a flight, we prefer to spend that on nice meals! As live is to short to eat boring food,, right?!?
We found out a way some people seem to do the other way around. From muang khua to vien dinh puh. This would let us pass the border near Sapa and would geographically be so much more logical then fly in and take a 10 hour bus ride back the way you came from. So we gave it a shot.
Starting with a boat trip up to muang khua in a boat which had a lot of trouble going upstream. Understandable though, we did this way on a kayak the day before and the river was relentless. Once arrived we came in a "nobody wants to be here town", merely a transit village. We found us a room and just went to bed. Next morning at 5, rise and shine, we had to find a local bus to the vietnam border. Scared as we were. Already thinking we missed it. It of course arrives atleast a hour late as always. There we go!
Border crossing was peanuts, you hear these horror stories but the good thing of a border that almost no foreigner uses is that the people are quite fair. We got stamped out and in without any hassle. The next hours on the road were something... First of all there was no road, would't even call it a dirt road. Nonetheless, we arrived safely in Vien Dien Puh, a almost tourist deserted city. A city were the French lost the war and their vietnamese colony.
In search of a hotel we crossed paths with the ruby hotel. As Nina did her homework this was supposed to be fairly good. Once agreed on the price we were welcomed with open hands in the best hotel room thus far. A bed, so soft and comfortable & a normal blanket, such a rare thing in Asia & last not least a strong hot shower. We just had to stay in all day (might that the rain had something to do with that as well). Later in the evening we asked the proud owner a nice place to eat. With the use of google translate he asked if we wanted vietnamese. Of course!! Before I know it we where on his motorbikes trying to keep up with the owner. When arrived we found ourselves in the owners favorite chicken restourant. He ordered all kinds of food and beer for us and races back to his hotel while we waited with wide smiles on our food. We were in love with vietnam right away!
Nong khiaw - beautiful excluded northern of Laos
There are places that you visit that make a big impression on you. Sometimes it's about the history, the people, the food. In Nong Kiauw I cannot explain why I fell in love with this little village in the north of Laos so much. Maybe because of its beautiful setting surrounded by mountains right at the river, it's silence and the lack of tourists or maybe it was just because of the best Indian food I have ever tasted.
We were stranded in Nong Kiauw for one week as our visa for Vietnam started a week later and there were no regular boats going out of the village in low season. When we first decided to leave, there was no boat going towards the border of Vietnam so we stayed 3 extras days waiting for a boat and I'm happy we did!
We spend out days with hiking the mountains, walking along the river, drinking beer at the river bank, watching the sunset from our beautiful guesthouse (staying with "mama" who couldn't speak a word of English except "me mama no English". The highlight of our days was usually our dinner at "deens" - the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to. Every vegetable curry was just 10.000 kip (1 euro) and meat curry 20.000kip (2 euro). Within this week we tried almost the whole menu (and we still miss this food now - 2 months later). It was just too funny, how we were stranded in this small village with nothing going on but with this delicious Indian restaurant!
One day we decided to join a local tour which included kayaking, hiking and a waterfall. First we visited a remote village who was just accessible via boat (no road, no electricity...). I have seen a lot of these villages before in Laos and it is still shocking how many still exists. But it is also great to see that most of the people who live here are happy. The most shocking part of this trip was to see the school. Nobody was at their place, everybody was running around doing something and the teachers didn't care. One teacher came to our guide and asked to write the schools name in English for a school sign they want to place near the river. But he couldn't write so he asked me to write it in English (i still hope it turned out all right haha).
After we went to a beautiful waterfall, had lunch and kayaked back to nong kiau through dangerous streams (but it was fun because I could share the kayak with the guide as Tom went with our Canadian friend who was apparently very good with his hips!)
When there was finally a boat going towards Vietnam we had to leave this beautiful place! But I'm sure - one day I will be back!
We were stranded in Nong Kiauw for one week as our visa for Vietnam started a week later and there were no regular boats going out of the village in low season. When we first decided to leave, there was no boat going towards the border of Vietnam so we stayed 3 extras days waiting for a boat and I'm happy we did!
We spend out days with hiking the mountains, walking along the river, drinking beer at the river bank, watching the sunset from our beautiful guesthouse (staying with "mama" who couldn't speak a word of English except "me mama no English". The highlight of our days was usually our dinner at "deens" - the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to. Every vegetable curry was just 10.000 kip (1 euro) and meat curry 20.000kip (2 euro). Within this week we tried almost the whole menu (and we still miss this food now - 2 months later). It was just too funny, how we were stranded in this small village with nothing going on but with this delicious Indian restaurant!
One day we decided to join a local tour which included kayaking, hiking and a waterfall. First we visited a remote village who was just accessible via boat (no road, no electricity...). I have seen a lot of these villages before in Laos and it is still shocking how many still exists. But it is also great to see that most of the people who live here are happy. The most shocking part of this trip was to see the school. Nobody was at their place, everybody was running around doing something and the teachers didn't care. One teacher came to our guide and asked to write the schools name in English for a school sign they want to place near the river. But he couldn't write so he asked me to write it in English (i still hope it turned out all right haha).
After we went to a beautiful waterfall, had lunch and kayaked back to nong kiau through dangerous streams (but it was fun because I could share the kayak with the guide as Tom went with our Canadian friend who was apparently very good with his hips!)
When there was finally a boat going towards Vietnam we had to leave this beautiful place! But I'm sure - one day I will be back!
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