Maandelijks archief: november 2004

Bangkok

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Early in the morning of november 27th i left with a shared taxi from battambang. A shared taxi is a normal car, with one destination, and you share it with four, five or sometimes more people depending on the price. I had one with 4 people, for 5 dollar. Destination: Poipet, at the border with Thailand.

The trip wasnt that awful at all. In about three hours i was dropped off at the border. A 2 minute walk brought me to the passport check out of Cambodia, and another 2 minute walk brought me to the check in for Thailand. There i got a stamp and a visum for 30 days. Continued along the road to find a train or bus station. A moto took me to the bus station about 5 km form the border, for 40 bath. From there a bus took me for 140 bath to Bangkok, northeastern bus terminal. From there i took a normal city bus for 16 bath to the (in)famous Khao San Road, the grand dame of backpacking Bangkok.

Khao San Road is everything you expect it to be. A lot of cheap and simple guesthouses, bars, disco’s, t-shirt and souvenir stalls, food stalls etc etc. I found Friendly Guesthouse that wanted me for 120 bath p/night. That is 2 euro 40. For this price i had a room, well room, the size of 1 and a half bed, with fan, and a shared bathroom down the hall. But i wasnt going to spend a lot of time there anyway. Because it was arround 17.00 now, i just walked a small round throught Khao San Road and a few others, had Phad Thai (fried noodles and vegetables) in a street stall. Nice, and cheap (15 bath). I had one beer, and went to bed early.

The next day i was awake early. Arround 7 i got up, had a shower and went outside. The street was still empty, and asleep. The 7-eleven was opened (a night shop) and i got breakfast. I bought the lonely planet city map, bacause looking in the lonely planet all the time was a bit unhandy. I started walking towards the Grand Palace. There i met someone. He told me a story that everything was closed ‘special holiday !’ and i could take a tuk tuk to some other places. I heard allready about a scam that worked this way, but i was curious so i got in. First i saw a extremely large standing buddha, then another temple and then he (the tuktuk driver) took me to some trade centre were the sold gems (diamonds and stuff), for the purpose of getting commision off course! Naturally i didnt bought anything, and we went off again, this time to a tailor. I got in (curious again) and had this guy tell me a story, measured my sizes, and showed me suits and coats. But again i didnt bought anything, the prices were expensive! And i didnt belive the guy. I asked the driver to bring me to the tourist office. He took me to a dark place, where i walked in to get some brochures. Three people looked at me like i was nothing, asked what i wanted, and at my reply they said they had no folders. I walked out, having the tought that this was only a tour opperator, working together with the tuk-tuk scam!
Now my driver took me to another temple, and the realy funny thing happened: i got off, walked in, and i heared him take off! The last thing i saw of the driver :) I guess he had enough of me not buying anything anywere…

I easilly walked back to Khao San Road, having a good look at the city. I now found a good tourist office as wel, and climbed a large bridge for a view over the city and the river. Its a big city, a very big city. By now i was hungry again, got some Phad Thai, went to an internet cafe, had a beer and went to bed early again.

The next day i had planned for the National museum and the Royal Palace. Unfortunately the museum was closed on mondays :( so i went to the Royal Palace. 200 bath entrance! Amazing, i found it a rip off. Its nice to see it, also the famous Wat Phra Kaew (you always see this on night pictures of Bangkok). But so much tourists and you cannot get in everywere. But ok, been there.

After this i decided to go to Wat Arun, another famous Wat in Bangkok. I got there by river taxi. It was on the other side of the river, i allready walked a lot this day and so the trip on the river was very nice, and cheap. Wat Arun. From far i lookes like it is made from stone, but on closer inspection they used broken pieces of china for it! Its a nice little wat, and they had a fair (with lots of food stalls, off course) arround it. I climbed it, to bad you could only come one floor, the top was a no go area :( I watched the sunset and got back to Khao San Rd. There i decided it was time for a little entertainment tonight. So i had a good (very spicy) meal, and found a nice place on Khao San Road to drink and watch the people. You can realy see all kinds of persons here, its amuzing. Western guys with Thai girlfriends, Western OLD FAT UGLY guys with Thai girlfriends, all kinds of tourists, wackos, losers, beggars, sellars, tuk-tuks, drunk people, just everything.
I got to talk with an dutch guy, wo had just arrived and was a photographer. He was here to make pictures of all kinds of stuff, oa a monastary were they treated AIDS patients. We had a nice talk, and because he mentioned he was going to a forensic pathological museum, i got interested and we dicided to meet the next day to go there together. He got to his hotel, and i got me some more beer at the 7-eleven, and sat down the street. There i met some Israeli guys, and with them i got to a disco and had a good time there. To late, and with to much money spend i got to bed. A great day in Bangkok, i got to like it more by the hour.

The last day in Bangkok. Before i met with Jurgen early in the morning, i had bought two nice t-shirts at a stall, for 300 bath. We went to have breakfast, noodle soup, and took a river taxi to the hospital. We found it pretty easy, as it is the largest hospital in Bangkok.
The museum entrance was 400 bath. Inside, we first visited the medical pathological part, were there were embryo’s, conjoined twins, uterusses, harts, spleens, legs etc on display in alcohol solution. Realy amazing. There was information about everything, mentioning the disease or virusses involved. Then we went to the forensic pathological part. Here the most amazing thing on display, beside photo’s of shotwounds and skulls with bulletholes were mummified Thailand’s most infamous SERIAL KILLERS!! This was amazing, they were just looking at you…. brrr. One, for instance kidnapped little children, just to eat their liver and kidney! Amazingly, he turned out normal in phsycological tests. He was sentenced to death, and put on display here….

When we had seen enough, we took the watertaxi and the sky train. Jurgen wanted to take a picture of a building site in Siam Square. The most largest shopping earea in Bangkok. Here you’ll find all the brands, the newest technology, and the largest malls ever. They were building a huge, 10+story mall, and he allready had one picture of the site from 2002 or so. He wanted another one to make the progress and the size of this building clear. It was HUGE. Ready in 2005. After this we just took the skytrain to nowhere, had lunch and went back arround 17.00. We had some beers in Khao San Rd, and enjoyed watching people and talking a lot.

Arround 23.00 we decided to go to a disco, had a good time until they closed. Outside we ate Phad Thai, and met the Isreali guys again. Jurgen went home and i had a great time on the street, talking with the Israeli guys, a Japanes guy, one from Australia and a couple of Thai girls. To late, 4 am or so, i went back home, and i knew that it was going to be a difficult morning the next day. I wanted to leave early in the morning but i wasnt going to verry early, also beacuse my telephone/alarm battery was empty! Bangkok is great, and before i go back home i am for sure spending some more days here! For souvenirs, for the museum and the party!’

Battambang

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Early in the morning the bus picked me up from the hotel. An hour later i was in the boat. The trip promised a lot, Lonely Planet said ‘arguably the most exciting boat trip in Cambodia’. Well, it was. First i looked at the boat, wich was a lot narrower then others i had been on (see photo’s). The boat went over Tonle Sap Lake first, after that i went into some sort of canal, the water was a bit low, the boat slow, and we even had to pass boats in upcomming directions, so our boat had to go in the bush, thereby breaking a lot of debry by violence from trees we passed. Well, it took 3 hours longer but a nice day on the roof of the boat in the sun.

Before getting on the boat i got a flyer of a hotel in Battambang, and it looked at least cheap so i went there. 3 dollar per night, bathroom on the hall, but with television and fan. It was 15.00 by then. I laid on my bed for an hour or so because i felt very tired. Then i went into the city to get some food. But somehow i got feeling worse and i ended up eating a noodle soup only half. I went back to the hotel to sleep. I had a real bad night. I woke up often, halfway i got cramps in my stommach and what happend in the toilet wasn’t good….I woke up early, i walked a little in Battambang. I still felt pretty bad, so i just ate some biscuits and bought some water. After an hour or two or three i feld bad again and laid on my bed for a couple of hours. I decided that i would go to Bangkok the next day. I bought a shared taxi ticket for 5 dollar to Poipet, on the border with Thailand. I had noodle soup for dinner again, and got into bed very early that day. Battambang was nice and quiet, but like the way i felt it was no fun…:( Maybe i will come back again to see the surrounding area of it, because they say it can be very nice. Has to be another trip than. For now: Bangkok here I come!

Siem Reap, Angkor

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In the morning, arround 6.30, we had breakfast in the guesthouse. After this we left with a tuk tuk to the pier, got on the fast boat and off we were to Siem Reap, our last destination with the four of us together.

After Siem Reap my sister, brother and father were to leave by plane to Ho Chi Minh City, then a transit to Singapore, stay there a few days and then back to home for them!

The boat trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is ok. We had a fast boat, and it was really fast! It was making fish sauce for sure. The first part of the trip was still through the Tonle Sap River, and with a nice view of the forest and small villages. Then after an hour or two/three we entered the lake, were you could imagine yourself on a sea. You could see nothing but water arround you. The lake is arround 50km wide, and about 120 km long, this can vary with the season. In about 6 hours the boat took us to Siem Reap. There was no real harbour or so, because during the rainy season the water is higher and the boats stop further inland. All the houses here are floating, so they move with the water! Luckily we booked allready a guesthouse, the Okay Guesthouse from Phnom Penh had a partner in Siem Reap: Hello Guesthouse! The guesthgouse owner was waiting by the boat to pick us up and bring us there. There were about 20 screaming people at the boat, all wanting to offer you a place to stay, a moto, a tuk tuk or whatever. We arrived in the guesthouse, but it wasn’t exactly like the Okay GH, but okay, we stayed. At 16.30 we went to the Angkor Complex, about 3 km from there, to buy a entrance pass, that would allow us to view the sunset from ther for free that evening.

We got the tickets; 40 dollar for the tree day passes fro Rob, Carolien and Mark, and 60 dollar for the 7 day pass for me. We got in. Wow! So much tourists here i didnt expect…. Busloads and busloads and busloads… And then there were the tuk tuks… 100′s of them! We went up a mountain, and up there was our first temple, completely crowded with tourists all wanting to see the sunset. The sunset was nice, but i took more pictures of tourists taking pictures of the sunset than ik took of the sunset itself! It was so funny….

We went back to the city, walked a little bit arround, dropped off our photo cards at a shop to make another (5th!) cd, and had dinner at Bayon Restaurant. Nice restaurant, with a shadow puppet play by children, but the food was not really much, and the rice wasn’t included. Went back to the guesthouse to go to sleep.

The following days we visited A LOT of wat ‘s. The ones i liked most are: Ankor Wat and Tha Prohm. The first one is the famous one and is on the Cambodian flag, and the second one is were the trees are forcing the whole temple to collapse, it also figured in the Tomb Raider movie. I had a great time, and i can even go back there another time.

The 22nd of november Mark, Carolien and Rob had to leave me.. I went to Siem Reap Airport with them, and then i was left alone! After three days of temples i had a little bit enough, and decided to start planning my trip in Thailand. I went to a park in Siem Reap to read in my Lonely Planet. After a while a boy asked if he could sit next to me. We talked about his school, about the world, and Holland. After 2 hours or so i wanted to get some food, so i said goodbey, but he invited me to come to his village the next day. Its was about 7 or so km from Siem Reap. I accepted, and we said goodbey. On the way to the hotel i spoke another guy, who was in the park before. He had a moto, was teacher but it was his holiday and said that he could bring me to the village. We decided to meet at 13.00 the next day in the park. After all this i went back to the guesthouse, for my first night alone in Cambodia. It was still early, and i planned a little more for Thailand before going to bed.

The next day i rented a bike and went to the Angkor complex early. It was a bit further then i thought, but a nice ride. I found a nice quiet spot in Tha Prom and had lunch there. After this i went back to Siem Reap, to the park. There i met the guy from the day before, Waha. We droped the bike at my guesthouse and continued on his moto. After 30 minutes or so we arrived at the village of Chhey. A small rural village, with houses on stilts and a small market by the road. He was pleased to see me, and he climbed up a coconut tree behind his house to get some coconuts to drink! His house looked like you would expect in this country. We heared some music, and he told me it was a wedding. This was the wedding season! We went to have a look, and it was funny to see a thing like this. After this we went to a small wat (temple) behind his village. After that we met some friends of him and drank some palmwine and ate some bbq food. After this we had dinner at his house with his whole family. We then talked about the world, Holland, Europe and school, with his father, Chhey and Waha. Then it was time to go back to my Guest House, were Waha put me off.

The next day, my last one in Siem Reap, i went to visit some temples outside Siem Reap with Waha. We met early in the morning, and he was with some friends. We went, and 30 minutes later we arrived. Temple was nice. But after 15+ i now know how they looked so ok. We had some fun with the people outside the temple. It was nice to be there with some locals, everything was cheaper now to! After a day at the temples we went back to Siem Reap arround 14.00. In Siem Reap people were practicing for the Water Festival Boat Race. Funny to see, a lot of locals were shouting to support the people rowing, and the park surrounding the river had a nice atmosphere. After some time we met Chhey again, and he invited us to come and drink palmwine at some sort of community house in Siem Reap. There we ‘cheer up’ed a lot, and they bought snacks to, dried fish, snake and sorts. After the wine we bought some beer at the local market and went to Ankor Wat to drink it! That was a nice experience, at full moon! I brought my discman, and i let them listen to ’2many dj’s’ and ‘Carl Cox’ and we danced to it. Arround 12 it was time to go back, the next morning at 6 i would be picked up to go back to the pier in Siem Reap, from where a boat would take me to Battambang.

Siem Reap goodbey, i had nice time here!

Phnom Penh

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The first day in Phnom Penh we planned to visit the National Museum. But we were a little bit late and had to wait until 1400, so we walked arround town a bit (pfff 5km or so!) We lunched in Friends, a nice little restaurant. All proceeds go to helping street children into education and job training. The cooks and servant are street children also. Great food and excellent service! After lunch we went to the National Museum, full of Khmer art, and statues of the Angkor period. Nice things on display, but the information given is to little to make a good picture of what you\’re looking at. We had dinner in the city. We found a nice restaurant, with great atmosphere. We sat on the ground, on cussions, on the second floor. It was a nice experience, and the food was good. After we went back to the guesthouse.

The next day we went to visit the Tuol Sleng museum and the Choeun Ek Killing fields. Tuol Sleng is a security prison from the Khmer Rouge regiem in Cambodia. During this regiem (1972-1977) all families in Cambodia experienced at least some death, torture, or imprisnment of at least one or more relatives. Watch the movie ‘The Killing Fields’ for more info on this subject. The Khmer Rouge regiem under Poll Pot (died in 1995) was set to get all educated, literatured, spiritual(monks) and intelectual people to work on the countryside. If you spoke foreign language, wore glasses, had education, had a connection to the former gouvernment or relatives who did so, you were a target. Many of them ended up dead, and many of them went through S21 (security prison) first. The most infamous of S21 prisons is Tuol Sleng.

Realy impressive of Tuol Sleng is that it is set in the middle of a living area of phnom penh. A former High School, with the Khmer Rouge turning it into a prison. They made holes in the clasrooms from one to another, had small cells built in them from bricks and wood, and there were mass emprisonment cells, were 30 or more people lay beside each other, chained to a long iron bar. They were not allowed to speak with each other, nor were the guards. Each breach of the rules resulted in severe punishment. In 1977 almost 100 people a per day (!) were killed here. They were tortured to confes about conspiracy or other things, then taken to the Choen Ek Killing Fileds, shot or beaten to death, and left behind to rot in mass graves….

The museum allows you to see the brick cells made in the old classrooms, shows pictures of the prisoners made by the Khmer before and even after torture, and shows rooms and pictures were people were tortured. When Phnom Penh was liberated, they found 7 people tortured to dead, only that day. They are burried on the grounds of the museum, and the rooms were they were found are still left intact, with pictures of them on the wall….

This was a impressive day. The Toul Sleng museum is a profoundly depressing experience, but not to be missed by anyone visiting Phnom Pehn, or even Cambodia. Because we had enough of the day(it was very hot!) we had dinner in the guesthouse, and went to bed early, the next day a tuk tuk would take us to the pier, from were a fast boat would take us across the Tonle Sap Lake to Siem Reap.

Chau Doc

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In the morning at 7 am the bus left from the (very-ok-for-a-border-town) guesthouse, to take us in 45 minutes to a boat pick up. This boat took us to the border with Cambodia were we got our visa, walked into customs, walked pased, and got in a boat again. Then a six hour trip over the Mekong folowed to Neak Luong, were we arrived arround 5, then a bus picked us up and brought us to Phnom Penh. They put us off at a louzy looking hotel in an even louzier looking street, so we asked for a ride to an other hotel, the Okay Guesthouse, that was reccomended to us by some Dutch we met on the boat. Okay Guesthouse looked very nice. It had a restaurant plaza, and behind it was a small open air loungy bar, nicely decorated. We decided to stay, although they wer full, and we had to spent the night on the other side, in the hall of another hotel that looked bigger and nicer than any room we had been in before! They had put matrases on the ground, and we had a good night sleep (besides, it was for free!.

Ho Chi Minh City

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Ho Chi Minh City. Pfewwww. What a place. So in your face, especially after Hoi An. The flight was pleasant and short, only 2 hours. Arriving at the airport we first sought out some stuff to leave here. My brother, sister and father would leave from here the 22nd to Singapore, so it would be easy to leave all the souvenirs at the deposit. I also left some stuff i didnt need anyway. The taxi trip to the city was crazy. There was so much traffic, moto’s, cars, taxi’s, busses… realy amazing. It haddn’t been this bad. I filmed a little of it, the traffic was going left to right and nobody was prepared to give in a cm. The hotel we had in mind was full, but ther were boys on the street that took as to a nice guesthouse arround the corner in no time. Airo, fan, nice bathroom and relativly quit. We even had National Geografic Channel and Discovery and HBO!

We went in to the city to have a look. A lot of bars, people, motos and restaurants. This is one crazy city! After we went for a drink in a bar close to the hotel, and had dinner. After dinner, we had to celebrate Caroliens birthday! We had a cocktail in a bar and asked some English people for a club. Is was arround the corner, two blocks away. We didn’t find it, but as we were looking we met some Vietnamese people who were going to a club and asked us to come with them to the Muzik Room. It amazed me that it was a quite modern club, and the music was nice to. We had a great time, and at 2 pm the club closed and we went back to the hotel.

The next day we had to arrange some things. Tickets to Phnom Penh, plane tickets from Siem Reap back to Ho Chi Minh, and change money. After all this Mark and Rob went to the war remnants museum and Carolien and me went to a big market. Later we met at the hotel, and we searched out a nice restaurant in the Lonely Planet. We went there and it was amazing: three floors full of tables, and most people seemed to enjoy food from a small BBQ that was placed on your table so you could grill your own food. Off course we had to try this and it was great. They served rat, bugs, dog, snake, crikets etc. but we sticked to cow… After the meal i went back to the hotel because i was tired and a littlebit sick from the day before. The rest went in to town for a drink.

The next day arround 8 we left with the bus to Chau Doc, that was on the way to Phnom Penh, we booked a complete tour. First an hour or so busride, the a round trip on the Mekong Delta/River, a tour on an island, and after a tour thu a smell river on an island. We saw bee farms, coconutcandy farms, and you could hold a snake. We drank banana alcohol and saw a fish farm. The fish farm is floating on the river, with big nets hanging in the river in the middle of the farm. The food is produced there by cooking large quantities of vegetable and other stuff and grounding it before feeding it to the fishes. The produced more than 5000 kg of this every day… We then were picked up by a bus again to go to Chau Doc were we arrived arround 22.00. We had a drink and went to bed.

Hoi An

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We arrived by bus in Hoi An after a trip along beaches and thru mountains and thru Danang aroound 19.00. We went to Vinh Huy Hotel, a nice hotel, with personal service. There english was good, and we had HBO again! No airco this time, but a fan did the job. We had a expensive dinner in Tam Tam restaurant, in an old tea trading house, run by an european expat. After a small walk we went back to the hotel.

Hoi An is a picturesque riverside town. It was the most enchanting place in Vietnam, besides Sapa. In the 17th and 18th century Hoi An, then known as Faifo, was an important port for Dutch, Portugese Chinese and Japanese trading vessels. Hoi An retains a sense of history that is really nice. A number of streets are off-limits for cars, and old buildings are very well restored and maintained. it is a small town(76.000), and can be easilly explored by foot or bike. It is known for its silk tailors and you can get a nice hand made wardrobe for cheap prices! Hoi An is shopping heaven!

The second day we first went to the beach. We rented bikes for 5000 dong (25 eurocents!), and enjoyed the ride to the beach. Nice to relax for some time after the fast travel we did. A little swim, a nice cocktail and lunch on the beach. Springroles off course! Arround 16.00 we went back to the hotel for a shower, and went of to town.

There a a lot of tailors in town, and a lot of pottery salesmen. My sister had hereself measured a new set, and my brother shopped for a new ceramic dinning set. We had dinner a nice cheap restaurant, Fai Foo, that served us all the local specialities: ‘Cau Lau’: flat thick noodles, with croutons, pork slices mint leaves, lemon leaves, crispy rice paper and bean sprouts. Then ‘White Rose’: steamed shrimp in rice paper, ‘Won Ton’: crispy, tasty crackers with meat inside and last grilled minced shrimp on a sugar cane stick, all realy recommened!

The next day i went shopping for some souvenirs. I found a shop that made the APE logo on two hats for me. Realy nice, and for 150.000 dong. I had my hair cut in a small town i cycled thru, but it was very bad done! Funny dough, because half the village came to see it! After i had it redone with a tondeuse in a cafe. It took some explaining because they couldnt belive i wanted it that short! Carolien went shopping to and had herself made another set of clothes! Mark and Rob spent the day on the beach, and Carloien and me joined them later that day. We had dinner in Fai Foo again, and there were the two Canadians we met in Sapa again! We had a drink in a nicely decorated lounge bar, and went back to the hotel. A nice relaxed day!

The last day in Hoi An we went to pick up the clothes Carolien had ordered, and Mark bought a set of 10 ceramic bowls & plate, spoons, chopsticks & holders, and big plates for 4 euro per set!. A big box, but we could leave it at the airport deposit in Ho Chi Minh. Arround 1400 a taxi brought us to the Danang airport, from where we flew to Ho Chi Minh City. Hoi An was definetly one of the nicest places in Vietnam, and i really want to go back ther sometime to spent a week or so! The best place to buy souvenirs for sure.

Hue

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Arriving in Hue arround 10 am by train. In the train someone came to us with a proposal for a new hotel, and we arranged for a pickup from the station. It was the Thai Bihn Hotel. Quite luxureus, 12 dollar per room, two rooms. But we took it because it was very nice: HBO movie channel, internet, elevator, nice view from 5th floor, and we had a shared balcony. We had lunch on the river side of Hue, in The Tropical Garden Restaurant, and went for a round thru town, and had dinner in the Stop & Go cafe. A nice restaurant/cafe, run by an old man, that arranges tours aswel.

Hue is an old historical important town, one of Vietnams main cultural, religious and educational centre’s. For a long time the Nguyen dynasty ruled rom the Emperial enclosure in the old cittadel. Hue was also the site of the bloodiest battle of the 1968 Tet offensive during the American/Vietnam war. In 3 1/2 weeks 3000 civilians (monks, merchants, priests and intellectuals) were killed by the north vietnamese army. After that there was a 10 day bitter combat, during wich whole neighbourhoods were levelled by VC Rockets and US bombs. Therefore, there is not much left within the emperial enclosure.

The second day we went on a tour to the old DMZ (Demilitarised Zone), a zone 5 km asouth and north of the Ben Hai river, that served as e demarcation between north and south vietnam during the American war. There has been severe fighting there, as the VC was trying to get weapons to the south citys for the Tet offensife by using the Ho Chi Minh trail, that was therefore heavilly bombed by Americans using Agent Orange, a deforrestation bomb. We visited Khe Sanh base, where a famous and most controversial siege took place. The Americans where decived by the VC because they tought the VC was planning to take Khe Sanh base, while they were using it as a diversion for the Tet offensive, wich began a week after the Khe Sanh siege.
We also visited the Vinh Moc tunnels, a 2,8 km long complex, reaching up to 26m below ground. After 18 months of work, whole families lived here for three years, and 17 babies were born in the underground delivery room. After visiting some more sites (not much left of it, on one only one tank, and ‘Rockpile Mountain was no more..) we went back to Hue.
We had dinner again in The Tropical Garden Restaurant.

The next day, 7th of november, we rented a moto, and drove off to visit some of the surrounding Royal Tombs of the Nguyen Dynasty Rulers. We visited Thien Mu pagoda. It was from here that the monk Tich Quang Duc travelled to Saigon for his self-immolation and burned himself to death to protest to the policies of president Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. A famous photograph was on the front page of news papers arround the world.
After visiting a few other tombs and pagodas we passed a incense making stall, and tried to make some ourself, to some succes. At sunset, 6 o’clock, we drove back to Hue (had i mentioned that driving a moto is like buying a lot in the lottery, they drive like crazy! But if you get the pace, it goes all very well). We had dinner in a fine restaurant, Mandarin Cafe, with personal service. The owner showed us some nice photographs he had shot himself, and we bought some postcards from him. After dinner we had a drink in a belgian run bar, and had a talk about Vietnam rules for bar owners, and some strange things in Vietnam. At midnight we went back to the hotel, the next morning our bus would leave at 14.00 to Hoi An!

The last day in Hue we went to the postoffice to look at some news on the internet, had lunch a then our bus left to take us to Hoi An.

Cat Ba & Halong Bay

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On the 3th we arrived early in the morning in Hanoi, arround 6 am. We watched a wghole lot of people excersise in the morning arround Hoam Kiem Lake, very funny. Then a cup of coffee, and off to the trainstation to buy train tickets to Hue for the 4th. Then took a bus to Hai Phong were we arrived 12 am. There we took a ferry to Cat Ba island, in the Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is a beautifull bay, with islands of lime stone. We stayed on Cat Ba island one night. First day a round trip on a moto. Then we booked a trip for the next day thru Halong Bay. We had dinner on a restaurant in the middle of the harbour, we had to go there with a boat. The meal was still swimming in the nets under the boat, you can pick what you want to eat, right out of the sea! Had a beer later in a bar owned by a new zealander, The Flightless Bird. The next day we left on a private boat, thru Halong Bay, visited a stupid monkey island, snorkeled in the coral, visited a cave and boated to Halong City were we took a bus back to Hanoi. This was the most craziest busride in my life. The bus was completely full so we had to keep the bags on our lap. The driver drove like crazy (the other road users as well) and we saw one accident, and were this close to being in one. Then, half way we stopped somewere, and everybody had to get out of the bus. The driver and two men started to unload a HUGE ammount of plastic bags with clothes or something. This was a normal mass transit bus! Imagine having this in Holland…. We arrived arround 19.00 in Hanoi, had dinner and went back to the station to take the night train leaving at 23.00 to Hue, a 11 hour trip.

Sa Pa

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Sapa - VietnamFrom Hanoi we left on the train to Lao Cai. This was a 10 hour trip. From there we were picked up by a transferbus to Sa Pa. This is a really adorable city. The people here are so friendly, and there are a lot of people selling there wares on the street. The area is foggy, but this is caracteristic for Sa Pa. We bought a lot of souvenirs here, all is very cheap. Say 20.000 dong for a bag, wich is 1 euro. You realy want to help the people so we bought so much! My bag is not getting any lighter on it, but it is all realy nice. It is all handmade.

Waterfall Cat Cat - VietnamThe first day we spent on a trip to a waterfall in Cat Cat. The walk is nice, about one hour to it. Then an hour at the waterfall were some of us went for a swim, and a shower in the waterfall. Then an hour walk back, we walked thru the fields! In the evening a nice dinner(cheap, 100.000 dong for 4 people = 5 euro). Later in the hotel we chatted with two guys from Canada, who were here to film ethical travel or something.

Sapa Market - VietnamThe second day Carolien and me spent on the market, and Rob and Mark went for an trip in the jungle. I bought a lot here, for about 500.000 dong (=25 euro). We ate pizza as lunch (it was good!) and we had dinner with the Canadian guys.

Third day we left on a three day trekking trip thru the Sa Pa surroundings to meet the poeple here. First day a light trip of 2 hours, and we spent the night at the house lovely family of the Mhuong tribe, in an small village in the rice fields.

Sapa kids - VietnamThe second day of the trip was hard! Wake up at 6, have breakfast (pancakes with banana and chocolate sauce) the 20 km thru the rice fields and the jungle. After a few stops (it was hot, and going up and down, thru water etc.) we arrived aroound 17.00 in a village to stay for the night. This time the house was bigger, and more nice. Had dinner, drank some beer and played a few card games, and chatted with the guide. 21.30 was bed time again, and we all slept like roses!

Trekking Sapa - Vietnam8 in the morning wake up again, and we cut the trip a little short, rested some more and went back to Sa Pa were we had a great long awaited shower. Now i’m in an internet cafe in Sa Pa, we gonna have dinner and the leave to the train station again for an other 10 hour trip back to Hanoi, and the leave from there directly to Halong Bay. That should be great. Ok, c u later, the internet connections are not that quick, so i only uploaded a few photo’s hope to write in more detail later too.

Greetings from Sa Pa, Frank