Vietnam; motorbikes on the beaten track

Ever since I had watched Tour of Duty as a child, I wanted to visit Vietnam. Vietnam, a country known for its tunnels during the war, may sound exotic to most people but in fact mass tourism has found its way to this Eastern part of the world. I arrived in Hanoi, late in the evening. The next day I explored the Old Quarter of the city. This is actually a very nice part of the capital. It can best be described as organized chaos in an ancient village within a big city. Motorbikes are everywhere and people sell their stuff on the side of the roads. Amongst all of them, tourists wonder around to observe this supposedly old fashioned way of living. Every other minute you’ll have a typical Kodak-moment when one of the many characters looks at you. They are just as fascinated by the Western tourists as ‘we’ are by them.

Besides exploring the Old Quarter I also paid a visit to some sights in the other parts of town. Most of the sights are temples. No huge complexes as Borobudur for example, but little ones where you can have a moment of relaxation and possibly some reflection too. A nice temple in Hanoi is the temple of literature, dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The exams and study sessions of the Dai Viet, the Vietnamese dynasties from 1054-1072, took place right there. This relatively small complex consists of five courtyards where the last one has several statues of the best students. It’s a nice way to honour education and it’s definitely a relaxing place within the hectic city…

Hanoi is a good base for some interesting side trips. In the Northwest one can find mountains around the town of Sapa and in the East Halong Bay is the highlight as a UNESCO World Heritage site or according to one of the many lists it’s even a wonder of the world…

I shopped around at the many travel agencies in Hanoi to find a nice cruise to Halong Bay. Initially a 3-day cruise seemed the one to do but the weather wasn’t perfect (whatever that may be) so I decided to go on a 2-day cruise instead. The cheapest cruise was around 40 US dollars but, being afraid of drunken Brits and Aussies, I booked an upgrade and paid 60 US dollars for a 3-star cruise to avoid the party people. You have to take into account that I’m getting a bit old…

It turned out to be a good decision though as the people on the boat where a nice blend of age and background. We had three Norwegians who took care of evening entertainment, a Brittish singer who was ideal for Karaoke and a lady from Singapore who just kept on talking. “My man so quiet, I’m chatterbox…”, she said repeatedly. Self-reflection is always a good thing. The boat takes you through some impressive Karst formations until you reach a bay with a huge cave. After a nice walk in the cave and some kayaking, we spent the night on the boat. The next day we had a cooking class, which meant the driver of the minivan who took us from Hanoi to Halong Bay, showed us how to make springrolls. It was not too much of a real cooking class but it was a nice way to end the cruise.

After the chaos of the boatcruises (there were quite many of them…) time had come to visit Sapa. As it is located in the mountains the weather was quite chilly this time of year. An interesting sleeperbus, I’m too tall for Vietnamese beds, took me to a very touristy town in the fog. Arrival was quite depressing I have to admit. The so-called Hmong minority people followed me everywhere and offered me tour after tour. In the afternoon I had lunch at one of the BBQ-places along the road with Tony, an interesting character from the US of A. He was constantly high and was looking for inspiration to make a new movie, he said. Well, odd characters definitely add to the experience. Anyway, during lunch we met Huong, a local who offered to take us to a village. The next day Tony was sick, which was to be expected, so Huong and myself went to the market to buy ingredients for our springrolls at lunch. We avoided the minibuses with tourists and had lunch at a local house Huong knew. It was great!

Every Sunday there is a market in a nearby town, read 3 hour drive, called Bac Ha. This market is known for being very colourful because all the different minorities come to trade their stuff. Every minority shows up in traditional clothing which means all colours of the rainbow will be represented. This was a day I could test my new camera setup!

After some sleep in the van, we arrived at the marketplace. It was fantastic. One big chaos of local minority people mixed with tourists but somehow it still had an authentic feel (when traveling, people always seek authenticity whatever that may be…). Trading of food, clothes and animals together with big telelenses looking for the ultimate Kodak-moment. Well, I found a couple…

After the not so comfortable busride I decided to take the train back to Hanoi. My bed was comfortable but unfortunately an old man in the same compartment produced some terrible noise during his sleep which resulted in just a few hours of sleep for myself. Well, as I always say… “there are no highs without the lows”.

After arrival at the very convenient time of 5:00 am, I spent the day hanging around. I paid the local Mediamart a visit and waited for my next train to Hue, the former capital in the middle of the country. This time I had a very comfortable trainride and therefore I arrived well rested late in the morning. As a fan of Tour of Duty I had to visit the infamous tunnels of Vietnam and Hue is the place to do so. Most people visit the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City but they are renovated for tourists whereas the tunnels near Hue, the Vinh Moc tunnels, are still in their original state. Together with a Swedish companion I got lost for a moment in the undergound complex. It was a great adventure and of course we made our way to the exit. Sergeant Anderson (one of the main characters in Tour of Duty for those who don’t know…), eat your heart out!

The next destination was Hoi An, the Venice of Vietnam. It was a 4-hour busride from Hue. It is known for tailormade suits and the ancient center of town with the many boats reminding visitors of Venice. Yes, Hoi An is very touristy, but it is so for a reason. Walking on the main bridge in the evening means sensational views of the old center in combination with the many lanterns. You can see pictures of Hoi An in the gallery by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. Just before sunset is also a great moment with the low light (see top of this page). Besides visiting the old part a daytrip can be done to visit the My Son temples. My Son has nothing to do with families, no, the name refers to a beautiful mountain where the Hindu temple is located. The temple complex was heavily bombed during the war so to be honest, there was not much to see. The last day I rented a bike and visited a pretty remote beach, An Bang. Considering the crowds seen on Dutch beaches, this was not too bad…

Because heat is not my best friend, I’d like to escape to cooler regions whenever possible. Dalat is one of them in Vietnam so my next destination was a fact. Unfortunately I spent a night in Nha Trang on the way. Nha Trang is another beach town in Vietnam completely spoilt by fat Brits and really obnoxious Russians. The minute I arrived was the minute I wanted to leave but unfortunately my bus left the next day…

Dalat was a place I really enjoyed though. It is located in the mountains and not so touristy. During the day temperatures can reach 25 degrees Celcius but at night it cools down so Paul can sleep. Yes! The first day I was in for a trekking. After being lazy for weeks I simply had to do some exercise. Lian Biang mountain, one of the highest in the surroundings, was on the agenda. A beautiful hike through forests took me to the 2167 meters high peak, it was a good way to spend some energy!

The next day I met up with Ries and Anneke, a Dutch couple I had met earlier in Hoi An. We rented a motorbike and a automatic scooter for me in order to survive. We explored the surroundings and had a great day. We found a beautiful pagoda along the way which followed the Cao Dai beliefs, a mixture of religions resulting in a very colourful combination of church and temple. I liked it. Afterwards a nice 30 km ride on curly roads took us to the Elephant waterfalls. We ended the day in the Windmills cafe with a great smoothie! Ries still beliefs blueberry was the best one but Anneke and myself know better…

My last busride was the one to Ho Chi Minh City. Of course the bus arrived once again at a very convenient time, 5:30 am. I slept in my dodgy guesthouse for a couple of hours and was good to go again. Ho Chi Minh, the city at least, is known for its ridiculous amount of motorbikes. In Vietnam they say the type of your motorbike is related to the beauty of your girlfriend. Well, I don’t even have a driver’s license…

The city is the perfect starting point for a little adventure into the Mekong Delta. I booked a homestay at Mr. Hung’s place and I went to a town called Can Tho where he would pick me up. Of course he arrived by motorbike so the journey became more interesting. My backpack in the front with Mr. Hung and a big bag (I’m carrying my skigear for a reason in Vietnam…) on my back and a helmet that was way to small made a perfect picture!

His homestay consisted of his house, where he lived with his family including parents, and a number of bamboo huts or bungalows. Basic but nice. The visitors mixed very well during dinner so you would meet a nice bunch of people from all over the globe and because of the basic setting (the homestay was more or less in the middle of nowhere) and the fact there were no other hotels or guesthouses around it still had this authentic feel. The next day we took a boatride to see the floating market…

The Mekong Delta itself was not the best experience as I have seen better floating markets (for example in Kashmir) but the homestay made it all worthwhile. I met some really nice people and Mr. Hung was a real character!

All in all I can say Vietnam is not the most exotic or adventurous country to travel but it was a pleasant start of my long journey. Now I’m in Cambodia…

Click here to see more pictures of my trip to Vietnam!