Good Morning Vietnam
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2008
1
20
40
Trip End
Oct 31, 2008
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Sunday, October 12, 2008
This is the mid point of our trip and marks a sea change. We have spent the last 3 weeks on our own and in some quite nice hotels. For the next weeks we're joining a tour of Vietnam and Cambodia. The tour is run by Explore Worldwide who we've used quite a few times before. The group will be up to 20 people with a group leader, the hotels are typically 2-3 star and you usually spend only 1 or 2 nights in each hotel - this really is living out of a suitcase.
Some thoughts on Bangkok:
It was quite busy - I'm sure lots of people think it's mad, but after China it wasn't that busy or that manic.
Welcome to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
It's hot and humid.In some aspects, the Thai period are polar opposites to the Chinese. In a shop / restaurant the Chinese can be quite scary - a request for the bill is often answered with a sharp "yes" - whereas the Thais are ever so polite and willing to oblige.
The Buddhist influence is very visible and the temples sit curiously aside ultra modern skyscrapers, each an oasis of calm in the manic city.
The tour guides seem to think that tourists want photos of themselves everywhere with everything.
And so to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This is a different world - it's a lot poorer than the other countries we've been to and the architecture is different (with a strong French influence). The driving remains the same - use your horn and whoever blinks first loses.
We went for a brief orientation walk and found a thunderstorm (that wasn't on the map). It was a real, proper tropical storm - thunder, lightening and torrential rain. We hid in a cafe for the 20-30 minutes it tried to drown the city. The return walk to the hotel involved a couple of detours as several roads were ankle deep in water.
