A Month in Vietnam
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2003
1
8
14
Trip End
Nov 11, 2004
Hanoi, Vietnam
Friday, March 12, 2004
We are sorry once again that it has been so long since our last entry, but we have been spending a whirlwind month in Vietnam. This past month has been amazing and we have truly been awestruck by the beauty and diversity of Vietnam. Of all of the places that we have been too, so far, Vietnam is definitely our favorite. If what surprised us the most about Cambodia was the warmth of the people, what has surprised us the most about Vietnam is the diversity of the landscape...rainforests, caves, mountains, sea, and limestone rock formations along with bustling cities like Saigon and Hanoi. There really is a little bit of everything here. We have been traveling from South to North starting with a Mekong Delta tour in Chau Doc and finishing up in the tribal mountain villages of Sapa.
*Arrival in Vietnam - Mekong Delta Tour* (Photos: 01-03)
We traveled to Vietnam along with our friends Giannis (Australian) and Sarah (English) who we originally met in Mt
01_MekongDeltaHouseBoats
. Abu, India. Since India, we have met up with Giannis and Sarah in Bangkok and throughout Cambodia. So, the 4 of us decided to travel together from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Vietnam by boat. The slow boat gave us a chance to appreciate the beauty of life on the Mekong Delta...house boats, rice fields, fish farms, floating markets, and boats full of students in uniforms on their way home from school. We visited one of the fish farms and were amazed to see over 3,000 fish swimming in an underwater cage below the house. The family that lived there had grown the fish from when they were just eggs and fed them every day with some mixture that smelled horrible. For their grocery shopping, this family, along with the other families who live on houseboats, takes their small boat out to the floating market. There at the market, you pass through an aisle of water with boats on either side of you off of which you can buy your groceries. Each boat is specialized in only one item, and is absolutely overflowing with that item. It was really interesting to see. After our second day in the Mekong Delta, Arnaud literally started turning green on our bus ride to the hotel in Cantho. Luckily, though, he made it to the hotel room before he really got sick. Afterwards, he thought that he was feeling better and decided to go for a walk with the group around town (in addition to Giannis and Sarah, we also met a group of English girls..
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. Alex, Jodie, and Tess who were a ton of fun to hang out with). It probably was not the smartest move that the first stop of our walking tour was in the market. Arnaud's fragile stomach was definitely not prepared for the sights that lay in store. Just to mention a few to give you a visual of this market...still alive fish flapping around on tables, entire dead pigs being carved up, dried out seafood everywhere, and snakes being killed so that men could drink the blood. Needless to say, Arnaud made a quick run back to the hotel leaving me at the market with the rest of the group. Don't worry, I was able to check-on him periodically using our walkie-talkies (Yes, we even have walkie-talkies in our huge backpacks. They don't get a lot of use, but when we do take them out, it's a lot of fun.). Although, Arnaud had a really rough night and could not even hold down water, the next morning he was, luckily fine. Apparently, his stomach needed a little bit of time to get used to the Vietnamese food. *Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)*
After our Mekong Delta tour, we were dropped off in Saigon. It was quite a big change to move from the quaint waterside life of the Mekong Delta to the cosmopolitan city of Saigon. Our first lesson in Saigon was in how to cross streets in Vietnam. There are very few cars in Vietnam, but there are motorcycles EVERYWHERE...they really seem to almost outnumber the people
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. Rather then using their brakes to avoid accidents, the Vietnamese honk their horns like crazy and hope that you will move out of their way. If you do not, then, at the last minute, they will swerve out of the way. Given this attitude, you would think that the best strategy would be to cross the street with a lot of caution. But no, if you wait to cross the street, you will never actually be able to cross. And, if you hesitate while in the middle of crossing the street, you are sure to get run over. So, the best strategy is to just walk straight ahead without any hesitation. Needless to say, I almost got run over at least 50 times. Finally, Arnaud resorted to holding my arm like a little kid and leading me across the street.Our first full day in Saigon was Valentine's Day, which we were surprised to learn they actually celebrate in Vietnam. Arnaud and I spent the day exploring the city and decided to do a major splurge for dinner at a French restaurant. We had a fantastic dinner and drank several glasses of French wine (oh how we miss wine!). It was kind of nice to eat dinner with "grown-ups" for a change and not just other backpackers. This major splurge only cost us $23, which would be cheap in the States, but you have to realize that it was almost 5 times the cost of what we usually pay to eat dinner in Vietnam. (Traveling here is really cheap! We have been staying in nice hotel rooms for between $5 and $7 and have been eating huge dinners for around $4 for both of us)
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. After our romantic dinner, we decided to go for a walk around the city. We were absolutely amazed by the number of motorbikes that were out; it was literally impossible to cross the streets. It seemed that to celebrate Valentine's Day, the Vietnamese decided to go "cruising" around the city. Without any particular destination, couples and even entire families on one motorbike were just cruising around town. It was so nice to see. In the city parks, there were couples cuddling on their parked motorbikes. Since there are no cars in the city and since whole extended families live together, it is pretty hard for couples to get any privacy. What was also cute to see is that there were couples of all ages from around 16 to 65 cuddling on their motorbikes. (Photo:05)The day after Valentine's Day, we went on a tour with our friends to visit the CuChi tunnels and the Cadoist temple. The CuChi tunnels were hideout tunnels used by the Viet Cong in Southern Vietnam. We crawled through the tunnels and were amazed by just how small they were. The tunnels had been designed expressly to be too small for fat Americans to get through. So, of course, Arnaud had to prove that he could fit through the smallest opening into the tunnels. Arnaud and I got so lost in crawling through the longest tunnel that I was pretty much sure that they were going to have to send out a search party to find us in the bat-infested, damp tunnels
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. But, luckily, we made it to the end. (Photos:06-07) After the tunnels, we went to a Cadoist temple to watch a service. Cadoism is a religion that was started to supposedly combine the best of all religions. (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc.) They supposedly pick their primary religion using some type of ouigi board sceance. And, since the Vietnamese government has forbidden séances, the followers are now without a primary religion. The whole thing was awfully colorful and "Disney World -esque", but a bit confusing. That evening, we had a funny night in Saigon. We had gone out to dinner with our French friend, Danny, and the English Girls to a Vietnamese Hotpot restaurant where we ate on the sidewalk on plastic, child-sized tables and chairs. (Photo:09) Arnaud started talking with a Vietnamese man named Pierre who spoke French and who proceeded to buy us all drinks for the rest of the night. It was really funny to talk to him and he gave us quite a lot of insight into the Vietnamese culture. Feeling quite rude, but being truly exhausted, I finally excused myself at 3:00am (it was a Sunday night) and Arnaud did not get home until 4:00am. (Photo: 08)
Our last day in Saigon, Arnaud and I visited the Reunification Palace that was decorated in quite an austere, communist style and the Vietnam War Remembrance Museum
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. The war museum was quite disturbing. There were photos of American soldiers torturing Vietcong and of generations of people who are deformed as a result of Agent Orange. Many people we met found it to be extremely anti-American, and I have to admit that it was one-sided. However, the actions of many Americans were terrible and the effects of Agent Orange truly were horrendous. I honestly felt pretty embarrassed to admit that I was an American when I was there. *MuiNe*
From Saigon, we took a minibus to go to the beach area of MuiNe. On our way, our driver was pulled over by the police and disappeared for 2.5 hours leaving us alone in the bus with the air conditioning on. Just as we had unloaded our bags and were ready to stop a random bus on the road, our driver returned with no explanation for where he had been (he did not speak a word of English). The whole experience was quite odd. Our only hypothesis is that our driver did not have enough money to bribe the policeman and therefore had to wait for one of his colleagues to deliver money to where we were. (Pure conjecture, but it is the only explanation we have). In MuiNe, we rented a motorcycle and had a great time riding around the town. We visited a not so impressive waterfall, but loved the beautiful walk that we did through the stream surrounded by canyons of orange sand. At one point, we were standing above the stream surrounded by orange sand with mountains on our left side and rice paddies on our right side...it was truly magnificent. (Photo:10) After the waterfall, we took the motorcycle through some treacherous roads to the sand dunes. We got a little lost on the way and had to stop at a small village to ask for directions. We were immediately swarmed by villagers eager to help us or just even stare at us
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. We finally found the sand dunes and were completely awestruck. They were enormous and like nothing I had ever seen before. Arnaud and I had a great time running up the dunes and somersaulting down. At the end of the day, we had sand in our teeth, in our ears, in our hair...really, everywhere. (Photos: 12-15)*Dalat*
From MuiNe, Arnaud and I headed to the mountain town of Dalat that is known as the mini-Paris; there is even a replica of the Eiffel tower in the town center. (Photo: 16) Dalat was a great place for doing outdoor sports. The first day, Arnaud did an organized mountain-biking tour and struggled to keep up with 20 year-old Quebecois boys. (Photo: 17) I rented a mountain bike on my own and struggled to make my way up all of the hills in the city. Despite my best efforts, I was truly exhausted and only lasted a few hours. (what a wimp) The next day, Arnaud and I did a great hike together to the top of a mountain and visited many of the nearby waterfalls by motorcyle. (Motorcylcing was much easier than mountain biking)
*Nha Trang*
After wearing ourselves out in Dalat, we headed to Nha Trang where we spent 2 days just relaxing on the beach
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. We spent the whole day on beach chairs in front of a restaurant where a waiter delivered us breakfast and drinks right to our chairs...we were so spoiled. It was great! (Photo: 18) We met up again with Giannis, Sarah, the English Girls, and a group of Irish folks we had met in Cambodia (Paul, Cormak, Rose, and Breffny). It was Giannis's birthday and we had a great night out to help him celebrate. *HoiAn*
Arnaud and I then took a night bus to HoiAn and were extremely lucky that the bus was practically empty. Arnaud and I were each able to lie across entire rows of seats, so we actually were able to sleep OK. HoiAn is a beautiful, charming, small town that has somehow become the tourist tailor capital of Vietnam. There must be at least 300 tailor shops in the city and all of the tourists go there to custom-make clothing. Arnaud and I each had made 2 suits (yes, someday we will have to return to work) that we just love! They fit absolutely perfectly and it was so much fun being able to design exactly what we wanted. Even Arnaud loved it. We divided up our time in HoiAn between visiting the town, savoring the local cuisine, and going to our many clothing fittings...the fittings really did take up a lot of time. (Photo: 19)
*Hue*
From HoiAn, we headed to the city of Hue where we met up with Giannis, Sarah, and the Irish Folks to help us celebrate Arnaud's 32nd birthday
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. For the big day, we rented motorbikes as a group and did an amazing tour of the beautiful countryside. We visited several pagodas and tombs but were most impressed by how warm and friendly the people were as we passed through their villages. (Photo: 20-22) For Arnaud's birthday night, we were joined by the English Girls and went out for dinner and drinks together. The English Girls had bought Arnaud a bottle of gin for his birthday, which he proceeded to drink all by himself, and didn't even offer to share with anyone else. (Photo: 23) When it was finally time to go home, Arnaud and Paul decided that they could drive everyone home on cyclos (bicycle taxis) and were amazed by just how difficult it was to do. Paul actually crashed his cyclo. On our last day in Hue, Arnaud and I went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone and the HoChi Minh trail. It was an interesting lesson in history, but there really is not very much left to see.*Hanoi*
We then took another night bus to Hanoi. This bus, however, was much less pleasant than the previous night bus experience. The bus was crowded, bumpy, and neither Arnaud nor I was actually able to sleep. To make matters worse, Arnaud had a little Vietnamese woman laying on him. This woman had booted her daughter onto the floor so that she could have 2 seats to lay down.
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Although she was little, she was not able to lay down without severely encroaching on Arnaud's space...I thought that he was going to kill her! By the time that we arrived in Hanoi, we were exhausted, but were happy to explore a new city. We did a walking tour of the city with our friends during the day and at night we went to a water puppetry show. Water puppetry is an ancient art in Vietnam that was developed by people working in the rice fields. Although we could not understand any of the Vietnamese being spoken, we were able to get the gist of the show from the puppets' actions. The next day, Arnaud, Giannis, and I went on a tour to visit TamCoc. TamCoc is known as the Halong Bay without the sea... it is a beautiful area where you take a boat ride thru a canal that is surrounded by rice fields and beautiful, immense, limestone rock formations. We took our boat through 3 caves that were absolutely magnificent. (Photo: 24) That night, Arnaud and I went our separate ways for the first evening on our trip. Along with Giannis, Sarah, and the Irish Folks, we decided to split up and have a Girl's Night/Boy's night. So, Arnaud went out with the boys and I went out the girls. I had a fabulous time with the girls eating, drinking, gossiping, and just hanging out. After dinner, we decided to head out to the super-trendy, "New York style", Century Night Club where we unintentionally ran into the boys
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. We finished the night off dancing like crazy all together...it was a great night!*Halong Bay*
After our visit to TamCoc, we went with our friends (Giannis, Sarah, and the Irish folks) to see the real Halong Bay. Although the weather was a bit cold and overcast, it truly was magnificent. (Please look at the photos we have posted since I do not think that any explanation I could give could do it justice. Photos: 25-28). We spent our first night in Halong Bay sleeping on a boat. We had lunch and dinner on the boat and spent most of the night playing cards and listening to Paul play his guitar. Arnaud and I slept OK in our room, but sadly our friends were not quite as lucky. The next day, we did a great hike up a mountain to a beautiful viewpoint of the bay. After that, we got back on our boat to go out to do some kayaking. Sarah and I made the mistake of making fun of how Cormak and Paul kayaked because she and I were even more ridiculous. We kept going in circles and finally had to be towed back to the boat by Giannis and Arnaud. On our way to CatBa island, we had the highlight event of our trip...a dolphin swam next to our boat and followed us almost all the way back to the island. It was the first time in my life that I had seen a dolphin outside of a museum or Sea World and it was absolutely magnificent
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. (Photo:29) We spent the night at a hotel in CatBa island and went back to Hanoi the next day.*Sapa*
When we arrived in Hanoi, we had 2 hours to walk around the city before we caught the night train to Sapa. Luckily, this night train was a great experience. Arnaud and I shared a 4-person, soft-bed sleeper car with Rose and Breffny and slept like babies. I am glad that we were well-rested when we arrived in Sapa because it was spectacular. Sapa is a mountain village that is the highest point in Vietnam, and therefore the coldest. Luckily, we were able to find a hotel room with an amazing view and a fireplace to keep us warm (the fireplace worked on the first night, but the second night, sadly, our room just filled up with smoke). The whole area surrounding Sapa is mountainous and magnificent and is inhabited by tribes that are still living in their traditional, primitive ways...still dress in their traditional outfits and tend the fields and their animals to try to be somewhat self-sufficient. For what they cannot produce on their own, the tribes go to a market to exchange goods with members of other tribes. Arnaud and I went to visit one of these markets and were truly amazed by the beautiful and colorful outfits of the tribeswomen. We tried to discretely take lots of pictures while we were at the market, so please take a look at the pictures we've posted to get sense of what we are talking about
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. (Photos: 31-42)The first day in Sapa, Arnaud and I did a great trek to visit the CatCat village (Hmong tribe). There was a great path on our way there, but Arnaud and I decided to forego the path on the way back and had a beautiful walk through the mountain pastures and fields. We braved some slippery rocks to cross the river and somehow made it safely to the other side with only slightly dirty pants to show for it. The second day, we did the tour of the market and did a boat tour to visit 2 tribal families. The hospitality was so nice in both of the families. Even though they did not have much, they offered us tea and rice wine. The children were adorable and the families were so nice to allow us to invade their lives and be spectators. The 3rd day, Arnaud and I rented a Russian Minx motorcycle and road all over the surrounding area. We were not sure if the motorcycle would be able to make it up the mountains, but somehow, it came through OK. We crossed the Tram Tom Pass (the highest mountain pass in Vietnam) and were shocked by the change in climate as we drove down the mountain. Sapa is the coldest area in all of Vietnam while LaoChai on the other side of the mountain is the hottest point. We happened upon a tribal village and had the chance to watch the kids attending class in an outdoor school. I don't know how they were able to pay attention with the beautiful scenery surrounding them
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. Our last day in Sapa, we again rented a motorcycle to explore the villages. We needed to be back by 4:00 to catch our Russian Jeep to the train station for our night train and we barely made it. On our way back up into Sapa, our motorcycle (that supposedly had a full tank when we rented it) ran out of gas and completely died. Luckily, a nice man who did not speak a word of English came out of his house to help us. He led us to his house where he left us with his 2 elderly parents and son while he took our motorcycle and went into town to get gas. His mother spoke to us non-stop in Vietnamese and we did not understand a word. But, luckily, this guy did not abandon us and he came back with our bike and we made it on time for our night train. This time, Arnaud and I cheaped-out and took the 6 person, hard bed sleeper that we ended up sharing with a Vietnamese couple. Arnaud slept well, but for some reason, I could not sleep at all.*Today*
So, that leads us to where we are today. We are right now in Hanoi catching up on some errands before we catch our flight tomorrow to Vientiane Laos. Vietnam has been an amazing experience, but we are excited to move onto somewhere new tomorrow.
We are just finishing up our 4th month of traveling and our sad that our trip is already one-third of the way through
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. But we are still learning a lot about ourselves, about different cultures, and about history and are experiencing new things every day. You all still have an open invitation to join us and we hope to see you all soon.
We miss you a lot!
Big hugs,
Vicki and Arnaud
**********
Salut a tous,
Et nous voila donc de retour, apres le Cambodge voici la suite des aventures de oui-oui (Vicki) et no-no (Arnaud) au Vietnam (la deja je sens que je suis en forme).
Nous avons donc pris la decision de visiter le Vietnam en commencant par le sud (delta du Mekong) puis de prendre la direction du nord jusqu'a Hanoi. De Phnom Penh nous avons donc decide de redescendre le Mekong en bateau jusqu'au Vietnam. Nous etions avec un couple anglo-Australien (Giannis et Sarah) que nous avons rencontre en Inde, et avec 3 jeunes anglaises de 19 ans (Tess, Alex et Jodi). Le paysage etait vraiment cool, la traversee de la frontiere s'est passee sans encombre et nous avons decide de continuer a visiter le delta du Mekong tous ensemble (photo 01,02, 03).
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Dans le bus en direction de Cantho, je sens comme une petite nausee que j'attribue au mal de bus. Nous arrivons enfin a notre hotel et la je commence a faire les gros yeux a vicks dans le genre "Il faut vraiment que l'on se depeche a prendre les clees de notre chambre". Une fois les clees en main, je cours a notre chambre pour enfin retrouver ce que je cherchais le plus au monde "les toilettes". C'est amusant de constater comment des petites choses futiles du quotidien comme celle la prennent tout a coup une importance capitale. Bref, apres cela je reprends quelques couleurs donc nous decidams de visiter la ville tous ensemble. Et la ou nous avons manque d'esprit c'est de visiter le marche dans mon etat...
A ma plus grande joie nous vimes des bataillons de serpents prets a deguster, des regiments de poissons plus au moins frais, des garnisons de crevettes, crabes et tout autres crustaces non identifies, des armadas de cochons en attente d'extermination, des hordes d'insectes en tout genre prets a consommer, et tout cela dans une harmonie d'odeurs digne d'un bon fromage corse de 20 ans d'age. Doucement mais surement je sens l'ennemi revenir, il nous encerclait, il etait tout proche de la victoire, nous allions perdre le bataille. Il etait temps pour moi d'ordonner une retraite strategique a notre camps de base (l'hotel) afin d'y elaborer un nouveau plan de bataille dont le nom de code etait "rester au lit"
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. L'ennemi nous pilonna toute la nuit mais nous restames eveilles, les renforts arriverent le general "Immodium" etait enfin arrive a notre rescousse, nous lancames moultes offensives sur le "mont toilette", mais ce n'est qu'au petit matin que finalement nous sortimes victorieux, affaiblis, affames, assoiffes, mais victorieux...Diem Bien Phu etait venge.Du coup le lendemain matin avec des valises sous les yeux grosses comme celles d'un emir arabe qui prend d'assaut le Ritz Carlton avec son harem, nous sommes partis visiter le marche flottant de Cantho, ainsi que ses fermes flottantes (tout flotte dans cette ville) ou ils cultivent les poissons. C'etait super interessant, meme si a plusieurs reprises l'ennemi a bien failli refaire surface, mais nous avons tenu bon.
Puis zou, direction Ho-Chi-Minh city ou anciennement Saigon pour quelques jours. Saigon c'est officiellement 5 millions de personnes, officeusement 8 millions de personnes, mais c'est surtout 30 millions de mobilettes, scooters, motos en tout genre et 3 voitures. Le simple fait de traverser un rue sain et sauf revele deja d'un exploit. Au tout debut, tu es sur le trottoir, tranquilous, tu attends qu'il y ait moins de circulation, ou que tout simplement quelq'un s'arrete pour te laisser passer...grave erreur...tu ne verras jamais une moto ne serait-ce ralentir en te voyant
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. Apres 10 minutes d'attente, tu te lances. Une bonne chose deja, c'est qu'il conduise du meme cote que nous, tu ammorces donc le debut de ta traversee heroique, le tete tournee a fond a gauche, et la premiere surprise, tu en a une qui passe juste derriere toi mais en venant de la droite. Du coup forcement du regarde a droite pour etre sur qu'il y en ait pas d'autre, mais pendant le millieme de seconde que tu regardais a droite, les motos de gauche, elles continuent a avancer et elles sont beaucoup plus pret de toi que tu l'avais initialement envisager...et la donc tu fermes les yeux et tu continues a avancer, et par miracle tout le monde t'evite...tu arrives donc sain et sauf de l'autre cote de la route pour finalement te rendre compte que ce n'etait pas la bonne route et m.... !!!!!Notre premiere soiree a Saigon s'est revelee etre le jour de la Saint Valentin, du coup nous avons fait peter la banque en s'offrant un petit resto francais a $23 (soit en gros 5 fois plus que ce que l'on depense normalement pour manger), mais une telle occasion comme celle la justifie un exces de folie. A notre grande surprise les Vietnamiens fetent aussi le Saint Valentin, ils sont tous en couple sur leur mobilette (voire meme avec leurs enfants), quelque soit leur age et ils harpentent les rue de Saigons sans aucun but precis sinon celui de rouler (c'est vraiment super mignon). En revanche, ce jour la n'essaie meme pas de traverser une rue (photo 05), t'as seul option c'est de trouver un restaurant qui se situe dans ton pate de maison.
La seconde soiree, nous decidames les 3 anglaises, un francais rencontre au Cambodge (Dany) (photo 09) et nous de nous offrir un restaurant surles trottoirs de Saigon, et c'est que nous avons fait la rencontre de Pierre et Bo (photo 08)
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. Mais qui sont Pierre et Bo? A vrai dire je n'en ai que quelques flash dont voici les extraits: Bo est un guide Vietnamien pour touristes japonnais, quant a Pierre lui est aussi un guide Vietnamien mais pour touristes francais. Pierre adore les francais et refuse de nous laisser partir. Bo et Pierre outre le fait d'etre guide touristique vietnamien, ont en commun un gout prononce pour la biere. Bref a 4 heures du mat, apres une cagette de biere (et je n'exagere pas) nous arrivames enfin a nous esquiver afin de rentrer tant bien que mal dans nos foyers respectifs...Inutile de vous raconter le lendemain matin, reveil a 6 heures du mat pour un jogging de 40 km, suivi de 20 km de natation dans le Mekong...bref une matinee normale.Nous avons aussi visite les alentours de Saigon, comme les tunnels ou les Vietcong se cachaient pendant la guerre du Viet-nam (Photos 06, 07), et bien je peux vous dire une chose c'est que le Vietcong etait tout petit et pas claustrophobe car nous avons rampe pendant seulement 200 metres et je croyais bien que nous allions mourir.
Le meme jour nous avons visite aussi un temple caodiste qui se revele etre un genre d'esperanto pour la religion, c'est a dire qu'ils prennent un peu de toutes les religions pour en faire qu'une. Du coup le moine Caodiste c'est un peu le terminator de la religion:
- il fait Ramadan,
- il ne mange pas de poisson le vendredi,
- il fait shabbat tous les vendredi soir et les samedi,
- il prie 5 fois par jours en direction de la Mecque,
- il fait du Yoga et de la meditation,
- il va a la messe tous les dimanche,
- ..
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.Bref il ne fait que les trucs bien de la religion...le veinard !!!! (c'est une boutade, le moine ne doit pas faire tout cela, il a juste a prier 4 fois par jour a (6, 12, 18 et 24 heures), pour tous ceux qui sont pret a se convertir j'ai l'adresse, n'hesitez pas c'est super fun !!!!
Puis ensuite bye-bye Saigon, direction Muine, petite station balneaire dont le seul reel interet est de posseder des dunes de sable blanc et un petit port de peche super mignon (photos 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). Nous avons donc loue une moto pour verifier et bien c'est vrai...les dunes ressemblent a celles du sahara (du moins a l'image que j'en ai car je n'y suis jamais alle), et la route (une quarantaine de km ) etait hallucinante.
Puis bus, direction Dalat (photo 16), une ville dans les montagnes au milieu du Vietnam avec une petite tour Eiffel. Chemin faisant, le chauffeur s'est fait arreter par la police, et du coup il a disparu pendant plus de 2 heures et demie, laissant le bus et ses passagers sans aucune information. Lorsqu'il est revenu nous commencions a faire du stop. Nous avions choisi Dalat afin de pouvoir faire des activites sportives en plein air dans la montagne, et bien nous avons ete servis. A peine arrive, nous sommes entres dans une agence de loisir ou nous avons rencontres 3 quebequois qui venaient juste de booker un tour en VTT (photo 17)
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. Il faut savoir 2 choses, premierement les suisses et les belges n'ont pas d'accent a cote des quebequois, et deuxiemement le quebequois est tres fort en VTT (mais ca je ne l'ai su qu'apres, les traites pourtant nous parlons la meme langue, afin presque). Bref je pensais que l'idee etait bonne, donc je book le tour avec eux. RDV le lendemain 9 heures. Le matin prevoyant un peu le truc j'avale 1 litre de cafe, 2 pancakes banane chocolat, du pain avec de la vache qui rit (tres populaire au Vietnam). Je pense que c'est la vache qui rit qui a du m'alourdir dans les montees j'avais du mal a suivre. Nous sommes passes dans des endroits ou meme avec la plus petite vitesse tu forcais comme un fou et cela meme avec mon mollet droit enorme (cf Cambodge, bloque sur un pont en moto, tu kicks). Le seul moment ou j'etais la star c'etait dans les descentes, forcement j'essayais de compenser pour monter que les francais n'etaient pas des blaireaux (petite allusion discrete a Bernard Hinault question orange du trivial poursuite) du velo, mais tout cela avec une prise de risque maximum qui a bien failli m'etre fatale a plusieurs reprises...bref apres avoir pedale pendant 3 heures dans les montagnes nous arretames pour dejeuner (ne me demande pas comment etait le paysage, j'en ai aucune idee je suis reste la tete dans le guidon pendant 3 heures). Tout doucement je recupere, en essayant de cacher aux autres que je suis a deux doit de l'attaque cardiaque. Au meme moment notre guide nous dit d'une voix monocorde comme si ce que nous avions fait avant n'etait que l'echauffement; "Vous allez voir apres on a une sacree montee pendant 45 minutes"...du coup je me rue sur les bananes pour stocker le maximum d'energie...Pour des raison d'orgueil personnel je ne raconterai pas la fin de cette histoire a vous de vous l'imaginez....c'est assez facile!!!
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!Vicki de son cote avait aussi loue un velo pour la journee afin de sillonner les alentours la ville, a 13 heures elle etait de retour a l'hotel et avons loue une moto le restant de la journee...Je confirme donc que le VTT, ou meme tout simplement le velo est un sport de fou lorsqu'il est execute en region montagneuse. Le lendemain on a fait un treck.
Afin de recuperer de cette experience douloureuse nous avons pris la direction de Nha Trang afin de profiter un peu de la plage (photo 18). La je me suis lance dans l'apprentissage du francais a mon pote australien (dont c'etaitl'anniversaire), nous nous sommes retrouve a chanter Edith Piaf "non rien de rien" a deux heures du mat' dans les rue de Nha Trang.
Puis re-bus direction Hoi An (photo 19), charmante petite bourgade, ou nous avons retrouve nos potes Irlandais du Cambodge (Breffni, Rose, Cormack et Paul) qui n'arrete pas de se moquer de mon accent, il faut dire que je prononce "focus" "fuck ass". Pour ceux dont l'anglais n'est qu'un simple souvenir vous pouvez regarder dans le dico. De son cote Paul est alle a Voin en France...Voin???...Voin???...au bout d'une demie heure j'ai compris qu'il s'agissait de Rouen, bref vive la communication franco-anglaise
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. Hoi An est aussi une ville ou on peut se faire faire des costumes sur mesure pour pas cher, du coup on en a fait faire juste au cas ou on rentre bosser un jour (photo 20).Puis re-re-bus direction Hue (photo 21,22), ville cool dont on a visite l'arriere pays en moto. Avec toute la troupe nous avons aussi fete mon anniversaire (photo 23) (le 28 fevrier pour ceux qui l'avait oublies). RAS, petite soiree tranquille, on a juste entame le 2eme couplet de "non rien de rien".
Ensuite bus de nuit, pour Hanoi. Je dois doit etre le maudit des transport de nuit. Nous arrivons les derniers dans le bus et du coup plus de place l'un a cote de l'autre. Du coup je me retrouve sur la banquette arriere, dans le coin, a cote d'une mere et de sa fille (vietnamienne). A peine le bus parti que la fille se met par terre et se couche en mettant la tete sur mes pied tandis que la mere elle s'etend sur la banquette en mettant la tete sur mes genoux, et cela pendant 12 heures, autant vous dire que j'etais serein.
Hanoi est une ville incroyable (tout comme Saigon il y a plus de motos que de gens). Nous sommes donc arrive tot le matin, et comme j'avais bien dormi grace a mes 2 copines, je passais mon temps a regarder par la fenetre
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. Partout les gens de tout age se promenent dans les parcs, font des exercices, de la gym, du foot, du badminton, discute...et tout cela entre 5 et 7 heures du mat et pareil le soir entre 5 et 7 heures, c'est incroyable. Du coup un soir nous en avons profite pour nous rendre dans un parc, et les gens nous ont proposes de jouer au badminton chose que je n'ai absolument pas refuse. Nous avons fait ensuite une soiree garcon/fille chacun de son cote, on a fini sans le faire expres dans la meme boite de nuit, le retour etait assez comique, car nous conduisions nous meme les « cyclo pousse ».
Puis nous sommes partis passer 3 jours dans la baie d'Halong (Photos 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 30b), avec une nuit sur un bateau, et une nuit dans une ile « Cat Ba ». Le paysage incroyable c'est difficle de pouvoir le decrire avec des mots (dommage pour nous que le ciel n'etait pas bleu). Nous etions entrain de faire du kayak dans la baie d'halong lorsque tout a coup nous avons vu un dauphin (photo 29), on a essaye de nager avec lui mais il n'a pas ose s'approcher de nous. Il a quand meme suivi notre bateau pendant 20 minutes.
Puis ensuite nous avons pris le train de nuit pour Sapa (nors ouest a 20 km de la frontiere chinoise (photo 39), et chose incroyable rien d'anormal s'est passe dans le train
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.Sapa (photo 31 a 42) est la region la plus montagneuse du Vietnam dont le plus haut sommet se situe a plus de 3000 metres. Les paysages etaient tout simplement magnifiques, et de nombreuses minorites (tribus) vivent de la meme facon qu'au moyen age (rien avoir avec les sois disant tribu en Thailande). Nous nous sommes rendu dans un marche ou les gens descendais de la montagne de tous les cotes pour vendre toute sorte de denrees (chien y compris (photo 38)), outils, vetements ou ustensiles. C'etait vraiment incroyable, il y avait 3 differente tribus et chacune avait une tenue vestimentaire differente tres coloree. Nous avons ensuite loue une Minsk (moto russe) pour silloner l'arriere pays ou les paysage sont a vous couper le souffle. Vous passez de la region la plus froide du vietnam Sapa a la region le plus chaude (Lau Chai) et tout cela en l'espace d'une trentaine de kilometres, hallucinant !!!!
Voilà voilà pour le Vietnam, desole je me suis laisse un peu alle. Nous sommes actuellement a Hanoi, on nous prenons l'avion pour le Laos demain midi. En effet le Vietnam etait tellement bien que nous avons decide de prolonger notre sejour et du coup nous sommes a la bourre donc nous prenons l'avion ce qui nous fait economiser 2 jours de voyage en bus.
Vous vous souvenez peut-etre de mon engouement pour le Cambodge, et bien je crois bien que le Viet-nam l'a depasse
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. En effet question paysage le Viet-nam est absolument fabuleux, il y a une diversite qui est incroyable. Les gens sont tout aussi gentils que les cambogiens, bref pour ceux qui ont un mois de vacances...je leur conseille.De notre cote nous sommes a notre 4eme mois de voyage et nous restons toujours emmerveilles a chaque endroit ou nous nous arretons, nous ne nous lassons pas de la diversite des paysages, des gens, des activites, bref c'est toujours le pied. Prochaine etape donc le Laos pourvu que cela dure....
Nous pensons beaucoup a vous, vous nous manquez enormement
La bise et A+
Arnaud & Vicki
