THE THREE ALPHA TRAVEL

Coming back to Hanoi from Sapa we felt like not entering the capital again. Having arrived at five-ish in the morning, we were lucky to find a bus to Halong City going at five thirty. After four long hours we were there (we already had spent ten hours coming from Sapa). In the beginning I was very negative on going to Halong Bay through Halong City. I thought it would be better doing it from Haiphong but at the end the tourist traffic in Halong City was not too bad. We immediately took a tour boat to Cat Ba as the only way to go to Cat Ba the same day AND see a bit of Halong Bay. The tour was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather and we arrived at Cat Ba, lying down on the sundeck drinking beer.

The classic Halong Bay

Cat Ba island is part of the National Park of the area in Halong Bay, thus under some protection by the government. So it served as both a place to relax (yes it had a very nice beach called erm… 2) and also for trekking purposes. Most of the days passed easily and happily and well… lazily. See it was the last stop to this beautiful country. The trek how the only exciting part. Usually people do it by entering the park and ending on the point of no return or returning from the end to Cat Ba town by boat. We found out that it would be cheaper and easier if we took our time. We took the boat to the “end” of the track were after walking a good 6km we were in a beautiful village in the middle of nothing. There we stayed one day at a home stay and off we went the next day. We tried to find the path ourselves in the beginning but finally we had to pay for a guide. A beautiful place altogether and a great base for exploring the Halong Bay area. Recommended to everyone.

Then it was back to Hanoi and from there a flight to Bangkok. Noemi was to fly back to Spain and another friend from Greece was to join me for a bit less than three weeks. Lucky me!

It is a bit confusing to find a price that sounds logical in Vietnam. This time though we were lucky. We got the normal price for the bus to Sapa from Hanoi and after ten hours we were there after changing buses in Lao Cai. We were to stay here for a bit more than a week. Previously we had met a Dutch couple that they explicitly told us; “Go to Sapa, check-in in the Cat Cat View Hotel and ask for the room number 24″. The trick here was that it being the only room with a superb view of the mountains at the price of 8 USD it was not offered that easily by the reception. So we did.

Somewhere in the Sapa highlands...

Now, in Sapa everybody’s attention draws to the minority peoples. Of course you can easily skip that and just look out for those stunning views and mountains but the human/social factor has always been of great importance to the traveler. Thus some people deal with the minorities directly when it comes to tours and/or homestays etc. but most of them give their dollars to hotels. From the hotels just a few pennies reach the minorities. It is a shame but I reckon it is the same issue again with the “backpacking” community wanting packet holidays because they do not have enough time for their vacation. In any case, we were lucky to have a contact there. Her name is Su and if anybody goes up there, they can contact me for her email and mobile phone number. For some more information on the Sapa minority groups you can visit: Sa Pa, Hill Tribes of Northwest Vietnam (better seen with Microsoft Explorer).

Su - our friend and guide in Sapa

Around Sapa there are a LOT of things to see. The first day what many people do is go for the nearby Cat Cat village. It is a good introduction to the H’mong people but it is a very touristy kind of place. We did too and after this we went to Bac Ha market and other walks around Sapa town including Ta Phin. The highlight though was our time spent with Su. Su is one of this extraordinary women that being a single mother she knows how to show you around. We arranged a three day trek with her and saw beautiful landscape and even more beautiful people staying in homestays throughout the highlands.  I would like to thank her again for everything! I would normally spend months and months but we had to move on. It was back to Hanoi and to visit the symbolic Halong Bay area…

Hanoi has three train stations, a fact that can be good and bad in the same time. The good thing obviously is the variety of trains and the flexible timetables and the incovenience is the confusion it might cause. In our case it did cause a lot of confusion. Looking for the train station that had departures to Lang Son we had to go to two of them before getting to the right one. Also they have strange opening times, so our ticket could only be bought from 13.15 to 13.45 during the day. In any case we did it the same day of the departure and we were on our way to the north for the first time.

Bus to the North

Exiting Hanoi you are soon confronted with a greener scenery and the your mind soon forgets the noise and crowds of the capital. It is one of those train trips that make you want to write in your diary and sit back smoking a cigarette while you are at it. After some hours and after having reminded myself how much I love train travelling we reach Lang Son in the evening. We look for a hotel and go for dinner while planning the next day. For the latter we visit the Tam Thanh cave (one of the two caves; the other being Nhi Tham) and luckily enough as we wanted to save some time there was a public bus to Cao Bang at 14:00. It was a good move because after about four hours we are in the real north and the only place in Vietnam we were to meet no tourists at all.

Cao Bang

The next couple of days we explore the Cao Bang province with motorcycle. What a place! I haven’t been to Halong Bay yet but from the photos it looks something like it but without the water element. Instead of it rice fields and rivers. It is trully breathtaking! The absence of tourism makes the negotiations more difficult but the people are more open hearted than ever. On the first day we visit the amazing Thang Hen lake which is part of a complex of 36 lakes altogether. When we went they were building some infrastructure around it so if you want to visit go as soon as possible. We tried to reach the Bang Gioc waterfall but it was too far away and too crazy a road to do by motorbike. In any case everything next to the borders with China was of breathtaking beauty so even the ride itself was worth the day. The next day we took another direction and reached the Pac Bo cave and surroundings that is of special importance to the Vietnamese. There Ho Chi Minh used the place as the hideout while waiting for WWII to finish. Being literally on the borders with China he ensured his safety from that side at least in case the French would come after him. He sure knew how to choose his hideouts as the place is magical. Even today the mountains around it and the river crossing it remind of something out of the Lord Of The Rings movie. Later we catch a bus to return to Hanoi. Now we wanted to do more of the North and tourist attractions like Halong Bay and such seemed further away. Thus Sapa province was to be next…

… a very interesting place to be indeed. The energy of the place is incredible and it seems that the impossible can be close to the reality; tourists and locals do meet here to exchange ideas and live the same lives!

Hanoi Botanical Gardens

 If you have travelled in north of Vietnam you should know that you have to pass from Hanoi various times on your way to different places in this part of the country. Until now I have been twice and surely I’ll have to pass one more. The sites to see here are not so much the thing to see. In Hanoi I felt like sitting down and looking around doing nothing. So much information, so much life! Especially the Old Quarter of the town is a one off. It might be the “backpackers’ hangout” but mingling a bit more with the people that lead normal lives there you’ll see that everything is connected. It is strange because I do not usually go for capitals but I think I prefer it to Saigon…

In terms of culture, Hanoi has definetely more content than Saigon. To begin with it is the place you can find out everything about Ho Chi Minh. His museum is a bit arty farty and I did not get a lot from the visit but just like Mao and Lenin he made sure his masoleum is in the middle of the city where he can be found lying all stuffed up and good looking. His body is sent to Russia for three months every year for “restuffing” so that he never loses his looks. The police / authorities  presence is also more obvious in the town. The prices for once more are dealt with hard bargaining – the hardest I found in all Vietnam but it is fair enough I guess too. Fianlly the food is just great once more!

PS: Here I also extended my visa for one month more (as I will be staying for more than a month). This normally costs 10 USD but you will never get the proper price. In hotels and tour companies they do it for 20 USD in two days and 30 USD in one and that it your best bet as far as I know.

Trying to CS in Saigon, I contacted Stephen, a Canadian that has been there for nearly threee years. He is a friend of the Stephen I met CSing in Kenya so he told me about him. The world is small. He could not host us but we did go out fot a beer or two. Nicely enough  he gave us information about Saigon and generally Vietnam. He has been teaching English there, something I have thought of myself as a solution for working and travelling. We stayed in Saigon for 3 days. During this period we walked a lot (like there is no tomorrow as the a Greek would say). We saw the “must-sees” including the War Remnants museum. It is basically a propaganda against the American propaganda on the war of Vietnam. When left we both had a very good feeling over Saigon.

Saigon

The next logical thing to do from there was to visit places in the Mekong Delta. The thought of a tour did not appeal to us at first but as it seems the things are done easier this way on the huge river. The first thought was to jump to Pho Quoc island on the west coast and do not come back to Saigon as part of the tour. Finally we thought we’d better get going for the north soon, as it was from the beginning our main focus. We arranged a 3 day / 2 night tour for the Mekong river but I would personally recommend the 2 day tour if you have limited time in Vietnam. The third day resulted to be all return to Saigon. The Mekong delta is a beautiful place, its people nice, gentle and poor but even then the smile is always on their lips. One of the highlights was the floating market – hundreds of boats exchanging goods and communicating in an incredible and unique way between them. Also my first contact with the Cham minority group was very interesting. It is true that with the tour some places are getting more tourism than others but travelling independently in the Delta is not easy. Some use of the Vietnamese language is needed and some more time to be spend also when doing the latter. I was to understand that the “tour” in Vietnam was not such a bad word afterall – not like in Thailand anyway. Still though I was to try and travel as independently as possible in the most of the cases.

Mekong lady

Dalat (or Da Lat on the Vietnamese maps), was next. It was a long bus from Saigon through the mountains of the central highlands of Vietnam. We stay in Peace Hotel I (as always in Vietnam there are many versions of the same hotel), Arriving we are tired but we have time to go around a bit after having a short sleep. The next day we are renting a motorbike and we visit the Ankroet Falls and the lake near there. The Lat village and the Long Bian mountain are a bit of a let down but the nature arund them is beatiful. On going back to Dalat we are satisfied that we visited this place on our way up. The same night we take the bus to Danang with the intension to reach Hoi An as soon as possible. There we were to spend our most days so far in Vietnam.

Dalat (or Da Lat on the Vietnamese maps), was next. It was a long bus from Saigon through the mountains of the central highlands of Vietnam. We stay in Peace Hotel I (as always in Vietnam there are many versions of the same hotel), Arriving we are tired but we have time to go around a bit after having a short sleep. The next day we are renting a motorbike and we visit the Ankroet Falls and the lake near there. The Lat village and the Long Bian mountain are a bit of a let down but the nature arund them is beatiful. On going back to Dalat we are satisfied that we visited this place on our way up. The same night we take the bus to Danang with the intension to reach Hoi An as soon as possible. There we were to spend our most days so far in Vietnam.

Buddha Bay

From Danang to Hoi An we realized once more that getting a normal price in Vietnam is almost impossible (we had not been to the north hill tribes yet). In any case from Danang we took a public bus to Hoi An and headed straight for the old town. It is a touristic place, especially now that July has entered and all Europeans begin their vacation. I had forgotten about that having been travelling for 9 months now! Anyway the old town of Hoi An is one of the Cultural Heritage Unesco Sites and it deserves it. I remembered that I always wanted to visit Vietnam just because of movies like “The Scent Of The Green Papaya” and Hoi An resulted to be very similar to those images. We met some people that they told us to stay in Danang and head off for day trips and explore Hoi An but we just could not resist Hoi An’s (or Faifo as it is known to the locals) beauty. Being one of the few places not bombed by the American in the Vietnam war, Hoi An can be a bit tiring when in the rest of the city but in the old quarter there is a beautiful sign saying “Only bicycles and primitive vehicles allowed”. I thought it was an excellent way to put it! We stayed there for five days and enjoyed every moment of it. Doing day trips to Buddha Bay near Danang, the beaches, another Heritage site; Myson or simply driving around the rice fields was just excellent. We were also lucky to have stayed in an 200 year old house run by two lovely ladies. For 10 USD a day for two people we could not ask for more. The climate was excellent too and we had one of the best night sleeps in whole of Vietnam.

Performance in Hoi An

A quick visit to Hue was next. We cought the train that everybody was trying to hide from us when asking about it and in about four hours we were in Vietnam’s ex capital. The basic thing to see here; the Citadel and emperors’ tombs. The first day it was seriously hot but we still made it to explore the Citadel. Many of its parts are being restored right now so I felt a bit like having the luck I had in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Nevertheless it is a beatiful structure with may buildings and temples to see and visit. Also around it, many old neighborhoods are scattered giving Hue a lot of character and making worth walking and exploring. The second day we did just that but only after we had a tour to the fishing village, the Garden House (a Vietnamese kung fu exhibition included), Hon Chen temple, Thien Mu pagoda, Minh Mang tomb and the famous Tu Duc tomb. The transition to Hanoi was to be made by plane, as we found a cheap flight we Vietnam Airlines for 750000 Dong and thus saving about a day’s travel. The north was ahead and they real excitements of the trip were yet to come…

Citadel of Hue