So, while sitting in a little local, what seemd to be business man cafe here in Hue, sipping my iced saigon coffee while being stared at by overjoyed locals. I thought i sould update the trip report.

We left the city of Hanoi behind us and invested in an open bus ticket. what that ticket entitles us to is to get to Saigon with as many stop offs as we like, as long as we get there withinb two months. Well seeina as though our visa only has another 20 odd days that should be far from a problem. So the first stop we settled on was Hue. Hue is on the narrowest strip of Vietnam, and is famous for the perfume river, the imperial city and the rich war history sights. So that gave us our agenda.

Once we arrived in the town, and off the 14 hour bus ride we were immediatly approached by the brochure armed touts. Coaxed into the minivan and whisked to their little hotel. Suited us just fine. The hotel looked quaint, and after climbing 9 flights of stairs to our room it was hard to turn down the offer. They really have some tactfull tactics around here. Sorted out the luggage, showered and off to the Hue streets.

The first port of call was the majestic imperial city. daniel had gone to meet up with his maria, so it was the three of us that went to go see the place where the emporer once ruled. The 2.5 square kilometer enclosure has endured some serious american abuse during the war, but still stands proud and well renovated. A very majestic place, Iaki and I let loose on the photos. I agree with Walter, and think that Iaki should upload his photos for this entry and show the world just how his 10 Pound flower lense hood impacts his photo abilities... so this one is for Iaki.

Signs in Hue

Since the day was still young after we had explored the city realms we decided the pagoda was on the cards. We met up with daniel just outside the Imperial city gates and enjoyed a Huda beer while discussing the plan of action. The plan we came up with was to catch a dragon boat down river and check the pagoda in style... and so we did. A perfume river cruise, some peanuts, a beer, pagoda and a sunset, what more could we ask for?? An excellent first day in Hue!

The traditional dragon boat

Since all these places are all about orgabised tours we decided that we should join in on one and book a demilatised Zone tour, so Daniel and I approached our reception to enquire. Sadly it was fully booked, but he did have a shorter and more expensive tour on offer. Since we are now street wise, we took to the streets and found exactly what we wanted, hassle free. The next moring was to start with a 05:15 wake up call. So an early night was on the cards, right after we were educated in the art of takkie... An israeli game that is basically Uno, they just thought of a different name for well.... Uno, and added an extra special card. Since we were told the exceptions to rules as and when the israeli team saw fit, it was inevitable that iaki and I didnt win... but hey... we sure showed them!

The waking up at the crack of dawn ended up being somewhat unnecesary much to the dismay of Nora, who is not really a morning person. But by 0715 we were on our way, on what was to be a 12 hour culture and history lesson. The first stop was breakfast and judging from the stomach growling filled bus that meal was well overdue. But by 0900 we pulled into a little cafe and were treated to a well deserved meal. Back onto the bus and greeted by our tour guide named Hi, we were educated as to the North Vietnamese soldiers fighting the South, the Vietcong in their civilian clothing ambushing the south, and the American occupations through out. The continual properganda that was heard throughout the battles was broadcasted through the loudspeakers,some of which still stand today. The effects of the agent orange and napalm are also very clearfrom the bare topped mountains surrounding the DMZ zones.

Since the vietnamese have been controlled for most of history, they didnt really have any desire to savour the american occupancy posts... so as soon as they got the chance all the memories were bulldozed down, armory sold for scrap metal and all that could be erased, erased. So most of the sites we visited were backed by stories of how they were and required us to imagine them. I dont blame them! The really cool part of the trip though were the Vietcong tunnels. An intricate maze of tunnels, leading to the beach and mountains, incorporating bomb shelters, maternity wards, meeting rooms and a series of housing. These tunnels housed hundreds of people during the war, and most of the people now live in villages surrounding the tunnels. Some of the tunnels went as deep as 26 meters. Very impressive.

The shells

After the tunnels we sepent most of the day in the bus being told about the war and stopping at picture points, like the rock pile, the start of the ho chi minh trail, and the old Ta Con base. Which is where we say a HU-1E chopper.

The Hu-1E

Since we have the open bus ticket we decided that we should move onto the next place, so have decided to head to Hoi An, on the 1400 bus today. making last night the last night in Hue. Hue is a quiet town, not quite as cool as hanoi, way more relaxed atmosphere over here.

written by  ourindochina on January 10, 2008 from Hue, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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The fishing vessel laying out its net

Our deadly catch

Hoi an biking

Nora and Daniel

Nora

Angel rider

14 January 2008
The first rainy day of the trip, the whole town is wrapped in plastic ponchos and the like and im dry and inside watching it all unravel, soon ill need to go for a food run though.
Hoi An - Vietnam

We have been in thsi little silk haven for a few days now, so I figured it would be time for an update. Hoi An is notorious to be the tailor city of Vietnam... you can have ANYTHING made here, anything at all! So the place is swarming with tourists, the place has an excellent vibe! Its not just a shopping and clothing district though, oh no, there is more! beneath the shops and glamour there is also the notorious china beach... which is where the story starts.

Oh, I would really like to make this an illustrated story like the other ones, but the PC that I am using doesn't like my camera, so wont let me upload them. I guess the photos will have to wait and ill try be as descript as I can. For those eagerly awaiting iaki's professional photographs that he promised, i appologise. I guess it can be narrowed down to lack of dedication, shame, or laziness. You take your pick. maybe a comment or two of motivation wil break the young apprentice photographer out of his shell, and get him to share.

Anyway, that aside, back to Hoi An. We arrived here after a 4 hour bus ride from the demilitarised town of Hue, (Pronounced Hhoi). A pleasant ride for sure, excellent views and combined with some good reading it flew by. Once we arrived in the small town of Hoi An, we were driven around in circles for a while (I still don't know why they do this) before we eventually stopped outside the associated hotel. The four of us together with the other passengers were dumped and left to fight of the mob of touts looking for a place to stay. We started to enquire at the various hotels, and even found one with a pool! iakis eyes opened almost as wide as Nora's and I almost felt sorry for the poor guy when we were informed that the hotel was full. No matter, unscaled we carried on our search and turned down a room in the neighbouring hotel. Now more buses arrived and inflation suddenly took its toll. Since there were now three times as many people needing a room, suddenly all room prices skyrocketed, and we were forced to a back alley. Not a bad place, far from it, but not as cool as the ones on the main road. We learn not to be picky anymore and not let greed get the better of us... see we are becoming better people everyday.

We got the room, showered, got the map and went out onto the streets. The first stop was the market, a place of tailors, silk merchandise, wooden arts and food. After we had some good food (iaki may beg to differ here as he somewhat struggled with the spice of his beef curry. So much in fact that he cursed under his breath every time the small flames stopped escaping his mouth - he did finish it though, so respect to him) we bought a bottle of superior rum, well that's what the bottle said anyway and went out in search of a party. Where this search took us was a small bar called King Kong.... a place where there were two Aussies playing pool, free drinks and over the whole span of the night saw about 15 people. We had an excellent time. very chilled, and i guess that the Hoi An rum aided the entertainment factor somewhat. Nora however, didnt get to Dance, sorry Nora. The night trailed when a certain someone wormed his way behind the bar and relieved the barman of his DJ duties. iaki was on fire, at least from the look on his face he was, others may like to call it a party anticlimax. This is where Daniel started the chant which scarred me in my DJ days.... DJ Shit, DJ Shit... lucky for Iaki it never caught on to much, Lucky. After he played hotel California to try and juice up the party vibe, we had to drag him out and call it a night, don't get me wrong though, it was an excellent night.

A groggy morning forced us to do what made the most sense... A beach day! The first beach day of the trip, and it was excellent! Upon arrival at the small secluded palm lined coast we were greeted by overjoyed restaurant hostesses. We had a swim and relaxed. Oh so good! Now all of us have a tan, no more European skins. Nora took it one step too far, and figured that she didn't need any sunscreen, or in her defense was too lazy to get any, which resulted in her complexion now looking somewhat... bright. A great meal of grilled fish, prawns and clams made the beach day even better and ended our afternoon of leisure. Not feeling as energetic as the night before we called it a night early, as Iaki and I were expected at the beach by 7 to go fishing with the locals.

As planned, we were at the mist ridden beach at the crack of dawn and were met, as promised, by a middle aged man wanting to take us on his round basket boat. His name was Rai. The fishing boats that they use, are used for net fishing. Their design baffled me somewhat as the thing is round in shape and rounded at the bottom, has one teak ore and is made of bamboo and resin. We took it out into the calm ocean and Rai started the rowing. A motion not for the queasy, its sorta an up, down, left, right, left, up, down, right motion. Once accustomed to the bouncing we started to deploy the 1000 meters of net! Yep, 1000 meters, these guys dont mess around. The morning was perfect, with the sun rising over the clouds and tens of little boats appearing all around us. Once the whole net was deployed with Rai machining away at the teak, we stopped and waited a while. Then it was time to pull in the net. All the way back to shore. In the ned we caught one small little fish, some crabs and two eel like snake things with mean teeth. A good morning for shure. We scootered back to the hotel to find daniel and Nora still soundly asleep in the room. Much to the excitement of Iaki, as this was the first day that he was up before them, which started a chain of quirky comments. very entertaining!

Once the whole team was assembled we headed out to marble mountain, a place right near Da Nang, where marble carving is the name of the game. I felt lik ei was in Greece, and so did Iaki. The place just had gigantic marble lions, tigers, modern statues and dolphins. Very impressive! We climbed the last standing mountain that hasn't been turned into lions yet, and marvelled at the massive temples and caves that were spread across the various levels of the mountain. After the culture, we scootered away, searching for the infamous China beach. We came to the unanimous conclusion, that China beach is a myth, and we went for the next best thing. The beach just outside of Hoi An, where everybody else goes. A grande day!

But before we called it a day completely we paid yet another visit to the evening market. This is where Iaki bought a freshly cut Durian. Just as some background, a Durian is also referred to as a stink fruit. It sorta looks like a Jack Fruit, but stinks. A lot. So the nice lady at the fruit stand cut it up, put it into an easy to carry box and sent us on our way trailing a smell that somewhat resembles sun warmed and breeding garbage. During the walk home Iaki decided that it would be better to eat it on the way, as eating the grotesque smelling fruit in the room didnt roll so well with Nora, or the rest of us for that matter. So Iaki took the first seed. Then Nora, myself and daniel followed. It definitely tastes better than it smells, but to describe the taste/smell from my first impression: It dries your mouth completely and then replaces the saliva with something that very closely respembles the smell of the juice that collects at the bottom of a garbage bin that has been breeding in the sun shining through your kitchen window for a few days. A fruit that I am happy to have tasted, but won't rush to try agian. iaki managed to pawn the remaining fruit of to some unsuspecting pedestrains and ensured that the smell didnt creep into our room.

This evening we are heading out to Nha Trang, spending another night on the ever comfortable bus. Due to arrive in Nha tang by 05:30 tomorrow. Oh and the rain seems to have stopped and the sun is starting to show presence... guess its breakfast time.

written by  ourindochina on January 13, 2008 from Hoi An, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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It was early, and the three manly men, being Iaki, Daniel and I decided to start the day off with a swim in the shorebreak. An excellent start to the day, somewhat cold, but oh so good! Once back to the hotel we bumped into the Aussies whom we had met on the bus on the night before. They were going on an island cruise... We were all somewhat tired, and rightly so. But with hunger for some adventure Daniel and I decided to join them. It was a great morning, and we were picked up from the hotel at 8:30. Judging from the rate that the guy hanging from the door managed to fill the 25 seater bus, Daniela and I knew that it was going to be an excellent day. We had everything, from Bavarians to malaysians to Assies on board. We arrived at the little Nha Trang port and were shown to our yacht... well kinda hybrid tug boat... or transformed tuna fishing boat. Anyway, a party location, Ill refer to it from now by... the cruiser. The cruiser only left once we had packed two bus loads of people on board and the last tout had handed out all his fliers. The fliers we were handed ranged from ipod refills, to indian quisine to a specialised overpriced french hairdresser located in nha trang. Whatever blows your hair back right?

We left the port and were heading out to the islands, when suddenly our MC got hold of the mic. An awesome guys, of whom i forget the name, but he definetly knew how to handle the crowds.

the kareoke improv

Daniel

After a 45 min cruise and after the first Tiger beer we arrived at the snokle reef. We were all told to get in and had 2 hours to fondle around in the water. The snorkeling was mediocre, as there was only about 3 meters of visibility, so the 2 hours were spent jumping from the second level of the cruiser. Good times for sure.

The lunch menu

The cruiser headed out and went for the second island, this was to be our lunch venue. The boat anchored and the feast was brought out onto the deck. A feast of shrimp, springrolls, calamari, fish, beef, chicken, vegetables, morning glory, rice and noodles. Re-energised and ready for anything... they shood us to the front of the cruiser. They set up a home made drum kit, hooked the whole system up to the onboard sound system... and started the live performance. A drummer, a guitarist and a singer, some local Vietnamese culture. To improve the performance they brought out their secret weapon. dalat's finest vintage... dalat red wine.

dalat's finest

Now when you imagine this wine, down thing of wine... at all. rather think of an alcholic drink somewhat resembling bourbon, but with a far harsher aftertaste. The drink was topped off with a thick, juicy slice of pineapple, yep red wine with pine apple. that shows how high the quality really was. Well, let me just say this... the guys knew what they were doing. Soon the whole boat was singing and clapping along and the party was really getting started. It went from being an island trip to somewhat of a rained out booze cruise. The next stop was a little tourist island, where you had to pay entrance to the beach, could eat, drink and play volleyball. And for those really keen you could paraglide, jetski or ski for a bargain price of USD 10 per km. Needless to say, these activities were far from popular. back onto the boat, and now in more of a storm we went for the last island of the day... the one with the aquarium.

Back on land, we were dropped at the hotel, where we went in search of food and the rest of the posse. back at the room the four of us reunited, exchanged stories and made plans for the night. The plan was to check out a place called why not bar, where the assies (Dave, matt, Paul and Liz), the germasn and anyone else from the cruiser was gonna go. The evening started pretty chilled with some pool and jam jar cocktails. It was time... we needed to go out check out what nha Trang is all about. On our way in we saw a place called 007 discoteque! How could you turn that down, so the 8 of us made our way through the monsoon like rain and were welcomed in. When I say welcomed I mean we were ushered to a table, pushed into a chair and then confronted with a menu shoved in our face well lit up due to the 200 watt maglite illuminating it.

nha trang night club -- Number 1

The second day in the gloomy rainy beach town was a chill day. The day was spent watching movies on our DVD player in the room and ended with a night out on the town. We made our way to some of Lonely planets finest and were not dissapointed. The Sailing club is a must. From there we got the early morning bus to the amazing town of Da Lat.

The ride to da lat

When we arrived in the hilltop village we were attacked by the locals this time armed with business cards and pointing fingers. We were let loose on a road rimmed with hotels, the choices were endless, so the touts held back on absolutely nothing. We made our pick and got 2 very decent rooms, iaki and I having three beds to choose from. After scouring the streets for some food we ventured to the lake. The place is amazing, a place that rightly pulls in the visitors. A romantic venue without a doubt, the lake has paddle boats, even dolphin shaped ones, there is an abundance of tandem bikes (which i never saw in use) and endless eating spots. The place is great.

Da Lat is also the place where things changed somewhat... the group dynamics took a bit of a turn. I kinda got sidetracked a bit. Let me explain... (Just to clarify I am a bit like a dog clenching a bone when i get an idea in my head...)

On the bus ride to Da Lat I got talking to the adventure seeking Bavarian architect, Markus. He was travelling with a crazy american journalist called Laura. Little did I know, but meeting these two turned the trip on its head for me... In a really good way though.

The first day in dalat, we arrived in the afternoon and took a walk down to the lake. The abundance of buckets and lack of sleep from the last night in Nha Trang was taking its toll on me and in turn barred me from being able to read a map. This caused a long walk around the lake... in the unintended direction. But we did get to see the sun set over the lake and the whole town. Awesome. Daniel and I decided that we would start the next day, after having recharged, with a run around the lake. We were adament, it was gonna happen, at sun rise.

We did, it was excellent. I was set on renting out a bicycle and riding a fair distance to the surrounding waterfalls. Laura had the same idea, and markus was up for anything. However Nora, Iaki and Daniel preffered the motorised idea. So we spent the day on our seperate ways...

This is where the blog takes a turn, as from here on in I was away from the the other three. Even though Iaki, Nora and Daniel did the same things, they were on different days. So here is my story, watch tis space for the other side too.

So I joined Laura and markus in the search for some decent mountain bikes... they had to be around, somewhere among the tandems and abundance of scooters. We found some, but if I had to rate them I would rate them at 4/10, nothing I would want to ride 80km on! So the search continued...

Eventually after another 2 tries and almost caving in for scooters we found one more shop. We got them, three dual suspension bikes... rating 6/10. We paid our USD 2 for the days rent and took off. The plan was to ride South, go to the close waterfall, which is 8km from town and then find the pangora waterfall 44km out of town. The ride down the hill was excellent, breakneck speed, fresh air, dicing scooters, dodging trucks and having blood pumping. Awesome!

We made it to the first waterfall, possibly the most touristic waterfall in the world, although I later learned from Iaki, that they can get worse. Anyway, this one was accessible by roller coaster, yes roller coaster,

rollercoaster

We remounted our bikes, carried on down the steep and adrenaline pumping mountain taking us to the main road. The waterfall we wanted was 40 km away, the road looked flat. We thought about it for a little while, a few seconds to be exact, and went for the horizon. The sun was out, soft breeze, and beautiful clouds all around. This was the life! However, since this all seemed to good to be true, something was bound to happen. And yes... it did.

Laura, who was rigourously peddling away lost her left peddle. Clean off. Lucky for us, we were in vietnam, and there is a bike repair shop every 300 meters. We backtracled and had a really chilled out meachanic look at the problem and fix it. While we had one of the best Pho (Soups) we have had to date, accompanied by a curious family making offerings of green tea and rice wine. An excellent turn of events and filling a craving that we had all been having. Adventure, the unknown and getting to grips with locals.

Peddle fixer

The ride

The hitch hike back... skills from eastern europe

Instead a killer taxi picked us up. We were in a local rocket, the average speed on a vietnamese road is 40. This thing was redlining at 93, dicing through every gap he could get. It was getting dark, so all we saw were headlights and silhouettes of light less scooters. The horn permanently on, which in vietnam simply means, Im coming. Don't move or change anything about the way you are doing what you're doing, I will work around you. That is a valuable piece of knowledge, as when you hear a hooter and you respond by looking up, you will with 95% certainty be hit. We drove at breakneck speed, overtaking everything that appeared on the horizon, and spending most of the ride on the center of the road. Even locals were shaking theior heads and covering their eyes, which justified Laura's shrieking every time we had another near death experience. It was kinda cool though, the driver with a look that was cold as ice, never flinching.

We got back to dalat, handed in the bikes and made for a well deserved beer. The day had been glorious, we never found the waterfal, but instead had an unforgettable adventure.

The other three spent the day with an easy rider exploring the North, which is what I was gonna be doing the following day.

The second day in Da lat, I once again spent with the crazy american and the bavarian architect. We had hired ourselves a scooter, which markus manned and a free lance easy rider (guide), Yang. The day was to be spent checking out coffee farms, flower farms, silk making, waterfall viewing, taking in the country side and seeing Dalat from the Austrian cable cars strung up on the surrounding mountains. This is what we did, it was yet another excellent day, not as random and adventurous as the preceding day, but excellent noen the less. yang was an excellent guide, having something to add in about everything we saw in great english. We had a glorious day, the weather was once again perfect and Da Lat, well da lat is beautiful.

The day trip out

During lunch, Laura and markus asked Yang what the best way to get to Hoi An would be. He calmly suggested a 5 day motor bike ride through the central vietnamese highlands! Come on! A what, how can you resist that. It would be off the beaten track, non touristy, adventurous spontaneous and glorious. At that point I had absolutely no intention of joining them, but as the day went on, and the wheels in my head started to process this new option I got more and more intrigued. It was a hard decision, no doubt. The Israelis who I had gotten so accustomed and close to couldn't join me due to their 6 feb departure from bangkok, and iaki would be faced with a hard decision. I milled it over and over, and eventually once back in da lat had a long, deep and hard talk with the team. i wanted to go, they didnt. The outcome... They carried on along the original plan and I went on a 5 day highlands trip with my two new travel compadres and will meet up with iaki again once I get to Thailand.

So I am now alone in Saigon, and am gonna make my way accross cambodia and meet the Iaki again in Thailand. In my opinion a bold move, but one for the better. All on good terms. I love you iaki. I hope that your all good, and I will see you again in Thailand for the grande finale of this epic trip.

Noa and Daniel, (Ill actually use your real name for this Nora) :) travelling with you guys has been excellent, it was a blast. Excellent memories, and great times! Nora Im gonna miss your lies about you not being a morning person and about you being 23, your big green eyes and your socked strops! Daniel, its been real, thanks for teaching me the skills in picking out your people, making me enjoy fruit shakes more and filling in on some of my basic general knowledge and the many great dalat "Wine Shots" you endured with me. Sorry the running thing never took off. Im gonna come visit you guys in Israel some time. Fo sho! Enjoy new Zealand, well stay in touch!

written by  ourindochina on January 19, 2008 from Da Lat, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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The vehicles consisted of an old school motor bike, manned by Yang, also the bike that two big backpacks strapped to it, Yang's bag, Yang, a passenger and the passengers backpack. Now the bike is just a normal 250CC bike. So only a picture will explain this imposible sounding packing system.

The puncture fixer

Everyday was packed with places to be and things to see, we never ate the same thing twice and yang always had something interesting to share with us. The first day...

We rode the same route we had the day before, passing the blooming coffee farms and passing through the pine forests. The first stop was at a small tea farm, which is where we plucked some fresh green stems to brew for our morning cup. This was getting better and better! My mind was racing with the way things had turned out. I was happy, this was what I had set out for, adventure. I am still happy. This is excellent. Lunch at a trucker stop overlooking the coffee fields and off we went again.

First Lunch

The day flew by, and was filled with excitement. Vietnam is beautiful. Anybody thinking of going here, Go. Its excellent. We arrived at the first base camp as the sun was dipping. An inspirational sunset over the rice paddies to say the least. This was excellent.

First sunset of the bike ride

What followed was a meal accompanied with traditional fermented rice wine. Drunk from a ceramic pot through bamboo straws. It was glorious, tasting like Christmas, cinnamon and nut meg. Unexpectedly, what followed, after a few more beers, some more of yangs rice wine cocktails was.... karaoke. Yep in the middle of a local village, karaoke. We scootered over to a small little house, with a small bare room. 2 couches, two chairs, 2 speakers, an amp, a karaoke box, a TV, a wired and ready to go mic, a book of songs and a crate of warm beer accompanied by big chunks of ice. We were set. That is where day one ends.

karaoke

day two...

The road

The morning was spent in the local village being educated how the local minority people went about their days. Today was a short ride to the small town of Buon ma Thuot. On the ride over there, the weather still beaming rays upon us, a glorious morning, we made various stops.

Cows at dawn

Elephant rock

Once re-energised and ready for anything we remounted the bikes and made our way over to a possible trip highlight. The waterfalls. The best was when we were told to amble down a narrow jungle path and find our way to the secluded lake and small waterfall. It was glorious, we showered, swam chillaxed. An afternoon hard to replace, let alone top.

Markus in the falls

The day got even better when at the next waterfall, we were coaxed over by some locals who invited us to join them for their afternoon snacks. It turned out that the two guys were off duty soldiers and were enjoying the views of the waterfall with their girls. While dining on a bamboo squered roasted chicken and sipping on river cooled Tiger beers. We spent about an hour chilling with them, meeting their commands of the continual down downs and can crushing. Even though we could hardly converse, we found plenty of ways to communicate. This was excellent! Then, laura and I were determined to find the other waterfall, which if we had concentrated on the briefing, would know was right there. But instead the two of us took a long endless hike through the jungle, coming back in the moonlight when we finally decided that we must have missed it. We came to this conclusion when the path veered away from the river and we were left in the dark. haha, stupid, but funny in retrospect. We scootered back to town and dined on frog, eel hot pot and roated rabbit.

Day Three...
Today was to be the longest day, and I had scored a seat on the bike. Yes! Today would be mostly riding as there was 240km to cover and not too much to see along the way. We started off in at a small market, a real market, one with fresh cow and chicken...

Cow

fresh chicken

The day flew by, listening to a killer playlist and taking in the country side. Its amazing how your mind can wonder at times like these!

This is what rice looks like

The view of Pleiku lake

2 more days to go!

written by  ourindochina on January 22, 2008 from Kon Tum, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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The view

It did however start after lunch... so in the morning we got to see the wooden church of Kon Tum in all its majestic woodness and got to play with the little kids in the neighbouring orphanage. Crossed over the bridge and were on our way to what was to be the most scenic day of the trip. We climbed and climbed, and were now nearing the Laos border and were riding on the old Ho Chi Minh trail, as

Oh my time just ran out, and I gotta sort out my trip South... haha, Ill finish this as soon as possible!

So, Im back, the trip to the South has been sorted out, and since been enjoyed too. I have some catching up to do, but all in due time! Now in Phenom Phenn, the capital of Cambodia. But first let me finish of the bike adventure...

So, we were on our bikes riding the day away on our hogs. Yang and Laura at the front and Markus and I following close behind. The weather was still excellent, and we were both listening to a killer playlist on our ipod while enjoying the scenic countrysides around us. Awesome!

We stopped off for a lunch in a small village, a really good one at that. This is also the place where yang brought us the somewhat dauning news... we were getting high up in the highlands... the daunting clouds overhead brought the rain. Lots of it. So, being well prepared, Yang provided us with weather gear, all tucked in we braved the thinck mist clouds. The views were magnificent, white mist with lush green jungle climbing up above it. Winding roads leading us to our destination, the kind of roads that Top Gear loves and that BMW willingly films their advents on. Roads that let the mind wander, this in combination with a great sound track made the weather problem miniscule.

We arrived at the last overnight stop befoer Hoi an... wet. As you would expect, we got our room, had a shower and chilled the rest of the day away. Markus had sorted out his dealings with his clients, and to celebrate treated us to a fine dinner of wild bore, crocodile and wild goaty. Excellent, thank you markus!

Day 5...

The rain was far from gone when we woke up, it had gotten stronger in the least. So it was poncho time! The day was to be a 4 hour ride. SO things were all good. Teh scenery was excellent and after a cup of coffee and a Pho we hit the road once again. Me with markus once again, my bum somehow having adjusted to the hard scooter seat. To spice things up, after an exhilirating ride the inevitable happened... a flat tyre/ Yang, somewhat rushed to catch his truck from Hoi an, thus slightly annoyed kept his cool and got us back on the road within 30 min.

I must admit, as beautiful as day 5 was, I was glad to have arrived in Hoi An once again. the poncho had only done so much... I was soaked, cold and longing for that warm shower to get me back to normal temperature... Glorious! We made it. The best 5 days of the trip.

I left that same night on a bus to arrive 24 hours later in the southern capital of Saigon.

written by  ourindochina on January 24, 2008 from Hoi An, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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I checked into a small family hotel, got my room, chilled for a bit and then took to the busy streets of the notorious city. Loads of people, everywhere. So much neon, places to eat, drink and shop. A very cool city, but from first impressions I still prefer Hanoi. The evening was kept short as I needed some recharging!

saigon

A sunny day in saigon! I got up early to check out the sites, first was to be the marklet, get me some Pho (Rice noodle Soup) and just check out the sites a bit. Instead I was intercepted by a cyclo rider. Its kinda like a pram like wheel chair welded to an old city bicycle. I had wanted to try one since I first saw them in vietnam, so I went for it. he was to take me on the city tour! Cool... well, after I realised what I had gotten myself into, I somewhat regretted it. It is so excruciatingly slow! Nice and scenic, but you could walk faster, and if you walk you wouldnt have the continual bumping motion and the stares from all passer byes haha. but hey, I had to try it!

First stop was the american war museum, unfortunately, I had timed my visit together with about 600 toddlers - a school trip. lucky for me Asian kida are pretty disciplined, lining up in grid like formations while being breefed by teachers using megaphones. Interesting.

The museum is a place that can be described in two words. Heavy and Moving. A vast collection of horrific press photos, a recreation of a typical prison, and a host of anti war campaign posters. making you leave with a somewhat uneasy, speechless feeling. especially when my cyclo driver asked me what I thought and then told me he had fought for the South Vietnam over in Hue.

The rest of the ride, still painfully slow took me to the sites of the china town market, a memorial pagoda and a beautiful chinese temple. The trip was over and I was happy to be wandering the streets by foot again!

While wandering around I was approached by a seemingly local guy, we started chatting, and it turned out he was a guitarist at the hard Rock cafe in Kuala lumpur and was in Saigon for his brothers wedding. After an animated chat his wife and him invioted me to join them for lunch at their brothers house. They took me over, we had an excellent malaysian home cooked meal! Content and conversed out they happily took me back to Quarter one, and assured me a free pitcher at the hard rock cafe in KL!

Saigon is an awesome place, I must admit I was there for pretty short, but I was really keen on the Delta!

written by  ourindochina on January 26, 2008 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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The Delta...

From Ho Chi Minh City, where i must admit, was for a miniscule amount of time (but so be it) I joined a 3 day organised tour doen to the Mekong Delta. The trip, was to include a visit to the floating markets, rice production plants, 2 nights at 2 different towns and a whole lot more.

The bus picked me up early, from the small packpackers just off the main Saigon tourist street. I was in a group of about 16, mostly consisting of families with young kids, and a group of 4 middle aged germans. I soon discovered that this meant absolutely nothing, as once our guide started to explan things, it became clear that in our group of 16 there were 6 different sub groups... the one day guys, the 2 day guys, the guys going to cambodia, those not and so on. But for now the trip was heading in the same direction.

At the first pee stop, as it happens around here, we reboarded the bus and were joined by 2 more. These two had been misplaced in the eary morning due to all the hype and were originally placed on a bus going who knows where. Happy to be on the right trip, we got chatting and it turned out that, snap, they were on the same 3 day trip, as I was, with a slight difference on day two, and the fact that they were heading back to saigon on day 3. Anyway, they were Macarena and Marcelo, a couple from Brazil (He from Brazil, she from Chili) who had been travelling around africa, asia and the likes for the last 8 months. We exchanged some travel adventures and boarded our boat to see the infamous floating market. At this stage it was already 10:40...

The delta trip boat start

The water markets start at the crack of dawn, which meant that all we got to see of th einfamous market were the few die hards who were hoping for just one more sail, or just enjoying a siesta before packing up shop. Anyway, the ambiance was cool, and with imagination you could still see the market. We docked at the tourist station, which, much to the germans dismay, the detailed rice paper and rice candy tour started. It was a typical trip, as all others, but did come with tasty smaples. Rice/cocnut candy tastes like toffee, awesome. Also had a shot of snake and burd death juice... it was on offer and hey, "its good for man, makes you strong!"as any asian will tell you.

Back on the boat, with our stomachs rumbling, we were requested to cycle to lunch. It was an 8 minute cycle... yes 8 minutes, how is that fdr marketing. They justify this as good enough to use as a punch line on their adverts! haha. It was fun though, as after lunch we got to ride around a bit if we so desired. The lunch, was pretty. I shared the elephant ear fish spring rolls with Marcelo and Maca, a fun filled meal! DIY spring rolls.

Lunch for kings

Now the group got scrambled, the 2 days and 3 days seperated. We were to be taken to an island not too far away by boat and then from there catch a bus to Can Tho, the place we would have our furst night at. The highlights for the rest of the day were another take at the garbage like durian, this time actually taking a few pieces, and it really isnt so bad. WOuldnt say good, or nice, it it was... OK.

Durian

We arrived at a small hotel, and all got our rooms. Now having been joined with 2 swedish chefs (Daniel and björn) and 4 Australian students (Alex, Noel, jayden and Courtney) and two french MBA students from China (Ane-lise and Dianne). An awesome group! After a dinner of Cobra and frog legs we headed in the search of a local bar... we found one and made a local delicasy... a punch. Good times all around!

Party in chau doc

Day two in the delta proved a lot more like i expected it to be. We got up early and I enjoyed, together with the two chefs, one of my last Phõ's. We assembled, got into the boat and took to the Can Tho market.

the docs

market

delta

mekong

Rowing on market

mekong delta

water market sales

Melons

So that was day 2. After the market the group scrambled once again and i was sent off with a dutch couple to the town of Chau Doc. Once there it was dark, so made it an early night, to get ready for the last day... the border crossing

Day three, my last day in Vietnam! The day started with a boat trip over to the fish farms of chau doc. Very pretty floating villages and ended with a muslim village, before we headed off to the border. It had been a very quiet boat up until this point. When I got back onto the boat from the muslim minority village, 4 brits had suddenly appeared (Jo, Jo, Stu and kerri). Turned out that they had been travelling through China and Vietnam and were going to Phnom Phenn too. An awesome bunch, we chilled as we watched the last buts of vietnamese country side pass by. We got vto the border flawlessly, and went through after a relaxed lunch.

The cambodian border, down in the delta must be the most chilled out border in the world! Or at least its the most relaxed border I have ever seen. There was a badminton court, music, people sitting around eating and drinking. The only sighn of it being a border was the small sign saying passport checking. We were in cambodia and I liked it already!

The rest of the ride was going well until the engine started squeeling like a hurt anumal, we headed for the east bank, and moored. The technical team got their hands dirty, while we continued to chill as we were, while an untrigued group of village folk gathered around. We ended being towed to the docs, and from there cought an old school and insanely bumpy ride to the capital of cambodia!

the broken down boat

the break down repair attempt with stu and jo chilling

The break down audience

I had planned to take it easy for day one in Phnom Phenn. So I did. Since the others had overstayed their bedtime by a few hours the vening before, and were far from awake at 7:30. It was Becky who was the first on the hotel deck. I was figuring out how to go about my walk , and Becky with some tips hapily decided to join me. We walked for miles, an awesome walk. Seeing the 26 meter high mound, the museum, the palace (not the inside though), the river and the central market. Which was probably the cleanest market I had ever seen, and even though there was a lot of meat and fish, didnt smell... at all! Really cool.

Brutal pig meat

Awesome

Snouty

The evening was spent watching the Killing fileds Flick and a visit to the #9 deck.

Day two was the sightseeing day, and unlike normal sightseeing trips. This one would be a heavy one to process. The killing fields and the S21 prison are hard to process. The skulls and faces of all those killed by the Khmer Rouge genocide are hard to describe. It leaves you speechless.

On a lighter note though and possibly immoral in some way, day two was also the day that I fulfilled my long time boyish need to fire the gun of all guns. The gun that has changed the world in more ways than any other. the Kalishnykov 47. The tuk tuk driver took us to the gun range, a place where if you lose your guard you will be throwing grenades and firing RPGs into a field. So many temptations to fight off. But I had my mind set on the AK-47, and was then tempted into a Colt .45 hand gun. The hand gun was a bit of a dissapointment, its like a brick that kicks back after it fired. But the AK... wow, that was awesome. I got 25 rounds and managed to hit the target a fair amount of times. The power and the sparks that a squeeze of the trigger create is mesmorizing. Its easy to imagine why men get the way they do in violent situations. The power trip that an AK creates is phenominal. My heart now racing I had emptied a whole clip, and it felt good! So, I have now fired the gun of all guns, the AK-47. I thought of you Jared, I know how much you would have wanted to be in my shoes! I missed you man! Your Etiopia adventure went through my mind a lot that day!

The ubfamous AK, soon to be fired by me

The AK Clip

Awesome

That night while all of us were sitting around sharing gun stories. Jo had shot the M16, the other Jo and Stu the AK, Kerri a handgun, the Austrians from Vang Vieng suddenly turned up! Its a small world here in Asia! This was to be my last night in Phnom Phen, as the next day I wanted to go either North to Kratie or South to the Beach. I eventually decided at 23:52 and booked a ticket... South.

written by  ourindochina on January 29, 2008 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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The bus would pick me up at 7:30, I was ready, and got onto the bus heading for Kampot. Not knowing what to expect, except for the 5 hour trip. I decided to sleep a bit, which sounds easy, but on cambodian roads is far more difficult than it sounds. I did get some though, but would wake up everytime my bum lifted off the seat. In order to get to Kampot we first needed to pass through Kep. Kep is on the coast, and kampot is 25km from it, but has a river. We got to Kampot and while searching for a hotel I met Marianne, a dutch logistics manager who after doing some volunteer work in thailand is spending the rest of the year trekking around. We got ourselves each a "$4 no window room" as depicted below...

A $4 no window room

Once settled we had planned to meet up for lunch and plan a day out to Bokor for ourselves as this town was far from tourist polluted and thus low on the trip offers. It was back to DIY travel, awesome. To our surprise though, we were informed that Bokor national park had been bought out by an expat and was being renovated to its original glory. What this meant is that it was closed to the public. Oh. We said.

After getting re-confirmation on the peculiar news from the Kampot tourist authority we came up with a contingency. We read that there were caves, we would rent out bikes and spend the day exploring. That was V1.1 of the contingency. After lunch, we walked the town, and there really isnt much else to do. Kampot is a town. A town with a river, very little people and the place one goes to to see Bokor... if that is closed you sit and read a book. So we did. Now V2.1 was being fabricated... what if we rent bikes, ride to the caves and then go to Kep, swim and cool off and then cycle back. A day of activuty, bound to be good!

Dinner time, V3.1 was thought up. Cycle to the caves, then get a taxi/bus/hitch hike to Kep and chill on th ebeach and spend the night there, getting a bus to Phnom Phenn from there.

We had breakfast at 7, so be on our way by 8. Ready for the ride, we came up with V4.1 thsi was the final solution, and proved to be the ultimate solution. Here it comes,

Get a tuk tuk to the caves, check them, then get that same tuk tuk to carry on one way to Kep, check in, get a sea food lunch and either chill on Rabbit island and relax or just on Kep beach. It was glorious, a day that unquestionably makes it to the top 10 days of the trip.

We arrived in Kep after having seen the caves, they were fun rather then impressive. A whole mob of kid tour guides provided endless entertainment and got us to crawl, climb and jump from on boulder to another in the darkness of the cave. After seeing the first 2 we decided it was time for Kep. We got back into our Tuk tuk and started the htel search. kep is expensive, but after some negotuations we found ourselves a room. Straight to the beach, a small man made beach, very picturesque, very chilled.

Along the beach were a whole lot of fish stalls, we dug in! Starting with some barbequed calamari, then a grilled fish on a stick. Then all glory came out when a kilo of fresh crabs made its way to us. Glorious! I think I ate 3 kilos of Crab that day. Oma, I thought of you! I loved it, so fresh, so good, good company and all on a glorious day in the sun, on the beach!

paradise lunch in Kep

Marianne

It got even better when we got invited by a cambodian family to have lunch with them. This was now turning into a 2 hour crab eating day. W got offered cambodian stout and had a good chat. Marlene and her son Jamie had moved to Australia a while back and were now visiting the rest of the family back in Cambodia. It was one of those meals that whenever your plate was nearing empty they would refill it for you with food that was oh so good. (Reminded me of our Skopje adventure with Helena Mattie! haha)

The family was off to Bokor, which according to thyem was stil open, so we went back to the beach.

An awesome and welcomed change from the busy city life! A place well worth a visit. Top 10 for sure.

paradise food