Traffic

I thought I had seen crazy traffic in Latin America and Greece, so I wasn't prepared for Vietnam, or Hanoi for that matter.

Cycling through the cyclos, scooters, pedestrians, cows, water buffalo, tractors, cars, trucks and buses turned out to be OK. In fact, I felt safer cycling in Vietnam than I do in Oregon. Drivers here share the road with cyclists since the bicycle is a common mode of transportation. The one thing we found to be a bit maddening were the horns. Using your horn here isn't an angry gester like it is in the States, but a courtesy to let the other vehicle (or bicycle) that you are there and not to move into their path (or just to get out of their path if you're in it). The problem was anytime a truck or bus passed us they would have to honk 10 times and right in your ear as if you couldn't hear it the first 5 times. At least you knew they were looking out for you, I guess. However, I do believe I am a bit more deaf than when I started this trip.

There has been one rule that I learned while almost getting creamed by a tractor merging into my path while cycling down Highway 1, the main road connecting north and south Vietnam. It appears that traffic merging onto a main road does not stop for the mainstream traffic. In fact, they do not even look at the traffic they are merging into, they just go and let the oncoming traffic avoid them. As I was riding down Hwy 1 at about 10 mph tractor suddenly pulled into my path at a significantly slower speed. Luckily I was able swerve out of its way (and luckily there was no traffic on my left). A fellow traveler on our ride was not so lucky. She was cycling down the main road in a village, when a motor scooter pulled out into her path and hit her. She went down and skinned her knee, but luckily was OK. From then on, we all realized that we needed to look out to our sides and back as well as the front.

Hanoi has proven to be the most challenging as a pedestrian, but after 5 days in the capital I am proud to report that I was never hit by anything other than another pedestrian, while trying to cross the street. The Old Quarter of Hanoi has so many motos parked on the sidewalk that its pretty much impossible to walk on it, so you tend to walk in the street next to the gutter. No need to wait for the crossing sign to cross the street, no one will stop for it anyway. Just start across and pray that the oncoming motos swerve around you (they actually do). In fact, when I first arrived in Vietnam I was told to just walk across the street at a continuous pace, don't slow down or speed up, the motos will miss you.

The picture above is of a typical scene at an intersection in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Motos and people crossing from all angles at once and miraculously I never saw an accident in my 5 days here.
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Well, I'm now in Hanoi airport hoping that they will let me on my flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia -- my ticket says the flight leaves at 15:00, but the timetable on the internet says 17:20 and someone who helped me from Vietnam Airlines says it leaves at 19:20. My fault for using a discount airline from Cambodia. They're called PMT Airlines and they have no office in this airport to ask when my flight actually does leave, so I will have to keep monitoring the boards until it pops up. All part of the adventure!

More from Siem Reap... (I hope)

SAPA Trekking

Just back from Northwestern Vietnam where I headed for some light trekking in the hills surrounding the town of Sapa. I ended up extending my stay by a day so I could spend the night in a Black Hmong village. The photo above is of some Black Hmong girls. Other than the one with the baseball cap and jeans, they tend to still dress traditionally. At first we figured it was just for the tourist, but during the trek we tended to see a lot of people working (mining, farming, etc.) in traditional dress, so figure it wasn't just for our benefit.

The Black Hmong women and girls are intensive merchants -- they love to sell and are very difficult to ignore especially when they follow you for several kilometers on your trek. They speak very good English and some can be decent conversationalists, but I guess that's because they spend all their time following western tourists around instead of going to school.

The other prevalent minority group in the region is the Red Zao. Thankfully the Red Zao aren't as persistent. The Red Zao women shave the fronts of their heads and eyebrows when they are at the marrying age and wear brilliant red (obviously) headresses with decorative tassles. They don't like to be photographed (believe the camera captures their spirit) so I have no photos of them here. However, here's a link to an existing photo out on the internet. Obviously this guy was a little more instrusive than I wanted to be :) red zao women

Our trek lasted 2 days and ran through various hilltribe villages. At the end of our first day, we had a homestay in a Hmong village where we had a fantastic "Thanksgiving" Vietnamese meal cooked over an open fire in an iron wok (see photo 2, cooking spring rolls), accompanied by some very strong rice wine. The sales girls (Black Hmong) didn't quit either, but continued to drop by the house we were staying at. By the end of the 2 day trek, I had enough handicrafts to start my own store (yes, I'm a sucker). So I did..... as the girls asked me to buy something from them, I reciprocated with my mobile shop "I sell you, I sell you" "You buy from me, you buy from me" Both parties got a good laugh from it and I didn't find myself pressured to by anymore, thank god! The pressure was now on my fellow trekking companions :)

After another sleepless night train, I'm back in Hanoi for 2 more days before heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia and Angkor Wat.

Hope you all had a relaxing and fun Thanksgiving weekend. More later....

Cycling No More - now in Hanoi

I've spent the last couple of days in Hanoi, perusing the markets in the Old Quarter and visiting the Ho Chi Minh museum and mausoleum. Have also spent some time planning and pricing out the rest of my trip. Now that the cycle tour is over, I am on my own to explore what I want.

Hanoi is much smaller and a bit calmer than Saigon, although I must admit I feel a little less safe crossing the street here -- more on traffic in Vietnam in a later post. The Old Quarter is set up by guilds. There is a street for mats, a street for bags, a street for shoes, a street for funeral products (tombstones, etc.) There are plenty of local eateries where you can get Pho (noodle soup with either beef or chicken). These places have little child-size tables and stools that everyone sits (actually squat) at to slurp their noodle meal.

Each morning, thousands of people head down to the Hoan Kiem Lake (see photo) around 5am to perform tai chi, general calastenics (spelling?), jogging, walking and impromptu group aerobics of many different types. I've joined them for two mornings (just a brisk walk, no tai chi) and it's been a treat to pick up fresh fruit for breakfast from one of the many vendors on the street walking back to the hotel.

The above photo shows the sign at the entrance to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum where we foreigners are required to leave our cameras, cell phones and excess bags. It turned out that Uncle Ho was in residence afterall, as we had heard that he had been taken up to Russia for his annual embalming refresh. It appears that they do this now in Hanoi and no longer need to send him away. The actual viewing of Uncle Ho was quite quick. We filed in a funeral-type procession line past his glass sarcophogus which is guarded by 4 soldiers (how'd you like that job?). He didn't look particularly well... before he died he suffered from malaria and tuberculosis, which would explain that. I'm not sure why it is that Russia, China and Vietnam have all embalmed their communist party founders, when communism actually promotes cremation upon death. I'm not sure that Mao, Lenin and Uncle Ho would be particularly fond of being on display for everyone.

I'm heading out to the north on a night train today. Hopefully this one will be more comfortable than the "Reunification Express" that we took from Central to North Vietnam. I will spend a couple of days in Sa Pa, which is the main market town for the hill tribe area in the more remote northwest. It should also be quite a bit cooler, which I'm looking forward to after 3 weeks of 90 degree + heat and humidity.

More from Sa Pa....

Halong Bay

Our last day cycling was the hottest one yet, but also one of the best scenic rides. We rode out of the port of Haiphong on Saturday morning to a ferry and then onto a private boat which took us to Cat Ba Island. From there we road 25kms the town of Cat Ba which has a mediteranean style beach town feel and nice beaches and coves to swim in. The next morning we hopped back on the boat with our bikes for a scenic tour of Halong Bay where we saw more karst scenery and explored a cave that rivals that of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico -- very impressive. Halong Bay has more than 3000 islands and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The photos above are from Halong Bay today.

We arrived in Hanoi this evening where we headed off to a Water Puppet show. Normally meant for children's entertainment, tourists like to attend these as well even though they can't understand the Vietnamese dialogue. The music itself made it worthwhile and I think I'm going to try to obtain a CD of traditional Vietnamese music -- something to shop for tomorrow :)

I met a girl from Portland Oregon at the ATM today and we went to grab a beer and chat before the water puppet show. Tamara is from the Cedar Hills area and has been travelling since late October as well. So funny meeting someone who is practically a next door neighbor from home here in Hanoi -- very random indeed.

Will spend the next 3 nights here in Hanoi while I rest up and figure out my next move -- the cycling tour is over and it's time to do some touring on my own. General plans are to head to Sapa in Northwest Vietnam for a few days and then down to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the ruins of Angkor Wat before heading back to Saigon.

More later.....

In Northern Vietnam

After an enchanting evening riding the "Reunification Express", we arrived in the Ninh Bin area. The train ride was a sweaty, noisy and rocky 12 hours. We arrived at our destination at 4am and headed out to a hotel to shower and get ready for our ride through some beautiful karst scenery (see photo) to the Cuc Phong National Park. Karst are small rocky hills that jut straight up out of the ground, rather than a gradual grade like most hills.

The villages in the north of Vietnam are much more traditional in nature with fewer motor scooters and fewer people than the villages in the south and center of the country. The men here wear an green pithe helmets, much like the helmets worn by the North Vietnamese Army during the war.

We stayed in the national park one night and were awoken by the howls of the langur and gibbons primates at the primate rescue center next door. Our ride through the park is the first ride where we haven't seen any other people -- Vietnam is the most densely populated country in Southeast Asia.

We stayed in the port city of Haiphong last night and head out to Cat Ba island in Halong Bay today. This is my last day cycling before heading to Hanoi on Sunday, so I best make the most of it.

More from Hanoi.....

Survived the 100kms - today in Hue

Argh, my legs are sore!!! Actually we had a really good, long and sweltering 100kms of riding up to the Hue area. The first 13 kms were up the highest road pass in Vietnam (500meters). It took about an hour to get up it -- I'm not the fastest cyclist in the group. In fact, I'm probably the slowest and yet I am the youngest -- how sad am I? At any rate, we made the summit and then coasted 20 kms down to a seaside resort for a fabulous seafood lunch! Then it was back on the bikes for another 70kms or so (yes, I wanted to barf).

The most memorable part of the ride was the backroad we took through small coastal villages and ended up at a makeshift ferry stand. This ferry was a small motorboat that took on bikes, motorcycles, people, cargo, ducks, chickens, etc. It was amazing we didn't tip it over when loading it. It took us over to a peninsula where we continued our trek up toward Hue.

We have a half day of rest in Hue today. This is the imperial city of Vietnam and our last stop in Central Vietnam before heading up into the mysterious north. We leave on a sleeper train this afternoon to the Ninh Binh area where we'll ride to the Cuc Phuong National park and stay the night there. I'll be off email for a few days as a result, but will write again once I'm able.

Here's a link to a good map of Vietnam to follow where I'm heading.

Picture is of the entrance to the Imperial Palace in Hue. Much of it was destroyed during the war when the Vietminh took up residence and the Americans bombed it as a result. It is slowly being restored under the UN World Heritage fund.

In Hoi An Today

On day 8 of my Saigon to Hanoi cycling tour in Hoi An, we are enjoying "a day of rest" since we only cycled 30kms to the My Son ruins just east northeast of here. Once we arrived at the ruins, we caught a ride from the gate to the actual structures from a Vietnamese park official in a USMC jeep! He sang us the Ho Chi Minh national song all the way back down to the bikes -- very amusing.

Hoi An is a beautiful, yet very touristy city in Central Vietnam. Of course, that means that there are plenty of internet cafes to creating new blog postings. I have yet to take some photos of the architecture here, but Hoi An has the most authentic Vietnamese architecture in the whole country. Also in abundance here, lots of fantastic shopping. I'll be heading out soon to bargain for a painting.

Prior to Hoi An, we spent 2 days in Nha Trang, a beautiful beach resort with yummy seafood and 1 day each in some smaller towns along the way in what can only be described as sterile, communist style hotels run by the government. The photo here shows a fishing village just of the coast of Nha Trang where we went snorkling on what of our "days of rest" :)

We're heading out of Hoi An tomorrow to tackle the highest road pass that Vietnam has to offer ~1500 feet and 15 kms of it! Should be a fun day, I'll let you know if I survive it.

I haven't been able to access the actual posting portion of my blog, so if someone could send me an email to let me know if it looks alright, that would be great. Not sure if some government firewall is blocking my access to view the blog or not....

School Daze

We road home school today with some local kids. Actually, we took off from the hill town of Dalat in the morning and while cycling through the pass we went through several villages. This one we passed as the morning school session let out for the day. Vietnamese kids go to school only half days -- one group in the morning and the other in the afternoon. These girls are wearing their school uniform, an "ao dai" style dress that is common in Southern Vietnam. Each time we passed a group of kids in these villages, they all yelled "hello!" to which we yelled back "xim chiao". I even got a few high fives from some of the bolder kids, it was rather funny.

Once over the pass, we coasted 17km down the hill to the valley where we stopped for some yummy fried noodles with beef and vegetables. The food here is fantastic -- more on that later!

We arrived in Nha Trang in the early evening just as it was getting dark. We had a bit of a Mr. Toad's wild ride the last 10km or so -- riding in the dark, weaving in and out of traffic (mostly motor scooters) and trying to keep up with our guide who appeared to be in a really big hurry. I must admit it was the most exhilerating part of the ride that day.

We hung out in the beach resort of Nha Trang for a day of rest, sun and seafood sampling. This morning we're on our way out again, riding 90km up the coast.

More later....

Saigon (or is it Ho Chi Minh City)

I arrived in Saigon/HCMC after a quick stop off in Portland to say hi to the dogs and pack by backpack. It was rainy and cold when I left Portland, a big change from the weather here. It's ~35 degrees with what feels like 100% humidity and air conditioning isn't as common here as it is in Florida. Weather aside, Saigon has been a fascinating place to visit. My first two days here were spent visiting multiple museums that deal with Vietnam history and of course the history of the "American War" which is what they call our "Vietnam War". Actually, I've learned quite a lot more about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam since I've been here, especially since our school history texts never really touched much on this part of our history.

Yesterday evening I joined my cycling tour for dinner and today we did a short cycle out to the Cu Chi tunnels. These were a system of elaborate tunnels (200km in all) that the Viet Cong used in their guerrilla warfare against the U.S. and are credited with the Viet Cong's success in defeating the "American agressors". They've actually widened and heightened some of these tunnels so that we western tourists can enter them. Even so, they are still extremely tight and it is really quite incredible that groups of people were able to survive in them for weeks on end.

Well, must rush off as we are leaving for Dalat in the morning. More from the road.....

(Picture is of me lowering myself into one of the personal bunkers that the Viet Cong used to ambush U.S. soldiers. I'm smiling as I'm having a hard time getting out)