August 9, 2010,
a week has passed since we set foot on Vietnamese soil. The desire to change the country was great, even if the month and a half in Indonesia has enriched us of faces, landscapes, culture and new friends, we were already locked in this huge archipelago.
The arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) was accompanied as usual now in our journey on arrival in a new location, from monsoon rain. We return to the north of the equator where there is still active in the monsoon this time of year traveling around the countries of Southeast Asia and India.
Saigon now seems a very active city, the streets are lit by neon signs that advertise restaurants, hotels, bars and karaoke. Here the young people as a diversion to sing everyday, we see that the slogan of "Anchors Aweigh" is a very strong cultural mark here. I think this is fascinating, in some European countries should do the same thing, instead of closing the pub to drink from 6 pm to 2 am forgetting the stresses and misfortunes of life, if you close in a private room singing happy songs and nostalgic perhaps the stomachs of many people right now would suffer less. We remain
2 nights in Saigon, here we meet Kevin, a boy of 25 years to guide us in the city shows its cultural, culinary and even accompanying us to do some shopping. They were dressed only stuff months in India and Malaysia now that we feel out of place to dress this way .. We need a real change of vestuario in Vietnam and we took advantage of cheap prices and excellent quality to make important changes to our wardrobe.
The route that we are here in Vietnam reflects the fact that arrive here on August 12 Jordi's parents. The problem is that they will land in Hanoi is located in the far north of the country, but we arrived in Saigon in the opposite tip. Vietnam is a country that extends to 1700 km wide. So we only have 10 days to cover the whole ground scriscia, visiting some places we do not repeat their parents, Jordi, and return to Saigon, where they will take the plane back to Barcelona.
For this reason, the trip to Vietnam was to tell the truth, we had to (or better Jordi had to) plan ahead, and not while driving as it was for other countries. Having parents
Only 2 weeks to visit the country could not find us confused and decide on places to visit along the way, we lost a lot of time. So, already two weeks ago, Jordi began to study the Lonely Planet Vietnam and decide the route with and without parents.
These are the destinations we visit:
August 2-4: Ho Chi Minh City
4-6: Nha Trang
7-8: Hoi An
8-9: Ninh Binh-Hoa Lu-Tom Coc
9 - 12: Hanoi (arrival parents Jordi)
12-15: Halong Bay
15-17: Sapa
17-18: Hanoi
18-20: Hue
21-25: Ho Chi Minh City (Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels)
25: Departure of parents Jordi
25 to 30 still we do not know what to do, we will probably already in Cambodia.
Travel in Vietnam is very easy for Western tourists. Each resort is packed with Travel Agency that will fully prepare your trip if you do not have the desire or time to do it, or you sell tickets to travel by train or bus on time. Most buses make the trip at night and there's sleepers bus with fully reclining seats that let you sleep really well on the journey that lasts all night. The price of these varies from 14 to $ 20 per person, for a distance between 700 and 1000 km.
Today we are August 9 and we have already visited the seaside city of Nha Trang where, to be Actually, there was not much to see and the beach with the ocean was not very good. The town that I really liked is Hoi An, in the center of the country. Here the old town has retained some old houses with Vietnamese and Japanese architecture and Chinese households owning these old house lets you visit and guide you inside the different rooms. In the old town of Hoi An are many souvenir shops and romantic restaurants in Vietnamese cuisine. Paying a ticket for 90,000 dong (3.5 €) you can visit five of the 18 premises visited the public, such as the ancient city of homes, congregations Cantonese or Thai or Japanese, local museums (Museum of Hoi An, ceramics museum of culture, tradition and folklore), an ancient Japanese-style bridge over 1000 years and some style Buddhist or Taoist temples. Here we rented bikes and we ventured into the outskirts of the city until you reach the wide beach of China Beach, a 30 km long strip of sand under attack from local tourism in this time of year.
beaches in Vietnam are a little disappointing, the color of the sand is not white as described in the various guides and the sea, or rather, the ocean is often rough and brown. There are some places where you can go snorkeling or scuba diving but you have to take private boats are not easily accessible, then decided to go the bathroom and swim in search of sea turtles and colorful fish.
From Hoi An we move to Ninh Bihn, 2 hours from Hanoi in the north. The town itself does not have anything nice to visit, but it is the starting point for excursions in a unique and breathtaking. A 10 km from the city is Tam Coc and Hoa Lu, two villages that are surrounded by huge green mountains around the area. Around hundreds of verdant rock masses villagers treat the rice fields that make the incredibly green landscape. At Tam Coc you can take a tour of 2 ½ hours on a boat (80,000 dong = 3.2 €) which runs a river which enters in the rice fields and green hills that surround the valley Ninh Bihn. Of course all the way we did it by bike (about forty miles in a day). Seeming to Ninh Bin at 10 am, we walked 12 km to reach the Tam Coc, visits to local temples, pagodas, the ancient capital of Hoa Lu in the evening and return to Ninh Binh.
Now, as I write in a local bus, we travel to Hanoi, the capital of the country, 2 hours by local bus, which stops every 5 minutes to pick up people that is located anywhere on the road. In Asia (leaving aside some countries), the lack of an efficient public transport. Removed the station of departure and arrival there are no intermediate stops, the bus stops every time he sees people wait in the street, so often, and goes to 50-60 km per hour, listen to a screeching halt because some travelers expect this or another bus on the street. That is, each bus is equipped with plastic bags to collect the passengers vomiting with the stomach more sensitive to careless braked, accelerated, overtaking the drivers that sometimes I do not even have a driver's license, which happens at this time just to Mrs. old sitting in front of me.
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