Hue hue hue

This city was a blast! So much to do and great adventures! Neither have I met so many people for a long time nor enjoyed myself so much. That is a huge lie.

We arrived to rainy season of northern Vietnam. It wasn’t so much torrential downpours as mild constant showers. We thought we’re not made from sugar, we won’t melt, but we did. One hour of walking around was enough to get soaked. My shoes were wet, my feet were cold and we were both cranky. How can one enjoy the new city if all one feels is cold and annoyance?! Even the funky raincoats we bought didn’t help so we made our way to find a spa. It seems we’re following this kind of hotspots through SEA sometimes – massagi’s on Boracay, facials in Bangkok and now sauna and scrubs in Hue. Sauna was soo good after the day of being nothing but cold and soaked. The girls who worked on us could barely speak a word of English and left every time they tried to communicate something, came back after a few minutes with prepared few words put together. Still with the Vietnamese pronunciation of “R” and other vowels, or rather its lack, we had a little game of guessing what they wanted us to do. Later we grabbed some food and nestled in our really cold room under two blankets. Just like I said, such an eventful and crazy day full of adventures.

We couldn’t just come to a town in Vietnam and spend two days in whether hotel or restaurant stuffing our faces so seeing the rainy weather yet again we put on our flip flops, our purple raincoats and left determined to see at least the citadel and royal palace. On our way we passed through a sea of flowers. All prepared for the Tet (Vietnamese New Year). They would make incredibly beautiful picture in the sunlight…

The citadel stood above everything else like a bunker with a red flag proudly flipping in the wind. It seemed to be the perfect symbol for the raw architecture and national pride of the communists. Yet it was magnificent, and in some way intimidating. Hidden behind it and behind a moat was the Imperial City, where the Nguyen dynasty ruled the country in the 19^th and part of the 20^th century. Again, it would be a much better picture in sunny weather. The front gate reminded me of Beijing’s Forbidden City even though it was much smaller and prettier. Behind it, was a ceremonial building, the gardens, ponds and other buildings. There used to be more of those but after the war they didn’t make it to reconstruct the whole city to its original state.

Our bus was due to pick us up in 2 hours so I let the poor sick Ewa take the cyclo back to the hotel and I took a walk back. I don’t think I ever mentioned the fact that there are few cars in Vietnams. Everyone seems to own a motorbike though. In the rain when every driver put their raincoats on, the bridges and narrow streets turn into a colorful puzzle – a happy accent in a gray day.

I checked the weather further on, Hanoi will be even colder and Sapa close to freezing. I really need to find some fake NorthFace jacket. But Laos seems warm!! I really miss the beach and the floating in the sea with only one though occupying my mind: “It’s January, it is freezing cold in Poland and it’s cold and rainy in Taipei. I am in paradise!”. But soon I’ll be cruising down the coast of Thailand! Seems like I won’t have time for everything I planned, so I either somehow get to Bali straight or take my time through Thailand’s beaches. Any advice?

Hoi An: buy somesin'!!

I’m in the shopping capital of Vietnam. The bed bugs bites start to fade and so is my grouchiness. I still prefer to stay in my hotel room than discover any more of the city. I have a craving to listen or read in German, but all my e-books are back in Taiwan and all I have is my Gilmore Girls series. The reasons why I feel better in a safe hotel room are the tailor shop salespeople. The dresses are really tempting but I really don’t feel like dragging them along through half of Asia. Plus my backpack is already barely zipping up. After all I can shop in Singapore or Manila!

So, yesterday after being tormented on the bus for the whole night, with the bus driver honking and turning on the lights whenever he felt like it and the Chinese men who must have really liked his mobile phone ring and talking really loud after answering the call after 3 min or so. Exhausted yet happy to finally reach the destination we took a shower and left to discover the city of Hoi An. Hardly have we left the hotel, were there tons of tailors hassling us to order something “hello miss, buy somesin’ “. But we couldn’t think clearly before breakfast so after taking a long time to browse through thick catalogues we proceeded without leaving any money behind. Hoi An is a really busy place. Lots of bikes and motorbikes crowding the narrow streets. There are also A LOT of white people – mostly French or Dutch but I also heard some Polish. The people are very friendly, but I learned to keep my guard and not be too friendly in case they would guilt trip me into buying somesin’. Pity, as it really narrows my opportunities to actually experience the local culture and to make friends.

After we filled our stomachs, we rented bikes and cruised around the islands the whole day. There is only one bridge to each (or at least that many have I found) and the islands aren’t big. We managed to find a really relaxing café at the end of one, ordered coffee (tee we got free of charge) and just stayed in hammocks for an hour or so. Amazing – no tourists, bamboo trees and twitting birds. At the second island after leaving the main road and biking into jungle (aiming for the tip of the islands) we reached some really funky people. One of the women just jumped on my trunk and wanted to ride with me, which was more difficult than I thought. Asians are masters at keeping balance on bikes with at least 4 people on the vehicle, but I’m definitely can’t compete. My friend nearly kidnapped a child too. An 8 or so year old boy wanted to go with us, so she just told him to climb up the trunk and drove away. Good that it was a one-way road and she had to return him. His family was cool though. The grandfather took us on a ride with a … it’s hard to call it a boat – more like a basket made of bamboo… Hilarious! We tried to paddle but we couldn’t make the thing go straight! So we just turner in circles like a dog chasing its own tail. When the man took the paddle we made it a few meters down the river till we reached a big tourist boat. People inside found the sight of us funny too and started taking tons of pictures (no, they were neither Koreans nor Japanese – French I presume). So we ended up as a tourist attraction too! I should have thought about it at that time, but I should have charged for those “one picture, one dolla’!”. Too bad.

That family also made us take pictures with them, and with their little baby. One could easily guess how amazing hand I have with the little people when it started crying and screaming its face off the moment it got into my hands. Little monster.

In the evening the whole city just died. At around 22:00 we both felt sudden urge to eat French fries (or “French fried”) so we got on bikes and headed for the center. But surprise! The city looked as if it was 3am! Nobody, absolutely nobody on the streets, the restaurants already closed or closing down. We found only one that got us our treat. The joy was only spoilt a little by the French girl sitting next to our table and constantly talking. Her companions only nodded. And the things she was saying! Omg… apparently she has Polish roots and was giving her thoughts and experiences from her stay in my country… We just wished for her to shut up, but we were polite enough not to disturb and to focus on our conversation with the restaurant owner – cool lady btw.

On the whole, a very enjoyable day despite the hassle with clothes, boats and tourists. I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to it. I do miss the cosmetic chain stores (Watsons where are you?) or even McDonalds! I know… It’s a sin to say that, but imagine living 6 months strictly on Asian food.

Honky bus ride

We’re at the bus to Hoi An. The bus driver seems to use the honk much more than it is necessary. Even though I should already be used to this never stopping noise I am irritated. Maybe it’s because my day didn’t start very well. Woken up by a cleaning lady breaking into our room, discovering my yesterdays bed bugs bites annoyingly itchy and being ripped off when paying for the hotel and the perspective of spending the whole day and night serving as a cherry on top. But instead of whining let’s focus on yesterday.

After discovering we’re not fit at all, probably too weak to go trekking as intended at the beginning we settled to go with the Easy Riders to visit the countryside. 20$ each took us on a journey in time and space when visiting farmers, minority people village, silk farm etc. We started off with visiting the dragon pagoda. One of our Easy Riders – Mr. Bean told us some truly fascinating stories of why women are allowed in the pagodas now, of how Buddhist even have their female Buddha to worship, how dragons are made of fish jumping of the waterfalls, and of how a child became a Buddha. From what I understand one can become a Buddha when the Buddha of all the Buddhas steps down from heavens and appoints one to become holly for his sacred life or for being exceptionally good. So the female Buddha used to be a wife falsely accused of attempting to murder her husband, living in a pagoda dressed up as a monk, falsely accused of impregnating a local girl (who fell in love with the false monk) and then died when forced out of the community together with the newly borne child. Thanks to her, women are now more appreciated in the Buddhist society. Good to hear that some people cultures are allowed to truly worship a female god.

After the pagoda we drove off to see the farmers at work, picking up onions at the fields and carrying heavy buckets of cabbage through the whole field and into the truck. They gave us warm smiles and the ER explained how happy they are now since the prices went up and they are better motivated to work hard.

From there we drove to the coffee plantation. It was basically a field with coffee trees, very stinky ones. Funny, that the trees (leafs or whatever) that gave the stench, but when they blossom, the flowers smell beautifully.

The next stop was a war monument to the city of DaLat. Ruins of a house which was used as a hospital, but got bombarded anyways. We were told some of the war history, how Vietnam was divided into communist north and capitalist south and how the communists won in reuniting the country. Interesting fact is that Vietnam was the country which stayed divided the shortest.

Driving further into the mountains through some picturesque roads we could see the Love Valley (no idea why it was called so). Down in the valley was a village where back in the days newlyweds moved at the order of the government to work in the agrarian society. Then we moved on to the flower farm (nothing truly interesting there) and the silk farm, where little ugly warms in their snow white cocoons were stored, thrown into boiling water, stripped off from their cocoons, which in turn were transformed into thread and later to cloth. All of this done by either humans or at least 2 century old machines (we have something like that in my home city’s museum).

The last but one destination was the minority people’s village. They were jungle people as the ER desciribed, and lived in that village when going to the church (yes, they were Christian). Their living conditions were pitiful yet the old lady wanted to share some of her food with us, which we kindly denied. Pity that we didn’t have any cookies to give away to the kids. If you ever go visit these remote areas, remember to bring little gifts (like sweets).

We ended up in the Paradise Lake and a meditation center. The lake wasn’t as beautiful as the name would suggest and the pagoda was way too neat and tidy in comparison to the rest of the countryside.

Oh, I forgot that we also stopped at a place where they made home-made moonshine. Really strong stuff, and the Easy Riders were masters in downing it yet staying sober.

On the whole, we returned tired but satisfied. A well spent money to hear all the fascinating stories and experiencing the true rural Vietnam. The Easy Riders really do tell you what the Lonely Planet does not.

It’s 8pm now and I am on a sleeping bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An. We only stayed in Nha Trang for an hour. The travel agency who operates our “open bus ticket”- the biggest and most expensive mistake of our trip so far asked us to pay 50% extra. I tried my best to stay calm and make them honor the contract but what can I do – a polish girl in the middle of Vietnam. There are no refunds especially when I lack leverage for negotiation. I can’t really harm their reputation (as I did to the hotel with be bugs when I told the newly coming tourists about them) or send authorities. The beauty of travelling I tell myself now covered with a stinky old blanket with my head on a never washed pillow. Moments like this I wish I could escape back home for a few days to rest from the Asian standards of doing things. But I will stay strong and withhold the downsides of travelling, the bug bites and annoying quacking driver. After all, there has to be a better day with exciting adventures, breathtaking views and friendly people sometime soon! Until then, gritted teeth and sulky SMarta….

Oh btw, there is a bunch of polish people on the bus.

Highlands of Vietnam

We had to pull out our warmer clothes today. Are they kidding me: jacket in January? I thought there’s summer all the time in SEA!

When we finally got up we got off to search for some breakfast. We decided to try something at a local place. Rice, chicken and egg plus some more-or-less undefined vegetables (?) seemed very Taiwan alike. Than we got some coffee at another local place. And everywhere they stared at us as if we were aliens :] After that, we walked all the way to see the famous crazy house. It was built by Vietnamese architect (a woman) who studied in Moscow. The house looked quite Gaudi style. It was amazing to know that she built it all by herself and it took her 20 years and 35 billion Dong.

Anyways, we rented bikes (1,5 $) to discover the whereabouts of DaLat since the city itself is not so exciting. We biked all the 13km to LangBien mointain through Lat village. Getting some exercise was great! … at least at the beginning. Than when the road went uphill it became a little bit difficult for our lazy, totally unfit bodies. But we made it, we got to the feet of the mountain and… ok, gave up :P But we took a very cool jeep ride up the mountain (2140 or 2400m – don’t really know at which peak we were). The views might not have been as majestic as in the Alps but maybe it’s my prejudice that I just like mountains with snow caps. No snow cups mean a less pretty mountain in my very subjective opinion. It was still worth it :] Especially beause we got to taste crocodile and rabbit meat in the peak restaurant. Crocodile was great – tasted like something between a fish and a chicken. I will not be a big fun of rabbit meat though… On the way back we just took a local bus… I know that is lame and even the locals laughed at us mercilessly but there was no way we could bike uphill any more.

Lonely Planet warns so much about drive thru bag snatchers but I think it is really safe here. The only anxiety was caused when we were crossing road in Saigon… A bit difficult at the beginning and we only got by with police officers help, but after 3 or 4 times we learned. You just have to walk slowly so that all the drivers have time and space to drive past. Overall, exciting experience.

I’m just watching on BBC a discussion on whether in near future China will overcome the USA as a superpower. One student from Duke University went even further saying that the US will become insignificant in the world economical scene… interesting. Lesson to be learned, Americans are starting to notice Chinese breath behind their back and send their kids to language schools at early age to learn the Red Dragon country’s language.

Oh, by the way, I love how they misspell English here. We saw a lot of “French Fried”, “Advetour”, “Mogito” etc… :]

little Russia

MuiNe boasts to be the lovliest veach in Vietnam. I am not impressed. Both beaches in the Philippines and Cambodia were MUCH nicer. It looks a bit more like a polish beach with yellow sand and warmer sea. There are lots of Kitesurfing schools to tempt me once again, and surprise: tons of Russians!! I am still to discover why they like this destination so much, but so far every sign, menu, literary everything is translated into Russian and you cannot walk past more than 4 people not to hear the language…

On Friday we rented scooters to go discover the famous dunes of red and white sand. Even though the road was straight we somehow managed to get lost anyway – women. But first we got to the fishing village with hundreds of colorful fishing boats crowding the shore. We got all the way down to the water where a bunch of local kids laughed at us and posed for the pictures. Also the guys working on the closest boat started posing before I even directed my camera at them – sooo funny :] It was nice to cruise around the narrow alleys between the shore and main street. In places like this where few white people go we were greeted with smiles and curious looks.

Later we set off to see the dunes. The red dunes were really red! Haha! Fiery color :] The whole landscape made me feel more like in African savannah than Asia, even though I’ve never been there this is how I imagine it. Looked amazing! But the white sand dunes were even better! We were directed by some local boys to a very secluded place. We were the only humans in maybe 2km range so we got to enjoy the beauty of white dunes in peace. It’s really hard to find a peaceful and really relaxing place in this part of the world (people seem to be swarming everywhere). Then we got on out motorbike and left to see the Lotus lake and slide down some more white dunes. The lake looked absolutely fabulous even without the blossoming flowers. Sliding down wasn’t as easy as we thought and the sand was burning. We still had lots of fun just experiencing the place. It actually looked more like what I imagine Saudi Arabia to look like – I mean the dunes. Just sand everywhere and occasional tourists riding their rented quads. The sun got really tiring so we made our way down to enjoy some coconut juice (straight from the nut) while relaxing in a hammock right at the water. Pure awesomeness! To finish the great day we watched the sunset at the fishing village and celebrated a full moon at the beach with bonfire and some great fire performances.

Today, it got really rainy in the morning, but that was fine as we took the bus ride to DaLat. The bus ride was quite enjoyable at the beginning when I had 2 seats for myself but when we passed through the mountainous area the ride got really bumpy. It was like a rollercoaster with everyone jumping up 10-20cm once in a while. At first it was funny but after a while it got really annoying when reading my book got difficult and myself feeling like a sack of potatoes. But the views were truly amazing we did get into town safe and sound.

I got a very good impression of DaLat. It is a well-developed town in mountainous area with confusing roads and hotels lining up everywhere. I already tried some really good local food (can’t remember the name though) and am about to purchase a “NorthFace” jacket for 20$ as it is quite chilly here. Silly me I packed very little warm clther thinking it’s as hot as the Philippines everywhere in SEA :P

One thing I really don’t like about this place is the omnipresent noise of honking. It was the same in Mui Ne and Saigon too and it is driving me crazy. Everyone is honking at everybody without a reason. Nobody seems to care but me. It’s really annoying…

p.s. all the new photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/smartainsea

Saigon!!

Yes I know it's Ho Chi Minh City now but I will call it Saigon, because I like the name better... and it's shorter.

Getting here was a little nightmare. Our pick up was 30 min late, and as cranky as we are in the morning we were annoyed to the bone when some French girl were late even more and the bus had to wait for them. The first ride we took, a minibus, was ok. It took us through a road in building progress (read: gravel) through countryside to reach a dodgy pier after 2 hours. There we boarded what looked like a smaller version of the boat we took from Battambang. Although it was much less crowded (two of us, 3 french girls, one amercian guy and the boat driver together with his wife and son) there was no rooftop space to sit :[. To our amazement the French girls devoted themselves to picking hair from different parts of their bodies (O_o) so we were entertained through some part of the trip but the rest was pretty boring. The countryside wasn’t even closely as beautiful as on the previous boat ride and it wasn’t until the Cambodian border check point that we cheered up a bit. The boarder was nothing I am used to, comparing both to Thailan-Cambodia quite strict passage and western ones. This one was a simple port for 1 or 2 boats, a booth for an officer, toilet and several men chilling in their hammocks that didn’t seem to be of any use to the official other than keeping him company. Then there was the Vietnamese border check point. It looked more “civilized” so to say, with actual concrete building, but we never saw any official. We were just told to hand in our passports, rest and eat and change boats. Later came the worst part of the trip when finally disembarked in Chau Doc, we were crammed into a small bus. Way too many people for way too little space. The worst part was the Vietnamese people who were taking the bus with us and several other foreigners were all tiny comparing to the tall white men or rather plump French girls. They still took the seats which had the most leg space and forced us to cram in the back seat with our knees up the chins nearly – and that lasted sth like 6 hours. I wanted to travel – here I go…. :/ When we got to Saigon, no room booked, it seemed there was no budget accommodation available until I stumbled upon a very nice older guy from Singapore who told me to look in the dark alleys of what looked like a Chinatown. So after we got that settled we could finally relax and enjoy.

In the city itself, there’s not too much to see/do. Downtown can be walked in one day, which is exactly what we did. I was quite surprised to see some French style architecture and quite a lot of French expats so long after the war, which I was told to have destroyed the city – yet they rebuilt it in original style?! They also have their own Notre Dame!!

The city itself is quite likeable. We met a very friendly Vietnamese bloke who just wanted to practice his English but shared some valuable tips on discovering Vietnam too. But the cyclo drivers were annoying. We agreed on a price and after taking us around the corner they say they were joking - ?!?! As we didn’t agree on the new price we just jumped off and took a taxi – very cheap comparing to what those folk tried to rip us off from. Window shopping was painful though… so many pretty and cheap stuff: chopsticks, plates, tea service etc. but the problem is: who’s going to carry all the wares?! Charms of backpacking… maybe next time;) We also had to try the Pho soup, and we did it in the same place where ex-president Clinton had his Pho years back!

Anyways, with my travel buddy sick and not much else to do/see in so little time we decided to hit the beach asap. Seems we got tired of travelling and need to recharge.

I also finished a very interesting book “travels of a t-shirt in world economy”. It describes exactly as the title suggest the travel of a t-shirt from its birthplace – cotton farm to second-hand handling in Africa. Highly recommendable, also due to the fact that it contains a lot of graphs and to all the people around you are fantastically smart or boringly nerdy.

The next book I started and am halfway through is one about Cambodian Khmer Rouge rule seen from the eyes of a little girl who survived. “First they killed my father” sucked me in for the whole journey to Mui Ne ( ~5h). It made me laugh, it made me cry but for the most part it made me think that we learn history at school wrong. I might know the events and dates, and even details of ancient were gear and strategies but I still don’t understand the causes of conflicts. After all, history is supposed to teach us about past so as not to make the same mistakes again. I wish they made me read this kind of books back in school. They are not only eyes-opening but also good history lessons from the view of a single person, a living creature who has a family and feelings, instead of teaching us dry facts and dates.

We chose the worst time to travel around Vietnam with the lunar New Year coming up all the prices skyrocket. We manaed to get our tickets for open bus (hop on hop off wherever you wish – at least that’s the theory) at reasonable prices but with no assurance that we won’t have to pay some more. I just adore those ladies behind travel agency counters trying to sell me but can’t answear basic questions…. By the way, service in Vietnam is nowhere as good as back in Cambodia.

It also occurred to me that the Vietnamese don’t really care about their environment. From the bus window wherever I looked there was rubbish piling on both sides of the road. Even though I am not “green” I still believe this was outrageous.

As for people, the bloke we met in the park and had a nice conversation with was among the very few that were really friendly. At the restaurants the staff seems rather uninterested and in travel agencies they have no clue what they’re selling and when you keep asking, both sides just get annoyed. And it doesn’t help either that it is really difficult to understand when they speak English, as they have difficulties pronouncing “s” and “w”…

Anyways, wanting to escape the hassles of big city, we hopped on the bus, direction : Mui Ne - suppousedly the best beach in Vietnam.

p.s. They banned Facebook in Vietnam!! Ugh that's a involuntary detox :/