first days in Laos: Vientiane and Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is absolutely insane and ridiculous. It's is all about tubing. You rent a tube for 115K kip (you might get the 60K back if you don’t lose your tube and manage to get back before 6pm) and the plan is to float down the river on it. The problem is that there are bars along the way and most people don’t make it past the second bar. It’s actually great fun as the bars are equipped with slides and swings that makes jumping to the river exciting.But if you do manage it past them the scenery is absolutely stunning. No joke! This was probably the most beautiful scener I have seen in my life.

But first things first, the bus ride to Vientiane was OK for me, but a lot of people didn’t get seats so they had to sleep under the beds, where it was smelly, pitch black and disgusting. But I loved it! Met some wonderful people with whom we went to Vang Vieng and some even made it to Luang Prabang with me. They were Australian, British, Japanese, American, German and Latin America – fantastic crew even though I was the oldest one.

The border crossing was funny. We got there in the middle of the night and had to wait until it opened. The Vietnamese border was gray, foggy and scary – an image from a movie about the collapse of communism; it only lacked the monumental music. You could probably easily cross both borders without having a visa or a passport as they didn’t really check it anywhere and there was no security at all. The Lao border was like entering a totally different world. The building was green and had nice architecture, set up in the middle of the jungle with a mist covering treetops. It was only 500m further and contrary to the Vietnamese part gave a fabulous vibe. I knew I would love this country form the second I set foot in Laos.

I agree with Lonely Planet describing Vientiane as probably the smallest capital in the world. It looked more like a beach resort than a capital. Lao people are the nicest people ever especially comparing to the Vietnamese. They are kind, positive and the best part is: don’t honk at all. There is no hassle about shopping at the street vendors either. The only thing that isn’t so enjoyable is the Lao approach to time – the Lao PDR (Lao, Please Don’t Rush) especially if you’re really hungry and have to wait for food for 30 min or so.

There really isn’t much to do in Vientiane, although I wish I had just few hours more. What I did was rent a bicycle and bike to the most famous temple and a symbol for Lao – a magnificent golden Wat. On the way there we passed next to a Lao Arc de Triumph, which actually looked nicer than the original in Paris.

The skills of crossing a busy street I acquired in Vietnam came to little use as the traffic is much less intense. Biking was fun but I wish I departed earlier in the day instead of waiting for everyone to compromise on their plans. Later we just biked back and took the bus to Vang Vieng – the capital of tubing.

First day we gathered all the crew, rented tubes and took a tuk tuk to the river. Tubing down the river was so much fun in the most beautiful scenery of rocky mountains and jungle. Absolute chill on the river! And as I've said, the parties there really are insane. I was actually the only one out of my crew who made it down to the end ;]

On the second day we rented motorbikes with the Japanese guy and set off for the Blue Lagoon. I forgot to mention in what beautiful scenery the town is set in. We passed absolutely gorgeous rocky mountains, stunning countryside and cows in the middle of the road. Wait, no there was no road. A 40 min drive took us to the lagoon and cave. To get to the cave we had to climb like 10 minutes. I was out of breath, but it was totally worth it. Inside, there was no route so everyone could discover it at their own pace. It was pitch black and not easy to make it through - but so much fun. After coming back to the lagoon, we just took a plunge into the indigo blue river. On the bank, there was a tree with attached ropes to it that everyone used as swings. You could also jump from the tree – safe, but I am too much of a coward. I met some people that I’ve seen before in Sihanoukville – damn is the world small :] Actually everyone seems to be doing similar route either the same direction as me or exactly opposite.

On the way back to the town I wanted to see one more cave. The road there was even more difficult – full of rocks. When we got there, the Japanese’s guy bike broke down. I had to find someone with a vehicle that could transport him back to town. I feel kind of bad, that after finding a quasi-tractor and showing him the way I just left. It was cold and I had a dinner appointment with my Australian girls. Good that he wasn’t mad at me later, actually he’s such a chill guy – just doing his thing, not getting attached to anyone. I’ve met a couple of people like this and I still can’t figure out if this is a good way to be. On one side you can do whatever you want regardless of what your travel buddies are doing and just ditch them whenever you feel like moving on. But on the other hand, doesn’t that make you feel lonely?

Anyways, I wish I have been more productive the last day or just leave for Luang Prabang. It was a waste of time to go to the Lagoon again, but my crew convinced me to hang around. A chill but uneventful day and its highlight was me sitting on the roof of the tuk tuk enjoying the ride rodeo style. Later when we went for dinner I met a few Canadians who told me a very interesting thing: apparently there is a semi-night market in Vancouver where junkies sell stolen stuff really cheap – like a snowboard for 40$. I’ll have to look into that next time I’m there. Also, they convinced me to try skydiving when I have the chance. It’s supposed to be cheapest in South Africa and most exciting too as the drop zone is at the beach.

Oh and I also figured I will skip the Gibbon Experience, and go to the Thai islands., chill on the beach. I know I change my plans too often but what can I do, I really like planning! And the “go with the flow” doesn’t really work that well for me…

5 days in Hanoi

Day 1

Why oh why is Vietnam giving me such a cold shoulder?? Ok, it’s not raining any more and I really appreciate it, but it’s still so cold. How can I enjoy SEA if it’s so cold to me?! After all, If I wanted cold, I’d come home for my break. Ok, stop with the whining.

We arrived to Hanoi, logged into our hostel – finally a true backpacker’s hostel! No luxuries but it had some interesting people and it was warm :P Putting on sweaters jackets and hoodies we headed for the city center. Visited a temple and strolled around the old town the whole day.

The old quarter was a bustling heart of the city with small shops selling from socks and underpants to chopsticks and souvenirs. With Tet coming up the streets were hard to walk and locals would push their way through rushing to get ready for the celebrations. It reminded me of home just before Christmas – pure mayhem. This is exactly what I wanted to escape this year, but as my luck shows I exchanged Polish one only to be trapped in a more hardcore Vietnamese. I must admit however that at night the streets looked amazing with street vendors selling red lanterns, red ribbons, red trinkets and red …everything. After all, red is the color of luck?

Hearing so much good things about the water puppet show we spent the 3$ and gave it a go as our own New Year’s treat. Despite the kid who was kicking my chair most of the time, 40 being the average age of the audience and the singers who wasted their nice voices on howling to the moon, I enjoyed the show. Well ok, only our entertaining comments and snappy critique did we have a blast.

Strolling around we couldn’t not go to the biggest “department store”, which was actually a regular market only housed in a 3 storey building. On our way there we stumbled upon a dreadful street, where one could buy meat; a lot of meat. We saw how they killed and skinned frogs and how they cut chicken’s throat and drained the blood, than took off the father. It was traumatic! Why are they allowed to do that in the street?! It won’t make a vegetarian out of me, but … I hope I won’t have nightmares.

Day 2 and 3 @ Halong Bay

After amazingly comfy night at the hostel we got up late to make it for the Halong Bay trip. Excited, we endured 3,5 hour bus ride to the Halong city. Even though it was so long, I could move on with my book while everyone else snoozed. “The girl in the picture” is a great story of how a girl burned by napalm didn’t die because someone took a picture which made her famous victim of war. It is engaging and touching. I found an overwhelming similarity with the book about Cambodia I already finished “First they killed my father”. In both books at the very beginning both girls live their lives happily under non-communist government, they possess fridges, houses, and lead a comfortable life in a city of Phnom Penh or in rural Vietnam. Yet, there came the communists to free them. That didn’t end so well, both falling into poverty, balancing on the edge of starvation. I really don’t get it why would anyone still want to pursue the communist ideas after so many lessons of history.

Anyways, we boarded the junk and I just knew it won’t be a good trip. My enthusiasm evaporated with the freezing cold of the wind. Additional layers of clothing didn’t help so I just curled up and committed to my book instead of enjoying the marvels of nature around. We docked once to see the caves. So nice and warm inside it was! And astonishing too! With the colorful lighting, the cave looked like prepared for a huge party festival – that’s a thought, they should organize that!

We spent the night on the boat. Just one comment: the cabin had lots of ventilation holes… awesome :/ I was too grouchy too crawl from under my duvet to go kayaking and I was sulking until the sun came up a bit later. So after I stripped off 2 layers I could finally sit on the sun deck and enjoy the views, which were really breathtaking. We stopped for 30 minutes to visit a “rock palace” (?). We took a small motor boat that operated on a string with a loop and depending where the guy placed the loop we slowed down or sped up – an attraction in itself. We got ourselves a pineapple from one lady and made our way back.

It was also a day of the Chinese New Year’s Eve so after shower, free beer at the hostel we headed for the lake with a bunch of people. The fireworks were absolutely amazing! Chuck Mung Nam Moi!!

Day 4

Everything is closed. We lingered at the hostel, wandered around the quiet and empty city and settled for one of the very few open café’s. I tried to organize, re-organize my plans for the ongoing journey. It seems that I have to skip the full moon party on Ko Pangan, skip Thailand’s beaches, and head straight to Singapore for the weekend so that I can meet my friend, than figure something out for the whole week before departing from Singapore. I really want to end the trip on a beach, and since Bali might not work out, I tried finding some alternative. The problem is, Malaysia is a Muslim country so going to the beach fully clad is purposeless. I will have to rely on the beaches off Singapore ( I suspect them being ridiculously expensive comparing to what I got used to ) or find a way to go to Bali … somehow…

Day 5

So there is sun in Hanoi! It can even be warm enough to walk around in a T-Shirt!

Being stuck in a city that is completely shut down is a chilled, but boring experience. I took my time packing and left to discover the other part of the town – the Lenin park and some ponds. I must say I haven’t seen a park that consists mostly of concrete for a long time and the ponds were all dirty. I can’t understand how these people can live like this … I mean the Asians all seem to be totally fine with living in one room with the whole family. Often they also cook and work in the same place. It’s dirty, crowded and loud. I guess this is me being a spoilt westerner talking. I don’t understand how can they all, often 3 generations live together 24/7 ?! TIA – this is Asia.

OMG. I just got on my sleeper bus going to Vientiane. OMG. It’s suppoused to be a 20, maybe 30 hour bus ride and there are more people than beds. The beds are double, so I am next to a nice Brit. I am lucky I even got a bed, as some people are UNDERNEATH the beds! This is ridiculous! Asia will never stop surprising me with the conditions they transport people. I still have to try a long haul train… I am actually glad I’m leaving the country. The people I talked with so far seem all to have the same plans for Laos so I will have company :] At the moment, I have my compter on full battery with disc full of movies, a book and my music. I should be fine. The aircon is annoying but I learned from the Taiwanese to deal with this: just wear your hoodie the other way round – Taiwan style ;)

Overall, will I come back to Vietnam? Mayyybeee…not. I mean to do Halong Bay in warm weather would be good. I haven’t seen Sapa and its famous mountain views, but I’m not a big fan of mountain trekking, so unless I develop a fondness for such activity, I’ll pass. There is still the Mekong Delta in the south and the Phu Quoc island that I skipped, so If I return to Cambodia, I might put that on my schedule.

There are several sights in Cambodia I wish I saw or stayed longer. Like Sihanoukville – a perfect, quite secluded beach and the surrounding islands, especially the Monkey Island. There are also Kep and Kampot … ah … next time ;)

Anyways, next stop: Vientiane. I heard from several people there’s nothing to do there, but it’s the capital so I will stay at least for a day. Than tubing and countryside biking in Vang Vieng and the Gibbon Experience at the border with Thailand. Overall I will spend around 10, maybe 12 days in Laos. Cross your fingers for me as true adventure is about to begin!

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.