Wow, we've got some unusual weather here at the moment. You've all probably seen the news reports of the unseasonal cold and associated snow in China. Well it doesn't stop at the Chinese border and northern Vietnam is very much "unseasonal" too. I spoke to some guys touring on motorbikes the other day and they said the weather had been beautiful until a week earlier and then the tropical depression hit and the temperature plummeted and the rain started falling.
I don't have much in the way of warm clothing but it seems that all the other travellers are buying clothes (and asking hotels for the non-existent rooms with heaters). I still have my sleeping bag - figuring I'd need it in once I got to Central Australia. I'm glad to have it here now.
Since my last post, I've received my Vietnam Visa, then headed north to Vang Vieng up Highways 10 and 13 then back tracked almost to Vientiane to take Highway 13 to the south - as far as "Road 8" - my access across the mountains to Vietnam. Vang Vieng was a real shock to the system , tourists, tourists, tourists. The main street there is lined both sides with restaurants, net cafes, and tourist booking agencies. If you walk down the street looking, you will eventually find one that doesn't have continuous re-runs of "Friends" , "The Simpson's" or other American TV re-run DVD's playing. Vang Vieng reminded me very much of Queenstown, New Zealand and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe - the possible difference being that the activities at those places all cost about $100 and in Vang Vieng the activities revolve around the river, & drinking and floating - in various forms - down the river. There is of course Caving, Rock Climbing, Kayaking, Tubing and other things that cost $, but not $100. Getting to Vang Vieng was a two day ride, camping at Na Kuen both on the up & return journey. After riding a day and a half north on roads that I would need to re-ride on my way back I decided to do the last 50km on their local form of public transport (covered back utility/pick up vehicle). It was nice to cut a 103km day down to 50km and get there mid afternoon with time to wash clothes book a tour for the next day and have a bit of a relax. ( I figure If I'm going to re-ride the same road its OK to cheat one way - especially if the transport drops me further away from home than where I started.) The tour the next day was caving and kayaking I took my head torch and various items but when I ended up with blisters on both hands from Kayaking I really wished I'd taken my cycling gloves.
- David and Sebastian from the UK - who told me to stay in Laos and not bother with Vietnam - I've ignored their advice
- Hills around Vang Vieng Laos
- Vang Vieng after a half day paddling (not peddling)
- Petrol Bowser, rural Laos
- One of the wooden bridges on Road 8 - from Laos to Vietnam
- Road 8 again, Laos
The Highway 13 heading south i travelled on was nowhere near as pretty as the sections up north, but once turning onto "Road 8" toward the hills and Vietnam the scenery was even more spectacular. (Of course it comes at the cost of hills you need to ride up).
The mountains were stunning and rugged, I cursed the map I have various times for making me believe that certain sections were flat when they - very much - were not. The border between Laos & Vietnam follows the ridge and water shed on the mountain range and the climb up the western side in Laos got very foggy and damp, but once I crossed the border to Vietnam the fog became rain that continued all night and the next day into Vinh. I crossed the border between 3 & 4 but all day the low-light had made it seem many hours later than it really was. Once crossed into Vietnam I started looking fro camp sights and auditioned a few that were just soooo... sodden that they were out of the question. I eventually found one that wasn't quite so bad, had a small area where somebody had dumped some sand and thus a little bit of drainage. I set camp and slept clothed so as not to risk getting the sleeping bag wet. The next morning the tent was essentially dry inside - except for the rectangle where the thermarest had been. A few weeks ago I punctured the floor of the tent with a twig and I haven't got a suitable patch material with me so I haven't patched it. - bad mistake.
Finishing the decent the next morning left me on undulating roads that I followed for the rest of the morning until hitting river flats in the afternoon for the run into Vinh. There was a brief respite from rain in the second half of the morning, but it started up again after lunch leaving everything very very wet on arrival into Vinh. My first two tasks in Vinh, an ATM for money (I had changed minimal at the border) and a BIG hotel room for spreading out all the gear to dry. With the tents, flies, clothing, bags and other gear spread out in the room, my shoes hanging by their laces on the oscillating pedestal fan I headed out for dinner etc with socks and sandals. The room cost me 10USD had two queen size beds a fridge, Fan, Air Conditioner (not reverse cycle though) and just about everything you could want in a room - and I was the only guest in the hotel. For some reason - maybe there desire to feel like they have many customers by having to clean more rooms - they put the price up for that room the next day, and I moved to a room with only one Queen size bed the next day. I tried to convince them that it would be better to have me only dirty one room but with them having no English and me no Vietnamese it didn't work. (By this time the gear was about as dry as it was going to get - so I was prepared and not pay the extra.)
Into Vietnam the mist turned to rain
I mention that the hotel owners had no English, which they didn't, but I could still communicate very successfully with the woman, using the tried and trusted techniques of charades and pictionary. The husband was however a totally different story. The next day I wanted to find a shop to buy a school exercise book to use for my journal - as my current one had only one page left. I went down to reception and the husband was "on duty". I did what seemed sensible showing him that I wrote in the book, that I had many many pages of writing, and only the back of the last page was free. I indicated I wanted to buy one and pointed questioningly both ways along the street for shops. But he just didn't get it. The next 5 minutes or more was spent trying to find more different ways of getting the message across but everytime being met with blank expressions or some action that was totally wrong. Every now and then in my travels I find someone who I just cannot communicate with - someone who seems unable to communicate without the spoken word. Fortunately they are not very common, and on this occassion the wife arrived shortly after on a motorbike. When the wife arrived I did the same actions I'd tried with him and all seemed to be going well until he said something to her in Vietnamese. Whatever it was that he said put right off the scent and she went behind the reception desk and did something totally wrong, but identical to what he had done earlier. I grinned, smiled and lightheartedly pushed him out of the way, put my arm around her and took her to the other end of the foyer. She immediately understood that we were going to start again without his "help". I repeated my actions again, this time she walked behind the desk pulled out a near empty exercise book, flicked through the blank pages for me and I nodded. We then both walked 3 shops down the street where she said something to the shop attendant and they pulled out two different sizes of empty exercise book. Aaaah.... We then got a big grin and some comment from the husband.
The trip from Vinh to Hanoi is one I had decided to do in either bus or train - again it would otherwise be many days riding the up and back on the same stretch of highway. After a morning of riding around frustrated trying to find somewhere to buy a ticket or catch a bus the next day I eventually found the depot and was approached by a very fluent English speaker. (I'm sure he drums up a lot of business that way). He had a guest house next door and said he ran the bus company that ran through Vinh en route to Hanoi. I was to go the next morning and the bike would be inside the bus instead of on top like most buses. The next morning the bus was there with 3 motorbikes in place of the front set of passenger seats and my bike lay flat on top of the three motorbikes. We travelled with the curtains closed in that area so that the police wouldn't see, lest they have to bribe their way out of trouble. The foreigners sat on the rear seats (me and the three motorcyclists) and the locals over-filled up the rest of the bus (2 seats, aisle, 1 seat, with a folding seat in the aisle, making a total of 4 but they filled it with 5 in each row. With three tanks of petrol in the front next to the only door and many many people and seats between us and that door we were all hoping that the crazy way the buses drive here would not result in a crash. And I think we'd all worked out how we'd try to push out the back and side windows - assuming that - like home - that becomes an emergency exit. (it would for us anyway). The bus dropped us off somewhere, none of us knew where. Our maps showed several bus stations in Hanoi but none of them with names remotely resembling the one we were at. I loaded up and headed off up the road in the direction we thought might lead to the city. Getting a hotel was easier than normal as I got a guy on a motor bike - that pulled up at the lights next to me - to take me to one in the cheap hotel tourist area. If he gets a commission and I still pay the same, I don't care, otherwise I spend hours riding around strange cities otherwise trying to find the few streets where all the cheap hotels are clumped. Something I've learnt in my travels to date.
Twice on the same road - No - I caught a bus Vinh to Hanoi
I arrived in Hanoi with just a few days before the Lunar New Year, so I hurriedly booked for a tour departing the next morning to HaLong Bay, a tour that would give me a full day - New Years Eve - back in Hanoi, before the place shuts down for the New Year. At that time the only logical thing for me to be doing is riding - heading south.
- The weather wasn't great but at least it wasn't raining - HaLong Bay, Vietnam
- Monkey Island, Ha Long Bay
- New Year in Hanoi, burning USD. Well, photocopies that you can buy in bundles
- Once again loving the street food, The Pho is actually as good as "Dzung Tan Dinh" in Victoria St Richmond.
Its now the evening of new years eve, time to go out and get some food and find the party (which I don't think will be that hard, due to the big stage that was being assembled near the lake last night. )
Best wishes for a Happy New Year (Year of the Rat)
Jeff
No comments:
Post a Comment