Well entering Laos is like entering a dream and you find yourself wanting to move slower and slower. Still trying to relax after Vietnam, I coincidently took the same bus to Vang Viene as Damon and Tanya. This trip was uneventful and very comfortable given that the air con gave out shortly after leaving. Just open those windows and let the air breeze through. Often I find it moer comfrortable than air con. But that;s just me. One thing that does suprise in Laos is the leg room on buses - that are all second hand from China and Japan. There is heaps of it, more than I have had anywhere else in Asia.
The bus takes you straight north out of Vientiane and eventually out of the Mekong Valley back into the mountains, where the roads twist and turn endlessly and speeds are slow. Most of northern Laos is mountainous, that stem from the Tibetan plateau and seperate China from South East Asia. Much of Laos is very remote and hardly accesible to tourists. However, due to foreign investment all the main road through Laos are actually pretty good, making the main travel route quite comfortable but still long. After a slow 4 hours on the road you descend into the Vang Vieng valley, past the only concrete factory in Lao (a reminder that industrialisation has reached Laos) and onwards to the local airstrip which acts as a market and bus station, despite two specially built bus stations, north and south of the city lying dormant. Our VIP bus specifically designed for tourists drives through this and stop at a local hotel, which you can stay at if you want. But I had my mind set on something on the river.
Damon and Tanya and I wandered ( I would spend much of the folowing weeks with them) to the river and after scouting out a few places, that left Tanya a little flustered and indecisive about what to do, I settled for a nice room with double bed, bathroom and a balcony out front over looking the river and the limestone karsts on the far side of the valley. Settled in we went for a drink, little diod I expect to get stuck!
Now I can't exactly remember how the following week proceeded, but it is a fact that I got somewhat stuck and lost track of time, and probably drank to much alcohol - though admittedly less than evryine else. Vang Vien is a tourist city - at least the central part is - but it has plenty of opportunities to meet people, while watching Friends, in what I termed Friends lane. A street where every second restaurant is playing friends, all day everyday. It makes you wonder why people will travel all the way across the world and then sit and watch firends for a day. But I can take the moral high ground cuase I did it as well. But after a few days we had settled into a routine of meeting at a particular restaurant at 10am from which we would decide what to do for the day. Going to the restaurant would almost garauntee meeting someone you knew. A bit of routine after months of movement and change was surprisingly comforting.
In the days that followed much time was spent doing the local must do - tubing. Described as hiring the inner tube of a tractor and floating down the river is the most inaccurate representation of what tubing really is. A more appropriate description is that it is a pub crawl during which you move from pub to pub by floating down the river in a rubber tube. To some this may sound harmless enough. Others may be concerned about the mixture of alcohol and water. But it is actually far worse. Most of the bars include as part of their attractions, ping pong tables, volleyball courts, pool tables, flying foxes and swings to jump into the river with and loud PA systems playing Rolling stones, Dance or Thai music depending on where you stop. So combining a not so deep river (dry season) with alcohol, flying foxes and swings, and a general party atmosphere, the invetible result is injuries. During the time that I was there, one person was airlifted out with a suspected broken back and the another when home with 47 stiches in his back, along with a host of minor injuries. And Yes, people have died doing this.
Despite all this it is without a doubt some of the best fun you can have in a day. And for only $10 plus drinks you can understand why we did it 4 times over the course of a week. Luckily, none of us (after day two we had a group of 8 commerades) become seriously injuried, bar a few insect bites and scratches, and a poisonous spider bite, but the adventures we had during this time is enough to write a novel about. Something I seriously started working on!
(For a different perspective on this and moer information see http://bigplace.org.uk/blog/?p=158 , parts 4.14, 4.15 and 4.16)
Each night inevitably ends with a story going around the town of someone going missing. Generelly they don't make it back to town before night, panicking, jumping out of the river - despite the fact that the river takes you right back to where you started -, meet some angry locals who chase you off their property (highly unusual in Asia for this happen) and then have to hitchhike or walk or pay to get back to town. As it happened to two of our comerades had this exact expperience. Soem in our group had been before and knew we would be to late so we jumped out of the river and took the Tuk-tuk service from the aptly named 'the last bar'. However as it was dark two, of our group didn't didn't see us getting out and floated down the river towards town. At this point one of the others in the group, who was overly intoxicated decided to try looking for them back on the other side of the river. He jumped in, tried to swim across the river and promptly started getting swept away by the current. I was still reasonably sober - the most sober of anybody - so I jumped in with my tube and brought him safely to the far side of the river. Before negotiating with the locals to get a boat to take him back to the near side and settle him down. Despite our efforts to look for them, they could not be found so we went back to town and had and enjoyable dinner with much laughter. there was after all nothing we could do. Eventually they turned up the next day after all kinds of adventures, drinking with the locals, falling of motorbikes having an argument between the two and ending up somewhat lost. You hate it when it happens but it is funny afterwards. As the days wore on we heard similar stories from other people.
I ended up doing the tubing thing fours times, first time I went pretty crazy and survived with many bruises and scratches, after that I took it a little easier and enjoyed every moment. Meeting new people, getting soaked by the locals (more on thsi below) and enjoying the sunshine water and party atmosphere.
At the same time a certain "Sa-bai-dii pi mai", celebration was occurring across Laos and Thailand. This is the lao new year or 'Happy New Year Lao!', and is based on Kmher tradition (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_New_Year). This party has one of the most ingenious ways of celebrating a new year - a water fight. So for three to four days (it is much crazier than the wiki article suggests) Laos and Thailand are involved in one giant water fight - i don't think this will catch on in Australia. Us tourists are left to fend for ourselves with a miserly collection of water pistols, while the locals hammer you with buckets of water and hoses. So much so that the Laos government is concerned that the water fight is getting out of control and causing accident and damage to property. The locals don't seem to worried at the moment as they crank up the sound systems - which were already pretty loud and party all day (but go to bed like good citizens at night). Unfortunately I have no photos of the event as walking around with anything bar a waterproof camera is impossible. I ended up buying and breaking or losing to a local kid three different water pistols, including a big one with backpack water supply that proved fairly useless. No matter what you do you will get completely WET!
Combining a three day long water fight, tubing, and the occasional evening thunderstorm and light show with little more than a bamboo hut to shelter in. The whole experience is rather surreal. I could have stayed there three weeks but as time wore on all the people I had met moved on and a certain issues was occupying my mind.
I had decided to go Cambodia and then to Vietnam was too much of a rush, so I decided to cancel Cambodia, stay in Laos for Longer and head directly into China form Laos. Easy enough you would think all that was required was a Visa. So I decided to travel back to Vientiane to get my China visa. I got there on the 16th of April. I had previously gone to the China embassy in Hanoi to see what was required and it didn't seems all that onourous. However afeter arriving at the Chinese embassy that all changed. An unannounced declaration was made by the Chinese government on the 14th of April (those two days cost me 2 weeks of my life). Now all applications required a return ticket to China and accomodation booked for everyday that you are in China. i.e. the government wants to know where you are the whole time you are in China throughout this olympic period. I haven't checked the timing but I think it was an additional measure taken after the government saw the reaction to the Torch relay around the world and wanting to have more control over peoples movements during the Olympics. Rather pissed off with this turn of events I went to the internet cafe to do some research.
The research only made things worse, yes the new requirement the embassy told me were correct. So I though I just buy my transiberian train ticket and so on. No problem. Well no, the Chinese government have for some reason handed over all International train tickets to the Olympic commitee from June to Septmeber who reportedly will not put the tickets on sale until three days before. So a different plan. I sent my researchers on a mission to find alternatives. Like taking a ferry to seoul and then onto Vladivostok and catch the train from there. Okay, we found one company who would accept a booking more than one month in advanced and luck me, payment only required on boarding.
That's tah sorted now for accomodation. In hindsight I should have booked one months accomodation in a hotel somewhere and used that, but I tried to do it honestly. In the end I decided to join a 22 day tour through China, which I will do. Okay that's accommodation, plus a few hotel booking either side to cover some additional travelling. That's accomodation sorted. Now I need a ticket into China. Well it turns out that I could not buy an advanced bus ticket into China. And after speaking to 4 travel agents not one was willing to provide me witha dummy ticket just to show. By this stage we are four to five days further on and I am starting to get really pissed of.
Eventually I came to the conclusion that I would have to travel back to Vientiane and handle it personally, as no travel agancy was willing to provide me with the assitance I needed. So back on the bus to Vientiane - only 11hrs - to see the embassy. On arrival with all my paperwork prepared I was jsut about to head of to the embassy when I realised - fuck (excuse the language), it saturday, the embassy is closed. So I sat around, ate drank, played guitar for two days waiting for the next week to start. SO on monday mornign bright I chirpy I headed off to the embassy, where I was promptly hit back into the street with a sledgehammer so to speak. The embassy would not accept any tickets unless they were plane tickets. Implying that land borders are closed to tourists which is not true, and no information from the government supports this not to mention all teh bus train and ferry services in and out of China. But this is the rule in Lao and no amount of shouting and hand waving and gentle prodding couold sway them. This is also why so many people are submitting false information, because it is just easier.
SO I head back into to town, pay the 50,000 kip to the Tuk-tuk driver for a waste of time trip. So I purchased a plane ticket into China and because I can only handle so much fraud I have decided to abandon my quest to reach europe by land and purchased a ticket flying to amsterdam on the 24th of June. 2008 is just not the year to do China and the trans-siberian railway. So my grand holiday wil now be over in 7 weeks.
I went to the embassy today with my plane tickets and accomodation papers, half of which were not even viewed and submitted them form. I expect to have the visa in my passport tomorrow. I could publish all the emails and conversations I ahve ahd on this matter but it would probably bore you to much. Suffice to say, it has been without a doubt the most frustrating and demoralising experience on my travels. And the one lesson I take from it is that sometimes, probably not often, and maybe only in relation to governments, it is better for everybody if you just lie! IT seems that is what the Chinese government wants you to do!
Anyway that is my - I will leave it unedited - rant. I my next blog I will contrast it with one of the most amazing experiences of my trip.
Till next time, thanks for reading
P.S By the way, did you know that there is a Beer Lao Song! Unfortunately, I can't find, nor does anyone I meet know of a recording.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Hanoi to Vientienne (Asia Trek Pt 15)
The bus from Hanoi to Vientienne, the quickest way to get to Loas, except by air is a rather daunting 20 hours long. Almost enought to make you not want to go and has scared many people into going for the plane. But I will not fly, so I had to. And not only is it 20hrs long it is also one of the more interesting trips to make.
Starting the trip, I was off to a bad start. Saying goodbye to my mother was a little more painful than expected and the loneliness of travelling alone hit me hard under grey skies in Hanoi. The sun hadn't shoen since we arrived. I used the las few hours to surf the net and drink somw beer before being rushed on the back of a moto to take me a whole 200 meters to the minibus to take us out of town.
For some reason when the minibus arrived at the bus station, we were not allowed in and nor were we allowed to walk in. So we waited on the side of the road for another bus to come along, which we were hastily put in. The bus then drove into the bus station and we got off again to be transferred to our real bus. This should have been an indication of the things to come. Again we were hastily put on the bus werre we sat patiently for about 2hours before the bus finally departed. All the time more and more good were being laden on the bus; on the roof, under the seat and in the aisles. Luckily for me I had chosen the bad seat on the wheel so I retained my leg room and a spare seat for at least part of the trip. Finally the bus tooted it horn and we were on our way for what was termed a 'non stop' trip to Vientienne.
Well it turned out that the bus stops in every major city between Hanoi and Vientienne. This is more than you would think as due to geographic reasons the bus heads south along the vietnam coast for about 8hours before turning right to get into laos. And at each stop more people and cargo gets put onto the bus. I think I was fortunate that the bus I was on was not that busy for other people have described much worse situations. For us, while many had no leg room. There was only one person for each seat. By early morning we had passed the last major city and headed into the hills towards laos. By this stage people had starting leaving their seat and occupying the prime aisle real estate to get some rest.
We arrived at the border at about 5am were wearily we all got off the bus and wandered around (the crossign doesn't open till 7am). When we left we were driving in rice fields, now we were high in a mountain pass that served as the border crossing. Not a bad place to have a regular day job. We watched the immigration official consume their morning coffee before herding into the immigration office to have our passports stamped. In order to make thing go quicker one of the ladies on the bus collected all the Laos passport to make sure that they got done first. This was of course a waste of time becuase the bus still had to wait for us tourist who had to fend for ourselves in a line free zone. Things went a little smoother as us tourist opted for some collective action and one by one we had our exit from vietnam approved. A fact which not a single person regretted.
By this stage I had made a healthy friendship with Damon and Tanya and we proceeded across the border together. Expectation were high, as so many good things had been said about Laos. Now those that know me, know that I don't take symbols, or mystical thing to seriously. But it was very apparent to me that soon after we crossed the broder I could feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders and for the first time in a week or so the sun broke through the could an shone down on us as we walked through the mountain pass toward Laos.
The Lao immigration process was no less organised but less people made it more manageable. There were no sign as to what to do. Eventually we figured out to go to booth A to get the card, fill in card, go to booth B to pay the money and then go back to booth A to get your passport stamped. So all was well, and we even got an extra month on our visa which was very kind of them. After a short wait for the stragglers to cross the border we were back on the road for another 7hrs travelling.
THe bus descending down a twisting winding road, past rural villages that may never have seen a brick in theirs lives, along side meandering mountain streams. The view was mesmerising and seemed never ending as we turned left and right and left and right. I would have watched forever if I had not fallen asleep from weariness.
Eventually we arrive in the mekong valley where the roads and landscape become flat and travelling becomes faster. Now the lonely planet warns that buses in Lao tend to break down, but that didn't stop my surpise when BANG, the tyre right underneath my seat exploded. I could feel the explosion through the floor. The bus stopped safely and we got off the bus into the sweltering Lao heat. We all searched for what little bit of shade we could find as we waited aboutn 30min for them to replace the tyre. So in no time we were back on the road. The rest of the trip past uneventfully and before we knew it we arrived at Vientienne bus station almost 3hrs early. Early buses are not common in Asia.
Vientienne, the capital of Lao is possibly the most laid back capital city in the world. The tuk-tuk drivers will happily cruise at 15 to 20km per hour even though the roads are wide, clean and relatively empty. As a tourist your not generally in a rush anyway. Vientienne itself as a capital also has little to offer the tourist. It has a couple of Wat's as well as two national monuments, one gold call That Luang and the other an arc de triomph like structure that was built with money from the US but never finished to this day. So half of it is painted and the other half is plain concrete. What there is todo is watch sunset over the mekong and play football on the sands of the mekong, and after dark when all the bars and restaurants are closed you can go for a spot of bowling, which for some reason is the only place allowed to stay open after the 12pm curfew. We played two games of which I came a close third and fourth if I recall correctly.
I might digress here to some general information about Lao. It is no secret that economic development is occuring rapidly in South East Asia. I spite of this Laos and tome some extent cambodia lag behind the rest. Laos is I believe the poorest country in south east asia (bar Myanmar). This is potentially going to change quickly with dramatic effect on the country. Because sits at the 'crossroads' of the south east Asia economies and China. With China opening it borders in the 1990's Lao is now central to a project to create the 'ASEAN highway'. A series of roads that will connect southern China (Yunnan province) to Thailand and Vietnam to the Myanmar coast. thus creating more open a free trade throughout the region. Both these road will go through Laos, taking once remote regions into important trade links. The cynic in me suspects that China is supportive (and probably pushing) this because if roads are built connecting Yunnan to Myanmar, China will be able to transport goods further east and to Africa, bypassing the more western centric and controlled Malacca straights. These roads include roads between Thailand and Myanmar, and the whole project is strinkingly similar to what the Japanese were trying to achieve in the second world war which resulted in the 'death railway'.
This increase in trade through Lao will have positive economic effects, with the investment leading to large hydro electrcity projects mainly for export to Thailand, and other industries which can lead to jobs and better living standards. But also negative effects, with increases in illegal forestry and fauna exports to china, increased risk of prostitution becoming more wide spread (Lao, unlike Thailand has a law that say a foreigner is not allowed to have sex with a local until they are married) and more destruction of local ethnic communities. Some of this is necessary and inevitable, but with the limited capacity of the government and curroption the risks are there. What is best, I do not know. I do think that you can expect much change in Lao over the coming years if this project is completed.
With that I will leave you. Thanks for reading
Starting the trip, I was off to a bad start. Saying goodbye to my mother was a little more painful than expected and the loneliness of travelling alone hit me hard under grey skies in Hanoi. The sun hadn't shoen since we arrived. I used the las few hours to surf the net and drink somw beer before being rushed on the back of a moto to take me a whole 200 meters to the minibus to take us out of town.
For some reason when the minibus arrived at the bus station, we were not allowed in and nor were we allowed to walk in. So we waited on the side of the road for another bus to come along, which we were hastily put in. The bus then drove into the bus station and we got off again to be transferred to our real bus. This should have been an indication of the things to come. Again we were hastily put on the bus werre we sat patiently for about 2hours before the bus finally departed. All the time more and more good were being laden on the bus; on the roof, under the seat and in the aisles. Luckily for me I had chosen the bad seat on the wheel so I retained my leg room and a spare seat for at least part of the trip. Finally the bus tooted it horn and we were on our way for what was termed a 'non stop' trip to Vientienne.
Well it turned out that the bus stops in every major city between Hanoi and Vientienne. This is more than you would think as due to geographic reasons the bus heads south along the vietnam coast for about 8hours before turning right to get into laos. And at each stop more people and cargo gets put onto the bus. I think I was fortunate that the bus I was on was not that busy for other people have described much worse situations. For us, while many had no leg room. There was only one person for each seat. By early morning we had passed the last major city and headed into the hills towards laos. By this stage people had starting leaving their seat and occupying the prime aisle real estate to get some rest.
We arrived at the border at about 5am were wearily we all got off the bus and wandered around (the crossign doesn't open till 7am). When we left we were driving in rice fields, now we were high in a mountain pass that served as the border crossing. Not a bad place to have a regular day job. We watched the immigration official consume their morning coffee before herding into the immigration office to have our passports stamped. In order to make thing go quicker one of the ladies on the bus collected all the Laos passport to make sure that they got done first. This was of course a waste of time becuase the bus still had to wait for us tourist who had to fend for ourselves in a line free zone. Things went a little smoother as us tourist opted for some collective action and one by one we had our exit from vietnam approved. A fact which not a single person regretted.
By this stage I had made a healthy friendship with Damon and Tanya and we proceeded across the border together. Expectation were high, as so many good things had been said about Laos. Now those that know me, know that I don't take symbols, or mystical thing to seriously. But it was very apparent to me that soon after we crossed the broder I could feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders and for the first time in a week or so the sun broke through the could an shone down on us as we walked through the mountain pass toward Laos.
The Lao immigration process was no less organised but less people made it more manageable. There were no sign as to what to do. Eventually we figured out to go to booth A to get the card, fill in card, go to booth B to pay the money and then go back to booth A to get your passport stamped. So all was well, and we even got an extra month on our visa which was very kind of them. After a short wait for the stragglers to cross the border we were back on the road for another 7hrs travelling.
THe bus descending down a twisting winding road, past rural villages that may never have seen a brick in theirs lives, along side meandering mountain streams. The view was mesmerising and seemed never ending as we turned left and right and left and right. I would have watched forever if I had not fallen asleep from weariness.
Eventually we arrive in the mekong valley where the roads and landscape become flat and travelling becomes faster. Now the lonely planet warns that buses in Lao tend to break down, but that didn't stop my surpise when BANG, the tyre right underneath my seat exploded. I could feel the explosion through the floor. The bus stopped safely and we got off the bus into the sweltering Lao heat. We all searched for what little bit of shade we could find as we waited aboutn 30min for them to replace the tyre. So in no time we were back on the road. The rest of the trip past uneventfully and before we knew it we arrived at Vientienne bus station almost 3hrs early. Early buses are not common in Asia.
Vientienne, the capital of Lao is possibly the most laid back capital city in the world. The tuk-tuk drivers will happily cruise at 15 to 20km per hour even though the roads are wide, clean and relatively empty. As a tourist your not generally in a rush anyway. Vientienne itself as a capital also has little to offer the tourist. It has a couple of Wat's as well as two national monuments, one gold call That Luang and the other an arc de triomph like structure that was built with money from the US but never finished to this day. So half of it is painted and the other half is plain concrete. What there is todo is watch sunset over the mekong and play football on the sands of the mekong, and after dark when all the bars and restaurants are closed you can go for a spot of bowling, which for some reason is the only place allowed to stay open after the 12pm curfew. We played two games of which I came a close third and fourth if I recall correctly.
I might digress here to some general information about Lao. It is no secret that economic development is occuring rapidly in South East Asia. I spite of this Laos and tome some extent cambodia lag behind the rest. Laos is I believe the poorest country in south east asia (bar Myanmar). This is potentially going to change quickly with dramatic effect on the country. Because sits at the 'crossroads' of the south east Asia economies and China. With China opening it borders in the 1990's Lao is now central to a project to create the 'ASEAN highway'. A series of roads that will connect southern China (Yunnan province) to Thailand and Vietnam to the Myanmar coast. thus creating more open a free trade throughout the region. Both these road will go through Laos, taking once remote regions into important trade links. The cynic in me suspects that China is supportive (and probably pushing) this because if roads are built connecting Yunnan to Myanmar, China will be able to transport goods further east and to Africa, bypassing the more western centric and controlled Malacca straights. These roads include roads between Thailand and Myanmar, and the whole project is strinkingly similar to what the Japanese were trying to achieve in the second world war which resulted in the 'death railway'.
This increase in trade through Lao will have positive economic effects, with the investment leading to large hydro electrcity projects mainly for export to Thailand, and other industries which can lead to jobs and better living standards. But also negative effects, with increases in illegal forestry and fauna exports to china, increased risk of prostitution becoming more wide spread (Lao, unlike Thailand has a law that say a foreigner is not allowed to have sex with a local until they are married) and more destruction of local ethnic communities. Some of this is necessary and inevitable, but with the limited capacity of the government and curroption the risks are there. What is best, I do not know. I do think that you can expect much change in Lao over the coming years if this project is completed.
With that I will leave you. Thanks for reading
Monday, April 7, 2008
Dalat and the Motocycle Diaries (Asia Trek pt 14)
First, my apologies about the hasty nature of these recent blogs, but I am currently about three weeks behind where I am actually at and I am trying to catch up. Unfortunatly that requires skimming over some of the details and more interesting experiences. If only I ahd more time.
With that said, this edition outlines what for me and for many tourists coming to this area is one of the most memorable things to do; taking a motorcycle tour from Dalat north. Dalat a Austrianeque mountain city, that sustains warms days and cool to cold nights is the perfect place to relax for while. As I walked through the busy streets, stragely enough the one thing I wanted to do was go for a ski. Difficult since snow never falls there. But the cities mountain chalet feel to it, with many romantic escape is a hit with foreign tourists as well as young veitnamese romantics. Anyone for a ride on tandem bicycle. For me personally I was just happy to be out of the hot weather!
After we (I am travelling with my mum) checked into the hotel we were greeted on our way out by the men in blue, Hung and Mo (also known as easyriders). They were offering a 1 day tour of the Dalat region for $20. To us it was borderline expensive price but given the recommendations and the fact that I likle ywill only be tehre once, we (my 60 years young mother and I) booked the tour and arranged to meet them in the morning. That evening we walked through the city had extraordinary difficulty deciding where to eat and ended up paying a lot for an ordinary meal.
The next morning after a brisk morning run around the lake, we got on the back of two motorbikes and drove off into the mountains.
For those that don't know the easy riders concept. they are a group of local motor enthousiasts that take you around, showing you tourist attractions as well as introducing you to many people and small businesses. You can go with them for one day or travel all the way to hanoi with them. It is entirely up to you. Acting as translators aswell as guides and drivers, they deliver a very one on one experience of Vietnam. I won't go through all the things we did as it would take too long, but to get a sense of it. Dalat is a high altitude agricultural area so the tour takes you through rolling hills, down wingind roads, with views layered with various vegetable and plant (flowers) farms (only rice isn't grown in the area as it is too cold!!) Stopping in various places the guides taught us about coffee making, mushroom farming, events of the Vietnam war and the remaining damage of US bombing. You get an interesting allround experience, topped off with a fantatic lunch, and drinking tea with a bamboo basket making family.
At the end of lunch we sat down the our dirver and toalked about our plans and they showed us what they could do for us. After much deliberation we acquiesed and hired them for another two days to take us to Buon Ma Thout, centre of Vietnamese coffee making. So the next morning we got up early packed our bags, (no morning run this time) strapped the bags and one guitar to the motorbikes and off we went for a two day, 250km approx drive to Buon Ma Thout. Mum didn't even fall of once! The road known as the Ho Chi Min Highway wound it way beautifully through the mountains of western vietnam. Up, down and around it provides endless vista and sites that just wasn't enough to keep me awake. (I took a quick nap on the back of the bike in the late afternoon, is that safe?)
We stopped at a multiple minority villages, a silkworm factory, home made ceramics, pepper plantation, tea plantation, more scenic vistas, waterfalls, and last but not least drinking excellent coffee, on plastic chairs, alongside a dirt road. They are extremely well organised offering regular breaks that are necessary in order to minimise sore bottoms. I could place endless fotos unfortunatbly the internet connections in Laos are to slow to do it. As one example the foto beside here is of a brick making machine made out of old car and truck parts, with gearstick still attached.
The trip really highlighted the differences between Asia and Australia wereas previouslt I had looked more to the similarities. Discussions of the lives of the Vietnamese with Hung and Mo highlighted the significant differences in the provision of health and education. While most people have enough food and money to live they do not have enough money to afford health treatment and all spare money goes to trying to give their children a decent education, of which univiersitye education is beyond the reach of many. Access to adequate health care is non existant for many people as cost are covered individually. In the words of our tour guide, if you get sick, "you go to cemetary." The safety net that Australians and most other developed nations take for granted are not provided here. Thus we sometimes look at poorer communities and think they live such rich lives (which often they do, hence they don't want to leave), but much of ti hangs on the fact that nothing goes wrong, which is unlikely over the course of a lifetime.
A second interesting observation is the government's attitude to minority people. At least in rhetoric and in some ways in practice Vietnam and others countries seem to want to maintain and support the diverse ethnic minorities found in South East Asia. There are some affirmative action projects which allow ethnic groups to develop land (i.e chop down forest) to grow products and earn money, whereas as Vietnamese people are not allowed to. Such efforts seem at odds with the sentiment you get in Australia where constant talk of human rights abuses gives the impression that governments here have no interest in protecting minorities. Hung also said that the Vietnamese are quite gracious in allowing minorities these concession as there averga living standards are lower, and do not begrudge them these benefits. These efforts to protect minority culture and communities was a surprise for me but is reflected elsewhere in South Sast Asia.
Thirdly, for the more practicle among us is the extensive use of solar energy. Not in the way we normally think off with large solar panels arrays and solar hot water on every roof. But in the most simple way. Most of the produce made in this area is naturally dried by placing it in the sun. As you drive around you will be the sides of the road lines the pepper of rice paper, mushrooms, even incence sticks and other produce all being dried naturally using the sun before packaging. This use of solar energy probably save a substantial amount that would otherwise come from the electricity grid. This use fo the sun is also somewhat symbolic of the simple innovations that you find all across south east asia. People here find a way of solving day to day prblems, even if it means balancing 7 queens size mattresses on the back of a motocycle!
Overall this was my motorcycle diary. It was an experience that is difficult to put in words as it is the whole experience that moves you to think differently about things. The individualls you meet, like those that fought in the Viet Cong and now greet you with big smile and happy to exchange some basic conversation. Though unlike Che, I did not have an epiphany or motivation do soemthing grand but shown another side of south east asia so that the picture starts becoming more complex and nuanced. It is an experience that you can only get by hopping on the back of that motorbike and travelling through the country side. Choking on the dust from unsealed roads. Seeing huge powerline cross the landscape and being told that the people living underneath them are not connected to the grid. Of riding an elephant through a lake, which remains quiet as the motorboat has not found its way there yet. THe impressions are endless that I could go on forever. If there is one thing you do in Vietnam, pay the money and go on an easy ride!
Once in Boun Ma Thout we arranged a somewhat odnoxious bus trip to Danang. The unfortunate thing is that for all its beauty, Vietnam has a bad side. It tends to have a exploitative view of tourists. So when you book a bus you pay more and get less for it. But I have already spoken of this so I won't go on about it. Needless to say the trip to Danang wasn't the most inspiring.
Arriving in Danang was a bit hectic as we were half expected to get out at a pertol station, which was somewhere, with the bus surround by moto driver wanting our money. Thankfully they bargained between themselves with the firstoffering $5 per person, which I flatly refused only then to be offered $4 for two people. Happilly accepting the price we jumped out of the bus and back on teh motorcycle, we were gradually becoming professionals for the trip into Danang. First they brought us to teh wrong spot but after additional directions wer go there safely. Danang is little more than the 4th largest city in Vietnam. It has a river on which they have an annual fireworks festival, which we purposely (maybe not?)missed by one day. And a very nice Museum on Cham architecture and statues. It also has one nice restaurant were the local business booze up and the waitresses comete to sell you different brands of beer. ALl goo fun.
But we were in Danang as it served as a convenient base to go explore My Son and Hoi An without moving aroud to much. So waking up in the morning we hired (yep, you guessed it!0 two motorbikes for the day to take us to My Son and then to Hoi An. All in all a long 120km round trip it was quie the day. The morning drive to My Son, a UNESCO heritage listed site, is also picturesque in the way the mountains where. Made even more eerie by the mist that descended over northern Vietnam and didn't leave until I left almost a week later. My Son is also unfotunatly frequented by many tourists, so you are quietly accompanied by 100 or so other toursit as you scout around the archeological grounds. The good thing about this is that if you walk strategically you can listen in for a free guided tour of the site! I can't remember the details of what My Son is though I am sure you can google it (if a someone could please add information in a comment to save me the effort that would be great!! wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) but it is essentially and old temple ruin set in a valley just inland from Hoi An. We spent a good hour walking around the site, getting lost and suddenly appearing back at the entrance at which point we couldn't be bothered walking back. So we left to spend the rest of the day in Hoi An.
Hoi An was a port city that has survived largly intact as it fell out of favour to Danang. Similar to Malacca in the sense that there is a mix of cultural influence due to its trading links it is vastly different because of the much greater chinese influence. These days it it is an open air tourist mall with a few museums and sites thrown in for good measure (though you have to pay the entry ticket from a ticket booth that you will never find by yourself). We only stayed there for one afternoon, well more like three hours much to the distress of our moto driver who after originally telling us we could stay out till 7pm, said that we could only have one hour. Mum stood firm and told the guy that it would be three hours no less. I wasn't in the mood to bother so I was glad to have mum around to fight on my behalf!. I wasn't overly impressed with the place, however it feels more like the kind of place wer you need to spend a few days and let the atmosphere soak into you. As we only spent a few hours shopping before relaxing for a beer on the river, we never really got into the mood that the city requires.
After finishing our beers we returned to the meetng point were our moto driver dutifully as always were waiting to take us home. On the way home we passed the marble mountains and a lot of gravestone makers. After thinking that a lot of people must die in this area to support such industry, I realised ten minutes later that the marble mountains were in fact full of marble. And marble makes for nice heasstones. Silly me!
For the rest the road make was uneventful and we prepared ourselves for the train trip to Hue the next day. And this is were I must dissapoint. I am now very far behind and with the internet being slow and sometime unavailable this is only likely to get worse. In order to make up some time I am going to skip the rest of my time in Vietnam which was mainly occupied by seeing the major attractions, Hue, Halong Bay, Hanoi and the Perfume Pagoda (which is a bit like the Batu caves I have spoken about earlier but for buddhists. Also, no more pictures will be uploaded in the near future. Sorry but it has to be this way. But you have plenty to look forward toSo my next blog will start with the trip to Lao(s) and the amazing country that it is.
Sorry to dissapoint but time is of the essence.
Thanks for reading
With that said, this edition outlines what for me and for many tourists coming to this area is one of the most memorable things to do; taking a motorcycle tour from Dalat north. Dalat a Austrianeque mountain city, that sustains warms days and cool to cold nights is the perfect place to relax for while. As I walked through the busy streets, stragely enough the one thing I wanted to do was go for a ski. Difficult since snow never falls there. But the cities mountain chalet feel to it, with many romantic escape is a hit with foreign tourists as well as young veitnamese romantics. Anyone for a ride on tandem bicycle. For me personally I was just happy to be out of the hot weather!
After we (I am travelling with my mum) checked into the hotel we were greeted on our way out by the men in blue, Hung and Mo (also known as easyriders). They were offering a 1 day tour of the Dalat region for $20. To us it was borderline expensive price but given the recommendations and the fact that I likle ywill only be tehre once, we (my 60 years young mother and I) booked the tour and arranged to meet them in the morning. That evening we walked through the city had extraordinary difficulty deciding where to eat and ended up paying a lot for an ordinary meal.
The next morning after a brisk morning run around the lake, we got on the back of two motorbikes and drove off into the mountains.
For those that don't know the easy riders concept. they are a group of local motor enthousiasts that take you around, showing you tourist attractions as well as introducing you to many people and small businesses. You can go with them for one day or travel all the way to hanoi with them. It is entirely up to you. Acting as translators aswell as guides and drivers, they deliver a very one on one experience of Vietnam. I won't go through all the things we did as it would take too long, but to get a sense of it. Dalat is a high altitude agricultural area so the tour takes you through rolling hills, down wingind roads, with views layered with various vegetable and plant (flowers) farms (only rice isn't grown in the area as it is too cold!!) Stopping in various places the guides taught us about coffee making, mushroom farming, events of the Vietnam war and the remaining damage of US bombing. You get an interesting allround experience, topped off with a fantatic lunch, and drinking tea with a bamboo basket making family.At the end of lunch we sat down the our dirver and toalked about our plans and they showed us what they could do for us. After much deliberation we acquiesed and hired them for another two days to take us to Buon Ma Thout, centre of Vietnamese coffee making. So the next morning we got up early packed our bags, (no morning run this time) strapped the bags and one guitar to the motorbikes and off we went for a two day, 250km approx drive to Buon Ma Thout. Mum didn't even fall of once! The road known as the Ho Chi Min Highway wound it way beautifully through the mountains of western vietnam. Up, down and around it provides endless vista and sites that just wasn't enough to keep me awake. (I took a quick nap on the back of the bike in the late afternoon, is that safe?)
We stopped at a multiple minority villages, a silkworm factory, home made ceramics, pepper plantation, tea plantation, more scenic vistas, waterfalls, and last but not least drinking excellent coffee, on plastic chairs, alongside a dirt road. They are extremely well organised offering regular breaks that are necessary in order to minimise sore bottoms. I could place endless fotos unfortunatbly the internet connections in Laos are to slow to do it. As one example the foto beside here is of a brick making machine made out of old car and truck parts, with gearstick still attached.
The trip really highlighted the differences between Asia and Australia wereas previouslt I had looked more to the similarities. Discussions of the lives of the Vietnamese with Hung and Mo highlighted the significant differences in the provision of health and education. While most people have enough food and money to live they do not have enough money to afford health treatment and all spare money goes to trying to give their children a decent education, of which univiersitye education is beyond the reach of many. Access to adequate health care is non existant for many people as cost are covered individually. In the words of our tour guide, if you get sick, "you go to cemetary." The safety net that Australians and most other developed nations take for granted are not provided here. Thus we sometimes look at poorer communities and think they live such rich lives (which often they do, hence they don't want to leave), but much of ti hangs on the fact that nothing goes wrong, which is unlikely over the course of a lifetime.
A second interesting observation is the government's attitude to minority people. At least in rhetoric and in some ways in practice Vietnam and others countries seem to want to maintain and support the diverse ethnic minorities found in South East Asia. There are some affirmative action projects which allow ethnic groups to develop land (i.e chop down forest) to grow products and earn money, whereas as Vietnamese people are not allowed to. Such efforts seem at odds with the sentiment you get in Australia where constant talk of human rights abuses gives the impression that governments here have no interest in protecting minorities. Hung also said that the Vietnamese are quite gracious in allowing minorities these concession as there averga living standards are lower, and do not begrudge them these benefits. These efforts to protect minority culture and communities was a surprise for me but is reflected elsewhere in South Sast Asia.
Thirdly, for the more practicle among us is the extensive use of solar energy. Not in the way we normally think off with large solar panels arrays and solar hot water on every roof. But in the most simple way. Most of the produce made in this area is naturally dried by placing it in the sun. As you drive around you will be the sides of the road lines the pepper of rice paper, mushrooms, even incence sticks and other produce all being dried naturally using the sun before packaging. This use of solar energy probably save a substantial amount that would otherwise come from the electricity grid. This use fo the sun is also somewhat symbolic of the simple innovations that you find all across south east asia. People here find a way of solving day to day prblems, even if it means balancing 7 queens size mattresses on the back of a motocycle!
Overall this was my motorcycle diary. It was an experience that is difficult to put in words as it is the whole experience that moves you to think differently about things. The individualls you meet, like those that fought in the Viet Cong and now greet you with big smile and happy to exchange some basic conversation. Though unlike Che, I did not have an epiphany or motivation do soemthing grand but shown another side of south east asia so that the picture starts becoming more complex and nuanced. It is an experience that you can only get by hopping on the back of that motorbike and travelling through the country side. Choking on the dust from unsealed roads. Seeing huge powerline cross the landscape and being told that the people living underneath them are not connected to the grid. Of riding an elephant through a lake, which remains quiet as the motorboat has not found its way there yet. THe impressions are endless that I could go on forever. If there is one thing you do in Vietnam, pay the money and go on an easy ride!
Once in Boun Ma Thout we arranged a somewhat odnoxious bus trip to Danang. The unfortunate thing is that for all its beauty, Vietnam has a bad side. It tends to have a exploitative view of tourists. So when you book a bus you pay more and get less for it. But I have already spoken of this so I won't go on about it. Needless to say the trip to Danang wasn't the most inspiring.
Arriving in Danang was a bit hectic as we were half expected to get out at a pertol station, which was somewhere, with the bus surround by moto driver wanting our money. Thankfully they bargained between themselves with the firstoffering $5 per person, which I flatly refused only then to be offered $4 for two people. Happilly accepting the price we jumped out of the bus and back on teh motorcycle, we were gradually becoming professionals for the trip into Danang. First they brought us to teh wrong spot but after additional directions wer go there safely. Danang is little more than the 4th largest city in Vietnam. It has a river on which they have an annual fireworks festival, which we purposely (maybe not?)missed by one day. And a very nice Museum on Cham architecture and statues. It also has one nice restaurant were the local business booze up and the waitresses comete to sell you different brands of beer. ALl goo fun.
But we were in Danang as it served as a convenient base to go explore My Son and Hoi An without moving aroud to much. So waking up in the morning we hired (yep, you guessed it!0 two motorbikes for the day to take us to My Son and then to Hoi An. All in all a long 120km round trip it was quie the day. The morning drive to My Son, a UNESCO heritage listed site, is also picturesque in the way the mountains where. Made even more eerie by the mist that descended over northern Vietnam and didn't leave until I left almost a week later. My Son is also unfotunatly frequented by many tourists, so you are quietly accompanied by 100 or so other toursit as you scout around the archeological grounds. The good thing about this is that if you walk strategically you can listen in for a free guided tour of the site! I can't remember the details of what My Son is though I am sure you can google it (if a someone could please add information in a comment to save me the effort that would be great!! wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) but it is essentially and old temple ruin set in a valley just inland from Hoi An. We spent a good hour walking around the site, getting lost and suddenly appearing back at the entrance at which point we couldn't be bothered walking back. So we left to spend the rest of the day in Hoi An.
Hoi An was a port city that has survived largly intact as it fell out of favour to Danang. Similar to Malacca in the sense that there is a mix of cultural influence due to its trading links it is vastly different because of the much greater chinese influence. These days it it is an open air tourist mall with a few museums and sites thrown in for good measure (though you have to pay the entry ticket from a ticket booth that you will never find by yourself). We only stayed there for one afternoon, well more like three hours much to the distress of our moto driver who after originally telling us we could stay out till 7pm, said that we could only have one hour. Mum stood firm and told the guy that it would be three hours no less. I wasn't in the mood to bother so I was glad to have mum around to fight on my behalf!. I wasn't overly impressed with the place, however it feels more like the kind of place wer you need to spend a few days and let the atmosphere soak into you. As we only spent a few hours shopping before relaxing for a beer on the river, we never really got into the mood that the city requires.
After finishing our beers we returned to the meetng point were our moto driver dutifully as always were waiting to take us home. On the way home we passed the marble mountains and a lot of gravestone makers. After thinking that a lot of people must die in this area to support such industry, I realised ten minutes later that the marble mountains were in fact full of marble. And marble makes for nice heasstones. Silly me!
For the rest the road make was uneventful and we prepared ourselves for the train trip to Hue the next day. And this is were I must dissapoint. I am now very far behind and with the internet being slow and sometime unavailable this is only likely to get worse. In order to make up some time I am going to skip the rest of my time in Vietnam which was mainly occupied by seeing the major attractions, Hue, Halong Bay, Hanoi and the Perfume Pagoda (which is a bit like the Batu caves I have spoken about earlier but for buddhists. Also, no more pictures will be uploaded in the near future. Sorry but it has to be this way. But you have plenty to look forward toSo my next blog will start with the trip to Lao(s) and the amazing country that it is.
Sorry to dissapoint but time is of the essence.
Thanks for reading
Vietnam Vital Statistics
Biggest News Item: While not specifically vietnamese, the rising price of rice is making news headlines across south east asia. The price of rice has gone up 30% in the last month. Many countries including Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia have issues export restricitions to control the price of rice directly. This however hurts big rice importers like the Philippines
Billboards: The Vietnamese government is very concerned about its people.
There it has many billboards across the country providing and advice and instruction on how to live. They come in two sorts. The first are bright happy pictorial boards advising families to only have to children and how to support the government and by extension the people (sometimes referred to as propaganda). The second are long contractual type lists of do's and don't in public spaces. The latter is mostly found in the north.
Who wears the pants: In Vietnam, its the women, and I mean literally. It is very hard to find a women in a dress. Women invariably wear jeans or pyjama style pants. But this also reflects a practical necessity. The women in Vietnam work and work hard. They run most of the day to day business and do alot on hard yakka on the farm or carrying things around the city. Doing this in a dress is not practicle.
Provincial Borders: When crossing a provincial border in Vietnam is almost like leaving the country. Any car, bus or truck (not motos) has to pull up to a cubical pay a fee and is given a ticket. The vehicle then proceeds 15 meter to the next cubical were the ticket is handed in again. This kind of double handling of tickets is common in Asia. Why they do it, I don't know?
Cars and Motorbikes: You always hear about the amount of motos in Vietnam and Ho Chi Min city. But it is not the amount of moto's that is interesting and is the lack of cars. There are almost no private cars in the cities, only commercial vehicles and taxi. There is still wide spread use of push bikes as well. Nwo Vietnam isn't much poorer than Thailand but has far fewer cars. Could be tax, could be culture? Who knows?
Favourite Pastime: Ripping off tourists. This happens everywhere in Asia, so much so that I prefer to call it a tourist tax (which I have no problem with). What makes Vietnam so offensive is that it is so institutionalised. Restaurants will have a seperate english menu with alternative tourist prices. When you book a bus you will always pay more but all the local gets lunch included, and you ahve to fend for yourself. One tours bus even looked like it was going to refuse us the standard complementary water, if it weren't for the Vietnamese ladies next to us passing the water to us before he could say anything. You are definitely a foreigner in Vietnam and if in doubt check your train ticket.
Billboards: The Vietnamese government is very concerned about its people.
There it has many billboards across the country providing and advice and instruction on how to live. They come in two sorts. The first are bright happy pictorial boards advising families to only have to children and how to support the government and by extension the people (sometimes referred to as propaganda). The second are long contractual type lists of do's and don't in public spaces. The latter is mostly found in the north.Who wears the pants: In Vietnam, its the women, and I mean literally. It is very hard to find a women in a dress. Women invariably wear jeans or pyjama style pants. But this also reflects a practical necessity. The women in Vietnam work and work hard. They run most of the day to day business and do alot on hard yakka on the farm or carrying things around the city. Doing this in a dress is not practicle.
Provincial Borders: When crossing a provincial border in Vietnam is almost like leaving the country. Any car, bus or truck (not motos) has to pull up to a cubical pay a fee and is given a ticket. The vehicle then proceeds 15 meter to the next cubical were the ticket is handed in again. This kind of double handling of tickets is common in Asia. Why they do it, I don't know?
Cars and Motorbikes: You always hear about the amount of motos in Vietnam and Ho Chi Min city. But it is not the amount of moto's that is interesting and is the lack of cars. There are almost no private cars in the cities, only commercial vehicles and taxi. There is still wide spread use of push bikes as well. Nwo Vietnam isn't much poorer than Thailand but has far fewer cars. Could be tax, could be culture? Who knows?
Favourite Pastime: Ripping off tourists. This happens everywhere in Asia, so much so that I prefer to call it a tourist tax (which I have no problem with). What makes Vietnam so offensive is that it is so institutionalised. Restaurants will have a seperate english menu with alternative tourist prices. When you book a bus you will always pay more but all the local gets lunch included, and you ahve to fend for yourself. One tours bus even looked like it was going to refuse us the standard complementary water, if it weren't for the Vietnamese ladies next to us passing the water to us before he could say anything. You are definitely a foreigner in Vietnam and if in doubt check your train ticket.
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