If you hadn’t noticed you can now click on the pictures link on my homepage to see all (well most of) my pictures so far. There are quite a lot, partly as I have had difficulties uploading them but hopefully I will be able to do so more regularly from now on…..enjoy and try not to get too bored ;o)
Animals
Particularly in the South there are no cats anywhere. In several parts of the country there are puppies and kittens in abundance but few adult dogs and cats. There are almost no horses in the country. I saw two on the beach (pony rides) at Sam Sun and have seen about 3 asses pulling carts, they normally use buffalo. There appears to be a general rule that anything that moves can, should and will be eaten. It is common to see "dog" on menus and also "fog" which is a mispelling of frog!
Travel
There are very few cars in Hanoi as they have been taxed out of existence other than for the very rich. This means that there are no bangers and the cars that are driven are normally swanky models. It’s easy to get annoyed with the cars in Hanoi as the streets are simply not designed for them.
Women
I previously noted that Vietnamese women covered up due to the heat and due to modesty. I have now decided that the main reason for covering up is more simply vanity. The Vietnamese (and particularly the women) are obsessed with light skin and not getting any darker. Someone was telling me that the best compliment to pay a Vietnamese woman is not, "you’re so beautiful" but, "you’re so white"! This preoccupation has also made it impossible for me to buy face moisturiser in Vietnam as they are all "Whitening" creams. It’s funny really when you think that English people want to look darker and people here are desperate to look lighter. I guess it harks back to those who have light skin and dark skin. In England a tan is a sign of someone who can afford to travel to hot places, a sign of affluence, whereas in Vietnam the darkest people are those who work in the fields and complete menial labour, a sign of poverty.
Vietnamese women are also absolutely tiny. I don’t just mean height-wise, although they are by no means the tallest nation. They have a crazily small build. In England when you go to shops the mannequins have their jeans pinned at the back so that they fit. In Vietnam all of the jeans are undone as they don’t even fit on the stick-thin mannequins. This can make clothes shopping something of a demoralising experience. I bought one top in Vietnam and it’s an extra, extra large (XXL). I was pottering around Hanoi one day and a slightly large Australian woman got very excited as she saw a sign at a shop saying, "Larger sizes", she said with glee, "larger sizes, that’s me" and made a bee-line for the store. When she got there she held a shirt up to herself which covered one breast. They -were- larger sixes which probably meant that they were about a size 8 rather than the normal Vietnamese sizes!
The VIetnamese people
I generally found the Vietnamese friendly as a nation. Some tourists get fed up with what they see as the Vietnamese trying to make a quick buck out of tourists. This can be irritating at times but I think it’s only natural really. In my month in Vietnam I didn’t see any bully-boy tactics and there was nowhere where I felt unsafe that I visited.
Food
The food is lovely. My particular favourites were the pancakes in Hue which I have already spoken about and the seafood pho (noodle soup). The cakes in Hanoi are also amazing. I actually managed to spend a month in Vietnam without getting a dodgy stomach.
Drink
By far my favourite drinks are the fresh fruit juice and smoothies. In the South I spent a lot of time drinking watermelon juice and then changed to lemon juice in the North. The cocktails are STRONG. If a cocktail menu lists three spirits it’s likely that there will be a shot of each in the resulting cocktail. All the local beer I drank including the "Bia Hoi" beer was very palatable. In the South "Ba Ba Ba" (333) is good. I cannot say the same for the local rice wine!
Crime
I didn’t see any whilst in Vietnam. The Vietnamese apparently don’t get the Police involved preferring to settle disputes with either their fists or money. I did see one quite serious fight on the street actually. Someone was telling me that if you kill someone on the road you have to pay the family – the amount was absurdly small.
Do: Do as the locals do. For example eating at the places that the locals frequent, crossing the street between the traffic rather than waiting for a space.
Don’t: Take the above too literally. Coughing and sneezing without covering your mouth and nose respectively is minging in any country I’m sorry. As is putting your feet up on the table next to my drink and cutting your toenails. Openly staring at people and picking your nose also need not to be mimicked! There is also no need to throw your litter on the floor as the Vietnamese do. On the bus from Vietnam to Laos one woman conscientiously collected up not only her ubbish but that from fellow passengers and carfeully placed it all in a plastic bag. She then opened the window and casually tossed the bag out.
Do: Try to go off the beaten track to see places where you don’t see other tourists.
Don’t: Be surpriused if when you go to places like this you attract a lot of interest and people take photos of you.
Do: Drink bottled Water.
Don’t: Drink Snake wine. It’s minging and has lumps of pickled snake in it.
Do: Barter, barter, barter. Try to get an idea of what things cost as early as possible. Walking away is always a very good way to get the price to drop quickly. If they think that you have no other options then the price often stays quite high such as one solitary drink seller up a mountain.
Don’t: Get overly obsessed with bartering. On occasions I’ve found myself having great debates over prices then realising that I’ve spent ten minutes arguing about around seven pence. Also be mindful that people start at different levels in different areas i.e. in tourist areas they start higher to the extent that if you go about 5km out of the centre of the Old Quarter in Hanoi the starting price is much lower. On the flipside of this is my point above about there being no option/ competition, although this can work in your favour as they may be desperate for the custom. In places like Sa Pa the bartering starts at a lower price. Although I am a great fan of bartering I like to think I am paying a vagualy fair price. When you buy a beautiful, silk embroidered bag with dragonflies on it for less than one pound fifty it does leave a bit of a sickly taste in your mouth.
Do: Try out local transport. The back of a Honda/ xe om is a great way to see the sights, cities and countryside. Cyclos are also good in the cities for a more laid back view although I always feel a bit guilty about the poor stick-thin Vietnamese guy pedaling away behing me.
Don’t: Get a xe-om when the rider reeks of alcohol. Okay, I had a cold and didn’t notice until he pulled away and there was a slight breeze.
Don’t: Get a xe-om when the driver looks about eight. Actually I am still confused about what happened here….I like to think he just had youthful looks. While we’re on the subject of xe-oms….
Don’t: Get a "kiss". Basically what has become known as a "Saigon kiss", Nha Trang Kiss"…..etc is when you get of a xe-om and your calf touches the exhaust pipe. You will see numerous people (both locals and tourists) walking round with obvious scars or wounds where their skin has stuck to the exhaust. Ouch!
On Sunday I got up and checked out (much to my disappointment). I had planned to get money sorted out prior to leaving the capital but after nearly having had my card eaten twice I failed miserably so gave up and hoped that I would be able to get money out further North.
I took a bus from Vientiane to Vang Viang 155km North of the capital. Vang Viang has become a popular spot for travelers and with the numeorus outdoor activities on offer and the beautiful limestone karst scenery, caves and river you can see why! I checked into somewhere relatively central ate and had a relatively lazy night.
This morning I decided that I wanted to move accommodation. The place I was in was very cheap and basic which was not a problem but it was pretty characterless and concrete and the reason that the cistern had no top on became very apparent! I wondered about and found a lovely place with bungalows by the river where I have checked in. It’s also not right in the centre and is a bit quieter with locals’ houses around.
I’m planning to go tubing tomorrow which basically entails floating down the river on a tractor inner tube which is something that everyone appears to do whilst they stay here. I’ve also discovered a great alternative to my watermelon juice from Vietnam. It’s a twist on the lemon juice which I loved in the North and is lemon juice and mint. It does look like some kind of rancid swamp but tastes and smells delicious. I still haven’t got over the greatness of fresh fruit juice and smoothies yet!
Even when we crossed the border there was a different feel to Laos than there was to Vietnam. The temperature was different with the heat feeling very dry rather than humid. I have actually managed to come here at the hottest time of year with my guidebook stating that average maximum daily temperature in Vientiane, Laos is 34 degrees C!
The journey from the border crossing to Vietniane was spectacular with large green mountains and views over rivers. At one point the bus went over a rickety old bridge over a river that I’m not entirely sure I would have been happy even walking over! When we arrived in Vientiane I actually double checked in my guidebook that the place was the capital as it was so empty. I then thought it must be a Public holiday but it transpired that this was what it was always like. The pace of life here is very different to that in Vietnam. I did come from Hanoi so this was probably even more extreme but the difference was very noticeable very quickly.
Vientiane itself was lovely. It had an almost French feel in part with the layout apparently having been designed by the French. On the Saturday I explored a bit further and decided to take a tuk tuk (basically a motorbike converted at the back to hold up to five passengers – think almost like a rickshaw) to Buddha Park. In hindsight this possibly wasn’t the best form of transport to take as the roads, particularly the dirt track close to the park were horrendously bumpy. Think of a rickety old rollercoaster that you get off with bruises all over yourself. On the way back the tuk-tuk got stuck and I had to get out and push with a few friendly locals.
Buddha Park (oe Xiang Khouan) is 27km down the Mekong River from Vientiane and is a collection of massive ferro-concrete sculptures dotted around a riverside meadow. Apparently they were created under the direction of Luang Phu Boonlua Surirat (wow that rolls of the tongue, another one to add to my childrens’ names wish list!). He was a self-styled holy man who is said to have claimed to be the disciple of a cave-dwelling Hindu hermit in Vietnam. The "Rough Guide" states that when he returned to Laos he began the sculpture garden in the late 50s as a means of spreading his philiosophy of life and ideas about the cosmos. Oh my God, he must have had some weird old ideas, you should have seen this place! The guide goes on to state that he was forced to flee the country across the Mekong to Thailand after the revolution where he established an "even more elaborate version of his philosophy". I am SOOO there!
The park was quite bizarre, particulalry the globular sculpture which you entered through the mouth and climbed stairs inside to various levels and the roof. Health and Safety would have had a field day, particularly at the very top where a very pretty but minute concrete edging protected you from a very long fall.
After visiting the park I was given my first drink in a bag. They fill the bag with ice, pour the chosen drink in and give you a straw. It was very refreshing but I did keep thinking that at any point I would get the goldfish! It was actually very effective in the bumpy tuk-tuk in terms of not spilling. There’s a hint for you all for long journeys ;o)
When I got back to Vientiane, Kingsley had been out playing Aussie rules football with a group of Australians on tour. We ended up joining them for drinks that evening. Having spent the previous night in a budget room with a fan but no windows and hardly having slept I decided to splurge a little with my budget and booked a Junior suite in the Lane Xang Hotel, a classy 50sa style place which used to be the premier hotel in Vientiane. I am half working on having a very low budget but then spending one night a month somewhere extravagant. In all fairness it was twenty five quid and had a separate bedroom, living area, bathroom, dual aspect balconies, river view, free fruit and water, swimming pool, gym etc. Okay maybe there’s some self-justification here and I’m going to stop now as it’s making me salivate. The problem with this plan is it then makes your next nights accommodation seem really shitty!
On the Thursday I went for a lovely Indian with Vaughan and Olly at Foodstore 45 or was that Foodshop 45? My details are great aren’t they. Anyway it was a lovely Indian place by the lake in Hanoi. In the evening I went to catch my bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I had very mixed feelings about leaving Vietnam. Part of me thought that I really should get on my way and continue my travels while another really wanted to stay, particularly as I felt rather at home in Hanoi. I went to the place where I had booked my bus and the group were eventually congregated together, put in a mini-bus and taken to the bus station. We then got on one bus, were moved onto a "tourist bus" then moved back onto the original bus. It was most bizarre. There were probably around ten Western tourists on the bus. I sat next to a Nigerian guy who was in Vietnam for football trials by the name of Kingsley. He was leaving Vietnam due to his visa expiring which was the same reason as me.
Prior to the journey I had been warned by several people that both the journey (not a sleeper bus, bumpy roads etc) and the border were horrendous. It was, shall we say, an experience. The roads weren’t terrible but were very bumpy. Kingsley seemed to find this somewhat upsetting and kept shouting things like, "driver what are you doing?" (read in a Nigerian accent). I kept explaining that the driver did not actually make the road, however this did not seem to help particularly. The toilets (or lack of them in some cases) en route were also amusing. On a couple of occasions you had to just go by the roadside if you needed to and the other toilets were mostly very basic. At one place even the locals were gagging which means they were REALLY bad. See my cold does have one good use! There was also one toilet which we walked into and just saw a row of bums. I had often wondered what the bricks on the floor were for and evidently you put your feet on them and then just go on the floor!
Whilst we were driving I was half listening to a conversation between two English women and a local man from Laos. One of the women asked him, "So where did you learn English?". When he replied, "HMP Blakenhurst" they had my full attention. It transpired that he had gone to England and grown Cannabis plants just outside Birmingham before being caught and sentenced to two years. He obviously was in an English prison because when I asked him about Court he said he had a, "rubbish lawyer" and that his sentence was too harsh for the crime. He seemed relatively happy about the whole experience to the extent that he raved about how good the education in prison was. It was not the best advertisement for the English Criminal Justice System to be fair and to him it was basically a good way to make money, free lodgings and education and then coming home. He joked about recommending it to his friends; in all fairness, what do you say to that? I could go off on one here about deportation at point of sentence but I’ll leave that for now.
The border itself was much less eventful than the toilet stops and we all passed through without a hitch. They even stamped my passport for two months rather than the month visa I had paid for. They obviously liked the look of me and wanted me to stay in the country!
FInally, after a mission of a journey we arrived in Vientiane, 24 hours after leaving Hanoi! That’s a long time sat on a bumpy bus believe me. Although the bus was technically stationary for a good half of the journey. They even stopped overnight so that you could get off and sleep at the side of the road. Most considerate I thought!
Having not made Halong Bay the previous day I re-booked a tour and also collected my passport which had an extremely pretty Laos visa in it! The following day I arrived at the hotel at the crack of dawn where I was to be collected for the journey to Halong Bay. I must say, although I have not been on a huge number of organised tours this was by far the least organised, infact I think that’s something of a misnomer! When we eventually got to Halong Bay we waited for around an hour and a half to get on a boat. They collected our passports which was slightly concerning as they kept being handed between various different people and I wasn’t entirely sure I would see my passport with its pretty holographic visa in again. Eventually we did get a junk and the trip was amazing. As soon as I got on the boat I went up to the top deck and opened my bag. As I did so my lighter flew out bounced a couple of times, went overboard and plopped into the sea much to everyone’s amusement, other than mine of course. It was quite a feat considering that I was sitting about 10 foot from the edge of the boat. The scenery was enough of a distraction with karst rock formations dotted across the sea. We stopped off at a cave and I managed to leave the ticket I had been given on the boat which promptly sailed off. Everyone didn’t seem to understand how I had missed the numerous announcements as we pulled up to the shore. I was listening to my Ipod okay?! By this point I think that everyone on the boat thought I was a complete doofus especially when I had to pay again to go into the caves.
The caves themselves were very odd. They had been trussed up Vietnamese style with coloured lighting to the extent that they had done things like putting red lights in holes to make a stalactite look like a ghost! They also had strange sprinklers to make water effects and the like. At one point I heard a group of people laughing and pointing to a rock which was shaped like a nipple. Now, call me a cynic if you like but this "weird formation" did not bear any semblance to any other in the cave and almost looked like a different type of rock; I really couldn’t help but think that it had been planted.
After the cave we got back on the boat and made our way past more amazing scenery to Cat Ba Island. There was a lot of confusion as to who was staying on the island and, having decided that a couple who had been ordered onto the bus were not meant to have been, I was whisked off the boat. In the confusion I left my only really warm top behind but was assured that I would be able to collect it. We took a minibus to the place we were staying which was not great to be fair. The actual location was lovely though so I wasn’t too bothered. The following day there was an ‘organised’ trek up some hill but I had had enough of the whole tour thing by this point and also woke up very stuffy because of my Sa Pa cold. I asked when the bus back to the boat was and when told it was 3pm decided to head for the beach. The beach was beautiful, relatively empty and the sea was lovely for swimming. I also got talking to a very interesting Canadian guy after I rescued his bag from would be thieves posing as photographing tourists who were moving closer and closer to it whilst taking photos. Actually Gabriel was one of the most interesting travelly type people I have met so far. We had quite highbrow conversations about the death penalty, religion and the like which made a nice change from the, "where’ve you been, how long have you been traveling…" conversations you normally seem to have.
I left the beach and went back to the hotel where I was picked up by the bus and taken back to the boat. A very kind lady showed me lots of amazing photos from the trek to let me know how much I had missed out on. Once back on the boat there was a nice bunch of people. There were two girls from London and a group of three Australians, amongst others. It transpired that I was sharing a room with one of the Australians who I also ended up sharing a kayak with. This was all fine apart from the fact that his friends had decided that they wanted to go to "party island". I can only think that this was some strange travellers tale type place as I had never seen it and no-one seemed to know where it was. All the route seemed to do was cross lots of shipping lines so we kept getting foghorned at and then being bounced about like mad on the wakes. We did meet a nice lady in a boat though and I bought a couple of beers which we supped in the kayak. I thought this was great but we were the last two back and the boat was waiting for us.
On the boat that evening we played cards and the Australian guys drunk vodka which they had to smuggle onboard (there was a ridiculous "service charge" for any beverages brought onboard). Shortly after I got into bed there was a lot of banging in one of the other rooms. I didn’t think too much of it until I heard, "Zelma, I’ve brought you a present". Then into the room came the Australian guy presenting me with a painting from another room which apparently was much more aesthetcially pleasing than our picture of swans!
The following morning we collected the people who had been dropped off at the island and were taken back to Halong Bay. The trip was amazing and I loved staying onboard overnight but if I had had more time I think it may have been preferable to go independently. However having said that then I might not have seen the sight of a drunken Australian presenting me with a painting!
On the way back in the minibus we hit a traffic jam and as we got further up the road I could see hundreds of motorcyclists stopped on the other side looking across. I commented that it was probably quite a serious accident and that maybe we shouldn’t look. Unfortunately I did and I still haven’t got rid of the image from my head. I’m not going to go into the details but it involved a lorry, motorbike and two people who were very clearly dead. When I got back to Hanoi I was a bit wobbly about getting on the back of a bike. I decided that it was like riding a horse and I should just get back on as soon as possible. I did and needless to say it was fine, I’m still not a fan of people undertaking lorries with me on the back though!
There’s not a huge amount to say about Tuesday really – just that I spent another day enjoying the old qaurter of Hanoi, eating and pottering. In the evening I went to Mau’s bar with Olly and met up with Alex and a few other people from his hostel prior to his returning home to Germany.
The following day I was slightly more productive and sorted my visa for Laos out and also booked my train ticket to Sa Pa, a small town in the North Highland region of Vietnam from where it is possible to visit the “ethnic minority” villages. I’m still really uncomfortable with that as a term but no-one here seems to find it offensive!
The train journey to Sa Pa was more comfortable than my previous sleeper train. This time there were only four bunks and two of them were occupied by two friendly English girls. I still struggled to sleep though which was a bit of a pain, even without a Vietnamese man grabbing my feet to offer me hard-boiled eggs.
When we arrived in Lao Cai on the train I got a shared mini-bus to Sa Pa. It quickly became apparent that the reputation Sa Pa and the surrounding area has for its spectacular scenery was well and truly justified. When I arrived in Sa Pa I looked at three hotels. Although the first was lovely and had a view over Mount Fansipang (I think that’s right I spent so long calling it fancy pants that I may have bastardised that somewhat) I felt obliged to sum up the competition. When I returned to the initial hotel the room I had been shown was taken and the one next door had a terrace if you looked down and out of the window. It transpired that this was very handy as I managed to get the room for under $5 which was a feat considering it had two big beds, was lovely and had a gorgeous view. I had a bit of a nap, went for a wander and bumped into Vaughan, one of Olly’s housemate’s friends. We decided to take two Xe Oms to a local waterfall which was truly stunning. After looking round the waterfall we found that the road was closed on the way to Tramton Pass, apparently the highest road pass in Vietnam. Oh, I meant to say that Mount Fansipang (which I could see from my hotel bedroom) is the highest mountain in Vietnam but I got a bit carried away with it being Fancy Pants again. Can you see how traveling has matured me? God, what’s with all these asides today? Right, so the road was closed and we went through this whole rigmarole with the drivers who wanted more money if they were going to have to wait for the road to be cleared of boulders before taking us to the next destination. Having been told it would be around an hour and re-negotiating a price, the road mysteriously opened again. Typical! It was worth going to the pass as the views were truly spectacular, if slightly misty in places.
That evening we returned to Sa Pa and went to our respective hotel rooms to clean up. When I got back I was handed a candle which I presumed meant that there was no electricity. I realised when I got back to the room that I had nowhere to put the damn candle and had to make a strange improvised candlestick using a vase and various other implements. I then had a shower by candle-light which was both serene and surreal at the same time. There were also some very odd naked lady soft core porn tiles in my bathroom which added to the oddity. Another missed photo opportunity I’m afraid. The tiles I mean, not me in a candlelit shower, I’ve had enough comments about the website title already without needing pictures like that!
I then met up with Vaughan again, went and got some food and went for some drinks. We went to a bar in Sa Pa with locals including the Vietnamese minority women, one of whom turned out to be a crazily good pool shark, infact she was one of the best players I have ever encountered. There was
also a group of other local women sitting round a table playing cards for money at great pace. It was very strange to see the almost juxtoposition of cultures and these sweet little Vietnamese women in beautiful traditional dress engaging in very Western games.
The local Vietnamese women were hilarious actually. A lot of them now sell crafts to the tourists and have an excellent command of the English language. One of them asked if Vaughan and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, when he replied that we were just friends she said, “Now friends, tonight girlfriend and boyfriend”, which was relatively amusing. Vaughan also seemed to get some comedy attention for his long hair (it’s shoulder length). He recounted a story to me from his guesthouse when he gave them his passport. Apparently the proprietor asked if it was him in the picture, was shocked and said something like, “but you look very handsome there”, – he had short hair in his passport photo.
Actually the Vietnamese are a very blunt Nation in general, this is not reserved to the tribal “ethnic minority people” (euuck!). Olly often reports back having taught his classes of adult Vietnamese learning English. In one class they were discussing crime and one of the female class members said, “One of my friends is in prison”. When Olly asked why she initially stated that he took some money over the border. Olly quizzed her further thinking that this was a harsh punishment not befitting the crime and she replied that, “it was quite a lot of money and …… he was a gangster.” which seemed to make it somewhat clearer. Another of his female students had some time off as she was having an operation on her eyes. Infront of the class Olly welcomed her back and asked how the operation had gone. He was somewhat shocked when she replied that it was, “terrible” upon asking why he received the reply, “now I can see how ugly everyone in the classs is!”
Anyway, I think that may have been another of my digressions. Back to Sa Pa….. So the next morning I woke up, met Vaughan and we went and got some breakfast. We decided to go on a walk to one of the local villages (although we kind of went the wrong way and didn’t see the village). On the way back the route was all uphill and I was feeling a bit rubbish so we got two mad xe oms back. En route we passed a man on a motorbike with a snake tied to a stick still alive (the snake not the man although he was too of course) which was relatively amusing and also slightly worrying as we got quite close.
The minibus trip back to the station that night was amazing. The mountains were all misty and mystical and I was listening to my Ipod. It doesn’t get much better then Cafe del Mar in misty mountains in Vietnam with your head out the window breathing in the fresh moist air. Did that
sound pretentious? Actually I don’t really care if it did. If it’s any consolation I came back from Sa Pa with a stinking cold which is yet to go!
The train ride home was again fine although I don’t know what it is with people on trains and my feet. An Australian guy got up half-way through the night and managed to use my foot to lower himself down to the floor! I won’t complain too much though as he and his wife were lovely, I talked to them for some time and also as I can’t remember either of their names!
I got back to Hanoi at 5AM in the morning. Olly had booked a tour to Halong Bay with the bus leaving at 8AM. After numerous attempts and sitting outside his house in the street for three hours, he eventually emerged very apologetic. I won’t elaborate on this here as I was slightly frustrated to say the least and am not sure that you would all appreciate the expletives!
I woke up at Cuc Phoung National Park to the sound of gibbon calls. I had such an amazing time there that I didn’t really want to leave. I arranged to get a xe om to Highway one where I picked up a slightly less busy bus than on the way. The locals were still equally amused by me though.
When I got back to Hanoi I headed to an International Music Festival with Olly and his housemates. It was really good and apparently relatively unusual to have such a thing in Hanoi. This resulted in it being full of ex-pats. We then went onto a party boat until the early hours which was equally entertaining. For some reason I decided that it was a good idea to dance (hmmm, maybe something to do with beer) despite having hideously aching limbs from my treks in the National Park.
Following on from a long day and a late night Sunday was not particularly productive. Today I was planning to get my visa for Laos but instead went for a leisurely lunch at Koto which is a restaurant set up to assist local young people out of poverty and into hospitality. I then went to the temple of literature with one of Olly’s housemate’s friends who somewhat oddly lives about a mile from me in London. The coincidences keep happening like meeting the girl I met in Nha Trang on the boat as she was staying in the same place as the guy I went for lunch with today. I think that Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular, is the place for the three Cs……. Cocktails, cakes and coincidences!
The driver who took me to Cuc Phoung didn’t appear to know exactly where it was and this led to lots of comedy diversions. Every time he stopped to ask someone the way they pointed in the opposite direction to the way we were going. This amused both me and the driver; it was fortunate I wasn’t in a hurry. The countryside was amazing with lush green mountains and paddy fields below. There were also lots of interesting people and animals to look at. There were dozens of people walking their buffalo along the roads and on a couple of occasions there were very excited buffalo who had broken free from their handlers galloping with glee down the sides of the road. In both cases there were relatively less excited Vietnamese people wandering slowly behind them, perhaps in the hope that the buffalo would slow down eventually.
Most of the animals here seem to have a good understanding that if people sound their horns on the road then they need to get out of the way. We did have a near miss with a puppy though who was obviously too young to understand. There was also one hilarious rebel buffalo who was stood right in the middle of the road looking disdainfully at all the traffic which was beeping loudly and going around it.
When we got to the park I got a bungalow room. When I went in I was fascinated that there were so many insects on the wall that I didn’t recognise. The novelty of these wore off relatively quickly that night when they all turned out to be very noisy cricket-type insects.
The following morning I went to the primate rescue centre (or something like that). It’s a kind of monkey rehab, think rescue centre here not Amy Winehouse/ Pete Doherty! The monkeys are initially in large jungle type cages and are then released into a “semi-wild” enclosure before being released into the park. There were a lot of baby monkeys when I visited which was great.
I then went to the reception and was informed that it was 10 USD for a ride and a guide (hey that rhymes) to the Park H.Q. I deliberated this for a moment and then heard two Australians talking who were riding to the centre. I managed to blag a lift and went on a 6km trek with them to an ancient tree. They had to leave to get a bus and I decided to do another trek by myself. The first trek was easy, pleasant and flat. I thought the second trek was similar but it soon transpired that my map-reading ability is about as good as my sense of direction. Although not hugely greater in length, the route was mountainous and you were continuously going up and downhill. Weirdly all the paths were concrete, apparently Ho Chi Min directed the army to undertake this mammoth task, but they all had mud on the surface and were really slippery. I took a couple of pictures of myself mid-trek, one of which looks like I am close to death which I may, or may not, put online. Along the route there was another old tree. They had so many old trees of importance in the park, there was the ancient tree, the thousand year old tree, the slightly decrepit tree, the geriatric tree – okay so I made the last two up. There was also a cave which I ventured into briefly as I was slightly paranoid that if I slipped and hurt myself I may remain there for some time. Half-way round the trek I met a couple of French guys (who live in Germany) who had both a guide and a translator. The guide asked me what I was doing and I told him I was walking. They looked quite concerned but let me go on my way. I later discovered that the trek was listed as moderate to difficult and that a “guide is essential”. I managed to finish at the same time as the aforementioned group and they let me get a lift back with them. On the way we stopped at the “Cave of prehistoric man” where remains of early man were found. By remains I mean tools etc, rather than bones but actually they may have been found also. The Australian guys had previously had a big discussion about the cave (due to its title) along the lines of whether it would be full of porn, really messy etc which I found relatively amusing. When I got back to the part of the park I was staying in I had some amazing steamed fish. I also spoke to a guide who asked where I had come from to the park. When I replied Thanh Hoa he said, “Why did you go there?” I must admit this was a very good question and I was not really able to furnish him with a suitable answer.