Modes of transportation: bike
Places visited: Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Mai Chau, Quan Hoa, Na Meo
Costs of things: Beer (65 cents), Meals ($1 to $10), hotel ($8 to $12)
Hanoi - city of frustration and the beginning of the end. After our not-so-enjoyable overnight bus ride, we awoke to the typical hordes of touts pulling us this way and that, telling us how much better their crappy guesthouse was than the next guy's crappy guesthouse. Michelle was not in the best of spirits after having endured the overnight bus with a flu and let loose a torrent of fury against the unsuspecting fools. We finally arrived at the guesthouse which we had previously booked, only to discover the wonders of Photoshop and then proceeded to search the city for a decent place (of which there were few in our price range).
What did we do in Hanoi? Hmmm, well among other things we got turned away for food and other various items for which we wanted to give currency. We were actually told to "disappear" when attempting to make these purchases. Aside from that, we bought sweaters, scarves and mitts, as it FREAKIN' cold in Hanoi!! An interesting point about the old part of Hanoi is that every street is named after the the particular item you can buy there, i.e. you ONLY buy balloons on balloon street. The only saving grace of Hanoi was the incredible bakery we discovered around the block from our hotel. We pigged out on pastries one night for under $2! Good thing we're riding on this trip.
As the capital of Vietnam for almost a thousand years, Hanoi is considered to be the cultural centre of Vietnam and we saw many examples of such, including The Temple of Literature (home of the oldest university in Vietnam), the Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake (featuring a stuffed giant tortoise, said to be of a legendary species specific to the lake), the One Pillar Pagoda (more like a big treehouse), Flag Tower of Hanoi (it's a really tall flagpole and a really big flag), Hoa Lo Prison (AKA The Hanoi Hilton famous for housing American pilot turned Republican Presidential Candidate, John McCain), The Ho Chi Minh Museum (featuring the waxy-looking corpse of Uncle Ho himself, as well as a tour of his home), Water Puppet Theatre (sort of like aqua Muppets).
(Sorry no pictures of Hanoi, hopefully we can recover our lost data)
After much deliberation on how to get out of Hanoi and Vietnam altogether, we finally decided to take a four day ride through the mountains in the northwest. So we gathered our winter attire and rain gear and headed for the hills and on to the greener pastures of Laos. Our four days of riding consisted of many steep, long climbs and lots of cold, wet rain. As the border we were targeting was not commonly used by tourists and the use of 
which is actually discouraged by guide books (if it's mentioned at all), there were almost no other tourists in the towns in which we stopped. This was of course the best part of it for us and our second favorite part of trip to Vietnam after the Mekong Delta. We were once again given the opportunity to meet locals who were unjaded by the pervasive tourism industry. In fact, one morning, as we finished our breakfast, a group of men sitting a table near us invited us to join them for a drink!
So, after a few shots of some sort of local "vodka" we had made new friends and were ready for one of the most remote and offroad legs of our trip. Having read about a supposed shortcut on someone else's blog, we thought it would be good idea, as it would save us about 20km. As this blog pointed out, the shortcut was on a dirt road, but we really had no idea what we were in for. Let's just say that knobby tires and full suspension were in order, but an amazing day. As we rode deeper into the jungle and away
from the paved roads, the dirt road became a narrow dirt track, with steep inclines and declines, river crossings and brought us through many hill tribe villages. It was amazing to see the looks on many of the elders' faces as two falangs rode by them, though not everyone was totally shocked, as we ended up being joined for lu
nch on the side of the road by two locals passing by.
Finally we made it to the border and were happily on our way out of Vietnam, albeit with mixed feelings. Vietnam provided us with many positive memories, as the riding was spectacular for the most part. The historical sites were many and the foods were varied and inexpensive. When given a chance to meet people off the beaten track, they proved to be warm and inviting, as opposed to those encountered in the main tourist areas between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi who were anything but. If we were to visit this part of the world again, we probably would not return to Vietnam, but we could certainly recommend many amazing things to do and see for someone interested in traveling there.
Places visited: Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Mai Chau, Quan Hoa, Na Meo
Costs of things: Beer (65 cents), Meals ($1 to $10), hotel ($8 to $12)
Hanoi - city of frustration and the beginning of the end. After our not-so-enjoyable overnight bus ride, we awoke to the typical hordes of touts pulling us this way and that, telling us how much better their crappy guesthouse was than the next guy's crappy guesthouse. Michelle was not in the best of spirits after having endured the overnight bus with a flu and let loose a torrent of fury against the unsuspecting fools. We finally arrived at the guesthouse which we had previously booked, only to discover the wonders of Photoshop and then proceeded to search the city for a decent place (of which there were few in our price range).
What did we do in Hanoi? Hmmm, well among other things we got turned away for food and other various items for which we wanted to give currency. We were actually told to "disappear" when attempting to make these purchases. Aside from that, we bought sweaters, scarves and mitts, as it FREAKIN' cold in Hanoi!! An interesting point about the old part of Hanoi is that every street is named after the the particular item you can buy there, i.e. you ONLY buy balloons on balloon street. The only saving grace of Hanoi was the incredible bakery we discovered around the block from our hotel. We pigged out on pastries one night for under $2! Good thing we're riding on this trip.
As the capital of Vietnam for almost a thousand years, Hanoi is considered to be the cultural centre of Vietnam and we saw many examples of such, including The Temple of Literature (home of the oldest university in Vietnam), the Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake (featuring a stuffed giant tortoise, said to be of a legendary species specific to the lake), the One Pillar Pagoda (more like a big treehouse), Flag Tower of Hanoi (it's a really tall flagpole and a really big flag), Hoa Lo Prison (AKA The Hanoi Hilton famous for housing American pilot turned Republican Presidential Candidate, John McCain), The Ho Chi Minh Museum (featuring the waxy-looking corpse of Uncle Ho himself, as well as a tour of his home), Water Puppet Theatre (sort of like aqua Muppets).
(Sorry no pictures of Hanoi, hopefully we can recover our lost data)
After much deliberation on how to get out of Hanoi and Vietnam altogether, we finally decided to take a four day ride through the mountains in the northwest. So we gathered our winter attire and rain gear and headed for the hills and on to the greener pastures of Laos. Our four days of riding consisted of many steep, long climbs and lots of cold, wet rain. As the border we were targeting was not commonly used by tourists and the use of 
which is actually discouraged by guide books (if it's mentioned at all), there were almost no other tourists in the towns in which we stopped. This was of course the best part of it for us and our second favorite part of trip to Vietnam after the Mekong Delta. We were once again given the opportunity to meet locals who were unjaded by the pervasive tourism industry. In fact, one morning, as we finished our breakfast, a group of men sitting a table near us invited us to join them for a drink!
So, after a few shots of some sort of local "vodka" we had made new friends and were ready for one of the most remote and offroad legs of our trip. Having read about a supposed shortcut on someone else's blog, we thought it would be good idea, as it would save us about 20km. As this blog pointed out, the shortcut was on a dirt road, but we really had no idea what we were in for. Let's just say that knobby tires and full suspension were in order, but an amazing day. As we rode deeper into the jungle and away
from the paved roads, the dirt road became a narrow dirt track, with steep inclines and declines, river crossings and brought us through many hill tribe villages. It was amazing to see the looks on many of the elders' faces as two falangs rode by them, though not everyone was totally shocked, as we ended up being joined for lu
nch on the side of the road by two locals passing by.Finally we made it to the border and were happily on our way out of Vietnam, albeit with mixed feelings. Vietnam provided us with many positive memories, as the riding was spectacular for the most part. The historical sites were many and the foods were varied and inexpensive. When given a chance to meet people off the beaten track, they proved to be warm and inviting, as opposed to those encountered in the main tourist areas between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi who were anything but. If we were to visit this part of the world again, we probably would not return to Vietnam, but we could certainly recommend many amazing things to do and see for someone interested in traveling there.
1 comment:
Loved your tails of Vietnam--making me rethink wanting to go there by bike myself...
Did you know that in ancient Greece there were the same consumer-disincentive zoning bylaws? Like, shoes on one street, hats to match another, accessories, I guess, a third.....
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