Sapa - The Tonkin Alps

I was awakened by the rattling train the next morning; the train is still packed like a refugee train and Jess was still dead sleeping beside me. Well, we were ripped off the night before by train touts, and I just somehow felt lucky that we eventually got into the train in one piece. Still, with the language barrier and the non-helpful train conductors, I was starting to worry if we had missed our stop (and ended up in the China!). And I was't alone; the gwailou who sat behind us was as worried too.

Finally we reached our destination - Lao Cai, a small town located very near to the Chinese border. Still drowsy from our 10 hours train ride, Jess and I staggered out from the train station, and ended up getting ripped off again, this time by the minivan touts! Damn! Somehow I was't myself that day, maybe the train ride has made my brains cuckoo! Still, we were so tired that we just gave up and did not put up a fight. Anyway, karma works in a wonderous way, that the touts did get a traffic summons on the way to Sapa! Revenge is indeed bittersweet!

The journey from Lao Cai to Sapa took us around 2 hours, and it was the worst ride I had in Vietnam! Already down with fatigue and the horrendous feeling of being ripped off, again, I was nauseated as the minivan crawled its way up the serpentine roads leading up to Sapa. The gorgeous views outside the vain was somehow comforting, as we could see the legendary rice field terraces, but my motion sickness was getting all over me and I was trying my best not to puke in the minivan! Fortunately, the touts were playing 70s evergreen songs which I hummed all the way just to distract myself from throwing up! I can't remember how many times "The Wedding - Ave Maria" got played again and again!

Ultimately, the tortuous roads led us to Sapa - our destination - but we were engulfed by the thick fog! The visibility was horrible as we couldn't see more than 5 meters ahead from us, and we were like blind men twiddling our way around Sapa. We stumbled into the local tourist center, where the receptionist annoyed us the the max! Just because we were independent travellers who were not keen to join tours (she gets commission for tour groups) she was just like trying to get rid of us. And the stupid local map costs US$5! Damn.

Well, we decided to wander our own way to our pre-booked hotel using our own navigation skills and an outdated Frommer's! And we made it! We found our hotel and God we were so happy, as we desperately needed a warm bath and cosy beds! Since we arrived a bit too early, and while waiting for our rooms, we decided to explore the local market since it was Saturday! 

We were tailed by several Black Hmong locals who were peddling their wares. 

"Hello, please buy something from me."

"Hello, cheap cheap here."

"Hello, you want souvenirs?"

"Hello, you help me?"

I wasn't really interested with the stuffs they sell - local made purses, ?silver ornaments, and etc. - and I have read that they charge tourists if we take photographs of them, so we just ignored them and made our way into the local market. The market itself wasn't that grand and the wares they trade were rather meager, mainly vegetables, meat, fruits and some household wares like pots, cutlery and cleaning utensils. And you can see Black Hmong children overwhelming foreigners like swarms of locusts, trying to get their wares sold off or begging money, which was a bit unnerving. The evil of tourism has worked its way into these local people, but then again, these indigenous tribeswomen speak better English than the Viets. 

We grabbed a fast lunch at a nearby restaurant and trekked back to our hotel, which surprisingly prepared a honeymoon suite for us. Probably they thought we were married! The decorations of the bedroom was adorable for newly weds I've got to say, and Jess was like so in love with the swans that they had folded using towels that she somehow felt reluctant to use them!

We decided to nap a while and wait for the heavy fog to subside, but it did not. I was a bit disappointed as we actually planned to trek around Sapa. So it gave us a good reason to stay indoors, watch cable TV and sleep!

Tam Coc Grottoes

We checked out from our hostel early morning and headed for Ninh Binh, where lies the infamous Tam Coc Grottoes, a.k.a Halong Bay on land. Flushed with a dire need of adventure, we decided to expore Ninh Binh on our own, instead of joining a US$25 tour to Ninh Binh. (Actually we only wanted to see the grottoes, and skip the Hoa Lu Citadel and the cycling thing, which obviously Jessica was too lazy to partake)

The trip from Hanoi's bus station to Ninh Binh in a shabby bus (only 60000 dongs!) took around 90 minutes, mainly because the speed limit in Vietnam is only 80 km/hr and the condition of the road (full of loopholes). There had been a few instances when Jess and i just had to hold our breath and pray for our lives when the driver starts insanely overtaking the trucks and trailers ahead. And there were a few very close shaves too! 

Having arrived at Ninh Binh, we made our way to a small hotel (can't remember what the name is) which is located fairly near to the train station, to rent a motorbike. Honestly, it had been quite some time when I had actually driven a motorbike, and I have got to say, biking in the streets of Ninh Binh was certainly challenging, albeit the traffic wasn't as heavy as Hanoi / Saigon. First of all, unlike Malaysia, Vietnamese use right side of the lane instead of the left; secondly, they honk for everything! Watch out! Coming through! I'm stopping! Make way! Turning left! Hello there! Goodbye! Don't stop! Stop! And finally, I was carrying a heavy load who confessed to me she has never sat on a motorbike before! *facepalmed*

After reassuring Jessica that she will not die on the road in my hands, she eventually agreed to sit on the bike. What other options did she have? It's either she sits on the bike, or she walks there alone, 10 kilometers towards the grottoes. Nonetheless, it was drizzling that day with a temperature of 14-16 celcius. And there we were, two crazy fools biking in the rain, shivering and freezing, making our way towards the grottoes on a Honda C-70! I swear that it was so cold that I could feel my face freeze and my jaw rattling; I was so scared that my nose and ears would end up having frostbites!

We eventually found our way to the Tam Coc grottoes, having passed by several foreign tourists who decided to cycle 10 kilos in the awful cold rain! I was glad we did not cycle in the first place, or else we would have been dead with hypothermia. We found a sweet spot to park our bike (charged US$1 but at least I don't have to worry the bike will get stolen) and marched towards the ticket office. Well, it seemed that foreigners pay ten times the price of what locals pay, but still it was worth the price.

We hopped onto a small boat that was paddled by an old Vietnamese gentleman, of which I was relieved initially, as I had read about pestering old Vietnamese women who would bug you to buy their stuffs at a ripped-off price! Our old boatmen paddled his way with his feet (Yes, everyone paddles the boat with his or her feet!) and to my dismay, he stopped halfway and some old Vietnamese lady boarded on the boat.

The scenery was fabulous as the limestone mountains appeared to be beautifully carved, surrounded by greenish paddy fields (not really that green as it was still early spring and they had just begun planting paddy), and you could see local Vietnamese people farming, doing laundry by the riverside, or just sitting in the cold looking at us watching them! And there were already so many of us (even though we arrived early and beat the tourists tours nonetheless!) just like a troupe of ants making a single file.

As the boat slowly made its way downstream, we gasped at the marvelous limestone karsts   and the picturesque scenery Tam Coc grottoes offered us. The boat slowly drifted into the caves where we could see the bizzare stalactites and stalagmites (can't really beat the ones in Halong Bay but the scenery itself was fantastic). Too bad there were no bats in the cave; I would love to hear Jessica scream. Water buffalos munched and trudge their way in the fields, and all sorts of water fowls hovering above us. We even saw a mountain goat at the distant! 

Along the way we persistently said no to peddling boats who offered to take photos for us at a ripped off price or persuading us to buy cold drinks to our boatsmen (don't bother to do so, as the boatsmen will just sell the drinks back to them). We learnt a few useful phrases from our Vietnamese friend back in Hanoi, which somehow was effective in shrugging off those peddlars. If not for the boatsmen who reinforced to them that we were foreign tourists I swear they almost believed we were local Vietnamese too!

I attempted to befriend our boatsmen during our 2 hours journey so as to avoid being ripped off and we made some small conversations, still eventually they pestered us for tips. Nonetheless, we were a bit grateful as those two devillish old folks did not kept us stranded until we bought their stuffs (we saw 2 foreigners being threatened that way on the way back). They were not really tenacious bout their goods but were so persistent on the tipping part that I had to give them US$2 each just to make them go away!

The 2 hours boat ride was fantastic and the weather was kind to us; at least it was not scorching hot! The trip left me wondering whether Halong Bay's limestones would be as awesome as what we saw here. (of course they were more awesome!) We got on our bike and started paving our way for our next few stop.

It was still drizzling though and we continue shivering as we paved our way towards our next few stops via a small path which linked us with the other attraction sites in Ninh Binh. We decided to skip the Hoa Lu Citadel, which our researched told us that it wasn't worth the ticket prices, and the temple in the caves; too many caves for a day! We eventually reach the Trang Ann grottoes but to our dismay it was already swarmed with tourists! (By noon, Ninh Binh will be overrun by tour groups from Hanoi) We decided to call it a day and made our way back to the town and catch the bus back to Hanoi,

Starving and freezing, we replenished ourselves with warmth and food at a nearby restaurant that caters much to foreigners. The food tasted awesome (mainly because we were famished and freezing) and I could hardly raise my chopsticks as my hands were frozen! We caught a 3.00 pm bus back to Hanoi and the journey back was as painstaking as the morning ride and I can feel my psoas muscles cramping intermittently! We were a bit too exhausted to worry bout our lives on the way back and we took turns taking 40 winks as we still had a long day to go.

Having arrived back in Hanoi almost 5pm, we were stranded in the rush hour again. We walked our way to the train station (yes, walk!) only to realize that we had actually walked 6 kilometers! Still the walk was quite rewarding as we manage to catch a glimpse at the insane traffic of Hanoi, with the awful honkings and endless streams of motorbikes zooming here and there. We arrived in the train station without getting us killed, and waited for our train ride to Sapa. It was Friday night and almost every in Hanoi was heading towards Sapa, hence we could only get ourselves 2 hard seats. 

The train ride in Vietnamese was also an eye-opener. With the train itself already packed like sardine cans, you could still see new passengers boarding on the train with each of them carrying a small stool on their hands; they would practically sit on the small stool in the walkways for hours until they reached their destination! Vietnamese basically have no courtesy on train, sad to say, and we had to chase a rude couple off for trying to occupy our seats even though it was so clear that we had the tickets to our seats!

I basically doze off later in the train like a corpse, and when I woke up, we were only a few hours away to Sapa.

Hello Uncle Ho!

I was awakened by the Hanoi's traffic at around 7.00am, but the weather was so cool that I felt so tempted to laze in my bed all day long. Still, I had a long day to go, so reluctantly I dragged myself up to prepare myself for my 2nd day in Hanoi, which we had planned to pay Uncle Ho a visit.

And so we started walking from our hostel towards the Hanoi Citadel, which is the center of the Vietnamese Communist Party is situated (I think) and that is why it is so heavily guarded. Throughout our walk we decided to try some local food which was packed with customers -- since it's so popular, the food should be fantastic! Well, try taking white steamed chicken with yellow glutaneous rice, and you'll know how it tasted like!

Anyway, foreigners strolling along Hanoi's streets tend to be warmly greeted by cyclos (rickshaw) and motorbike taxis (xe-oms) who keeps on yelling "Hello there!" or "You want taxi?" whenever they spot someone who doesn't look Vietnamese. Also one needs to elude from the tenacious street peddlers who generously flash their wares at unsuspicious travelers. I recalled another fellow Paraguay backpacker whom we met in our hostel, who told us how one tried to ripped her off. She was happily strolling along the streets when this old lady selling some pineapples on the road just dumped the loads she was carrying on her shoulder to the fellow traveler's, snatched her camera and took a photo of her and tried to charge her US$10! Jesus Christ! Nonetheless, after a series of bargaining, she ended up paying US$2 instead with for one small pineapple and a few more shots of her posing with the old ladies pineapples!

On the other hand, all of the printed and online travel guides stated that no one should miss Ho Chih Minh's mausoleum if they happened to be visiting Hanoi, so I have decided to heed to that piece of advice. It was already swarmed with zounds of people the moment we arrived there (we ended up taking a longer route since we went to see the local market where they sell lots of things - birds in cages, vegetables, fruits, meat, etc.. And there was already a long line from the entrance towards the mausoleum where lies our beloved Uncle Ho, heavily guarded with such tight security which I'm not surprised that there aren't any flies at all in there! Well, still he is the most endeared figure in this country, and everyone who wants to pay him a visit, has to walk upright, with hands at their sides, in total utmost silence. Basically you'll only see a well preserved old guy in a glass box, that's all.

We headed towards the Literature Temple or known as Van Mieu, which was located 15 minutes away from the citadel. This so-called temple actually was an academy where scholars from all over Annam gather to sit for their examinations (like how Chinese scholars do), and the one with the highest score attains fame and riches and a stellae carved with his name on, which will be displayed in the temple for eternity! The only funny thing is, the stellae were carved in Mandarin characters, of which modern Vietnamese people can't even read a single word!

Hunger stricken, we decided to take our lunch at a nearby stall at the roadside. A word of advice from a friend who had been to Hanoi, is that, if you want to eat somewhere in Vietnam, the lower the stool is, the scrumptious the food will be. I find this extremely true, despite the fact that all roadside stalls only offer you small a foot high stool to sit on while dining! It certainly was a challenge for me and Jessica, as we were rather tall ourselves, and having to sit on such small stools definitely was not easy at all. But the food was scrumptious, nonetheless. Oh, and one more thing. You just have to bargain for everything in Hanoi as you will be charged with an extra few thousand dongs compared with the locals; so, if you're really tight in your pockets, you can try bargaining for everything - noodles, facial wipes, bottled water, sweets, spring rolls, souvenirs, T-shirts, etc..

Jessica and I stopped by the old quarters on our way back to do some light shopping whilst I myself have to entertain my sister's demands for souvenirs. Aside from that, we were also researching for our Ninh Binh and Halong Bay trips, which we finally made up our mind. We would be going to Ninh Binh on our own, and booked a tour to Halong Bay through the company that our hostel recommended to us, which of course will be another story.

It seem to me the local Vietnamese's enjoy sitting on the foot high stools on the streets after work, sipping a glass of iced cold local beer (Bia-hoi) or a cup of coffee, and looking at travelers trudging on the streets. Everyone does that; the old folks, working middle classes, young teenagers, and even some seasoned travelers too!

That night, we went out for dinner with our newly made friends - the local Vietnamese girl, and the Paraguay traveler at a barbeque stall just outside our hostel. Sitting and dining on the streets of Hanoi at 14oC certainly was a great experience! I've never tried eating anything while shivering and trembling before!

After our dinner, we marched across the street to a famous local cafe that serves one of the best coffee in Hanoi. Vietnamese coffee is distinctly different from coffee in Malaysia; and since there ain't any Starbucks in Vietnam, the locals would just sip their coffee at such local coffee shops, sitting on their foot high stools, and relax on the five-foots. 

We slept early again the next day as we had another long day to go. Our next destination would be Ninh Binh where we were to visit the famous Tam Coc grottoes, a.k.a Halong Bay on land. :)

Hanoi

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi was delayed; we arrived in the nick of time at 7am, feeling extremely relieved that we did not miss the flight, and it turned out that the flight time had been put off till further notice. Hence, Jessica and me loitered in the waiting lounge, catching some forty winks and waited in boredom. 

It was finally until 8 something that finally we were allowed to board our plane, and thanks to Jessica's dyslexia we were seated so apart, and I had to share my 180 minutes journey with some Vietnamese lady staring at my Footprints, while I was doing some last minute planning and researching. Since I've already slept for a short while in the airport, I couldn't sleep at all throughout the flight. 

The 180 minutes ticked along slowly, as I loomed in anticipation for my new backpacking experience in Vietnam. It has been a long while since I've backpacked and at times I do wonder if I'm too old for it! Too much sedentary work makes Rickie a lazy boy!

Having touched down at Noi Bai International Airport, I kept on reassuring Jessica to stay steady and look around before deciding on anything (from previous backpacking experiences, which somehow I still tend to forget and ended up getting ripped off). We searched high and low for the tourist office, which experience has taught me that they often can provide very useful information, and we found a few travel kiosks just near the airport exit.

It turned out that the decent looking kiosks are actually affliated by travelling agencies and hence they provide very dear expensive travelling options, for instance, US30 dollars for a  round trip from the airport to the city center. Outrageous! On the other hand, the shabby ugly kiosk, which is actually affliated with the Hanoi Tourism Office, provides far more honest travelling options and advices, and I started flooding the receptionist with a cavalcade of questions.

"Sir, are you a seasoned traveller?" She asked.

"Not really, but I've travelled a few places before." I replied.

"Oh, the questions you asked really have caught me off guard. You have done your background research very well. You know bout things that only locals do." She added.

And I just grinned in reply.

And guessed what? Jessica left all her money back home in Malaysia. She is penniless, except with a few hundred of Malaysian Ringgit (which is totally worthless in Vietnam). If not for her precious company, I would have abandoned her in the airport alone!

We decided to take a minivan to the city center, which would only cost us US$2 each, instead of that outrageous US$15 taxi, and we ended up crammed in a small van like sardines. The journey to the city was bland; the scenery were just loaded with construction of new buildings, paddy fields, and zooming motorbikes coming from all directions! 

We reached the city center in 45 minutes and it was already 2.30pm! I initially planned that we would reach the city center by 12.00 and commence with our sight-seeing. However, exhausted, starving, and freezing, we navigated our way to our hostel, which was located 20 minutes from the lake. Due to our severe hunger, we stopped at a small roadside stall selling noodles (bun) for late lunch. While we were busy gobbling our first Vietnamese meal, I finally had a glance at the infamous snails that the locals are fond of eating. I never had the guts to try as I am terrible phobic of slimy creepies, and nor did Jessica, who seemed disgusted with the sight of the snails!

We eventually reached the Friendly Backpacking Hostel, which I booked 2 beds via Agoda.com due to its remarkable reviews from other backpackers. The hostel itself was a bit way out of the busy city center, but still it was decently near to most of the city attractions, and there were various food outlets along the way, as well as a local supermarket! The free wi-fi was a luxury as it kept us well connected to the internet. I am surprisingly amazed by the hotel staff who were honest and helpful; seriously, they did not really even try to rip us off much!

So, after dumping our backpacks in our dorm, we set up and scouted around the city, starting with the lake. We were at first terrified at the sight of the traffic, which seemed like a total chaos to us as the hordes of motorbikes made us feel that the streets in Vietnam were just impossible to cross! On the contrary, actually if you just gracefully walk across the street, without panicking, you will realize that the motorcyclist will actually swiftly bend around you safely. Hence, after a short while, we were crossing the streets fearlessly having known that we have pretty nothing much to worry of being killed on the streets!

Anyway, the easiest landmark in Hanoi city would be Hoan Kiam lake, or rather known as "Sword-Returning Lake". The myth behind the lake was unimpressive actually, but the scenery was lovely enough, and I was so tempted to just sit on a bench beside the lake and relax! But the air was rather freezing and we had so much more to explore, so we just went on exploring around the lake and the nearby Ngoc Son Temple. 

We bought tickets for the famous Water Puppet Show at the theater just opposite the lake and headed back to our hostel to rest and bathe since the show was still a couple of hours away. Fortunately back in our hostel we got acquainted with a local Vietnamese lady who was in Hanoi for a vacation -- she could barely speak English but speaks fluent Mandarin! Hence I started asking her for travelling tips in Hanoi, and the other places that I planned to visit, and she directed me to all the famous food outlets in Vietnam!

At nightfall, we walked towards the lake for a short stroll again - it just gets more and more addictive! - and Jessica unfortunately got mugged. We managed to corner the thief and succeeded in making him giving back Jessica's iPhone by me threatening to get the police and Jessica's horrendous yelling and screeching! Jessica seemed traumatized by the incident but I was more like feeling dreadful with the fact that most Hanoi-ans can't speak even English! We tried pleading help from bypassers while confronting that thief but nobody could comprehend, even the police! Apparently the police are addressed as "Gong-An", and not police. Facepalm!

The water puppet theater was a bit disappointing; aside from the unique water puppets being maneuvered underwater there was nothing much exciting it, and the lady who was singing throughout the show sounded like she was chanting some monotonous mantra. Honestly I could not wait for the show to end soon enough!

We ended our first night in Hanoi with an early rest in our Hanoi after making our plans for the following days. It was an intense night, but we tried to keep our optimism alive. We still had lots of adventures coming ahead of us. :)

Why Vietnam?

Why Vietnam? I asked myself.

Vietnam has always somehow seem quite fascinating to me. It's cheap (fairly), easily accessible, and has been a backpacker's haven for decades, and most of all, it has a rich cultural history which I have a strong preponderance for.

My decision to backpack in Vietnam was somehow a rash one; more like a sudden one I would say. Honestly it was just an abrupt brainstorming thing around 2-3 months before the trip and I just made up my mind "I want to backpack in Vietnam!" And since it was a quick decision, I could only have Jessica join me. (My ideal backpack group is often in 2s or 4s).

So, I texted Jessica and she replied with a hot scorching interest in joining me backpacking and we just booked the tickets. There was no pacing the floor contemplating, nor were there any repeatitive self-questioning our impulsive decision. And like usual, Jessica left me in charge of the planning of the trip.

So, I decided to do 18 days while Jessica, who only could spare 8 days, decided to venture Hanoi only. What a shame! But still, Jessica proved to be one of the best company I've ever had in my backpacking trips (albeit honestly, I only had not more than 5!).

I only had Footprint's 5th edition of Vietnam as a guide (Phuck, I should have got the latest one as most of the info's outdated!, in addition to the resources available in the worldwideweb. So after a few research, I laid out our plan: we will be doing Hanoi - Ninh Binh - Sapa - Halong Bay - Hanoi - Hue - Danang - Hoi An - Danang - Saigon. Yup, just all of those in 18 days.