ok. so the bus to bac ha wasn't like i was expecting. we took an early bus from sapa to Lao Cai. the bus was tiny and had 15 people with luggage in it. four people were travellers, the rest were locals. the bus was backfiring 10 times a second and smelled of burnt brakes as we went down the mountian. we continued along like this till we had a blow out and pulled over at the beginning of a hair pin turn. the worst possible place. then everyone got out and squatted behind the mini-bus while they changed the tire. the worst possible place to hang out. then we got to Lao Cai.
lao cai sucks. once here we had a bunch of people tell us there was no bus to bac ha, or that we had missed the bus, or the bus was going from the other bus station. all of them offered us a ride on their moto, or to stay at their brothers place, or to take their tour tommorow, or to wait at their cafe while they called the bus driver because he was their friend. it didn't help that there were two bus stations in town and that our guide book steered us to the wrong one. (and had a really crappy map.) eventually after getting ripped of for a few bucks and being ready to punch some really pushy vietnamese people we finally found our bus. everything was wine and roses from there.
the people on the bus were from the bac ha area and were really nice. (a lot of them seemed to be school children.) we met a little school girl who spoke some english and assured us we were on the right bus. we also met an older man who was married, had a one year old son, and didn't speak a lick of english. we had an entire conversation by pointing around in my translation dictionary. he eventually invited us to stay at his house but we turned him down.
bac ha itself was a very small and sleepy town. it was great. we got to see the market area before the market really got started and also after. at the market we bought some corn alcohol that we'll probably drink on the train tonight. the woman who sold it to us was estatic. (i think it was because she was expecting us to pay 500 dong, but we misunderstood and paid 5000 dong, which is still only about $0.34.)
in Bac Ha we didn't see too many other foreigners. we saw three non-locals the first night and about 5 after the market. (during the marked a couple tour busses brought in more people but not as many as i was expecting.)
the market had anything you could want really. the going rate for horses was between $200 - $400 USD, pretty pricy, so ronda didn't buy herself one.
after the market me and ronda went for a walk out to one of the local villages, Ban Pho. it was a nice walk out into the rural contryside. we got a little sun burnt on the hike.
one of the best features of Bac Ha in my opinion was the Bia Hoi joint we discovered. they actually served pitchers of beer for 20k dong. (about $1.33.)
this was great and we hung out there both nights when we were in town. the first night we had a classic beer joint experience. a really drunk vietnamese man at the table next to us started calling out "Hello" and "I love you." he then came over and procceded to drop his cigarette in my drink. then he went back to his table and me and ronda watched his friends give him a serious talking to and they tried to drag him out of the place. also, one of his friends then proceeded to order me and ronda a new round of drinks to make up for the intrusion. so afterwards i ordered a pitcher and refilled their glasses. then the other neighboring table decided that we were nice and started toasting us and it all ended up with people pounding glasses of beer at tables all around. a classic beer drinking moment. the second night was less roudy, but we got warm welcomes from some of the regulars we saw the night before.
all in all, i really liked the town. you could walk along the streets without the fear of getting run over by motos and there were a lot less tourists that in sapa. (althoght the food and weather were better in sapa.)
the bus ride out of Bac Ha was a trip. first it was a russian bus (i think) that was very high off the ground, bouncy, and had wooden planks for the floor. the bench seats were all really narrow and our seat was directly above the exhaust pipe. the road was in horrible condition (as it was when we came up.) flooded out in many sections and just a mud path on the side of the mountain lots of times. the pigs in baskets from the market were thankfully strapped to the roof. we were the only non-natives on the bus. also, there were lots of fumes (from our bus, other busses, and trucks) and since it hadn't rained in a couple days the mud had dried in many places and it was really really dusty. i was very happy to be off that bus and i'll be really lucky if i don't end up with a resperatory infection.
so right now we're in Lao Cai waiting for the night train back to hanoi, where i plan to ask how much it will cost to rent a room by the hour to take a shower. i'm really looking forward to that. (and i'm not looking forward to sleeping on a train in my currently filty state.)
tommorow night we plan to catch a second night train from Hanoi to Hue from where we will explore the DMZ and possibly My Son.
Documenting (occasionally) the ramblings and ravings of Edward Pilatowicz since May 2004
June 20, 2005
June 17, 2005
relief in sapa
we left hanoi wed night on an overnight train to Lao Cai. it was supposedly an air conditioned train, but i think that was just a marketing gimic. after sweating all night we arrived in Lao Cai and took a hour bus ride to sapa. we've been hanging out here since then. luckily it's been about 75 F and raining most the time we've been here, and i've been enjoying the lack of heat quite a bit.
after a small bit of confusion while checking into tour hotel. (since there are two hotels with the same name right next to each other... accompanied by a tale of divorce.) we napped a bit and then went out to grab food at a restaurant called "little sapa." we had some tasty wild pig cooked sapa style. (which means served on a sizzling platter having been cooked with onions and spices.) this was some fresh spring rolls were really tasty. (the restaurant had been recommended by some people we met while traveling to haulng bay.
after that we walked to the cat cat village and saw the cat cat waterfall. along the way were lots of pigs, water buffalo, chickens, corn, rice, weed, bamboo, and strange foul. i managed to take some good pictures. after getting back we went to a french restaurant and headed back home to read and pass out. (this town is really dead at night.)
today we took an old beat up russian jeep to the tach bach water fall. it was a pretty impressive fall. about 100m broken up over multiple stages. we got to hike up a trail on one side, cross the falls half way up on a bridge, and head back down. it was pretty cool. the jeep was about as beat up as the road we were traveling on, which was well washed out in sections. also, the driver had to refill the radiator a couple times since the radiator cap had been replaced with a rag and a piece of twine. the driver also took us to a high up mountain pass to see the neighboring providence, but we couldn't see more that 15 feet due to the clouds.
at the waterfall i had some really great sticky rice from a lady on the side of the road. up here they serve stick rice that has been stuffed in the hollow center of a piece of bamboo or sugar cane. (i'm not sure which.) this is roasted over coals for a while, then peeled open, and then you break off bits of the rice and dip it into crushed peanuts and salt. it was really really tasty.
tonight we went back to "little sapa" for dinner and had some chicken with yogurt that was cooked in the same fashion as the pork we had earlier. it was super tasty. (we wasted meals trying food at other places around town and "little sapa" was the clear winner.)
tomorrow we're leaving really early to catch a bus back to lao cai. from there we will try to catch a public bus to ba ca. we're planning to spend two nights in ba ca. sunday morning there is a huge market in ba ca where we might buy some horses and water buffalo. (after buying and drinking some of the local corn whisky i've read about.) a lot of the hotels in sapa offer day trips to ba ca, but we wanted to spend some more time there because it's not supposed to be as touristy as sapa and there are lots of small villages to hike to. one hotel in here in sapa tried to talk us out of taking the public bus there because apparently all the locals would be on it with their animals heading to the market. so it could get interesting.
after a small bit of confusion while checking into tour hotel. (since there are two hotels with the same name right next to each other... accompanied by a tale of divorce.) we napped a bit and then went out to grab food at a restaurant called "little sapa." we had some tasty wild pig cooked sapa style. (which means served on a sizzling platter having been cooked with onions and spices.) this was some fresh spring rolls were really tasty. (the restaurant had been recommended by some people we met while traveling to haulng bay.
after that we walked to the cat cat village and saw the cat cat waterfall. along the way were lots of pigs, water buffalo, chickens, corn, rice, weed, bamboo, and strange foul. i managed to take some good pictures. after getting back we went to a french restaurant and headed back home to read and pass out. (this town is really dead at night.)
today we took an old beat up russian jeep to the tach bach water fall. it was a pretty impressive fall. about 100m broken up over multiple stages. we got to hike up a trail on one side, cross the falls half way up on a bridge, and head back down. it was pretty cool. the jeep was about as beat up as the road we were traveling on, which was well washed out in sections. also, the driver had to refill the radiator a couple times since the radiator cap had been replaced with a rag and a piece of twine. the driver also took us to a high up mountain pass to see the neighboring providence, but we couldn't see more that 15 feet due to the clouds.
at the waterfall i had some really great sticky rice from a lady on the side of the road. up here they serve stick rice that has been stuffed in the hollow center of a piece of bamboo or sugar cane. (i'm not sure which.) this is roasted over coals for a while, then peeled open, and then you break off bits of the rice and dip it into crushed peanuts and salt. it was really really tasty.
tonight we went back to "little sapa" for dinner and had some chicken with yogurt that was cooked in the same fashion as the pork we had earlier. it was super tasty. (we wasted meals trying food at other places around town and "little sapa" was the clear winner.)
tomorrow we're leaving really early to catch a bus back to lao cai. from there we will try to catch a public bus to ba ca. we're planning to spend two nights in ba ca. sunday morning there is a huge market in ba ca where we might buy some horses and water buffalo. (after buying and drinking some of the local corn whisky i've read about.) a lot of the hotels in sapa offer day trips to ba ca, but we wanted to spend some more time there because it's not supposed to be as touristy as sapa and there are lots of small villages to hike to. one hotel in here in sapa tried to talk us out of taking the public bus there because apparently all the locals would be on it with their animals heading to the market. so it could get interesting.
June 15, 2005
my 6th sense
i feel like the kid from the 6th sense. but instead of dead people i see and feel mosquitos everywhere.
eating it up
today we went to a really good bun cha resturant (No 1 Hang Manh St.) a little place where we got a huge plate of rice noodles, a huge plate of veggies, a large plate of chopped up fried spring rolls, a bowl of chopped garlic and chilies, a bowl of fish sauce and a bowl of assorted pork bits. (little meat balls of pork wrapped in leaves and also bits of fat, grizzle, and meat). it was really good. we just through all the ingredients together into a bowl and chowed down. had it with a large beer at 10am for breakfast. me and ronda couldn't finish it all. cost? under $5 USD for both of us.
yesterday we went to Cha Ca La Vong. a old resturant that serves Cha Ca. (a food style that it defined and others now imitate.) they brought a clay stove with hot coals to our table. it had a frying pan on top with fish in it. there was some oil, safron, and other spices on the fish. into this we threw fresh chopped chilis, basil, fennel, and green onion. we cooked it for a bit and had it atop rice noodles in little bowls. and of course we had beer with it all. it was pretty damn tasty and came out to about $6 bucks a person.
my quest for the ultimate pho has not yet been fulfilled. i've tried quite a few tasty bowls, but none have yet matched the pho cooking in my mind. i'm still continuing to hunt this one.
yesterday we went to Cha Ca La Vong. a old resturant that serves Cha Ca. (a food style that it defined and others now imitate.) they brought a clay stove with hot coals to our table. it had a frying pan on top with fish in it. there was some oil, safron, and other spices on the fish. into this we threw fresh chopped chilis, basil, fennel, and green onion. we cooked it for a bit and had it atop rice noodles in little bowls. and of course we had beer with it all. it was pretty damn tasty and came out to about $6 bucks a person.
my quest for the ultimate pho has not yet been fulfilled. i've tried quite a few tasty bowls, but none have yet matched the pho cooking in my mind. i'm still continuing to hunt this one.
hanoi wins
this city has defeated me. it's really too much. it's hot and in your face every second.
everything happens right on the street. you can't walk on the sidewalk because there are people having hair cuts, women cooking food, people eating, parked motorcycles, buildings extended out onto the side walk. you have to walk in the street. of course in the street are about a billion bikes. the most recent i heard, vietname has 14.9 million of them (with a population of 84 million.) it's loud, frantic, and in your face. and every block you have at least one person asking if you want a ride or want to buy something.
yesterday i felt compleatly defeated. just hot and very tired. all i wanted to do was retreat to a quite air conditioned room. so i ended up going to bed early at 10pm.
but today was much better. it was only 85 F today (still humid though.) that small temp difference really left me feeling much better. also, we took it easy today and didn't go to so many places. that really made a big difference.
all this said, i haven't disliked the city. once you get out of the old quarter things calm down a bit. and there are lots of places to explore and try out that i haven't managed to get to, and probably won't get to.
now we're taking it easy, just sitting at cafes, reading, drinking, and relaxing. tonight we're taking the train to sapa. a village in the mountains where we're hoping it will be a bit cooler. (and a bit less intense.)
everything happens right on the street. you can't walk on the sidewalk because there are people having hair cuts, women cooking food, people eating, parked motorcycles, buildings extended out onto the side walk. you have to walk in the street. of course in the street are about a billion bikes. the most recent i heard, vietname has 14.9 million of them (with a population of 84 million.) it's loud, frantic, and in your face. and every block you have at least one person asking if you want a ride or want to buy something.
yesterday i felt compleatly defeated. just hot and very tired. all i wanted to do was retreat to a quite air conditioned room. so i ended up going to bed early at 10pm.
but today was much better. it was only 85 F today (still humid though.) that small temp difference really left me feeling much better. also, we took it easy today and didn't go to so many places. that really made a big difference.
all this said, i haven't disliked the city. once you get out of the old quarter things calm down a bit. and there are lots of places to explore and try out that i haven't managed to get to, and probably won't get to.
now we're taking it easy, just sitting at cafes, reading, drinking, and relaxing. tonight we're taking the train to sapa. a village in the mountains where we're hoping it will be a bit cooler. (and a bit less intense.)
June 13, 2005
halong bay
so we got back to hanoi earlier today from a tour of halong bay. i had a really great time. we booked the tour with Handspan adventure travel. it was a little pricy, but worth it in my opinion.
we booked the tour on friday night, and sat morning we hopped on a bus at 8am heading to halong city. we had a very talkative tourgide named Phu who told us all sorts of interesting random fact on the drive to keep us entertained. we also spent some time getting to know the other people on the trip with us. (we had a group of 12 people, including Phu).
on the way out there (and on the way back) our bus stopped at a "happy place." Phu described it as such, saying that people were usually tired of the bus when the got off and happier when they got on. as far as i can tell it is basically a required tourist shop. there are signs up saying that all the trinkets were made by "disadvanteged" youths, blah, blah. we had hopped that by going for a more expensive tour we would have been able to avoid these types of stops, but ronda mentioned that in china such stops are actually required by the govt, so that may be the case here as well.
we arrived in halong city and went strait for the boat docs where we climbed over a couple boats, all piled up against each other, to get to ours. once there we immediatly started drinking beer and waiting to leave. once our boat left the bay, the scenery became really impressive. ronda had seen scenery like this before in guilan, china, but for me this was all new. we had lunch on the boat and just sat around taking pictures, talking, and watching a fraction of the 1500+ islands go by.
we eventually stopped at one of the islands, which had some huge caves, and we spent some time walking through them. (along with a bunch of other tourists.) aside from being pretty impressive inside, it was about 15 degrees F cooler in the caves than outside, which was a welcome relief for me.
back on the boat, we sailed away from the cave island a bit and dropped anchor. from that point on the afternoon and evening were spent eating, drinking, chatting, and swimming. the sunset was also pretty stunning. (we were lucky in the weather since it didn't rain.) i passed out really early that night since i was still tired from hanoi and not fully recovered from jet lag.
the next morning our boat took off early and after breakfast we met up with another taxi boat. the taxi boat took us to a small island with a few huts on it. there we dropped our stuff and jumped into two person ocean kayaks. we paddled around for a while before going to another beach to swim some and then another boat for lunch. by this time i had a huge headache (probably from too much sun) and took a short nap. after lunch we were taxied a ways to a floating villiage in the bay. lots of people have houses with dogs on the bay and they raise fish in nets. we jumped back into our kayaks and paddled around the village for a while, paddled past Cat Ba island and saw the town there, and then paddled a little out to sea and back to the island we were staying at. while paddling back it started to rain.
we spent the evening on the island relaxing, drinking beer, eating, and chatting. finally we retired to our bungalos, where earlier ronda had practically jumped through the roof when a large centepiede (millipede?) crawled out from under some clothes on her bed.
the next morning we had an early breakfast and made our way back to halong city. i mostly just read and napped on the way back. we had lunch in halong city and then took a bus back to hanoi.
on the road from hanoi to halong city you see tons of signs of development and signs about all the new places being built. it doesn't seem like it's going to be long at all before all land alongside the road on the way out there will be totally developed.
all in all, i really liked the tour. it was really nice to have everything taken care of and planned for a few days. the food wasn't great, but it wasn't really bad either. and i fufilled my goal to kayak on halong bay and sleep on one of the islands. we also met a few really cool people that we hung out with later back in hanoi.
we booked the tour on friday night, and sat morning we hopped on a bus at 8am heading to halong city. we had a very talkative tourgide named Phu who told us all sorts of interesting random fact on the drive to keep us entertained. we also spent some time getting to know the other people on the trip with us. (we had a group of 12 people, including Phu).
on the way out there (and on the way back) our bus stopped at a "happy place." Phu described it as such, saying that people were usually tired of the bus when the got off and happier when they got on. as far as i can tell it is basically a required tourist shop. there are signs up saying that all the trinkets were made by "disadvanteged" youths, blah, blah. we had hopped that by going for a more expensive tour we would have been able to avoid these types of stops, but ronda mentioned that in china such stops are actually required by the govt, so that may be the case here as well.
we arrived in halong city and went strait for the boat docs where we climbed over a couple boats, all piled up against each other, to get to ours. once there we immediatly started drinking beer and waiting to leave. once our boat left the bay, the scenery became really impressive. ronda had seen scenery like this before in guilan, china, but for me this was all new. we had lunch on the boat and just sat around taking pictures, talking, and watching a fraction of the 1500+ islands go by.
we eventually stopped at one of the islands, which had some huge caves, and we spent some time walking through them. (along with a bunch of other tourists.) aside from being pretty impressive inside, it was about 15 degrees F cooler in the caves than outside, which was a welcome relief for me.
back on the boat, we sailed away from the cave island a bit and dropped anchor. from that point on the afternoon and evening were spent eating, drinking, chatting, and swimming. the sunset was also pretty stunning. (we were lucky in the weather since it didn't rain.) i passed out really early that night since i was still tired from hanoi and not fully recovered from jet lag.
the next morning our boat took off early and after breakfast we met up with another taxi boat. the taxi boat took us to a small island with a few huts on it. there we dropped our stuff and jumped into two person ocean kayaks. we paddled around for a while before going to another beach to swim some and then another boat for lunch. by this time i had a huge headache (probably from too much sun) and took a short nap. after lunch we were taxied a ways to a floating villiage in the bay. lots of people have houses with dogs on the bay and they raise fish in nets. we jumped back into our kayaks and paddled around the village for a while, paddled past Cat Ba island and saw the town there, and then paddled a little out to sea and back to the island we were staying at. while paddling back it started to rain.
we spent the evening on the island relaxing, drinking beer, eating, and chatting. finally we retired to our bungalos, where earlier ronda had practically jumped through the roof when a large centepiede (millipede?) crawled out from under some clothes on her bed.
the next morning we had an early breakfast and made our way back to halong city. i mostly just read and napped on the way back. we had lunch in halong city and then took a bus back to hanoi.
on the road from hanoi to halong city you see tons of signs of development and signs about all the new places being built. it doesn't seem like it's going to be long at all before all land alongside the road on the way out there will be totally developed.
all in all, i really liked the tour. it was really nice to have everything taken care of and planned for a few days. the food wasn't great, but it wasn't really bad either. and i fufilled my goal to kayak on halong bay and sleep on one of the islands. we also met a few really cool people that we hung out with later back in hanoi.
June 10, 2005
i've got a rash
this is gonna be quick. i've got a few minutes before i have to catch a bus to Halong Bay for a couple nights. we've book an organized tour with one night on a boat, one night in a hut on one of the smaller islands, and some kayaking in between.
so far i've had two full days in hanoi. it's HOT. 90 F with 100% humidity. i've got what ronda says is a heat rash on my chest where my shirt has been rubbing me...
aside from that it's been pretty good. we managed to see some water puppets and walk all around town. yesterday we went to the temple of literature, the one pillar pagado, the womens museum, and the Hao Lo Prison Museum. we saw the madness that is all of hanois youth going on their motor bikes to get ice cream and night.
i got a local cell phone account here. $10 USD for a vidaphone sim chip. my local number here is 091.278.4964. (to call you need to prefix with the viet nam country code, 84.) i tried sending txt messages to a few people back home but i'm not sure if they got through.
so far meals have been a debate about how much risk i'm willing to take. stick to guide book recommended places (been to a few.) or try the local joints. i haven't eaten from any of the street vendors yet. i did try a couple random joints that turned out to be pretty good. the bai tuoi (a stronger type of beer that bai hoi) place we went to yesterday was really good. cold beers in this weather are essential to survival.
when we first arrived into town, late and night, we took a cab on from the airport along a highway that ronda said was the best maintained road in the country. it was raining and we passed two accidents. the second one was particularly bad. there was a cab that looked like an accordian, and a cab driver that looked like a ghost. our cabbie pulled over to talk to him. so there were at least three cars involved. (since the cab was smashed from both front and back.) also there were a couple bikes and a couple dead people on the road. (at least i'm assuming they were dead, because i don't think live people can be in positions like that.) the cabbie got back in the car and told us 3 something. i never found out if he said three cars or three people dead.
so far i've had two full days in hanoi. it's HOT. 90 F with 100% humidity. i've got what ronda says is a heat rash on my chest where my shirt has been rubbing me...
aside from that it's been pretty good. we managed to see some water puppets and walk all around town. yesterday we went to the temple of literature, the one pillar pagado, the womens museum, and the Hao Lo Prison Museum. we saw the madness that is all of hanois youth going on their motor bikes to get ice cream and night.
i got a local cell phone account here. $10 USD for a vidaphone sim chip. my local number here is 091.278.4964. (to call you need to prefix with the viet nam country code, 84.) i tried sending txt messages to a few people back home but i'm not sure if they got through.
so far meals have been a debate about how much risk i'm willing to take. stick to guide book recommended places (been to a few.) or try the local joints. i haven't eaten from any of the street vendors yet. i did try a couple random joints that turned out to be pretty good. the bai tuoi (a stronger type of beer that bai hoi) place we went to yesterday was really good. cold beers in this weather are essential to survival.
when we first arrived into town, late and night, we took a cab on from the airport along a highway that ronda said was the best maintained road in the country. it was raining and we passed two accidents. the second one was particularly bad. there was a cab that looked like an accordian, and a cab driver that looked like a ghost. our cabbie pulled over to talk to him. so there were at least three cars involved. (since the cab was smashed from both front and back.) also there were a couple bikes and a couple dead people on the road. (at least i'm assuming they were dead, because i don't think live people can be in positions like that.) the cabbie got back in the car and told us 3 something. i never found out if he said three cars or three people dead.
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