So, it has been a while... due to
- slow internet connections
- no internet connections
- just no motivation
Anyhow, Banlung it was... to give Cambodia one more chance as Siem Reap was just bleh and Phnom Penh was not much better. Judging the country on these two alone is a bit cheap so maybe the countryside might change my opinion as so far I associated Cambodia with a country gone wild in scams and deceit. It is in the little things I guess, the people you meet and such as I can imagine the majority of the people is really nice.
For some reason, could not find a real motivation to do much in Banlung. It was so hard to get a motorbike so I just gave up. I could have joined a tour but the prices of these were just ridiculous ($75? hmm, no) and it all felt a bit like SR and PP again... Go on an ecological tour? Why not...and at the same time have the chance to kill an animal with a 'native' crossbow...nah... And some people told me that a lot of the forest was already destroyed to feed the 1.7? billion rubber consuming monster. In addition, the AK47 thing in Phnom Penh (which I was not interested in, but got talked into...anyway, did it...move on, once is enough) was decadent enough and that was just shredding some paper. But I digress, Cambodia was just not for me this time...it could have been different but let's move on.
So via the small border crossing I went to Pleiku, Vietnam joining 2 Canadians (In total I socialized with 8! of them already in Red star country...seems they like the place). Pleiku? It is not in the shoestring as, well, there are no touristy things to do there. But it is a city where you can take an onward bus to Hoi An (and other tourist bombs) so booked a bus ticket, departure time: 8pm. So there we were, the three of us in a city where almost nobody speaks English. But it was all good, nobody there had heard of tourist prices yet, smiles everywhere and we got our picture taken...maybe 50 times in a small coffeeshop where the staff was just thrilled to have us. Who knows we might be on the wall next year as real celebrities. Anyway, as far as first contacts go in a new country, I don't think it could have been much better (the little things you know) so immediately Vietnam was in my good book. And the sleeper bus seemed to be extremely comfortable and luxurous. The beds are not made for white people though...
Hoi An was, although a major tourist bomb, still a nice little town (THE place to get a custom tailored suit but in the end I did not go for it...did not want to carry it for 2 more months and I am too cheap for shipping). An ideal place for some scootering and just strolling around (there is not that much to see - besides tourists... meaning it is impossible to outrun the Coca Cola man and bleh X-mas songs)
After Hoi An: Hue...again with the open ticket bus but got a better bed (at the side, the ones in the back are to be avoided). The city felt a bit like a diluted Hoi An...bigger with the same amount of tourists. Again, not that much to see besides some more temples, gardens and 'very' old (150 years is not that impressive) buildings but a similar relaxed atmosphere with less souvenir shops and "just one dollar pushing" (they still smile though even if you do not buy anything). And of course: FOOD! It did not take long to fall in love with the Vietnamese cuisine.
Next: Dong Hoi...this time with the train. As it takes only 3.5 hours I opted for the hard seat lowest class ($2)...3.5 hours can be a loooong time...after a while the left cheek parallizes so switch to the right one...it does hurt. It also hurts when (just at the point I was going to shake into sleep) a little kid pulls arm hairs - to much joy of the locals.
I thought: after the 16 hours hard bench seat (Thailand - 2 years ago) how hard can it be? Still glad it was over...guess I am getting old.
Dong Hoi, that means only one (well... 2) thing(s): Phong Nha Cave and Paradise Cave. According the lonely planet the first one feels a bit touristy while the second one (open to public since 2010 or something) should be a real untouched treat. Both of them about 50km from the weirdest city I have ever visited in SE Asia. An empty city with an overload of hotels but almost no restaurants (fancy or local blue&red plastic seat ones). In addition, all the hotels are deserted except for tripadvisor's #1 Nam Long (which is more expensive than the others). But the empty hotels do not seem to be interested in having you...very weird...
Anyway, rent a motorbike to do the caves yourself or go with the rather expensive $45 tour?... In the end I chose the tour as:
--the weather in Central Vietnam in Dec/Jan sucks big time (every day rain so far...and not always just drizzle)
--A fellow Nam Longer (yes, chose the place where some social contact was possible) trashed a part of the rented bike and had to cough up $150 for repairs. The crash was mainly the result of the sucky weather.
--You still need to pay for a boat (to do Phong Nha cave)...if you cannot find anybody else that one is already $15
Well, the touristy cave was deserted (well, besides the 12 of us...so if I would have done it on my own I probably would not have found anybody else to 'share' a boat with) so that was kinda nice. The paradise one...although much nicer...was ready to become Disneyland...electronic entrance gates...electric buggies for lazy white people (we had one, part of the $45), wooden staircases and platforms in the cave (this was rather disappointing as I hoped it was real cave walking)...Anyway, very nice cave with very nice lighting and..local tourists (at that time we were the only foreigners).
Local tourists...with local guides, guiding with...microphones and speakers...in a cave...and local kids. At least you could outrun them so you had 5' for your own.
All in all, as far as tours go this one was ok-ish, the food was good and I was happy that I did not get soaked on a motorbike ride that would have taken me 3?4? hours.
Then motorbike-mecca: Hanoi, with a sleeper (soft bed) train this time...no need for a 10-12 hours hard seat. Very, very comfy but no sleep as it stopped 7? times to arrive around 4.30 am on December 31st in Hanoi. Way too early to find accommodation so let's have a coffee, and .. another one. $2 ??? Really. I thought, ok.. this is railway station rip off but it did not take long to realize Hanoi is going to cost more $$$ vs central Vietnam. Anyhow, not much to say about the Vietnamese capitol as the day after (crashed around 6pm so no Sylvester) left for Cat Ba. Perhaps these: Although there are plenty of motorbikes, it is definitely doable to walk around...much easier than Phnom Penh. An old lady helped me (well, she basically just grabbed my arm and of we go..in the wrong direction) to cross the street and a small shop guy was very surprised I wanted change for my bottle of water..although he made it very clear the price was 12000VND (gave him a 20000 note) he was just looking at me, and I at him for 3 minutes...so I said again: "Change?" "12000?" and then he just mumbled something and gave me 8000.
Although I am done with Cat Ba - tonight will be my 4th night (longest stay so far) the Cat Ba blabla will be for the next time...as my motivation to type is gone.
- slow internet connections
- no internet connections
- just no motivation
Anyhow, Banlung it was... to give Cambodia one more chance as Siem Reap was just bleh and Phnom Penh was not much better. Judging the country on these two alone is a bit cheap so maybe the countryside might change my opinion as so far I associated Cambodia with a country gone wild in scams and deceit. It is in the little things I guess, the people you meet and such as I can imagine the majority of the people is really nice.
For some reason, could not find a real motivation to do much in Banlung. It was so hard to get a motorbike so I just gave up. I could have joined a tour but the prices of these were just ridiculous ($75? hmm, no) and it all felt a bit like SR and PP again... Go on an ecological tour? Why not...and at the same time have the chance to kill an animal with a 'native' crossbow...nah... And some people told me that a lot of the forest was already destroyed to feed the 1.7? billion rubber consuming monster. In addition, the AK47 thing in Phnom Penh (which I was not interested in, but got talked into...anyway, did it...move on, once is enough) was decadent enough and that was just shredding some paper. But I digress, Cambodia was just not for me this time...it could have been different but let's move on.
So via the small border crossing I went to Pleiku, Vietnam joining 2 Canadians (In total I socialized with 8! of them already in Red star country...seems they like the place). Pleiku? It is not in the shoestring as, well, there are no touristy things to do there. But it is a city where you can take an onward bus to Hoi An (and other tourist bombs) so booked a bus ticket, departure time: 8pm. So there we were, the three of us in a city where almost nobody speaks English. But it was all good, nobody there had heard of tourist prices yet, smiles everywhere and we got our picture taken...maybe 50 times in a small coffeeshop where the staff was just thrilled to have us. Who knows we might be on the wall next year as real celebrities. Anyway, as far as first contacts go in a new country, I don't think it could have been much better (the little things you know) so immediately Vietnam was in my good book. And the sleeper bus seemed to be extremely comfortable and luxurous. The beds are not made for white people though...
Hoi An was, although a major tourist bomb, still a nice little town (THE place to get a custom tailored suit but in the end I did not go for it...did not want to carry it for 2 more months and I am too cheap for shipping). An ideal place for some scootering and just strolling around (there is not that much to see - besides tourists... meaning it is impossible to outrun the Coca Cola man and bleh X-mas songs)
After Hoi An: Hue...again with the open ticket bus but got a better bed (at the side, the ones in the back are to be avoided). The city felt a bit like a diluted Hoi An...bigger with the same amount of tourists. Again, not that much to see besides some more temples, gardens and 'very' old (150 years is not that impressive) buildings but a similar relaxed atmosphere with less souvenir shops and "just one dollar pushing" (they still smile though even if you do not buy anything). And of course: FOOD! It did not take long to fall in love with the Vietnamese cuisine.
Next: Dong Hoi...this time with the train. As it takes only 3.5 hours I opted for the hard seat lowest class ($2)...3.5 hours can be a loooong time...after a while the left cheek parallizes so switch to the right one...it does hurt. It also hurts when (just at the point I was going to shake into sleep) a little kid pulls arm hairs - to much joy of the locals.
I thought: after the 16 hours hard bench seat (Thailand - 2 years ago) how hard can it be? Still glad it was over...guess I am getting old.
Dong Hoi, that means only one (well... 2) thing(s): Phong Nha Cave and Paradise Cave. According the lonely planet the first one feels a bit touristy while the second one (open to public since 2010 or something) should be a real untouched treat. Both of them about 50km from the weirdest city I have ever visited in SE Asia. An empty city with an overload of hotels but almost no restaurants (fancy or local blue&red plastic seat ones). In addition, all the hotels are deserted except for tripadvisor's #1 Nam Long (which is more expensive than the others). But the empty hotels do not seem to be interested in having you...very weird...
Anyway, rent a motorbike to do the caves yourself or go with the rather expensive $45 tour?... In the end I chose the tour as:
--the weather in Central Vietnam in Dec/Jan sucks big time (every day rain so far...and not always just drizzle)
--A fellow Nam Longer (yes, chose the place where some social contact was possible) trashed a part of the rented bike and had to cough up $150 for repairs. The crash was mainly the result of the sucky weather.
--You still need to pay for a boat (to do Phong Nha cave)...if you cannot find anybody else that one is already $15
Well, the touristy cave was deserted (well, besides the 12 of us...so if I would have done it on my own I probably would not have found anybody else to 'share' a boat with) so that was kinda nice. The paradise one...although much nicer...was ready to become Disneyland...electronic entrance gates...electric buggies for lazy white people (we had one, part of the $45), wooden staircases and platforms in the cave (this was rather disappointing as I hoped it was real cave walking)...Anyway, very nice cave with very nice lighting and..local tourists (at that time we were the only foreigners).
Local tourists...with local guides, guiding with...microphones and speakers...in a cave...and local kids. At least you could outrun them so you had 5' for your own.
All in all, as far as tours go this one was ok-ish, the food was good and I was happy that I did not get soaked on a motorbike ride that would have taken me 3?4? hours.
Then motorbike-mecca: Hanoi, with a sleeper (soft bed) train this time...no need for a 10-12 hours hard seat. Very, very comfy but no sleep as it stopped 7? times to arrive around 4.30 am on December 31st in Hanoi. Way too early to find accommodation so let's have a coffee, and .. another one. $2 ??? Really. I thought, ok.. this is railway station rip off but it did not take long to realize Hanoi is going to cost more $$$ vs central Vietnam. Anyhow, not much to say about the Vietnamese capitol as the day after (crashed around 6pm so no Sylvester) left for Cat Ba. Perhaps these: Although there are plenty of motorbikes, it is definitely doable to walk around...much easier than Phnom Penh. An old lady helped me (well, she basically just grabbed my arm and of we go..in the wrong direction) to cross the street and a small shop guy was very surprised I wanted change for my bottle of water..although he made it very clear the price was 12000VND (gave him a 20000 note) he was just looking at me, and I at him for 3 minutes...so I said again: "Change?" "12000?" and then he just mumbled something and gave me 8000.
Although I am done with Cat Ba - tonight will be my 4th night (longest stay so far) the Cat Ba blabla will be for the next time...as my motivation to type is gone.
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