The Cube

In the train from Lao Cai, heading to Hanoi, an Italian young lady said in Italian, "How come there isn't any Italian guy?"

A Vietnamese young man replied her, also in Italian, "There isn't any Italian guy but there's a Vietnamese guy who can speak fluent Italian."

The lady was surprise and shock, running back to her berth, she explained to her friend, "OMG, OMG, there's this Vietnamese who speaks fluent Italian!"

Ok... the first two sentence, I have totally no clue about it... cos I don't understand Italian at all to save my life. The third sentence was in English and when I heard it before knowing the whole story, I was wondering why is it that she was so embarassed.

And now, you would question, then how did I get to know the whole story? Reason is simple. My sis and I got to know this talented young people on our journey to Sapa. And this Italian speaking Vietnamese young man is one of them. :)


Side note: I was just packing my things and saw the half written "story" above. Decided to complete it. Just an excerpt from my memory

First post Vietnam 2008

Despite all the scares, we were blessed to have met good Samaritans along the way. Likewise having scares in about every stop we made, we met good and kind locals in the stops as well.

I called up an old colleague in Hanoi. Dr Bui patiently waited for us outside the theater where we caught the Water Puppet show while we trying to secure the local tour to Halong Bay before hurrying our way to meet him. He brought us to try a local dessert and accompanied us back to the guesthouse to pick up our baggage. Not to mentioned helped us contact a cab and negotiated a good price for us for the ride from Old Quarter to the train station.

On the train to Lao Cai, met a group of talented and nice young Vietnamese. Not only we were directed to the correct berth as the train tickets were all in Vietnamese words. We were very lucky to also bump into this same young people who saved us from the agony of fearing that we were given the wrong tickets and not able to get back to Hanoi. To top it, we were invited to join them for a birthday celebration. Ah... as to why I said they were talented. The birthday boy was blessed with birthday songs in different languages - English (of course), French, Italian, Russian and Mandarin. They did not speak all the 5 languages but everyone of them masters at least 2 languages, the very least - Vietnamese Language and another foreigner language. We joined one of them and sang birthday song in Mandarin. :)

Or in Hue, a nice train master who even personally came to inform us when it reached the station we wanted to go. In Danang, we met the very kind receptionist of a Hotel, the lady who brought us to cross the road, the uncle who doesn't speak English trying to tell us where can board the bus by "sign language".

All the way to Hoi An, the uncle who sold pastries and backpack to us in very, very reasonable price. To note that foreigners are always charged a higher price but this uncle charged us the same price as fellow Vietnamese. Not only that, when we returned to buy more pastries, he gave us discount without us requesting for it. With needing to bargain and negotiate in everything include food and bus rides, it felt really warm to know that we were given such good deal without having to bargain till the cows come home.

Despite all the warnings of scams given in guide books and the scares that befell us, I am glad to say that all the good people that we met has made up for all that. If I am a little too subtle in expressing, I can tell you that I love Vietnam, it's a great place :)


Side note: Aiyak... ppl chase dy...

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I quote from my Form 6 Chemistry teacher, "If my heart is any weaker, I'll have heart attack." Oh well, he said that upon reading our unbelievable answers in the school exam. In my case, it's the scare more than half the times when we booked the tickets in Vietnam.


Scare #1:
Sapa - Requested for the guesthouse to arrange a van to pick us from the Lao Cai station to Sapa. The van did not turn up and the rest of the vans only willing to pick up guests who made booking with their hotel. The rest charge 50k dong more than the usual price. We were almost left stranded in Lao Cai.

Scare #2:Lao Cai - train tickets back from Lao Cai to Hanoi. The destination was Long Bien instead of Hanoi and there was only a separate sheet of paper attached over an expired ticket. If it was a wrong ticket, we would not have make it in time for the Halong Bay trip.

Scare #3:
Halong Bay - Reached Hanoi safely from Lao Cai with help from a few good Samaritans. Took a cab to the tour agency where we book our local tour to Halong Bay with. Ahem... the shop was not opened yet when we were informed to wait there around 8.15 - 8.30 am. I could imagine the 100 USD flying away as we saw vans after vans already started their journey. Anyway, after a while we note that the PIC to open up the shop is sitting next door enjoying her breakkie = ="

Scare #4:
Hue - We informed the reception to help us get 2 motorcycles to transport us to the railway station. As the time ticking closer to the train departure time, the bikes were yet to arrive. We had to ask a couple of times and lucky they decide not to wait for the bikes anymore and got a van to send us there. *Phew

Scare #5:
Hoi An - Were told bus will leave the town at 8.30 am. We were still waiting in front of the guesthouse at 9.00 am and the receptionist didnt want to help us call the agent as we did not book from them. I tried to sms, only to receive reply to wait for the bus after awhile. In the end, bus came at 9.30 am.

The only other booking we made that did not scare us was in Saigon. We booked a local tour to Mekong Delta and crossed over to Phnom Penh with Sinh Cafe. That was the only booking that didnt left us worry. But oh well... things went ok thereafter cos there are kind locals to assist :)


Side note: One dell laptop is more expensive than my whole 2 weeks of Vietnam trip...

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*Ponder. Maybe I shouldn't put that as the title. It make it sound like I was at some land not own by anyone. Anyways, we got on the boat to bring us to the border alright.

But very the unfortunate, my bladder was kind of full ever since we were in the Cham Village but there wasnt any WC to be seen. I thought we would be brought back to the shore after visiting the village instead of waiting for the boat in the middle of the water and climb over from the rowing boat to the other one. What I didn't expect also was that the journey from Chau Doc to Vinh Xuong was soooo long. Imagine denying nature calls for almost 2 hours. To add salt to that, upon reaching Vinh Xuong, we couldn't run to the toilet but must carry that over-10kg-backpack off the boat first. = ="

The toilet at the immigration is the public toilet that rescue me from further possibility of getting urinary disorder.

We got off the boat and have our lunch. When we were there, all the rest of the travellers required visa to cross to Cambodia. The processing took about 2 hours. This is also where you'll see after satisfying the growling tummy, people would fish out their travel guidebooks on Cambodia and read.


We barely have enough time to digest the Vietnam one before departure (but lucky we got 2 books on that), hence we didnt have much info on Cambodia. We looked (around for it, cant read some as were in German or French), borrowed, read (with speed), took pictures (of the map) and returned the book (in case the owner wants to continue reading).

The guide came back to inform us once the visa processing was done and we went through the custom - stamped out of Vietnam, and in Cambodia via Kaam Samnor.


Then we boarded another boat.


This boat looks better from the outside than the inside. We endured a 2 hours windless ride. Lucky the boat wasn't full. Only a handful of people. Otherwise would probably had a few casulties due to the heat.

There were also a money changer in the boat, for you to change from dong to riel. However, it is more advisable to change your dong to USD when in Vietnam. USD is widely accepted in Cambodia (4,000 Riel = 1 USD). The exchange rate in the boat is not very competitive.

When the boat reaches the port, we were sent to Phnom Penh via a van. By the time we reached Phnom Penh, it was almost 5 pm. Almost time for dinner again ;)


Side note: Goodbye Vietnam. I miss the food already. Wanted to try the Vietnamese food in Pavillion food court the other day, but the choice selection is far too limited. :(

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Chau Doc is the nearest town to the border to Cambodia. It was rather obvious as our xin lo driver was willing to accept the normal USD or Vietnamese dong, even Cambodian riel. Aside from that, there are more Kh'mer people around this town.

Except for My Tho, one should be prepared to take the ferry crossing from town to town in the delta. Hence a ferry crossing is required from Vinh Long to Chau Doc. It reminds me of the ferry crossing from Butterworth to Penang Island. However this ferry is much smaller.


Cars and motorcycles were placed in the same lower deck. I'm not too sure if it is part of the tour package or that it was due to we were in a bus, we were told to hop down the bus and enter the bus as pedestrian. The bus were transported via another ferry but we did see some vans and there were passengers inside. Pedestrians could opt to stay at the same level as the transports or could go up the narrow stairs to the upper deck. There wasn't any shed at the upper deck so it was a little hot but the journey was rather short and the view was worth it anyway.

taken from ferry

After the ferry crossing, we boarded the bus again. We reached Chau Doc after about 1 hour. It was over 7 pm then. We were transported to a hotel, by far one of the best hotels we stayed over since touched down in Vietnam - with 2 double beds and air con that wasnt too cool or too warm.

We had a good dinner and retired to bed. Unfortunately we can't recall what time to have breakfast before departure the next day. So in order not to be too late, we actually woke up a little too early. Anyway, it wasn't a bad thing as we finished breakfast earlier, we got a little time left to roam the market.


And the view overlooking the delta was great.


Little did we know, in store for us after breakfast was rowing boat ride to the Cham village for the itinery only mentioned boat ride. We thought it was similar to the many rides we had yesterday.


On the way to the Cham Village



Cham girls selling waffles and some tidbits.


We were told Cham people are Muslim but a little different from our Malaysian Muslim. The elderly and the youngs need not to fast and performing the haj is not necessary.

As we travelled together with other tourists who joined the 3 days 2 nights Delta Mekong, we were to wait for the boat to transport us to the border while the rest back to shore, continuing their journey to Can Tho.

Food were shared while waiting under the sun

Chau Doc was our last stop in Vietnam, excluding Vinh Xuong where we stop for lunch while waiting for visas to be processed despite we do not need one.


Side note: So many to do, so little time...

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We chose to go through Mekong Delta and cross the Kaam Samnor/Vinh Xuong border to enter Cambodia. Of course, there is a shorter route, via a 8 hour bus ride, straight from HCMC to Phnom Penh (PP). Crossing Mekong Delta means we would need to allocate additional day as compared to taking the bus, however that would also mean we would miss the nation's "rice basket" (Mekong Delta is the largest rice producer in Vietnam).

However in fear that we might not secure the right timing from taking the bus from HCMC to Chau Doc (the nearest town to the border crossing) and booking of the boat from Chau Doc over to Cambodia. A local tour is the answer. I suppose quite a number of tourists opt to have a glimpse of the fame Mekong Delta and take the opportunity of not turning back to HCMC. And so, we signed up for a Mekong Delta-Exit to Phnom Penh tour.

We left HCMC at about 8 in the morning by bus and reached Vinh Long about 12 pm. Took this picture from the bus, the little kid was waving to me upon seeing me taking pictures of them. :)


We also saw this super high aerials shooting out from the houses along the road.


Upon reaching Vinh Long, we were transfer to a boat and visited the Cai Be Floating Market.


And there is a Catholic cathedral on the riverside.


and we were brought to a candy-rice paper-rice cracker producing place.


The pandan-coconut candy. The one in blue shirt is the tour guide, explaining on how they make the candy. The lady was cutting the candy using a plastic plate.


The lady is making the rice paper. Longan shells are burn together in the fire when making the rice paper. On her right, was the tour guide again, about to try the rice paper, dipped in soy sauce.

Thereafter we were shipped to lunch. The boat ride was quite a long one, about an hour or so. From there, upon reaching land, we were off to Chau Doc. This time, via bus.


Side note: Set mental note to self, its time to clear that income tax form again...

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My sister hasn't been sleeping well the 2 weeks we were in Vietnam. But that was not the case with me. I dozed off easily every night even when we were on train, despite waking up every now and then as worried that I forgot to get down from the train, but I got my quality sleep. The only time I dare not sleep (Read: I dare not sleep, not cannot sleep) was on this SE3, hard sleeper from Danang to Saigon.

The journey to Saigon itself was uneventful. It was by far the longest train ride we had, boarding at around 1 pm and reached the next day at 4 am but that was the fastest train available as the rest of the trains had more stops. We shared the 6 beds carriage with another 5 person - 4 adults and a 6 years old looking kid. To keep the story short, the reason I dare not sleep was... a lady (the mother to the kid) let her son peed into this 500 ml mineral water bottle and kept it on her bed. Of course its her side of the bed, I couldnt complain. The problem was this little kid would try to get hold of THAT 500 ml bottle and open it. I didnt want to risk to have ammonia-smell-yellow-liquid sprinkled on myself when I was sleeping. Hence the only time safe to sleep was when the little kid went to bed. = ="

We were relieved to leave the train as soon as it pulled in the HCMC Railway Station. The walking tour in Saigon only started after we left the station and found a place to stay over the night. As the walking tour in Hoi An was good, we decide to follow the walking tour recommended by LP for Saigon as well. We found a room in Duong Co Bac. From there, we walked to Pham Ngu Lao as the starting point.

Unlike Hoi An the cozy old town, Saigon is huge and with the sun shining with all its might, we were sweating in no time. Walking from Pham Ngu Lao to Pho 2000 for a bowl of pho took quite a fair bit of time. Opposite Pho 2000, was the status of Tran Nguyen Hai.

This is a roundabout

At another side of Pho 2000, located the famous Ben Thanh Market.


We had to cross this busy road to get to the statue of Tran Nguyen Hai (read: the roundabout) to get a clearer picture of the statue and from there, a better view of Ben Thanh Market as well.

To avoid we spend too much time in the market and missed the rest of the place, we decided not to go in yet, but to return later.

Next building in line is this Hotel de Ville.


Currently home to the local People's Committee

This picture above is taken from another angle. If you take 90 degrees from the front, Uncle Ho is there greeting you.


Nearby is the Opera House

Notre Dame Cathedral

Reunification Palace

It was 12++ pm, the palace is closed for lunch and will only reopen at 1 pm. Figure the 2 travellers were contemplating if they should wait or go off. Oh well, they took a couple of pictures and left. How I know? We were shooting while sitting in shade under a tree :P

That was our last stop. Of course the original walking tour is much longer and covers more places but some were seriously a little too far to walk especially under the hot sun. If you notice, the pictures are all getting a little nicer colour. Yes, its because of the hot sun.

From there, we retrace our steps back to Ben Thanh Market and got the famous Vietnamese coffee. On the way, we stopped for this superb sinh to (fruit shake). I still miss it now.



Side note: *Yawn... sleepy. Good night :)

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Hoi An Old Town is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. Several buildings of historical and cultural significance are open for public viewing subject to purchase of a ticket at the cost of 75,000 vnd per person. Hoi An is pedestrian-friendly, I don't recall seeing a car in the Old Town. Only motorcycles and bicycles. The admission fee goes to funding the conservation of the place.

"Hoi An Legendary Night" takes place on the 14th day of every lunar month (full moon) from 5.30 pm to 10 pm. At that day, streets will be lit with lantern. Before leaving for Vietnam, no matter how I count, we cant seem to coincide with the day. Reason being we left for Vietnam on the 29th, 1st month and return on the 12th of the 2nd month according to the lunar calendar. We were not there on 14th of either month. So, can kill the idea.

Hoi An gives me the feeling of cozy. It reminded me of Merbok, which is a small town in Kedah where my grandfather used to stay. The old wooden houses, the few or no cars on the streets...


Back to the ticket to visit certain sights in Hoi An Old Town. One ticket entitles you to visit a museum, an assembly hall, an old houses, Hoi An handicraft workshop and a choice between Quan Cong's Temple or the temple within the Japanese Covered Bridge. Mind you that there are 4 old houses, 4 museums and 3 assembly halls to choose from. Which only translates to, if you want to visit it all, you would need to purchase 4 tickets. Hehe.

Armed with Lonely Planet on Vietnam courtesy from a friend, we decided to follow what was recommended - Musuem of Trading Ceramics, Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, Tan Ky House and Quan Cong's Temple. The Japanese Covered Bridge is free of charge.

Japanese Covered Bridge at night

A view from Museum of Trading Ceramic

The display items in the museum doesn't interest us as much as the building itself.

Phuc Kien Assembly Hall. I don't even recall seeing an assembly hall this grand in KL

Tan Ky House

Backdoor  of Tan Ky Old House overlooks the Hoai River

This is probably also the reason that Tan Ky Old House was affected by floods during rainy seasons. However, this old house is well-preserved.

Quan Cong's Temple

And the final stop - Hoi An Handicraft Workshop. There is folk music performance daily at 10.15 am and 3.15 pm except Monday. After watching the 20 minutes show, we walked around the Handicraft Workshop.



Aside from sightseeing, Hoi An has contributed much to our heavy backpacks. We didnt buy any of the above, but this small old town is where I added to my load a daypack, a blazer and pants, some souvenirs and the most heavy of all, Banh Dau Xanh, a famous cookie from Hoi An. Not only it's weight cannot be disregard, we had to hand carry to ensure that it is not smashed. My sis also added quite a number of things to her load, including a 30 litre backpack. Should I stayed longer in this cozy old town, I fear I might not be able to lift and carry my backpack :P


They have this kind of shops around town, also shoe shops where your order will be ready within one day. All you need to do is pick a design, the one on display or whatever that you have in mind, convey your message and then pick the materials. The measuring will then start and your clothes/shoes will be ready by evening.

Should anyone decides to visit Vietnam and would travel pass Central Vietnam, this is a place that you should make a stop. Be is to shopping, or relax, or for the history and cultural heritage.
:)


Side note: Despite the luxury of travelling via open bus, I have no regrets going to Hoi An by a public bus with our luggage hog every leg space we have and sitting next to the driver who honks at almost every junction and motorcycles. :)


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Danang was initially not an intended destination. With Hue at its north and Hoi An south, also Danang being a city, there isn't much sights that are tempting for a stay. It was only a stopover to catch a train to HCMC later on. However as our fellow travellers to Halong Bay highly recommended a train ride from Hue to Danang on the way to Hoi An, we decided to give it a shot. After all, it's either a bus from Hue to Hoi An or we do a detour from Hue to Danang, before heading to Hoi An. The train ride came highly recommended as the railway track skims its way along the beaches, where buses will not passed by. With this trip, we have the opportunity of experiencing the soft sleeper, hard sleeper and soft seats via the Reunification Line. Grin.

Our intended brief stopover at Danang didnt begin well. Due to some miscalculation on the conversion rate, we agreed for a taxi ride from Danang Railway Station to Hoi An. The ironic thing was that both of us miscalculate. As I had this nagging thought, I took out my trusty calculator and start counting in the cab. Darn, it was too expensive. The taxi driver said that he would charge us by the meter but maximum payable is 300k VND. We must've missed the last zero or something that we agreed to it. Upon calculation, it would set us back about RM 75!!! The open bus ticket is only around 5 USD and this was a cab, it wasn't any golden carriage. Upon telling the taxi driver that we wanted to get down or go to the bus station, the taxi driver told us there is no bus station in the city, even after we showed him the map! It was a relief after he finally let us off, we paid him for the distance travelled, of course. We were dropped at Duong Le Loi (Read: the street name are similar in so many towns/cities)

Danang City

With us a bit far off the bus station now as from the map the main bus station is a few hundreds meters behind the railway station, we decided to look for guesthouse to buy the open bus ticket to go to Hoi An. Anyway, an incident led to another, we were taught by a receptionist of a hotel, Queen to take public bus. She didn't even once ask us to buy the open bus ticket which was more expensive. Not only that, she allowed us to deposit our backpacks without any charge despite we were not lodging at their hotel. From the bad experience with the cab driver, there is HOPE in Danang. Not only that, when we were crossing the road, a lady even motioned us to follow her. For the past 7 days in Vietnam, 5 stops, not even once someone took care of us when crossing the road (exception to Dr Bui as he's a friend)

Since transportation to Hoi An was settled, we decided to roam a little in Danang after lunch, also to wait for the Cao Dai Temple to allow visitors. We walked to Han River to kill time have a look.

Han River, picture taken under a shade of a big tree. Central Vietnam is already warm

Thereafter, we make our move back to Cao Dai Temple as it is only open after 3.00 pm.

The main building of Cao Dai Temple

Inside the main building

Note the sign on top? Ok, here's an enlarged one.

From Lonely Planet:
Van Giao Nhat Ly means "All religions have the same
reason"
Behind the letters is the picture of the foundres of five of the
world's great religions - (L-R:) Mohammed, Laotse, Jesus, Buddha and Confucius

An interesting temple, worth a stop in Danang for.

From intended to go straight to Hoi An from the train station to wrong calculation for a cab fee, leading to a longer linger in Danang, meeting kind Samaritan and an interesting Cao Dai Temple. Its a nice surprise indeed. :)


Oh yah, I just have to do this... :P
For the coke collectors, here you are, Coke from Vietnam, all the way from Danang City.



Side note: I wrap my shoes in plastic bag to avoid the rain just now. I felt like a big-feet-rabbit somehow. Maybe cos the plastic bag was in white.

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Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam ages ago. Today, the main attraction is the ancient Forbidden Purple City, Citadel and the tombs of the Nguyen emperors, not to mention the certain Thien Mu Pagoda that we failed to locate.

We reached Hue about 8+ in the morning. After went to get another train ticket to Danang and stepped out of the train station. Xe om and cyclo drivers swarmed to us, trying to bringing to certain guesthouse and budget hotel. We didn't want to accept in case we didn't like the place and would be obliged to pay despite promises of "if you don't like, it is ok." Ironic, we ended up at the hotel where the first xe om driver offered to us. The place is rather ok, 12 USD for a room for 2 inclusive of breakfast, though my sister said the bed makes her itchy. I was sleeping really well. :P The breakfast was very reasonable too, one get to choose 2 food and a drink.

There isn't any lifts, its similar in most budget hotels. Our room was in 4th floor, carrying the heavy backpack, we brought it up to the room, left it there and begin our visit in the ancient city. Walking out from our hotel, we would need to cross the Perfume River via the bridge to get to the sights.

Crossing the Perfume River on foot. Notice the pillion passenger covering her mouth with a mask? It's common in Vietnam but I notice the mask used in Phnom Penh was the surgical one.

As we were rather hungry, my sister especially. I wasn't very eager to eat as I was down with AGE since we left Halong Bay. We thought of stopping by the very first eating place on the way, but somehow there isn't many along the road. Hence, we joined the locals for a drink of Ovaltine before crossing the bridge.

Drinking by the bank of the river

After walking for a distance and stalked by a cyclo driver, we saw the Ngo Mon Gate.

Ngo Mon Gate (Noontime Gate)

At this time, even with the Forbidden Purple City just down the road, we are still being followed by the same cyclo driver. I salute his determination of following us a few roads, going off and came back again, insisting he wanted to show us around the Citadel and other sights despite the numerous, "No, thank you." I suppose rule number should be - Don't look. With only one look, a peddler would think you want to buy something, a cyclo driver would think that you want to have a ride, a food seller would think you want to eat. :P
So no, one cannot be curious.

Forbidden Purple City - most of it was destroyed

The Forbidden Purple City in Hue was rather small. I am very much convinced the one in China is much much bigger. Anyway, when we were visiting, there were a few tour groups making their way inside. I notice, the tours are mostly French speaking, in fact, there isn't any Asian tour. There after, we make our way out and start looking for lunch and walk around the Citadel. And yes, the same cyclo driver is still following us.

The citadel area

This place is quite a distance away from the Forbidden Purple City. We took a xe om back to guesthouse and rent a bike again, to get to the royal tombs.

Tomb of Tu Duc

Reaching the tomb itself is a real achievement. We only have a very simplified map with no road name, some roads and clusters of the tombs. Ironic that with a slightly better map, we can't seem to find the Thien Mu Pagoda. As we had to return the bike by 7 pm, we had to send it back to the guesthouse, had our dinner and call it a day.


Side note: I wonder, how big is the Forbidden Purple City in China

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Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site. UNESCO has picked out 830 World Heritage sites around the world, chosen for their cultural and historical importance, and also for their geological uniqueness. Halong Bay offers a little of all three.

It's not the cliffs themselves that make Halong Bay unique, but rather their sheer number. A huge bay, dotted with nearly 2,000 mostly uninhabited limestone cliffs.

Created over millions of years, tectonic forces slowly thrust the limestone above the water-line. During this process waves lapping against the stone carved out a number of vast, striking caverns, as well as other geologically interesting formations, such as tunnel caves and uniquely shaped massifs.

There are a few legends on Halong Bay which the name itselfs means "where the dragon descends into the sea." The version I was told was long long time ago when Vietnam was under attack, a heavenly dragon and her children spit pearls into the sea to form forbidding mountains to block an enemy advance.

(Source: Travelfish and Reid on Travel)

Someone said there is no specific season to go to Halong Bay. Be it sunny or misty, morning or evening, Halong Bay is always beautiful. I couldn't agree more. The view is breathtaking, even with the mist, it gives the feeling that as you sail on, there are more to uncover.

Put the blame on my a few years old point and shoot camera, or my amateur photography skills. But Halong Bay is worth a visit, at least an overnight stay.

I like the overlapping feel to it

A view from Hang Sung Sot (Surprising Cave)

And one from Soi Sim Grotto

I would love to see Halong Bay in another season, another time of the year :)


Side note: Someone says always go travel with someone you love, but I think it is equally important that someone who you go travel with also love you.

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