............earlier days (Thailand,Cambodia) in next post (click)
Nhan(guide)........ a few Photos (click)
........ 20 best photos of 752, (click)
Pros: (overall, Vietnam):
- our guide Nhan was an outstanding leader, many skills (also proud of country)
- lots of excellent scenery (especially compared to Thailand)
- good balance of 100 Km cycling days
- good sense of "depaisment" (feeling of being "out-of country")
- Pedaltours was generally good value
- children's smiles and welcome were remarkable
Cons
- a lot of vanning (but I understand why)
- Hanoi was kind of depressing (Saigon was exciting)
Feb 14.... flight to Bangkok, overnight and flights to HongKong and Toronto all went off without a hitch. Home 22 hours after Bangkok departure.
Feb 13.... off to Mekong delta for the day (70 Km. $56 extra), then flight to Bangkok. The Mekong delta was really not exceptional really, but I was glad I went because I would have felt missing-out otherwise
Feb 12 .... no cycling, just a city tour, all 9 of us with Nhan, Reunification palace was impressive .... Nhan seems very proud of his country .... justifyibly so, .... then history museum (long hot walk) with Doug and Brian .... kind of boring. Then bought 2 shirts (one a Thai purple) 2 pants (Nike) from street vendors, then 10 DVDs for 2$ each... really satisfied with my new aquisitions.
Feb 11 last day....cycled just 44 Km,....... then vanned 2 hours into the core of Saigon. Saigon is really hot maybe 34C in the shade .... but sunny and bright because they are getting ready for Tet (Lunar New Year) which seems like a real big deal, .... lots of flowers banners etc. After Hanoi, which was gray and dull and rather coldish, Saigon is a delight, .... bright spacey streets and fancy stores as well as many street vendors. Tonight will be our farewell dinner. Tomorrow, a number of us will do the city tour Feb 12 , and the Mekong delta (full day on the 13th). Then fly to Bangkok for the long return.
Feb 10 ... cycled 88 to a small Vietnamese-style resort probably catering to the Vietnamese. Nhan and the three others has dinner with us and Nahn made a brilliant speech at the end thanking us for participating, and coming to his country. Thought later about what he had said.... how he sat and listened to the group "chatter", and tried to pick the right moment for to introduce new topics..... he was really skilled, and I often felt he was talking to "me", ... but probably we all felt the same way, .... now, that's a skill.
Feb 9 cycled 112 Km (about 12 extra), largely downhill at first (about 1000 m) and then south along the coast with a tailwind, ... not bad, but really hot..... 34 C. At the beautiful SeaLion resort.... it has many Russians, all as obnoxious as ever. John from Texas says "Coloradans used to think Teaxans were the most obnoxious tourists, till the Russians came", ...eg .... it took me 45 minutes to reconfigure the browser so that it would work in English. Just 2 more cycling days, then Saigon city tour(extra cost, because Pedaltours perse is over), then a full day Mekong Delta tour, and a mid evening fight to Bangkok,... for the long trek back. Overall, Vietnam has been pretty good, ... a place I'd come back too.
Feb8 Monday, a rest day in Delat (at 1500m, so cool), and Pedal tours had a half day of city tour.... the last kings palace (.... kind of 30s, and not that much different than today), then a visit to the Crazy House, a kind of hotel kind of with kids interests, then a long vist to an embroidery factory. We were free for lunch and choose a questionable place for a 4 oz steak (swimming in oil)... I declined to visit the cable car, because it didnt seem to go anywhere. Had a snooze and worked on my phtotos. Although we were free for dinner we all chose to go together to a restaurant reccommended by Nhan, .... Long Doa, ... not bad, but without guidance we didnt order very well, ....all had New Zealand Ice cream.
Feb 7 98 km cycling with a 4Km climb at the start, and occasional stretches with bad pot-holed roads, but overall the scenery is great. Lunch was after 60.8 Km and it's surprising how quickly you kind of adapt to the Vietnamese diet, ... not very appetizing to describe (soup, noodles, spring rolls, etc) but in the end everybody seems satisfied. In the afternoon cycled another 38.5 Km to DaLat, at 1500 m, and where the French (pre 1954) built a vacation city for their wealthy in Saigon, .... but the French are gone now. The temp is probably 5 degrees cooler than the coast, Dinner was in in a local restaurant, pre-arranged, and everything is served remarkably fast. Rest day tomorrow (in DaLat).
Feb 6 left Nah Trong(Nice-like)and a fair bit of vanning ~4 hours to get up to the beginning of the mountains, but a fair bit cycling too, say 80km. When we got to the Lake resort, we had an elephant ride (2 per elephant), ... fairly long, ... maybe close to an hour, and the last part of the ride through a lake where the water level got to our feet level ... (I assume the elephants like that). The 'Lak Resort' is described as basic, and it was, .... but you have got to appreciate we're in a fairly remote area. A very disturbing sight, when we transitioned from the van to cycling was seeing a cage on the back of a motorcycle with several smallish dogs jammed in like sardines, panting. ....destined to be eaten, ... a sight like that is so bothersome to me (kind of nightmare-ish), .... I cant shake it ...... it keeps coming back. I suppose I can see during the war why eating dogs can be argued, but after 25+ years, .... no way . At 1500 m its coolish at night, can easily wear a jacket.
Feb 5... Today Friday is a rest day, but pretty well full with pedaltour activities, ...first a boat trip out to an island, stopping at a aquarium for half an hour, kind of DisneyWorld like,... if you like that sort of thing. Then off to snorkeling on another part of the island, ...appreciated the opportunity to swim, but the snorkling left a lot to be desired. Then another short trip to a bamboo type lodge to have lunch, typical fish-oriented fare. Them, back on the mainland, to see a Champ minority group temple and dance performance. Then 30 minutes walking around a local fish market, ... others bought cinamon and pepper. Nhan said thtaat junior factory worker makes about 200 USD per month and a senior supervisor makes say 600 USD/mo, and if both husband and wide work, its enough to buy a modest house. However, there's a 2-5% of the population that is very wealthy.
Feb4 ... cycled 63 km to Nha Trang, very much like Nice France (hard though that may be to believe), staying at the very swank Novotel. I'd never heard of Nha Trang, 315,000 population, but its pretty impressive. During the American war (....the Vietnamese call it the "American war"), it was a big port/base. Went to a BBQ,Vietnamese style last night, kind of hibachis on every table with many courses, beef, tuna, languste etc . Then to the Four Seasons for KEM (=ice cream). Riding was good, beautiful stopped for lunch where they served crispy squid (not usually to my liking). On a crest we saw 100 people gathered around a recently killed shark,... why do people kill sharks with such delight? Later we went to a Vietnamese BBQ where there were hibachis on the table and we we grilled beef chicken squid and tuna, .... very good. Im not so fussy for fish, but it was good, and the grilling was fun.
Feb 3 ... 80 km cycling along the coast to Quinhon, beautiful seaside scenery. Cycling faced strong headwinds, so we were an hour late getting to he resort. There were a couple climbs at 10 %, and quite difficult given the 30C (even hotter in the sun). Beautiful resort by the sea, ... too bad only for one night. Our guide Nhan, 41, spent twenty minutes or so talking about his early life, one of ten children. Nhan was 7 at the time of the the fall of Saigon, and he says many were terrified of revenge (because his father worked in some capacity for the Americans), ... but in fact there was no revenge. He talked about the fact he could no longer eat kasava (sweet potato) since that was the only thing his family could afford. He also talked of his uncle who moved to Boston, but family members who later visited were frustrated because their were no other relatives, and the children no longer spoke Vietnamese When I said I got the impression people were fairly happy under one party rule .... he agreed and seemed intereested about my impressions of Cuba which he called "central planning" and " that won't work".
Feb 2 ... 70 km of cycling, .... but even longer in van. Strange, ... we cycled out 35 on a beautiful pastoral road then pretty much retraced our steps. I guess we did that because the road was so nice. Lunch was in a town where its common to serve steamed rice with chunks of chicken, ... and nothing else, turned out ot be quite good ... a lot better than I expected. Fairly small roads, fairly flat, and the rice paddies everywhere make it very deep green. Now in Quang Ngai, after visiting the famous Mi Lai massacre(click) site and memorial. They say the Vietnnamese don't hold resentment of the American's atrocities,... but I'm skeptical. Sunny and 30C, ... and I think most days will be like this.
Feb 1 our first free day, although there was a 2+ hour city tour in the morning. Hoi An is a pretty small town, 80,000, compared to Hanoi, but the "small town" is a closer match to my image of what Vietnam would be like. Dinner on our own turned out well, from a hotel reccomendation, red snapper, with Brian and Doug.
Jan 31 Today has been the first day of true cycling, (100 km) since we left Cambodia, maybe 8 days ago .... so it was very welcome ... and the climate is transformed from Hanoi which was kind of cool and grey. Whereas Hue and Hoi An are sooooo different, eg 30C - or close to it, and kind of a sleepy coastal resort town of 80,000. The route today was on populated but quiet roads (compared to Route #1) where there was little vehicular traffic, and involved a 9km descent (after a van vertical ride up 400m up after lunch) .... the coastal scenery is amazing and the camera doesnt do it justice. I'm getting to really like Vietnam, and while Thailand was "pretty good", I think Vietnam is shaping up as exceptional, and Pedaltours seems to have refined the trip quite a bit, so that it's a pretty polished product. I can remember Tim DeJong of Pedaltours New Zealand saying in 2003, "wait a few years and then try Vietnam, and we'll have worked out the kinks".
I'm getting to know the USA people who joined us (we're now 9 in total) ...a retired dermatologist from Baltimore, a threesome from Colorado (two men and a woman, just friends, and all Republicans) and a couple from Texas, Democrats,.... and all 5 are longtime friends. So, whenever any discussion comes up about US health care or Obama or Bush, the Colorado/Republicans conspicuously just keep very quiet, because the others call the Republicans are the OBSTRUCTIONIST party.... and I guess theres just no defending George Bush. Before dinner the guide took us to a silk factory where I ended up buying a silk-blend black shirt $20, ... should be good.
Jan 30 since we have a couple hours till flight, Brian Doug and I went to war history museum, of the French and American war, (no mention of wars of Cambodia and China, obvious reasons). At one time the theme would have been seen as propaganda, ... but now the Vietnam position is seen as perhaps right (... a good proportion of the US pubic agrees, then, and even more so now). Road back to hotel on three motorcycles, ... a thrill but you have to appreciate the the extreme density of motorcycle traffic (hard to find adequate words) to understand the riskiness. Doug got "taken" by paying 400,000, instead of 40,000 dong, whereas the taxi was about 21,000 ... but it's a bit of a deliberate scam because they they propose in USD, but want you to pay in local currency, where you're a bit confused. Then a fancy lunch and the Air Vietnam fight delayed by 3 hours. Then to the rather tropical city of Hue, where its so nice compared to the coolish dull Hanoi. Then we were fitted with our hybrid bikes, ... seem fine. Then a special dinner where we all got dressed up in fancy old-time Vietnamese robes (kind of silly) and had dinner in a chamber with three musicians and three girl singers, ... all in themes of times long ago.
Jan 29 The official start of the Pedaltour's 14 day trip starts at 6PM when the 9 members meet for the first time. Two from Texas, three from Colorado, and one from Maryland, as well as the three Canadians (Doug, Brian and myself). The guide book says there's only 1.5 hours of sunshine per day in January, ... and that seems to be holding true. Overall the countryside, along the highway is pretty scruffy, dismal (.... sort of like eastern China, every building is a shop on the ground floor), with occasional bright spots like the bright green rice paddies, and the remarkable narrow buildings, built three of four stories high because of land cost. Overall there's a sense of dynamism, that feels like progress is being made (... unlike Cuba). Tomorrow we flu to Hue (half way to Saigon) at 12::30, 1:10 hour flight.
Jan 28 Ha Long bay was a 4 hour drive to overnight on a junk, and it turned out quite nicely, and one night and two part days was about right. The word JUNK and the actually ritzy setup was a contradiction of course. It involved three meals all-seafood oriented, and a staff of about 10 looking after 9 passengers, and a young guide who tried very hard. The cabin was small of course, but rather nicely appointed with a shower/bathroom,... so quite nice really. The afternoon's activity was a visit to very large caves , .... I'm not that big a fan of caves, but they were pretty impressive. Then kayaking over to an island with 425 steps to a pagoda at the top... so we were kept pretty busy. Warm, ... about 25C
Jan 27 now off on a all-day tour to the out of town "Perfume Pagoda" with the same guide. 2 hours drive then 0ne hour in a rowboat, very scenic with Vietnamese planting rice, wearing the typical conical hats. Then cable car to a mountain top and a cave ... some sort of Buddha thing.
Jan 26 did a city tour with an associate of the Pedaltours appointed guide, $45, saw the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Museum of Ethnology (2 hrs, quite good), Lunch, walking tour through the markets, then the water puppets show. Brian Abbot arrived during the day and we met at 6:00 PM for dinner at " Hanoi Seasons" (excellent). Also Stanford from Maryland joined us and will be on the complete 17 day trip. I get the feeling that Hanoi is not very sunny, according to the guide book theres only an average of 1.5 hours of sunshin per day in Januaty. Also the daily high is about 19 C ... which is pretty chilly after Bangkok at 30C.
Jan 25 essentially a "transfer day" Bangkok to Hanoi, Air France 747, ..... all went smoothly. Before gont to airport had half a Skype conversation with Sandy in Florida where I could hear her, GaryD and Cleo barking, and see them too (briefly) but they couldnt hear me although the headset a microphone. Taxi to airport was 400 Bhat with tip ($13) and traffic free but still about 35 minutes. Hanoi seems cold 18C (after Bangkok at near 30C), and a big change in general temperament, architecture, and people warmth, .... or so it seems. Went to ATM to get 2 million Dong, at a rate of 18,500 Dong to one USD. My BMO balance shows 134 million remaining. Had dinner in the hotel restaurant, a "hot pot" buffet which I remember last in Cheng Du (on the excursion to Lhasa) ... essentially boiling meat (chicken, beef, fish, meatball, vegetables) in a table top boiler, ... much like a fondue. Not bad, ... but "boiling" doesnt have the same pizazz as "stir fry"
....... (click) for earlier journal (Thailand Cambodia) in next post.....
