Florin Bora

On the streets in Ha Noi

florinbora — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:42:46 +0000

November 17th of 2011, Ha Noi, Vietnam

Traditional water puppets performing on a street corner.

I’m back to Ha Noi waiting for my plane to Taipei tomorrow. I already did the sight seeing the last time that I was here, so for now I just walked the streets aimlessly, stayed in cafes, looked for bargains, presents and souvenirs. One thing that I missed was the water puppet show; I’m pretty sure in the past there were traveling artists going from vilage to vilage to perform. It was also the first time I got the chance to listen to authentic Vietnamese music (I only heard cheesy Asian pop, at maximum volume most of the times when I traveled by bus). Definitely, worth checking.

I was trying to take a picture of the St. James Cathedral, and when I look at the shot I see a cable ruining it. I try another angle, but there's still cables in the picture, no matter what I do. I look around and I see this. It's like it everywhere.

So many times I walked on a narrow street for not more than two people to walk by, only to see some one having lunch there, a cook serving him, a few people passing by, and a motorcycle weaving through them. Speaking of motorcycles, you wouldn’t belive what Vietnamese can transport on them, and I’m not talking about trivial things like TVs and fridges: I’ve seen huge cages with chicken, families of four: mom, dad and two kids, and what topped it off, a 200 liter aquarium with water and swimming goldfish in it. Also, if you ever wondered if it’s possible to gracefully ride a bike, in a miniskirt and five inch heels, the answer is yes.

On the streets in Ha Noi.

On the streets in Ha Noi. Guy sitting on motorcycle and clipping his toe nails.

On her way to rob a bank?!

Cute girls on a bike.

Favorite past time of Hanoians. Sit on streets corners on ten inch stols, drinking lemonade and cracking sun flower seeds.

There's an unhappy rooster somewhere.

Cat Ba island and Ha Long Bay

florinbora — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:17:38 +0000

November 15th of 2011, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Sunset on Cat Ba island.

With regrets I took the last sleeping bus, from Sa Pa to Ha Noi, where I slept like a baby and woke up when everybody was already off the bus. My backpack was still around (fortunately), I picked it up and went to get my flight ticket to Taipei from the Central Backpacker Hostel. The ticket is just a print out, which you receive after some guy you dont know, speaks Vietnamese on the phone with God knows who. This kind of booking makes tourists so vulnerable to scams – at least I payed with a credit card, so that I cancel the transaction.

Ha Long Bay.

Most of the people that want to see Ha Long Bay go to Ha Long City and from there book a tour. Another Spanish traveler told me that it’s better to go to Cat Ba island on the other side of the bay, take a boat from there to cross the bay, and get back to Ha Noi from Ha Long City. It’s easier said than done, because to arrive to the island you have to take a bus to Hai Phong, then another bus to a pier in the middle of nowhere, and then a boat and then another bus. It’s all worth it because the prices are really good, there are fewer tourists and a national park on the island in case you want to spend more time here.

Ha Long Bay.

I rented a motorcycle, toured the island from one end to another; I arrived to the pier on the north end of the island just just a few minutes time to take a picture and came back after dark. Cat Ba island is just like Ha Long Bay without the water (it’s supposed to be funny), sandstone mountains in a see of green forest.

Fisherman village in Ha Long Bay.

A few days earlier I met a middle aged American woman in the hotel. I was looking for some information and asked her how was her trip to Sa Pa and Ha Long Bay. She said, “Sa Pa was really good, I really enjoyed my time there, but for Ha Long, I was the only single person on the boat, and even one day was too much for me”. There’s some truth in that, I think a great honey moon idea would be to navigate the bay labrynth for a few days with a loved one. One can still enjoy it regardless of being single or not. I had great time on the boat, great company, shared traveling stories, and almost convinced two guys from Spain to alter their trip plans to include Laos.

Ha Long Bay.

Northern highlands

florinbora — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:23:36 +0000

November 13th of 2011, Ha Noi, Vietnam

Sa Pa in the evening hours.

This time I was able to get on a bus, and after a good night sleep I arrived to Sa Pa at 7:30 in the morning. The mountains in northern Vietnam are not very tall, so that you don’t have altitude sickness, and the landscapes are amazing. To cultivate rice they terrace the slopes of the hills, and sometimes it looks like entire mountains are green covered stairways.

Shoe shopping fever.

This is the place in Vietnam to see minority nations, Hmong in areas of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Yunan province in China, Yao people have some very cool black dresses, and sometimes women shave their forehead and wear a red turban, Tay I only saw a few. Despite their unusual clothing they are up to date with the technology today; at first I found it surprising to see them riding motorcycles or use smart phones.

Shy smile.

In the travel book, there was a Sunday market listed in the village of Bac Ha, almost 100 km from Sa Pa. From my past experiences I know that these markets are great places to meet locals and see traditional crafts. Within minutes of getting off the bus, I was on a motorcycle, having bargained for 30USD for the round trip Sa Pa to Bac Ha. If women wear amazingly colorful clothes, the man, either have plain clothes or a worn out military jacket probably from the times of Ho Chi Minh. I had so much trouble getting pictures of the locals, similar to the people of South America that think their soul is stolen when you take a picture, they would all turn their heads, if they see a camera pointed towards them. At some point I saw of very pretty girl and almost begged to let me photograph her. A Vietnamese that spoke English translated, and after explaining why I want the photo, and assuring her that the picture is not going to appear in a newspaper, she reluctantly agreed to pose. All her friends ran away, and she still looked down when I took the shot.

Yao girl trying to convince me that purses are for men too and that I should buy one.

I bought a traditional hat (my collection is getting out of control now), ate a soup with some corn jello – or at least it tasted like one, checked out the bull market, pig market, plastic shoes market and what ever else was there and then back to Lao Cai and Sa Pa. As I sad the landscape is amazing, really enjoyed the four hour ride in the hilly countryside. By the time we got to Sa Pa though there was fog, and I couldn’t take any pictures. I left the next day, wanting to spent more days in Ha Long Bay; somehow I wish I had more time here.

Ha Noi

florinbora — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:35:32 +0000

November 12th of 2011, Ha Noi, Vietnam

Temple of Literature.

I fell victim to the bus mafia again. My plan was to get the night bus to Sa Pa as soon as I arrive in Ha Noi, so I went to the first hotel that sold bus tickets and bought one. I also had to take a motorbike because the station was quite far away. The bus is late, and when I call the hotel to make sure I’m in the right place I’m told that, the beds are sold and I “may have to sit”. Fearing the worst, I wait for the bus, that of course it’s full with people sleeping on the isle too. The driver also made me get up the bus explaining that there’s room for me. I made him stop got off took my backpack and a cab back to the hotel, where I had a little argument to get my money back. Growing up in a communist country myself, I know that when you threaten to get the police, all arguments end up in your favor. Sometimes police can act pretty arbitrary or try to find fault just to get bribes, so they reimbursed me the cost of the ticket, but I also wasted the evening, taking taxis and waiting for a bus that I didn’t eventually take.

Tran Quoc pagoda.

The hotels are more expensive that the average because there were floods in the south, at Hoi An and Hue, and all the tourists came up to Ha Noi. The city is much more crowded than Saigon. I’m staying in downtown, right next to the cathedral, the streets are dimly lit and in the square everybody passes time drinking lemonade and eating sunflower seeds. When in Ha Noi, do what hanoians do, but I had a beer instead of lemonade. At midnight sharp, a police car passes by, all party ends and the streets empty.

One pillar pagoda.

I toured the city; I think I like it better than Saigon. Temple of literature is a university and a Taoist temple. There must have been a graduating ceremony or something of this sort because I saw a lot of students dressed in traditional clothing and proud parents taking pictures. Ho Chi Minh, found his resting place against his wish to be cremated in a mausoleum. There are so many similarities between him and Lenin, in terms of looks, politics and life. Then I took a tour of the pagodas and ended up at the Ngoc Son temple on Hoan Kiem lake, where all newly weds take pictures.

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Strangers insist on having pictures with me.

Later in the evening I finally was able to get on a bus to Sa Pa, this time having my own seat.

Luang Prabang

florinbora — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:49:49 +0000

November 11th of 2011, Luang Prabang, Laos

I was so excited to see Vientiane, but after I arrived to Luang Prabang, I regretted I didn’t come here earlier to spend an extra day. Unlike the other places that I’ve been to, the weather is cool, as much as to need a sweater in the evening and a blanket at night. That’s good because the one thing that I didn’t like in the south was getting sweatty and muggy every time I walked more than half an hour outside.

Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang.

I took an overnight bus on the way here; it was super uncomfortable and almost didn’t sleep at all. I also met a cheese artist from Switzerland traveling with his girfriend – I think I missed an opportunity to earn something about it, but maybe I’ll go on a future cheese trip to compensate. They were also complaining about how they couldn’t sleep but they also had the fist seats in the upper deck and were telling me how narrow the road is and that when two buses pass by eachother, they barely have room to both stay on the road.

Tree of life mosaic at Wat Xieng Thong.

First thing is that there are no hostels (or I didn’t see any), instead there are guest houses, they are all very clean, and the ones that are on the bank of the Mekong river have outdoor patios. Food of course is good, but by now I’m begining to see how certain dishes that I ate in Cambodia and Vietnam, are found here too, with slightly different flavors. Even the people visiting are very different, there are no party crowds like elsewhere in Indochina, and while there are a few pubs or clubs everything pretty much shuts down after 10pm. Including the night market on the main street.

Naga boat.

I started to walk towards the end of the peninsula to see Wat Xieng Thong. On my way there I see a wat that’s not on the map, and I keep walking and I see another, and another and so on. There are literally dozens of warts and hundereds of monks in Luang Prabang, in a city that’s just a few streets wide. The oldest and the most beatuful Wat Xieng Thong has a very beautiful tree of life mozaic on the back wall; in one of the adjiacent buildings there’s a golden naga boat that was used for celebrations of the Lao New Year (in April actually). Amazing craftmanship; photographing it’s complicated – the space is very narrow and crowded. Wat Chom Si, is on a hill in the middle of the town, where you can have good views of the town and the Mekong river at sunset. When I got there, there were literally hundereds of people also wanting to do the same thing. I did take pictures, that turned ok, but the entire sunset on the hill was highly overrated.

Alms ceremony, Luang Prabang, Laos.

Every morning at sixish, at the alms ceremony monks walk the streets of Luang Prabang. Locals and tourists put small quantities of rice (or other foods) in the baskets of every single monk that passes on the street.r The small pieces from each donor add up and in the end all monks have the baskets full of rice. The monks walk in long lines somewhat organized by the wats they live at, with the last ones returning to the Wat Xieng Thong. There were cases in the past of tourists misbehaving or showing disrespect for the monks (I’ve also seen it in Vientiane), in the sense that, they just get very close to them, flash the cameras in their faces in the hope of a “good picture”. I also saw many posters in town explaining how are you supposed to observe the ceremony. This morning I have to say, everybody was well behaved; people were waiting quietly on the other side of the road, quietly taking pictures occasionally. The whole experience is so spiritually rewarding, it felt great to be part of it.

Sunset over the Mekong river.

Luang Prabang was also the residence of the Lao kings until 1930s, the royal palace was converted in National Museum, theater, park, and an art gallery. Also just like in Hoi An, there are many art stores, I saw two photography exhibitions that really impressed me. I don’t have any pictures because I felt it’s inapropriate to do so.

P.S. In Laos I also saw the prettiest girls in Asia.

That Luang Festival in Vientiane

florinbora — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:13:03 +0000

November 8th of 2011, Vientiane, Laos

Without planning, without even knowing about it I arrived in Vientiane right in the middle of the That Luang festival – on the full moon in November. It’s the anniversary of the building (or rather rebuilding) of the Great Stupa. It was distroyed on a Thai invasion and rebuilt in the French colonial period in 1901 and 1931. Festival means that there’s a street fair with lots of food, clothes and who knows what for sale, and a lot of Bhuddist monks and nuns in town.

The great stupa, Vientiane.

First thing that strikes me is that almost all women wear traditional clothing. It’s a black dress with a silvery or golden hem, very similar to traditional clothing that you see in some places in Moldova. On top of that, all students from the first grade until they finish college have to wear the same uniform, which is also traditional skirt and white shirt. Actually the uniform for students is a little bit different but I wouldn’t have noticed it unless I was told. They also ride motorcycles.

Thausands of Buddhas at Wat Si Sakett.

Elsewhere in Indochina, temples are very big and imposing structures; in Vientiane they look more like cozy little cabins – with gold painted walls that is. The main wat, Si Saket, has small nooks on the inner walls and thousands of statues of Buddha.

Arc de Triomphe.

The French influence was so great that Vientiane has its own “Arc de Triomphe” – Lao style. This may well be the tallest building in the city, because I climbed on top of it and didn’t see anything taller in sight.

Train.

While I’m walking around the stupa, one of the monks starts to talk to me. It turns out that he also speaks English because he was an Engineer before becoming a monk. So we talk for a while, and he introduces me to his fellow monks, and one of them catches my attention because he has a huge tiger hear tattooed over his chest. That was only one of them; he had tattoos all over his body arms and even head. I asked to take a picture but he insisted that he wears a shirt and then explaind some of them. One, was the name of his village in Thailand. His name is “Train” and had another one on a leg with a train. The tiger was supposed to show how fearce he was. And then the most important was on his other leg. As it turns out he stayed in prison for seven years, and had tattooed all his bad deeds: poker cards, a bottle of alcohol, shackles, a gun, opium pipe, and I thought I saw a skull, but it may have been something else. After he got out of jail, he changed his ways, took the monk oath, and had been living like this for the past twenty seven years. He did look happy and I hope he found enlightenment.

Guide on what to do when you arrive in a city that’s not in the travel book and no one speaks your language

florinbora — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:48:55 +0000

November 6th of 2011, Vinh, Vietnam

From Phong Nha, a guy took me to the AH1 highway that runs north-south along the sea shore connecting Saigon and Ha Noi, where I stopped a minibus going to Vinh. Once I got there:
1. Walk toward the tallest building in sight
2. Hijack unpassworded wifi networks to find your location
3. Once you have a reliable internet connection translate a few useful phrases like “I want to get on a bus to Laos”, “Where can I find a hotel/place to eat, etc”
4. Always talk to middle aged woman, because the chance of you being scammed is much lower.

This way I figured out that the buses to Laos stop every morning at VietLaos hotel, I booked a crappy room there, and bought a ticket for the next day. I was also getting hungry and after a few attempts to eat at a local food stall, I gave up when I saw a dozen raw yellowish dead chicken on the counter that must have been sitting there all day. To my shame I chose instead the local KFC, because I thought it would at least be healthier. Ironic, isn’t it? In Vinh, the KFC at the mall is the place to be, as I found out when I met eight girls from the eleventh grade in at the local high school. At least they spoke some English. After every single one of them took pictures with me and complimented me on how handsome I am, I went to the hotel and got a good night sleep because there was nothing else to do anyways.

Next day, all day long bus trip to Vientiane, visa on arrival at the border with no problems.

The elusive Mountain River Cave

florinbora — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:45:28 +0000

November 6th of 2011, Phong Nha-Ke, Vietnam

Phong Nha-Ke park at the early hours of the day.

The reason why I ended up in this place was this story from National Geographic magazine, about the largest cave in the word being discovered about two years ago in the Phong Nha-Ke National Park.

Formations in the Phong Nha cave.

The problem with it is that being so newly discovered there are no tours to visit it, and as a matter of fact there isn’t even a road to take you there. While I was in Hue, I talked to a couple of tour operators that only convinced me that I cannot get there in an organized way, but when I was able to give up hope, I met on the street a girl from Australia that was teaching in Hue, and she told me that some of her friends did go to the cave, but my hope would be to go to Dong Hoi (on the way to Phong Nha) and try to book something there. So here I am taking the first bus in the morning to Dong Hoi. I had no idea where to get off; the last stop was somewhere close to a market, where nobody spoke English. I managed to explain to an old guy with a motorcycle to take me downtown – that’s really en euphemism. Took me about two hours to find that the downtown is just a street with a few stores, but at least I found a hotel with wifi and could be able to download the maps and translate a few phrases on the google translate. Apparently everybody was very confused when I asked for a “tourist information center” because, guess what, there’s no such thing in Dong Hoi. As it happened in the past three days, it also starts to rain, and I’m sitting outside a hotel trying to find online a way to get to Phong Nha. Surprisingly, or maybe not, google searches with “Dong Hoi tours”, “Dong Hoi turists agency” give no relevant results. While checking the web I did stumble across another blog, of a traveler that ended up in Dong Hoi, which she described as “the Alabama of Vietnam”. Very disconcerting to read that in the middle of a downpour in a place where no one speaks English. So, I did go to every cafe, or bus store in downtown but really no one was able to help me, except for this girl at at a Vietnam Airlines store that would hire a car for me to go to Phong Nha, and then bring me back to Dong Hoi, for about 60USD, but no word of Dong Son cave, which she claimed need special approval for government to visit. So instead I decided I can do the whole thing cheaper on my own hired a guy with a motorcyle to take me to Phong Nha for 15USD. In the rain. After an hour long ride, I’m in Phong Nha, all clothes soaking wet, shoes and underwear included. I had close to the best and longest hot shower in mylife. Later in the evening I start to ask again about the Dong Son cave. The hotel owner heard about it, but he says it’s very far in the jungle, and I should ask about it at the park entrance. Next day at the park entrance, they tell me they don’t organize anything to that cave because there’s no easy way of access to it. I insist and ask the lady there if the knows anyone the went of did go there. A few phone calls later she tells me about a “Viettour Discovery” located in Dong Hoi that may go there. At this point you imagine the cursing that went through my mind sice I already spend almost a full day in there trying to find a tour agency. After some consideration I decided I’m not going to spend my vacation to get to the River Mountain Cave and second largest in Vietnam in good enough for now, and went to Phong Nha cave.

Formations in the Phong Nha cave.

This cave was used by Ho Chi Minh as a field hospital during the war and it has some pretty cool formations. I took a bunch of cool pictures, I was alone in the cave anyways because it was so early in the morning. After that I needed to find a way to go to Laos.

Phong Nha cave.

The city of the emperors

florinbora — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:24:02 +0000

November 4th of 2011, Hue, Vietnam

Imperial palace, Hue.

In the morning I had an attempt to get a motorcycle to from Hoi An to Hue, which would have been a great idea because the scenery is very nice, but I’ve been asked about how much it would cost to rent a car per day in New York, so I gave that up and caught the bus in the last moment. It looks like day time or night time the sleeper bus is the way to travel here. Besides that it took us four hours to cover the 120km, and it was painful to see scooters passing by the bus. Add to that the customary detour to a hotel of the driver’s choice, which I politely declined, and by mid-day I found a nice room in the Google hotel. I don’t know if they pay any royalties to the IT giant. I guess not.

Thien Mu pagoda in torrential rain.

Since I only had half a day, I went to see the imperial palace. It was the residence of Vietnamese emperors for more than a hundred years. However because of the close proximity to the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam, survival of a few revolutions, and bombing by American airplanes it lost the luster of the yesteryears. The palace itself was actually very large; where once the administrative buildings stood now there are streets, and only the personal quarters can be visited. At the end of the tour, I surprisingly found that in one of the buildings there’s a cafe-bar. I lavishly enjoyed a mango milkshake in the imperial quarters, and that was the end of the day.

Thien Mu pagoda.

I was thinking I would save the rest of the city for the next day. I was woken up by the sound of the rain, monsoon is not like the the November rain in Europe, that lasts for days, it’s so strong that the sound of the the rain in the window woke me up. I had breakfast, coffee, chatted with the girls in the restaurant using the google translator of the phone, for hours hoping weather will get better. Around three in the afternoon, it was clear rain will not stop so I rented a scooter and went to see Thien Mu pagoda about seven kilometers away. As soon as I got there, rain started to get worse. I had to wait, and really enjoyed the time in the temple watching the rain, listening to the monks hit the gong, and spotting occasional tourist.

Hidden gem of Vietnam: Hoi An

florinbora — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:44:16 +0000

November 2nd of 2011, Hoi An, Vietnam

Streets of Hoi An.

From Nha Trang, for the second night in a row I took the sleeper bus to Hoi An. In the good Asian tradition you have to take your shoes off when you get on the bus, put them in a bag, and later next to you when you sleep. I seriously wonder how come no one else except for Vietnamese thought of this great invention: the bus with the beds instead of seats. I slept eight solid hours with a small break at midnight, and at 6am it felt just great to start my day.

The owner literally interrupted his lunch to show me his house.

A word about hotel/hostel mafia in Vietnam: they conspire to high jack unsuspecting tourists from their well planned, well established itineraries to find a good place to sleep. The bus doesn’t stop at the bus station, it takes you to a hotel that they get commission from, far from the city center “just to see how it is and if you don’t like it, don’t stay”. People are very nice and hard to refuse, prices are cheaper indeed, but in general with some bargaining I was able to get a room at the same price somewhere else. So aside from this small detour, I dropped by bag at a hostel of my choice and went to see the city.

Japanese covered bridge.

This place is one of my favorites so far, if it means anything for you it was included in the world heritage sites in 1991. Imagine Vietnam in the nineteenth century very well conserved, with a lot of art galleries, taylors, souvenir shops, restaurants, on the banks of a river. By art galleries I don’t mean the cheap tourist kind. There’s plenty of that, but in addition to it there’s some with lacquer painting style by respectable artists.

Hoi An by day.

A few century old houses that are still inhabited and can be visited. In some cases, the people were minding their own business, stop what they were doing, show you their house and get back to their daily chores. For others the family members dressed in traditional clothing give you a tour. The restaurants have the “wow factor”, I had for lunch braised pork over eggplant in sweet and sour sauce. Really good indeed, and I’m sure if I knew the language, or someone to recommend me dishes it would be even better.

Hoi An by night.

At night red lanterns light up in the old town; can’t help falling in love with it.