Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

Ho Chi Minh City, which is how Saigon was renamed after the reunification of Vietnam -yes, I prefer the old name-, is the big city, the metropolis of Vietnam. Not that Vietnam does not have big cities, as I would realize later, but HCMC is massive, fast-paced, and sprawled around.
Unlike Hanoi, Saigon feels like a modern city, not because it's been recently built (although there are a lot of new construction), but because the center was city planned so there are big avenues, boulevards and parks. Here we have to thank again the French for their heritage. It is definitely one of the big Asian capitals, fast, brash, with lots of high-rise and skyscrapers on the move,
We spent two days walking around the city, its majestic buildings, and eating great pho at the markets. I must say the food here is the closest to the one I had at the Vietnamese restaurants in Seattle. On the second day we visited the Botanical Gardens where there was one of the strangest zoos I've ever visited: next to the animals' sites there were fairground attractions with music blasting, however the animals seemed quite healthy and alive. I am against keeping animals in zoos for display though, even if they look healthy (I've visited unfortunately other city zoos, like the ones in Asuncion (Paraguay) and Georgetown (Guyana) and it was sad seeing the animals die). After lunch I went to the HCM Museum, which unfortunately was not the HCMC Museum, the one I was after. After a long day walking by the river we eventually had dinner at a fancy restaurant. What a better thing to do in Vietnam than eating!

Mui Ne, a break for the cities' buzz.

We took the overnight train from Danang which arrived at Binh Thuan station at 12:35pm, then a 45 minutes taxi ride to Mui Ne. Mui Ne is a long bay fully developed with hotels and bars which caters mainly to the Russian tourists. These proved to be genuinely quiet and well mannered - I've always heard the opposite opinion -, so it was great hanging around them without backpackers or loud English-speaking tourists misbehaving, what made my curiosity about unknown and exotic Russia increase.

However the part of the bay where we stayed has suffered badly from erosion and there is not much beach left: there are sand bags outside the hotels to prevent further erosion, but not enough sand left to lay your towel. This was a bit of a disappointment at first, although it wouldn't be all that bad: there are lots of amazing restaurants with fresh seafood at very affordable prices, and even exotic meats in the menu such as frogs, eels, sharks and crocodiles. And then passing the Blue Ocean resort the beach has lots of sand as the winds don't reach in that direction, so one just has to rent a motorbike or take a ride to enjoy a really good beach.

We searched on google that night (travelfish) and found out that past the Mui Ne fishing village and the red dunes there were wonderful stretches of beach with hardly any people there. And so we hired a motorbike and went the next day to Nuoc Suoi, right passing Hon Rom, and had our first beach day of the trip, a well deserved rest from the Vietnam buzz. We charged batteries in our incredibly cheap Russian luxury-resort and got ready for Vietnam big city.

One last thing: the beach at Nuoc Suoi, which is at around half an hour from Mui Ne fishing village, was mostly empty, apart from some fishermen and a few turists scattered away. There are however a few developments finished and under construction, so its days as a wild natural beach are unfortunately numbered. A sign to what is coming to Vietnam, a country with hundreds of miles of coastline, which, despite its privileged climate and environment, has put development and progress first. One can only hope the best I guess.

Hue and Hoi An, old imperial cities.

After a magnificent cruise around Halong Bay, where we were lucky enough to have three sunny days in a sparsely occupied boat and had a magnificent trip, I will move on to the next stop. We took the overnight train back in Hanoi to Hue. Hue is an old imperial city which was heavily bombed by the USA, however there are still a few temples up in the Citadel complex and some are being slowly rebuilt. It was an interesting stop since the city is famous for its food variety - I was not impressed however since it is based in meat and not fish, but it was tasty and good, as in the whole of Vietnam -.
Although it was cloudy when we visited the Citadel, I was still impressed by the harmony of the complex and the artistic and beautiful layout and interior of the remaining temples, specially the ceramic tiled details of columns, roofs, statues, ... Then we had an hour cruise on the Perfume river (that is its name), a great way to finish a sightseeing day. Great place.
Nex day we took the train to Danang and on to Hoi An. From the taxi Danang looks like a very modern tourist city, with loads of fancy new built hotels, parks, colourful neons and night-lit atractions, and also quite a few big hotel chains, such as Sheraton, Crowne Plaza, .. Why on earth don't we hear more of it? Come on West, Vietnam is rising!
Hoi An is delightful, another old port/city turned amazing tourism destination, a place where you would like to linger on for a few days eating, walking around its beautiful old streets, bridges, riverfront, going on excursions on a bike or motorbike to the beach and surroundings. One day and a half felt short, the place was really inviting and I felt like in Cartagena de Indias, where I spend a whole week just in the old town enjoying the place.
We went on a morning visit to My Son, the old capital by the Cham, on of the old Vietnamese empires, which was again heavily bombed by the USA, but which is also being painstakingly slowly rebuilt. Very interesting to see these old temples dated for over a thousand years ago, and specially in the jungle surroundings with streams of water running around. There were lots of tourists though; there are lots of tourists coming to Vietnam, it is not a secret, well done because it's easily understandable. And we finished the day with another mouthwatering dinner at a fancy Vietnamese restaurant. I realize I will food here badly.

Hanoi, the busy capital of Vietnam.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a buzzing city on the move, which never stops. Many things are happening everywhere you look, this is the city that never stops. It is ancient, and luckyly the old architecture, Chinese, Vietnamese, French colonial, is still there, even if camouflaged in the modest new buildings. It has not suffered the massive destructive development like China - as one may think -, but it is easy to feel it will.Vietnam is developing, and Vietnamese people are hungry for it and willing to get ahead.
One of the things that come to my head after three days in Hanoi is the similarity with China - I actually have not been to China -. I can't help thinking I am in China, Hanoi is what I think China is: people are constantly working, making a deal, moving from one place to another, eating, cooking... I do not see idle people hanging around, everybody is working. I am also pleasantly surprised at how efficient and professional people are: our hotel travel agent have booked the remaining of our Vietnam journey saving us a lot of hustle. Vietnam can only get better. Although it is overpopulated, and people are not of aware of that issue, they are still proud and willing to have several kids and are very family orientated. I hope life gets better here.
One thing that saddens me is how Vietnamese hate China. Yes, China did a lot of horrible things and is still causing some harm to this region, but unless the whole of Asia get itself together, Western influence is not going to let this area progress. A whole lot of diplomatic and government negotiations are required.
Back to Hanoi. we stayed at the old city, a crazy maze of streets crammed with motorbikes, bikes, street vendors, stalls with all kind of goods, restaurants, tables, chairs, dogs, chickens, people and food. Good food. Great food. Phos, noodles, noodle soup..., Vietnamese food is fantastic and extremely healthy. Food is a very good reason to come to Vietnam, or one of the several good reasons. I could eat phos, needles and needle soup for the rest of my life. And dragon fruit and baby bananas.
After visiting the old city, lakes and colonial architecture for two days, I am exhausted: there are just too many obstacles I have to dodge to walk around. This is a busy city, exciting but maybe too exciting. I am now looking forward to move on and see the many beautiful and exciting places Vietnam has to offer.

A day around Luang Prabang.

After three days of rain we finally went on a day tour. We started with a ride on top of an elephant near the river. Elephants here did not seem badly treated, or at least they were allowed to grab some tree branches and bamboo whilst stumping. They are a bit smaller here than in other areas.
After the elephant ride we crossed the Mekong on a very long Laotian boat to visit Pak Ou Caves, carved in a limestone cliff, another sacred place full of buddha statues inside.
We then had a basic lunch - as Laotian food is really superb -, and drove back to Luang Prabang, this time to set on to the waterfalls, after a coffee stop - this thanks to two French ladies who came up with the idea -. We had a stop before at a "Whiskey village", which is basically a market where we tasted some local rice whine and saw a display of whiskey bottles with cobras, snakes, lizards... inside.
Finally we arrived at Kuang Si Falls at 3:15pm, and one couldn't help thinking why on earth didn't we arrive earlier. The falls are truly stunning, like one of those postcard-perfect pictures you find in a Chinese restaurant. They are really one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. There were cascades everywhere and the water had a dark whitish green color that it's hard to believe it's their natural color. I climbed to the top of the cliff, where there were some pools with a slide and people hanging around, and back to the lower pools where I finally had a dive. This was no doubt the highlight of the trip.

Charming Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is beautiful, charming, quiet, tranquile. Its architecture is a unique mixture of old colonial houses and local low-roof temples coming out of the jungle, next to the Mekong river; there are no high-rise buildings and there aren't many cars on the streets, apart from the minivans and tuk=tuks. It has a feel that it is stuck in time and that it resists the advance of ugly new construction and developments. It is truly a gem hidden in the middle of the jungle. The temples are stunning, the view of the Mekong is so relaxing, one wonders how comes there are no landslides on its sides, as no walls have been constructed yet.

It has been raining for three days, and it is still a pleasure to walk around the old streets, contemplating temples, homes, shops and food stalls. 

Food-wise, Luang Prabang is a paradise. It's sophisticated way of cooking, delicious and unusual taste, at ridiculously cheap prices will amaze you You can go to an upmarket restaurant and pay what you would pay at a budget restaurant back home. Then you can have street food for as little as $1.00. At the night market you can have a vegetarian buffet plate for $1.75. I had it one day, and I had to have it the next day. Desserts have a sweet and soft taste. The combination of spice and lemongrass is particularly delicious.

There are many buddhist monks strolling, specially by the Mekong, most of them are children and young boys. It seems that kids have their education at the Monastery, so from a young age they learn how to be quiet, respectful and kind, no sign of screaming or street kids, what a difference from the West, not to mention from many developing places. I have not come across anybody begging, and this is supposed to be a poor country. Well, it is rich for me, as people seem happy and, if their lives are a hard-working struggle, they definitely do not show it. To me this is the real example of a happy buddhist country, far from any ulterior material motive (see Bhutan and its tourist campaign of happiness at extremely expensive prices, I believed it and was disappointed when I visited). And this is a communist country. Perhaps the combination of a very low population in a very green and forested land with many still untouched resources, a lack of new construction and developments, and a kind and loving antique culture, is what makes this beautiful country truly one of the happiest countries in the world. Keep it quiet.

Striking temples in Vientiane.

An early start for a sightseeing tour in Vientiane. We arrange a tuk tuk to take us to all five sights, starting by the Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan),which is full of new statues with a Dali feel, very enjoyable including the pumpkin looking lookout. From there we stop to marvel at the most important monument in Laos, Pha That Luang, with its golden stupa and divine palace and temples. Then we visit Patuxai, or the  Laotian "Arc de triomphe", interestingly based in the French one. We finished at Wat Si Saket, the oldest temple in Vientiane which, if not the most striking, it hosts inside its walls an interesting collection of buddhas in all sizes; then at Haw Pha Kaew, another striking golden painted temple. Those are the main sights in Vientiane, but there many other beautiful temples and buildings, and they stand out since there are no high rise buildings. Vientiane is easy and enjoyable to the eye: a marvel.