Travels in North Vietnam

TO VIETNAM AND BEYOND  6 October 2015

"There is a major fault with this aircraft " the captain said ...out of the blue an hour out of Heathrow.

What to think ? Major inconvenience or far worse ? Then he said " The in flight entertainment system has to be rebooted"! What a plonker.

So, back to Hanoi, trying to avoid returning to haunts visited on our last trip here with Lucy and Tom in 2012. Nothing much seems to have changed apart from even more motorbikes. On the pavements too in the rush hour!

It's the first time we have returned somewhere on a long trip. We even returned to the same hotel!

New sights? The “ B52 Victory Museum “; commemorating the shooting down of 15 US B52 bombers in December 1972, although not a soul there, not even a member of staff. 

Nic also managed to get in the War Museum whilst Carolyn sat, reading her book in the adjacent cafe. 

Cot Co, the Flag Tower

Mig 21

The Temple of Literature, Vietnam's historical centre of learning and principal Confucian sanctuary, was also fun, not least because it was the local students' graduation day and the temple is an appropriate  place to have their picture taken with their classmates.  It was striking how few male students there were!

We spent a full day as prep for our trip to the north, in the Ethnology Museum with displays on the main 54 ethnological groups in Vietnam. It includes a Chiltern Open Air Museum style range of full size buildings relocated from tribal villages. 

Bahnar community house ; yes,that is Carolyn on the ladder.

Onwards to the North

We travelled to Sa Pa on the night train, paying a premium for our own compartment. You can actually spend a  large  amount for a 'luxurious' carriage but we are glad we didn’t because the quality of the ride is poor regardless, incredibly jolting and noisy. Worse than India!

The idea was to trek in Sa Pa but Carolyn came down with a shocking cold (duly passed on to Nic) and the weather was dire. We knew it would be Lake Districtish in terms of cloud/rain but it was cold too. We had ensured our hotel had heating as most don’t but what with our colds and the damp mist we couldn’t do our planned walks which was frustrating.

We did however  get out the weekly Bac Ha market which lived up to its reputation as a must do with lots of livestock including buffalos, snakes and piglets. We also found some really good food in Sa Pa and even a glass of wine.

Traditional Flower Hmong womens' attire

not sure the high heels are traditional...

Grub's up !!

South from Sa Pa to Dien Bien Phu and the Laos border 

We embarked on our first long bus journey. There are no large tourist style buses here, only minibuses. In practice the drivers load up every available space with everything from foodstuffs to mattresses  and stop to make frequent deliveries. Passengers are definitely secondary and the seat sizes are designed for the locals. In addition, every bus has a screen showing local films and music videos at full volume.The roads are also poor and subject to being washed away in the rain which produced some interesting moments. The joys of travel!

One benefit of the meandering route was that we did see same unusual sights; perhaps the fermented monkey liquor in a locals' cafe should take pride of place.

Yes, it is a monkey's foot...

Wow, there is a big drop down there..

Stayed overnight  in Dien Bien Phu close to the Laos border. Up at 4.30 am for the next bus across and, as Tom assured us from his reccy a few weeks earlier, the interesting experience of obtaining a visa......including some imaginative "extras" such as the  laughable "Ebola test " for another few Kip.

Into Laos and Muang Khiau

We had not been able to contact  let alone book a hotel in this dusty little town but managed to find a B (albeit without the "and B") which worked out OK apart from being though woken up by Buddhist chanting very early indeed. Muang Khiau provided a first look at Laos rural life which is pretty tough. Our journey continued by one of the boats pictured which was a welcome change from the minibuses!