Vietnam fever

All aboard the nightbus to Ninh Binh. There is no need, in Vietnam at least, to take the nighttrain as the nightbus is faster, just as comfortable but only half the price of a trainticket.


We stopped round midnight in the middle of nowhere to go to the toilet and also to witness all the vendors screaming and gesticulating to get your attention. Quite surreal when you have just woken up.

We were dropped off at the side of a road at 4.30 in rainy and dark Ninh Binh but thank God for early life in SE Asia as there was a coffee place right cross the street where we sat down waiting for the sun to rise enjoying a hot cup of Joe. The dark clouds got a bit less dark signalling daytime so we put on our ponchos and turned out we were only 10 minutes from the Ngoc Anh Hotel which hadn't opened yet. We took some chairs that were nearby and sat ourselves down to enjoy the free WIFI. Some time later the staff woke up apologising that they hadn't noticed us before, brought us to our cosy, meaning tiny, room where we slept till 11.

Ninh Binh is again not an attractive city and is skipped by many travellers that prefer going straight to Hue or Hanoi. It is more a big rest place for the highway that runs straight to the center. A bit like Antwerp will be if the Lange Wapper will be built...

The surroundings however are stunning! We hopped on a local bus and after an hour driving on a muddy road through waving green rice paddies we arrived at That Diem, a Catholic church that looks like a pagoda. The church is located in a little but bustling town and hardly any scooters but all the more bicycles. Waiting at the roadside for the bus we were quite the attraction. A motorbike driver tried very hard to convince us that the last bus was already gone and that he was the only option back to town. Patience was rewarded and the last bus for the day showed up. You can't blame the motodriver for trying.

During the night the rain fell plentiful and by morning had turned into drizzle. We rented bikes for the day, the ponchos came out again and we took to the highway.


Loads of trucks speeding by, signalling their approach 500 metres in advance using their horn and when passing they seem to make an extra effort in cranking up the volume and frequency of beeping. Not exactly relaxing drive but we took a side road that would lead us to the first attraction of the day: a boat ride to the Tam Coc caves. A mystical place surrounded by green rice paddies and limestone mountains. The grey clouds and drizzle just added more to the atmosphere as you can see if you click here. During the ride the boat lady will ask if you want to buy some nice fabric. Just say no as we saw many people who had said yes and had to fight through tonnes of the stuff. Except for the occasional ambush from vendors it's a very peaceful setting. Had some noodle soup and back on the road to Mua Grotti. A pagoda on top of a hill that can be reached by climbing the 500 steps but the view makes it more than worthwhile.


Met a couple of Spaniards that were going through Asia by bicycle and who accompanied us to the ancient capital of Hoa Lu where there was kind of a fair going on with lots of betting and scams! Following some dirt tracks and highways that were being built we arrived back into town just before sunset haven driven 50 km. After a rewarding shower we treated ourselves to fried gambas and fried bananas.

Had our last breakfast where the ever friendly owner gave us both a nice gift and receiving a hug from the cleaning lady. We met up with Bruno, a french guy that lives and works in Brugge for 4 years already and who would accompany us to Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi.

A smooth bus ride of 3 hours later we arrived to the city, checked into the hotel and went for a delicious lunch of bun bo soup. Time to explore the city and even though it's smaller than HCMC it seems more busy and stressing. In the extremely busy old quarter all items and services are grouped together. You find engine parts in street X, rattan baskets in street Y, cloth in street Z and so on. It's incredibly noisy because all the scooters beep constantly. We think that one of the skills you need to get your license is being able to beep at least 50 times per minute. All the impressions and noise left us exhausted and we headed back for a nap. Met up with Bruno for a hotpot dinner and a nice coffee and chat.

After a delicious breakfast in Baguette et Chocolate we visited the excellent ethnological museum where you can see the various customs, clothes and real size houses of the many minority groups in Vietnam. Another treat awaited us namely yogurt with honey in a store that was made famous by Catherine Deneuve whilst she was filming “Indochine” We went back many times after that first time as it is just heavenly. Also very close to the train station where we had a look at timetables and fares to go to one of the next locations. Hanoi trains are mafia practices. Never any tickets because “everything full” but if you go to a travel agent plenty of tickets there for double the price! Also booked our boat trip to Halong Bay where we met “the kids” Scottish Kirsty and Swiss Andreas who we travelled with for a week.

An impressive site is the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum where the former leader of Vietnam lays embalmed for everyone to see. It's not a stroll however. Strict rules have to be followed: proper clothing, no photos, no smiling, no hands in pockets and always keep moving. We heard some tourists say that it was silly and ridiculous and those are the ones we try to avoid. The place is like a pilgrimage site and you can't help but also have a high reverence of this mummified body that embodies the hardship and fighting spirit of the Vietnamese people.

Walked around the city some more and to be honest we got more and more stressed by it. Neither of us liked the city. It's just too noisy and we just wanted to find a quiet spot which we eventually stumbled across round the cathedral. Hallelujah! Still noisy less which made this area our safe haven where we enjoyed many “frozen lemons” at Laplace.

Next day we couldn't wait to get out of the city to yet another UNESCO site namely Halong Bay famous for the roundabout 8.000 limestone formations that sprout out of the crystal clear water of the China sea. Checked into our cabin of the 6 cabin boat and we set off for a 2 day “cruise”. Whilst the mountains passed by, we enjoyed a nice seafood lunch after which we arrived at a huge cave that was made up out of 3 chambers with wonderful stalagmites and stalactites that, left to the imagination, looked like crocodiles, elephants, angels, dragons...



Now it was kayaktime and after shouting instructions to Angela on how to paddle (stress from Hanoi was still present) we rowed through a cave to end up being completely surrounded by mountains and peace and quiet. A dip in the water and a hot shower later, dinner was served after which we moved to the upper deck where the clouds denied us a view of the stars but it was nonetheless pretty to see the lights of the other boats and the dark ominous looking shadows of the mountains.

It must have been the smell and the gentle rocking of the sea that made us have a great night sleep. Breakfast awaited us and it was back to the deck to enjoy the view of Lan Tha Bay where not many boats go so we had the place to ourselves for half an hour before heading back to the pier passing by truly an amazing landscape... but then in the sea. Our drive back to Hanoi was less than pleasant as the driver thought he was on the race track, accelerating and braking all the time. By the time we got back to Hanoi we were well shaken and stressed again. We headed directly for the safer neighbourhood of the cathedral till it was time to head to the station to catch the night train to Sapa.


No durian on board this time and 9 hours later we arrived in the cooler hill station of Lao Cai only 3km from the Chinese border and a spectacular hour drive away from Sapa. We arrived there surrounded by clouds resulting in not being able to see more than 20 metres in front of you. Hard if you're looking for your hotel. Found a basic place to sleep for 1 night after which we changed to the nicer Queen hotel where we had a spectacular view of the highest mountain of Vietnam, the more than 3.000 metres high Fansipan. Not only the view is amazing but also the behaviour of the clouds appearing, engulfing, dissolving this only in a matter of minutes.


Sapa is the base station for treks to minority villages around. Many Hmong also swarm you the moment you arrive to town all wanting to be your friend and take you to their home in the village and speaking the best English we heard so far in the months we've been travelling. You can climb Fansipan which was the initial plan for Jonny but he wasn't feeling all that good so no flag waving for him at the top.

Actually Jonny's condition didn't get better but worse. Fever started and went as high as 40.5, shaking, yellow eyes (jaundice), intestinal pain all symptoms of malaria so it was time to start taking the treatement dose of Malarone being 4 pills at once with milk and food and this for 3 days. Jonny felt better the next day and it was off to hospital for a malaria test which turned out negative but could have been a false negative because of the first dose of Malarone. Contacted the insurance who had a doctor on stand-by who advised us to get to Hanoi where they have excellent care. Booked a ticket for that same night for a full train (mafia) and headed back to Lao Cai where Angela had something that was supposed to be fried rice. 4 hours later she would damn the restaurant whilst she was talking to the big white telephone (=WC)

In Hanoi straight to the fancy French hospital where they diagnosed it as being a viral infection. In Myanmar we told this story to 2 doctors of MSF working in Malaria zones and they were almost certain it had been malaria. In any case I was doing a lot better so we went and visited the war museum. The one in HCMC was the better of the two but the Hanoi one had the most war objects on display: planes, bombs, tanks,... it's great to see them on display but it must be a horrific experience seeing them in action. Let's hope that one day all such things are only to be found in a museum.

The last night in Hanoi we went to a coffeehouse on the 5th floor with a nice view of the traffic below.

Except for Hanoi Vietnam treated us nicely with excellent transportation, a wide variety of interesting and awe-inspiring places to visit and culinary discoveries.


A flight later we arrived to our beloved Bangkok where protests had broken out that saw images of buses on fire broadcast around the world. Might as well happened on the other side of the world as most people in Bangkok went on with their daily lives that was now all about Songkhran or Water festival. Avoid Bangkok during this time as you'll be soaked to the bone constantly which might sound like fun for a while but not for 3 days in a row, especially not when drunken tourists are the ones doing the soaking thinking this is all “like, you know, soooo coooool maaaan”

We managed to remain dry on our visit to the house of Jim Thompson, an architect that took 6 traditional Thai houses and made it into one. An absolute must see when in Bangkok. Only a short stop in Bangkok as it was time to fly to the last of the five countries: Myanmar!