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VIETNAM 13/01/2008 UNTIL 05/02/2008
Here is a country that we didn't enjoy a lot and has sometimes been a deception.
However, at the begining, everything was good, especially in Hanoi, where we found a friendly guesthouse. Quickly, we headed North, spending long hours in local buses, on small mountains roads. On a first stop in Son La, we got to met a nice family and had a good time. Communication was limited but we were glad each time we could understand each other ! Then, the road lead us to Dien Bien Phu, famous for its bloody battle between French and Vietnamese. But the site by itself is not so interesting. Further North, in Sapa and around, we loved encoutering hills tribe people who still wear their traditional and colorful clothes. Unfortunately, none of this is that magic because so touristic. Also, people are distant and don't show the smily face we could imagine. We often felt we were considered as money distributors ! We pay but get a bad or inexistant service.
Rice fields in terrace are nice landscapes that we enjoyed despite of a humid and permanent fog. We got back to Hanoi by train and made a two day trip to Halong Bay. The weather was very bad but how nice it was beeing in the middle of the rocks spread above the water, in the fog...
And we spent a good night on a small wooden boat, eating seafood, spring rolls, vegetables...
Early morning, we boarded a kanoe for a tour on the calm water. For our next travel journeys, we took some confortables sleeping buses and got to the South and the heat. Small cities like Hue and Hoi An constitued good stops but not as nice as Dalat (a climatic station) and its colonial buildings that reminds the colonial times. At 1500 meters high, we found some welcome cool air. We liked the lively market, the friendly people and nice lake surounded by green landscape and flowers.
At the end, we reached Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) where, once again, people were not friendly ! A visit in the tunnels used during the war was interesting but was presented in a bad way, showing no respect for all the dead soldiers !
Ho Chi Minh City is nice, with some colonial buildings and a beautiful flower market, made for the coming chinese new year (Têt).
In Vietnam, we had the opportunity to see some nice landscapes, but the spontaneous and friendly people were very rare and often couldn't be trusted.
We were glad to fly to U.S.A..
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