And once again, here we are in another country, this time an old friend, Thailand. Since my last entry, we've spent eighteen hours in a boat (spread between two days) going towards the border between Huay Xai (in Laos) and Chiang Khong (Thailand). The second day started with Nick throwing up over the bannister in a restaurant, but at least he wasn't sick on the boat.
... the internet cafe seems to be closing, gotta go, more later.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Long update on Laos, avec plein plein de details!
Me voici donc de retour dans la civilisation. Que de choses a vous conter depuis Vientiane!
We spent a day exploring Vientiane, saw their own version of the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees and ended with dinner on the Mekong which could've been nice and romantic were it not for the tons of bugs which crashed our party after dark and fell into our food. Yuck. So instead, we joined the Belgian couple we'd met at Hoa's Place in an Indian restaurant. Mmmm... Nan....
Prochaine etape: Luang Prabang. Ceux qui lisent le blog de Nico savent deja que les 6h de bus qu'on prevoyait se sont transformees en 11h de bus dans un autobus qui serpentait lentement la montagne en fumee, a cause de tous les feux pour l'agriculture. Et tous ces feux se traduisent en fumee epaisse dans l'air autour de Luang Prabang, ce qui veut dire qu'il y fait extremement chaud et qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup d'air. En fait, c'est vraiment un effet de serre. Comme la chaleur n'a nulle part ou aller, il fait incroyablement chaud vers 4h30-5h, et puis, des que le soleil se couche, on est mieux.
We stayed another day in Luang Prabang, exploring temples (expensive temples, 2$ to visit a single building, which is a lot over here!) and walking very slowly in the heat. We wanted to visit the Royal Museum, but didn't check in the guide and took too long to get there; it closes at 4pm! Actually, opening hours are really stupide: 8-11h, 1h30-4h. Hardly any time to visit! It was pretty disapointing, and with the heat and all, my morale was pretty low. Laos had been so hyped up for us, and now we were there, we couldn't see what was so great about it. I should add that Luang Prabang is the tourist capital of Laos. It's like a big open-air museum with a huge gift shop (the night market). Many pretty and interesting things, but there seem to be more tourists than locals, at least in the center. So, with all this, we were more than ready to leave for new adventures.
On a pris le bateau pour Nong Khiaw, un village au nord de Luang Prabang, sur la riviere Nam Ou. Le voyage a pris sept heures et, comme on croyait qu'on s'arreterait pour diner, on n'a pas prevu de bouffe. Grosse erreur. A 16h30, en arrivant, on mourait de faim! La riviere etait tres belle, la jungle sur la rive, les petits villages, les enfants qui pechaient au harpon, les buffles qui se rafraichissaient dans l'eau... mais apres 7h sans manger, on n'en voyait plus rien. Nous avons vite trouve un guesthouse pour 3$ la chambre, ou la femme ne parlait pas un mot d'anglais et ou elle nous a donne des bracelets pour proteger nos organes (en fait, ils sont suppose attacher les esprits protecteurs a nous, puisque nous sommes en voyage). Et puis nous avons soupe. Ouf!
We met some cool and crazy Canucks in Nong Khiaw who invited us to a campfire they wanted to have that night, under the bridge. I was a bit hesitant, not knowing how strict the police was here, but hey, who can say no to a campfire with Canadians?! So we had our fire, but someone had the brilliant idea to put some bamboo on the fire. We heard a big pop, like a shot, and a few minutes later, here were two Lao guys with AK47's telling us (politely) to "Go home". Okay, let's go! No arguments here! But don't worry, even though the country is full of these guns, I feel really safe, people are nice.
Le lendemain, on a pris un autre bateau avec nos nouveaux amis canadiens pour nous rendre a un village qui se rejoint seulement par bateau, ce qui veut dire pas de motos, pas d'autos, pas de bruit de moteur a part pour les bateaux! Quel paradis! En fait, on y a passe trois jours et si ce n'avait ete de la bougeotte de Nico et de notre horaire un peu coince, j'y serais restee une bonne semaine. Notre chambre etait un petit bungalow de bamboo qui donnait sur la riviere, avec deux hamacs sur le balcon ou nous avons passe des heures de detente en ecoutant les enfants chanter en pagayant sur la riviere.
We also made an amazing discovery! This town is full of do-it-yourself trekking opportunities. We went out to explore caves and we found the coolest one ever. I think hardly anyone visits it, since there are no graffitis on the walls and no garbage on the floor. It has three chambers with glittering walls and pieces of old pots and small glass bottles which tells us it was probably a hospital during the war. An amazing discovery, impossible without our flashlights (merci maman pour la petite lampe de poche! Elle eclaire tres bien, mieux que la plus grosse de Nico!)
Ce soir-la, nous avons ajoute a notre liste de bouffe exotique:
- We had some boa constrictor for dinner! And the skin was still on parts of it! Yummy.... un peu plus gluant que le cobra, je n'en ai pas mange autant.
et un autre item a cocher sur la liste de choses a faire:
- S'inviter a un party pas rapport. En fait, il avait tellement pas rapport qu'on n'est pas encore certains de ce qu'on fetait! Un anniversaire, ou une cesarienne reussie.... ce qui certain, par contre, c'est qu'on a fete! On nous avait dit qu'il y avait un party en face du resto au boa, alors on s'en est approche et tout de suite, nous etions invites a nous asseoir. Et presque immediatement, l'alcool nous a rejoints! Des hommes faisaient le tour de la table avec des petits verres de differentes boissons qu'il fallait boire d'une traite (heureusement, les verres n'etaient pas trop remplis). De la biere Lao, du Lao Lao (whisky de riz laotien), du vin de "sticky rice" rouge, un vin sucre, une boisson faite de cafe (mioum! Le care laotien est delicieux)... bref, avec tout ca, un autre crochet a la liste:
- Me saouler. Comme j'ai dit, les verres n'etaient pas trop pleins, mais assez pour que l'effet se fasse sentir un peu. (Alors, fiere de moi, Danielle! :P )
The party was lots of fun, we joined the women in the house who were drumming and chanting. But then too many "falang" (foreigners) were there and we were invading so us nice and polite Canadians decided to leave. Especially since the next day we had to get up early for fishing!
Well, fishing might be a big word. We watched as our guide set up his net and slapped the water with a bamboo stick to scare the fish into the net! And then we had fish head soup (oui, Simon et Melody, chantez la chanson!) and barbecued fish served on a huge banana leaf. It was okay, we weren't sick, at least, but not incredibly tasty.
Et puis nous voici de retour a Luang Prabang. Hier, nous avons vecu l'experience du sauna laotien. Rien a voir avec ce qu'on connait. Une petite salle pleine de femmes (dans mon cas) en sarong, une serviette sur la tete, l'air sature de vapeur et d'aromes d'herbes qui doivent purifier notre corps. Il fait tellement chaud qu'il n'y a pas moyen de rester la plus que 5 minutes, si on n'y est pas habitue. Mais bon, je suis purifiee, au moins! Et l'air de la ville a ete purifie hier soir avec un orage tropical qu'on a admire de notre balcon. La pluie etait torrentielle, le vent tres fort, et ce matin, on peut (enfin!) voir du ciel bleu et on respire. Ouf! En passant, dans le nord, l'air etait bien meilleur et plus frais, ce qui ajoutait au charme de la place.
So there it is! I think I've told you everything of importance and if not, I'm sure Nick will write it in his blog.
We spent a day exploring Vientiane, saw their own version of the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees and ended with dinner on the Mekong which could've been nice and romantic were it not for the tons of bugs which crashed our party after dark and fell into our food. Yuck. So instead, we joined the Belgian couple we'd met at Hoa's Place in an Indian restaurant. Mmmm... Nan....
Prochaine etape: Luang Prabang. Ceux qui lisent le blog de Nico savent deja que les 6h de bus qu'on prevoyait se sont transformees en 11h de bus dans un autobus qui serpentait lentement la montagne en fumee, a cause de tous les feux pour l'agriculture. Et tous ces feux se traduisent en fumee epaisse dans l'air autour de Luang Prabang, ce qui veut dire qu'il y fait extremement chaud et qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup d'air. En fait, c'est vraiment un effet de serre. Comme la chaleur n'a nulle part ou aller, il fait incroyablement chaud vers 4h30-5h, et puis, des que le soleil se couche, on est mieux.
We stayed another day in Luang Prabang, exploring temples (expensive temples, 2$ to visit a single building, which is a lot over here!) and walking very slowly in the heat. We wanted to visit the Royal Museum, but didn't check in the guide and took too long to get there; it closes at 4pm! Actually, opening hours are really stupide: 8-11h, 1h30-4h. Hardly any time to visit! It was pretty disapointing, and with the heat and all, my morale was pretty low. Laos had been so hyped up for us, and now we were there, we couldn't see what was so great about it. I should add that Luang Prabang is the tourist capital of Laos. It's like a big open-air museum with a huge gift shop (the night market). Many pretty and interesting things, but there seem to be more tourists than locals, at least in the center. So, with all this, we were more than ready to leave for new adventures.
On a pris le bateau pour Nong Khiaw, un village au nord de Luang Prabang, sur la riviere Nam Ou. Le voyage a pris sept heures et, comme on croyait qu'on s'arreterait pour diner, on n'a pas prevu de bouffe. Grosse erreur. A 16h30, en arrivant, on mourait de faim! La riviere etait tres belle, la jungle sur la rive, les petits villages, les enfants qui pechaient au harpon, les buffles qui se rafraichissaient dans l'eau... mais apres 7h sans manger, on n'en voyait plus rien. Nous avons vite trouve un guesthouse pour 3$ la chambre, ou la femme ne parlait pas un mot d'anglais et ou elle nous a donne des bracelets pour proteger nos organes (en fait, ils sont suppose attacher les esprits protecteurs a nous, puisque nous sommes en voyage). Et puis nous avons soupe. Ouf!
We met some cool and crazy Canucks in Nong Khiaw who invited us to a campfire they wanted to have that night, under the bridge. I was a bit hesitant, not knowing how strict the police was here, but hey, who can say no to a campfire with Canadians?! So we had our fire, but someone had the brilliant idea to put some bamboo on the fire. We heard a big pop, like a shot, and a few minutes later, here were two Lao guys with AK47's telling us (politely) to "Go home". Okay, let's go! No arguments here! But don't worry, even though the country is full of these guns, I feel really safe, people are nice.
Le lendemain, on a pris un autre bateau avec nos nouveaux amis canadiens pour nous rendre a un village qui se rejoint seulement par bateau, ce qui veut dire pas de motos, pas d'autos, pas de bruit de moteur a part pour les bateaux! Quel paradis! En fait, on y a passe trois jours et si ce n'avait ete de la bougeotte de Nico et de notre horaire un peu coince, j'y serais restee une bonne semaine. Notre chambre etait un petit bungalow de bamboo qui donnait sur la riviere, avec deux hamacs sur le balcon ou nous avons passe des heures de detente en ecoutant les enfants chanter en pagayant sur la riviere.
We also made an amazing discovery! This town is full of do-it-yourself trekking opportunities. We went out to explore caves and we found the coolest one ever. I think hardly anyone visits it, since there are no graffitis on the walls and no garbage on the floor. It has three chambers with glittering walls and pieces of old pots and small glass bottles which tells us it was probably a hospital during the war. An amazing discovery, impossible without our flashlights (merci maman pour la petite lampe de poche! Elle eclaire tres bien, mieux que la plus grosse de Nico!)
Ce soir-la, nous avons ajoute a notre liste de bouffe exotique:
- We had some boa constrictor for dinner! And the skin was still on parts of it! Yummy.... un peu plus gluant que le cobra, je n'en ai pas mange autant.
et un autre item a cocher sur la liste de choses a faire:
- S'inviter a un party pas rapport. En fait, il avait tellement pas rapport qu'on n'est pas encore certains de ce qu'on fetait! Un anniversaire, ou une cesarienne reussie.... ce qui certain, par contre, c'est qu'on a fete! On nous avait dit qu'il y avait un party en face du resto au boa, alors on s'en est approche et tout de suite, nous etions invites a nous asseoir. Et presque immediatement, l'alcool nous a rejoints! Des hommes faisaient le tour de la table avec des petits verres de differentes boissons qu'il fallait boire d'une traite (heureusement, les verres n'etaient pas trop remplis). De la biere Lao, du Lao Lao (whisky de riz laotien), du vin de "sticky rice" rouge, un vin sucre, une boisson faite de cafe (mioum! Le care laotien est delicieux)... bref, avec tout ca, un autre crochet a la liste:
- Me saouler. Comme j'ai dit, les verres n'etaient pas trop pleins, mais assez pour que l'effet se fasse sentir un peu. (Alors, fiere de moi, Danielle! :P )
The party was lots of fun, we joined the women in the house who were drumming and chanting. But then too many "falang" (foreigners) were there and we were invading so us nice and polite Canadians decided to leave. Especially since the next day we had to get up early for fishing!
Well, fishing might be a big word. We watched as our guide set up his net and slapped the water with a bamboo stick to scare the fish into the net! And then we had fish head soup (oui, Simon et Melody, chantez la chanson!) and barbecued fish served on a huge banana leaf. It was okay, we weren't sick, at least, but not incredibly tasty.
Et puis nous voici de retour a Luang Prabang. Hier, nous avons vecu l'experience du sauna laotien. Rien a voir avec ce qu'on connait. Une petite salle pleine de femmes (dans mon cas) en sarong, une serviette sur la tete, l'air sature de vapeur et d'aromes d'herbes qui doivent purifier notre corps. Il fait tellement chaud qu'il n'y a pas moyen de rester la plus que 5 minutes, si on n'y est pas habitue. Mais bon, je suis purifiee, au moins! Et l'air de la ville a ete purifie hier soir avec un orage tropical qu'on a admire de notre balcon. La pluie etait torrentielle, le vent tres fort, et ce matin, on peut (enfin!) voir du ciel bleu et on respire. Ouf! En passant, dans le nord, l'air etait bien meilleur et plus frais, ce qui ajoutait au charme de la place.
So there it is! I think I've told you everything of importance and if not, I'm sure Nick will write it in his blog.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Au revoir Vietnam, bonjour Laos
Eh bien voila, nous sommes arrives sains et saufs au Laos, a Vientiane, et oui, il y a de l'Internet, finalement.
Il fait beaucoup plus chaud qu'a Hanoi, ou on avait presque froid a 20 degres! En fait, dans le
Nord, on portait des gilets a manches longues (achetes la veille de notre depart
a Hanoi) et moi je portais mon foulard. Il faisait vraiment froid, moins de 15 degres!
Je vous conterai le Laos une autre fois, mais je peux au moins vous dire que
c'est BEAUCOUP plus silencieux et relaxe que le Vietnam. Quand on dit non, les
vendeurs n'insistent pas! Et pas de klaxons! C'est merveilleux. Ici, si ce n'est
pas le fun, ca ne vaut pas la peine d'etre fait, alors, vous imaginez l'attitude
des gens!
But seriously, despite my complaints about Vietnam, I have grown to love it even
more after my five days in the North. Up there, I felt I could really understand
the people, and see how they live when they're not trying to sell us something.
I got to discover what people meant when they said the Vietnamese were welcoming
and helpful and generous. I've also discovered what the Vietnamese hospitality
really is. In other words, I've developped a new appreciation for a country I
already loved! So after three visits, it's time to say goodbye for a while and
go on to new places.
A bientot pour des nouvelles du Laos!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Voyage dans le Nord du Vietnam
Me voici donc dans la province de Ha Giang, a la frontiere avec la Chine. Selon tous ceux a qui j'en ai parle, ce serait la plus belle province du Vietnam. Je le crois, c'est vraiment tres beau ici, les montagnes sont toujours surprenantes, les paysages changent continuellement, et on voit partout des membres de differentes minorites ethniques qui travaillent dans la montagne ou qui portent de gros paniers pour aller ou revenir du marche. Les enfants ici vieillissent tres vite. A trois ans, ils portent deja des bebes sur leur dos, grimpent les rochers tous seuls et a cinq ans, on les voit en train de faire un feu. Leurs yeux trahissent une grande maturite.
Aujourd'hui, nous avons visite quelques marches, dont un ou j'ai mange du tha co, mais ca, vous l'avez deja lu. Le deuxieme marche que nous avons visite etait plein d'animaux. Des vaches, des cochons, des chiens, des chevres... Ce n'est pas la place pour les amoureux des animaux: chez nous, on voit des gens qui portent leur chien dans leur bourse, ici, les gens portent les chiots comme des bourses: une corde autour du torse, et hop, on transporte ca sans probleme! Et ca marche aussi pour les porcinets! Pratique, si pas tres ethique!
I have to admit that during the past few days, I've been feeling a bit down. It's the three week hump; after three weeks of travelling, you start wanting to see some familiar stuff, at least I do. And Vietnam is anything but familiar, even if it's my third time here! I was starting to find the Vietnamese dirty, illogical, and just plain annoying. But it's also what makes them endearing, and today, I realized how lucky I am to be here, and to be in this province that has just recently opened up to tourists, which means that the people here are still curious when they see white people, they stare shyly, unsure what to make of us. Nothing like in other parts of the country where they'll jump on the chance of making some money! It's really great here, the scenery is amazing (I hope Nick uploads some pics soon, so you can see what I'm talking about) and the people are really nice. Especially the kids who just love to yell out "Hello!" everytime they see a foreigner. Though I think Nick scared a few of them today, with his orange beard!
Aujourd'hui, nous avons visite quelques marches, dont un ou j'ai mange du tha co, mais ca, vous l'avez deja lu. Le deuxieme marche que nous avons visite etait plein d'animaux. Des vaches, des cochons, des chiens, des chevres... Ce n'est pas la place pour les amoureux des animaux: chez nous, on voit des gens qui portent leur chien dans leur bourse, ici, les gens portent les chiots comme des bourses: une corde autour du torse, et hop, on transporte ca sans probleme! Et ca marche aussi pour les porcinets! Pratique, si pas tres ethique!
I have to admit that during the past few days, I've been feeling a bit down. It's the three week hump; after three weeks of travelling, you start wanting to see some familiar stuff, at least I do. And Vietnam is anything but familiar, even if it's my third time here! I was starting to find the Vietnamese dirty, illogical, and just plain annoying. But it's also what makes them endearing, and today, I realized how lucky I am to be here, and to be in this province that has just recently opened up to tourists, which means that the people here are still curious when they see white people, they stare shyly, unsure what to make of us. Nothing like in other parts of the country where they'll jump on the chance of making some money! It's really great here, the scenery is amazing (I hope Nick uploads some pics soon, so you can see what I'm talking about) and the people are really nice. Especially the kids who just love to yell out "Hello!" everytime they see a foreigner. Though I think Nick scared a few of them today, with his orange beard!
Des crochets sur la liste de choses a faire
Pour ceux et celles qui ont contribue a ma liste de choses a faire en voyage, vous allez etre fiers de moi, j'ai deja plusieurs de crochets de faits! Voici donc ce que nous avons reussi a accomplir durant ces derniers trois mois:
- Nous perdre volontairement (en involontairement! On est bons pour ca, et chaque fois, on a fait de belles decouvertes)
- Tout nu quelque part (je ne sais pas qui a ecrit ca, mais tu as oublie de specifier ou, alors si on est nus dans la douche, ca compte! hihi!)
- Trouver un resto qui a de la poutine au menu (ben oui! Imaginez-vous donc qu'a Hanoi, il y a un resto qui s'appelle Le Pub et qui sert de la poutine. Nico en a commande, fallait bien!)
- Relaxation (eh oui Marc-Andre, on sait relaxer, nous aussi! Surtout sur la belle plage de China Beach!)
- Manger les plats traditionnels les plus bizarres du menu
And for this section, I will switch to English to make sure everyone can understand. It's worth it! I was told to eat all the weirdest dishes, and I believe I did. Here goes:
- First, I had snake, in the Mekong. But I'd already had some of that, so it doesn't really count.
- Then, elephant eared fish. See Nick's blog (once he has the time to upload it) for the picture.
- And now comes the really weird stuff. As you might have read on Nick's blog, we had dog the other day! Yup, they were all stacked on the corner, whole or cut up, and we made the gesture saying we wanted to eat some, and we did! It was actually pretty good, but what with all the bones, fat and skin, there wasn't much meat to chew on.
- On our way up North, our driver stopped at this little stand by the road where they sold Com Lam. It's made of sticky rice mixed with peanuts, cooked on a fire in a bamboo stick. I love sticky rice, so this was one of my favourite snacks!
- Today, at the local market, I tried some ethnic minority specialty (I think it was Hmong, for those who know their Vietnamese minorities) It's called Tha Co (pronounced Thang Co) and it's a kind of soup with horse, buffalo and pig's meat, and the broth smells like sour goat's milk. I'm not 100% sure, but based on the large bowls full of red liquid next to it, I think there was some blood in the broth. Yummy! At least I'm sure that the meat was fresh: I could see the still bloody pigs on the next table. Yeah, a Vietnamese market is not for the weak of heart!
Alors voila, la liste va continuer a s'allonger, je n'en doute pas!
Stay tuned for more adventures and strange foods!
- Nous perdre volontairement (en involontairement! On est bons pour ca, et chaque fois, on a fait de belles decouvertes)
- Tout nu quelque part (je ne sais pas qui a ecrit ca, mais tu as oublie de specifier ou, alors si on est nus dans la douche, ca compte! hihi!)
- Trouver un resto qui a de la poutine au menu (ben oui! Imaginez-vous donc qu'a Hanoi, il y a un resto qui s'appelle Le Pub et qui sert de la poutine. Nico en a commande, fallait bien!)
- Relaxation (eh oui Marc-Andre, on sait relaxer, nous aussi! Surtout sur la belle plage de China Beach!)
- Manger les plats traditionnels les plus bizarres du menu
And for this section, I will switch to English to make sure everyone can understand. It's worth it! I was told to eat all the weirdest dishes, and I believe I did. Here goes:
- First, I had snake, in the Mekong. But I'd already had some of that, so it doesn't really count.
- Then, elephant eared fish. See Nick's blog (once he has the time to upload it) for the picture.
- And now comes the really weird stuff. As you might have read on Nick's blog, we had dog the other day! Yup, they were all stacked on the corner, whole or cut up, and we made the gesture saying we wanted to eat some, and we did! It was actually pretty good, but what with all the bones, fat and skin, there wasn't much meat to chew on.
- On our way up North, our driver stopped at this little stand by the road where they sold Com Lam. It's made of sticky rice mixed with peanuts, cooked on a fire in a bamboo stick. I love sticky rice, so this was one of my favourite snacks!
- Today, at the local market, I tried some ethnic minority specialty (I think it was Hmong, for those who know their Vietnamese minorities) It's called Tha Co (pronounced Thang Co) and it's a kind of soup with horse, buffalo and pig's meat, and the broth smells like sour goat's milk. I'm not 100% sure, but based on the large bowls full of red liquid next to it, I think there was some blood in the broth. Yummy! At least I'm sure that the meat was fresh: I could see the still bloody pigs on the next table. Yeah, a Vietnamese market is not for the weak of heart!
Alors voila, la liste va continuer a s'allonger, je n'en doute pas!
Stay tuned for more adventures and strange foods!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Photos
Nicolas a ajoute des photos sur son blog, si vous voulez voir un peu de ce qu'on a fait jusqu'a present. Il y a une photo du Crazy House!
If you can't even trust monks, who can you trust?!
(Je dois d'abord m'excuser s'il y a des fautes de frappe, le clavier est tres collant ici)
Well, the frustration with the country is finally catching up. Though I have to admit, we didn't sleep much last night on the train from Da Nang to Ha Noi.
Today was a rather challenging day. First, we arrived in Hanoi at 5am, so we had to sit in the train station to wait for hotels to open so we could check into one. While we waited, we kept having people coming over to offer us taxis and motos, though we told them no, not yet. One guy actually sat beside us and just waited, staring at us (they do a lot of staring there, sometimes I think they don't realise we're people too).
Once we'd found a hotel, we went for a walk and the weather wasn't too hot, so we actually enjoyed ourselves, but as we were walking back to our hotel, two monks came to us, asking for money. At first, I was more than happy to help with a little money, but they wanted a lot! I managed to get out of it, but Nick lost 100,000 Dong (about 7$) in the process (see his blog). The monk was tugging at his money in his wallet! Not a very good impression.
Vers 16h, nous sommes ressortis de l'hotel pour nous promener, comme nous aimons tant le faire. Quelle erreur! C'etait l'heure de pointe, et marcher dans les rues principales de Hanoi pendant l'heure de pointe, c'est du suicide. La rue est completement pleine de cyclos, de motos, d'autos, de bus, qui se disputent la placent, qui klaxonnent et qui n'ont aucune pitie pour les pauvres petits pietons qui essayent de se frayer un chemin. On risque de se faire rouler sur les pieds ou de perdre un bras... ou pire. Le gros probleme, c'est qu'on n'a pas le choix de marcher sur la rue puisque le trottoir est occupe par les gens qui cuisinent, qui mangent, qui travaillent, qui jasent, qui jouent, qui vivent, et par les motos stationnees au hasard. En plus, il y a les motos qui sortent de leur stationnement sans regarder si nous arrivons derriere. De la pure folie!
Finally, to top it off, as we were walking tonight, a guy on a motorbike drove really close to us and tried to grab Nick's bike. Oh yeah, and another guy tried to sell us coins while we were getting our plane tickets for Laos, right in the store. Nick said no three times, then had to actually push him away for him to leave us alone. People in the North are a lot more pushy than in the South, and, tired as we were today, we had very little patience. Let's hope the next few days are better.
Le probleme, c'est qu'on doit rester ici jusqu'au 8 mars, date a laquelle on part pour cinq jours dans le Nord, la province de Ha Giang. On serait partis plus tot, mais on voulait voir un marche, et c'est seulement en fin de semaine. Il faudra s'occuper d'ici-la, trouver des choses qu'on n'a pas encore vues ou faites dans la capitale.
Une chose qui me soulage, c'est qu'on a parle d'horaire aujourd'hui et on s'est mis d'accord qu'il serait mieux d'enlever la Turquie de notre trajet. J'aurais beaucoup aime la voir, mais on n'aurait pas assez de temps pour vraiment l'apprecier et ca nous enleverait du temps ailleurs. On y reviendra!
So let's hope tomorrow brings better things. We've decided to really take it easy and just relax in the hotel room for as long as we want, then get a nice foot massage or something (we never did get a massage in Saigon, it was closed for Tet) then, whatever, relax, no rush, no stress. It's really the best way to go.
Well, the frustration with the country is finally catching up. Though I have to admit, we didn't sleep much last night on the train from Da Nang to Ha Noi.
Today was a rather challenging day. First, we arrived in Hanoi at 5am, so we had to sit in the train station to wait for hotels to open so we could check into one. While we waited, we kept having people coming over to offer us taxis and motos, though we told them no, not yet. One guy actually sat beside us and just waited, staring at us (they do a lot of staring there, sometimes I think they don't realise we're people too).
Once we'd found a hotel, we went for a walk and the weather wasn't too hot, so we actually enjoyed ourselves, but as we were walking back to our hotel, two monks came to us, asking for money. At first, I was more than happy to help with a little money, but they wanted a lot! I managed to get out of it, but Nick lost 100,000 Dong (about 7$) in the process (see his blog). The monk was tugging at his money in his wallet! Not a very good impression.
Vers 16h, nous sommes ressortis de l'hotel pour nous promener, comme nous aimons tant le faire. Quelle erreur! C'etait l'heure de pointe, et marcher dans les rues principales de Hanoi pendant l'heure de pointe, c'est du suicide. La rue est completement pleine de cyclos, de motos, d'autos, de bus, qui se disputent la placent, qui klaxonnent et qui n'ont aucune pitie pour les pauvres petits pietons qui essayent de se frayer un chemin. On risque de se faire rouler sur les pieds ou de perdre un bras... ou pire. Le gros probleme, c'est qu'on n'a pas le choix de marcher sur la rue puisque le trottoir est occupe par les gens qui cuisinent, qui mangent, qui travaillent, qui jasent, qui jouent, qui vivent, et par les motos stationnees au hasard. En plus, il y a les motos qui sortent de leur stationnement sans regarder si nous arrivons derriere. De la pure folie!
Finally, to top it off, as we were walking tonight, a guy on a motorbike drove really close to us and tried to grab Nick's bike. Oh yeah, and another guy tried to sell us coins while we were getting our plane tickets for Laos, right in the store. Nick said no three times, then had to actually push him away for him to leave us alone. People in the North are a lot more pushy than in the South, and, tired as we were today, we had very little patience. Let's hope the next few days are better.
Le probleme, c'est qu'on doit rester ici jusqu'au 8 mars, date a laquelle on part pour cinq jours dans le Nord, la province de Ha Giang. On serait partis plus tot, mais on voulait voir un marche, et c'est seulement en fin de semaine. Il faudra s'occuper d'ici-la, trouver des choses qu'on n'a pas encore vues ou faites dans la capitale.
Une chose qui me soulage, c'est qu'on a parle d'horaire aujourd'hui et on s'est mis d'accord qu'il serait mieux d'enlever la Turquie de notre trajet. J'aurais beaucoup aime la voir, mais on n'aurait pas assez de temps pour vraiment l'apprecier et ca nous enleverait du temps ailleurs. On y reviendra!
So let's hope tomorrow brings better things. We've decided to really take it easy and just relax in the hotel room for as long as we want, then get a nice foot massage or something (we never did get a massage in Saigon, it was closed for Tet) then, whatever, relax, no rush, no stress. It's really the best way to go.
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