Monday, January 08, 2007
Hue
Ik ben vanmorgen aangekomen in Hue, dus halverwege Vietnam. Het regent hier en is koud, dus morgen ga ik weer verder richting het zuiden. Ik heb 3 dagen in Ninh Binh rondgetoert op een scooter (met gids) door de omgeving daar. Rijstvelden, misterieuze rotsformaties en vissersdorpjes; heel mooi. De foto's moeten nog volgen, zoals gewoonlijk.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Hanoi
Pfew.
Two weeks and no posts, I am so sorry.
From Kunming I took a night bus to Hekou, which is right on the Southern Chinese border. From there one must cross a bridge and enter Vietnam on the other side. From there, it was an 1-hour drive to the mountain village of Sapa, where I stayed a couple of days.
Besides being a bit touristy and overpriced, Sapa was still good fun, and I spent Christmas there. It is home to some minority people, and the scenery is beautiful.
A 10 hour train ride later, I found myself in Hanoi. It was 4:30 AM, and I could not exchange any money anywhere. I had 1000 Dong in my pocket, which equals about 5 Euro cents. An earthquake in Taiwan had damaged all Internet and telecommunication lines, so for a few days there was a lot of trouble finding Internet that worked. To pass the time, I sat down by the lake and watched the people do aerobics and Tai Chi (still in the dark) After a long search I managed to find a hotel and exchange some Euros.
For new year's eve I took advantage of this place having the cheapest draught beer in the world (9 Euro cents / glass) and had a great night. In Vietnam so far I have seen many more Westerners, and it seems that most places are a bit better prepared for tourism than in China. It also means that prices go up, and pushy street sellers askme every 2 minutes if I want to buy a Lonely planet, pineapple, if I need a motor bike, or a cooked egg. Speaking of food, baguettes with French cream cheese are available on every street corner, and the coffee here is superb (and very strong).
I don't have my camera with me at the moment, but some pictures will follow shortly. I hope that everyone is allright and had a good Christmas & new year's.
Tomorrow night, I'll move on South and slowly make my way down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I bought an open bus ticket for $20, which allows me to travel across the entire country within 30 days and stop along the way a couple of times .
Two weeks and no posts, I am so sorry.
From Kunming I took a night bus to Hekou, which is right on the Southern Chinese border. From there one must cross a bridge and enter Vietnam on the other side. From there, it was an 1-hour drive to the mountain village of Sapa, where I stayed a couple of days.
Besides being a bit touristy and overpriced, Sapa was still good fun, and I spent Christmas there. It is home to some minority people, and the scenery is beautiful.
A 10 hour train ride later, I found myself in Hanoi. It was 4:30 AM, and I could not exchange any money anywhere. I had 1000 Dong in my pocket, which equals about 5 Euro cents. An earthquake in Taiwan had damaged all Internet and telecommunication lines, so for a few days there was a lot of trouble finding Internet that worked. To pass the time, I sat down by the lake and watched the people do aerobics and Tai Chi (still in the dark) After a long search I managed to find a hotel and exchange some Euros.
For new year's eve I took advantage of this place having the cheapest draught beer in the world (9 Euro cents / glass) and had a great night. In Vietnam so far I have seen many more Westerners, and it seems that most places are a bit better prepared for tourism than in China. It also means that prices go up, and pushy street sellers askme every 2 minutes if I want to buy a Lonely planet, pineapple, if I need a motor bike, or a cooked egg. Speaking of food, baguettes with French cream cheese are available on every street corner, and the coffee here is superb (and very strong).
I don't have my camera with me at the moment, but some pictures will follow shortly. I hope that everyone is allright and had a good Christmas & new year's.
Tomorrow night, I'll move on South and slowly make my way down to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I bought an open bus ticket for $20, which allows me to travel across the entire country within 30 days and stop along the way a couple of times .
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Ik heb besloten om nog een paar dagen langer in Lijiang te blijven, en naar Lugu Lake te gaan. Na een 6 uur durende busreis door de bergen kwamen we aan (met zn 3en) en zijn drie nachten gebleven in dit natuurreservaat. Er waren veel hostels en restaurants, en het is vrij toeristisch, maar gelukkig is het nu buiten het seizoen, dus er was bijna niemand. In dit gebied wonen veel minderden (Bai, Mosou en Yi) in min of meer traditionele stijl. Het was wel koud 's nachts; nachtvorst. Hier volgen wat foto's van Lijiang en Lugu Hu.
Gistermiddag weer teruggekomen in Lijiang, en vanavond om 20:00 uur met de nachtbus naar Kunming.
Gistermiddag weer teruggekomen in Lijiang, en vanavond om 20:00 uur met de nachtbus naar Kunming.
I decided to stay a little longer in Lijiang, and went to Lugu Lake, 6 hours away by bus. I stayed there three nights and it was beautiful. The place is quite developed for tourism, but since it is the low season, there was hardly anyone there. In this area some of the minorities live, and it was great passing many small villages by bus or on foot. It was a bit chily though; some frost in the nights. I am back in Lijiang now, and will take the night bus at 20:00 back to Kunming.
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