VIETNAM 1999      

When ?: 2 weeks in october 1999

Where ?: HO-CHI MINH-CITY (Saïgon) - HANOI - Along Bay - Mai Chau - Hué - HO- CHI MINH-CITY

How ?

• Train: Reunification Express train  (Ho Chi Minh City->Hanoï)
• Night bus (Hanoï->Hué)
• Vietnam Airlines flight (Hué->Ho Chi Minh City)
• Minibus, cyclo-pousse, motorcycle...

What I appreciated:

• Markets: 

In coutryside or downtown, markets in Vietnam are true delight for eyes, nose, and of course for the belly.... Meats and large variety of vegetables are fresh, due to poultries are cut down, plucked  and roasted in front of you !

Visiting a market will inevitably make you be hungry  and quickly you will sit  in a small restaurant on sidewalk. 

Try it !:  In a lane beside the supermarket in the district of Pham Ngu Lao - Ho-Chih-Minh-City, a small restaurant serves only dog's dishes (sausages, skewers...).

• North-West Vietnam: 

There are spectacular moutanious landscapes in this area, where live ethnic minorities (Hmongs, Black Thais,...). To take repose from frenetic agitation of Hanoi, you can spend one night in a traditional thai house on pile in May Chau, and then walk  around villages in the neightbourhoods.  Tip !!!: your pig devastates your kitchen garden and you don't wish to build a big enclosure to protect your vegetables ? The black Thais have found the solution: provide your dear animal with a wood triangle around its neck, and  stake the zone to be protected...easy & cheap !.

• Halong Bay: 

    

	In bay, families live on water. In order to earn small tips, young children will atonish you by their agility on water...
To visit the Halong bay, worry free and cheapest way is to contact  travel agencies from Hanoi. For $30, they propose boat circuits, included  meals and hotel.

 

• Cao Daï headquarter :

	Located in Tay Ninh, around 100 Km from Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Cao-Daï temples are the headquarter of the caodaïsm (vietnamese local religion). Caodaïsme is a melting pot of various religious, from Christianity to Bouddhism.
Midday's services are colorful... and tourists are welcomed !!!

What disappointed me a little:-(

• Reunification Express Train  :

Reunification express train connects  Ho Chi Minh Ville and Hanoï.  Sure, it isn't the quickest way to travel 1726 km..., but during the 40 hours of travel, you will be at the best place to appreciate  beautiful panoramas of rice fields, villages and mountains...  Tip !!!:  Place your bets !!!. If you forget your book, a solution to pass time in train, is to press one's nose to the window, and count the mortocycles, which overtake the train... At 40km/h, this a funny play for young vietnamese motocyclers and for you too. My personal record: 53.   Even if there are a multitude of classes, from hard seat to  upholstered berth, I advise you high-class berth in air-conditioned compartment. The price of the ticket is around  $100 (= 112 EUR) , and includes meals. However even at this price, travel conditions aren't luxirious:  coaches are grimy, meales are cold and few appetizing... and I forget voluntary to speak of toilets... That means that at the end of 3 days of travel, ... you stink same smell as the coach and your  only desire will be to take a hot shower...

Special thanks: 

Patrick: for his deep-blue pictures

Anne-Sophie & Fabien:for their logistical support

 

                      

                               (Last update: NOV 18, 2001)