Xin chao!
After a couple of months waiting and a trip full of emotions & excitement I finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday evening. I thought I'd never arrive to the hotel without an accident - traffic here is really something else: hardly no rules (at least none that are followed) other than biggest has priority. The taxi was surrounded by literally hundreds of motorbikes & bikes going in all directions- so close to each other that they almost touched...
After one night sleeping with earplugs due to the continuos noice in the street, I headed out to discover the center of HCMC, i.e. Saigon... and came back to the hotel exhausted!!! If I thought traffic was bad sitting in a big car, it was a almost a life or death project crossing the first few streets as a pedestrian!
No matter how well prepared I thought I was, the cultural choc was complete, with the smells, the people, the markets etc.
The very same evening, my adventure continued as I took the plane to Hanoi. Arriving at the airport at midnight, no car was picking me up as promised... so I got into a mini-bus (much cheaper alternative) for the 45 min drive into the center. The only problem was that the mini-bus left all the passangers in front of the Vietnam Airlines main office - except me since the driver insisted on bringing me to my hotel for some extra money of course. Finally after a rather scary ride through dark narrow streets in the old town, I got to my hotel - only to discover that they had no room for me!!! The guy from the hotel insisted that he take me to another hotel where they had rooms available. So off we went, in the rain at 1am on a motorbike without helmets and me carrying a big back-pack on my back and a small one in front... already the second time that night that I wondered if I would really arrive at a hotel!!
After 2 days of walking around Hanoi (although motorbike or cyclo drivers offer you a ride every 2 minutes, I prefer counting on my legs for now), visiting some pagodas, museums, parks etc, I'll be heading to Halong Bay for 2 days tomorrow. Sunday evening I'll catch the night train to the North where I will try to go trekking to the summit of Fan Si Pan (highest peak at 3143m). I guess I will have another cultural choc (the first is already history ;)) when I get to the mountains...
To be continued...
After one night sleeping with earplugs due to the continuos noice in the street, I headed out to discover the center of HCMC, i.e. Saigon... and came back to the hotel exhausted!!! If I thought traffic was bad sitting in a big car, it was a almost a life or death project crossing the first few streets as a pedestrian!
No matter how well prepared I thought I was, the cultural choc was complete, with the smells, the people, the markets etc.
The very same evening, my adventure continued as I took the plane to Hanoi. Arriving at the airport at midnight, no car was picking me up as promised... so I got into a mini-bus (much cheaper alternative) for the 45 min drive into the center. The only problem was that the mini-bus left all the passangers in front of the Vietnam Airlines main office - except me since the driver insisted on bringing me to my hotel for some extra money of course. Finally after a rather scary ride through dark narrow streets in the old town, I got to my hotel - only to discover that they had no room for me!!! The guy from the hotel insisted that he take me to another hotel where they had rooms available. So off we went, in the rain at 1am on a motorbike without helmets and me carrying a big back-pack on my back and a small one in front... already the second time that night that I wondered if I would really arrive at a hotel!!
After 2 days of walking around Hanoi (although motorbike or cyclo drivers offer you a ride every 2 minutes, I prefer counting on my legs for now), visiting some pagodas, museums, parks etc, I'll be heading to Halong Bay for 2 days tomorrow. Sunday evening I'll catch the night train to the North where I will try to go trekking to the summit of Fan Si Pan (highest peak at 3143m). I guess I will have another cultural choc (the first is already history ;)) when I get to the mountains...
To be continued...
Labels: Travel
posted by Jarnita @ 7:35 AM
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