Goodbye Laos, Hello Vietnam

Walked to Morning Market which is permanent and goes on all day. Never thought I would say this but I think I am over markets for the time being. It is rare to see anything different but at least here you are not hassled to buy. Walking through the food market, we found the Wetlands marked on the map. What a disappointment. I had imagined little sitting terraces where we could have a fruit smoothie but instead there was a car park and a large amount of rubbish. It seemed a pity to have such an underused resource in a busy city but further along there did appear to be building work going on to perhaps the local Council will get its act together.

In the afternoon I went out visiting the Lao Ethnic shops of which there are quite a lot. They have some beautiful things and the one across the road from the hotel had me salivating but the prices were really high so I just settled for a glasses case to replace mine that was broken and sadly put back all the lovely scarves and wall hangings.

I then went to check out Makphet which is restaurant that was opened to help educate street kids, similar to Jimmy's in Hanoi. It was again more expensive than the norm but had a wonderful sounding menu and the iced coffee was a cut above the rest.

Makphet Restaurant






Evening drinks were in Colin and Wendy's room and after a group of us went back to Makphet to discover that it was fully booked and not possible to get in without a reservation. So one was duly made for the following night. Obviously the 1# rating on Trip Advisor was justified. Some of the group went into the Horse and Hound pub but I went back to a little Lao place and had fresh spring rolls which cost the princely sum of £1 and were delicious.

The following morning I headed out on my own to explore again. Walking along the front, I came to the Presidential Palace which was more or less hidden behind high walls and then on to the Don Chan Palace which sounded exotic but was a hotel!

Presidential Palace glimpsed over high walls

Cutting through the back streets I came to the Nang Chan Wetlands again but a larger lake this time. There was meant to be a Joma Cafe and a waterpark with slides but it seemed to be a work in progress as nothing was happening except some men shifting bags of concrete.

Another visit to the Morning Market, a cooling coffee shake and a long walk took me to Patu Yap which was modelled on L'Arc de Triomphe but rather less graceful.

Patu Xap

Funny sign - what can it mean?

Then another long walk past various embassies and I was at That Luang, an enormous temple complex with a newly built reclining Giant Buddha. The Buddha was ok but what made it for me was some kids scrambling all over it giving me lovely photo opportunities.

That Luang

That Luang

Statue with clothing - must find out why.

That Luang

Unusual statue

Children climbing on the new concrete Buddha

I may sound like I am rather disallusioned with Laos which is not true but I do not feel we have seen the best of the country and have spent too long in Vientiane which when I got back to the hotel I discovered was going to be even longer due to floods blocking the road to the National Park where we were meant to spend two nights. I would love to come back to this country but would head for the country and the smaller places and would give Vientiane a big miss.

The evening was a definite highlight though as Mandy, Steve and I went to Makphet Restaurant and had for me at least the best meal of the trip. For those of you who know me well, you will know that I have a great interest in food - both cooking and eating so I was very interested to see if the food would live up to the glowing reports on Trip Advisor and do justice to the menu which was innovative and quite different from anything else I have seen here. We started with an aubergine dip (what a surprise) and a pork with herb dip. The aubergine was smoky with a good hint of chilli. The pork was even spicier and very good. We then followed with a beef marinated in Lao whisky with hibiscus flowers, a chicken with lemon grass and a Lao sausage with tomato dip. All were wonderful and very different. Although by now deserts were not needed, we could not resist the temptation and had a mango cake with coconut icecream, a hibiscus sorbet and a crisp ball of something with hibiscus sauce and all this was accompanied by an excellent bottle of South African red. It was a magnificent meal and one I will long remember.

Outside Makphet Restaurant

Waitresses at Makphet Restaurant

It was Aiofe's birthday so we headed off to a bar to celebrate but I was so full of food and red wine that it was a short night for me.

So our bonus days in Vientiane began. After another drool in the shop opposite where I picked everything up and hoped it had reduced in price since yesterday, I ended up buying a card - last of the big spenders! Another walk round town, another smoothie and the purchase of a pair of underpants and it was back to the hotel to play around on the computer, writing diary, labelling photos and wondering what to do until tomorrow afternoon when we take the bus to the border. Wendy and Colin were going out to the giant Buddha park but I have seen enough Buddhas for now and we still have Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia to go through so I don't think we are done with them.

That Dam

Silk for weaving

Weaving

Wat Chan

The following day went for another wander, moved out of room and had an excellent massage. Hung around some more at the hotel and at 5.30 tuk tuks arrived to take us to bus station. I was on the front tuk tuk and by the time 14 of us plus all our luggage were on board it was pretty squashed but nothing like the 2nd one that stopped at another hotel so had in total 24 on board. They were stopped twice by the police and it was not a good start to our overnight journey.

The crowded tuk tuk

Bus station was a horrible, filthy muddy place and made me realise again just how good the Turkish bus system is. The bus was a sleeper bus which meant that you fitted yourself into this rather small capsule and tried to sleep. I was lucky that I had one all to myself, whereas Zoe, Susan and Ben were in “the cave” which was not only cramped but next to the toilet so smelly as well. I think of all the journeys I have done in my time that this was one of the worst. We spent four hours in the middle of the night stopped with no air conditioning. I was lucky as I slept through most of it but some people barely got a wink.

Only one way the survive the bus from hell - wine in a water bottle

Clare looking happy on bus from hell

Jim looking comfortable on bus from hell

Ben looking manic on bus from hell

Susan and Zoe looking happy  in the cave on the bus from hell

The next day things did not improve as the border crossing was also one of the worst we’d experienced. Getting out of Laos was chaotic but was eventually achieved and we then had to walk to the Vietnamese border.

Walking from Laos to Vietnam

There all our bags had to be offloaded and put through X-ray which was a complete waste of time as you could have walked round the X-ray machine and no-one would have been the wiser. It was then back on to the bus from for another couple of hours to Vihn.

If anyone is planning a holiday to Vietnam you should go. It is a wonderful vibrant country but just make sure that Vihn is not on the itinerary. Having arrived at our comfortable hotel, we headed out to find food. After walking for two hours, Lucy had nearly been run over by a motorbike, Mandy had had an obscene gesture made to her, Melissa had been stroked by some passing man and we never found any food. So back to the hotel for the worst meal of the trip. Actually my food was ok because I had a feeling that nothing on the menu would be that good so plumped for soup and friend rice which was fine but the other had chosen chicken which was bony, fatty and chewy. The chips were cold and all in all nothing was going right!

The private bus that was taking us to Hanoi was ok apart from the fact that the driver had a bit of a death wish and all the men had to sit sideways as there was not enough leg room. And he did not appear to know where he was going or did not have the right paperwork to get us into Hanoi as we doubled back on ourselves and the journey probably took two hours longer than it should so we were more than relieved to arrive at our hostel in Hanoi.


That is until we saw our 12 bed dorm. The hostel was actually extremely comfortable and well run but 12 in a room is a bit much especially as some like partying till the wee hours and some like an early start to the day.
I was one of the early starters the following day as I walked down to the wholesale market to see the action. And there certainly was action – Hanoi at 6.00 a.m. is all go and I was able to capture a little bit of it on camera.

Early morning chaos at the market

And so early in the morning

Rambutan or orangutans as Melissa calls them

On the street

I then walked to Hoan Kiem Lake which was lovely in the early morning light. People were exercising and there was a film crew setting up on the island so I was lucky to be there before all that happened.

Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake

Early morning dancing in the park

Girls preparing for the day

Man doing early morning exercises

View over lake

Temple on island

Later I started the walking tour of Hanoi as recommended In Lonely Planet but half way through I was so hot that I took a cyclo out to the Temple of Literature and went to KOTO for lunch.

Scary view from a cyclo

 



Offering at the Temple of Literature

Dolls at Temple of Literature

I had been there seven years previously for breakfast and was interested to see if it was as good as it had been. It was set up as a training centre for street kids by a Australian Vietnamese called Jimmy and has been a great success. It was just as good and I had a lovely meal in civilised surroundings and at a very reasonable price. My Banana Flower salad with pork, prawns and local fresh herbs served on a crispy tofu skin was not only pretty to look at but delicious to eat. The lady next to me had this wonderful looking desert so I decided to indulge too and the crème brulee with tropical fruit tasted as good as it looked.

Delicious salad

Creme brulee with tropical fruit

The walk back to the hotel took ages mostly because I ended up going the wrong way and probably walked twice as far as I needed to so the free beer on the 5th floor was extremely welcome.

Statue of Lenin