the last few days

Sabai di!

Well we have been to Dong Ha, Lao Bao and Savanakhet since the last entry. I have written posts but Blogger has been rather unreliable. So here goes:

Hoi An - Dong Ha - 11.01.09

Well, the follies of the Vietnamese transport system!

Sunday we thought about going to church... well not really, in fact we barely realised that it was Sunday, the days of the week seem to mean very little here, only schools take the day off, unless you are lucky enough to be sent to 'special extra' school.For the shops, roadworks, construction sites, restaurants, so on and so forth, it's just another day.

The afternoon bus trip from Hoi An to Dong Ha, via Hue, was a 4 hour-ish trip, on paper. This changed rapidly as we learnt to do things on Vietnam time. Part of the journey was over mountainous terrain, where we got held up in a queue, after about half an hour we slowly started to move to find that the hold up was caused by, not one, but several broken down trucks on the other side of the rise. Dad said that each truck had burnt out (or something) as they came up the hill and therefore broken causing the delay. but this was all taken in our stride as we rumbled off towards Hue.

So according to the hotel, where we had booked the transport, we would leave Hoi An at 2pm, short stop over in Hue, about half an hour, then continue onto Dang Ha, about 3hrs from Hue, where we would arrive at 8pm. None of this happened. when we arrived at Hue we were booted off our bus, told "change bus, change bus. sitting bus round" he meant that we had to change bus, and find our sitting bus to Dong Ha. We want around the corner, dragging our packs, where we were told to wait for our bus to Dong Ha. As we were waiting a lady came up to us and informed us that if we wished to get to Dong Ha this evening, we had to get on her sleeping bus, otherwise we had to stay the night in Hue.

With much reluctance we boarded this sleeping bus. Now we have had previous experience with these buses, the sleeping bus is probably supposed to carry 30pax, our bus probably had 50-60 pax, no worries. So we had to crowd onto the sleeping bus and sit on the floor in the aisles for the trip to Dang Ha. we were reassured that it was only an hour not the 3-4 that we were told. i guess the complaints department was closed for the night, cause when we pointed out that we paid for a seat on a bus all we got was a shrug.

Lucky me, i got the jump seat next to the driver, although it may have been a little more comfortable, it was certainly alot scarier. I could see every near miss and every road rule broken from this vantage point. As we neared the police check point, the driver started to get very nervous, glancing around. Miraculously, as never before the windows began to fog, by the time we got to passing the police we could barely see out, there was no way that those police could see in, they could not see the extra passengers that he was carrying. Ahh it was an experience, no doubt about it.

Arriving at Dong Ha we were immediately beset by a Mr Hoa. A Mr Hoa who could not only take us on a guided tour of the DMZ and surrounds (more about that later), he could also advise us that the hotel that we had booked (recommended by the lonely planet) into was crap (his words were dirty, old and not nice) AND he could recommend a better place to stay AND he could tell us a good place to eat. Well us, being ever sceptical, cautious and naive, we signed up for his DMZ tour, we ate at the recommend restaurant (his)(so far so good) but we felt that we should honour our booking at the hotel, they even drove us there (MISTAKE). We must let Lonely Planet know that this hotel is a bit scungy, walls peeling, hot water that wasn't, skinny geckos (they don't have enough visitors to feed well), dirty (brown) water, NO cable television (much to James horror (he wanted to watch Big Things at 9pm)), Air conditioners not working, suspicious blankets etc. etc. etc. I suppose to date, we have been a little spoilt, at lea ts it's only a one night gig.

Dong Ha - DMZ - Dong Ha - 12.01.09

So woke early this morning, packed everything and went in search of a new hotel. Mr Hoa to the rescue, he arrived saw all the bags packed and said (with a sly smile) "No good here?" so we admitted that we should have listened and he found us a new hotel, a stones throw away, checked in, and went off on our tour.

So we trundled off in our minibus, the five of us and two Europeans (apparently they were Slovenian, Marianne and Sasho), off to the DMZ and surrounds. Our first point of call was an old American bunker about a km walk from the road, this bunker had 19 km view to the sea. We walked through a rubber tree plantation, one of the many that we were to encounter, more about that later.

Our next stop was the Ben Hai River where the Ho Chi Minh Trail, at one stage crossed. After that the War Cemetery where there are 10263 soldiers buried, there are many large monument with the inscription “TO QUOC GHI CONG” “lest we forget”. The soldiers that are buried at the cemetery are only of North Vietnamese descent as the South Vietnamese Government repatriates all soldiers to their home town and family, where as the North Vietnamese did not. Nor are there any American Graves as all of these were also repatriated, or in the process of. There was also a section of 60 or so graves with the inscription “CHUA BIET TEN” or “unknown soldier”. Mr. Hoa told us that sometimes families of MIA soldiers will get fortune tellers to find the bodies and will bring them to the cemetery where the fortune teller will tell them which grave and the family then gets a new plaque made up to go over the original inscription. I can foresee problems when they introduce DNA testing.

The next place of interest was the large Bomb craters created by the Americans; these also were located in a rubber tree plantation. This plantation caused Mum’s eye to swell up dramatically. Natural Rubber tree sap contains Latex!!! Well who’d have known, Mum was wearing sunglasses for most of the remainder of the day. We were also shown an old American tank left behind by the army and a mortar, much to dad’s horror.

Our next stop was the reunification bridge and a smaller footbridge. These bridges are the link between North and South Vietnam. Before the war they were painted on the south half it was yellow and on the nth half it was red. However during the war this bridge along with many other things was bombed by the Americans. There was also a museum and a monument and an old police station at this site.

Our next and nearly final stop was the Vinh Moc tunnels. Vinh Moc is a tunnel complex in Quang Tri. During the Vietnam War it was located on the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The tunnels were built to shelter the people of Vinh Linh province from the intense bombing of Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh. It was constructed in several stages beginning in 1966 and used until early 1972. The complex grew to include wells, kitchens, rooms for each family and spaces for health care, emergency room and maternity rooms. Around 60 families lived in the tunnels; as many as 500 people lived in these tunnel systems and 17 children were born inside the tunnels.
The tunnels were a success and no villagers lost their lives. Three levels of tunnels were eventually built these were at 12m, 19m and 25m. In the Vinh Linh Province there are around 114 tunnels, all built for the community use.
After the tunnels we stopped at a Fishing village and watched them bring in their boats from their daily fishing. We were then dropped back at the hotel, where we went for a walk to get some supplies for the next days bus ride, it was sounding interesting…

Dong Ha - Lao Bao - DSV - Scary Bus Ride - Savannakhet - 13.01.09

Well, everybody has a friend who can arrange something. Our tour guide, Mr. Hoa, said that he could arrange for us a bus to Savannakhet, Laos. Alas, on the said bus there were only three available seats, dad said that this would be fine, however James and I protested, as we were the ones that were going to be left behind, how is that fair? BUT, Mr. Hoa said that he had a friend who could for $USD12 ea could get us to the boarder and then to Savannakhet. We had to keep this trip secret because Mr. Hoa was “free lancing” from his employer. $12 was a pretty good deal, although the secretive nature had a few of us worried, dad had visions of us crossing the boarder in Rubber Rafts with camo paint, I had images of us being prodded from our hiding places at gunpoint, James thought we’d be spending the next two years in a Laos/Vietnamese goal.

Well we were up at “sparrows fart” (a Dad saying), which seems a lot earlier over here, 0500. We where ready to go by 0615, the mini-van arrived; it was the same mini-van as yesterday, with same Non-English Speaking Driver as yesterday. Mr. Hoa (Mr. Dodgy) ushered us into the Van and we were off, off and away, well not quite. Another transport question? Why do they insist on having lines on the road as they appear to mean absolutely nothing to anyone? About one hour into the trip we stopped at a rather spectacular bridge with an adjacent police station. We were ushered out of the van and thinking that it was a boarder post we trotted over to the police station and produced out passports. These very official-looking officials (1 police man (peach uniform), 2 Army (bright Green), one unknown (boring blue), and one in plain clothes, were rather nonplussed, as were we, when they indicated they didn’t want to see our papers. They retuned to their TV and tea and we returned to the van. Officials here are all very pretty and immaculately dressed, but seem to do jack, whereas it’s the opposite back home. It seems that our driver just wanted us to look at the bridge!! And he wanted a smoke.

30 ks on we met Mrs. Dodgy who was to see us over the boarder (as arranged by Mr. dodgy in Dong Ha (she was the “French” (Friend) that was to see us over safely )). Just by chance Mrs. D had everything we could have possibly wanted or needed at the boarder, she had currency to exchange from any country we wanted, phone cards and numerous other items. As we were most unceremoniously ushered out of the van and ditched by the driver. We started our journey through bureaucracy.

Passport check first, to ensure that we had valid passport and visa’s, then they removed our departure cards, crossed the boarder on foot lugging our packs, to another passport check then we moved to the Laotian immigration where we had to do it all over again, in reverse. Passport check, arrival and departure forms paid $USD35 for each of our visa’s (much to Mrs. D’s disgust we paid in VND “so –spensive in Dong, cheaper in dollar!” I’m sure but how much do we loose in the exchange!). Then with Visa’s granted we had another passport check (so much easier to fly!!!) and we were home free in Laos!!!!

The first impression of Laos was quite a different one. At the immigration office there were Goats and kids (y’know the baby goats), pigs and piglets, dogs and cats roaming around free, the goats found something very tasty in the rubbish bin. There aren’t as many free roaming chickens here, although there are many many dogs, pigs and goats. There is not anywhere near as much traffic either.

We then started our 1k trek to the Dean Savan “bus station”. This was in the centre of town opposite a market.

The Local Bus.

Arrived at the local bus stop at Dean Savan to see the type of bus depicted on a Uruguayan mountain road packed to the gunwales, but this time it was without the people sitting on the roof. This must have been the pride of the fleet as it was fully equipped with four roof fans, and curtains. Not too crowded though. The hand brake was a piece of wood with a crafted handle which the conductor puts under the rear right wheel every time the bus stops. This very same piece of wood was crafted to enable it to keep the rear door closed when the bus was in motion (if they wanted it closed, which wasn’t often). This being a local bust, it was also the freight line, with a motorbike, at the rear of the passenger cabin, with several sacks of rice…or whatever, 40 or so boxes of stuff, and 12 or so passengers. 10 ks into the journey (3 or 4 stops), we had to stop at Customs, where we showed our passports it was indicated that we should not leave the bus. It was therefore disconcerting to hear the Customs officers scratching around on the roof, where our bags were, without seeing what they were ratting though. Don’t know what they were looking for, but they did confiscate, a large sack, that we are told had sweets in it and a box of beer. The receipt, no doubt would be forthcoming.

The bus stops every 5 or so K’s, people and freight get on, and people and freight get off. It’s a bit like Grenda’s bus lines without the timetable and colour.

The road to Savannakhet was very good, for three or four k’s, then from thereon, every ten or so K’s there was a washout, which meant the bus, not so much slowing down, but swerving a lot. If the road was better on the incorrect side…that is where we went, and on coming motorcycles, just got out of the way.

The bus stops in the middle of nowhere. “Toilet” yells the driver, and the bus with the exception of the white folk scamper from the bus, into the bushes, in all directions. Three minutes later, the air horn on the bus sounds, the passengers scurry back onto the bus and we’re off.

The countryside so far, in Laos, is particularly dry looking, but there are far more cattle, goats and pigs in evidence. There seems to be a major industry in Charcoal burning. This involves cutting the wood, stacking it, hollowing out a fire pit below, and then covering it with clay. Then over two or more days the stack of wood is controlled combusted, and then when it’s right the fire is put out and the charcoal is removed. There were thousands of bags filled with charcoal along the side of the road.

The next stop was the Lunch Toilet Stop. There were big snails (Tennis ball size) small crabs, corn, bananas, and lots of green stuff. Laos is now, 1 sow less. During the lunch stop, we were the witnesses to a fatality. The silly sow sauntered swiftly sideways subsequently slaughtered by a big truck. I think it was the pig’s fault.

Another two hours, several stops in the meanwhile, then stopped at a police checkpoint. Now I don’t know if the driver had done anything wrong, but I think the conductor gave the senior police officer cash, and we were on our way. Once again I’m sure the receipt will be following.

Arrived in Savannakhet at about 3 p.m. The bus station is also the international arrivals port for busses from Thailand too. The squat toilets here cost K1000 to go, whether it’s one or twos, so my suggestion to the family that they save up their business so it costs less was not received as the suggestion of the day. Oh, and the attendants get all uppity if you accidentally walk into the shower stall.

Checked out two guest houses, via the Tuk-Tuk(which are, compared to Cambodian Tuk-Tuk’s , engineering, safety and roomy masterpieces) Decided to stay at the Xayamounglehoun Guest House, because we liked the name.

Although Savannakhet has a population of 124 000, it is relatively quiet place, on the banks of the Mekong, opposite Thailand. (Mukdahan) Went for a wander and saw the place that we will have to have tea at if not tonight, tomorrow, on the banks of the Mekong. Very beautiful Buddhist temple, with lots of Monks about. The Lao Buddhists are not as demonstrative (due to past political oppression) as the Vietnamese are. So a lot less incense and altars.

Savannakhet - 14.01.09
Had a bit of a sleep in today. James got the booby prize so had to share with the parents.
He hates being told to tidy up his things.

Mum and Dad went out for Breakfast, and finally found a place that served more than noodle soup…and guess what we had, Baguettes and jam, and coffee. Not as good a Vietnamese, but bearable. No a huge number of tourists obvious here either. We tend not to feel loved because the Lao people are nowhere near as “aggressive” when touting for business, and rather than being dragged into a stall or shop, we have to go in and wait.

Lovely sunny day, about 25 C. After breakfast we hired some bicycles.(better than the bum breakers in Hoi An) for about $3 for the day. Armed with a map, we first went to the Savannakhet tourist advisory office, where we signed up to two day “eco trek” in the nearby jungle and Villages’. Should be interesting. If there is anyone brave enough to go with us, we will get a bit of a refund. Apparently we are not allowed to have sexual relations with the villagers. (Duh).

From there we cycled to the market, where we put our bikes, in to a “car park” for bikes, and went a wandering. Much cleaner than other markets we have seen, and apparently more organized….until we got to the meat section. There were pigs, chooks, ducks, frogs, but mostly pigs, in various stages of undress. Mostly sans their innards. Several on the ground, and the local dogs, just sniffing around. So pork is not on the menu tonight.

Then we rode out of town for a bit, and it was lovely to see the locals react when we greeted them “Sabai di” (Hello). They often want to try their English on us. And their English is often better than our Lao. I think they are still fascinated by the silly big white folk who would ride bikes for fun.

For Tea we had a hot pot. Locally known as Sin Jum. It goes like this. You sit on a mat, on cushions (sans Footwear) on the foot path on the “banks” of the Mekong. You sit at a table, and a charcoal brazier is plopped in the middle of the table. A plate of raw meat and seafood, and a big plate of greens, with rice noodles is also placed there on. Then a pot with “soup” is put on the brazier, and it’s then up to us to work out what and how we want to cook. Fortunately we had a “neighboring” Lao family who took pity on us and showed us how to do it. We are still alive, and no there was no pork.

Then we returned the bikes and had coffee and far too many local sweet dumplings.

Sabai di

(this post a collaboration with ABC)