The Capital Often Overlooked

**I am going to try something new with the photos on my blog, making them bigger in the first place so you don’t have to click for a larger image. Please let me know if you prefer this or the previous way I did things**

Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Even though it is also the second largest city in the country, few people seem to come to Hanoi for little more than to escape to either Ha Long Bay or Sapa, or both. There are plenty of museums(none of which I actually went to) and things to see, but the two outer excursions tend to overshadow the city.

I found myself drawn into Hanoi as a place to relax before and in-between my trips into Ha Long Bay and Sapa. And with the help of an iPod app, I managed to meet a couple really cool guys to hang out with on my down time.

Ha Long Bay

Ignoring, for a moment, the justifiable controversy surrounding the selection of the “New 7 Wonders,” Ha Long Bay still stands out as an amazing place. Of the seven places that have been named onto the new list, this one is one of the few that is actually deserving of the title in my opinion. I had already done a one day tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site with Po and Frank a few days earlier and it’s very apparent that four and a half hours is not nearly enough to really appreciate the beauty of the area. So, with that in mind, I set out to book a three day, two night tour of the bay.

Latching Onto Strangers

I feel kinda bad about my last post where I pretty much slammed the town of Dalat. At least it seemed that way. I was more slamming the tour I was on. Dalat itself seemed like a cute little town. I know the one thing that stuck out in my mind was how clean the lake in the middle of the town looked and how well groomed the walking trails were. Perhaps if I had gone to Dalat with a better attitude I would’ve enjoyed the town more. Check out Dyanne’s blog, the geocacher I had met in Sapa, for a better idea about Dalat once she moves there to teach English.

Leaving Dalat was an adventure in itself. The bus was . . . run down to say the least. Fumes filled it for the 4+ hour drive to Nha Trang where I had already reserved my seat on the bus to Hoi An. I would only have an hour changeover to make that bus. When the bus heading to Nha Trang pulled over with a flat tire, things looked dire.

Haha, I just rhymed!

Disinterested in Dalat

I left Nha Trang in a pretty down mood having had money stolen from right beside me on the beach. I had already booked a quick little trip into Dalat already so I was just happy to be getting away to maybe clear my head and get less angry at the people around the beach. I had purposely left Dalat off my Open Tour Ticket as I was getting many mixed reports on the bad weather it was having(i.e.//non-stop rain). When I got to Nha Trang, I checked again and it looked like there would be a slight break in the weather long enough for me to check it out.

Statistics and You

Vietnam has really hit the mark when it comes to [pandering? helping?] tourists. Case in point is the plethora of options available with their “Open Tour Bus” routes. These buses are a hop on, hop off style bus ticket. You purchase a ticket with a certain number of stops and go at your own pace, reserving your seat the day before leaving. I ended up booking my ticket through The Sinh Tourist.

That in itself is an interesting story as The Sinh Tourist, formerly The Sinh Cafe, was the original company to offer this. And they did so with such professionalism, and gained such a good reputation, that dozens upon dozens of imitators sprung up. And without any sort of major copyright law, they all had the same name too. Finding the real Sinh Cafe/Sinh Tourist proved to be a challenge, but I managed. And for only $23 I got a four stop ticket from Ho Chi Minh City, stopping in Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi.

First stop: Nha Trang.

War and Religion in Western Vietnam

One of the most popular, and common, day trips out of Saigon(aka Ho Chi Minh City) is a quick tour of the infamous Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai Temple. Although, in retrospect, the Cao Dai temple is really only a popular/common trip as it is usually rolled up in the same package tour as the Tunnels.

It is an interesting mix of sites when you think about it. First you have the wonder and curiosity of a religion that mixes many different major religions into one. Then you have a sobering tour through a major Viet Cong stronghold from the Vietnam-America War. I don’t think it would be too bold of me to say that it was this area that really began the slow loss of the war by the Americans. And it gives an interesting insight into some of the thoughts of the locals.

Why You Should Ignore Online Reviews

Days 299-301, September 22-24, 2011

After nearly a week in Bangkok, it was time to get the hell out. While I was still planning on finding a place to settle down for a month, just to get out of that travel vibe for a bit, a part of me was beginning to wonder if I really needed it. And moreso, whether I have the time and money to do so. But I can’t worry about that yet!

I had booked a three day, two night tour through the hostel in Bangkok for a trip up to the north-west to visit a number of sights including the River Kwai and the Tiger Temple. My mistake came from reading some reviews of the tour company the hostel was using on Trip Advisor. Trip from Hell was how one person described it.

The Scars of War

Days 231-235, July 16-20, 2011.

There was something strangely enticing about going to Bosnia and Herzegovina(hereby I will refer to the country as BiH). I didn’t really know much about the place beyond knowing that a war had been fought there not too long ago in the 1990s. What I did know was what I heard from others that had gone there: it was breathtaking and an experience in itself. And knowing that, in this summer, most travelers tend to stick to the coasts, heading inland into BiH would take me away from the hordes of tourists.

Before leaving Dubrovnik by bus for Mostar, the first city on my little trip into BiH, I did a little research on what I would be seeing. What little I did read convinced me that I was making the right choice as to where to go. And as a student of Political Studies where the Cold War and the fall of communism is usually a fairly large component of Canada’s history in the 80s, this was going to be an interesting view into a part of the former Yugoslavia.

Rome With Kelly

The following takes place on Days 214-217, June 29-30, 2011.

Rome. The Eternal City. A city filled with such majesty and history that it’s hard to comprehend at times. It’s a city that sparks any multitude of emotions and thoughts when you first enter it. And it means something different to different people, especially with the heart of the Catholic Church in centre of the city. And although Kelly and I had two full days in Rome, much more than Venice and Florence, for a city this big we’d still be rushing through it all.

“I would walk 500 miles . . . “

The following takes place on Days 207-210, June 22-25, 2011

I’m going to prologue this with a reminder: Kelly was on a tight schedule. She had her return flight to Saskatoon leaving Rome on July 1st. And with us wanting to see more of Italy than just the Eternal City, it meant having to do a lot of fast, expensive traveling. The start of all this was to get ourselves back up to Athens from Santorini. The cheapest option would be a 9 hour ferry ride. There is an airport on the island but the prices are a bit insane, especially for my budget.

Our end goal for the next few days: Venice, Italy.

Without leaving the surface of the Earth.

Ok, We get it. You’re Pretty.

The following takes place on Days 204-206, June 19-21, 2011

I don’t think I’m really jumping off the deep end here by declaring that I think most people, when thinking of Greek Islands, think of Santorini. The island of Santorini is kind of like that pretty girl in high school. She knows she’s pretty and doesn’t need to do much to convince anyone of that fact. People will flock to her regardless. That is most definitely Santorini. The island is dotted with apartments for rent, hostels, hotels, and resorts. It is like it is built for tourists.

As hell broke loose . . .

The following takes place on Days 199-200, June 14-15, 2011

The plan had always been for Kelly and I to spend a few days in Athens before heading off on the ferries for some time island hopping. There was no doubt about that part. What islands we would go to was a bit of a toss up. We knew for sure that we would go to Santorini as that island had the famous blue and white buildings everyone associates with the Greek islands. But beyond that, we were pretty open.

As it would turn out, our plan to leave on the 16th was going to be the best decision we made.

Hanging out with dead people

The following takes place on Day 192, June 7, 2011

Luckily, for the five of us, we didn’t have to get up so bloody early on this last official day of our tour of southern Egypt. And when I mean not so early, I mean 7am. We had breakfast in the hotel which came with the room(omelette’s made to order, OJ, sausage, potatoes, etc.) and crawled into the van. Today’s journey would take us to the West bank of the Nile and into the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

1 Temple, 2 Temples, 3 Temples, 4.

The following takes place on Day 191, June 6, 2011

Considering the temperature didn’t go much lower than 28 degrees that night on the felucca, I slept surprisingly well. Even the fact that we pushed off from the rivers edge and the sun had risen didn’t completely stir me awake for a good hour. I don’t even recall if I stirred an inch the entire evening, the sleep was that restful. When I did wake, and I wasn’t the last one awake mind you, we still had another half hour or so of sailing before we got to the meet up point with the van that would take us the rest of the way to Luxor.

Little did I know how long of a day it was going to be.

Sunrise to Sunset

The following takes place on Day 190, June 5, 2011

I am not a morning person. Far from it. So when I realized that the second day of the tour required us to be awake and in the lobby by 5am, I was not a happy camper. I am much more of a night owl and have a hard time forcing myself asleep before midnight. But in order to get to the temple of Abu Simbel on the shores of Lake Nasser before it got too unbearably hot, we had to leave by 5:30am at the latest.

It used to be that in order to go there, one needed a police escort the entire way. They seem to have disposed of this in favour of a simpler stop check. If you go to Abu Simbel, your bus stops, the police take account of all who are on it, give the driver a form and then, after the tour in Abu Simbel, another stop check checks to make sure you didn’t take on any additional passengers. Mainly, illegal immigrants from the Sudan which is just across the water from the temple.

Democracy’s birth, Temple’s legacy

The following takes place on Days 188-189, June 3-4, 2011


One of the more interesting side notes that Israa had mentioned was that the revolutionary protests still happen on Friday’s.While not as large as the ones that initially sparked the full out revolution, the protests still draw large crowds of people who are keeping the pressure on the military leadership and to help promote the dozens of newly cropped up political parties. Coming from Canada, where political apathy has reached an unbearable high and the idea of actually being thrilled to have a say in your government is about as exciting a prospect as watching paint dry, I was excited to see the revolution taking place. To finally see a group of people excited to have a democracy and demanding a say.
Canada can certainly learn a few lessons.

The Wonders of Egypt

The following takes place on Day 187, June 2, 2011

Lets face it. The number one reason the majority of  people go to Egypt in the first place is to see the pyramids. And, like it or not, the tourism industry in Egypt knows this all too well as well. A quick search on getting to the Pyramids ourselves and dealing with haggling for taxi rides or manoeuvring on the Cairo bus system showed Mick, the Australian I met that morning, and myself that taking the offer from the hostel of a free guide was a huge savings. Though, mind you, the free tour and guide came because we had ended up booking a tour with the hostel down to the Luxor/Aswan area.

I see your “arg” and raise you an “Erg”[Chebbi]

The following takes place between Days 176-178, May 22-24, 2011

The Sahara Desert is by far the largest desert in the entire world, covering almost the entire northern portion of Africa. In Morocco, one can easily make their way to one of several dunes, or ergs, for a camping excursion in the sand. For Jaime, Kelly, and I, we decided to organize a tour through the hostel for a three day, two night tour to the largest erg in Morocco, Erg Chebbi.

The Start of Something New

The following takes place between Days 172-173, May 18-19, 2011

Still a tad bit drunk, I made it somehow to the bus station with time to spare. The strange thing though was that by 4:20am, ten minutes before my schedualed departure time,  the bus station doors were still locked. There were a couple other people with luggage waiting as well that were taking the same bus so I wasn’t worried that I was at the wrong bus station.

Eventually the doors were opened and we began to wait once again for the bus which ended up being over half an hour late. All I could think was “You mean I could have been sleeping this entire time?”

Lisbon–A City of Contrasts

The following takes place between Days 155-157, May 1-3, 2011

I admit that not only have I been completely neglecting updating the blog, but I’ve also been half dreading writing this post, and the others about Portugal as I have a good friend back home from Portugal. I really want to do his home country justice.

And wow. What a country. We’ll start with the capital as that’s where we are currently situated. I just fell in love with this city. Sure, my Portuguese leaves much to be desired but at least it’s close enough to Spanish that I can get by. “No fala Portuguese. Solo ingles o Español" was a phrase I said many times. I tried though! I caught onto the way they said numbers which is a pretty important skill to have.

Ah! Back to the city though! And what a city. What a city indeed.