Asia Cafe I: Vietnam, a country of water

FRIDAY 03-08-2007 Train from Reggio Emilia to Milano Centrale, then bus to Milan Malpensa. The flight from Malpensa is at 12:20; we check in quickly and finally at 12:15 we board; everything seems normal. In my head many thoughts are racing regarding the Russian airline Aeroflot (I'd read positive comments, but there were also those among our acquaintances who did psychological warfare and literally frightened Jael and consequently me, almost guaranteeing us certain death or that in any case we were running a big risk! As you can imagine everything went well, since I'm here to tell you about our trip, but in my account there will be no shortage of details about this Russian airline. But let's get back to our Friday.

We're at our seats in the queue; they start the engines, we take off, help, the usual fear that grabs me on all flights; the dancing begins and with every movement I think "Jael was right, it's not a safe airline, but what kind of plane have they given us?" but honestly it's not their fault if we're in the middle of the clouds and there's a bit of turbulence... once we're up high everything stabilises and it's normal; the flight lasts about 3 and a half hours. The hostesses are kind even though they mainly speak Russian and you can't understand a thing. We've understood what happens to all the young and pretty hostesses you see on other planes when they start to fade... they all get sent to finish their hostess career on Aeroflot; the average age is fifty. The food is edible.

All ok! We're over the skies of Moscow and everything is a bit gloomy; with the time difference it's already about 18:00. Once we've got off and had our tickets and passports checked we're free to wander around the airport. We have the Moscow-Bangkok flight at 22:50. A five-hour wait awaits us; we decide to eat something since we have no idea what dinner on the plane will be like. What had I said before??? Free to wander around the airport? True, free you are free... but I'd never seen anything more squalid and soulless than this airport. There are no chairs to wait on, only the stairs (dirty, I might add) that lead to the second floor where there are some restaurants. The places are all small and bare and moreover the few chairs are already taken and we can't figure out how much the food will cost because almost nowhere are there prices that the Russians convert into dollars or euros...

The duty free shops are very expensive and everywhere there are shops selling perfumes or Matryoshka dolls. Judging by quantity it seems that the people waiting for the flight care more about perfuming themselves than eating something. There are only two small rooms used as toilets in the whole airport; the rest I leave to your imagination. We buy a chocolate and wait sitting on the stairs. We can't wait to leave and we're already sad at the mere thought that we'll have to stop again on the return trip. We leave MOSCOW WITH REAL PLEASURE. We begin the real flight, the one that will take us to the other "side of the world," flight MOSCOW – BANGKOK at about 23:00.

The plane is very spacious, there's excellent legroom, the hostesses are kind and shortly after they start with dinner even though it's already half past one; we give the food a full pass! Shortly after we fall asleep and between one nap and another we arrive at 6 in the morning

SATURDAY 04-08-2007

They come round with breakfast... and shortly after we get ready for landing. The flight went well; I feel much more relaxed, even though I'm aware of the fact that the whole holiday will be marked by planes to catch and that already today I'll take the one that will take me to VIETNAM (BANGKOK-HANOI) booked in February online and paid 55.6 € each. We're at Bangkok airport. At passport control everything goes smoothly; there's no comparison with Moscow airport; everything is new, spacious and with lots of choices. After the usual reconnaissance round and having compared prices a bit, we choose a restaurant that has truly inviting photos on its side; in the end what we chose a bit at random satisfies us and fills our stomachs.

We find a quiet little spot with comfy little armchairs too where we can read and while away the wait; we wait about three hours and head towards our last flight of this series to reach Vietnam, booked with AIRASIA 8 months ago at 55.6 € each. They are very strict about baggage weight and so we have to do a bit of juggling with books and other things to check in our bags without paying the surcharge of 3 euros per kilo. And a compulsive illness begins: we open the backpacks and start removing things, but what? Books, shoes? We detach the detachable little backpack from the main backpack, heedless of its contents. The funny thing is that you remove weight from one side to stuff it in another, weight that will anyway go up on the plane... Passports ok.

Before boarding there are the staff who ask us: "liquids, creams?" no, impossible, we're experienced travellers; do you think we fall for these things? but the little backpack we had with us in theory shouldn't have been here...

I go through, and they immediately catch shower gel and mousse on Alle; Diego goes through the first check because he naively answered "no, I haven't done these things for a long time!" but at the lie detector, at the x-rays, he's caught immediately; the girl makes him open the little backpack from which, wouldn't you know it, the beauty case pops out; the girl's exclamation of joy is memorable, the kind of: "I caught you with your finger in the Nutella!" It's all at risk; Diego begins the performance of "you're right, it's only my fault!" in the end they throw away the shower gel and the almost finished hair gel because on the packaging it says 250ml even though there's maybe 50... it went even too well; later, once in the hotel, we'll discover that in a side pocket of the beauty case there's a flick knife with a blade of at least 9 cm...

the important thing is to throw away the empty gel... We got off lucky; they board us on a nice new plane and in just under two hours we've arrived... incredible, we're in Vietnam! We collect our luggage and head for the exit after withdrawing some cash from an ATM... 2 million dong, it seems like a fortune but it's only 90€. Here's our taxi driver with the sign Diego and Dany; we pay 12 dollars for the trip, split between the four of us. After about an hour's drive we arrive at the hotel: HOTEL CAMELLIA 4 44 HANG GIAY ST- TEL (84.4).428.3667

It belongs to the Camellia hotel group (Camellia44hg@vnn.vn

It's in the centre of Hanoi; we're in the old quarter full of bicycles, scooters, Vespas and a few rickshaws. At the hotel they immediately tell us that the two rooms we had booked are not available, but that they have two of a higher level which they give us at the same price as the standard ones (standard 19 $ - superior 22 $). The hotel is decent, reasonably clean, without too many pretensions but dignified; the price includes breakfast, free internet and air conditioning in the room. We've just come down and we're already sweating; it's hot and the humidity level is considerable, considering it's already 11 at night... we decide to immediately take a walk to eat something.

The Camellia 4 is right on the bend; going out we turn left, a wrong choice but we'll only realise it the next day in the light of day; we go down inner streets full of stalls, of people eating at the roadside washing bowls in basins of black water. The sign of some little restaurant with no pretensions seems to have hidden itself to make our first impact a bit harder. We decide that we're not all that hungry after all, and then we're tired; we've been at it for 40 hours now! On a street corner there's a woman cooking skewers of meat on a tiny grill; she says it's chicken, let's hope so... 4 skewers 12000 dong, they're good; in the end we go back for seconds to the woman opposite who sells them at 10000; they're not as good as the first ones; let's hope tomorrow goes better. Good night.

In the hotel lobby there's a desk of a travel agency offering lots of excursions, including the ones we want to do. We negotiate and book two days at HALONG BAY with meals and overnight on the boat at 54 $ each. The Bay is one of the natural wonders of Vietnam. It includes countless beaches and caves carved by wind and sea. Extending for about 1500 sq km, it is characterised by over three thousand islands, islets, rocks and limestone sea stacks emerging from the waters; some larger, rounded and covered with vegetation, others smaller, bare and rugged, still others reduced to towers, slender obelisks or pinnacles shaped by erosion into bizarre forms. Then we decide to take a walk around Hanoi to understand it a bit better.

We have lunch at LITTLE HANOI at a cost of 118000 dong for two and then follow the itinerary recommended by Lonely Planet, which suggests the tour of the 36 streets; we discover a lively, vibrant city that always seems busy with some activity. We grab a cold coke in front of the Catholic cathedral and reach the lake that is right in the centre of the city, HOAN KIEM LAKE, where we enjoy the sunset. Indeed, on a small island connected to the mainland by a picturesque wooden bridge painted red, which is one of the most classic "postcards" not only of Vietnam but of the whole East, stands the Temple of the Jade Mountain (Ngoc Son), dedicated to the national hero Tran Hung Dao who halted the advance of the Mongols in the 13th century. The colonnade in front, surrounded by beautiful vegetation, is a meeting place for Chinese checkers players.

We also stop at some street vendors to taste the inviting fruit, thus making the acquaintance of dragon fruit, rambutan and mangosteen… succulent delights! The streets of Hanoi seem like rivers of scooters and at first the idea of crossing the road worries us quite a bit, but then we get used to it and understand the trick: cross confidently without hesitation and pray a lot! We also organise ourselves for the TAM COC trip and among the various offers we find the agency HANOI TOURS (hanoituors@fpt.vn tel: (84 8) 9260809) which offers us the best price: the whole day for 17$ each, lunch included.

The day was hot, interesting and tiring; we also booked another hotel for when we return after the trip to Halong Bay; we stayed faithful to the Camellia chain but moved to the Camellia 2

It's now dinner time… we take a look at the little restaurants near the hotel and the KING CAFE' RESTAURANT 44 LUONG NGOC QUYEN 8.281762

tempts us. It turns out to be an EXCELLENT CHOICE; in the days we'll stay in Hanoi we won't easily betray it… everything delicious and plentiful at truly unbeatable prices! Now to bed; tomorrow we set off again for another adventure!

At the Camellia 4 they turn out to be extremely kind and even though we won't sleep there anymore they're willing to keep our large backpacks; since we'll only be away one night we can travel light, with only what we need for the two days.

They pick us up from the hotel at 8:15 and we reach the Bay around midday; before that we made a toilet stop and shopping at the classic tourist shop… The place set for departure for the bay is really buzzing; it's full of boats, junks, and very small boats carrying mostly women, busy collecting and removing the rubbish from every single boat; there's the turnover… tourists who have finished the tour and new tourists like us who are about to begin it… We start sailing; we're on the wooden boat (junk-style); after a good hour, lunch is immediately served, fish-based, good! At 15:30 we moor and go down to visit a cave with the classic stalagmite and stalactite formations inside… the setting is beautiful and there's the chance to take wonderful photos, or at least one tries… Around 17:00 we arrive at a beach where we're given about an hour of free time; we take the opportunity to go for a sw

im and have a look around. We get back on the boat and after making ourselves presentable again we're ready for dinner (described as good in quality but meagre in quantity) We relax, lulled by the waves and the rolling of the vessel.

Wake-up at 7:30; unfortunately the sun comes and goes… and the colours of the water don't come across as they should… We have an hour to take a canoe trip and enter the caves and see up close the life of their inhabitants… People busy finding food for the day or something to sell to tourists. Both on the way out and on the way back we have the chance to see in the distance real floating fishing villages. They are real houses placed on floats, with balconies, windows, plants and flowers, television antennas and even domestic animals (mostly dogs)... the only difference is that instead of roads outside the door there's the sea and to go anywhere you have to take the boat.

It's about eleven; we're back at the base; yesterday's hustle and bustle repeats itself, only today we've become the old-timers and the new ones are boarding… There's a lot of chaos anyway; following the usual tourist routes doesn't appeal to us but sometimes either you follow the herd or you can't see what you want; moreover we didn't have enough days to gather information and try the do-it-yourself approach… We were satisfied with the agency and the organisation. We arrive back in Hanoi at 17:00. We stay at the CAMELLIA 2 13 Luong ngoc quyen st 84.4.8283583 (Camellia44hg@vnn.vn

We have a standard room for 17$ per night per room with breakfast. It's very spacious and nice. If you have to choose between the 2 and the 4 I recommend the 2. We take advantage of the laundry service and end the day taking a walk in search of markets. We find the food one, with its meat and fish, animal feet or tongues and other foods considered normal like eggs, fruit etc… How nice to plunge into cultures different from ours; you mustn't be disgusted but always smile. Moving a little further we find the stalls of various souvenirs; we also make our first purchases for the little gifts… It's already late and so we go back to dine at the KING CAFE'.

To give you an idea of the cost, Diego and I have: 1 large bottle of water, 1 beer, 1 pineapple juice, 2 portions of French fries, 2 pork noodles (they're the typical spaghetti), 1 spring roll (like a spring roll and for dessert 1 pineapple crepe and we pay less than 5€ for everything. In bed we're really full and worn out.

The agency's minibus comes to pick us up at 8:15; our destination is Tam Coc (we chose to visit it after reading the accounts of others who had been enthusiastic about it) Tam Coc is nicknamed the Halong Bay of the rice fields. The rock formations, instead of emerging from the sea, tower towards the sky from a sea of vegetation, the rice fields… We break the journey by stopping to visit a pagoda whose name I don't remember… Unfortunately the weather isn't the best; it rains and then stops and then starts again right after… We arrive around midday in a locality in the province of Ninh Binh; in front of us is Tam Coc. First we have lunch at THE' LONG. It's both a hotel and a restaurant; it's certainly equipped to receive a lot of tourists.

Everything is included in the price and they bring us one course after another… Unfortunately I can't ask what kind of meat the skewers or the stew they bring us are, and so I resort to the only alternative I have before me: becoming vegetarian… In Vietnam one of the most succulent specialities is precisely dog meat. Many times in front of restaurants we've seen this sign: THIT CHO (mainly written in the north) and THIT CAY (mainly written in the south). If you don't want to eat our four-legged friends, avoid them; if instead you're open-minded, I won't criticise you: taste everything you want, but don't force me to do it.

Anyway, if you look around during your trip, as then happened to us, you'll see lots of dogs in very small cages (we might put a chicken in them to show that the meat is fresh) in front of restaurants… We even happened to hear, fortunately not see, a dog whining desperately and a moment later hearing nothing more. I'm not certain but I think it ended up on someone's plate. Back to our main topic: Tam Coc. Once lunch is over we're made to get on a very small rowing boat (it looks a lot like a canoe) to travel along the Ngo Dong river. As Lonely Planet says, the excursion is really peaceful and spectacular; the scenery is extraordinary, the colour of the rice fields is beautiful, an absolutely unique green.

We pass through the various caves and watch speechless at what nature is capable of creating… The "journey" lasts about two hours and when you've reached the end of the route you turn around and repeat the same route in reverse, and it's here that our "rowers," a Vietnamese couple in their fifties, transform, and like them all the other boat owners… Waiting for us at the end of the first stage of the route are the classic street vendors of drinks… they don't have a little van but obviously they have their canoe fully equipped with cans and biscuits… Even if you don't buy anything they'll insist that you buy a drink for your rowers; ours even did a pantomime of dying of thirst.

I had read that they often don't open the cans you buy for them and then at the end of the trip they'll resell them to the shopkeepers for half the price you paid… Anyway we didn't want to appear rude and instead of falling into this game that mocks the good hearts of us tourists I preferred to give them a tip… if they were really thirsty they could then buy a drink for themselves. But it doesn't end here… on the return stretch they pull out a small trunk containing blouses, doilies, embroidered tablecloths etc… in short, you have to haggle and buy… I bought a blouse and even after that the woman kept insisting that I buy some other stuff. Towards the end they turn into victims: they start complaining of pains in their arms from having rowed for you, a pain that is only relieved if you give them more money. In this last case we decided to turn a deaf ear and not become plucked chickens.

When it's too much it's too much. But the excursion is really beautiful and we recommend it. We return to the hotel at 17:00 and, at the risk of seeming monotonous, we go back for dinner at the KING CAFE'. The pancake is truly something sublime. After dinner we leave our Italian feedback with our opinions; if you find it posted near the entrance signed by Diego, Daniela, Alessandro and Mattia please let me know.

Today we have the flight that will take us to Saigon. Booked from Italy with Pacific Airlines (and paid 53€ each. For transport from the hotel to the airport we relied on an agency; with the four backpacks we have a taxi isn't enough; we pay 8$ in total to be divided among four. The flight is at 10:00 and we land in Saigon at about 12:00… The impact with Saigon is a wet one; indeed it's raining and the sky is cloudy. Unlike Hanoi there are also many cars on the streets, everything very chaotic. We immediately get the impression, which will later be confirmed over time, that this is a much more westernised place; it's certainly the result of the Americans' presence. There are many more tourists and travel agencies.

We had booked from Hanoi through the website of a hotel that appealed to us… but once we arrive at the destination we discover that only one room has been reserved for us; no problem, as I've already said it's full of tourists so there are lots of cheap guesthouses. We find one on the other side of the street. We split up: Mattia and Alle sleep in the guesthouse: LUAN VU Bui vien st 35/2, dist1 (phanlan@hcm.vnn.vn) While we sleep at the guesthouse 70 PHAN LAN BUI VIEN st 70 (phanlan36@yahoo.com) The room is very clean (indeed in both you can't go up to the rooms without taking off your shoes), really spacious. We pay 16$ per night with breakfast. They also have a laundry service and we immediately take advantage of it. It's lunchtime and our stomach has been signalling it for a while. We go down immediately and take a short stroll looking for a restaurant that appeals to us.

We inadvertently end up in a vegetarian restaurant; we realise it when we're seated at the table and even though Diego and Mattia don't eat vegetables they adapt quickly… with a good Cantonese rice you're almost always on safe ground. After lunch we want to discover the city even though our main goal is to book the one-way trip to Cambodia doing the Mekong tour. We compare the various offers and choose an ultra-famous agency that deals daily with a high number of tourists; it's called: SINH CAFE tel: 84.4.9262599 (Info@cafe-vn.com)

We pay for this 2-day, 1-night excursion 24$ each, including sleeping and eating. We then take a stroll looking for typical things and plunge into a local market and a street full of restaurants for locals and tourists… there are lots of live animals, mainly fish but also "poor" ones tied one on top of the other with a rope around their belly and left dangling, doing nothing but kicking to free themselves… slightly impressive! I can tell you I've seen strange stuff related to animals, guts, heads, tongues, intestines etc… but when the animal is still alive and I see it suffering the thing freezes my blood… I don't think I'll ever get used to the death of animals… not to mention Italian slaughterhouses… I'll close the parenthesis right away and resume my account.

We dine in the Pham ngu lao quarter In a restaurant called LAC THIEN; according to what Lonely Planet says, it's the perfect copy of three restaurants located in Hue, all run by deaf-mutes. We eat well even though it's too touristy for our tastes and as a consequence slightly expensive. To bed; it rains all night; let's hope for the best tomorrow…

We have breakfast at a small table in the guesthouse lobby, good and plentiful, and right after we meet up with the guys to set off again to explore the city; it's our last day… In our wandering among stalls of knock-off stuff, backpacks, shoes and clothes and everything you can imagine, we buy a few t-shirts; someone buys jeans or other things… For a change we decide to get a massage… I read and follow Lonely Planet's advice and we go to the VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL MASSAGE INSTITUTE The feature is that the massages are done by blind people… rightly it's their way of supporting themselves… We enter confidently: immediately the place appears very simple and bare; of course, not seeing, they don't care much about appearances and externals.

We pay very little and immediately the three boys are taken by as many blind men who take them to the men's massage area; shortly after I too am taken by a blind girl… I enter this salon with very little lighting and with many small rooms that have curtains as walls. Inside there are at least five other girls practising massages… while massaging they talk among themselves and make a lot of noise… It's truly a moving experience. Their massage is certainly not among the most relaxing; I'd call it rather energetic; indeed we all come out with slightly aching bones, but we're happy to have contributed with little to this institute's self-support.

We return to the market area and end up in what we'd call the butcher section and the fishmonger's, and again I won't go into it for the faint of heart describing what we saw… people choosing and checking like we do with peaches; this man was taking and minutely checking what were the individual ears of a pig… who knows how he could tell which were good from those of lower quality… We also saw well-fed little yellow worms wriggling in a bowl waiting for the buyer… Diego would even have tasted them if he'd found them already cooked, but raw and alive was asking too much even of an open-minded one like him.

We choose in a very small and quiet street another restaurant and end up again in a vegetarian restaurant… very good anyway… it's pouring rain… luckily we're under cover… we eat until it stops… In the afternoon I decide to take a relaxing afternoon and shut myself in the room to "fix myself up" a bit. The guys devote themselves to history (I have too sensitive a stomach and I don't want to dream about the horrible things man has been capable of in history, even though I don't disown it) and go to the WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM.

I'll let Diego describe what his impressions were: The museum opens with a array of American military vehicles, evidently abandoned or requisitioned during the war, practically a football pitch full of cannons, helicopters, planes and so on. Inside, one section is dedicated to war journalism and its fallen, truly electrifying photos taken by people who chose to be there only to let the world know and see what war was; today it's a bit different… Another very touching and frightening one recounts the resistance and the weapons used by the Americans and their allies to crush it, from agent orange (a powerful defoliant that caused thousands of cancers and malformations) to secret weapons like bombs that released small deadly darts or special bombs that practically turned people into puppets of hollow skin, all accompanied by photos taken by the Americans to document their war.

The most violent part (for those watching, let alone for those who lived it) are the photos of the victims, of the children of the war and of the mines and even some deformed foetuses, children of agent orange. In another area there are the prisons and the special treatments reserved for the detainees and then an area dedicated to the demonstrations of the era of the anti-Vietnam war. I realise that it's the war seen through the eyes of those who won and suffered for it and therefore not at all objective, but when we leave the words are truly few, or perhaps just one… WHY?

Last dinner in Saigon and we go to bed early; tomorrow we have the excursion or the journey to reach Cambodia where we have an appointment with the other two couples who will make the trip with us: Andrea&Jael left on Thursday 9 August and are visiting Bangkok while waiting to join up with Andrea&Raffaella who instead arrive Monday 13 August and then all set off together towards Saim Reap where we've set the meeting point to get together…

We have the appointment in front of the SINH CAFE at 7:45. It's full of buses and tourists; if you don't listen carefully to the voice calling for the various destinations you risk getting on the wrong coach. At 8:00 we set off; it takes us about three hours to reach the point where our Mekong tour begins; we'll cross the Vietnam-Cambodia border by river… We get on a somewhat old vessel that is nothing but a floating bus and after two hours of sailing we make a stop to visit a village, mainly a factory (the most suitable name would be a big hut) making delicious fudge-like sweets, a popcorn factory and another one making a sort of crepe or special biscuits… We buy a pack of this kind of wafers or crepes, very good… On the walk we're surrounded by beautiful children who want to sell us little souvenirs, postcards, etc… but there are so many and you can never please them all.

We resume sailing and after another hour we make the lunch stop… It's full of tourists and we can barely sit down. It turns out to be a horrible affair mainly because the quality of the food leaves much to be desired; they only brought us cold stuff: one spring roll (like the rolls filled with vegetables) a bit of plain rice with a spicy sauce and a piece of cold fish and then some fruit… but we survive all the same… We resume sailing again, and arrive at CHAU DOC at 19:30.

Our escort organises everyone and once they've arrived at their hotel: The HANG CHAU hotel, 2nd, assigns each couple a room; you can see the hotel is used to passing tourists… The little town is very dark and we don't have the faintest idea where to go to eat… we follow the crowd and all end up eating in the little restaurant: BAY BONG; a dinner very much in Vietnamese style; we don't have a special memory of it. At 21:30 we're already in bed.

Wake-up at 6:00, breakfast at 6:30 and then we load all our backpacks onto a large vessel and then in pairs we get on the typical Vietnamese canoes to see their fish farms; it's a visit of zero interest at least from our point of view… the only nice thing is the Vietnamese girls rowing their little canoes.. some accompanied by their even more beautiful children, and off we go snapping photos in rapid succession. We continue the canoe tour among their village; we make a 30' stop on land to visit the interior of the village, everyone very kind, and children greet us and sell us sweet and delicious wafers. In the end we're accompanied on board the large vessel, thus reuniting with our backpacks, and we head to the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The guy takes our passports with the photos to prepare all the documents for the visa.

Once we arrive we get off and head for the stamp at customs… if you want the continuation of the trip… look for us first in Cambodia and then in Malaysia.