Another update on our adventures.
In short, 2 weeks ago we took a 2-day trip down south to the Me Kong delta, returned for the weekend to Ho Chi Minh and are now driving north.
First day, our drive to Me Kong wasn't all that great. For the entire 90 minutes drive, we were surrounded by a variety of small industry and dirty stores selling everything imaginable. No beautiful countryside to be seen. Then we arrived in a small village called My Tho, which was equally disappointing. For some reason Vietnamese like to fill their streets with 100s of identical shops, selling exactly the same thing. They are very comparable to the nightshops in Belgian cities in what they sell and how they look, one annoying difference being the lack of fridges. We did some walking around town, saw some nice houses and a beautiful lake. It's clear to see a lot of money is being spent on making these towns tourist-worthy.
The next day was much better. We first made a boat trip on the Me Kong. This river is one of the biggest in the world, so has a very wide delta, filled with islands and wetlands. The boat trip took us across the river through a beautiful tropical landscape. We were lucky enough to be the only two passengers on the boat and had some non-verbal quality time with the captain, which means trying to talk to each other, failing completely and ultimately drinking a beer together while smiling. Eventually we arrived in Ben Tre, a bit further down south. Again, to me there's nothing charming about these small towns. We decided to rent some bikes to drive around. We drove away from the city center, looking for some nature, and boy, were we rewarded. Very small roads took us through forests, open fields, rivers, ...
Away from all the tasteless plastic and merchandise frenzy, finally a beautiful countryside appeared, where people lived in the most incredible surroundings.
Back to Ho Chi Minh, the city we already came to love. We met our local friends for some traditional food and bowling. The last night we had a great party. Altogether we spent a very enjoyable time in HCM, and as a city so rapidly evolving and turning westwards, it was a great gateway to Asia.
Finally we decided to head north, since there were only 2 weeks left to cover the 2000 kilometers to the chinese border. We had the great idea to rent 2 motorcycles for the first half of this journey. What a joy!
First on our schedule was the mountain city Da Lat. Very enjoyable drive and a pleasant city. We spent there only one full day, then continued our drive. We had heard there was a partly unfinished highway that could take us to Nha Trang, the party town of Vietnam. We were promised beautiful sights, with barely any traffic, since the road was so new and still under construction.
Now imagine this. The two of us on our motorcycles, driving without any traffic on the most perfect, european style highway. Straight through the jungle.
Surreal can't cover it. At one point, many kilometers into the jungle, we saw local kids playing naked in a river, looking at us as though we were aliens. One can only guess how soon this highway will completely alter its surroundings, and if and when it will turn into one long stretch of shops, bars, hotels, ...
Truly sad, but we can't complain since it gave us the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful nature sights we ever saw.
2 worlds couldn't be further apart than the one we drove through and the one we arrived at. Nha Trang: a beach, tourists and parties. Lazy time. We bought some books, played beach soccer, enjoyed the (huge) waves and partied.
Then the weather got really bad, so we decided to move on.
The last 2 days we spent driving 400kilometers through seriously shitty weather, cold and rainy, while passing some of the most beautiful beaches of Vietnam. That's life.
Next up. Tomorrow we go visit My Lai, the small village home to one of the biggest massacres of the Vietnam war. Later we arrive at the big cities of central Vietnam. Probably we won't spend much time there but instead take a night-train to North Vietnam. A few days Hanoi and then into the mountains again, for some more rural Vietnam.