-after Dalat, Noime and i caught a horribly uncomfortable bus (at 3AM!) to Lak Lake. the bus wasn't as uncomfortable as rides in cambodia, but i wasn't trying to sleep on those... i foolishly stayed up until 3 thinking that i would sleep on the bus, which did not happen... not even a little bit. as soon as the sun started coming up, however, the scenery was breathtaking. Lak Lake is a tiny little town up in the central highlands. most of the population is comprised of ethnic minorities which do not consider themselves vietnamese (jung, h'mong, montangards, etc)... this does not stop the VN government from forcing them to learn vietnamese and preventing them from getting decent jobs, though. anyway, it is just beautiful. [incidentally, a number of these ethnic minorities are matriarchal societies in which the children get the mothers name and the oldest woman is head of the household, etc etc... interesting] as the name suggests, the city (it's actually a collection of small villages) is right on a big lake. the "hotel" we stayed at consisted of thatch-roof 'long houses' which are big communal wooden houses up on stilts that can sleep around 50 people. it also had a floating restaurant which was... well... a restaurant floating on the lake. our first day there we met up with Ross, who came on his own from dalat on his motorbike. we were nackered from the trip which was just as well because the first day of Tet is usually spent with the family, so we just lounged around the lake all day reading and talking. the next day, we went to a cafe and met a bunch of guys who were already into their second case of beer... by 9 AM. long story short, i was blind drunk by 11AM (when the elephants showed up) and it all just sorta deteriorated from there... they have these big ceramic jugs of rice-wine with a big straw coming out of the top (sorta like a hooka) that was just deadly. everyone kept giving me little 500 and 1000 dong bills folded up into beautiful origami shapes. lovely holliday. i passed out by 2pm and spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. the next day was another rest day and then Ross and Noime left. that evening a bunch of the locals showed up all dressed up in their traditional garb and played traditional music, cooked coconut rice in baboo over an open fire, and drank lots and lots and lots of booze. i left early the following morning.
-after leaving Lak Lake i spent one night in Buon Ma Thuot, which was not interesting except for the coffee. it's the best in vietnam as there's tons of it grown in the region. the two really visible reminders of the french occupation are coffee (and proper coffee shops) and french bread. and laughing-cow cheese which is the only cheese you can get in SEA. i left the next day for Kon Tum which involved another long (but gorgeous) bus-ride through the mountains. Kon Tum itself was not terribly interesting, but on the outskirts of town are a number of even-smaller, even-poorer and traditional-er ethnic-minority villages. i did not see a single tourist in three days there. i spent the second day just wandering around taking pictures and then i met Ninh, who was a Batma (one of the ethnic minorities) who spoke excelleng english (apparently because his language is not tonal which makes it easier for them to pronounce and hear english) and he agreed to give me a tour on his motorbike the next day in exchange for practicing english with him. very nice. so i stayed one more night and then Ninh took a few hours showing me around all the various villages and sights. interestingly most of the villagers are catholics (and have been for a few generations) and there are a number of churchess and seminaries/orphanages around, which we also visited. kind of a surreal juxtaposition of cultures... in the villages they have 'rong-houses' (not to be confused with 'long-houses' which have a huge tall (~15m) thatch roof and are also used as communal meeting houses and all the villages teenagers sleep there for some reason... (actually makes a lot of sense, when you think about it... we could learn something from these people). the next day i tried to catch a bus to Hoi An, but missed and ended up in Qui Nohn. [the bus station at Kon Tum has a big sign in vietnamese that prohibits the sale of bus-tickets to foreigners... so you pretty much have to argue with the driver for an hour to give you a reasonable-ish price...]
-Qui Nonh is on the coast and was the first time I had seen the ocean (the gulf of tonkin) in nearly a month. large-ish city with a lovely port and hundreds of beautifully painted fishing boats in the harbor. i arrived in the evening and left early in the morning for Hoi An.
-Hoi An was the most beautiful city i've seen in Asia so far. it was an important trading port during colonial times and a whole slew of influences (french, chinese, japanese, malay, etc) are evident in the architecture. it's been very well preserved and the old-city is now a world-heritage site. cars aren't allowed in the old city either, which is nice. walking through the streets feels like going back in time somehow. it's just intensely romantic. it is also quite a tourist hotspot which was a bit shocking after so much time in the mountains. but like most (not all) tourist hotspots, they're there for a reason and it's worth the hassle and expense. Hoi An is famous for it's tailors, who can make any item of clothing in any style for you overnight from the finest vietnamese, italian, and japanese silks available. there are about a dozen tailors/clothes stores on every block that won't let you forget it, too. incredibly beautiful stuffs to buy. i got a silk Mao (chinese-style) shirt that makes me look like a chinese gangster :-p. i would've had a suit made but i'm running out of time so i think i'll get one in thailand. in countries like these you really realize that the service industry has died in the west due to labor costs. here labor is so cheap that you can have clothes tailor-made, shoes, watches, and all manner of vehicle fixed, and pay basically only for the materials... in the west the cost of labor has made it impractical to fix things or have anything handmade... pity. it's beautiful to watch real craftsmen work, too...
-i would've spent more time in Hoi An, but i'm running out of time on my vietnamese visa so I had to split the next day. i took a 20hr public bus (by flagging it down on the high-way, very cheap) to Hanoi, where i've just arrived this morning. i'll skip the details this time, just trust that it was very uncomfortable (but cheap!!!). the ride was also beautiful though... shortly after passing through Denang we went over a high mountain pass that basically divides north vietnam from south, both politically and climactically. the top of the mountains were shrouded in misty clouds, and it's been drizzly, cold, and grey ever since. Hanoi is just lovely. the old-city here is also a world-heritage site and it definately deserves to be. all of the different streets are named for the commodities that are (were) sold there. there's a shoe street, silk street, belt street, door-knob street (really...), cake street, etc etc. it's charming. the architecture here is all crumbly and romantic and already i like it much more than saigon (although it's not quite as intense). i've only explored a little bit today so i'll describe it more after i've spent some days here. i only have six days left on my visa after which i have to be in Laos. and i still want to see Halong Bay and Nin Binh before leaving... so it's gonna be a quick couple of days (to make up for all the lazing i did in HCMC and the highlands...).
much love to all. i miss you.
i'll try'n update more frequently now... sorry for the lapse.
ps - i just dumped my camera's memory onto CD so i probably won't be posting any of my pre-hoi an pictures online... you'll just have to see me when i get back if you want a look.
