Vietnam!

Hey!

I know it has been a while since the last update, but here is a major one! :)
I allowed my self 10 days of holiday and went off with 3 friends to Vietnam! Okay, it is not photos from Japan, but it is still part of my life over here!


I would kick off by wishing a Happy Vietnamese Year to my Vietnamese friends! Or in more local words...


Our short trip started in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.

~ The tortoise tower on Hoan Kiem Lake, Old Quarter ~

Hanoi, and its 4 millions inhabitants, is a very lively city. Street merchants are at every corner, selling from fruits to sunglasses... Getting used to the permanent motorbike horns was not easy though, especially when they start at 5 AM!

~ Street market ~


~ Street merchants ~

~ Street Hairdresser ~

~ a classical "crossing" in Hanoi ~

Hopefully, Hanoi has its quiet places, such as the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius and Vietnamese intellectuals. We can feel the 1000th Chinese occupation influence in architecture.

~ Temple of Literature ~

The second stop of our journey was Sa Pa, a small village in the mountain at the far northwest of Vietnam. There, we could see some beautiful mountain landscapes with many rice fields and also meet the Black H'mong tribes.

It was very dry though, the rice fields were empty, spoiling a bit the charm of this lovely countryside. Down the valley we visited the Black H'mong tribe village named Cat Cat. Actually the name comes from the french word Cascade (waterfall), since we can find a lovely waterfall there.

~ Cat Cat village, down the valley ~

~ Black H'mong woman feeding her child in her house ~

~ Women at work ~

~ The waterfall near the French hydro-power station ~

Sa Pa pets are very laaaazy :p



Third stop, The famous Halong Bay. Too famous though, since it was crowded with tourists. Halong harbor was filled with about a hundred of tourist junks ready to sail off the bay. The tour was (too) quick and we could see only 1/100 of this beautiful natural site...but nevertheless, here is some pictures :)

~ Sailing toward Halong Bay in the fog ~

~ Approaching the floating villages ~

~ Sailing back to busy Halong harbor ~

Next stop, Hue, the old imperial city, where you can find ruins classified in the UNESCO program. The visit was very fast, since we had only one morning to visit as much as we could before kicking off to the beaches! :p

~ The emperor Tu Duc tomb site, near Hue ~

Unfortunately, the emperor tombs itself was under renovation...but we could walk through what was its "holiday" house.

~ The emperors wife tombs ruins ~

~ One of the many gates surrounding the site ~

We also visited a pagoda near the Parfume river with lovely orchids and the so called Citadel. of Hue.

~ Inside the Citadel ~

~ A poor elephant giving rides to tourists in the citadel ~

~ It was very rare to see men selling things ~

~ In Vietnam also, the ideal of beauty is white pale skin ~

Finally, after 2 days in Nha Trang where we did basically nothing except sleeping on the beach and snorkeling, we finished our trip in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon is the economical capital of Vietnam, where 11 millions of Vietnamese live. The atmosphere here was almost the same as Hanoi, except it was a little bit more modern and obviously with a little bit more of everything I guess...more motorbikes, more noise, ...

~ more cables ~

Propaganda posters are visible every where in the city. Police patrols are equipped with AK-47. We can have a clear idea of the source of inspiration of the Vietnamese political system.

~ Propaganda poster, Ho Chi Minh portrait or Hammer and sickle are redundant symbols ~

~ A police officer armed with an AK-47 ~

We visited a museum about the Vietnam war and saw some horrible pictures among military artifacts, ...

And we concluded with the Reunification Palace, symbol of the Vietnamese Independence, and the reunification of the north and south Vietnam.

~ View from the Reunification Palace ~