It is early morning when we cross the Chinese-Vietnamese border. However, we come to find a crowd of taxi drivers and some dodgy locals who take every chance to fool us to get some dollars by imposing imaginary taxes on us. Since we worked well on our homework before going to Vietnam we put on the no-idea-what-are-you-talking-about masks and hustle our way through the crowd of men, leaving the border buildings at a quick pace. Once we catch a break for a moment to have a look at the map, one of the drivers catch us up and insistently offers a ride. Since the bus station appears to be rather far away and the streets are too confusing, we ask for a price to have a ride there. The guy is not modest at all and gives us a price for which we would not only reach the bus station but the destination site too. Upon our refusal to pay so much he tries to negotiate the price, but having heard the ‘locals price’ from us several times, he turns around and just leaves. We, meanwhile, go on. As we cross a bridge over a river separating the town in two, we get another proposal from a mini bus driver. This time the price sounds reasonable, moreover, he gives a promise to bring us straight to our hotel door. Then we learn that these mini buses never go half-empty so we must wait for more passengers to come. After an hour waiting at the river and some fifteen rounds around the town, we finally go to the direction of Sapa. By the way, the driver did not find any more passengers. Yet, the seats were not left empty. The driver filled them with boxes of fresh mango fruit and other packages.
We begin gradually going up to the mountains as we leave the town. The view from the window is simply breathtaking, just like the driver's maneuvers in winding mountain roads. As we approach 3500 metres above the sea level, we feel dizziness and pressure in our heads.
We choose one of the cheapest hotels. We had read about Peter, the hotel owner, and his charity to homeless children, this attracts us to choose this place. We find a small kitchenette and reception-café on the first floor, which every night is open for English classes for homeless children. Some of them help at the hotel and have lunch here. Very often staying over night, transferring the cold reception floor into a temporary beds.
On the very fist night Peter offers us to join a family dinner just for one dollar! We do not hesitate much because one dollar in a restaurant could buy us only a cup of coffee. We are also very happy because we know that this small feel will feed not only us but these children as well. Next day the owner's girlfriend accompanies to us to a local street market. She promises me to teach the secrets of the Vietnamese cuisine in exchange for a Lithuanian meal. What could be possibly more Lithuanian than a potato dish?! I am very happy to find out that potatoes are rather inexpensive since we have a limited budget. So I make lots of boiled potato pancakes which go very well with Vietnamese chili and fish flavor sauce:)
We rent a moped next morning to check the area. Those mountains, rice fields and local people! We make a stop every several meters to check a strange plant, colorful butterfly or yet another terraced rice field.
We begin gradually going up to the mountains as we leave the town. The view from the window is simply breathtaking, just like the driver's maneuvers in winding mountain roads. As we approach 3500 metres above the sea level, we feel dizziness and pressure in our heads.
We choose one of the cheapest hotels. We had read about Peter, the hotel owner, and his charity to homeless children, this attracts us to choose this place. We find a small kitchenette and reception-café on the first floor, which every night is open for English classes for homeless children. Some of them help at the hotel and have lunch here. Very often staying over night, transferring the cold reception floor into a temporary beds.
On the very fist night Peter offers us to join a family dinner just for one dollar! We do not hesitate much because one dollar in a restaurant could buy us only a cup of coffee. We are also very happy because we know that this small feel will feed not only us but these children as well. Next day the owner's girlfriend accompanies to us to a local street market. She promises me to teach the secrets of the Vietnamese cuisine in exchange for a Lithuanian meal. What could be possibly more Lithuanian than a potato dish?! I am very happy to find out that potatoes are rather inexpensive since we have a limited budget. So I make lots of boiled potato pancakes which go very well with Vietnamese chili and fish flavor sauce:)
We rent a moped next morning to check the area. Those mountains, rice fields and local people! We make a stop every several meters to check a strange plant, colorful butterfly or yet another terraced rice field.
Having an opportunity to use kitchen facilities made me very happy so start the following morning with cooking my favorite banana pancakes which I had missed so much. After tasting a second meal I’ve cooked Peter suggests us to stay in Sapa for longer and live in the hostel in exchange for my cooking at his café. Although the idea did sound more than attractive, we had to move on. I, however, promise him to return some day.
We get on a night train leaving for Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. A group of our train compartment neighbors, local guys, decide to have a little party. Their songs and laugh come to an end only after the midnight, while we get off the train at around 4 am to find ourselves in the Hanoi station. Even at this time of early morning the city is filled with strange, hot heat. We decide to go to the hostel we booked on foot since it is located not so far from the station. It was somewhat weird to see the locals eating their night lunch, or maybe breakfast, at that hour. Women clean up, wash up and sweep the streets in their pyjamas. Men, meanwhile, enjoy their card games or have a nap on their mopeds. We gently knock on the hostel's door, apologizing for our very early arrival and it autumn leaves, we, after a sleepless night falling into beds and enter the kingdom of dreams.
The city does not fascinate us much, yet we stay for a couple days more than planned. It must be either the air conditioner on the train or a change in the climate that makes me fall ill. Dampness in our room and rain drops falling down from the holes of the hostel's roof do not help me much to get well. While I work on our website with a cup of hot tea in my hands, Darius starts searching for a motorcycle. After a long search and several checks he picks two options. One of them is cheaper, but the other is better. Since I have zero knowledge on the subject I leave the decision entirely to him. After thinking it over very well, Darius decides to spend a couple of dollars more to have the better motorcycle, about which later, by the way, we are extremely delighted. As soon as I get better and we buy all the stuff we need, we leave this overcrowded city, to arrive to yet another beautiful place, Cat Ba Island. The nature on the way from ferry crossing to the hotel on the other side of the island is very enjoyable. The coast that we arrive to is crowded with hotels and restaurants. We leave our stuff to rest in the room and return to the ferry crossing, stopping to look at banana plantations and forests. After a couple of days on the island (visiting the most beautiful Ha Long Bay) we set off on the big trip. Although our destination, the city of Saigon, is over 1000 miles away, we decide to take our time. We admire nature and observe the local people on our way, spending our nights in motels. Coconut milk soon becomes our main drink of the trip, while we become the main objects to talk about as we stop to buy more of it.
Being halfway there, we decide to stop in a seaside town to have some rest for a couple of days, enjoy the sea and white beaches. Darius just cannot resist helping local fishermen haul their nets from the sea :)
We get on a night train leaving for Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. A group of our train compartment neighbors, local guys, decide to have a little party. Their songs and laugh come to an end only after the midnight, while we get off the train at around 4 am to find ourselves in the Hanoi station. Even at this time of early morning the city is filled with strange, hot heat. We decide to go to the hostel we booked on foot since it is located not so far from the station. It was somewhat weird to see the locals eating their night lunch, or maybe breakfast, at that hour. Women clean up, wash up and sweep the streets in their pyjamas. Men, meanwhile, enjoy their card games or have a nap on their mopeds. We gently knock on the hostel's door, apologizing for our very early arrival and it autumn leaves, we, after a sleepless night falling into beds and enter the kingdom of dreams.
The city does not fascinate us much, yet we stay for a couple days more than planned. It must be either the air conditioner on the train or a change in the climate that makes me fall ill. Dampness in our room and rain drops falling down from the holes of the hostel's roof do not help me much to get well. While I work on our website with a cup of hot tea in my hands, Darius starts searching for a motorcycle. After a long search and several checks he picks two options. One of them is cheaper, but the other is better. Since I have zero knowledge on the subject I leave the decision entirely to him. After thinking it over very well, Darius decides to spend a couple of dollars more to have the better motorcycle, about which later, by the way, we are extremely delighted. As soon as I get better and we buy all the stuff we need, we leave this overcrowded city, to arrive to yet another beautiful place, Cat Ba Island. The nature on the way from ferry crossing to the hotel on the other side of the island is very enjoyable. The coast that we arrive to is crowded with hotels and restaurants. We leave our stuff to rest in the room and return to the ferry crossing, stopping to look at banana plantations and forests. After a couple of days on the island (visiting the most beautiful Ha Long Bay) we set off on the big trip. Although our destination, the city of Saigon, is over 1000 miles away, we decide to take our time. We admire nature and observe the local people on our way, spending our nights in motels. Coconut milk soon becomes our main drink of the trip, while we become the main objects to talk about as we stop to buy more of it.
Being halfway there, we decide to stop in a seaside town to have some rest for a couple of days, enjoy the sea and white beaches. Darius just cannot resist helping local fishermen haul their nets from the sea :)
Having made over 1200 miles, having eaten endless portions of rice with scrambled egg, having seen tons of different vehicles on the roads and the strangest things being carried in it, all dirty but alive we finally reach Saigon :)
Since we enjoyed traveling rather than thinking of the destination, we start wonder, what are we going to do next?
This way of traveling allows us being independent, while the motorcycle works like brand new. So we leave this crazy city next day and travel towards Cambodia. We make a stop in a little town between two rivers, yet another awesome place in southern part of Vietnam .
Before saying goodbye to this wonderful country and moving forward to Cambodia, we visit nearby villages, floating markets and fill ourselves up with more incredibly tasty exotic fruit.
Since we enjoyed traveling rather than thinking of the destination, we start wonder, what are we going to do next?
This way of traveling allows us being independent, while the motorcycle works like brand new. So we leave this crazy city next day and travel towards Cambodia. We make a stop in a little town between two rivers, yet another awesome place in southern part of Vietnam .
Before saying goodbye to this wonderful country and moving forward to Cambodia, we visit nearby villages, floating markets and fill ourselves up with more incredibly tasty exotic fruit.