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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Jan 26, 2007 07:00 PM Sun over the Mekong River - Laos
Just 100 m from the bus station in Savannakhet you will find two little guesthouses. They charge just 3,50 USD for single room with cold shower. There are also better rooms but for me it was enough... I know already official rate for the USD- 1 USD is worth 9660 kips.
In the morning I took a walk to the center of town. Warm, the sun was shining... Little traffic on the streets... In the shops prices ale displayed - not like in Vietnam! The loaf of bread cost 10000 kips.
Savannakhet - the main town in the southern Laos lies on the bank of the wide Mekong River. There is a daytime ferry sailing to the other side - to Thailand. In the town you will find half a dozen picturesque wats - buddhist temples. In the internet cafe they charge 6000 kips for 1 hour of quite good connection.
Bus ticket to the capital city of Vientiane cost 55000 kips. It is long, 9 hours route and the last bus is departing at 11.30 am.
It was local bus but I have there more space for legs then in Vietnamese *tourist bus*. We were going in the pasture lanscape of rice fields, village houses on poles, forests... People are nice, but on the bus I did not find the person speaking english...
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Jan 25, 2007 07:00 PM Last cheat on the way to Laos...
I spent a night in Hue... At 6 am I was waiting for Camel Travel bus in front of my hotel... Yes, they put me on the excursion bus going to DMZ... I disembarked at Dong Ha - the driver put me on the local microbus to the border township of Lao Bao (70 km through the mountains). Then, after crossing border on foot I walked about 1 km to the first village in Laos. The next bus was waiting: it was local junk bus departing at 12.15 pm... The representative of Vietnameese Agencies Miss Be Lan bought for me a ticket for 20000 kip (like 2 USD). I arrived to Savannakhet at 17.30!
That's how looks Vietnameese "special, direct tourist bus". They just lie! You better go by local buses to Dong Ha and onward... you will save quite a lot of money! By the way: Miss Be will offer you "safe" money exchange. Smiling and looking into your eyes she will say: -In the bank in Laos they will give you 8000 kip per USD, but I will give you 8200! You will change some dollars. Later you will find that it is worth more then 9000 kip.
Do not change money at the Vietnam border! If you really need: only 5-10 USD... Sorry - I did. Not much... And this was the last cheat in Vietnam. Enough!
Now I am in Laos - hoping that they are not cheating foreigners here! We will see...
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Jan 24, 2007 07:00 PM Last day in Hoi An
Walking along the Hoi An street I meet many other tourists. It is low season now. I can imagine what how does it look like in the peak period... The locals make a good business on tourism. Cheating them... Little girl asked me what am I looking for at the bazar... Bananas! -I'll show you where they are! - her english was quite good. She took me to the place I asked for the price. 20000! The real price paid by locals is 7000 or less... Other Vietnameese are staying around, watching and listening... But nobody will tell you that you are cheated... Anti-foreigner solidarity!
Camel Travel offer me ticket for their bus from Hoi An to Savannakhet in Laos. It will cost 18 USD. But it require overnight in Hue. I heared thet other companies offer for 20 USD same ticket with overnight cost included. But they say that their bus is more comfortable. Let's try...
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Jan 23, 2007 07:00 PM My Son - ruins of Champa Kingdom
In Hoi An I stay in the Sea Star hotel - now - in the low season they charge only 8 USD for clean, airy single room with bath...
Hoi An in the base for the excursions to the ruins of My Son - the religious center during the period of Champa Kingdom (from 4th century AD - they compare this culture with Angkor Wat and Borobodur).
The half day excursion by bus will cost you just 2 USD plus 60000 dongs entry fee.
I will tell you the true: it is interesting place but do not expect another Angkor Wat or Borobodur. The scale is much smaller...
All buildings - mostly temples, covered partly by tropical vegetation - are located in the radius of 500 m... The first two groups (B & C) are he most impressive...
But it is still most important archeological site in Vietnam. It is also on the UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List.
I was happy to read in the museum that my countryman Kazimierz Kwiatkowski - Kazik conducted there the excavation works in the period of many years... The second surprise was that that the grateful Vietnameese just built his monument on the main tourist street in Hoi An - it will be officially open on Jan 31st... That's nice that they appreciate the man from other country...
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Jan 22, 2007 07:00 PM Vietnam - Smiling and cheating...
I think that in Vietnam there is only one town like that... Hoi An is exceptional: tiny, located on the bank of the river with narrow streets and old yellow houses. Very picturesque place! It has special atmosphere of old, colonial days... There are few interesting chinese temples, little but interesting market and a lot of folklore on the streets. Entry ticket to five main attractions costs 75000 dongs.
Conical hats are still fashionable in Vietnam - you can buy one for you for less then one dollar.
This is the town of the tailors: here is plenty of them and they are ready to get ready your nes shirt in half a day for just 3 USD. If you want a suite it will be ready for tomorrow morning (cost: 30 USD). The people smile. But... If you want to buy a bread roll on the market they will ask you to pay 2000 dongs (price for locals-1000 or less). For the egg they asked me today 5000 dongs - the real price is 2000. And so on... No price on display! The foreinger is here to be cheated... Why?
I uderstand bargaining, 20%, 50%... but I see that locals do not bargain - so the prices for them are more or less fixed. Most of tourist do not know them and very often they even don't know that they are cheated... Smile... and pay!
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Jan 21, 2007 07:00 PM The tombs of the emperors...
Yes, there were emperors in Vietnam - till 1945. Hue, where I am was their capital and south of the city you can visit their ornate tombs...
The most flexible solution is to rent a driver on the motor bike.
Motor bike (like little honda) is the main mean of city transport. In Hanoi you will be bothered many times - and it is worth to use them since Hanoi is too large for the visit on foot. For the short ride you will pay 10000 dong (ask before, otherwise you will be cheated).
The standard price for visit 3 main tombs and the most impressive pagoda in Hue is 5 USD door to door... We started at 8 am and returned at 1 pm. The tombs are worth to see - they need some restoration but it is still wort to see them. The best one in my opinion is Minh Mangh... Just remember - you will pay extra entry fees - 55000 on each place except Thien Mu pagoda - the halls of the pagoda are closed now for restoration...
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Jan 20, 2007 07:00 PM 16 hours on the bus to Hue
The private tourist enterpreneurs in Vietnam are very well organized - they will send you from hands to hands... Tourist bus companies invented "open ticket". Since most of the tourist attractions are located along the 2000-km road linking Hanoi and Saigon they offer just for 22 USD bus ticket who allow you to make as many stops as you want on this route. No extra fees... It is really good deal, but keep in mind that you will be forced to travel with this selected company all over the way... They offer free pick up from the hotel but at the destination they will deliver you to the hotel of their choice...
I boarded the bus in Hanoi at 7.30 pm. Yes, I got a seat but there were not enough space for my knees... Can you imagine such a position during 16 hours? They also take into the bus more people then there were seats - all locals - they were sitting just on the floor...
At the destination they offered me their hotel (6 USD single room with bath). It was not so fancy but I was so tired that I accepted their offer...
Hue is the former capital of Vietnam - in the middle of the town there os old, huge citadel - they charge 55000 for entry. Perfume River is crossing the city... Enough... Good night!
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Jan 19, 2007 07:00 PM Vietnam - islands in the mist...
We spent a night in the La Long Bay anchoring between the islands... All night there was a noise from the boat's generator and they supply hot water only for one hour...
The *** boat was not so bright. If you want to have the beer at evening you must pay extra 18000 dongs. If you want second cup of coffee for breakfast you have to pay 5000. But the sccenery is beautiful! We took a long sail between the islands to the floating village, where local people are approaching on the little boats selling exotic fruits and vegies. You can also land on the one of these houses to see how do they live (poor level - it is not Brunei). They have even little floating school! In the midday we returned to the city of Ha Long and after lunch they delivered us back to Hanoi.
I was always dreaming about seeing Ha Long. It was nice excursion - and quite inexpensive regarding the scope of services... The only problem - I was not lucky with the weather. But this you never know...
In the evening I am taking the bus to the south - to Hue - it will take me whole night (650 km) to get there...
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Jan 18, 2007 07:00 PM Ha Long - not to be missed!
As you know I am not the enthusiast of the group travel, but sometimes it is the last expensive solution. I just make exception fot the trip to Ha Long Bay - famous for the landscape - UNESCO put it on the World Heritage List...
Many travel agencies in Hanoi offer the tours to Ha Long - you have a choice of 1-3 days trip and 2-4 star boat. The prices start at 25 USD for round trip transport from Hanoi, meals, boat, accommodation and guide plus entry fee.
I took 2-days tour with overnight on the *** boat i the cabin withe bath. It is slightly better standard - it costs me 36 USD.
Transfers in Hanoi are included so they took me at 8 am from the hotel. The trip to Ha Long City took us 4 hours. Then we boarded one of many tourist ships and sailed to the chain of those beautiful islands. It is really wonderful place! Unfortunately it was cloudy day, so the pics will have dark colors. The highlight was the visit to the huge cave and then climbing the hill on one of the little island for the great view of the area. Yes, I saw in the past Pha Nga Bay in Thailand. There are also such islands. But here you will see much more of them - here the scale is few times bigger.
Hal Long is a must if you are in Vietnam!
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Jan 17, 2007 07:00 PM Good morning Vietnam!
It was 7.45 am when I boarded 3-wheeler on the street in the remote Pingxang. The chineese driver asked for 20 yuan to the border but after some bargaining he agreed to take me for 15. 20 minutes later we reached parking lot near the Friendship Pass border crossing.
I took my backpack and walked to the huge stone gate. After the gate there were big, impressive border control building - there they stamped my passport without any problem... Then there were just 100 m to the barrier and again 50 m to the Vietnameese building. Formalities took me 10 minutes. The only surprise was requested fee for medical control (5000 dongs - have them ready from the money changers on the chineese side - if not they will ask for 3 yuans).
Nobody at the vietnameese post spoke any european language including Russian - so I had no chance to ask why I was forced to wait 2 days for the entry to their country...
Good morning Vietnam!
There were no bus transport from the border control to the nearest town - Lang Son. It is 18 km. Taxi drivers asked for 200000 dongs. Then for 5 USD, finally they took me for 3 USD. In Lang Son they put me on the private minibus going to Hanoi (about 170 km). They asked again for 200000 dongs. I paid 10 USD for 3,5-hours trip, and I saw that they are collecting from the local people only 50000. Shame... So this is true that in Vietnam very often there are two prices: low for the locals and high (2-3 times higher) for the foreingners... For 1 USD they pay 16060 dongs.
Hanoi has interesting Old Town, the mausoleum of Great Leader and few nice temples on the lakeside to see. I do not like the hordes of motobikes on the streets - they generate a lot of smoke and noise. But at every corner you can buy your bread and crispy, fresh french baguettes. There is also cheese and butter available at every grocery. Oh - la, la!
I pray for the good weather for tomorrow - I plan to go to the famous Ha Long Bay...
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