4000 islands

After a 20 hour bus trip from Hanoi we arrived in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This capital is very small compared with the other cities we saw before, it's more like a big village. After 1 day we went by nightbus to the south of Laos, very close to the Cambodian boarder, to a region which is called 4000 islands. Here are many (maybe 4000 maybe less or more) islands in the Mekong river. How many islands can be found there, depends also on the water level of the river which is very low at the moment.
We went by boat to the Don Det islands, a popular one by tourists. On our second day we rent bicycles to get around this and Don Khon islands, a neighbor one.


Don Det islands is very nice, covered with palm trees and traditional houses. There are also many water buffalos around which like to take a bath and afterwards they lie down on a sandy field.


By bicycle we went around the islands to see some waterfalls. The Mekong passes between all the islands and down many waterfalls to get to Cambodia.


Our bungalow on the islands! A nice and relaxing place with a beautiful view on the Mekong and the next island.

Sapa

In the north of Vietnam, close to the Chinese boarder, is Sapa, a small town on an altitude of about 1500 meters. The highest peak of Vietnam is also here with a bit more than 3143 meters. The region is famous for the rice terraces which cover the mountains. We went on a 2 day trekking with overnight in a homestay in a a village of one of many different ethnic groups who live here.
In total we were there 4 days; 2 trekking, 1 by motorbike and the last day just in Sapa. As general in the north of Vietnam at the moment, the weather was good. We were not lucky, the best day was our last one...


Sapa surrounded by mountains. To get up to this view point, the way went trough walls of rocks and with the bags it was difficult to pass.


The roads in Vietnam are not the best one's, but we managed it by motorbike to get to the other side dry.


On the motorbike tour we could enjoy the beautiful landscape and a waterfall, but during the dry season they are not so spectacular.


Trekking tour; up and down, from one rice terrace to the next one. Although the weather wasn't good, we were lucky that it didn't rain a lot (the thunderstorm came during the night).


Local ethnic groups with their traditional clothes and in the rice terraces they can't use machines, but they have enough water buffalos.

Hanoi

The busy capital of Vietnam:


The mausoleum of Uncle Ho, like people here call their hero. Inside you can see the body of Ho Chi Minh in a glass casket, he looks pretty good.


In the mausoleums complex is also the Ho Chi Minh museum, the place where he lived and 2 temples.


A traditional house of an ethnic group in Vietnam. The museum of Ethnology was really nice and interesting, they also have a funny water puppet theater, which is popular here.

Well, on a bicycle you can carry everything... on a motorbike too.

The cathedral and instead of visiting it, Fredi prefered to relax a bit below one of several nice Bonsai trees which are around the church.

A small lake in the middle of the old town (there are many lakes in the city).

Halong Bay

After Ninh Binh we went to visit Halong Bay, some beautiful rocky islands in the sea. It's nice to go around by boat and we stayed 2 nights in Cat Ba islands, the biggest island there. However we left the island as soon as possible, because all the trips they offered were very expensive, it's like a mafia who controls all prices.
We had a bit bad luck with the weather, the sun we didn't see, it was foggy and rainy... On Cat Ba Island we went by motorbike around and visited the Cat Ba National Park where we climbed up a mountain which would have a nice view point, but except fog we couldn't see anything and the way we had to climb up was steep and slippery as it rained all the time.

Halong Bay, many islands in the sea and nearly all unpopulated. People life on boats and do so their work as well.

On some islands are caves which are possible to visit. This cave was big and very nice, however full of tourists, it was worse than walking in the Rambas...

Well, Fredi is also alife and enjoyed the trip through the islands. He was lucky that he didn't have to go swimming, the weather was too cold for that.

Our trip to the Cat Ba National Park. On the top of the mountain was a view tower, but unfortunately there wasn't any view... The path up was nice, but afterwards all our clothes and shoes were wet and dirty.

When we came back from the mountain, the motorbike which we rented had a flat tire... bad luck, waiting a long time for somebody who could repair it and of course we had to pay it.

Ninh Binh

Ninh Bin is in the north of Vietnam, southeast of Hanoi. The region is very nice with its mountains and their limestone formations. It's possible to visit caves and go on a boat trip through he rocky mountains. We went to different places during 1 day by motorbike which is an easy and good way to see a lot of the landscape.
The weather here in the north is very different to this one we had before. Here it's very foggy, rainy and quite cold!! Well, after more than a month of sun and heat, it's ok to have a change.

Tam Coc: On the boat trip we went through caves and surrounding moutains, along the river are a lot of rice fields (as everywhere here in Vietnam, it's full of them).

A temple which is half built inside a cave and also in the middle of rice fields.

After climbing up to one of the mountains we had great view of the landscape; the river with the boats were we where before and the mountains in the middle of the rice fields. It's nice to see the mountains covered with fog, but if it's clear, the view must even be better.

Also Fredi had fun during the trip, only one dangerous moment he had to go through... To go up to the mountain, he had to pass through the mouth of the dragon who controls the entrance to the temple. Good for Fredi that the dragon just had finished his lunch, so he wasn't hungry anymore and he let Fredi go his way.