Nicolien, 10 mei 2010
Thailand , Chiang Mai 41°

Getting Scammed!

My last week in Vietnam I've spend in the north. This is the part of Vietnam that fought against the Americans in the Vietnam War or the American War as it is called over here. The attitude against Westerners is not exactly friendly in this part of the country, I guess Napalm bombings never get forgotten.
Hue used to be the Imperial capital of Vietnam in the days of the Nguyen Dynasty and therefor the city is full of important tombs and a citadel with the remains of the old palace. It's a great place to hire a bicycle and that's what I've done for two days tho check out the Citadel and the surrounds of Hue. The countryside around Hue is fantastic, a river with typical Vietnamese wooden boats, rice fields with lush green hills in the background and banana trees everywhere. In Vietnam I've eaten the best banana's ever, they are so full of flavor, completely different from the banana's you get in Holland!
Hue is near the Demilitarized Zone and I 'd decided to spend at least one day on checking out some war stuff. So I booked a DMZ tour which brought me to Khe Sanh, some Ho Chi Minh trails, Highway 1 and 9 and the Vinh Moc tunnels. This tunnel complex is still intact and we got shown around. One lady got claustrophobic immediately after descending the first stairs and she walked out again. During the war thousands of Vietnamese people lived in the tunnels for 6 years and even delivered babies in the 'maternity room' of the complex. This was nothing more then a little cave. I must say that I was deeply impressed after having been in the tunnels for half an hour! And that was long enough too!
My next stop was Ninh Binh, a deserted place where nobody goes. I got dropped off by the sleeper bus at 5.30 in the morning in the middle of nowhere while it was raining. I was the only one that got off the bus there... For once I was really glad that I heard someone next to me say: 'Motorbike?' Yes please!! I showed him my hotel in the Lonely Planet, he asked me for 10.000 Dong (40 euro cents) this sounded reasonable and I jumped on the back of his motorbike. He drove me around in a circle and then dropped me off 25 meters away from where I got on the motorcycle! In front of my hotel! Bastard!! He could have just pointed it out to me and it would have taken me 30 seconds to walk. They rip you off here whenever they can. It kinda made me laugh too and I gave him his money, but Ninh Binh never became my favorite place.
I stayed for 2 days and it rained all that time. I met a German girl in the hotel and 2 Austrians and we decided to go on a motorbike tour together. The guys from the hotel brought us to a hill with a temple and a beautiful view from the top over a karst mountain scenery. The place looked like Yangshuo in China, but foggier. After that we did a boat trip through some caves and through a landscape that looked like it came straight out of a Lord of the Rings movie. Magical. We got ripped off again, but because the scenery was so stunning it didn't completely ruin the day.
Final stop in Vietnam for me was Hanoi. I took the train cause I had not taken one before in Vietnam and I think it's nice to try out all sorts of transport. I love trains. It's such a local experience. Found a lovely man without teeth to help me out on the station and who therewith gave me back my hope for Vietnam. Being helped regardlessly is unfortunately a rare thing overhere, such a difference with China! But this man was really nice. I think I've thanked him about a hundred million times!
In the trains there's always people selling food, they walk around with there baskets on their shoulders through the train and try to sell their local delicacies. Like full grown chicken embryos in eggs! Yikes! Of course all the men sitting next to me had to order one, while I had a bad stomach! Didn't help the bad stomach. In Hanoi I also got to see my first skinned dog on a market, so far I had been able to avoid it. Vietnam nearly turned me into a vegetarian again.
I loved the Hanoi. Finally I had found a city with a French colonial feel to it, I had been looking for that ever since I arrived in Battambang. It's a very compact city with a nice lake and beautiful French buildings. I could have stayed there for a week I think, but unfortunately I had to leave after 3 days. After paying the Ho Chi Minh museum and uncle Ho's tomb a visit, it was time to leave the country for Chiang Mai in Thailand.

In Chiang Mai I got picked up by the coordinator of Travel 2 Teach, the volunteering organization that I had signed up with to teach English. They brought me to the volunteer house and there I got an unpleasant surprise. It basicly was a wooden shed with no air conditioning , no computer or wireless and only 1 bathroom and 1 toilet for 10 people. I had spend a lot of money, 550 euros for 4 weeks, to work as a volunteer, so I wasn't so amused to see that that was our accommodation. Especially because it was over 40 degrees every day in Chiang Mai and in my room upstairs I think it was at least 50! I couldn't get a refund of my money but nevertheless I did decide after 2 days to leave for a guesthouse with air conditioning.
My first week in Chiang Mai was during Thai new year, or Songkran, and this meant no teaching but being splashed with water every time I got out on the streets. Officially this festival takes 3 days, but in Chiang Mai it is at least 6! Every day I got absolutely soaked! I tried to escape the water by going on a jungle trek together with Stefanie, who I had met in Hanoi and went to see me in Chiang Mai again. It was useless though, in the countryside we got just as wet! We did bamboo rafting (and thanks to all the kids celebrating Songkran we nearly drowned) and hiked up to beautiful waterfalls. We stayed overnight in a bamboo hut (very, very primitive) and had some beers next to a bonfire. Fun trip.
After a week of playing with water on the streets everything got back to normal again and I had to start teaching. The teaching itself was fun. Every morning we taught for 3 hours a group of kids from 7 till 13 years old and already after one day I wanted to adopt them all. They are soooo cute! All of them. However I started to frustrate myself over the organization more and more (loads of things, too much to mention) so I decided to quit a little earlier than planned. We were teaching 10 kids with 6 volunteers so it didn´t really make much of a difference that I wasn´t there anymore. For whoever wants to do volunteering in SE Asia, do it, but please not with Travel 2 Teach! It's a rip off. Live and learn I guess.
My last week in Chiang Mai I´ve spend in my bikini around a pool. Believe me, you have to when it´s over 45 degrees in the shade! I´ve also spend my time useful on applying for some university programs that I´d like to start doing in September. Fingers crossed I´ll get in without too much trouble!

Now I´m sitting on Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, waiting for my delayed flight to Beijing and then to Tokyo. I´M GOING TO JAPAN!! I´m so exited. Keep you updated, maybe this time a little sooner

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