Bye Bye Vietnam

After three great weeks travelling with Marta around Vietnam, there are some things we are glad to leave behind, and others.....others that we will probably miss !

That is happening in Hanoi, the last glimpse we got of Vietnam.

No more smiling ond women bumping into you on a bicycle...

or new houses foundations made of bamboo next to our room,

or messy garages where they can probably repair anything (at a touristy price, of course...)

or people eating on the streets.....sitting on tiny stools and talking for hours under Hanoi's heat

or aerobics around the lake ! Well, aerobic... yeah...well....their feet are stuck to the ground though !

No matter the heat, no matter the rip offs....we had a great time !

Et juste avant de partir, je me suis aventurée dans une salon de coiffure pour une petite séance d'épilation à la vietnamienne. C'est pratique, comme elles n'ont pas de poils elles s'y sont mises à 3. Je ne vous raconte pas le spectacle, je pense que je devais être la première à passer depuis très très longtemps ! Bref, la première étale le premier bout de cire chauffée à la casserole : "okay?" "yes yes okay"....et merde, ça bruuuuuuule ! Elle s'aprête à l'arracher...mais le fait du haut vers le bas : ça partait de vraiment loin ! Donc je leur ai montré comment faire et puis avec plein de bonne volonté de leur part, après 1h de souffrance je suis ressortie....vivante ! :-)

Just a couple curiosities that visitors should be aware of :

- In Vietnam, there are always 4 different prices :

1 ) vietnamese that were born there and still live there

2) vietnamese that moved to the place

3) foreigners that live there and can speak little vietnamese

4) tourists

You guessed right, the 4th type of person will always get the highest price unless accompanied by someone belonging to any of the above.

- every car/microbus has its own personalized honk sound !

- driving in Vietnam : always have a finger of your left hand on the honk and two of your right hand on the break..... be ready ! Vietnamese will honk whenever overtaking someone, even if he/she is only walking on the pavement --> do the same ! And whenever a microbus is behind you....you'll be better off letting him overtake you, they are usually on a hurry and will not stop honking until you let him by....

Before we end, we would like to thank :

- Minh pour les contacts !

- Nga pour la soirée !

- Nhan Tran for the excellent trip planner he is, we loved the Northern region !

- Nice travellers which who we spent good times....and local people that opened their home for us !

Thank you all.

Heading to Bali now, where I will travel with Fred for a while : surf, trekk, scuba diving...

I met fred in Argentina...and for those who don't remember him, here goes a small reminder !

Désolée Fredo...