When you come back ...

I think everyone know that it can be hard to come back to a more standard lifestyle after two years of travel. there is so many reason for that; like getting back in a routine, a job, getting much less adventure, and live in a much slower pace; it’s hard to readapt yourself. there is a lot of reason like that, that everyone understand. but the hardest things, only the ones who traveled can understand it.

I know it’s not the case for everyone, but for me I love to share my experience with someone, i don’t like to keep everything for myself, that was one of the hardest thing for my during the end of my trip as i was traveling on my own, and one of the reason i came back in Montreal.
When you travel, you usually feel that everyone is interested in your experience, from the feedback you have from your friends back home and the people you meet. So when you come back you expect to be able to share your experience with everyone. But very quickly you realize that no one really care about it. You end up staying alone with it.
There is always few people interested in it, but theses people are really rare. it’s hard to find them, it’s hard to differentiate people that actually care from people that say so not to hurt you. They are not necessary in you close friends, it can be people you barely know. it’s not always easy to get closer to them, but these people can help a lot.
They can help you, just by listening to you!! You make them happy by sharing your stories, they help you by listening to you and being actually interested in it. It make your experience a bit less meaningless and more useful.
Quickly you realize that not only no one care, but also you can't even talk about it. Some people will take it as being pretentious. you end up having awesome stories that you have to keep for yourself.
traveling was all your life for 2 years, so obviously the first thing you have in mind in any discussion are usually related to this trip. but if you say something about it, people get bored very quickly and think you're bragging. It is really hard to deal with everyone.
So with the time you try to adapt and talk less about it. but it’s actually hard to avoid it, it was all your life during so long, most of the thing you have to say, are usually related. you might end up saying nothing and appearing boring for everyone....  It isn't possible to be back the way you once were, you don’t  even remember how you were before, you don’t know what you used to talk about you don't know what to say that isn't related to your trip
You just have the very hard feeling of being stuck between being boring or arrogant, there is no middle place....


Another thing, during all your travel, you stay with a memory about your old life back in the place you used to live, with the time those memories can change, and appear better than what it was.
 When you come back you expect to come back to that awesome experience you once had. You come back and most things appeared to be the same, most of people still work/ study and live in the same town,  you feel like you will quickly find the marks you once had. But during your time away, everyone else also lived and evolved, they don't go out as they once were, they don't live the same way. You feel like they didn't change during your travel, because everything look almost the same, but they do, and actually you are the one that didn't change on that part you expect to be the same!!
You left at some point, you kind of put your life on hold for a while. When you come back you expect to reset your life to the point you left it. Even if your travel changed you a lot, you need the safety of the comfortable old life you had to find your marks quickly; But you will realize that it won’t work.
People don't wait for you to evolve, they go on with their life. You did too but on totally different part, and you are getting late on aspects of your life you left home that make a huge offset between you and your friends your are 2 years ahead of them for the adventure side of your life from your travel and 2 year late on a social side and making a family.
a simple example some friends will have kids, for you it’s hard to feel how big that is as it’s hard for them to feel how big your trip is for you, they still seems to have the same life just with a kid in it; but for them it everything, your trip is nothing compared to a baby.

All you friend’s life evolve and you were not there, you will never get back the place you once had ! it is really hard to fill the gap and it is impossible to find your marks.

Its time for a break

I have been on the road since two years now. With a big break in New Zealand in the middle of my trip, I traveled around the world for long time now. It’s time for me stop for a while. Catch up with my friends, and get back to a social life!
That's why I decided to stop traveling and go back to Montreal to settle down here…
I will take few months here to save up some money, socialize and relax. Take some time to think and see how things go for me here.
I won’t have a lot of things to post here for a while, but I will keep you updated on my plan for my future!!
Settle down, or hit the road again?? The future will tell!! But after two years of travel, is it really possible to stop like that?

Back in Rio

After few days in buenos aires, I decided to come back in Rio as I really loved there the first time i came here, and it was a good way to relax on the beach one last time before going to Montreal !!
Once again, I spend more time relaxing than visiting, so you see more pics on the post I made the first time I was here :  Rio Nov2011

The first time I was in Rio there is one thing I couldn't see because of the weather, so this time I decided to see it,  the “pao de azucar” it’s a big hill just next to the ocean, and you get a very good view from the top !! so here is some picture of it to complete my first article about rio.

Back in buenos aires

As you might know, I have already been in Buenos Aires. I feel a bit guilty to go back to place I already know. Let me explain why:

I decided to do that, because I have been traveling alone since a very long time, and now I feel very tired about it, I need more social interaction with good friends; I need to share things with other peoples.  I wanted to see many other place in south America, but I don’t feel like traveling everyday alone, like I did in south east Asia. That’s why I decided to just go to few places I know, just to relax a bit before going back to Canada.

I’m sad I miss a very good opportunity to visit amazing place, but know I will come back around here later, now I need more my friends than I need to travel.

I spend few days in Buenos Aires I visit a little bit, but nothing more interesting than what I did the first time I was here. You can find some picture and stories about it here:
Buenos Aires Nov2011

In santiago, again!!

As my visa was only for 90 days, I needed to get out of the country to be able to get 3 more month in argentina !!
I went few days in Santiago. It was a weird feeling as I already went there almost 2 years ago, at the beginning of my trip. That’s the first time I get back to a place I already visited, and I can feel how much I’m changed by all my travel !!
As I already know it, I didn’t visit a lot, here, you can see the article I did the first time I came here :

Santiago Dec2011

finaly going skiing !!

After spending almost two month renting skies for everyone; with a weird feeling as it is always sunny in Mendoza, it is hard to realize that 2h away in the montains it can have a lot of snow. But now I finaly have a day off with good sking condition in the moutains, so I went there for a day. It is a bit different than in other country, the lift are very old, functioning with petrol, not electricity, with is quite bad as at some place the you can smell the smoke very badly.
The lift are very small and slow, there is not many slopes, but there is heaps of backcountry possibilities. I went just after a big snowstorm on a very sunny days, and with very big surprise for me, there was almost no one to enjoy the perfect condition!!  I spend the whole day in perfect fresh snow !!

In the Aconcagua

One day, I got the opportunity to go hiking a little bit in the Aconcagua. Not to the summit, only at the base, but was really cool.
I went with a guide and a family with racquets for the day, the weather wasn’t so good, but the scenery around is really awesome!!

  it was really long day, but it was my first day off work in 3 weeks !! so spending a day in the mountains was obviously awesome !!

Back to work

When I arrived, I Managed to find a work very quickly!!  I just went in a ski renting shop, ask if they need someone, and end up talking with the boss for 30min with the little bit of Spanish I knew at the time, and he ask me if I could start the next day!!
Here the ski rentals don’t rent only the ski, but also all the cloth, walking boots, goggle…
So I spend my days, serving clients, repairing and waxing skies and snowboard, and washing cloth and boots.
It is very depressing to see how many people have absolutely no respect for the equipment when it’s rental and not theirs!!

I’m almost the only one that speak English or French, each time there is foreigners client I have to take care of it, and I realise switching between all the language, is very confusing, and I always end up talking in the wrong language.

I really like the job, it get me closer to the ski and mountains industry. It makes me meet few guides and it gave me some very good opportunity to get a job in the Aconcagua during the summer.

The job is very good for me but the dark side is that I get paid almost nothing, and I work a lot!!  I don’t get a lot of time to do other things.

The culture about the work and the timing here is very different, usually all the shop open a bit late, around 9-10AM, and stay open quite late (9-10PM), but almost every shop are closing few hours in the afternoon for “la siesta” (the nap), which is a bit disturbing at first.
Also the timing here is very different, people will have lunch around 2PM, and then have dinner around 10PM!!! also if you want to go out, everything is much later that in Canada for example, here you start the pre-party around 11PM to go in the club around 2 or 3AM, until the end of the night, it’s a bit difficult at first as I’m not used to it, I got tired mush earlier than others.

Living in Mendoza

So I’m here since almost 3 month now, it’s time to present you this very nice town !!
Mendoza is on west side of Argentina, and very close to Santiago de chile. Just next to the mountains. it is the closest city to go to the Aconcagua (the highest mountain outside the Himalaya, 6960m).
I really like the city, it feels safe, and it is very clean very beautiful place!! And it’s a good size, not too big, not too small :)

I really like the street; it’s a bit like Montreal all the street are square, with a lot of one way street. There is a large sidewalk, a tree line, a parking line and the street. With a small difference, there is a trap for drunk people and bad driver, there is a large gutter between the street and the sidewalk everywhere, I’m surprise I didn’t fall in one of this yet!!

Something that can look weird at first is that the wash the sidewalk all the time, everyday a lot of people are sweeping and mopping the sidewalk in front of their house or their shops!! Which help to make the city look very clean!!

The weather is also a bit weird as it is in a desert, outside town there is almost no vegetation, at it is just next to the Andes, it is protected for most of the rain, in 3 month I have seen only one day with a little bit of rain, and one day with 2 cm of snow almost all the time it is sunny!! The gutters that serve as trap for drunken people also are a very complex irrigation system for all the trees and the park in town.

there is so much trees in all the street that it didn't look like a city from here !!

The city is also well known for its wine, it is here that 70% of Argentinian wine are produced. They produced different type of grapes; the most popular is the malbec.
The wine and the mountains are the main touristic attraction around Mendoza.

Holidays are over !!

As you have noticed I havn’t posted anything since about 2 month. I’m due to a little update now !!

So around middle of may, I was leaving asia after almost 4 month backpacking in all south east asia !!

I went directly in france for a week of break, seeing my family, and friends. One week was very short so I couldn’t see everyone, but I promise I will try to go back in france for more time soon to catch up with everyone.

After that short break, I went directly in argentina, in Mendoza, it is a small city north west of argentina, close to Santiago de chile, and next to the mountains.

I moved here, to learn more Spanish and stay there for a while. I’ll try to post something about Mendoza a soon as possible !!

Leaving Asia

About 3 and half month ago I was landing in Singapore, I went across Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand again. I have seen sooo many things and met many awesome persons. I had a really good time visiting all these countries.

I was very impressed by the buildings in Singapore. In Malaysia, I didn’t stay very long, but I really liked it, it’s not as poor as the other countries in south east asia, but very nice people and some very good place. In Thailand I have seen a bit too much touristic place and not enough remote places but I still had a very good time. Cambodia is for me one of the best country in the area, but unfortunately I realized it a bit too late and couldn’t stay as long as I wanted. At the beginning of Vietnam I was a bit disappointed but all the north part of the country was really amazing. Laos is also one of my favorite country, a bit like Cambodia, it is extremely poor and not developed, but people are extremely nice!! The north of Thailand was really cool, but as I saw it after long time in South East Asia I felt a bit like I had seen everything already I got bored more quickly.

Globally I had an awesome time, but I prefer much more New Zealand and South America. When I’m traveling, the things I want to see are the scenery and finding some breath taking landscape. And in Asia there is not a lot of amazing landscape like in New Zealand or in south America. In Asia, the most interesting things are more the culture, the different way of life, the food. There is a bit of history in Vietnam and Cambodge, and sooo many temples everywhere; unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of temples.
So I guess depending on what you looking for when you traveling, some people will prefer Asia, and some will prefer South America. I prefer South America and New Zealand.

And one last capital, Bangkok

After a small break relaxing at the beach, it’s time to come back in the big smog!! I spent few days in Bangkok to visit the city before taking my flight!!

Bangkok is a really big city, some people love it, some hate it, and me….. a bit of both !!
Like everywhere there is heaps of temples, and as I’m really bored of temples I have skipped almost all temples. Also there is a huge palace, but the day I wanted to visit it, it was only half open and was closing very early, so I couldn’t visit it!!

There is few river in the city so some public transport are by boat, it work very well and is very cheap, a very good way to move around.

There is different suburb with different style, like a place with more clubs and bars, one other with more luxury hotel and restaurant, and one, very famous to be the backpacker centre of south east Asia. It was supposed to be by far the cheapest area in all south east asia. But as every touristic things in Thailand, it lose its particularity. Now it have also a lot of midrange choice for food and accommodation, there is Mc donnalds, BK, KFC, suway everywhere, and the street food that maid this area very famous, was really poor quality, and much more expensive than other town in Thailand, event more expensive than some island, for food that is much less good and less variety!!
It is still cool to walk around the street seeing all crowds in the street with all the shops. and it's also good for party but probably very different from what it was few years ago (from what I have heard about it).

And after these last days in the capital it is time to take my flight to leave asia :(

Having some days off at the beach

After about a week in the north, I was a bit disappointed and bored of always seeing the same things, I really needed a break.
So instead of continuing to visit more place in Thailand on my way to Bangkok,  I decided spend few days relaxing at the beach !!
I choose to go to koh Chang because it wasn't too far from Bangkok and cheap for an island!!
I wasn't there to visit or anything, I have seen enough islands when I first get in Thailand. I just went there to take it easy, relax, and cool down in the water!!

In a small touristic village, Pai

Pai is a small village very north of Thailand, it is very popular stop for tourist, with many attractions like hiking, rafting biking… but as it is low season and end of dry season, there is none of these activities at this time. The town itself is nice but very touristic, and around there is a “canyon” that is really nice, I decided not to stay too long and just visit the canyon as it is really nice and the other things I could be interested in are not possible.

In the rose of the north, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is one of the biggest and the most touristic place in north Thailand, everyone said many good things about it, so I was really looking forward to see it by myself!!
But when I arrived here I was more disappointed, the city itself is very nice, but except for that I didn’t find any reel interest. There is a loooot of temples, but after more than 3 month in south East Asia, I’m really sick of temples, and There is no special temple that worth the visit. The most popular attraction around Chiang Mai is going to “concentration camp” for elephant. And I prefer not support this activity as the elephants in south east Asia are already endanger species, all elephants are in similar camp everywhere, and also many place treat the elephant very poorly, and it is hard to find company that really respect the elephants. Therefore I skip that. And one other popular activity is to visit some “human zoo” (Karen Long neck villages) as I have explain in the previous post, I clearly don’t want to support that either!!

So I end up spending only one day in town, visiting the main temple and enjoying the calm and nice street in the old city!!

It was very nice but from everything I heard about Chiang Mai I had more expectation!!

In chiang rai up north of thailand !!

For my first stop in north of Thailand I decided to stop in chiang rai, from what I heard it was a good place to go around and see some local minorities that include the “famous” long neck women. But Before going there I look for more detail about it, and finally decided to only visit the hill trib museum in town.
In fact the Karen Long neck are absolutely not from Thailand, they are only in Burma, but some big tourist investor, “imported” them to make some fake villages for tourist. It’s really like a “human zoo” these people have really hard time and they are exploited by these tourist company, that’s why I decided not to go there and just go to the museum which is run by a NGO that use the fees from the museum to really help these people.
It wasn't allowed to take picture in the museum so I don’t have picture about that.

Here is a picture from internet to understand what i'm talking about !

I also went to see one more temple, a very modern one, build in 1998, the whit temple, it is a bit different from the thousands of temple I have seen so far and really beautiful !!

On my way out of Laos … :(

After that trek in Luang Namtha, I had to leave Laos to go back in Thailand. 3 tuk-tuk, 2 bus, 1 boat later I was in Chiang Rai, in the North of Thailand !!

I’m a bit sad to leave Laos, I wish I had more time to see more of this country, specially all the south that I didn’t see at all !!
I really loved this country, the people are also very nice and the culture is also very different!
In Laos you have to be relax, no stress, no rush, take your time !! it is very poor country  much less developed that Vietnam or Thailand.
It is not in their culture to complain, so if you do something offending for them they will just be annoyed and feel uncomfortable  but they won’t let you know, therefor it is important to know a bit about their culture before going there. So you know what to do and don’t do to respect them!! On few place they put some sign to explain a bit their culture and way of life. For example Lao people like to party as much as everyone else, but they do so during the day, so they can go to bed early, as they usually start working very early in the morning! Also for exemple it is considered very rude to dress improperly  you should always have a shirt on, and avoid showing too much skin, they will feel very uncomfortable and they don’t want their children to take that as an example!  You can see a lot of lao people shirt-less, but they do that ONLY in their own neighborhood. So don’t use that as an excuse to do the same, it is unrespectful for their culture.

That’s why Laos is known as having no night-life, but that don’t mean they can’t party, just that in their culture, they party much earlier. And therefore, most of the bars and restaurant close at 10 or 11PM and in many guesthouse, you are supposed to be back in your room before midnight!

I have seen few remote villages and it is always very nice experience to see how they live, many don’t even have electricity, they live almost only from farming, hunting, fishing. Some kids have never seen any western people or people with a big beard for example, and can be very afraid the first time they see some !

The landscape all around is really beautiful  and I think visiting laos at the end of dry season like I did, or just after the rainy season, would make a huge difference. all the river are very very low, some big lakes are almost empty, all the rice field are very dry and unexploited at this time.

So I really loved laos, I feel like it’s very different from any other country I have seen, amazing scenery, amazing people and very relax atmosphere. It’s really a good mix to make me want to come back and see more !!

Trekking in the jungle !!

In Luamg Namtha, I went for 3 days trekking in the jungle, I have been a bit disappointed because the guy at the adjency lied to my about everything, and so it wasn’t really what I wanted to do, instead of a primary forest inside a national park I end up in a very young and light forest not so far from the road, following a track, I could have done it without any guid easily…
anyway, even If that wasn't what I wanted, I still enjoyed few part, I just had to not think about how much better it was supposed to be!!
The first day, we walk up the hill to reach a nice view point then continue to the  “camp site” to spend the night there. To cook the diner we only used bamboo, as a pot to cook the rice and the soup, and also to build spoon, glass, and chop stick. That was really interesting!!

The next day we walk only a couple of hours to reach a small village to spend the night there (as we did the same trek as their 2 days trekking option we couldn’t walk too much everydays).
The village was really nice, it was really nice playing with the kid and see how the live there !!

And the last day, we walk down back to the main road going through some farms and rubber plantation.

I had a good time overall, but I’m really sad that because of their lies I couldn't see what I was looking for when I came here.

In a bus for a loooong time, the local way !!

From Vientiane I decided to go to one place on north of laos. As I have already visited the most interesting place on the way, I looked for a direct bus. I read on internet it was about 16h bus. From Vientiane there is no agency that sell ticket for this bus. So I had to go to the bus station to find out more information and buy my ticket. As almost everywhere in south east asia, the bus station are always out of town, I had to rent a bicycle early in the morning to get to the bus station, buy my ticket for a bus at 17:30 and back in town.

In the afternoon, when it was really hot, over 40°, I went to the bus station again, and find out that my bus wasn’t a sleeping bus, but just a normal public bus, a bit old, without air conditioning!!

Also it was very funny to see how many stuff they loaded on the bus, all over the roof there was 1 or 2 meter of box, bags, random stuff and even a motorbike !! and inside the bus between the sites there was also box everywhere.

During the bus ride I really had every bad things that could happen. Next to me there was a family, they had two site for the mom, the dad and their two children, and of course one of the child was crying almost all the time. And very funny story, the only way to make him stop crying, was when he was looking at me!! I guess that it is because of my beard, that he might have never seen before, I don’t really know but that was really funny !!.

Also for most of the night they were playing very loudly that traditional lao music, which was extremely annoying when I was trying to sleep !!

Very early in the morning there were a very big storm, and with all the water one truk get stuck on the road, and we had to stop for a while to help him. A bit later we had a flat tire and had to stop for one hour to fix it!

And finally, 22 hours after my bus start, I arrived in Luang Namtha, if I count the time of the transfer to and from the bus station, I took me over 26h !!!

That was really hard, but also a very cool experience !! 

In the capital of Laos, Vientiane!

Continuing my trip in laos I went down to Vientiane, It is next to the Mekong, at the border with Thailand, one side of the Mekong is Vientiane, the other side is Thailand!!
It is the capital city, but everyone say there is nothing there. If you compare to other cities in south East Asia, it is very quiet and relax, but that’s what laos is all about!
I like the city, but there is no need to stay long, there is few temples and monument to see, the side of the Mekong is very nice too, but at this time of the years the weather is really hot (it was more than 40° all the time) that make walking around town much less enjoyable.

In Vang Vieng, but the party is over

Vang Vieng is a very little town next to a small river, it is very famous in south east Asia for its “tubing”.
The tubing in Vang Vieng, is simply going down the river on a big tube, going slowly,
For about 4 or 5Km. but what make it famous was all the bars and attraction that there was all along the river. It was a very big party place, with many bars, many rope swing, waterslide and things like that.
It was a “Must do” Activity for all the young tourists in South East Asia for many years, until end of 2012 when the Laos government decided to close down all the bars along the river. As you can guess, very drunk people don’t make a good mix with a river, and many place to jump/slide/swing to the river specially that most of the time the river is not very deep and there is rocks everywhere. So many people died every month doing the tubing, and that’s why they closed every bar and remove all the installation along the river.
Now few bars start to open again, but it is definitely not the same as it was. Before there were 800 people every day doing the tubing, now, it’s not even 150!!! It makes it a much more relaxing attraction, than a big party now.
The first day I was there is did that to relax on the river and see what it was all about, and was interesting to see all the old bars and attractions half destroyed, and I can really imagine how wild it was before !!

The town itself is nice, but nothing really special it is just a tourist center  You can feel that the closing of the bars along the river did a very big impact over the entire city, many bars and restaurant are now almost always empty and struggle to survive!!  Also a funny thing, all the restaurants are almost all the same, and they all show in loop episodes of friends or family guys.

The scenery around is really good, so the next day I rent a motorbike and went for a ride around to see the surrounding area and it was really cool.
I have seen another big cave that was really cool, and swim in a very nice river to cool down!!

Taking my time in Luang prabang

Luang Prabang is a bit bigger town, and much more touristic, but very nice place. Like everywhere in laos, it is very relaxed place, people are nice, streets are beautiful, heaps of cheap street food, and a nice night market. I really like that town !!

Around I went to a big waterfall, and that one was really beautiful, Even if it was end of dry season, there were still a lot of water.  There is few different pool for swimming, and some other area very very beautiful, I spend a day to see and relax in the waterfall, and as the temperature outside are extremely hot, it is nice to cool down in such a beautiful place !!

I also spend a day walking around town and going on top of a hill in the middle of town, another day bicycling around the area, it was really hot but very nice !!

Down the river toward the next town

My goal was to get to Luang Prabang in a middle of laos, and I decided to start my journey toward there by boat, so I went on a slow boat, about 5 hours down the river to the next town, Muang Ngoy. The boat ride was amazing, the scenery around is so good, and going next to small village with just few houses or just one family that live at some place all along the river. It is amazing to see how they organize their life around the river for everything!! The boat stopped at some place to pike up some people on these places. And I realized that like the bus, the boat are NEVER full, at some point we were about 23 people, 7 dogs, 3 chicken, heaps of bags of rice or vegetables, and one tv !!!!

When I arrived in Muang Ngoy I really loved that place, it is very small, no road just few guest houses and restaurant, and few families that live here, I stayed in a bungalow with an awesome view over the river.

I was thinking about staying only one night and continuing toward Luang Prabang, but When I saw the village I decided to stay more.
I spend a full day hiking around, visiting an awesome cave, walking through farms and going to a very small and remote village\ that live only from farming and hunting, and that was such an awesome experience I really loved it!!

Then It was time to continue my trip, leaving the village by boat, to reach the next town that is connected by road, to catch a bus to finally get to Luang Prabang !!

Arriving in Laos

Just after crossing the border I arrived in a town called Muang Khua, it is a very little town next to a river. And when I arrived here it was a very big cultural choc again!!! it really feel like the country is really poor, and as it is a very small town very remote, it appear more !!

I really love this place people are really nice and friendly, they speak almost no English so it is a bit funny to communicate. I stayed only one day because even if the town is really nice, there is not a lot to do around.
Also it was the laos new years at this time, they called it also the water festival, as during few days people party everywhere and throw water at everyone. It was awesome to be in such a small place like that with almost no tourist to celebrate with them !! It was really feeling like reel Laos !!

Leaving Vietnam!!

So as I’m leaving Vietnam, let talk about my feeling about this country!! Overall I really like it, but didn’t find any specific point that was extremely good. Food is good, but I didn’t find as much variety as in Cambodia or Malaysia for example, people a usually very nice, but not as smiling and friendly as Cambodians.
I visited Vietnam starting from south and went up north stopping at many place on the way. And until I reach Phong nha (the place with the big caves) I didn’t find anything really breath taking, not any place that I can describe as a must see, but when I reach phong nha, then ninh binh, or event halong bay and sapa that I have seen with a weather quite bad, all these place are really amazing. The big cities are hu chi minh city (Saigon) in the south and ha noi in north. Both are a bit crazy with soooo many motorbike and everything is soo fast, it is very interesting!!.
Like Cambodia, Vietnam was a French colony, but if we can see that in a very nice way in Cambodia with a lot of French product in supermarket, or some old people speaking French correctly, in Vietnam the only things that reminded me about France was the fact that everyone is smoking which is a bit sad.
Also it’s funny to travel in Vietnam, as everyone arrive in one of these city and finish at the other one, so when you arrive, you met few people that just finishing visiting Vietnam and that can give you many tips, and also many people that like you, just arrived in Vietnam, and you will see these people very often on your trip, as everyone go to the same direction.
And when you arrive on the other side, it is your turn to give tips to the new traveler that just arrived,
Also for a very good way to visit Vietnam; I didn’t do it as I was alone but many people did it, and I think that is the best way to visit Vietnam. It is to buy a motorbike on one side, and reselling it on the other side, I have seen many many roads that are really beautiful and you get to see soo many place without any tourist and get to see more what really is Vietnam!!

At the place where French get kicked out of Vietnam 60 years ago, Dien Bien Phu !!

From Sapa, I wanted to go to Laos, but there is no direct bus, so I took a night bus to get to Dien Bien Phu, a town very close to the boarder, and from there I wanted to take directly a bus to laos.

So I left from Sapa around 6:30PM and I was supposed to arrive around 6AM. But around 1AM the bus stopped on the road.  The road is in very poor condition, and a truck in front of us was stuck in the middle of the way, so we had to wait all night there. And we started again around 8AM, the good thing is that it allows me to have a look around and the scenery was really incredible!!

After this incident I arrived in Dien Bien Phu around 2PM and the bus to Laos had left already. So I stayed one night and took the bus the next day.
It was also a good thing because it was interesting to see this city. for those that don’t remember their history lesson from high school It is the place of one of the last battle between the French and the Vietnamese during the war; after being defeated here the French people left Vietnam.
At one side of the town there is a small hill with a big monument and the view from there is really beautiful!! you can see a part of town and all the field where the battle took place, with the mountains all around.

The head in the clouds! in Sapa

Everyone talk about Sapa it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful place in Vietnam!
But it is also a bit up the mountains and the weather here is not always friendly!!
When I arrived there it was raining a lot and it was very foggy, we couldn't see anything!
The rain stopped quickly but the fog stayed here during the whole day, with some occasional rain. So I didn’t go hiking like I was planning as there was nothing to see with that fog. I just walk a bit in town, and hope for a better weather the next day.
Unfortunately when the weather is like that it can stay for many days and the next day was the same. I still when for a short walk and get some very small clearing at some time, but I needed to be quick to take picture as that was never long!

As it might stay like that for long time, there was no point of wasting too much time waiting here so I left after too days the head in the clouds.

In the capital city, Hanoi !

Hanoi is a really big city, I didn’t find any special things there, it was nice and a bit a crazy city, like few city in south east Asia.
Also, a funny things is that you have many different streets with only one type of shops, like you have a “shoes” street, or “pants” street, “ceramic” street or really any kind of things event a “tomb stones” street.
I stayed few days in total, visit few monument, relax and plan few things for the rest of my trip!!

Relaxing in halong bay

Halong bay is about 4h bus from Hanoi, it is a big bay with a lots of small island and very beautiful. It reminded me Koh phiphi in Thailand. And also it look like ninh binh but with the see instead for rice fields.
I took a boat across the bay to go to a small island, stay one day there enjoying few nice activity and relaxing, and took a boat back the third day. The weather wasn’t really good, but we didn’t get any rain so it was ok !