Tag: vietnam

20 May 2014

China Increasingly Confident in South China Sea

Tensions in the South China Sea mount over an oil rig in disputed waters. Recent enforcement of territorial claims are likely to disturb peace and stability in the region, cause domestic trouble in Vietnam, and sour China’s relations with ASEAN members and the US.

On 14 May 2014, Vietnamese protesters vented their anger at China’s claims to contended territorial waters and its recent enforcement of those claims by defending the construction of a Chinese oil rig (the Haiyang Shiyou 981), destined to drill a mere 120 km off Vietnam’s shore. Over 20,000 rioters vandalised factories in Binh Duong province, Vietnam’s industrial heartland just outside Ho Chi Minh City. The mob attacked anything with Chinese script on it, but ended up also damaging many Taiwanese and Korean properties. Several Chinese workers were killed in the tumult, up to 21 according to some sources. Chinese citizens react outraged.

All anti-Vietnamese protesters in Kunming
All of the anti-Vietnamese protesters in Kunming on 18 May

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13 February 2014

Getting Vietnamese Visa at Hekou

Provided you are eligible for a Vietnamese visa, you can get a same-day Vietnamese visa at Hekou 河口, the Chinese border crossing with Vietnam’s Lào Cai 老街 (allowing access Hanoi by train or to Sapa by bus). It is easy and quick, although possibly not entirely legal. Below is how you do it, why to do it and what the risks are.

Vietnamese visa
Vietnamese visa

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9 January 2014

Slap the Belgian! Confusing Cambodia

This section from Saigon to Bavet is the twenty-ninth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Finally, the big day breaks. The visa time’s up, we’re well rested and we’re going to Cambodia! A country I’ve heard much good about but haven’t been able to visit, despite coming very close a couple of times on my trips. We don’t know what to expect. And when the senses are devoid of impulses, the brain makes up its own chatter and noise. Here’s the product of the fantasies running amok in the fragile shells that bob around on our shoulders:

A nap during the hottest hour of the day
A nap during the hottest hour of the day. Picture doesn’t follow the text.

Cambodia’s a mix between Thailand and Vietnam with a little Lao poverty tossed in. It’s flat and hot but food is great, much like food in the Mekong delta is awesome. Also, because of the poverty, it’s a relatively cheap place, but some inflation and corruption certainly make for elevated prices. Yet they do not exceed the prices of Vietnam’s megacities, where a nourishing noodle soup costs $ 1.5 and freshly pressed juice goes for $ 0.75. The people, not belonging to the strain known as homo Sinensis, are less competitive and scheming than the Vietnamese, and rather friendly if a bit resigned as to their lot.

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8 January 2014

Slap the Belgian! Repairing Body and Bike in Saigon

This section about Saigon is the twenty-eighth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Let’s make this one a photo blog, because we really didn’t do that much in Saigon. What we did do, is meet up with Rene, a long-time Belgian expat in Vietnam with a wife, kids and a travel company. We also met Carl-Ingvar, a Swedish friend from my time in Berlin and with Ai Huynh, one of the first Vietnamese people I became acquainted with during my warmup trip in the Mekong delta in March 2011.

Boat in Saigon's harbour
Boat in Saigon’s harbour

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28 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Skipping Construction Hell

This section from Kon Tum to Yang Reh via Buon Ma Thuot is the nineteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

We’d spent an entire rest-day in Kontum recovering and getting fat on coffees, wraps, snacks, buns, banhs and whatever other snacks caught our attention. Kontum’s a lovely small town with a few interesting sights.

Climate-wise it feels a bit like Kunming: due to its relatively high altitude, it gets chilly at night or when the sun disappears, but as long as that bright ball beams bravely from the blue sky, the climate is warm yet dry.

Coc fruit
A pile of cóc fruit, in Kontum seedless and very sour. Excellent with spicy salt.

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27 December 2013

We’re not Dead

But we’re a little internet-strapped at the moment, riding long days. Still, we’d like to wish everyone a happy New Year. As for the trip, there are some unfinished updates on Crazyguyonabike.com which will be finished and published here when I have a little more time.

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26 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Rollercoaster Rampage to Kon Tum

This section from Kham Duc to Kon Tum is the eighteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

We’d agreed that Tu would take a bus to Kon Tum so she could skip a couple of rides and rest her muscles. I, on the other hand, was going to try to ride to Kon Tum in the shortest time possible – perhaps spending the night in Plei Kan. In return, Tu takes all my luggage and I just take the very necessary: toothbrush, some soap, fresh underwear, an extra jumper and the bottle of opium poppy liquor Tu’s dad had given me.

Kham Duc market
Eating bún and some bánh mì at the market in Kham Duc

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25 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Sunny Christmas Ride

This section from Thanh My to Kham Duc is the seventeenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

The day begins brilliantly as both of us awake at 8.30am in an almost perfectly quiet hotel room on a perfectly hard bed (we both like hard mattresses). To make matters even better, the sun is shining outside and the smell of rainforest humidity creeps through our bathroom window. The latter pleases me more than Tu, who seems to be well used to hot tropical humidity. For me, it invariably conjures up memories of holidays and adventure.

We pay a visit to Hai Lua, our beloved country bumpkin, who seems to have at least a vague recollection of who we are after last night presumed drinking spree with his friends and newly-weds. A lot less talkative but no less smiling, he gets to work and serves some of the best bun we’ve had in a while. To our relief, the liquor he had promised to share does not appear on the table – I’m sure it’s the last thing he wants to sniff today.

Hai Lua makes us a great Bún to start the day!
Hai Lua makes us a great Bún to start the day!

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24 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Reunion with Uncle Ho

This section from Hoi An to Thanh My is the sixteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

After sleeping a considerably better sleep in the Phuc An hotel, we find the streets of Hoi An shiny with rain. Though the actual rain has ceased, we put off our ride by wolfing down the complimentary hotel breakfast, followed by a second breakfast at a restaurant that made vegetarian versions of popular Vietnamese foods. We have fried won-tons and a rice flour dough creation called white rose. Both taste great!

Back at the hotel, we get Tu’s bike fixed to eliminate her wheel wobbling and to stop her pedal from moving clicking. When we can find no more reasons to procrastinate, we leave this pretty town and head west towards a much grimmer destination: the poorest regions on the Ho Chi Minh highway, near the Lao and Cambodian borders.

Ducks on a motorbike
Ducks on a motorbike

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22 December 2013

Slap the Belgian! Recovery Ride and Rest

This section from Da Nang to Hoi An is the fifteenth instalment of my bicycle ride from Yunnan to Cambodia – if all goes according to plan. Titled “Slap the Belgian!”, it is simultaneously published on Crazyguyonabike.com, where you’ll find a map with the itinerary and many other bicycle diaries by me and others. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Da Nang Panorama
Panorama from the bridge

We wake from our nasty Da Nang hotel beds moody and tired. The night had been noisy and the beds seriously the worst I’d slept in since I slept in a corn field on my very first bike trip. After a slow morning ritual including a mediocre bún (rice noodles, thin wiry kind), we say good-bye to Linh and head towards Hoi An.

Having done pretty much every Da Nang bridge during yesterday’s food binge, I decide I want to retrace my steps over the northernmost San Francisco-like bridge. I know it gives some spectacular views over the harbour and the sea on the other side, but it isn’t much to the liking of Tu, whose mental and physical energy levels still seem exhausted.

Boats at Da Nang harbour
Boats at Da Nang harbour

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