Wandering Fractal

The Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the most famous scenery in China. Fortunately if you go there to hike it won't be crowded like other famous place in the country. I met other foreigners on the trail, but not a single Chinese tourist. They all take the bus and only go at the bottom of the gorge. According to the legend, a long time ago a hunter was chasing a tiger. To escape, the animal has leaped over the river. Hence the name: Tiger Leaping Gorge. To do this hike I first took the bullet train to go from Nanning to Kunming. I stayed one night in the capital of the Yunnan province. Kunming is at 1892 meters of altitude and thus the air was cooler. I found that this city had surprisingly a lot of character. It might be due to the diversity brought by all the ethnic minorities living in the province. At the Kunming West Coach Station, I took a bus to Lijiang. The bus terminal is on the line 3 of the subway system. It took around 8 hours to reach this town in the mountains...

Women doing traditional dance in a park of Nanning. From Hanoi I took the train to China. Terminus: the city of Nanning. Before I explain how I crossed the border, I need to explain how I got my visas. From the very beginning I knew that the visas would be some of the biggest challenges. I explain in my first post  that the main obstacles on my road would be : Finding a boat to cross from New Zealand to Australia. Finding a boat to cross from Australia to Indonesia. Obtaining a Chinese visa Obtaining a Russian visa I already gave up on the two first points and flew instead of using boats. It didn't change my itinerary and saved me a lot of money and time. But not obtaining the visas would have been a big issue, forcing me to cut a large chunk of my route or taking another path to Europe. I knew I could make the Chinese visa in Hanoi easily, but the Russian one was another story. If you apply for the Russian visa, you need to do it from your home country. That me...

View from the Lotte center. Last stop in Vietnam : Hanoi ! I stayed in the old quarter where the streets are always busy. Scooters, eateries, shops, everything happens on the street. You never get bored, but you also need to stay wary. The traffic is hectic. In comparison to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi feel more "communist". Grand avenue, bulky concrete buildings, statues to the glory of past leaders. Two of the place I found very interesting were the Hỏa Lò prison and the Ho Chi Minh museum. They were heavy on propaganda, because they would tell only one side of the story. The prison was built by the French, but then used by the Vietnamese to hold the captured american pilots. It is now a museum. During the French era you can see the horrible conditions in which the prisoners had to live. Strangely only the french guards are blamed, but most of the pictures show Vietnamese guards that were working with the colonial government. During the Vietnamese era, only good thing...

Rice fields in the countryside. Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng national park has become world wide famous for it hosts the world biggest cave. It takes around 5 hours to go from Hue to the touristic village of Phong Nha with a bus. It's basically 4 km of houses along the Son Con river. It's the hub to reach the national park. You can find accommodations, shops and restaurants. When I got there, it was raining for days, thus all the caves where closed. I was lucky to have good weather the next two days. The first day, the water level was still too high, so I rented a bicycle and went to see the local villages. I went in the Bong Lai valley, strolled along the rice fields and rivers, high-fived all the kids on the side of the road and ate delicious bamboo cooked pork and vegetables in  Moi Moi . The second day the water level went down and I booked a tour. I went for the Abandoned Valley tour. It's a 12 km jungle trek with visits to two caves. The back entrance of the Dark Ca...

Abandoned water slides. Huế was for a time the capital of Vietnam. Thus it's main attraction is the Imperial City, but for me, my main goal was to go see the abandoned water park in the outskirt of the city. To reach Hue, I took a bus in Hoi An and in just 4 hours I got there. The city isn't too big so I walked from the touristic center to the imperial city and spent an afternoon there. Since Hue is in the center of the country, close to the border between north and south Vietnam, it sustained a lot of destruction during the war. From the hundreds of buildings in the imperial city, only a few could be restored. You can only imagine from the empty spaces and old pictures how it must have been. 8 km south of the city center is Hồ Thủy Tiên, an abandoned water park. I rented a bicycle and headed there. I went late in the afternoon to take pictures with the sunset. Once I got close a nice local boy told me the best route to go. Apparently it's better to enter from...

Hoi An's river side. Vietnamese boats have eyes painted to frighten the crocodiles, sea monsters and evil spirits. The ancient port of Hội An has now shifted it's main activity from trading toward tourism. The town is full of old houses and pedestrian streets that makes it pleasant to stroll. The architecture is influenced by all the foreign traders that had settled there, mainly Chinese, but also a few Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Indians. The town can easily be visited in half a day, so I used the afternoon to go to the beach. I rented a bike and went to the An Bang beach, 5 km outside of town. It was one of the best I visited in Vietnam. The waves were big enough to surf, but unfortunately I couldn't find a place to rent a board. To go to Hội An, I took a train from Ho Chi Minh city to Nha Trang. I stayed a few days in this city but except the beach there isn't much to see. It's a very popular spot for Russian families and it was fun to see restaura...

On the Thới Sơn Island in the Mekong delta. Ho Chi Minh city is a bustling megalopolis with many sights. The city has like the country a lot of history to tell. If you want to see temples, the Jade Emperor Pagoda is a must see. It's a small worshiping place with mostly locals. You can admire the figure of the Jade Emperor, but also the turtles and fishes in the ponds. If you want to learn more about the Vietnam war, head to the War Remnants Museum . It depicts the horrors of the war. It's less a history museum and more a memorial to make sure that the victims are never forgotten. If you are more interested by the times of the french colonization, check Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office . If you want to go shopping, go to the Chợ bến thành market , or if you want a less touristic experience take a bus to the Binh Tay market in Cholon. Cholon was a town made by Chinese immigrants, now a quarter of Ho Chi Minh city. During my time in the city, ...

The capital of Cambodia was a stop as important for me as Angkor Wat. I wanted to know more about the Khmer rouge and their terrible regime. I went to the prison S21, now a museum retelling the story of the thousands of people tortured and executed there. It was frightening to learn of the madness that spread among the members of the Khmer rouge. I really recommend this visit. After a few days in Phnom Penh, I got ready to cross the border to Vietnam. I first went to the Vietnamese embassy and filled the form for the visa. I payed to get my visa done the next day (it's a bit cheaper if you choose the 2 days option). Once I got my visa, I booked a bus with Mekong Express to Ho-Chi-Minh City. Crossing the border was done on foot and the bus would pick us up again at the other side.

The temple of Ta Prohm was left as it was found. Most of the other sites in Angkor have been restored, but it was decided to do as little modifications to those ruins as possible. Thus trees can be found growing atop the temple, giving a mystic atmosphere to the place.