Hue

Ancient city, with a lot of history.
Forbidden City:




Motorcycles till horizon:


And their overlords:


They are about to set up a stall on a pavement:


This woman has a huge saucepan on a burning stove, in a couple of minutes she will be offering a noodle soup. And the whole thing is bloody heavy, I could see it the way she walked:


Not all geckos end up in a soup:


Something here reminded me of my son. Some people live in this kind of houses:


And some people - in this kind:


Artist on a pavement:


She has seen a lot in her life:


A lot of sport on this nice spot:


Tomorrow morning I go to Da Nang.

Train

Came here from Vinh in "soft seat" carriage, decided to try out "hard seat" option. Saved 0,60 cents. Not going to do it any more. Though 4 hours trip was not that bad.


It pays to be short:


Just checked into hotel, going to eat with a British couple who were on the same train.

From Dong Hoi to Hue

Took a train from Vinh,stayed first in a place recommended by Lonely Planet, then found much better deal further on the same road, Dai Nam Hotel. Four days are enough for this sleepy town, no tourists, nobody speak english... It took me sometime to work out that in restaurants here there is no choice, you get what everybody else gets. Want something else? Go to a different place.


Fishermen transferring blocks of ice to their boats:


A woman doing washing up:


In three hours I am taking a train to Hue, which has more attractions, history and tourists.

To Vietnam

Spent 31st of December on a bus 7am-7pm, awful journey, wet weather, but I am beginning to like Vietnam already. Bus stopped somewhere for a short break, this is how it looked before our arrival:


And after:


What a scenic beauty this spot could have been:


But nothing could be done about this central train station in Vinh:


Supper time for bonzo! Please note the size of the furniture. From this you can deduce the size of an average Vietnamese.

How they make bricks

A man (sitting) operates this simple machine/receives pressed and formed bricks. Women feed the machine with mud/clay and take formed bricks away:


Here they are left to dry:


Then they place bricks in rows 3 meters high in such a way that fire has easy access to every brick:


Then for many hours they feed fire with wood:


When all is well, it can be taken away by customers:


My feeling that Laos now is at a time of rapid changes, similar to what was happening at the time when Soviet Union was falling apart. A school teacher here earns monthly €30 (€200 in Thailand, €80 in Vietnam). A guy who organised a trip to Plain Of Jars was charging us €9 each. I asked him whether it was fair that he gets €90 per day. He paused for a second, looking for a suitable answer, and then we both burst into laughing. Nice guy... At the end I decided to do the trip on my own, hired a motorbike and I am glad that I did that, saw so many nice places.

Luang Prabang to Ponsavan

8 hours bus journey through the mountains. A few of locals were puking, 5 falangs (me, 2 Canadians and 2 Australians) were managing somehow, just. Numerous stops to get rid of plastic bags and for: girls to the right - boys to the left.

A smoking monk? I have to check this out...


SaucePanMan

Plain Of Jars

Looks like they reuse them

What local market offers

Main Street of Ponsavan

Early morning of 31st of December, children on their way to school, waiting to cross the road. And I am on my way to catch a bus to Vietnam

Taken at about the same time:



A Bull

Flu

I saw locals coughing and sneezing, so I joined them and spent 5 days in bed. Out on streets again I saw these little monks

and followed them till here