Well there are several ways we can do this post. So much has happened since the last one that I had to make a point to focus on getting the shots I wanted out of Ho Chi Minh rather then sharing them.
The day before I left Hoi An I also made a point to visit the beach at sunset so I have some leftovers from there to air out.
In addition I have been working diligently to put the wrapping details on the rest of my travel. With the time narrowing I thought it would be best to plan it all out so I know what is left and have some idea what I can still do if I change my mind.
I decided I’d put the big map up. You can see I’ve done a pretty good job hitting all the bases. The map chopped off part of Vietnam – there was a mess of a problem there anyways; I’ll explain that later. I think the black whole in the center would be another good trip to do. Probably a 3 month power trip making a small circle through eastern Thailand, southern Laos, central Vietnam, northern Cambodia, and maybe finishing in southern Thailand again… but that is just a thought – I have other bigger ideas that need doing first.
On another note I’ll get the big news out of the way then get into the photos.
I left Hoi An several days ago via train. My original idea was that I was going to take the train from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh making a stop in the middle. Things didn’t quite go as I had intended.
The morning of departure from Hoi An I noticed a slight change in weather. There was a strong wind, heavy cloud cover, and this occasional sprinkle of rain, but nothing that was a deterrent. I was already on the fence about leaving; the night prior I had made an effort to pull up the weather to get a pulse. The map looked less than favorable but knowing how long I spent in Hanoi I thought I could use the extra 2 days to shoot Ho Chi Minh and get a post out. So I decided to push on.
*On a side note I could add to my scam list that another bus (the same I had taken prior) decided they were going to try and get 40,000 out of me. I read on a different website that the local price was actually 10,000 and the tourist price was 20,000 – so the 15,000 that I was complaining about wasn’t all that horrible. Still though, this time the guy tried to charge me 20,000 just for my bag. And just like the previous time I had an old Vietnamese lady stick up for me. When I say old… I really wish I had a picture. The lady could have been a National Geographic cover model.
Anyways, I took this bus thinking it would be 45 minutes just like the last time… oh how wrong I was. The 45 minute ride took somewhere around 2.5 hours and included me missing my stop in Da Nang so I added an extra 7 kilometers and a taxi ride to the train station. Luckily I left early enough that I still made my connection, and was still well under the scam price the hotel wanted for the same trip. They wanted $15 for a trip that cost me about $5 – with the taxi screw up. It should have cost me $1.20, oh well.
But the good part hasn’t come yet. I boarded the train soon after leaving the taxi and started making my way south to Ho Chi Minh.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Date Taken: Nov 2, 2009, 11:26:02 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/200 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Date Taken: Nov 2, 2009, 11:30:45 AM
A few hours into the ride the weather got progressively worse. I shot the two pictures above here while things were still chipper.
It wasn’t much sooner when the train began making abrupt stops; stops that were a result of debris. When I say debris, we are talking large pieces of tin roofing and the occasional tree. The weather was actually a well developed typhoon that at this point and was wrecking havoc on central Vietnam.
We kept pushing on, eventually crawling along, and finally stopping in a place that later would become nightmarish.
I’ve seen some pretty severe weather in my time, but I can say this one ranks up there as a real winner. I think if there was one thing good that came out of our positioning it’s the fact that the trains nose was pointed into the wind. If we had been broadsided by the gusts I saw out my window, there is a good chance the outcome could have been far worse.
The place we stopped in already had its fair share of standing water to begin with, as time pressed on we got the luxury of watching it rise faster and faster. Opening the windows for a breath of fresh air brought in a strong dose of sobering reality as cries and screams could be heard somewhere out in the darkness. I could see flashlights out there but with the language barrier and the chaotic situation slowly unraveling, I wasn’t able to deduce exactly what was happening. All I knew was that the locals that were running around outside our windows were extremely distraught.
I decided about this time that I should take my bags from the floor level and stack them on the highest bunk and get ready for the worst – by sleeping.
We all survived the storm, the water rose to just about even with the walking floor of the train cabin. The water then slowly began to recede from it’s tipping point – a pleasant sight.
You can see from the image just how high the water got on the houses across from the train.
Spirits were high as we were led to believe that the train would eventually start making its way south again. This dialogue continued throughout the day, and the following day, and the day following that day.
Video one – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPi-JFfNdsg (video’s do not translate to the email feed)
Video two – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UdU5KydKKQ (video’s do not translate to the email feed)
I believe the video above was shot on day 2 as they moved the trains around in a manner that looked like progress… turned out to be uneventful.
Day 2 I already had my doubts, not to mention a severe case of cabin fever. By the end of that day and right away the following morning, a local Vietnamese feeding frenzy unraveled. The scumbags had started gathering around our train praying off those that couldn’t hold up any longer. I say scumbags, because as you’ll find out later – they really were scumbags.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/400 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 15 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 4, 2009, 12:51:19 PM
This was the scene outside our cabin. It came to fruition mid morning on the third day as I banded with a couple of British guys to try and formulate a clean exit. As time had progressed it was becoming apparent that the Vietnamese on the train knew enough information that they were all leaving. On the third day the cabins were eerily quiet and a sense of desperation was strewn across the left over faces.
This is just a crop of the previous image – more for context.
Video three – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvhNJxKFSbE (video’s do not translate to the email feed)
The video above was shot as we haggled with the piranhas, they were asking for $15 a person to travel 3 kilometers – we put up a sign saying $1 for all 3 of us just to jerk them around – the result was quite funny.
The three of us pushed and pulled with the piranhas and finally had what seemed like a good way out settled. It was with one particular lady that insisted she had a car. The place we were stopped out was isolated and it required a 3km jaunt to get to a road that was accessible, fair enough we’ll walk. This was because the road that actually connected the town to civilization was washed out at a bridge crossing. We would then hop in her car once we crossed via another bridge for the train.
Well we packed up our bags and made our way across the tracks to the train station to find the lady… but she was nowhere to be found. During this time we are constantly being hounded to the point we had to just pull the trigger and go commando without the lady.
As we walked away we attracted a parade of motorcycle piranhas that had the nerve to follow us the whole 3 kilometers heckling us as we walked.
I’m glad we didn’t cave in, the walk wasn’t that bad. I think we saved ourselves a spill on the motorcycle had we taken it – the last stretch looked less then drivable as we watched several motorbikes nearly dump over.
A few of these images are from Jeff’s camera; the videos are from Matt’s camera. At this point in the travels I was in no mood to pull my camera out. Having to lug all my gear around and fumble around with a D3X is less then appealing while walking over train tracks.
When I saw them using this to haul rail ties past our train, I knew we weren’t going anywhere. We were lucky enough to run into them on their return trip to the supplies – they had us put our bags on and carried them across. Some people are genuine; in this case all the workers were more then whiling to help us with directions and transportation.
During our stay we eventually found out that at least some of the commotion we heard the night of the storm was the result of a death I could see right out my window. Unfortunately the construction methods used here aren’t the best and as a result several people actually died from their houses collapsing on them… let alone drowning.
Once we crossed the bridge we ran into a bunch of vehicles all supposedly free to ride in. One was a van that looked good so we decided to take it. The only thing is once we got out of the view of the train workers the guy tried to milk cash out of us, so we passed. The next alternative was a dump truck, as pictured above. It was a bumpy ride, but the guy was good stuff and even had the heart to take us out of his way to the train station – all for free.
Once we made it to here it was the midpoint on another leg that turned out to be interesting. We came this far with the idea in mind that we would then hop a taxi to the next town to try and board a plane the following day.
Everything worked fine, even up to the point of finding a decent place to stay in a non tourist town. It was the next day; that things got iffy again. The hotel scammed us into thinking the airport was 3km away – whether or not that was a miscommunication is beyond me, and not important anymore. It ended up being an expensive 30km ride from the hotel and a “back and forth” with the taxi driver as to whether or not he knew where he was going. That and the fact that we saw shuttles at the airport that were the exact same ones we saw across the street from our hotel (Vietnamese writing for airport, we didn’t know) – a lot less money to ride; something the hotel people “coincidently” forgot to mention while calling their commissioned taxi driver. Either way we arrived at the airport.
We got on standby right away, with very little hope for a seat. There were so many people waiting it looked futile. Shortly there after a long line of Vietnamese locals queued up at standby and started throwing money around like a stripper party. They were being let on the plane ahead of us… it was then that hope was gone and just a matter of waiting for the plane to take off before we knew for sure that we just got screwed. Then after all the locals cleared out in a rush of pointing and shouts the lady called us over. She was going to let us on, but cash only and the British guys were plumb out as they had been hoping to pay for it with card. This is where a stroke of pure luck comes into play.
Before we took off for the airport I was milling around with a smidge of anxiety as to whether or not I should get more money. I’m not sure if I had enough money for a ticket at that point either.
As the brits hoped into the taxi I made the last minute decision to run across the street and pull money out. For the first time in all my Vietnamese travels this particular machine allowed 5 million dong withdrawals. Knowing I would save about $15 in ATM fees if I pulled the full 5 mil I went for it without a second thought. Those two coincidental items turned out to be game changers. I was then able to save the brits and by their tickets in cash, not to mention get on a standby flight first try. The alternative was dire, one other flight available for standby the next day and the only truly available tickets were on the fourth day.
The plane was actually a decent one. The flight was only 50 minutes and $45. Compare that to my $35 train ticket and the 14 hour jaunt it was supposed to take and the additional 2 days it did take. I should have went for the plane in the first place.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 7, 2009, 11:24:56 AM
The shot above is a little piece put together in a side alley. These are the two British guys from the train. We had walked around for about an hour looking for a decent place to take a shot – turned out all the good stuff was just around the corner from where we were staying.
The take away is this:
I have survived a typhoon
A train is a good place to survive a typhoon
Being isolated in a train for long periods of time on the contrary – is not fun
Train food rations after a typhoon are worse then prison food
Don’t give into scammers
Take everything in stride
Keep your whit’s and stay focused, things will come around
Build your home to withstand a typhoon if you live in an area where they happen
Build your home above the 100 year flood plane (some homes looked like they were built on the 3 month flood line.)
Now for the leftover Hoi An beach photos:
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:28:38 PM
The beach front property had obvious signs of damage from the previous typhoon about a month prior. It wasn’t a bad beach in all honesty. There are however much better beaches in South East Asia, but I’ll see those later on.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 3:08:58 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 14 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 3:48:13 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:02:13 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 190 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:07:34 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 125 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:08:10 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 125 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:09:01 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1600 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 140 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Oct 31, 2009, 4:10:50 PM
The post is getting a little long so I’ll wrap it with a side story I have been meaning to add for quite some time.
I actually had this already written before my computer crapped out several weeks ago. I had since forgotten about it but was pleasantly reminded today while on a motorcycle ride to and from the beach in Hoi An – so I wrote it again.
For those you that aren’t “in the know,” the irony and hilarity of what is about to follow will most likely not make sense – so bear with me on this one.
I have a knack for naming possessions – one of them being my motorcycle, Gwyneth. She is red, fast, and powerful yet responsive and impressively aggressive. As we cruised through traffic jostling for road space in Hoi An I had a vivid memory of her working for her own space splitting lanes down the freeway, a pleasure only legally done in California. If there is one thing I miss, it is the freedom Gwyneth can bring.
But that’s not what the story is about, it’s actually about the unnamed yet famed and respected camera I have been lugging around the last few months. I have since decided on a name, and she shall hence forth be known as Gertrude.
Gertrude is a little heavy, but very strong. She is smart, agile, and clear eyed. Sometimes she gets a little grumpy and can wear on your nerves but I’ve found if you let her be and give her rest she comes back just as strong as the day you met her. Gertrude has been dressed down as to not attract attention. She knows that if she showed her full colors she would attract more attention then she could manage, but flamboyance is not her mission. She actually enjoys the thrill of lurking in the shadows knowing her full potential, yet timidly leaving hints of her true beauty. Gertrude is a very complex individual that requires time and commitment to know and understand her full depth; yet once you reach that common ground she can do wonderful things you never imagined.
It’s been a long and arduous journey of contemplation and deep thought but now that it has settled I think the name is fitting.
On the same note and to clear up any confusion on past “girlfriends” I present the “list.”
First there was Betty my car, god bless her heart – she passed away a little over a year ago. I still have Jezebel my road bike, she is sleeping right now but anxious to get out in the sun again. There is also Esther my desktop computer. I built her myself; she is a nothing short of a power house. Then there is Julia my D70 camera; oh Julia. Her and I go way back, I actually brought her on the trip but she was too much to take care of. Her time has passed and she has done her job and done it well. I owe a lot to Julia.
That’s it for now, I feel like I am missing one but I guess that’s the way it goes.
*A side disclaimer for coincidental “nomenclature” I proofed this bit past anther friend who found name similarities – there is no such thing as the names are purely original and all have their personal stories – all of which I can delve into more detail later on.
I have many more pictures obviously (having not even touched Ho Chi Minh in this post), but I’ll have to start another post once I get some more time.
