Vietnam

The first city I visited in Vietnam was Hanoi, the capital, which has 4.2 millions citizens and lies in the North of Vietnam. The streets are swarming with motorbikes, bikes, cars and people, in a total chaotic way.



Then I went to the famous Halong Bay, with its magnificents 1969 rock islands coming out of the sea. "Ha Long" in Vietnamese means "Descending Dragon". The bay was named after a local legend which says that a Dragon descended from the sky and spat out thousands of pearls when Viet Nam was being attacked by foreign ships. The pearls then became a multitude of small islands and prevented the enemy from advancing further.





The second (and last city) I visited was the main city, Ho-Chi-Minh City (HCMC, also called Saigon), which has 5.1 millions citizens and lies in the South of Vietnam. HCMC is like Hanoi, but at a bigger scale. Everything is more: more people, more motorbikes, streets wider, more shops and...more beggers also.





One of my favourites occupations in Vietnam was to cross the roads. Believe me, it is just impossible to wait until there is no trafic any more, and do not believe that the green light ensure you a free crossing without any problems, nobody really cares about the lights.



So, the method to cross a busy road is simple: as soon as you see that there are few cars and even if there are plenty of motorbikes, you just cross the street in a very slow and regular way and above all do not run: all motorbikes will naturally avoid you...very simple, and somehow exciting !

My final destination in Vietnam was the famous Mekong Delta, some three hours south of HCMC. With its 16'000 m3?s, the Mekong is the 12th biggest river of the world (according to the average annual discharge) and the second in Sout-Eastern Asia (after Yangtse). For swiss people, as a comparative figure, keep in mind that the Mekong has a discharge 16 times biggers that the one of the Rhine in Basel.





Then, after visting the Mekong's delta, Good-bye Vietnam, as I went by boat to Cambodia, where I am today.

Tomorrow's programm is the visit of the very famous Angkor's Temples.

A bientot pour la suite des mes aventures !