Hanoi, not bad, really not bad

I am here in Hanoi, trying to spend some good time, eating some good food and planning next step of the trip, the only problem I still have it is about crossing the street, I still need to understand how it works here. Since I am in Vietnam I am traveling with a Malaysian guy named Alvis very funny I met at the border with China, yesterday we had a good day with local friends from Couch-surfing, very nice and kind. Now I am thinking to go in Cat Ba island to explore Halong Bay area and then heading south. But I am starting to like here. Very much.

Fussball match, Italy vs Rest of the World. Italy win!

Hanoi

Dan Berlin, he will be famous!

Good Morning Vietnam!!

After my sad departure from Kunming, I crossed the border and I arrived in Sapa first, in Vietnam. This nice mountain city, was well recommended from my friend Ben, but unfortunately the weather was really bad, raining and foggy every time, so I did not have the chance to do any trekking or motorbiking around, by the way the night life was surprisingly funny with local people, strange to see girls play pool so passionately and professionally!

After 3 days rest, I left and I just come to Hanoi... what a big  mess!! I have to get used again to the noise and chaos of big city life, after 4 months of quiet life in China!! Fortunately the hostel I found offer a lot a nice gifts, including free beer, not bad for my first night in Hanoi!! hope not to get lost soon....

China-Vietnam border

the only picture I take in Sapa, very bad weather!

last post from China, still in Kunming

Well, once again I am back in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, a Chinese province I loved very much. In Yunnan there is all you can look for when traveling, great landscape, high mountains and tropical town, almost always blue sky and nice weather.

I am just back from Jinghong and Xishuangbanna region, I was very curious to see this kind of Chinese Thailand with a lot of minority people and influence from close Laos and Myanmar, great place to escape from the stress of city life and to live in tropic weather, a nice home for a lot of expat, and I can understand why. Of course I like it, but the lack of time did not allow me to see further, so now I am back in Kunming to apply both for Vietnam and Thailand visa and to live my last days here as best as I can, even because I know I am going to miss this place a lot.

By the way, I think I will be back here later.

Yuanyang

Yuanyang Rice Teraces

Yuanyang Rice Teraces

Jianshui

Strange hobby in Jianshui

Cock fighting in Jinghong

Lost around Jinghong

Kunming

Kunming's kid

Stucked in Jianshui

I just miss for few minutes my night bus to Xishuangbanna, so I am stucked here in Jianshui with nothing to do or to see until tomorrow, so I thought that spending some time to update my blog could be a nice idea...

Well, after another staying in Kunming, I travelled to Yuanyang to see rice terraces, it was wonderful to see all different shaped terraces and to enjoy the life with real farmers, much more real people than city people. Honestly all the times I experienced this kind of "poor" travelling, such as Heijing or Tagong, I had better feeling than everywhere else, you can really see how people can be happy with very few but important things.

My travelling in China is almost finished, in 10 days I will be leaving for Laos or Vietnam, I am both excited for new countries to see but also a bit sad because I really enjoyed all my time here in China. I cannot believe I spent here 4 months always travelling and moving if I consider that I never thought to come in China before starting my trip and that when I was in Hong Kong I just said: "China? why not, let's go to have a short look and then let's go straight to some beach in Thailand!!

Going south, back to Yunnan

After days of good time and food in Chengdu I had to go to Leshan to see the largest Buddha in the world and to get extension for my Chinese visa and after that I moved to Chongqing, Chinese capital during world war II (or how they call it here, the anty-japanese war). Big city with a lot of bridges and 2 big rivers, a kind on Chinese Manhattan. Not so much to see, after 3 days I took the train back to Kunming on my way south to Xishuangbanna, on the border with Laos.