-- From Moc Bai to Hoi An
The road tracklog
From Moc Bai to Hoi An
from 10/11 to 16/11/2008
The 10/11 the crossing of the Cambodian border in Bavet lasted approximately 10 minutes. At
9:00 I was at the Vietnamese border in Moc Bai. I met an English speaking
officer of customs to which I entrusted le carnet de passage en douane of my
truck. He returned to say me that Vietnam did not recognize this document. He
asked an English speaking young woman to accompany me at the police station of
Moc Bai, a policeman explained me in Vietnamese that I was to request a letter
of guarantee from the embassy of France in Hanoi I will leave Vietnam at the
expiry date of my visa with my vehicle. This letter was to be faxed to the
police in Tay Ninh.
At 11:00 I found a shop which accepted that I use the telephone to call the
embassy of France. I spoke with the Consul who refused to write this letter
awaited an annoying precedent with Frenchman. He advised me to go to the
Consulate of France in Saigon, 80 kilometres, and to make legalize my
signature of a private letter on plain paper by which I committed myself
leaving Vietnam with my vehicle.
Left at 12:00 from Moc Bai I was accepted at 14:30 by the consulate and I
arose from it about 15:30 with the document under a torrential monsoon rain.
With a motor-driver I went to the bus station to go back to Moc Bai where I
arrived around 19:30. I was soaked to marrow in an air-con bus! The exit of
Saigon was dramatic in this end of a rainy day.
Vietnamese border
Moc Bai
the 10/11/2008
Police station
Moc Bai
the106/11/2008
November 11 I presented myself at the customs about 8:30 to meet the young woman of the day
before who accompanied me at the police station. The policeman examined the
document legalized by the Consulate and faxed it at the police of the district
of Tay Ninh for agreement. Then I awaited the verdict. The day occurred
without any information. However I prepared my trip into Vietnam and the
update of my website.
Around 17:00 I tried to go back to Bavet to publish my website because there
was no Internet café in Moc Bai. The Immigration officer refused to let me
cross the border. After having explain the reasons of my request the officer
asked me to use a computer of one of the Immigration counters; it was
obviously very glad to make a foot of nose to Vietnamese.
The 12/11 as of 8:30 I was in front of the door of the police station of Moc Bai. The
policeman arrived and made me understand that
the police of Tay Ninh had given
his written agreement; the administrative process of the entry Vietnam
started:
1-- Police: drafting of documents, catch of a print of the chassis n°, – I
explained that the engine n° required to lift the cabin, put on my truck of a
registered number in Vietnam, cost 50000 VND without receipt,
2-- Immigration: recording of my visa and stamps of the entry on my passport,
3-- Health control: disinfection of my truck, 50000 VND with a receipt,
4-- Customs: recording of the documents, visits curiosity of my truck, cost
30000 VND with receipt.
I left the border post and I entered officially Vietnam at 10:00. I phoned the
French Consul in Hanoi to announce my entry to him. He informed me being
intervened with the Vietnamese authorities so that turpitudes of the police of
Moc Bai cease. My tribulations in Moc Bai were finished.
Then I moved towards Saigon where I went to HSBC
bank to withdraw money then to buy
a roadmap.
My visa being 30 days I did not have any more 28 days to visit Vietnam; I
modified the planned trip consequently, no visit in the Mekong delta, flash
visit in Saigon etc I privileged sites of Cham civilization and the mountain
minorities in the north.
Heading towards Dalat I bivouacked at a service station on the move.
Cathedral
Saigon
the 12/11/2008
Post office
Saigon
the12/11/2008
The 13/11 I left the carpark where I had rather badly slept. Road HWY20 to Dalat curves in
a landscape of medium mountains; it has a degraded enough surface coating.
Between Saigon and Dalat there are four toll gates for an altogether bad road.
The way lasted 4:30.
The arrival in Dalat is carried out by the old road in an alpine pine forest.
Dalat was discovered by Swiss biologist A. Yersin who created a Pasteur
Institute there. The sky was grey with a winter temperature at 1475 meters of
altitude. It was the privileged holiday of the French colonial authorities. I
bivouacked at the edge of the lake on a carpark.
Eiffel Tower
Dalat
the 13/11/2008
Xuan Huong Lake
Dalat
the13/11/2008
The 14/11 I left the mountain pasture of Dalat under a rain of monsoon not knowing if it were a tail of monsoon or a late vintage. The neighbourhoods of the city were covered with market gardening under greenhouses as well as shrubs which I identified like coffee-trees. The road Hwy 20 was narrow with a bad surface coating. The descent towards the coast was carried out in clouds under a flood of rain. Little before Phan Rang I stopped in Thap Cham to visit Po Klong Garai Towers, Cham’s southernmost towers of the eponym empire. Of Brahman's influence the divinity in his narthex was dressed and venerated by offerings. Then I took the road Hwy 1 northwards with an objective to visit between two water drops Nha Trang town where I arrived about 14:30. First of all it was the Cathedral with its Gothic nave dating back from 1928, the Pasteur Institute and the Yersin museum and to finish the Oceanographic museum in a typical building of French colonial art. It was close to 17:00 I gave at the following day the visit of the Cham site northwards external of the city. I bivouacked on a carpark on seashore vis-à-vis the Yersin museum.
Po Klong Garai Towers
Thap Cham
the 14/11/2008
Po Klong Garai Towers
Thap Cham
the14/11/2008
Rainy Inundation
en route
the 14/11/2008
Cathedral's nave
Nha Trang
the14/11/2008
Pasteur Institute
Nha Trang
the 14/11/2008
Oceanographic Museum
Nha Trang
the14/11/2008
Kingdom of Champa
The Kingdom of Champa flourished from the 2nd to the 15th centuries.
It first appeared around present-day Danang and later spread south to what is
now Nha Trang and Phan Rang. Champa became indianised through commercial ties:
adopting Hinduism, using Sanskrit as a sacred language and borrowing from
Indian art.
The Chams,
who lacked enough land for agriculture, were semi-piratical and conducted
attacks on passing trade ships. As a result they were in constant state of war
with the Vietnamese to the north and the Khmers to the southwest. The Chams
successfully threw off Khmer rule in the 12th century, but were
entirely absorbed by the Vietnam in the 17th century.
The Chams
are best known for the many brick sanctuaries (Cham Towers) they constructed
through the south. The greatest collection of Cham art is in the museum of
Cham sculpture in Danang. The major Cham site is at My Son and other Cham
ruins can be found in Quy Nhon, and its surrounds, Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang and Mui
Ne.
The Cham
remain a substantial ethnic minority in Vietnam, particularly around Phan
Rang, numbering around 100,000 people. Elements of Cham civilisation can still
be seen in techniques for pottery, fishing, sugar production, rice farming,
irrigation, silk production and construction through out the coast. While over
80% of the remaining Cham population are Muslim, the rest have remained Hindu,
and many of their ancient towers in the south are still active temples.
The Chams
consider themselves Muslim, but in practice they follow a localised adaptation
of Islamic theology and law. Though Muslims usually pray five times a day, the
Chams pray only on Fridays and celebrate Ramadan for only three days. In
addition, their Islam based religious rituals co-exist with animism and the
worship of Hindu deities. Circumcision is symbolically performed on boys at
age 15, when a religious leader makes the gestures of circumcision with a
wooden knife. (by Lp)
The 15/11 was one day in half-tone for multiple reasons. Initially the rain was always
present but intermittently. Po Nagar Cham Towers in Nha Trang were very
interesting, syncretism of the indianisation of the kingdom of Champa and its
ancestral religion; Linga, energy of Shiva, emerging from Yoni, principle
female attest Hinduism on the other hand the divinity in the main tower
belongs to the ancestral religion. The following visits were much less
attractive. The town of Quy Nhon is not worth the detour; however I bough some
food there. The former Cham capital of Cha Ban of which there remain some
structures in particular Banh It Cham Towers close to the town of Binh Dinh is
not accessible; the grid of the park was closed!
Around 15:00 I decided
to carry on my trip northwards. I found a bivouac on the move after Tam Guan.
Po Nagar Cham Main Tower
Nha Trang
the 15/11/2008
Po Nagar Main Tower,
four-armed
Shiva
Nha Trang
the15/11/2008
Po Nagar Cham Main Tower
Ancestral divinity
Nha Trang
the 15/11/2008
Fishing port
Nha Trang
the15/11/2008
Ban It Cham Towers
former Cham capitale
Bin Dinh
the 15/11/2008
Main Tower
Ban It Cham Towers
the15/11/2008
Two good times animated this Sunday November 16:
First of all in the early morning I took a small road in the North-East from
Quang Ngai crossing the Vietnamese countryside covered with rice paddies
bordered with eucalyptus, it led to the district of My Lai which was the
theatre of a massacre perpetuated by the American GI's on March 16, 1968. The
small museum tells this drama, strange fact, with photographs taken by the
photographer of the army!
Victim
My Lai
the 16/11/2008
Lt Calley
My Lai
the16/11/2008
Then at about thirty kilometres away from Hoi An I visited the Cham site of My Son. Here no tower as in the preceding sites, but a vast complex of worship buildings dedicated to divinities of the kingdom of Champa. The site is at the bottom of mountains. It was the theatre of bombardments by American army which destroyed buildings systematically.
My Son
the 16/11/2008
My Son
the16/11/2008
Shiva
My Son
the 16/11/2008
I bivouacked at the Cua Dai Beach close to Hoi An.
