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Published: August 9th 2007
Pefume River in Hue
View of the Perfume River from the hill tops used as secret bunkers during the warVietnam
Hue Ok - it's been a while since the last update so prepare yourselves for a large instalment with around 100 photos!
So, last time we left you, we were heading off on a 14 hour bus ride to Hue. This was surprisingly unpainful for all, and even Andy and Fraser managed to get a couple of hours sleep. Arriving in Hue before lunch we did the now customery search for a guest house. We made our way to the area known as backpacker alley and looked at a few rooms before being persuaded by a friendly local to stay in his family's hotel (despite it having a purely vegetarian restaurant). All turned out pretty well as it was a bargain room ($5 for a triple - possibly our cheapest yet) and was an incredibly friendly atmosphere. The hotel was family run and after looking around a bit we decided to stay for 3 nights and do a couple of motor bike tours with two of the brothers and a cousin.
We did one city tour which took in a few of the sites but was equally enjoyable for the journeys down back streets and glimpses in
Motorbike bridge
Thin bridge which had a constant flow of motorbikes across it to local life. We also did a longer tour which went to visit certain sites from the Vietnam war including the Vin Moc tunnels, a cathedral that was stormed by the americans, memorials etc. All were very interesting (though at the time Marie had frostbite) and it was particualarly good being just the three of us with a driver each. The Vin Moc tunnel complex was particularly interesting as Thuan had arranged for just the three of us to go down with the tunnels with a local guide who spoke excellent English and gave some really interesting insights in to the period. What was also pretty cool about the trip were some of the local foods we got introduced to at the roadside cafes along the way. Oh and lets not forget the monkey that Thuan purchased as a pet on the second trip (110km away from home - aledgedly without telling his wife). I think if you could get a pet monkey for $40 in the UK a lot more people would have one. Look at the photos to see how the monkey got home.
Hoi An Having done a couple of trips in Hue, spending some
Hue pagoda
The three of us at the pagoda on the perfume river in Hue time by the river, playing a bit of pool and enjoying a few evening meals (and beers) it was time to head to Hoi An. The bus ride was a mere 4 hours which now seems a short journey (barely time to read a few chapters and listen to a couple of songs). We arrived with a guest house pre arranged (booked and recommended by us by Thaun) thus avoiding the normal hassle of looking at rooms. As we got off the bus the hotel owner had a sign for us and showed us to his hotel. We were pretty impressed.
We decided on three nights in Hoi An (due partly to the quality of accommodation) and arranged a few activities for our time here including a cooking class (including boat trip and market tour) and a fishing trip for Andy and Fraser (which ended up being cancelled). The main activity in Hoi An is however shopping with every other shop being a tailor (offering custom made shirts from $8 and suits from c.$50). All three of us got involved and between us purchased 23 shirts, 2 suits, 1 skirts (for Marie?) 3 pairs of trousers, 24 ties, 4
Furniture removal
Pickford's removal firm branches out to Hue pairs of shorts and a pair of shoes. If Thaun was on commision for recommending his sister's tailors he would certainly be a happy man.
Nha Trang From Hoi An, the next stop on the route was Nha Trang (a short 13hr overnight bus ride away which was surprisingly stress free). Nha Trang is billed as the best beach resort in Vietnam and it was certainly a beautiful and very relaxed place. The main beach was 6km long and was a very beautiful beach looking out on several islands. It was also surprisingly unpacked and was very chilled (besides the occassional very friendly beach vendors selling everything from postcards to seafood). On the first day, whilst Marie had a sleep, Andy and Fraser hired bicycles and cycled around 20km's stopping off at a spa and going for a mud bath, swimming in a 38 degree swimming pool and getting cut-throat shaves for the first time.
The main thing we all did in Nha Trang was an island tour which takes you out to 4 islands with different stops for snorkelling, lunch, an aquarium and such like. Perhaps the most fun stop was the floating bar (see pictures)
Health and safety
Amazing what they put on bicycles and motorbikes over here where copious amounts of free wine (more like sherry - 16%) was consumed.
The thing that made the trip was how friendly all the boat staff were, there was even a cabaret performance from some of the guys who claimed to be the worlds best boy band. The day culminated in being invited back to the family home of Ba Beo (I think thats how you spell it), who is the guy serving on the floating bar. He called his wife in advance and got her to cook up a feast (10-15 dishes) which were served up and eaten with some of his family. I think our faces caused a lot of amusement to the local people as the area was a long way from town and not an area really visited by tourists. It was a lot of fun and even involved watching the wedding video of one of his sons (he has 9 of them and two daughters). Strangely his son now lives in Birmingham only about 2 miles away from our areas - small world. The family insisted they would not let us pay for any of the food so we convinced them to let us
Vinh Moc tunnels
Underground tunnels where a whole village lived during the Vietnam war bring back a crate of tigers which were put in an ice bucket and promtly consumed. Marie was drinking rice wine (which is an interesting drink to say the least). Based on how much fun we had we agreed to go on the boat tour a second time the day after next with the middle day being reserved for Hangovers. No one was up early the next day but hangovers varied.
As agreed Andy met up with Ba Beo's brother Bao (who ran a book store) to get a couple of books. This turned in to beers and football. It was Nha Trang vs Saigon in the equivalent of the FA Cup and was a very funny experience. It finsished 3-0 with one very good goal but what was funny was the crowd (who laughed all the way through) and the number of overhead kicks attempted (even by defenders clearing long balls). The quality was reminiscent of games at home similar in calibre to teams like Luton and Colchester and mildly better than Wolves / Man City. In the evening Fraser and Andy met up with Bao again and his mate Loi (one of the singers from the boat).
Motorbike trip to Vinh Moc tunnels
Longest motorbike trip ever - over 300km round trip to the tunnels They took us to a very local restaurant for some really good seafood and several tigers before Fraser and Bao left Andy and Loi to consume a few more beers at the local pool hall. Again, another very funny night getting much more of a glimse in to local life.
The next day was a repeat of the previous snorkel trip, with the exception of Marie remaining sober this time (I wish I had done the same - Andy). We met a few funny people from Australia on the boat and chatted with the staff a lot agian. We also met Bao at his bookstore prior to getting the boat and he was insistent on having a couple of beers with Andy and Fraser before the boat left at 9am. Bad idea, good fun. He also insisted that we visit his house in the evening for some beers. When we arrived back Marie and Fraser opted for a romantic evening dinner whilst me (Andy) being the less sober of the group was keen to head to another local's house for some more tigers on ice. Enjoyable trip but consequent drunken injuries (including a grazed face from falling over) where
Picked up a hitchhiker
One of our drivers bought a monkey for 40 dollars just outside the Vinh Moc tunnels - the monkey rode home with us over 150km not the best side effects. Still you live and learn.
The final day was reserved again for hangovers (absent in all but Andy). Unfortunately despite feeling significantly worse than Fraser and Marie Andy had agreed to go to Bao's friends's house for 2pm. This was a sit down meal with 20-30 dishes that lasted two or three hours. There was always at least 10 people there at any times and people took it in turns to eat. It was a very interesting meal with a lot of people who spoke fairly good English and were keen to chat about English football and such lik. Despite having one of the worst hangovers I have experienced I was not in a position to turn down any food without being rude and therefore tried a lot of interesting, tasty and at times challenging foods (Watermelon with salt anyone?). Given the festive mood (due to the fast approaching Vietnamese new year - Tet, where the locals Bev solidly for between 3 and 7 days) it was no surprise that there were beers over lunch as well. 5 crates had been consumed by 4pm and I unfortunately had prior arrangements so had to skip
Fraser's best motorbike trip
Having missed out on the monkeys in Lopburi, got to spend a lot of time with one in Vietnam the Karoke bar they were all headed to. The hospitality I recieved was absolutely amazing and no one would accept any money for any of the beers or food (which would have cost a reaonable amount by local standards). Apparently it brings good luck for the new year to have lots of people come to your home. In all, Nha Trang has been a really enjoyable experience and one of my favourite places so far.
Dalat Dalat is set in the mountains and was a two day stop for us. 1 day was spent with three motorcycle driver (part of a group called the easy riders). They took us on a day long tour of the countryside including waterfalls, a silkworm factory, sik factory, orchard, lots of rolling countryside, a crazy house, a palace, rice wine making establishment and so on. It was a good day and was made all the more interesting by the guides who knew a lot of interesting stuff and whose English was very good. The second day was spent trekking (or more of a saunter) - the views were fantastic and the guide very interesting but there was a lot less trekking than
Remains outside of Hoi An
These were billed as a mini Angkor Wat - nowhere near as impressive! we had hoped. Still the guide made up for it in the evening by showing a couple of the local clubs, an excellent noodle soup place (kebab alternative) and introduced us to some local nightspots.
Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City We arrived in Saigon for Tet (Chinese Lunar New Year) so a lot of shops and tours etc were closed down for the holiday period. This was more than made up for however by the additional festivities, and also the main attractions we wanted to see were still open. The first thing that strikes you about Saigon is how many bicycles there are (4 million) and how hot the place is!
We had about three whole days to explore Saigon and the surrounding areas. We visited many of the major attractions including the Cu Chi tunnels, Independance Palace, the war museum etc. A lot of these were incredibly interesting focusing primarily on the Vietnam conflict. We also had a tour guide who had served with the Americans and spent time in a re-education camp after the war and this was really interesting.
We also joined in the New Year celebrations which are best explained by the pictures.
Hoi An ferry
It seems all the passengers (crammed in below the deck) took a motorbike or bicycle with them on the ferry The city was absolutely rammed, and there were fireworks and a giant inflatable pig (for the year of the pig). As soon as the firworks finished it was panamoniam with everyone racing back home for drinks with there family. Marie also had her balloon stolen by a young local girl.
We also had one evening where we left the backpacker circuit for the night (which ended up costing almost 20GBP each which is a huge amount for Vietnam). The evening involved some cocktails in the 23rd floor bar on top of the Sheraton 5* hotel, followed by an awesome meal in a London Underground themed bar which was a surprisingly upmarket venue. Fantastic steak.
We got a bus over the border into Cambodia and it was super efficient - the driver got visas for all of us on the bus whilst we sat down at an eatery and had lunch.
Cambodia
Phnom Penh (visit 1) Our first stop in Cambodia was the capital where we spent a few days without really achieving very much. Like all of Cambodia the heat (35+ degrees everyday) reduced our inclination to do very much other than sit on a hammock,
Hoi An market
The riverside market in Hoi An play pool, read and watch movies. We stayed in a nice guest house near the lake and there were no shortage of bars on stilts over the lake with cheap drinks, free pool and movies etc. Quite a relaxing few days.
The main tourist thiongs we did were to visit the S-21 prison and the killing fields which relate to the Pol Pot era. These were particulalry harrowing (especially given how recent events were) - at the killing fields you could still see lots of random bones scattered around the site. For anyone who wants to read an extremely good book on Cambodia's history, read "surviving the killing fields." Events took place between 1975 to 1979 and it is estimated 1.7 million people were killed out of a population of 8 million (21% of the country's population). The Khmer Rouge basically intended to destruct all of the cities and kill the foreign-educated elite in order to bring the country back to basics with only factory workers and peasant farmers. Cities were raided and people relocated to communal farms and forced labour. Most people were left to starve or work to death. People were killed for wearing glasses, laughing and
Hoi An food market
Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables at this busy market talking when not spoken to.
Sihanoukville This beach resort was another pretty lazy place. Lots of beach bars with huge round chairs that let you sit back and plug you Ipod in to their stereo while enjoying cheap beer and decent food. Almost found it difficult sometimes to build up the energy to go in the sea. Our favourite bar was Coco Shack where the staff kept us entertained with funny stories and by beating us at pool. They also showed us some of the bars in town that were open later and were continually amused by how much football we watched. One of the girls (Dany) then followed us to Phnom Penh where she had to go to make her passport made up and showed us around there also.
Two days into Sihnaoukville, Marie left the boys for Siem Reap as she was flying to Singapore early to head to the doctors about her arm (injured punching Andy in the face - joking!). This left the boys alone and ended up with them out until about 5am the day she left - obviously they were so upset about losing Marie that they wanted to take their
Hard life as a cyclo driver
The cyclo appears to double up as accommodation mind off it.
Phnom Penh (visit 2) This was a shorter visit (2 nights) and again we did relatively little (are you seeing a theme?). We visited some of the markets with Dany (who out shopped us both) such as the Russian market and relaxed watching the sunset over the lake.
We got news from Marie that she was flying back to England to see a doctor there - this was upsetting but we managed to soldier on without her. Looking forward to her meeting up with us again in New Zealand, where we also have a visit from Mr and Mrs Bowyer - shoe's all round!
Siem Reap This was our last stop in Cambodia and is a must for anyone visiting the country. The town is a tourist resort based on its proximity to Anchor Wat. The first evening in Siem Reap, we watched the sunset from the hill near Angkor Wat which houses the oldest of all the temples (I think dating back to around the 9th century). This was followed by another mexican meal for dinner.
5am start to get to Angkor to watch the sunrise. It was quite spectacular
Nha Trang beach
The beautiful beach at Nha Trang, Vietnam watching the sun rise and illuminate Angkor Wat which is one of the most impressive things ever (rivaling Pompeii and the Roman Forum in Italy). Just after leaving Angkor, the camera broke so we were unable to take any photos of all the other superb temples in the world heritage site - this was overcome by purchasing some postcards from the local children outside the temples.
We also visited the land mine museum in Siem Reap - this is run by a guy who was a child soldier laying mines during the Pol Pot regime. He has cleared over 100,000 land mines in the country - there are still many mines across the country and these are often set off by children or cattle wandering over them.
From Siem Reap, we flew to Singapore for our seventh and last country in Asia before heading onto Australia - we were beginning to regret having to leave Asia as both could have done much longer there and were concerned Australia was going to be England with nicer weather and beaches - and also younger travellers who would get on our nerves!
Singapore
Landing at Singapore's Changi airport, it was
Asia's best boyband
Live music on the boat trip in Nha Trang like returning to the western world: No squatter toilets for a start and beer prices comparable to England. Given the size of Singapore, we only decided to stay there 4 nights before our onward flight to Perth. Whilst there, we met up with Neil one of Fraser's friends from Birmingham who took us out to sample some superb local food at the local food stalls.
Singapore is one of the cleanest places ever (on a par with Zurich) and you are fined for all manner of things, with a choice sample being:
- S$500 fine for spitting
- S$500 fine for eating or drinking on public transport
- S$1,000 fine for chewing gum
- S$5,000 fine for taking flammable liquids/gas on public transport
On our final day, we got the cable cars over to Setosa Island (nicknamed 'plastic fantastic') as the beach resort is man-made with the sand shipped in from other areas in Asia. They have just installed a new luge track which we ended up going on 3 times - you sit in a small cart and motor down the track towards the beach - very god fun.
Other highlights from our stop in Singapore
Boat party
Dancing during happy hour on the Nha Trang boat trip included walking around the various ethnic areas such as Kampong Glam (muslim area) and Little India, visiting the battle box in Fort Canning Park (the British underground command center used in WW2), a tour of Changi prison (Prisoner of War prison during the Japanese invasion of Singapore) and a night out at the at Ministry of Sound club.
Thanks go out to the great people at Canon Singapore - they managed to fix Fraser's camera within 2 days and it cost less than they had quoted - met someone who had similar problem and were quoted 6 weeks to fix it in Australia.
So, that's it for Asia - it has been a great experience and was ridiculously cheap. Going to be strange having to watch our money a bit more over the next 3 months or so in Australia and New Zealand but hopefully should be ok (dependent on the outcome of Andy's poker playing).
Other random stuff
Boat cruises with free wine can get you tipsy.
You can still play poker in most countries.
Cameras break down at the worst time.
Anchor beer gives you hangovers.
Hangovers are bad in extremely hot countries without air
Floating bar
Happy hour with free flowing mulberry wine from Dalat con.
A peanut is not actually a nut.
This month we have mostly been discussing
Whether Jim Howl has worn a leotard in his lifetime.
Whether Jim Howl would look good in a leotard.
If Sanj and Amy would make a good couple.
Swarbrick's sexuality.
Whether a floating bar would be a success in England.
Does is take 2 to tango?
Whether there are times when it is acceptable to add ice to a beer (i.e. if you have a warm can and are thirsty).
Who would win in a fight - Sanjay or Jimmy.
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Andy is a Loser
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Andy is a loser
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