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Published: April 15th 2007
As soon as you step into Vietnam you are immediately hit by the hussle and bussle. Comparing Vietnam and Laos is like comparing London to Eastbourne and it is so obvious. The immdeiate thing is the driving, it is worse than Bangkok and Laos put together, they never stop beeping their horns, not in aggression but to warn others. Sounds ok, but when 2000 mopeds, a few big lorries and loads of vans do it it starts to get on your nerves a little. Also crossing the roads is hard, a red light like most countries means stop but they rarely do, you are suppost to walk slowly, make eye contact and they will drive around you, not as easy as it sounds!!
Our first stop in Vietnam after the border was Vinh, a 15km from the Vietnam coastline and 3 hours drive panic stricken frive (including hitting chicken) from the Laos border. We literally just had a day to explore, have lunch, (remember I had the trotts) and get ready to catch the overnight sleeper train to Hanoi. We borded at 9pm and had a couple of private dorms, 3 beds high and maybe 6 foot long. I'm
sure that none of them are over 6 foot but was a little uncomfortable for me. Still I had a gorgeous Vietnamese lady who spoke very good english to keep me company opposite me for the night.
We arrived in Hanoi at 5am and straight to our Hotel in the old quarter, the roads were packed even at this time and the noise after very little sleep for 2 days and the shits at 5am, almost put me over the edge. After an hours sleep we got picked up for a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay. We didn't really need to do the Halong trip but a few of us decided to do it instead of 3 days in Hanoi (another huge Asian city). We arrived in Halong City and boarded our Junk boat to cruise through the 2,000 limestone rocks of Halong Bay. The water green and very Vietnamese, sadly the sky was grey and the sun only briefly managed to break through the clouds. After an amazing sea food lunch, we hit some caves which were possibly the best caves I've seen on the whole trip, spectacular. After the caves, we did some Kayaking around the
cliffs which was fun, the sun would have been a real bonus. Dinner followed by Karaoke and bed onboard the Junk. It was a great experience until 3am when in pitch black I could hear mice or rats scurrying around the bottom of my bed when my snacks were, I chose to ignore it rather than fight back but needless to say there were a few rats with bellies full of pringles that night, bastards!!
Back to the mainland after a further cruise in the islands, breakfast and lunch on the boat and our trip back to Hanoi. Another 4 hour drive, everyone scared except the maniac driver and to the hotel. At this point we sadly said good bye to Gill and Sophie, the aussie girls who only came as far as Hanoi and welcomed 8 new arrivals. 4 aussie girls, 2 aussie blokes a canadian and a London lad, Adam who is my new room mate at the hotels. The first night with them all, it was to the local Hanoi bars for serious amounts of booze anda hangover the next day.
The first morning with the new lot and it was time to see Hanoi.
There is now 15 of us, so we had a large coach take us round the city. The main points of interest we saw were the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, sadly the place was shut on mondays so missed seeing the president lying in state. We did luckily manage to see his palace and the ground which were great. He was very popular as although he was president he lived in a simple house with one bedroom, he didn't want grandeur whilst his people were in dire poverty. We also saw the temple of literature and the Hoan Kiem lake and the old quarter of Hanoi. perhaps the most interesting thing was the "Hanoi Hilton", the prison used during the American war to house fighter pilots, alsoover history to house anyone who went against the communist regime. The gallows and torture areas were particularly interesting.
That night it we were on the move again, a 14 hour sleeper train from Hanoi to Hue, half way down the east coast of Vietnam. Hue was the capital city of Vietnam for maybe 150 years until the 1950's and it moved to Hanoi. Hue is famous for the forbidden city and the
citadel which within the walls housed the old palaces for the Emperors many years ago. They sadly were 90% destroyed during the American war so what remained was all we saw. The afternoon was spent crusing on the perfume river, visiting tombs of the emperors and famous pergodas within the area.
After Hue it was time to head further south on a 4 hour drive through Danang to Hoi An. The start of the Vietnamese Beaches and i'm pleased to say, some sunshine finally after a few days of clouds and rain at times. Hoi An is much smaller than Hanoi and Hue and therefore perhaps more enjoyable. The first night was spent bargaining down the local tailors for suits. I went just to help Adam, but ended upbuying a tux, 2 ties, a bow-tie, a cummerbund, a tux shirt and 5 work shirts. Not sure how that happened but my poor credit card took a bashing! The next day in Hue, in between fittings and shopping we had a tour of the city itself. It's a pretty small place so it didn't take too lon. The first stop was the Japanese covered bridge which was nice. Then we
went to an 18th centuary traditional Vietnamese house, they say traditional but it seemed to be one big gift shop, oh well. The last stop was some traditional dancing and singing in the old town which was weird and nice at the same time. Luckily the tour finished and the sun came out, so it was round the pool to soak up some much needed rays, again in between fittings!!
The next stop was perhaps the one in Vietnam that I was most looking forward to. A 10 hour train journey from Hoi An to Nha Trang. This is the beach and party resort of Vietnam and the weather is almost guarenteed all year round. We arrived at 10pm and as it was Adams birthday, it was out on the quick-smartish. The best place in town is the Sailing Club, right on the beach, with a great dance floor and fires all over the place. A romantic sort of bar and great fun, it would have been great fun had it not been for the constant attention of the hookers, oh well! An earlier night than wanted as the next day was the boat trip day.
Up early
and we made our way from the hotel to the harbour to board the boat. The sun was in full party mode and it was probably 35-40 degrees, baking! After an nice hourly cruise to a little island and some reefs, it was swim time, I was the only one to dive off the roof of the boat, pussies! After a long hard tanning session (my fast fading tan is getting me down) it was time for our suptuous seafood buffet lunch. After lunch, another small sail to a nearby beach and Jet-Ski time, woo! I'm sure they skanked me on the time, 15 minutes seemed to be a little short, still my broken hand was hurting so I was ready to finish anyway, but great fun! More sun baking and back to the boat to return home. In the evening it was dinner time. A local favourite is the seafood BBQ restaurant, you order the seafood, huge prawns, lobsters, crabs whatever and they bring it raw and you cook it yourself on your own BBQ at your table, nice!! Quite a seafood day!! Then back to the sailing club to dance the night away, great day!!
Our last
day in Nha Trang was a relaxing day, I literally just sat on the beach for hours, tryingto recover my tan. I was half asleep until a smell awoke me, fresh BBQ lobsters on the beach. This this was a monster, huge and with sauces etc it came to 3 pounds, amazing! As it was a hard day, I decided to have a massage on the beach aswell, the prices are amazing, less that 2 quid for the hour. Sadly no happy ending but still good!
That night it was our final over night train journey from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Bored at 6pm and arrived very tired at 4.20 the following morning. Sadly we had no time to hang around and it was straight on another coach for 3 hours, after 30 mins lie down, to the Mekong Delta. First was a long boat sail around the delta area, stopping passing baost to try all the weird fruit that comes from this area, Jurian, Dragon Fruit, Star fruit etc. Then it was off to the local markets, for the usual "how much you pay?" and "very nice, I do you special price!", not my
favourite places. Back on the boat and off to lucnh, was amazing food as is becoming the norm on this trip, fresh Mekong fish, cat fish and pumpkin flower rolls and loads more. Was knackered so a few hours were spent in the orchard on a swing hammock. Back to the coach an north another 3 hours back to Saigon. The next day was one of the days that I had most been looking forward to and a real highlight of the trip, a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels an hour or so outside of Saigon. The tunnels were used by the vietnamese soldiers during the American war. The Vietnamese soldiers were tiny and the tunnels are so crampt that they really had the upper hand over the Americans. At the tunnels they have enlarged one of the tunnels for western tourists (fat yanks) and even that was so claustrophobic, hot, smelly and full of creepy crawlies. Couldn't imagine spending weeks in there at a time. They have American military equipment on show here, blown up tanks etc which was pretty cool aswell. The best part was the shooting range at the tunnels, where I got to real off
a few rounds of an AK47 machine gun. I hope to regain hearing by my return to the UK, so loud! Afternoon was used to further explore Saigon, the reunification palace, military museum etc. The last night in Vietnam was a big group dinner, saying goodbye to the 4 Aussie sisters and a good piss up in a trendy bar.
Bright and early it was on the coach and heading 2 hours north to the Vietnam/Cambodia border. Saying goodbye to Huey and into Cambodia.
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