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Published: August 26th 2008
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So far...
HO CHI MINH CITY
WEEK 1: got to HCMC, went to the National Musuem and spent some time with the Asian side of the family, goin out for gorgeous meals, but family duty over-ruled and we didnt have much time to do anything else..!!
MEKONG DELTA
WEEK 2: headed out on a Mekong Delta 2day tour, visting a Coconut candy factory, and travelled along the river through the canals etc. We stayed the first night just outside Can Tho with a Vietnamese family (incedently our boat diver the following day) and learnt how to make spring rolls and had another culinary feast. They had built accommodation for tourists in the form of palm tree leaf and bamboo river huts, on stilts next to the Mekong.. beautiful!!
The next day was a tour around the Mekong to the infamous Floating Markets and more trips throught the tranquil canals of the delta and also visited a rice noodle factory (well I say factory, its done in someones backyard..) That night we left the tour and made our own way over to Rach Gia by local bus with the most miserable bus driver in the world. Thankfully there were
some other travellers also heading for Phu Quoc and doing the same thing so we made some friends along the way. We stayed in a hotel near the port to get the Hydrofoil to Phu Quoc the next day.
PHU QUOC ISLAND
Arrived in Phu Quoc and managed to get a bargain bus with a load of other travellers to the main town on the island Duong Dong and were taken to Nhat Lan resort, with very cute beach huts, although most were off the beach, good size rooms, 2 double beds and 2 hammocks on the porch, what more do you need!!! and all for $10.. sweeeeet!!
Unfortuantely the weather was not so sweet and rained quite a lot on the west coast of the island.. we rented a scooter and went to the waterfalls at Suoi de Ban, and also made it down to the part of the island I had originally wanted to stay at 'Bai Sao', we were shocked at the difference, the beach had no rocks, the sea was calm.. stunning. So after a few more days of the bad weather in Duong Dong we decided to cut our loses and make for
Bai Sao.
Somehow Gareth had convinced me to stay in our hammocks, not in a hotel, in our hammocks, on the side of the beach.. We found an abandonded bar on the beach, which had a covered roof (but still open sides) so it wasn't completely open to the elements, so it wasnt too bad in all fairness.. It was quite spectacular waking up to the sun rising on the horizon right in front of us, and the move was a good idea as we did get 1 day of pure sun!! ...Finally some tanning time!!!
After a couple of days we rented another scooter (its literally the only way to get around on the island!) and went back up to Duong Dong to book flights back to HCMC, and on the way back stopped at the waterfalls again and had a wash in the rapids!! Truely a liberating experience, washing with nature.. it was straight out of a Herbal Essences advert!! So we had our last night in the hammocks and then it was back off to HCMC..
HO CHI MINH CITY
WEEK 3: landed back in HCMC, and decided not to travel around until after
my 25th (eeep!) birthday, we thought it best to stay put and do the things we didnt get to do the first time round in Saigon.
We went to the War Remnants Museum and had a shocking look at the statistics and pictures from the war, quite horrific and gruesome to be honest, and also went to the Reunification (or Independance) Palace, that got stormed by tanks in the war, but the best thing about the Palace were the massive swirly trees of the surrounding grounds, I had to hug a few...! Yay!
We had a day of rest, followed the next day by the Cu Chi Tunnels, that had been used by the VietCong during the war. We even went in some of the tunnels used but I had a mini panic attack and luckily there was an escpae stair after 15meters for wimps like me! mind you, this was in a tunnel that had been expanded for 'bigger' westerners so I didnt even attempt the real sized tunnel except for a photo to show the size difference!
So thats it so far, we're planning on visiting some of the Pagodas in and around HCMC and
maybe fit in some fun at the Waterparks on my birthday!!
Then the real travelling begins, we'll be off on an Open Bus (a great system that you can get on and off at any point on the route, stay as many days as you want and hop back on to the next destination) we'll be going through Mui Ne, Dalat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue and eventually right up north to Hanoi and Halong bay..
WEEK 3 CONTINUED...: We spent a few days chilling (translation - trying to save money by not doing anything) then toured around HCMC taking in a few sites, like the Notre Dame cathedral and the old French colonial Post Office.. Also saw a few Pagodas but didn't actually go into any.
Then it was birthday time (aaaargh!) Checked into the 5* New World Hotel paid for by Mum as a prezzie (thanks Mum!) and did a little retail therapy, had a fantastic sushi lunch (merci David!) For dinner that evening we went, along with all the family and 'extended family' (20 of us in total) to a 7 beef BBQ, where you get given a mini BBQ and various beef dishes are brought
out for you to cook and then make into a type of spring roll.. delicioso!! Followed by a beautiful cake (merci Clementine!) for desert.
We left to then go to a night club, our first tast of the night life since we'd been in Vietnam. The club was great! Great music, great look, great service (they have people to light your cigarette, pour your drinks, and even usher you to the toilet..) Which incendently was quite handy for me as I was taken quite suddenly with a tummy bug and spent most of my time in the club toilets! Fantastic way to spend your birthday!! Mangaged to stick it out til midnight then had to give up and go back to hotel while Gareth stayed out enjoying my birthday for me!!! Spent the next day in bed, still ill.. Felt a bit better by the day after that, when we were supposed to leave for Mui Ne but changed our tickets as wasn't sure if I would be well enough, but fortunately this meant we got to enjoy the finer things in life for another day..
So today 1st Sept we are finally going to Mui Ne, we will
update in a week or so (when we have enough to write about!!)
SO STAY TUNED!!!
PS. CHECK OUT OUR NEWLY UPLOADED PICS....
PICTURES ARE NOT IN ORDER..SORRY BUT IT TAKES TOO LONG TO PUT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER!! ;-)
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