Vietnam

After the bus ride to end all bus rides, we arrived in Hanoi. The city bustled with people (and mopeds) and was quite a contrast to sedate Laos. We based ourselves in the Old quarter of town. It has tiny narrow streets with streets stalls on both sides about 3 feet gap for people to walk through which is usually occupied by a motorbikes, still i enjoyed the fast pace of it all. One of the first things to strike me in Vietnam was the unbelievable heat combined the crippling humidity. I got used to stares after a while as people watched my sweat literally pouring out of face. Several old ladies stopped to fan me. It was not pretty. We spent a day wandering around the place, taking in the markets and visited the Hoan Kiem Lake.

The next morning we paid homage to "Uncle Ho" as he is referred to here, Ho Chi Minh. Like all great communist leaders, Ho Chi Minh has been preserved in a mausoleum where you can view his body. He doesn't look to bad for a man dead over 30 years. The guards around the mausoleum are intense and insist on silence and somber atmosphere is enforced. In the same complex we visited Uncle Ho's house on Stilts. An idyllic house set in the centre of Hanoi near a lake.

Next stop was the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam. It was built in the 11th century, has very distinctive architecture and it was where men learned how to be mandarins. The university is a rare quiet spot in Hanoi.

One night we attended the water puppet theatre which was great fun. The theatre is tank of water about up to your knees with a curtain at the back. The puppets, instead of controlled by strings, are manipulated by rods hidden under the water. The show was loads of fun, the puppets movements were really lifelike and they seemed to dance.

Our next port of call was Halong Bay. The bay has more than 3000 limestone island surrounded by emerald water. It is a beautiful sight and thankfully we got to see it in all it's glory. As we left Hanoi we entered into a electrical storm, fork lightning was hitting the hills. We had heard horror stories of tours being ruined by dodgy boats, crews and food. One story involved rats on board. We did our research and found a great tour.

We hopped on board and we treated to a six course lunch, all seafood! Aoife and I got to try our first whole crab, delicious but hard work. The plates of prawns, mussels and vegetables just kept on coming. After stuffing my face, we sat up on deck watching the world go by and commenting to our fellow travellers about how stressful travel really is. The islands went by and then we anchored for a spot of kayaking. Aoife and I turned out to be a force to reckon with in a kayak.When she went forward, I went back. I blame her, she blames me. The highlight was almost getting stuck in a cave. The kayak was still loads of fun. We were guided into hidden grottoes where the guide explained all about the place.

Back on board, it was time for pre-dinner drinks and small talk with our other companions. Dinner was another banquet and every mouthful was relished. That night we spent the night on top of the boat drinking as a warm breeze blew across the boat, a thankful relief from the scorching heat.

After an interesting bus ride to Hue (this bus instead of chairs had bunks) we arrived to jumped by hawkers, we took settled in a French bakery and weathered the storm. The city of Hue is a calm, relaxing place.

The city itself is a citadel surrounded by high, strong stone walls. Inside the citadel is another citadel with even stronger walls where the emperor of Vietnam palace. Inside the citadel within the citadel, there was another citadel called the Forbidden Purple City. It was here that emperor conducted his private life and only servants that were eunuchs were allowed to enter to protect the royal concubines.

The citadel was very cool but a lot of the buildings were severely bombed by the Americans during the war. We walked around the ruins for awhile, getting lost in the old temples and walking down random tree lined avenues. A great place to spend the afternoon.

Feeling energetic we hired bicycles and cycled to the Ten Mu Pagoda just outside of the city. Cycling in Vietnam is all about nerve. Traffic is chaotic at best you have to hope all the mopeds see and managed to avoid you but we survived. The cycle was great and view of the red river was fantastic. We arrived at the pagoda just in time and by chance for the monks prayers. There was lots of chanting and singing bowls and was really interesting to watch. The famous pagoda has an huge octagonal tower and was the home pagoda to the monk who famous set himself on fire as an act of protest against the government.

A short bus ride away was Hoi An, a small but charming town. The town is famous for it's tailors and people can have clothes, suits and dresses made to fit in a matter of hours. We enjoyed wandering the "old town", a spot famous in times gone by for western traders. The town has managed to kept it's old time charm as it is a UNESCO site. We visited the Japanese Covered Bridge and had sumptuous meal on the river on afternoon. We had a whole grilled fish in banana leaves with sides for under 4 euro and it was simply delicious.

After our successful bike tour, we decided to up the ante and get a moped. Our aim was to visit China Beach. This was a famous hangout for US soldiers during the war. Having never driven a moped, it was touch and go at the start but I soon got used to it. We managed to find the beach after getting lost once or twice. The scene was great, a long white sandy beach with occasional local families and hardly any other tourists. We had a lovely afternoon of beach side relaxing. On the return trip home Aoife drove and with her "aggressive" use of the horn we made made it safely back.

The next day we went on a tour to My Son, an important Cham site. The Cham built their temples using brick without mortar and the researchers still do not know definitely what they used to bind the bricks together. The site was sacked many times by other empires and so not much is standing. The surroundings of the site are beautiful, in a lush green valley with loads of clear streams running through it. To get to the site, we had to share an old army jeep with this hilarious middle-aged Australian couple who would shout random stuff at the speeding driver like "Wasn't like this during the war, was it?" and other such gems. It was a hot day but worth the trip.

Our next stop in Vietnam was Na Trang, we had heard a lot of mixed reports about the place. Some people said it was too touristy and other said it was brilliant and loads of fun. We agreed with both! The city is set along a huge long beach, perfect for kicking back and relaxing on and that's exactly what we did for the first day.

The next day we went on a tourist boat out to visit the islands opposite the city. The boat had a good mix of international and domestic tourists. We knew what kind of tour it was going to be when our guide recommend beer for every aliment possible. We went snorkeling in crystal clear waters and saw loads of fish. The tour was great fun, the food was ok but there was plenty of it so that appeased me. After lunch, the guides put on a show and impressively converted the seating area into a stage, they then proceeded to bring up every nationality there and sing a famous national song. Ourselves and a northern Irish couple sang an awful rendition of "The Fields of Athenry" with help of tour guides. The highlight of the day was the floating bar where everyone sits in a rubber ring while being served rice wine, very nice. It was a bit of a free for all with everyone to pull the bar man this way or that in order to get a free drink!

On our last day in Na Trang, we decided to avoid the usual touristy trap things and head off to see the a more cultural side of the city. We hired bicycles and visited the Long Son Pagoda. It was a really nice one, with an impressive reclining Buddha and beautiful sitting Buddha that over looks the entire city and the beach. After that we went to Long Thanh Gallery, a very famous photographer in Vietnam, his black and white photographs of everyday life were great. A short cycle later and visited the Cham Towers just outside of the main town. Unlike the temples we visited in My Son, these ones were active and used regularly by the locals. Inside the temples it is very eerie, as the Chams built no window in the tiny temple when combined with smoke from the incense We managed to catch a dance performance of local girls which reminded us randomly of a lot of Egyptian moves.

Another night bus and we arrived into our final stop in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (aka. Saigon). Saigon is similar at a first glance to Hanoi except on much bigger scale. We found great guesthouse top stay in, right in the heart of the city, right after Aoife started to have a go at some American guy who was roaring at the driver of the bus. After a quick refreshing shower and cat nap, we hit the streets and wandered around Saigon. We decided to have an easy day as wasn't feeling top notch so we went to have a nose around the Reunification Palace. This is where the Southern Vietnam President held office until 1975. The Palace looks like a 60's dream building but the really interesting stuff was in the basement. The bunker under the palace was where the president communicated his orders from. He even had an escape staircase from his 2nd floor office to the basement in case of air strikes. It was great fun also the free guide was very informative and had the cheesiest jokes.

After resting up, the next day we went to War Remnants Museum. It was hard place to be but very informative. The museum had an exhibit on war correspondents from both sides of the war, showing the horror and hardships suffered by both. Another exhibit showed the weapons used during the war and the effects after. Particularly hard to view were children effect by Agent Orange. We visited the replica tiger cages used by the Southern Vietnamese and Americans for prisoners, harsh indeed. The museum also had guillotine used by the French in Vietnam.

That day we did a self guided walking tour of the city. We visited the Fine Arts Museum and some galleries behind. It was interesting, I especially enjoyed the images of Ho Chi Minh dancing in a circle with children. The Ben Phanh Market was particularly crazy with everything you could buy. We also stopped to sample the food was very delicious and very cheap. We also wandered by the Hotel de Ville, now where the People Committee of Ho Chi Minh City reside and Notre Dame Cathedral.

The next day we went to Cu Chi Tunnels. I had never heard of this before but was amazed. The VC during the war with the French in 40's dug tunnels underground to evade shelling and bombing, during the 60's these were expanded upon during the American War with multi level tunnels over 250 km long. These tunnels stretched from Saigon to the Cambodian border and to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

A short, old school propaganda film was shown to us, it seemed fighting the Americans was loads of fun and everyone should do it. We went down into the tunnels, a cramped affair as the Vietnamese are a lot smaller than me. It was amazing to see the lengths people will go to defend their land. Also at the site the army had setup a small firing range where foreigners could fire weapons, naturally i was interested and got fire an AK-47, the classic terrorist weapon!

The following day, we explored Chinatown. We visited many beautiful Pagodas and walked down many the random street or two to get there. The herbal remedy market was cool place with sacks of god knows what all around me.

We left Vietnam two days ago and are now in Cambodia. We really enjoyed this country and has been a highlight so far in South East Asia and can't wait to get back to explore it more.

PS Having so issues rotating photos so turn your head for the moment!!!

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