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Published: March 16th 2012
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Ok, maybe a bit longer than 60 seconds....
We travelled from Phnom Penh to Vietnam by bus. We were going to do a trip down the Mekong but the cost as well as the longer travel time/hassle changing boats to buses just wasn’t worth it! The border crossing was smooth as the bus staff got our passports stamped for us. When we were given them back to pass through the final immigration check it was a bit of a laugh because they try to call out all the names to give back the passports. There we all were standing in a large hall and even the immigration officials were laughing at some of the name pronunciations! After the immigration we headed out the road on the bus to be stopped by immigration/customs police. They came on the bus and started banging on the roof of the bus, checking large parcels, looking in the toilet etc. Amusing but the bus people definitely seemed to be a bit nervous…..
On entering Vietnam it was a lot different to Cambodia and even Thailand. It is a greener country, the roads seemed to have some sort of traffic system and
it was cleaner. The houses along the road were also different in design and lots of them were really tall and narrow, nothing like what I’ve seen in other countries.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in good time and found our guesthouse easily thanks to the help of another guesthouse owner who gave us his business card at the bus stop. The set up in the city is really cool. The people live in very narrow alleyways (our guesthouse was on one of these) and it has a really nice feeling. The communities seem to be very close knit and they all have a work set up of some sort i.e. some people have small food stalls, others have guesthouses, others have shops. The houses are curious in that the front is a large doorway and everyone can see in as you walk past. Some people have beds in this front area, others have chairs but privacy seems to be non-existent. On many occasions you can just walk past and see maybe an elderly man getting into his bed or a family enjoying soaps together, a nice way to see what the locals lives
are like!
We moved to the guesthouse of the man we met by the bus stop for the remainder of our stay after the first night. It was a lovely place with a whole family living there (Granny, Son and Daughter in Law, Grandchildren and what appeared to be other daughters). Nice to be a part of their home for a few days and they were really nice :D
On the second day we visited the War Remnants Museum. It was really really interesting and it was a collection of different information, vehicles, airplanes, photographs and stories from both the civil war in Vietnam and the American conflict. John was impressed with the real planes, helicopters, tanks, guns because they are in a lot of Xbox games or war films, I was just impressed cos they were pretty amazing (pity they are used for war though). There is a lot to learn about the American conflict in particular especially their use of chemical weaponry. The main one is known as Agent Orange and what damage it has done in Vietnam. The effects are still continuing and the exhibition detailed this
by sharing people’s stories and showing photographs of people with significant disabilities. For some of the people who were detailed – I did question if it was a direct consequence of the chemicals but for others it was definite. In fact some of the people who shared their stories had similar presentation as some of the children and adults whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Belarus which was both sad but interesting.
The use of the chemicals has also had a lot of effects for the American soldiers and their children/families. Funnily these people have been compensated for the disabilities they experience while those who continue to suffer in Vietnam have gotten very little. A bit of a case of look after your own I’m afraid. One of the young girls who has been affected has written a very sincere letter to Barack Obama recently. I will add it, hopefully you can read it.
We took a walk to some of the other sights in the city such as the Reunification Palace (which has been left as it was since the end of the war) and then to
the Notre Dame Cathedral. There are a lot of Catholics in Vietnam and the original civil war was actually between a catholic leader and the communists.
In the afternoon/evening we headed to our first Irish pub called Sheridan’s to try and get a glimpse of the rugby that evening between Ireland and Italy. We managed to get the owner to set it up but it was an internet stream and kept cutting out so all the Irish there decided to move to the Boston sports bar to watch the second half. It went downhill from here!!! We met a couple called Deborah and Padraic who are also travelling for 6 months, Hugh who was travelling in Vietnam for 3 and us two. We also met some really nice Americans called Janice and Allen and had great fun with the staff in the bar (one of whom was called Guan – pronounced Go On, the poor girl was tortured with go on you good thing all night). Ah there were lots of shots and rounds and silliness but the next thing I know there was some sort of mix up with the bill and Guan had seemingly taken
some money from payment for a round and poor Deborah and Hugh had to pay twice. Just as we were leaving a large Russian man thought he would try and make everything all right by coming up to us with a whole bottle of Smirnoff and 6 glasses…… That’s when we left, dodge central!
After this it’s a blur but we all parted ways at about 6.30am with the other three having to go on a tour at 9am. John and I were to say the least, intoxicated, and ended up standing in the road, swaying looking at a map, unable to find the alleyway! We had some laugh the next day but I tell ya it was not funny when the chief map reader himself was standing looking at the map telling me he didn’t have a clue where we were!!! Luckily my drunken homing skills and sudden urge for the loo was a catalyst and I found the alley and woke the poor daughter in law up to let us in, oops! We didn’t get out of bed the next day, just to have a Pizza Hut! Irish people are a bad influence on each
other!
Off to the next place, Mui Ne the next morning with last minute booking of the bus and a sketchy arrangement in place with a backpacker spot!
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