You want buy something?

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Vietnam

'You want buy something?' 'Moto!' 'I have room, give you good price.' 'Hello come in here!' We were warned the one residing memory that sticks for visitors to Vietnam was the touting. It was true, there was plenty of it lurking round every corner we turned. Sometimes it was unbearable: when arriving in Nha Trang at dawn after a long bus ride when swarms of people followed us in the vain hope we'd take their room/moto/food. Sometimes it was funny: when the children selling cookies in the Cham minority village were distracted from their aim by Matt's innocent praise of their English skills and attempts at conversation (they were only nine years old), their pout quickly returning when they remembered what they were supposed to be doing! Overall though with plenty of smiles and firm 'no's we did enjoy our Vietnam trip. We also mused over the fact Vietnam would be a whole different experience for the dollar-laden older tourist who'd happily thrust a 100000 Dong note to keep the beggars at bay (worth about three pound ten which would last the most frugal shopper a wee while.)

Our trip across from Laos was through the endless rice paddies, punctuated by countless gravestones, a poignant reality for our trip to a fairly recently war torn country. Weaving through the fields were innumerable conical hats atop women on bikes, the iconic image was everywhere in Vietnam. We eased our way into the country gently and started in Hue near the demilitarised zone on the old north south border, where the touting was actually bearable. Here we lapped up the relative luxury after Laos and delighted at the tasty Vietnamese fare. We'd landed in the land of rice noodles and spring rolls.

Hanoi, the second biggest city woke up our senses. Arriving super early we fought through the alleyways of copycat guesthouses to find originals and begin our new repertoire with the moto drivers 'no thanks' on repeat! We were caught in a heavy monsoonal downpour so had to embark on two very frustrating taxi trips to and from the ethnology museum with dodgy meters and the wrong (closer) destinations with similar sounding road names. With the large cities and apparent complete lack of public transport we find ourselves slaves to the private transport enterprises - xe oms (motos), cyclos, taxis - always a frustration or a heart pounding experience. I (Katie) was particularly scared of the moto trips, clinging on to the back, weaving around the thousands of other bikes, my driver always insisted on getting there first by zooming up the wrong side of the road, with the lack of helmets this was hair raising stuff! The cyclos on the other hand, peddled by a grey haired veteran, were more leisurely but evoked other emotions of guilt!

Hanoi reminded us of China and with the border crossing just down the road it wasn't surprising. In fact on the whole Vietnam had more similarities to China, whereas Laos and Cambodia are more akin to Thailand. The roads and the hundreds of bikes again making crossing an extreme activity. The temples were awash with red and full of Chinese architecture. Alleyways and streets were jam packed with stalls and shops selling everything and anything you'd ever need. All it lacked was the spitting! We took in a show here, the ancient art of water puppetry. Water puppetry is unique to Vietnam, originating as entertainment in the rice paddies. During the clever and bloody hilarious performance the 10+ puppeteers controlled the puppets of up to four foot tall from beneath the water. They were positioned behind a stage curtain, but must have been up to their shoulders in water controlling, among many other things, fire spitting dragons, fully crewed dragon boats, phoenixes (performing a very graceful and actually romantic love dance, egg birth and hatching!), and kids chasing huge frogs. All incredibly entertaining, with Matt's favourite puppet pictured here!

From Hanoi we hopped on a three day trip to Halong Bay. After two very wet days in Hanoi we weren't expecting much, so were awestruck when we were met with a cloudless sky hovering over the bay, and the bay, well the pictures don't do it justice. When our junk finally pulled away we suddenly realised we were utterly surrounded by thousands of the bright green mountains jutting from the sea like fingers pointing to the sky. Like nothing we have ever seen before, the place really was breathtaking. We got to spend the first day on the boat watching the scenery and counting the multitude of other junks come to join our special moment. For a UNESCO site the numbers seemed pretty uncontrolled. Despite that, it was still fabulous to wake up the next morning with the mountains at our window.

Other parts of the trip took us canoeing through the caves between the mountains, on a monkey filled island with two two-week-old babies (!!) and on a small walk through the national park. The NP was supposed to be filled with the endangered Cat Ba langur, but our guide seemed more interested in the insects so none were spotted. This was also a low point on the touting list, our guide (a slightly mad local who'd insist on repeating words randomly on the way up the hill: 'caterpillar', 'tree') stopped half way through the trip to tell us the point where people give him tips and held out his hand expectantly. An unnecessarily awkward moment.

Not content with this amazing karst mountain scenery we stopped at Ninh Binh a couple of hours away from Hanoi to visit Tam Coc. Here the same style of mountains disrupts the glowing green rice paddies. To appreciate them properly we took a row boat through the rivers that break up the paddies. Another guilty moment as it was rowed by two women, aged 44 and 48 so they say, although they look more like 30 and 32! Of course the downfall to the journey was a similar request for a tip at the end after a mid way stop to sell their wares - when you're in a row boat there is no escape!

Pretty much everyone we've met on our way to Vietnam had consistently raved about one place - Hoi An. Firstly it was more laid back with a ban on touting, so only a few rouge shops beckoned us in. Secondly they probably have the world's largest concentration of tailors. About 90% of the shops we passed sold made-to-measure clothes with dummies outside showing off beautiful Western and Asian designs to tempt us in. After hunting down a recommended place (Yaly Couture) we jumped on the band wagon too. Within 24 hours Matt had a suit fully made and I a dress and plenty more on order! They were so quick and extremely perceptive to what we wanted. It was so much fun being pampered, especially for Matt as they were all gorgeous Vietnamese women! The better ones had no problem with making countless alterations too. They literally made it from pictures in magazines and other random instructions. We're just hoping it makes it home (and we can fit in to it when we get back!) Although it has to be noted the only item we kept on us, Matt's jeans (made by CQ), after their first wear popped a couple of seams!

Ho Chi Minh City, still known as Saigon by many, was just as crazy as Hanoi, but not quite as intense. Just as many bikes traversed the roads in the same frantic manor. Even at dawn street corner bars held westerners nursing their first or last beer. Cyclo drivers touting their ride with the additional offer of opium reminding us where we were. It was in HCMC we got a quick and humbling education into the past atrocities of the American War (the Vietnam one that is.) The war museum provided an evocative portrayal through many photos, mostly taken by the many reporters who lost their lives in those years. Particularly poignant was the information on the use of Agent Orange and the effects now on the thousands of Vietnamese, those who fought in the war, their children and future generations. The lack of US admission in any wrong doing and assistance to these families is sickening, especially as they have admitted harming their own people who had to handle the stuff, let alone have it poured over their villages continually.

The following day we headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels. It was here that the guerilla Viet Minh army lived and fought throughout the war years. Being so much smaller than the enemy they could build a tiny tunnel system that could successfully be defended against the Americans for the entire war (until they bombed the entire area, giving birth to its nickname - the 'Land of Iron' due to the immense amount of unexploded ordnance and shrapnel here). We crawled through a small 45m stretch of one that had been widened for us fatty Westerners. It was pretty horrible and certainly freaked Katie out. To add to the horror of the place they have set up a shooting range where sick Westerners can shoot real rifles - the sound in this already haunting place is disgusting.

To round off our Vietnam trip we thought we'd take a peaceful bob through the Mekong Delta, with an emphasis on boat travel that would drop us across the border in Cambodia's capital. Although it was a nice trip with great company it wasn't quite as idyllic as we'd hoped. Within the space of two days we'd changed transport ten times and gone through five guides! The highlight was a sunset boat trip down the Mekong to Chau Doc where a local dragon boat team raced and beat our boat; they had some muscle between them Katie tells me. All the while the river was lined with people having a sunset wash and play in the murky water. The children couldn't yell 'helloooo' or wave hard enough with the hugest grins on their faces! The lowlight was the rickety wooden boat we picked up after the Cambodian border, crammed full, with a noisy engine, no air and very very hot which we had to sit in for over three hours. Then to learn the 45 minute bus journey at the other end had extended into well over two hours! Welcome to Cambodian transport!

Anyway, we made it and are now sweating our way round Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

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Photos

In case you'd forgotten who we are
Overlooking the stunning Halong Bay

Under the watchful eye
The two week old baby macaque on Monkey Island

The Technique
on Tam Coc's rice paddies