Advertisement
Published: November 18th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The never ending rain
Not sure if this really shows how heaving the rain really was. I was in it for about 10 secs and was completly soaked! Vietnam Tour
Ho Chi Minh City aka the Smogiest City on the Planet Most of the Cambodian group left the tour at this point and the remaining three of us joined a new group in Ho Chi Minh City. This city is just mad! I don't think it ever sleeps! I have never seen so many motorbikes in all my life! They will stop at nothing to get where they want to. They ignore traffic lights and treat the pavements as if they are there own. You have to keep your eyes and ears peeled as they come at you from all directions. Supposidly the technique when crossing the road is to go slowly and maintain eye contact with the on coming hundreds of bikes!! Much easier said than done! I prefer my technique of running, screaming and hoping for the best!
I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels which are just outside the city. They were one of the main areas where the Vietcong were based during the American-Vietnam war. The tour of the tunnels was good and we were even allowed to crawl through some of the tunnels that the Vietcong used during the war. I managed
The mad traffic in Ho Chi Minh City
I honestly have never seen so many motor bikes in all my life! SCARY!!! They will stop at nothing! about 1 metre and then decided to reverse the hell out of there whilst trying to stay calm!! As you can see from the photo I didnt look overly comfortable! They had even widened the tunnels from the originals so that all the slightly larger westeners could fit in! The Vietcong used some pretty dirty tactics during the fighting and we saw some of the traps whilst we were going round, lots of sharp bits of bamboo causing considerable harm!
Mekong Delta Our first group trip with the new group was to the Mekong Delta south of Ho Chi Minh City. We did a boat ride around the delta visiting various different islands and cruising down some of the smaller canals. Was a really relaxing day but one thing was for sure - I was not going to be doing any swimming in the Mekong. It was pretty dirty!!
Nha Trang Rain rain and then a little bit more rain was the main thing that went on at Nha Trang which was a real shame because the beach looked pretty amazing and was surrounded by some gorgeous scenery and mountains. The best thing about
The Cu Chi Tunnels
Our guide was showing us how tiny the tunnel entrances were - as you can see they are minute! He then put a lid over his head! There was no way in hell I was going to try + could just see myself getting stuck! the town was a visit to the local hot springs and mud baths. Spent half a day relaxing in the mud and hot water - was so lovely.
Shopping heaven - Hoi An This is definitely one of places I was looking forward to the most on the Vietnam trip as its reputation for tailor made clothes at cheap prices is well known. For bargain prices I got made 2 3 piece suits, 2 evening dresses, 2 day dresses, 1 winter jacket and one skirt. Needless to say there is not a chance in hell that I am going to carry this massive weight around with me for the next 4 months! It has all been sent home and I am hoping that it will make it home in one piece preferably before I get back!
Aside from the shopping Hoi An is a really beautiful place with lots of influences from the Chinese, Japanese and French going back to the 16th Century. The streets of the Old Quarter are a World Heritgage site so no cars allowed, which is good however doesn't stop the motorbikes though!
We hired push bikes for two days to makes
Abandoned US Tank
The child in me couldn't resist climbing to the top and posing for the camera! getting around a bit easier. One day the group cycled to the beach which was really lovely, we even had a whole morning of sunshire which was novel! The waves were pretty big at the beach and I kept getting wiped out much to the amusement of my ozzie, kiwi and south africian travelling companions. I was sure the waves were massive but apparently not!?!! I still stand my ground that they were!
Marble Mountain and the Vietnamese Cost On our way to Hue we took the scenic route via the coast which was pretty beautiful. We drove to Marble Moutain which is one of 5 massive outcrops of marble mountain in the area. Really beautiful views towards the coast and inland from the top. Also got to see some amazing caves at the top which formed part of the monestry up there.
Next we moved on through the coast line of Danang and up the moutains through the mountains that divide north and south vietnam. Again amazing fews from the top. We stopped at the view point which had previously been strong hold of the Americans in the war. There was so much evidence of the
Can you tell I felt claustrophobic?!
This was as far as I got when we could actually crawl through the tunnels. These had actually been widened for Westeners and they were still pretty small!! ARGH! fighting that went on there, it was scary. Our tour guide told us that there are still unexploded mines in the area that cause many problems to the locals which was pretty sad.
Hue Didn't really know what to expect of Hue but it is another city full of amazing Vietnamese history. Hue used to be the capital from 1800 to 1945 so has some impressive buildings that used to house the emperors of the time. The old city is within a moat and city walls and is pretty impressive. Unfortunately a lot of the buildings were destroyed in the American and French wars. They are working to restore a lot of them though which is positive.
Outside Hue are many tombs for past emperors of Vietnam. On the way to the tombs we stopped off to have a look at how the traditional Vietnames hats and insence sticks are made. We were able to have a go and as you can see from the photo I was SO crap at it! The lady made it look so much easier than it actually was. We visited Emperor Du Toc's tomb which he wanted it to be known
as the modest tomb. Needless to say it was not in the least bit modest with lakes, theatres, boat houses and palaces. He even built himself his own island in the lake so that he could shot rabits and foxes that he had brought in! Only an emperor could get away with that!
Halong Bay We travelled to Halong Bay on a beautiful wooden boat. It was slightly eventful getting on the boat when it was lashing down with rain and our boat couldn't make it to the dock. We had to climb over various other boats to get to ours which keep pushing into all the other boats and denting them! Needless to say I failed to remain calm and had a bit of a panick!! Once on board the cruise around Halong Bay was amazing, despite the rain. It made the place feel much more spooky and peaceful than it would in the sun. There are over 3000 limestone islands which just make the views amazing and you feel like you can escape from all the other tourists for a while.
We were heading towards Cat Ba Island where we were going to stay the
ARGHH!!!
As you can tell from the photo I was a tad scared holding this massive python! Only reason I did it was because it had just eaten! night. On the way we stopped into the largest cave discovered within Halong Bay. It was spectacular and much bigger than I expected.
Cat Ba Island is the only inhabited island within Halong Bay. We only stayed one night and before leaving the next day we hired sea kayaks for the morning and kayaked to Monkey Island which was so much fun. Didn't take my camera only with me because I knew I would probably lose it! it was quite hard work and Tony and I kept blaiming each other for our kayak having a mind of its own. Quite funny really! We were def much more in control on the way back beacuse the brains (me) was at the front and the braun (Tony) was at the back!
Hanoi Our hotel in Hanoi was really nice and plush and did the best breakfasts! Kein took us on a walking tour of the city through the old quarter so we could see all the different shops and streets. They are all really narrow and filled to bursting with shops from motor engines to clothes to silk paintings to flowers - quite amazing! Each street has its own
The canals of the Mekong Delta
So peaceful going along here. I was keeping my eyes out for crocs though you never know when they will pop up! Think I was being a tad paraniod but you never know! theme and is named after than theme although over time some of these have changed.
We went to the famous Vietnamese Water Puppet show one afternoon which was certainly interesting. The puppets appear out of the water and a story is told to traditional Vietnamese music. It was worth a visit just to appreciate the talent of the puppeters - shame I couldn't really understand the story though as my Vietnamese is limited to hello, thank you and oh my god!
Where next!?!?! Have booked a flight to Bangkok and then bus to Krabi so will fill you in next from there x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0389s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Love it! You crack me up turdbear (-: love you buddy x x x x x x