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Published: April 12th 2008
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It's hard to even think where to start this blog.
Obviously the beginning would be good. But, I think that one of my fellow travelers summed Vietnam up by saying it is a marmite country. You either love it or hate it. For me, much like my thoughts on marmite, I generally I hated it. But, there were moments when I thought I could come to love the people. Unfortunately, these were few and far between.
So, this journey begins with me traveling from Cambodia to Vietnam on the Mekong. Leaving hectic Phnom Penn one sunny morning,I arrive in Chau Doc, southern Vietnam, 6 hours later. That evening I chilled with a cold Saigon beer and watched the Mekong slowly drift by. What a change of pace.
Cruising along the Mekong on a slow boat you really get to appreciate how the delta is the epicenter of life in southern Vietnam. All life revolves around the river, be it for transportation, living, farming, fishing or markets. Everything happens afloat: big boats, small boats, boat houses, market boats, floating fisheries you see it all. Cruising the delta could take weeks. But I was on a timetable and wanted to
reach Saigon in time for the Tet, the Chinese New Year, to partake in the celebrations there. Boy, what a celebration the Vietnamese had. Tet is like our Christmas, New Year and all Public Holidays rolled into one. Some Vietnamese shut up shop for over a month and for many it is the one time of year they get to go and see their families. So, out comes the rice wine and the cheap beer and many a "Yo", the Vietnamese word for "cheers", is heard reverberating around.
Tet or, more honestly, the extremely social time I was having, had me land locked in Saigon for nearly a week. I did make a 2 day dash to the coast, to Vung Tao, with a fellow brit, Polly, and met the nicest Vietnamese person of my trip. Mo, as the guy was called, was the owner of our guesthouse. He could be relied on to be very "merry", morning, noon and night, something to do with Tet celebrations! He was also the most friendly and generous person I met in Vietnam, dragging us into the kitchen to learn how to make spring rolls with his wife. Handing out beer; morning,
noon and night! and serving us the most beautiful seafood; all at no expense. He was just happy to have our company. In a country where the general attitude is to rip off tourists as much as possible, Mo was a unique man.
Finally, after a brief return to Saigon, I continued my travels and headed North to a town called Dalat. Reasons to go to Dalat: crazy architecture, the best wine in SE Asia and to meet an Easy Rider. So, I saw the architecture, drank a rather tasty red, which was actually made from grapes; unlike the local brews I was later to try which were made from fermented manioc! I then found myself an Easy Rider. A 56 year old southern Vietnamese guy called Stefan.
Stefan and I were to spend the next 7 days together. Traveling from Dalat to Hoi An, through the central highlands on the Ho Chi Minh trail. An awesome journey. My criteria to Stefan were: plenty of nature, minority people (there are 54 different ethnic minority tribes in Vietnam) and off the tourist trail. What he delivered was: stunning waterfalls and mountain ranges, villages and people who were so welcoming
and, in some cases, struck dumb by the sight of a high nose (that's me!), and 4 days of not meeting any other tourists. On 1 day, I had breakfast with the indochina border guards, ninesies with the local army commander and elevensies with the local policeman; who I do believe wanted to arrest me for taking photos of a paddy field! Instead we ended up "making friends". A few beers later I had him saying cheers, thank you and finally....good bye. My 7 day tour with Stefan was a highlight of my time in Vietnam and it was a sad farewell when we parted company in Hoi An.
Hoi An is a gorgeous town, a UNESCO world heritage site, hardly touched by the war, its beauty has been preserved. I spent 5 days here, topping up on cold beer and something other than greens and rice, catching up with friends and wandering the small streets. However, mainly I waited for the weather up north to improve. Finally, the rain stopped, the sun nearly came out and I hit the road for a Hue; the old seat of the emperors of Vietnam. My time in Hue is a blur
of dashing around the old citadel, largely destroyed during the war, and cruising down the perfume river to visit the emperors’ tombs. Not really wishing to hang around Hue, 2 days later I embarked on an epic train journey; from Hue to Ninh Binh, some 10 hours. Me and the only other foreigner in the carriage, were promptly sat next to each other, despite having been allocated seats at opposite ends of the carriage. We then spent the next 10 hours being passed some pretty dodgey fruit to eat and generally being stared at, that high nose thing again! But what a great way it was to see the amazing scenery.
I went to Ninh Binh to visit the limestone Karsts of Tam Coc; huge rock formations sticking out of the paddy fields, and to visit the primate rescue center in Cuc Phoung National Park. I decided to visit Tam Coc by bicycle. Getting there in the early morning meant I missed the other tourists and had a great 2 hour trip being slowly paddled around the paddy fields; which were in the process of being planted. Back breaking work if I’ve ever seen it! Visiting the National Park
had me on the back of a motor bike again, this time a small scooter and with a young Vietnamese school teacher as my guide. Ho Chi Minh himself set up this park, the first in Vietnam. Hunting has meant that there is little chance of seeing the native Gibbons and Langur in their natural habitat. But, a quick dash to the rescue center gave me a chance to see these extremely rare and beautiful animals. Unfortunately, the cages were somewhat depressing to see. However, the animals are breeding in captivity and are slowly being released into semi wild compounds. Watching the Gibbons swing through the canopy was mesmerizing.
All too soon, with my time in Vietnam fast running out, I hoped on a local bus for the last leg of my journey to Hanoi. A vibrant and hectic city, where crossing the road really is a leap of faith. On many occasions, I stood on the side of the road waiting for a local to come along so I could shadow them through the sea of scooters.
My final foray in Vietnam was to Halong Bay, more limestone karsts but this time in the sea. Postcards of
Halong Bay have pictures of stunning aqua seas, beautiful blue sky and huge limestone cliffs. I saw an eerie mist shrouded seascape, very beautiful in its own right but fun and frolics in the sea where not quite on the agenda.
And then, the marmite country suddenly come to an end. I’m now in Laos and already the reasons why I disliked Vietnam, namely the money grabbing people, are being forgotten and I am left with some fond memories of a stunning beautiful country. I know I’ll never go again. I think in 5 weeks I truly did the country justice. It is definitely a country to be experienced before you can judge whether to love it or hate it!
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shaun
non-member comment
marmite
hi sam , some of those photos are very good.