Farewell Lovely Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam
April 29th 2011

Published: April 29th 2011

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Chris and Lisa

Xmas all year round

with these colourful lampshades

Although we had vowed never to take the overnight bus again, as the only people who could possibly be comfortable on them were small Asians used to sleeping on mattresses like boards, we found this was the easiest way to reach Hoi An. But at least this time we knew what to expect ..... no sleep. Luckily at least the bus wasn't full so we didn't have the driver's pal sleeping next to us in the aisle this time and we could, at least, get our bags off our laps. The first few hours made it perfectly clear that we weren't going to be able to sleep, because as well as the small, uncomfortable bunks there appeared to be a cockroach infestation and being on the bottom bunks we were in danger of swallowing a few in our sleep - urgh (we don't need to know what they taste like as Matthew ate one last year and told us it was disgusting). So after a loo stop we decided to head for the hills, well the top bunks anyway, and away from the bugs we managed to get a certain amount of sleep. Just goes to show that after 1 1/2

The days end

on Hoi Ans new waterfront

years of travelling we can now sleep just about anywhere.

Our destination Hoi An, the prettiest town that we have been to in Vietnam, is a throw-back to the French occupation with its cafes and pastry shops and its pretty streets of pastel coloured shop houses covered with trailing exotic flowers. It is a place to kick back in some lovely river-side cafes while you wait for your made-to-measure clothes to be made. This is more or less what we did while we waited for Chris to have a shirt made and me to have a pair of shoes created. First to Chris' shirt, which in itself is relatively normal, fits well, but is essentially quite boring, but the reason it gets a mention is because of Chris' embarrassment factor and it is not often that I have seen him go a bright shade of pink and be stumped for words. So, he gets measured on our first day there and the following day we duly go back and he whips his t-shirt off in the shop to try the shirt on. Well, as Asian men don't tend to be too hairy, this caught the young girl by surprise

Worth 12 hrs on a sleeper bus?

Lisa loves em' that's what matters

who, with squeals of delight, proceeded to stroke his chest amid lots of giggling from the other ladies in the shop. Chris immediately turned a bright pink shade and obviously didn't know what to say. I have to be honest I was absolutely no help whatsoever as I almost had an accident laughing so much. I wish I had had the camera ready to snap the embarrassment for posterity. Shirt done it was my turn to have some shoes made, hopefully in the bright turquoise shade of my Jimmy Choo knock-off handbag that I bought in Thailand last year. The young woman, Vi, was so lovely that I forgot to bargain the price down, but at about £20 for hand-made, made to measure, leather shoes I wasn't too bothered. With foot quickly drawn round and some measurements taken the following day would reveal whether we had been taken for a ride or not. Joy of joys and there they were just as I asked, a bright turquoise pair of sandals. A bit bright some might say, but I LOVE them. I just hope they last more than once.

Unfortunately while we were in Hoi An the weather was atrocious

Little Paris

the riverside cafes

and it was easy to see how every year it floods, as with just a bit of rain the roads were beginning to resemble the Thon Bon River on which the town sits. For us it didn't matter because we had strolled round the town last year in beautiful sunshine so knew what a lovely place it was, but I am sure a number of travellers left with a less positive view of it - shame. As well as getting ourselves kitted out we wanted to see how the improvements along the river had progressed since we were here last and were pleased to see that they had made a good job and where last year walking along the river was like walking through a building site, this year the stroll was a pleasant past-time (well apart from the weather). So we strolled, sat in cafes and watched the Vietnamese going about their business; seeing how many of them, plus bikes, could be squashed on a dodgy looking ferry that took them to the islands. The locals in the markets were friendly and joking and, as we expected, happy to relieve us of some hard earned cash, but all the

Preserving the past

to enjoy in the future

banter was friendly and they didn't mind being knocked back.

One last thing to mention about our stay was our hotel, The Hoang Bing. Recommended on Trip Advisor it is easy to see why. Nice rooms for $20, with a good free breakfast, but with incredibly friendly staff who were helpful, sincere and not constantly pushing for us to buy a trip from them. A great place and highly recommended.

Happy with our purchases we headed north to Hue to visit Royal tombs. It was going to be a whirlwind visit because we had seen many of the other sites in and around Hue last time, so although the Citadel is nice, when you have seen the original in China it does pale into insignificance a bit and we didn't feel was worthy of a second trip inside. It was, however, worth a walk around to get a bit of exercise and, as always, when we head out for a walk the locals don't know whether to laugh at us or just stand their stunned. The concept of walking for exercise is something that just doesn't compute in Asia, let’s face it they will get on their mopeds

Hoi Ans Japanese bridge

to go 2 minutes down the road to the shops, and then they will drive right up to the door and stay on the bike if they can, rather than walk. So a couple of hours walk around the outside of the Citadel brought us into contact with locals who obviously didn't see a lot of flushed, perspiring, walking tourists. This inspired lots of friendly banter, hellos, shaking hands and genuine curiosity. But the main thing for us is that it gave us a better view of how the locals live and spend their time and beer/whisky o'clock at 10.30 in the morning for groups of chaps was something Chris was rather interested in. We were invited to stop for a while and partake in a little tipple, but both thought that what with the hot weather and the probable strength of the drink we would never make it back to the hotel again! We also saw some of the local artists at work carving some of the lovely wooden statues that we see around the country, that was great to see real craftsmanship rather than mass produced items.

The following day we braved the traffic and hired a

Scorching performance

from this monks motor

moped and headed out to a number of the mausoleums and temples that are dotted along the Perfume River. That is, of course, if the bike would stand up to the trip as it sounded incredibly ropey. The first stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda, or the "Pagoda of the Celestial Lady", which stands on the site of an ancient Cham temple. Thien Mu was a centre of Buddhist opposition to colonialism during the 30s and 40s but it became very famous in 1963 when the Venerable Thich Quang Duc drove from Thien Mu to Saigon in his light blue car and burned himself to death as a protest to the excesses of the president's regime. And there in all its rusting glory was the famous car.

Down along Kim Long Street where, in the late 19th century, mandarins (scholars not oranges) and officials built houses surrounded by beautiful gardens we opted to visit An Lac Vien which was built in 1888 by a junior mandarin. We strolled around the garden, along with a bus load of other visitors and had a quick look inside the house, and it was okay but glad we didn't have to pay

Tidy Temple

to go in. It is a shame but apparently these gardens, which were once passed from generation to generation, are now falling into disrepair as the children move away and don't want to be bothered with their upkeep. So the local government is now offering to help with restoring them - good news.

On to the Royal Arena, Ho Quyen, where emperors used to sit and watch fights to the death between elephants and tigers. As elephants represented the might of the sovereign and the tigers the rebel forces, the poor tigers were not allowed to win. So the fights were rigged and the tigers were often chained and had their claws removed. Well it certainly wasn't on the same scale as the Coliseum in Rome and was also locked for repairs, which would explain why none of the tours bother to take you to visit it. So a quick ride round it and then off to the much more impressive Royal Mausoleums. Each of the 7, which were built in the Nguyen Dynasty, is unique and apparently expresses the personality of the monarch who is entombed within. They vary in detail but all of the mausoleums consist of

work in progress

"This looks easy"

a temple dedicated to the worship of the deceased emperor and his queen, a large stone tablet recording details of his birth and reign and the royal tomb.

En route we just had to stop and see how the incense sticks were made and for Chris to have a go at what looked a very easy task. They used cinnamon and sandalwood for the fragrances and, after a brief demonstration where a large glob of cinnamon was skilfully wound around the bamboo stick, Chris tried his hand. Well, it wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination and the second attempt left us all in fits of laughter as it was, quite frankly, floppy. Feeling we had to buy some they ended up costing us more than the hire of the bike for the day - hey ho.

We decided to visit just 2 of the 7 and our first destination was Tu Duc Mausoleum. The Emperor Tu Duc was a romantic and preferred to wile away his time in his beautiful gardens than do the tough stuff, like rule the country. The park took 3 years to complete enabling the emperor to take full advantage of its

Doh

not quite right

lovely lakes and shady gardens before he died and he did by boating, fishing, meditating and when he could fit it in he also wrote around 4,000 poems - what a busy chap. To add to that, he also ate 50 course meals, had 104 wives and a lot of concubines living in the park, although he fathered no children. Which probably explains why he didn't have time to rule the country! But it was not all sweetness and light in the heavenly garden; the workers were pushed so hard to finish they rebelled and were sorted out rather savagely. If the gardens could keep an emperor enchanted then we expected them to be good - and they were. The temples were slightly shabby and could certainly do with having a bit more visitor entrance fee money spent on restoring them, but the gardens were tranquil. Brick paths meandered around lakes covered with lilies and crossed by stone arched bridges. Pavilions overlooked the gardens and lakes and where royalty once sat, so did we and had our lunch. Even though there were a lot of visitors the overwhelming feeling was of peace and harmony and you could just imagine how

Wise Monkey?

nope, just a mandarin

lovely it must have been in its heyday, and no wonder as the emperor would need all the tranquillity he could get what with having 104 wives and a lot of concubines to please.

The bike ride to the next Mausoleum of Minh Mang was along dirt roads, filled with watery potholes, giving our spines a good workout. After getting a little lost we were eventually pointed in the right direction by some locals and found ourselves at the entrance. With free bike parking, as long as we bought a bottle of water when we came out, we paid our 55,000 dong entrance fee and headed inside. Apparently it took 14 years to find the site for this mausoleum, 3 years to build and 10,000 workmen to build it. Minh Mang was the second Nguyen emperor and was responsible for completing the Citadel in Hue. Minh Mang's queen died at the age of 17, bereft he only managed to father a further 142 children with his other 33 wives and 107 concubines! Player! The pavilions were better preserved here and stood amidst landscaped gardens and lakes and the fragrance from the frangipani trees softly wafted through the air as

Pretty pagoda

at Tu Hieu

we marvelled at the "Pavilion of Pure Light" (what a great name). Unlike the first mausoleum where we could actually see the tomb, here the burial mound was closed to visitors. Getting back to our bike we purchased the previously agreed on bottle of water and headed off to our final destination, only to find on the way that the buggers had siphoned off most of our petrol. Luckily a very kind local lady came to our rescue and helped us purchase some more at local rates.

Our final visit for the day was the Tu Hieu Pagoda, where royal eunuchs retired to and were worshipped after their deaths. The Pagoda was founded in 1843 and has monks still living there (don't think they're eunuchs though). It has a very attractive pagoda and gardens and a pond with some flippin’ big fish in it. As a bonus we managed to not pay for parking and not get any petrol siphoned off. Now the tricky part, negotiating the traffic in a busy city. We were doing OK until a huge multiway roundabout loomed large and with no obvious flow control Chris just decided to go for it, drove right for

Asian size wife

look, i've picked a Lisa

the centre of the seething mass of busses, cars & scooters. The trick is to simply keep going and everything suddenly seems to flow around you and you become part of this moving, flowing wave suddenly appearing at your exit. What an experience but I don’t think it’ll catch on in London. Eventually we managed to get back to the hotel in one piece. So a nice dinner out and an early start in the morning saw us on our way back to Saigon for a few days of shopping, shopping and, oh yes, more shopping.

After a quick flight and bus ride we found ourselves back at Madame Cuc’s hotel. The following few days consisted of doing a bit of retail therapy and chilling (although not easy in the heat and humidity). We were invited for lunch by Phoung, our lovely, helpful receptionist, one afternoon and, along with a couple of other guests, headed off to their other hotel where they had put on a lovely spread of savoury pancakes, noodles, spring rolls and other delights. Far too much for us all to eat, but what a lovely gesture and we had a great time. In speaking to

Giggs or Best

the debate even rages in the temples of Vietnam

Phuong, she was telling us that she worked from 6.30 am until 11.00 pm, 7 days a week and didn’t earn enough in a month for a cheap return flight to Hoi An where her family lives – makes you think doesn’t it. The staff also seemed to bed down in the kitchen to sleep. But she didn’t complain and really seemed to love her job and Saigon.

So do we still love Vietnam as much as we did last year ….. yes, maybe even a little more because now we are confident in making our way round the country. The people we have met have been courteous, inquisitive, gracious, friendly and, okay, happy to relieve you of your money but that’s all part of being a tourist. They drive a hard bargain for their goods and services, most of which is ridiculously overpriced to start with, but enjoy the bartering experience which more often than not seems like a game to them. They know that you know that they are trying to rip you off and if you get ripped off – well that’s your own fault. There are also a lot of improvements being made on roads

Interesting Incense

myriad of colurs & smells

and buildings and many of the towns look as though they are prospering. Even in the short time between our 3 visits the amount of money pouring into the country is amazing. The Vietnamese also have an amazing work ethic and thirst for knowledge, if teenagers ask you if they can practice their English they mean exactly that, unlike their neighbours. If the state lets it happen, these wonderful people could start fulfilling a few of their dreams, and soon.

There are obviously down sides. As a nation they are crap drivers, but surprisingly don’t get worked up with each other as they dangerously weave in and out and cut each other up, which if happened in the UK would result in red faces and angry exchanges. For me Saigon is slightly seedier than I remember it, with more ladies obviously plying that aged old trade and the standard of living in some areas is still unbelievably basic, but no more or less than most other Asian countries we have visited.

We both leave this lovely country knowing that we will be back and can only wonder at what it will have achieved in a few years’ time.