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Published: January 28th 2010
Our last 2 weeks in Vietnam have been full of contrasting places.
If i cast my mind back to Nha Trang from where i last wrote we seem to have done loads despite it only being two weeks.
We left Nha Trang having waited long enough for the sun to come out properly and decided to head south to Ho Chi Minh City ( AKA Saigon) and then on into the Mekong River delta. People we met traveling the other way up the coast had warned us of the incessant traffic, smog and scams and when we arrived at the outskirts at 5pm, we were impressed that the bus had made such good time. 3 hours of crawling nose to tail traffic later and we were relieved to have booked a room for the night in a modest guesthouse. Awoke the next day to 'unseasonal' torrential rain for our only preoper full day in Saigon. We donned the waterproofs determined to get out there and headed for the 'War Remnants Museum'. The Vietnamese do censorship on the internet but not evidently in their museums- the moving and heart wrenching exhibits included graphic photos of war wounds and death but also the effects of agent orange on the next generation of Vietnamese. Birth defects and horrendous disabilities and a tank of formaldehyde containing babies which did not survive birth........... Horrific and moving.
To lighten our spirits we headed for a huge bustling market where Ally picked up a sun hat (got a rainy day discount!) and a few dodgy photocopied guidebooks for our next few legs of the trip. Ate some comfort food and got to bed early.
The next two days were spent exploring the Mekong Delta. We saw floating markets where people bought and sold pineapples and mangoes by the thousand. We saw how they make the wrapping rice paper for spring rolls and noodles and things and saw the biggest snake followed by the biggest spider either of us have ever seen!
Back in Saigon we did the almost compulsory trip to the Cu Chi tunnels where I managed not to get stuck and followed in the tracks of Viet Cong soldiers on some of the 250Km of tunnels they built to fight the Americans from. They must have had more balls than me as i was glad to get out after maybe 10 minutes down there and they spent all day followed by a fight every night.
After a relatively hectic few days we caught a short flight to Phu Quoc Island right off the southern tip of Vietnam. Flying in through the blue cloudless skies, we could see it was going to be amazing. The plane was only a little propeller driven one so my hand is still yet to recover from the iron grip of Alex as we came into land!
having been told Phu Quoc was short on accommodation, we booked a little bungalow 3 weeks ago and got a Vietnamese lady to do it over the phone to avoid any problems. When we presented ourselves after an expensive taxi ride, they said 'Were full' and so we said 'that's ok as we have a reservation for 5 nights'. So they then and got a tatty exercise book out of a drawer and found our names along with the day's date written in it and said 'sorry but were full'. Knowing that it rarely helps to lose your temper over here, we both kept calm as we were led next door to a dirty, tacky, exclusively Vietnamese/Chinese place with its own on site karaoke and 'massage'. We made ourselves scarce and only used it as a crash pad that night before moving on to our preferred bungalows with its own onsite Gecko, cricket and bullfrog noises- rather more sleep inducing!
Phu Quoc is an amazingly beautiful island. Despite all rooms being full, the beach was as good as deserted. The interior was full of pepper plantations growing some really tasty stuff. We rented a moped and Alex's nervous iron grip moved from my hand to around my waist! As the traffic eased and the roads got more pleasant we both enjoyed a great day exploring the island and finding a beach with only us on it- heaven!
Many books were devoured (by Alex, one by me!), many squid were devoured and we felt thoroughly re-charged for moving on into Cambodia.
I am writing this at the end of a long day's travel by car, ferry and motorbike to Kampot in Cambodia. We are staying at a secluded place out of town where there are no locks on the doors and no hot water. We plan to have an explore tomorrow and then head up to Sihnoukville in a couple of days.
Love to all!
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Granville
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Hi!
Glad to hear that all is going well. I'll put away the big snakes and the large spiders before you get here. I'm afraid I can't do much about the 40 plus weather and torrential thunderstorms.........but they should be gone by June. We look forward to more news of your travels. Love to you both, Granville