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Published: February 22nd 2013
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We rocked up in Ho Chi Minh City which is the largest city in Vietnam. Hanoi is still the capital, however many Vietnamese and other South East Asians see the former Saigon as the hub of Vietnam. We stayed in the usual backpacker district, where we supped Saigon beer at crowded stalls by the side of the Main Street for a pound or so a pop! I almost received a happy ending to my body massage from what we later realised was probably a brothel, and i continually got chatted up and offered all sorts of services from the local women. The city is just crazy, and with no tuk tuks (motorcycle taxis) everyone travels via scooter. The city is literally rammed full of them, and you pretty much fear for your life when crossing an intersection even on a green light!!
We visied the mekong delta for a day trip during our first day in Saigon, and saw how local honey is farmed from Vietnamese bees. They demonstrated how coconuts are used to produce sweets, and how the original tribes of the delta live today! We were shocked on several occasions by the blatant consistent
requests for tips from the workers, and their evident disdain at low tipping, or non tipping! I held a python which was a first, and was surprised by the dense muscle mass it carried, but also at the strength of a relatively small version of the species.
The following day we visited the Chu Chi tunnels which were formed during the Vietnamese war. These tunnels were a direct route of guerrilla fighting for he Southern Vietnamese army, giving an upper hand agains the American militia in the southern area, and forests. The tunnels were littered with trap doors and booby traps which contained many death ensuring mechanical devices that would kill the unlucky soldier who fell into them! We then quickly moved on from Ho Chi Minh, as our time was limited and headed to Nha Trang on the Eastern coastline.
Nha Trang is a beautiful beach resort town with a wonderful coastline, fantastic Vietnamese cuisine which we loved, and possibly the worlds largest population of Russian holidaymakers outside of their mother country! While we were there we visited a mud spa, on the outskirts of town, where we bathed in warm mud,
and spring water baths, which i´m sure did a fine job to cleanse our beings! We also took a day boat trip to a couple of the neighbouring islands. We never got a chance to travel to the entertainment island which neighbours the mainland. The only route other than boat is by a huge cable car that was built around 5 years ago. It was only a 2 day, 1 night stop before we headed off on yet another sleeper bus, to the quaint and amazing riverside town of Hoi An.
Hoi An is famed worldwide for its tailors and artwork. The quality of the suits and garments being made far exceeded what we had seen in Bangkok, and with this i had two shirts made to match a favourite of mine from home. I was more than happy with the result! The town is literally divided down the centre by a river and on the far side of the shore the night food market beckoned!! Here we made good friends with the local stall owners, and shared a great drunken night with a wonderful Israeli couple (Val & Shiran) who we were advising on the
local cuisine - crispy deep fried wontons and white rose were the speciality.
After collecting my shirts that had been tailored especially for me, it was time to leave beautiful Hoi An and head to Danang airport where we boarded a flight to the north, and to the capital Hanoi. While we were waiting for the plane, Bron and i became the talking point of a group of very (seriously) old women, who were part of some sort of peace operation in central Vietnam. The eldest of the group, who's teeth we're completely black (this is due to chewing Macca root, an indigenous root in Asia, which is commonly chewed like tobacco) decided that she loved the look of Bron and I so much, she wanted to take us home to her family in the deep north. Haha.
We landed in Hanoi and headed to our hostel in the old town district. Hanoi was a completely different city to anything we had encountered thus far in Asia or more recently, Vietnam. Whereas the normal Asian cities culture seems to revolve around tourism, the culture of Hanoi is far different. Ok, there are
plenty of hostels, and tours etc for the backpackers and travellers, but at the same time, the city is nowhere like its sister Saigon. The people of Hanoi have no interest in foreigners. They don't try and drag you into their restaurants, or tout useless crap to you at the side of the road. They don't berate you with begging, and they don't try and talk to you. It was almost a surreal experience for us, compared to the previous 2 months. Don't get me wrong, if you enter there restaurants, hostels, shops, they are more than friendly. But we soon realised that the people of Hanoi see the capital city and the north as ´real Vietnam,´ and as far as they are concerned, the rest of Vietnam (namely Ho Chi Minh) has pretty much sold their soul to the West.
We had 5 days in the capital, which seemed to drag slightly. We visited almost everything you could within the local vicinity, with one of the best outings being the working men's beer hall in the old town. We ate Vietnamese local pub snacks (steamed sausage, and chilled corn) while we saw off probably around
10 pints of the local Beer Hoi - probably the best beer in South East Asia next to Angkor of Siem Reap!
The opera house is elegant, and the national museum which is directed at the Vietnamese rather than foreigners, were worth the visit (just). However the highlight of the city was the water puppet show we saw at the Hanoi Theatre on the main square. Humans control puppets in water, while telling the history of Vietnam over the centuries. It sounds tacky, but it really was interesting, and I would definitely go and watch it again!
Our last stop in Vietnam was a 2 day mini cruise around Ha Long bay. This is one of the worlds UNESCO protected sites, and with over 1900 islands and islets in the bay it is a true marvel to see! The cruise was lovely, and the junk ship and cuisine on board were far better than we´d originally expected. We did some kayaking from the boat, toured a HUGE cave and visited a beautiful viewpoint deep in the middle of the cluster of islands (sorry due to the kayaking we didn´t take the camera).
I couldn't recommend this tour more to people, as it was definitely the highlight of Vietnam. But!! Overnight every single cruise ship, now Im talking over 100, disposed of its waste and recyclables into the bay. When we woke from bed in the early hours, we witnessed this happening, our boat included. The current sweeps it all out to sea, and probably down towards Indonesia. It's disgusting, and the Vietnamese should be ashamed!
Next stop for us would be our penultimate stay in Asia prior to heading to Australia for Xmas, all aboard, off to Hong Kong!
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Julie
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Great adventures guys!
While reading your blog entry, we can't help remembering our own trip around Vietnam in 2008 - We also went to these mud baths in Nha Trang!!! It was a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us. Keep travelling safe xxx Julie & Darian