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Published: June 12th 2011
Temples
I saw a lot of these. So will you.Here is the latest news from my travels, even if they are a few days delayed. Will work on getting more up to date while in Bangkok Airport on my way to Hong Kong. So far the vacation has been great and I have a lot of fun experiencing all these new places. Hope those of you that are still reading my scarce quantity of blogs, are enjoying it.
Best Regards,
Morten
Day 7
First day in Hoi An, a wonderful small village outside of Danang. The first thing we went to do was a visit to the tailorshop Yaly in the old quarter. Here I picked out fabric for a suit I wanted and fabric for a shirt, before I was measured. Having checked this off my to-do-list, we walked around town and saw some of the temples that lay within, including a very old chinese temple, constructed by the first chinese merchants that lived in the village. We saw the old japanese bridge and took a boat across the river to one of the islands to witness how they constructed boats and pearl-adorned furniture. We went to see an old house, that had been in the
Bridge
Japanese bridge. Very old. quarter for most of its excistence and still had the original family living in it, as they have done for generations. Afterwards the guide and I parted, so I went to have a nice lunch. The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing and exploring the streets and shops of Hoi An, only paused shortly as I went to my first fitting of my suit. I had previously been by and ordered three extra shirts, that now all were more or less ready except for some minor adjustments that had to be made. The evening was fun, as I went to town with some American girls that I had met in the airport. As I returned to my hotel, my now finished clothes had been delivered and the result was in my opinion, fantastic. After this fun day I now went happy to sleep.
Day 8
Wonderful breakfast this morning as I tried a banana-pancake, that turned out to be delicious. The fruit was also wonderful and fresh so I really enjoyed myself. Nothing else happened here as I was picked up at 9 and set my sight towards the old emperor city, Hué. On the way we stopped by
the Cham-museum to get some knowlegde on how the old civilisation had lived and died. We continued and stopped a while later to explore some huge caves in a mountain that had been used as a commandpost for the Vietcong during the war. It was amazing to see the rooms and passageways that existed within the mountain. Then off to Hué only to take a detour up the huge mountain that separatede Danang from Hué, to get a glimpse of the wonderful and majestic view atop one of the peaks. On the way we stopped at Tu Ducs tomb, a vast and majestic city that had served as the emperors summerresidence and now his tomb. Except he is not buried there, no one knows where his body is, but the tomb of Tu Duc is empty. Onwards towards Hué. We were dropped of outside a buddhist temple with an impressive tower infront of it. These monks were different from the ones I had seen so far as they wore grey and brown robes instead of orange ones. It was because there exist two major groups of buddhist monks with each their set of rules and traditions. When this was done,
Fun times
Just the average decoration you can find in Vietcong mountains. we took a boatride up the river, to experience Hué from a different angle. I was dropped of right by my hotel and had the rest of the day for myself. I did not get to explore much of Hué as the first street I went down revealed the location of the local Hostel. Here I went for a drink and in just a few minutes made a group of friends. There was Ville from Iceland, Andrea from Italy who lived in Germany, the manager of the place from Australia and many others. We had a great time talking and drinking, only interrupted by our dinner, which was had a the hostel, before continuing what we had been doing before. We later that evening ended up at a club not far from there, before I stumbled home towards the hotel, more close to morning than night.
Day 9
This morning I had time to get some wellneeded sleep as my program first started in the afternoon. My morning was spent at the hostel, getting some brunch, watching movies and having a blast with the others. It was wonderful. I went to see the Forbidden Purple Palace, a huge complex with
Peak
Hilltop view of the area a moat and wall that was over 10 metres thick and streched for kilometres. It was an amazing view from atop the first wall, with Hué streching far and wide on the other side of the river, and the Forbidden Purple Palace (FPP) showing off its magnificence in the scorching sun. Diem and I went for a walk through most of the palace, seeing both ruins of the former place, the reconstruction of some parts and the completed work of certain areas. It was truly an fantastic experience. After this, Diem was dropped off and the driver and I headed for Danang Airport. I arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) later that evening and was taken to my hotel, located in District 1. Beeing quite tired after a long day, I had something to eat, then went to bed.
Day 10
Early wakeup as there was much to do today. We drove for a long time out of Saigon, to end up by the Cu Chi tunnelcomplex. This was a very fun experience, seeing how the Vietcong operated and lived during the war in this area. The place was lush and green, with many trees and plants, but that
Average gate
Nothing special was not the reality during the war. The US-troops, unable or unwilling to fight the Vietcong in the jungle, decided to level the whole area in a ferocious bombing and artillery operation, that left the place more or less completely deviod of life and a moonlandscape than jungle. However the Vietcong survived by hiding in their farstreching tunnels, that were at some places in three levels and up to 10 metres deep! I had a hilarious time, as I watched a vietnamese propagandist movie from the 60’ies about the Vietcong, which truly gave me a blast. We walked around the place, seeing devious and horrifing traps, bombcraters the size of small houses and tunnelopenings that were so wellhidden and small that you could not believe a man could get up from there. In this area there was also a national shooting range where I had a wonderful time as I got to fire an AK-47. I felt like a kid in a candystore, but unfortunately I had to go as there was more to see. I was presented with an option of trying to “walk” in the tunnels, as they had restored some 100 meters length of it. It was
Oddly specific
At least they give you an option to sit there. very cramped down there, even if they had widend the tunnels for tourists. A lot of fun nonetheless, but certainly not a place you should ever bring someone who is afraid of the following: Bugs, the dark or are even just a bit claustrophobic as that place had it all in plentiful quantity. Afterwards we went to see the China-town in Saigon, including a huge bustling market and a temple. I had a wonderful meal at Pho 2000, with their motto “Pho for the president”, as Bill Clinton ate there during his trip in Saigon. And I must agree with him, it was very delicious pho. I was taken to see the cathedral and the postoffice, a huge complex resembling an old trainstation. Lastly I saw the presidential palace, before being dropped of at the War Remnants Museum by my request. It was very interesting and ultimately very depressing seeing how the war had affected people both in vietnam and the armed forces that had been there. Even if the place certainly had an undertone of propagandism, the section concerning Agent Orange was truly horrific. From there I walked home an decided to sleep a bit before heading in to
Fake grave
Zombie Tu Duc is out there somewhere. town later. I found Le Pub, the same as in Hanoi, where I settled and got aquainted with the friendly staff. I met a group of friendly vietnamese girls whom I was invited to sit and drink with. We had a lot of fun the whole evening before heading each our way home. I even found a group of danish students at Le Pub afterwards, which was a lot of fun. The day had been very fulfilling and a lot of fun.
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