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Published: September 18th 2006
We boarded a speed boat in Rach Gia, a small town in Vietnam, and headed on a three hour journey to the Vietnamese Island Phu Quoc. Over the years, Cambodia and Vietnam have battled for control of this island several times. It is kinda strange that this island is part of Vietnam, because it is directly under Cambodia. Anyhow, as we boarded the speed boat we were lead upstairs to a plush upper deck that definitely felt first class. We thought we were in for a great ride. As it turns out, the sea was unforgiving and extremely rocky. People were vomitting the entire time, and a Canadian even spewed all over Mike's leg. Luckily, he didn't seem too disgusted or vomit in reaction, because for all of you that don't know, Mike has quite the gag reflex. We finally made it to the island in the late afternoon and couldn't have been happier to get off that boat. The resort that we wanted to stay in was towards the northern part of the island and was recommended to us by a guy we met in Africa. We took a taxi from the boat dock on the south of the island
and made our way north. Our first impression of the island was that of tropical paradise. The foliage was endless; palm trees, banana trees and other trees lined the roads and painted a beautiful picture. We were dropped off at the touristy town Duong Dong, for that's as far as the bus could take us. When we told the motorbike drivers that we didn't want to stay in Duong Dong but rather a bit north, they all tried to talk us out of leaving the city. They said that the resort that we wanted to go to was "too far from the city" and that we would be stuck there. What they didn't know, was that this was exactly what we wanted and what we were hoping for. We were excited to be far from the endless honks. Vietnamese people are the most obnoxious honkers. They honk their horns on their mopeds and in their cars more than necessary. So we climbed on the back of two mopeds, backpacks and all and were off to our remote getaway. What everyone failed to mention, was that the roads to get to our hotel were a bit dodgy. Basically, since it had
been raining, the dirt roads were replete with enormous pot holes and slushy mud. A rocky thirty minutes later, we arrived to our haven, Thang Loi. We were extremely satisfied with our rough ride when we saw the scattered bungalows along the water's edge and amidst hundreds of trees. The German owner greeted us and welcomed us to his slice of paradise. We picked our secluded bungalow and quickly made ourselves comfortable in our peaceful surroundings. Our bungalow was a decent sized, wood hut with a cozy bed and a bathroom and shower. As we are quickly adapting, most of the showers in Asia consist of a showerhead over the sink and a drain somewhere near the toilet. Theoretically, you could go number two while brushing your teeth and showering all at the same time. We were also informed that electricity at our resort ran on a generator and only operated from sunset until about 10pm. As we mentioned earlier, we were on a remote part of the island and therefore, the only place to eat was the restaurant that was run by the hotel. As dinner approached, we made our way over to the restaurant and were quickly embraced
by the sweetest Vietnamese lady and waitress, Sau. We enjoyed a terrific dinner and then retreated to our bungalow and fell asleep to the lullaby of the crashing waves.
Shortly after the sun rose and nature's clock awoke us, we went to the restaurant for breakfast. During breakfast, we began talking to Sau and she told us how she loves America and desperately wants to move there. Sau is a sixty year old woman and worked for the US army during the Vietnam war. However, after the war was over she burned all of her documents stating that she had worked for the US in fear of imprisonment. Ever since Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo and resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1994, Sau would have had the opportunity to enter the states freely. Unfortunately for her, since she burned all of her documentation, she has no proof that she worked for the US during the war and therefore is having a difficult time leaving Vietnam. We sympathized with her and wished her the best luck in achieving her desire. To explore the tropical island, we rented a motorbike for the day. It took a few minutes for
Mike to get adjusted to driving the bike and then we were off. It was a clear and sunny day and we were ready to explore. We decided to start by heading north, up the western coast. The northern part of the island is occupied by a dense forest, which has recently become a National Forest Reserve. For a good portion of the way, we cruised on paved roads, viewing the spectacular and untouched forests on our right in unity with the stunning white sand beaches to our left. Most of the island is unihibited by tourists and we definitely felt like we were the only foreigners that some of these people had ever seen. They couldn't refrain from staring and the children never stopped yelling hello and waving. The further north we went, the less paved roads we came across and the more villages we went through. We stopped several times to view some of the astounding beaches. We actually drove into several villages to look at the beaches and when we parked our bike, the people came around us and were very friendly. Very few people spoke any English and those that could speak a little, invited us
to swim and to stay a while. We greatly appreciated their generosity and were happy to oblige. When we got back on our bike and reached the northern-most point, the roads rapidly began to deteriorate. Gone were the smooth paved roads, here were the shoulder-width bamboo bridges and slippery mud. Our first bridge that we came upon, we were a bit intimidated by the narrow, unstable looking bridge that had large gaps between each bamboo stick. We decided to get off and Mike walked the bike across the bridge and up the other side. Phew, not such a big deal. Right. Little did we know that that was the first of about ten rickety bridges to come. These damn roads and bridges kept getting worse and worse with every bridge we crossed, but we weren't about to turn around and go back for we felt it had to end soon. Mike had several close calls when trying to navigate the bike across the bridges and up the slippery, bumpy inclines and wound up a bit muddy. We reached the top of the last ridiculous road and we thought we were home free. Then we came upon a large bridge that
was completely out, with no make-shift bamboo bridge in sight. We were puzzled. We were not about to go back through the hell that we came from and there was no way around this huge hole in the ground. So we decided to take a tiny road west towards the ocean. We came upon a seaside village and stopped to ask if there was any way that we could get through the village, alongside the coast to pass the fallen bridge. One man spoke enough English to tell us to keep riding along the water, via the village. This was quite the experience, considering that there weren't any roads, but only accumulations of tire marks that formed a path. It was apparent that tourists definitely did not travel through here and we had no idea where we were going, but we were comforted by the endless smiles and hellos from the people. Every now and then we must have looked a little lost because several old ladies or young men pointed ahead, in the direction that eventually led us out. We were glad to be back on a road and slowly making our way south on the eastern coast. Of
course, when we thought we were in the clear, we hit a few more make-shift bridges. These last few seemed worse than previous, mainly because we were losing our patience and running low on gas. As we finally made it to somewhat acceptable roads, we were crossing our fingers that we wouldn't run out of gas. Luckily, our little engine that could made it to a small fishing town called Ham Ninh. We refueled and bathed (it was really muddy) our trusty moped and found a quaint restaurant on the pier. Since it is an island, the people of Phu Quoc rely on the abundant food that the ocean has to offer. In other words, there is really good seafood. We enjoyed a most scrumptous pile of jumbo tiger prawns. We had to dig the tender meat from their shells, almost like crab. It was amazing. From this quirky fishing village, we made our way inland to the Suoi De Ban Springs. This is the largest set of waterfalls on the island. As we were ascending along the pools to the larger waterfalls, we were amused by the Vietnamese families swimming fully clothed. There were many mainland Vietnamese people on
Phu Quoc during this time because it was a national holiday and a long weekend. But the further we hiked up, the more peaceful and serene it became. There were endless pools of warm water surrounded by big boulders and the jungle. After an easy hike, we arrived at the main waterfall and decided to jump in. Swimming under the waterfall and enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature, we began to unwind. After relaxing for a while, we decided it was getting late and better head back to our relaxing oasis. Fortunately, the remainder of the ride home was smooth sailing and we actually found our way back without getting lost. We were definitely glad to get off that bike and sit and enjoy a few beers while watching the sunset. We met and began chatting with the other 4 guests at the resort: a honeymooning German couple and an Irish couple. After another great dinner, we retreated to our bungalow and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning we rose fairly early, ate breakfast and rented the motorbike again so that we could navigate through the southern part of the island. We began the day by driving into the
touristy town, Duong Dong. Basically, the entire town was made up of resorts, touristy restaurants and soon to be built resorts. After seeing nothing but littered beaches and hearing way too many horns honking, we definitely knew that we had made the right decision in staying 'out of town.' From there we continued south on the western coast, thankfully with driveable roads. We stopped several more times along the way to view some of the beaches, but were once again disappointed to see garbage laying on the sand and surfing through the waves. We had heard that one beach in particular was supposed to be especially beautiful and free of trash, so we decided to venture towards Bao Sau (Sao Beach). After parking our bike and walking through the ocean front cafe, we were pleased to see a minimal amount of trash. If you weren't inspecting for trash, all you would have noticed was a good amount of debris. We picked a trash free spot and layed down on the uncrowded, quiet beach. It was once again a perfect, sunny day and we enjoyed cooling off in the crystal clear, warm water. Later that afternoon, after enough sun exposure and
as the rain clouds rolled in, we drove up the eastern coast in the direction of our hotel. It was once again a divine drive plentiful of green surroundings. On one of the roads on the way back, we saw a billboard that has become all to familiar to us: an advertisement for OK Condoms. These hand-painted billboards appear everywhere in Vietnam and in a variety of scenes. We were glad to see that the government is promoting safe sex, we just wish they would do the same for littering. After an easy day of driving, we thought it all too ironic when we got a flat tire on the bumpy road back to Thang Loi (our resort). The funny thing is that we didn't even know, a man (who was strangely enough holding a pet chicken in his arms while driving) stopped us and pointed to our back tire to indicate that we had a flat. We weren't sure exactly what to do, since we were about 20 minutes away from home, but two other guys stopped and told us to hop onto the back of their bikes, while one of them drove ours. About 200 yards down the
road we stopped at someone's house/auto repair shop. 20 minutes and about 80 cents later, we were back on the road. When we got back to the hotel we decided to walk along the shore and watch sunset. It was a decent sunset, but rains clouds were looming overhead. As we were falling asleep that night, the skies opened and torrential rain poured down.
The next two days on the island were rather crummy, overcast and rainy. We opted against returning on the horrid boat and chose rather to fly straight to Saigon, after a refreshing 5 days on the island.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, or more commonly known as Saigon, early in the morning and decided to treat ourselves to a nice stay in an expensive (compared to our usual $10 a night fare) hotel since we were celebrating our two year anniversary. After checking in, we cruised the streets of Saigon. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam and is constantly bustling. To add to its chaos, there is a ridiculous amount of motorbikes. There are probably 50 motorbikes to every 1 car. Everytime we rode them, we were constantly surrounded by a
sea of bikes. We heard an all too frightening statistic to accompany the use of motorbikes: in the first 6 months of 2006, 6000 people died and over 5000 were injured in motorbike related accidents in Vietnam. Someone needs to instill a helmet law. After hearing this, we decided that we should avoid jumping on the back of mopeds if at all possible. On a whim after seeing a bowling alley, we decided to give it a go. Later that night we went out to dinner at an amazing Mediterranean restaurant and enjoyed vats of sangria and delicious food.
The following morning we went off to discover to Cu Chi Tunnels, located about an hour outside of Saigon. But as most tour buses do to get you to spend some extra dough, we stopped first at a Craft Shop by the Disabled. Although part of a scam, this workshop was actually interesting and worthwhile. We saw people carving, painting, designing and polishing all sorts of crafts. After walking behind the scenes, we went into the shop and viewed an array of artwork. It was hard for us not to buy one of these beautiful pieces, especially since it was
Tight Squeeze
This isn't the greatest photo but it gives you and idea of how small these holes are.for a good cause. So Mike did. Then we were off to the tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels were used by the Viet Cong to facilitate warfare during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were originally created when the Vietnamese were trying to gain independence from the French. However, the tunnels grew drastically in size during the Vietnam war. In the Cu Chi district alone, the tunnels stretch for more than 250km. These networks of tunnels spanned from the South Vietnamese capital all the way to the Cambodian border. The tunnels were built in three layers, the deepest being several stories underground, and included trap doors, bedrooms, weapon factories, hospitals and kitchens. Over 10,000 Vietnamese lived and roamed through these tunnels during the war. After watching an introduction video we are amused/a bit surprised at how, from their point of view, Vietnam was fighting America (there wasn't fighting between the north and the south). There were dozens of comments that explained how soldiers won numerous awards for killing Americans or blowing up American tanks. While these are realistic war-time awards, it was strange to hear the glorification of the opposing army (ours). After the wonderful anti-American video, we began walking through
the grounds of Cu Chi. We first came upon a huge hole in the ground where a B-52 bomb had landed. This was the first of several that we saw throughout the day. Near the B-52 hole, we saw our first booby trap. This particular booby trap was called the "swinging door" and consisted of a door, that when an American soldier stepped on it, he either fell onto a bamboo spear or was stabbed by rotating spikes in the door. Booby traps were an incredibly effective technique in injuring and/or killing Viet Cong opponents. Then, after passing a tree and walking over some leaves, our guide stopped us and told us that we had just walked over an entrance to the tunnels. It was amazing. There was no way that an outsider would know that there was a hidden door under that pile of leaves. Not to mention, when our guide took off the lid to the door, it was apparent how small the entrance was. He asked if anyone wanted to try to climb in and a young boy, about 10, was lowered in by his father. This little boy was the exact size of the door. There
is no way that an American, or any normal sized man could fit through this entryway without getting stuck. A few feet from the first entrance, there were remnants of a blown up American tank. After seeing the remains of the tank, we saw a variety of booby traps that were used. From the rolling trap to the souvenir trap (which went with you to the medic if you stepped on it), the Viet Cong created some viscious entrapment devices. We were then taken to a weapons room (which was uncovered for tourism) where the Viet Cong would make bombs out of dud American B-52 shells. In the display, it showed how the men would saw open the bomb to extract the explosives. During this process, it was necessary to have water constantly pouring over the bomb so that the sawing did not ignite the explosives. Wouldn't you want that job?! From these dud bombs they made land mines, hand grenades and other bombs; all of which aided in the derailment of tanks and the suppression of American troops. We then began walking towards the shooting range. It was rather strange hearing the loud gun shots and remembering where we
were and thinking about the bloodshed and unforgiving war. It was almost as if we were transported back into the warzone. When we got to the shooting range, Mike decided he wanted to shoot another gun and chose to shoot an M-60. After a quick rush from firing a powerful gun, it was time to decend underground. We were told that once we entered the tunnels, the first exit was only 50 meters from the entrance and if you wanted to keep going you could finish at the 200 meter exit. And then we went under. As we slowly penetrated into the tunnel system we were surprised by the narrowness of the walls. We had to crawl on our hands and knees and Mike had to remove his backpack, for he kept getting stuck. To add to the difficulty of manuvering, the tunnels were pitch black and extremely hot. We had to feel our way through the tunnel and all too often ran into the walls. After about 20 meters Meghan began to get very claustrophobic and started freaking out. After about 10 minutes of pure hell, we reached the heavenly exit. As we scurried out, we were dripping sweat
and panting for breath. After everyone ascended at the first exit, our guide told us that the width of the tunnels was even expanded for tourists. After experiencing this, you really had to tip your hat to the Vietnamese for the type of environment they lived in and their ingenuity of warfare against their opponents. The Vietnamese thought of everything while creating these tunnels. We were taken to an area where smoke was slowly being released from the underground kitchens. They built several air vents for the smoke to be released and made it look like dew or mist coming from the ground, rather than smoke. This made it impossible for helicopters to spot the escaping smoke from the air. We then sampled some Tapioca roots, a staple diet for the Vietnamese soldiers. It was pretty good, especially dipped in peanut crumbles. After enjoying a light snack, we walked through the souvenir store and saw huge displays of snake wine. Snake wine is actually drinken by the Vietnamese and consists of a dead snake, along with a variety of other insects, like scorpions. Some of the larger bottles had three snakes with scorpions dangling from their mouths. They were giving
out samples of the wine, but we were both too grossed out to try it. However, we did buy a bottle.
We arrived back in Saigon later that afternoon and walked around the bustling city. We explored through several parts of the city and elected to avoid the anti-American museums. We had decided that we needed to be moving a bit faster and booked a bus ticket out of Saigon the next morning and were off traveling up through Vietnam.
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Jessica
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Congrats
On your two years, can't believe it's been that long..only seems like yesterday you two started your canoodling! Did either of you actually try the snake wine??