Southern to Central Vietnam - The Mekong Delta, Saigon, The Central Highlands and a border crossing to Laos

---

---

We arrived in Vietnam after a four hour boat trip down the Mekong to the town of Chau Doc. There had been a slight "mix up" with the boat tickets, as the company had oversold tickets on the boat we were supposed to be on and so decided to put us on a "more expensive" boat. Unfortunately as the "more expensive" boat didn't know it was going to have two extra passengers on board to cater for, there wasn't enough food for us, so Ross had to physically restrain a very hungry Liz from grabbing a sandwich when all the other passengers were served lunch around us. Apart from the lack of food, the journey down the Mekong was a lovely way to cross into Vietnam and delivered us right into the heart of the Mekong Delta.

On arriving at Chau Doc, we were immediately stuck by the swarm of motorbikes buzzing down the main street. The population of Vietnam is about 93 million and we were pretty sure the whole of the country was in Chau Doc on motorbikes. Crossing the road was our first challenge in Vietnam. Luckily, however, we had been met at the boat dock by a member of staff from the guesthouse we had booked, so he explained that to cross the road in Vietnam you had to simply walk slowly and confidently into the oncoming traffic and trust that the motorbikes would avoid you. Safely across the road and still alive, we headed to our guesthouse.

The Mekong Delta, dubbed the "rice bowl" of Vietnam sounded like an interesting area to explore, so we decided to spend a week or so in the region. In Chau Doc, our guesthouse offered free use of bicycles, so we decided to join the chaos on the roads and head off to explore the countryside. Although the idea of cycling on the roads was daunting at first, we quickly fell into the swing of things and realised we were probably safer on bikes than as pedestrians. There did seem to be some order to the chaos, for example, it appeared you should drive on the right, but you could sneak down the left hand side of the road going the wrong way if you were only going a short distance or turning left from a junction. It was disconcerting to see a motorbike heading straight for you as you cycled along the edge of the road, but generally the chaotic system worked.

The Mekong Delta, being so flat, is perfect for exploring by bicycle, however, we decided it would be a good idea to try to cycle up probably the only hill in the region, Sam's Mountain. Sam's Mountain is 284 metres high and is a sacred place for Buddhists, plus there are great views from the top all the way to Cambodia. On arriving at the bottom of the hill, we quickly dismissed the motorbike taxis eagerly offering to take us to the top and, much to their amusement, set off up the hill on our heavy, one speed bikes. We made it some of the way up, but had to get off and push for the majority of the climb as it was very steep and very hot. Ross actually had a bike that almost resembled a mountain bike, but Liz had been given a pink child's bike, as the seats on all the adult bikes were stuck on the highest settings, so her tiny wheels made the climb very challenging. We finally reached the top, having been passed by chuckling motorbike taxis many times, sweating and very red faced. The view from the top was good, but our tropical fruit lunch was better. Cycling down was also fun as neither of our bikes had very good brakes...

Our next stop was the city of Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta and the centre for trading locally grown fruits and vegetables. The local produce is sold at early morning floating markets, where boats loaded with watermelons, cabbages, coconuts, mangos and pineapples (amongst many other things) float up and sell to customers on smaller boats. The floating market at Can Tho is the biggest in the Mekong Delta, so we decided to take an early morning boat trip to experience it. We saw two markets on our trip, the larger, famous market, but also a much smaller calmer market, which we floated through whilst munching on pineapple and watermelon. It was really great to see the buzzing early morning markets in full swing, all the ladies wearing very typical conical hats and boats almost sinking due to their heavy fruit or vegetable cargo. After the markets, we were taken through the smaller waterways of the delta and had a tasty Vietnamese fried rice lunch.

From Can Tho we jumped on a little local bus and bounced our way to the more isolated town of Tra Vinh further east in the Mekong Delta. Tra Vinh is one of the more attractive towns we visited in Vietnam, as it is slightly quieter due to its peninsula location and the town's streets are lined with trees, hundreds of coffee shops and many small local eateries. Again we hired bicycles and set off to explore the countryside, cycling along small dirt tracks through very pretty landscapes and rural scenes and having a delicious mango lunch. We certainly were unusual in this part of the world, as the majority of people shouted "hello" and waved at us as we passed. On returning to Tra Vinh we made two food related discoveries, firstly that Vietnamese iced coffee is perfect after a long hot day of cycling and that a spicy, lemongrassy, beef and rice-noodle soup called Bun Bo Hue is delicious.

Although we could have whiled away quite a few days in Tra Vinh, sipping iced coffee and cycling around the countryside, we decided we should move on towards the town of Ben Tre, which is still in the Mekong Delta but further north. We eventually reached the town after catching three different local buses and found a cheap hotel for the night. We'd planned to spend a few days in Ben Tre, however, there seemed to be some sort of shopping bonanza occurring in the town, therefore, our accommodation was only available for one night and so we moved on after just one evening. We did get to have a look around the shopping festival during the evening, which was a strange outdoor market full of white goods, clothes, shoes and food stalls, all with very loud music in the background and crammed into a very small space. We obviously weren't interested in the white good stalls but found a tasty dinner of spicy savoury pancakes and iced sugarcane juice.

After our night in Ben Tre, we decided we had seen the best of the Mekong Delta and headed to the buzzing metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City (still known to many locals as Saigon). On arriving at the bus station in Ho Chi Minh City, we were pleased to find a local public bus to take us directly into the city centre (in other towns in Vietnam the only public transport option to and from the bus stations had been riding on the back of a motorbike and being seriously ripped off for the pleasure, which usually resulted in a long walk because we never take these two wheeled cowboys). We quickly found the guesthouse we'd booked and began to explore the city.

We'd heard very mixed reviews of Ho Chi Minh City ranging from people who loved it to Vietnamese people telling us that it was impossible to cross the road and that they themselves were too scared to drive there. We were pleasantly surprised by the city as a result, finding it easy to walk around, not too difficult to cross the road (providing you remember the golden rules: walk slowly and don't stop or run) and historically very interesting. We visited the sobering War Remnants Museum, once called the Museum of Chinese and American war crimes, that documents the atrocities of The Vietnam War (or The American War to the Vietnamese) and the Reunification Palace, which housed the Southern Vietnamese government. The Palace has been left exactly as it was when communist tanks rolled into the grounds in April 1975. It was fascinating to wander through the presidential reception and meeting rooms, the bunkers below and see the area on the roof one of the presidents had converted into a nightclub.

From Ho Chi Minh City we decided to head into the central highlands to the city of Dalat on a "VIP" bus. What we didn't know however was that this "VIP" bus was a "sleeping bus" and had no real seats, just bunks of sleeper pods which were two small for even Liz to lie straight in. For eight hours we experienced what it must be like to be a battery hen, although after we'd arrived and straightened ourselves out, it all seemed quite amusing.

Dalat, at an elevation of 1475 metres above sea level has a refreshing cool climate and is therefore known as the "City of Eternal Spring". It is also known as "Little Paris" and the "Honeymoon City" as it is very popular amongst newly wed Vietnamese. To be honest, we found it a little too kitsch for our liking with it's heart shaped cutouts in the "Valley of Love" and horse drawn carriages around a man-made lake, however, we stayed at a wonderfully friendly hostel and used the time to plan our short escapade into Laos to avoid the Tet holiday in Vietnam.

Tet is the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and it is like Christmas for us. It's a time when Vietnamese living abroad return home to see their families, businesses shut up shop and transport and hotel rooms become booked up and very expensive. As a result, unless you have Vietnamese friends, it doesn't appear to be the best time to be in Vietnam as a tourist. We considered finding somewhere nice to sit out the holiday, but as it could be around nine days long and, more worryingly, we'd read that it can be very difficult to find food during Tet, we decided the best thing to do would be to head over to neighbouring Laos for a couple of weeks. Plus Vietnam is crazy enough just on a normal day, we didn't feel we needed to see it during a full on national holiday!

So in Dalat we did some research about Vietnam to Laos border crossings, connected up towns we could visit on the way in Vietnam and congratulated ourselves with a couple of Saigon beers for being so organised and clever. The next day we left to catch a bus to the city of Buon Ma Thuot and, like all best laid plans, ours went astray. The bus we planned to catch, although being assured it was a "big bus" turned out to be a minibus, into which they planned to cram two minibus loads of people and their luggage, plus a lot of packages. As we were being packed into the seats like cargo, we decided, as we hadn't yet paid, to bail out. Unfortunately that was the only bus going to the city we'd planned to head for, so we had to change our plans and catch a big bus down to the coastal town of Nha Trang.

The journey down the mountains to Nha Trang was really pleasant (particularly as it was in just a normal bus with seats!) and we got to pass through some of the mountainous countryside we had hoped to see from Dalat. The coastal resort town of Nha Trang was just a stopover point for us as it wasn't really our scene (lots of partying and package holidays), so the next day we once again headed to the bus station to catch a bus up to the quieter coastal town of Quy Nhon.

Weirdly, we'd been told by our guesthouse that there were no buses up to Quy Nhon until the evening and that it would cost us 500 000 Dong each (roughly £15) to get there. We chose not to believe them and on arrival at the bus station found buses heading to Quy Nhon every hour for a fraction of the price we'd been quoted. They weren't however comfortable buses. Again, these buses were minivans, full of packages (parcels were also tied to the roof), too many people and a hamster (who we decided, as he was in his own cage, got the most comfortable ride). As there was no alternative option and we'd been one of the first on the bus, we got good seats and decided to risk the journey.

We finally left the bus station, jam packed with people and parcels and five minutes into the journey our chain smoking driver and his ticket collector buddy decided it was time for their breakfast. We took this to be a good sign, showing that they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Luckily we were right, our driver took it very steadily up the incredibly badly maintained and insanely busy Highway One and, although it was very uncomfortable, we didn't feel too unsafe (despite the ticket collector having to sit on the driver's lap at one point to allow yet another passenger on board). Needless to say, we were very happy to get off the bus at Quy Nhon.

Quy Nhon is another coastal city, however, it's a lot more laid back and much nicer than Nha Trang. Unfortunately, we only had one evening to stroll along the city's sandy beach, however, we would of spent more time here if the Tet holiday wasn't creeping up on us. Our evening in Quy Nhon was spent eating pizza with chopsticks and enjoying a cool iced lemon tea in a very busy little cafe run by young Vietnamese. We also had to visit the local supermarket to buy supplies for the next day of travelling, where Ross managed to terrify a young boy that was misbehaving (we imagine his mum may have told him she was going to leave him with the strange looking giant in trekking trousers if he didn't behave himself), clearly they don't see many westerners in the local supermarket.

From Quy Nhon we made our way up to the city of Kon Tum, again on a rather uncomfortable minibus. Kon Tum is a good place to explore surrounding minority hill tribe villages and is also the closest big town to the Vietnam/Laos border we were aiming for. We'd read in various guidebooks and on the Internet that there was a good quality bus that ran the route from Vietnam to Laos everyday, so we were a bit surprised to be told there was "no bus" when we enquired at the bus station on arrival in Kon Tum (we were doubly surprised that there was no bus as the ticket counter itself actually advertised a bus to Laos). Convinced there was a bus and as we'd come so close, we embarked on a day and a half long search to find the bus, asking anyone that might have a word or two of English, including our own guesthouse, tourist information and a fancy hotel we wondered if we were going to be assorted out of. 95% of the time we got the reply of "no bus", but a few helpful people confirmed what we thought, that there was a bus to Laos that passed through Kon Tum everyday. Eventually we headed back to where we started, the bus station, and insisted we knew there was a bus and finally, after much discussion, we were sold two bus tickets to Laos. At this point, we didn't have the energy to visit the minority villages in town, so had a beer on our balcony watching a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig chase a goose, a tasty chicken-rice dinner and an early night. The next day, we turned up at the bus station and amazingly a bus to Laos arrived (albeit an hour and a half late, but we were just pleased to see that it really did exist). We still can't understand why it was so difficult to get ourselves onto that bus.

The bus journey to Laos and the border crossing was all very relaxed. We received our visa on arrival without any need to pay an extra "admin" fee and our only concern was that our bus wouldn't wait for us as the Laothians and Vietnamese can pass through the border much more quickly than us. Thankfully, the chirpy driver was happy to wait for us and we jumped back on the bus for a wonderfully slow ride down to the town of Attapeu in Laos. Although we've only been in Laos for a few days, it's a wonderful calm respite after the chaos of Vietnam.

So far on our Vietnamese adventure we have learnt:

- Although you have to taste them to believe it, cheesy buns with a coffee flavoured coating are delicious.

- Vietnamese cuisine has been a fantastic surprise. Neither of us knew much about Vietnamese food before we arrived, but we've found it to be fresh, spicy and full of flavour.

- Sounding your minibus horn makes you invincible. All overtaking/undertaking manoeuvres are safe if you are sounding your horn.

- It's important to wear a face mask whilst driving your scooter very fast down the wrong side of the road to protect you from fumes and therefore lung disease later in life. A helmet to protect you from the more immediate risk of crashing your scooter is optional.

- Headlights when it's dark are also optional.

- The default answer to any non straight forward bus related question is "no bus".

- The Vietnamese language uses the standard Latin alphabet, which makes reading it possible. We've learnt to pick out basic dishes from a menu and can understand some of the ingredients (very important in Vietnam...). However, pronouncing the words correctly seems almost completely impossible, as the meaning of the word is determined by the tone in which it is said. The only things we can correctly say are hello, thank you, iced milk coffee and beer (as luckily it is virtually the same word). Thankfully a lot of the younger Vietnamese speak English.

- Transport police in Ho Chi Minh City are having a "crackdown" on pedestrians. This means that, as a pedestrian, if you are involved in an accident it is probably going to be your fault. Those pesky pedestrians are always causing trouble!

- Vietnam is a really interesting place to travel, both historically and culturally. It's taken us a while to begin to understand the Vietnamese people and their very important concept of "face". Apparently you can lose "face" by giving way, which may explain some of the chaos on the roads.

- Travelling off the beaten track by public transport is a challenge in Vietnam. The standard of the transport quickly deteriorates off the tourist trail and minivan journeys are long and uncomfortable. You've also passively smoked about ten cigarettes by the time you reach your destination.

- Despite being the most hectic country we have visited so far, we are looking forward to tackling Northern Vietnam after a few weeks of very calm and relaxing travel in Laos.

---

Comments

[taracloud]

Bus drama!
First, I have to say that I love that you show your journey on a map! Then, what a great lesson in trust with crossing streets and biking! Good thing to leave during Tet--I almost always try to be in unpopular places or other countries for big celebrations (lots of drinking here in South America). Best wishes on a leisurely holiday in Laos!

[Around the world eventually]

Thanks Tara. We both find it very satisfying to see our journey plotted out on a map and yes, you do have to put a lot of trust in those motorbike drivers when crossing the road. We found it terrifying at first, but quickly realised they really didn't want to hit us and fall off either! We don't mess with the buses or cars though, they definitely have right of way!