9. 10/08 - 16/08 - Good Morning Vietnam!!!!

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10/08/07

The alarm punctured our peaceful sleep-filled bubble at 6 o'clock but due to an early night, we were feeling good(ish). We were kinda relieved to leave Sihanoukville/Cambodia, the weather has put a dampener (literally) on the last week, and I think the poverty puts a bit of distance between you and the Cambodian people so we haven't really been able to dig any deeper than the tourist circle. Also, we knew a little too much about the country/Pol Pot before we got here so it wasn't really an eye-opener. Still, it has been nice to relax for a few days and spend some time with Barrie, Chloe and Lee. We made it to the bus station via over-loaded Tuk Tuk for 7 and set off shortly after. Luckily we were sat behind some French students, who in true Francais-style, put their seats right back (literally we could not move our legs), with no consideration for others, so I turned the air-conditioning on them. I took a great deal of satisfaction in watching them wrap up more and more and more. That'll teach 'em!! We made it to the Vietnamese border, via Phnom Penh, a river crossing, a $1 steak and dug egg dinner (luxury at bargain prices) and a very near miss with a cow (luckily the bus swerved out of its way at the last minute or it would have been toast (well, mince to be more accurate)), at about 5. The border crossing was a casual affair, nothing was really checked in any depth, maybe this is where Osama Bin Laden sneaked off too (they found him yet?).

We did have a bit of excitement on the bus, Barrie had his camera stolen after leaving it on the bus when we stopped for a dinner/rest break. Another girl had a camera stolen too, and another had $100 stolen, so after discussions with the guide, Barrie searched everyone on the bus (us included!!!). I felt really sorry for Barrie, a) another item nicked (2 phones and 1 camera at last count) and b) he had to go through everyone's bags. He didn't find his camera and had a bit of a slanging match with a couple of yanks, the only people to complain, I'll say no more..............Shortly after we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, which was busy, noisy, and generally pretty crazy, but it had a great feel to it and the people are much more friendly and less cynical than the Thais/Cambodians. Its also cheap, this is my kind of city!!! The guest house hunt was a bit of a mission, and we managed to get a room for 3 to share (we've moved Barrie out now, to say that 3 in a room is a nightmare is an understatement. The queue for a shower was....a pain...and 3 adults all used to their own space just ain't cricket). However, we now have a hot shower (hallelujah), and a TV, which plays music and ALL the premier league games (shoot me now, I'm in paradise!!). We popped out for dinner for some Cantonese fayre (we ended up eating half of Barrie's dinner because we thought it was our sharing spring rolls!!!) and cracked on after, for a few beers. We went to the Go2 Bar and watched the world go by. Exploited kids, beggars, book-sellers, drug dealers and Westerners with their Vietnamese 'chaparons' (its pretty rampant here and you can see why. Vietnamese women are by far the most attractive we have come across. I think its the Chinese influence which softens their features. Anyway if you want some 'love you long time $5', book a flight to Ho Chi Minh City!!!!). We shandied out at about 11 due to our early start, and the 3 of us cosied up for the night!!!

11/08/07

Just had the best nights sleep in about 10 days, fact. We woke up at half 9, and started fighting for the hot shower (it was a pretty intense battle. Amy had pipped us to it and got up a bit earlier. Barrie and I fought no holds barred, I only won due to a swift headbutt!!). Its nice to feel hot water on your body, so I had the longest shower in living history, twice....Fully showered up we evicted Barrie (he lost the public vote, he met Davina, got a good reception) and he moved to the room opposite. The sun had come out (typical, 5 days at the beach and its monsoon season, 1 day here, glorious sunshine, have I angered someone?!) and we headed out for Independance Palace and the War Remnants Museum. The walk was, interesting, especially crossing the road. Apparently you just have to walk slowly into the lanes of oncoming traffic, and it will magically part for you. After a couple of false starts (and a change of underwear) we went for it, and it worked. It was the single most terrifying moment of my life but we survived, and have been crossing the road ever since, in fact, its kinda fun!!!

Independance Palace was built in the 1960s/1970s so is a shrine to all things 'Austen Powers'. For a palace, it is very un-grand, but does feature architectural dreams like thick pile and brightly coloured carpets (we had all green rooms, all yellow rooms etc), a lazy susan, a cinema, casino, dance floor, heli-pad, all in heavy dark wood with heavy print wall paper!! Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would have had a field day!!!!! The historical context was pretty amazing though, as was the rain storm which we escaped because we can now read the atmospheric changes (heavy swirling wind = run for shelter), impressed? 3 coffees in a swanky coffee shop for $1.25 ain't bad either. When the monsoon abated, we minced onto the War Remnants Museum (hardly the most objective exhibition in the world, highlighted by its previous name The Chinese and American War Crimes Museum!!!) and stayed there til about 5. The exhibition was quite impressive though, lots of tanks, fighter jets and machine guns (Barrie and I got very male about it all), and the pictures of victims of US agent orange and napalm attacks were quite shocking. I had serious issues with it from an objectivity point of view, which kinda ruined it for me, maybe I should get my analysing head off and just take it in, not gonna happen....

After the walk home we headed out for haircuts, for all of us. Amy was a bit dubious of letting someone loose on her barnet, Barrie was in serious need of a haircut and I was up for something a bit shorter. Amy and Barrie went on ahead, we agreed on a salon, and I went back to dump the bag. I made it to the salon but couldn't see the guys (bear in mind I have no cash), and ordered my new shorter spiky doo and sat and waited for the 'Senior Stylist' to come. He turned up (complete with mole the size of a fifty pence piece with inch long hairs growing out of it, moley, moley, moley......) and got to work. By this time I was getting a little twitchy. I was potless and Amy and Barrie were nowhere to be seen. There were people out the back but them? The trim continued, my hair got shorter, my face redder (they did the cloak up way to tight, I was gagging!!!!), and still no-one, I was wondering how I could explain to them I had no cash!!! After the trim I went out the back and to my relief saw Amy (I went for a $1.50 trim, they had a massage, facial, cut and blow dry at $6, oh and Amy had her hair straightened too, which obviously kept them out the back for a bit!!!). Barrie and I, trimmed and spiked to the hilt, left Amy with 2 assistants straightening her hair (honestly, all for $6), and headed back. We spent the evening dancing the night away til 1:30 (all feeling slick, doo'ed to the max) to some Bar Blu-esque tunes!!!

12/08/07

Despite our last night, and copious amount of brewski's, we managed to get up at half seven for our day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels (hmm, hangover + 90 by 50 cm Vietcong rat runs = what the f**k were we thinking booking this yesterday!!!). We created a water shortage in South East Asia by downing the contents of the Mekong Delta (still didn't pee til 2, quite the hangover people), nailed a cheese baguette for breakie and boarded the bus at 8. The journey, which involved a fair bit of sleeping, (and as all bus journeys in Asia do, took way longer than advertised), was via a handicapped handicrafts workshop where they attempted to guilt trip us into buy what, in fairness, was some exquisite stuff, but at exquisite prices. Luckily my tight gland, over-secreted my guilt gland (as if in doubt), and we made it out without disturbing my pet moths (don't worry my children, daddy won't wake you any time soon). We arrived at Cu Chi just in time for the sun to come out, and the waves of sweaty tourists walking in the opposite direction was........encouraging?! Our guide was an ex-US army trainer (of Vietmanese origin, after the was he couldn't train to be a doctor due to supporting the yanks. Instead he had 4 years in 're-education' and then worked as a cyclo taxi driver. Communism, what a world of opportunities it creates), and kept us amused, as well as being informative. The highlights were the 30 metre walk through part of the tunnels (luckily I'm a bit claustrophobic and the girls in front got scared so kept stopping!!) and eating lunch next to the firing range ($1 a bullet, and gun you wish......no danger of health and safety getting in the way...).

We got back from the tunnels about half three, still feeling a little 'under the weather', Amy wanted to shop, I wanted to sleep, so we shopped.......hold on, why have I got shorts on, oh yeh, Amy's wearing the trousers? Amy successfully remedied her 'evening shoe' dilemma (we are roughing it!!), and we spent the rest of the day doing a Boo Radley (To Kill A Mocking Bird character people) in our room, watching the footie (don't even go there on the results) and the National Geographic channel. This geek-fest was punctuated by spicy noodle soup and a iced coffee, but anoraksville was re-entered soon after.

13/08/07

The alarm sung at 7, signalling our departure from Saigon, which for the record is an amazing city, everything we thought Bangkok would be, friendly and vibrant, and our hot shower!! We made it to the bus by quarter to 8, and luckily we set off at about 9 (glad we set the fricking alarm). The bus was a sweat box, and full of french people (the only way is up, baby....), but hey, we were on the road. The scenery was stunning, lush green hills/mountains, rice fields, and huge rivers. We stopped on the way for food (noodles, chicken, fruit, milk (we are living it up baby)), and didn't make it to Da Lat until nearly 5 (which broke my record for holding on for a pee, now stands at 3 hours!!). Da Lat is a fantastically rich town, made rich by tourism and rich Vietmanese owning 2nd homes their due to the mountainous surroundings and cool climate. In this way it wasn't exactly the rustic Vietnam we were after, but we got a room with a hot shower for 5 bucks!!! Also, after making camp, we headed into town to get some cash and booked a 3 day trip with the Easy Riders. These guys are local people, well-educated and speaking good English, who take tourists on tours of the central highlands, or further, on restored European touring bikes. We booked up for a trip through rural Vietnam, via the national parks, and eventually dropping us 350kms away on the coast (and speedo time!!!). With pockets lightened, we walked for about 45 minutes in search of the holy grail, 'ATM', but drew a blank until we were almost back to the hotel (30 seconds away tops to be exact, typical!!). Dinner was a cheap and casual affair in a local cafe, which seemed to have run out of everything, so we pretty much got what was left. Barrie was last to the cutlery dispenser so ate with 2 spoons, which, alongwith the fact that no other foreigner has ventured into this joint, drew some laughs, and one of them even plucked up the courage to say 'hello'. Out dessert drew a few more stares/comments, as we found a street stall selling pastries and cups of custard and sweetened milk, to drink!!! Being 1500 metres above sea level it is nice and cool up here, but the Vietmanese think its coat, scarf and hat weather, so us mincing about in short sleeve shirts and flip flops made an impression!!! Still being centre of attention (ie the only 'fit' bird in Prague Junction) isn't so bad, and we hit the hay early in preparation for our Easy Riding!!!!!

14/08/07

The alarm went off at 7, again (we are now back on work time, hmmm........holiday?), and we packed up ready for our new adventure, humming the Easy Riders theme tune.....(how does it go again, we only know the verse?). We jumped on with our individual guides (Amy with Quan, Baz with Tanh and yours truly with Sinh), who strapped our bags to the back (they had a bit of difficulty cos they were too small!!), and set off in convoy through Da Lat. They quickly established that Amy was 'The Boss' (despite my protestations, I guess Amy shusshing me confirmed the pecking order), and her and Quan set off in front. The day was amazing as we biked through the mountains, visiting the french railway station, Crazy House, flower nursery, coffee and tea plantations, silk workshop (where Barrie and I ate a deceased lavae!!), 2 ethnic villages, some bamboo farmers and all the time chatting with the locals. We were also had the biggest feast for lunch, with chicken, pork, fish, soup, tofu, rice etc etc, and all for just over $1 each!!! Our accomodation was on Lak Lake, a very romantic setting (poor old Baz, still, lucky Amy and I!!), where we had another great room (hot shower included, Amy has been in a much better mood lately....) and a bath (where I attempted to regain feeling in my butt (which felt like it had been to a sleepover at Michael Barrymore's.......). Dinner was, another feast, this time of even more epic proportions, and we had the opportunity to chat with our guides some more who talked about Vietmanese history and culture. We toasted dinner with 3 whisky shots (oh no, only I got to 3, Amy and Baz bailed out on 1!!!), and filled with a warm glow, we taught Sinh some card games before going to bed at 10 (we are now officially Rock and Roll-over and fall asleep). Tomorrow i'm 27, by the looks of things, I may as well be 57...........

15/08/07 - Matt Day!!!!!!!!!

Matt Day started with, can you guess, the alarm going off at 7. Dragging my creaking, athritic limbs out of bed, I got to work with the grecian 2000 (Amy did the back), and made it to breakfast where male pride made me go for black vietmanese coffee.....yuck (still, meant I flew to our first couple of stop-offs). The sun was shining, and we set off at 08:30, stopping off to watch the elepants and fisherman in the Lak lake. Our early morning ride freshened things up, as we weaved in and out of the cattle being taken to the forest to feed, stopping off to watch local men breaking granite, by hand!! I celebrated my birthday by tredding in a ridiculous mound of cow dung, and gave everyone a laugh (ha bloody ha). Our day included seeing thousands of catholic pilgrims celebrating the holy martyr (Vietnam is 30% Catholic, due to the frogs), a mushroom farm (alongwith the families 'pet' python which one of our guides held, and than dropped when it got a bit, 'feisty'), before heading for Buon Ma Thout. All along the way local children particularly have been waving and saying hello, but when we got to Buon Ma Thout, this stopped. The city was victim of significant fighting in the was and the French acted like 'a bunch of French' when they were there before so tourists/westerners ain't overly welcome. In fact, I've never seen so many cross-eyed people in one location!!!!We stopped for a coffee (Amy got some evils when a child tried to smile at her!!), wandered through town to buy food for our picnic (I got the cakes in cos it was my b'day (see, I do open the wallet sometimes, once a year!!!)), got stared and muttered at a bit, but made it out alive (oh, being hated doesn't stop them begging off you.........no comment).

We had our picnic in the national park, next to a huge waterfall, feasting on baguettes, my cakes, water melon, and some other fruit, and made use of the Vietmanese toilet, a bush (people literally pee anywhere, not even out of sight!!). After lunch we moved onto 2 more waterfalls, and became the 'object of amusement' for loads of local teenagers, although I think a couple said 'GI' to me and looked a bit cross-eyed, so a trip to the laundry is on the cards later....The falls were huge, and really powerful, one of them about 20 metres high and 80 metres wide, and we chilled out by them, sweating, for a bit. We made it back alive (if a little dehydrated) and rode off to our accomodation, bungalows set next to the Virgin Falls. More hot water and a spectacular setting topped off a brilliant day, and with a couple of hours to spare before dinner, we chilled out in the room (only after I had de-anted the bathroom and spent about five minutes wondering why the power switch was about 10 inches from the shower head......health and safety anyone?). We had been told that we would have a surprise at dinner and to bring the camera (Barrie speculated that maybe we would have a dancer...), but like spanners, we failed to put 2 and 2 together (which is 4), and realise it would be birthday-related!! The guys, Quan (leader of the pack), Tanh (joker and lady killer apparently ie single) and Sinh (mature, intelligent and reflective) had arranged a speacial dinner, bought me a cake and flowers, and got a rather delicious bottle of red wine from Da Lat, their home town, and sung me happy birthday. I was really touched and the meal was fantastic, although the cake for dessert pushed us over the edge. Being party animals, and after sharing a bottle of red between 6 of us, we stayed and chatted with Sinh after the meal before going to bed at just gone 9……

16/08/07

Morning, and 7 o’clock, came with a startle as some knocking on our door (still don’t know who it is, struck me as a bit Texas Chainsaw Massacre as I peeped out the window) woke me from a very deep sleep, and some pretty freaky nightmares. Still a good nights sleep meant we were fully fit and we even managed to get to the bikes 5 minutes early, which put me in a good mood for a couple of hours……(‘I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me’). We had a 230 km ride ahead of us, plus some sights, and most upsettingly, our last feast with the guys…..We cruised towards the coast, and Nha Trang (beach resort) via Buon Ma Thout, where we stopped for a fag break. Amy got a bit of attention from an old guy (they seem fascinated by Amy and Barrie’s fair hair, if only they knew it wasn’t natural….), who jabbered away at her in Vietnamese until we drove off. The long ride was pretty painful, and we all suffered from chronic effects of Barrymore Syndrome, and our stop-offs at the Rubber Plantation (Barrie stocked up….his old ones have past their sell by date), the pepper farm (just after witnessing the aftermath of a motorbike/van accident…hmm…can’t wait for the long ride ahead), at a home where they were making rice paper, a farm store to eat our body weight in sweetcorn (very yummy and all aiding our weight gain as we have eaten like Vietnamese Kings for 3 days, all fuelling more of my weight paranoia), and the mountains of the central highlands where we witnessed the after effects of the US dropping Agent Orange (a de-folliant not David Dickinson moonlighting as a spy) on the forest. The mountains were steep to say the least, and Sinh and I free-wheeling down the mountain at 60 kmh, puts it in context. We stopped for our final meal together, and enjoyed a seafood feast of squid, white fish, shrimps, tuna, soup, rice, spinach, and ate til we could eat no more (few sit-ups tomorrow me thinks…). After lunch we stopped at a brick factory and witnessed another ripped, six-packed Vietmanese guy (lucky bugger, I need to get me a job labouring in a brick factory……or maybe an office-based job there with some light lifting of, say, paperclips?), and saw shrimp farms as far as the eye could see.

We arrived in Nha Trang at about 5, after 9 hours on our butts, and witnessed the glitzy, touristy part of Vietnam we had left behind for. Our hearts sank a bit, but we knew that the Easy Rider tour would come to an end at some point, so we sucked it up and started thinking about the beach. We were all humming a bit due to a lack of laundry facilities etc so we focused on the positives and cracked on. The guys sorted us some cracking accomodation, gave us our Easy Rider t-shirts, and we settled into our air-conditioned room with hot shower, fridge and TV (I have to say, this roughing it bit of travelling has been really easy, I don’t know what people are complaining about?). After a quick pit-stop we donned our Speedos and went for a swim on Nha Trang beach, whilst also seeking out our entertainment for the evening, The Sailing Club (bar/night club). The sun was out, the sunbeds were cheap, and yet more buff Vietnamese men filled the beach (and I bet these guys are proper hard, they do a lot of Kung Fu, maybe one could match me, for my ‘run for your life’ speed!!). After a bit of inter-webbing, dinner in a local gaff which was somewhat point and hope on the ordering front (turned out ok though) and 2 beers, a vodka and red bull and cocktail each (for $2 per person!!) we headed out for the The Sailing Club. The only problem was the entrance fee, 3 bucks, and there is no way that is in the budget. So we did what any self-respecting traveller would do, sneak in the back way!!!!! After casually sauntering past security who were manning the beach bar part we made it into the main bar, and set about busting some serious grooves. Somehow we got sucked into some kind of ‘take your turn in the middle of a circle of people’ dance off, and then it was my turn…………………..my advice in this situation, keep it simple, so I did, I started break dancing!!!! Never done it before, never will I again, luckily the security guards stopped me on my third revolution!! Bizarrely I got a good response, Chicago Rock beware……………………

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Photos

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Matt & Baz At Independance palace

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Barrie thinks he's a soldier

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Traditional Vietnamise meal Noodle Soup

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
our new hair cuts

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Go 2 Bar - Matt and Barrie doing the Dance (duncan you know what we mean!!)

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
This is what you call busy traffic, you just have to walk and hope you don't get run over!!

Easy Rider Tour
Our group for 3 days on the bikes

Easy Rider Tour
Crazy House - looks like something from Alice in Wonderland

Easy Rider Tour
Matt and Barrie eating a grub at the slik farm

Easy Rider Tour
A tribe in the Vietnamise hills collecting their Harvest and preparing to sell

Easy Rider Tour
A village in the central Highlands. Matt and Barrie were making friends

Easy Rider Tour
Lak Lake - where we stayed the first night of our tour

Easy Rider Tour
Waterfall - we had lunch here it was amazing, so powerful shame we couldn't swim!!

Easy Rider Tour
Waterfalls

Easy Rider Tour
Out in the jungle - Well there was definitly some bushes and it was at least 500m from any cars!!!!

Easy Rider Tour
Matt's Birthday meal

Easy Rider Tour
Barrie with his new single buddy Tan

Easy Rider Tour
The Scenery where America put Chemicals to kill the trees still not much has grown back

Comments

[Mandy and Dave]

The Holy Martyr
Matt I think they were celebrating the festival of the Holy Mother as you know we are not Catholics or Greek Orthodox but on 15th August we were in Katastari celebrating the festival of Saint Maria which is a public holiday in Greece {They do have a few } . Last year i asked somebody who she was and they said the mother of Jesus.Anyway at least you now now your birthday is an important day to a large part of the worlds population and not only because you were born.Glad to hear you had such a memorable day Chronia Polla. That is what the Greeks say it means Many Years, in other words hope you have many more good years love Mandy and Dave