Hoi An, Nah Trang and Saigon/Ho Chi Minh!

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After experiencing the brief delights of Hoi An's lantern coloured streets, clothes shops and mass photographed yesterday evening, we tailored our day to clothes shopping followed by a cycle to the beach. With black clouds looming over the local buildings surrounding our hotel we swiftly headed into town for breakfast by the calm river. Once fueled on a breakfast baguette we headed straight to the shops with a dress for Nik and a coat for myself in mind. With a vast array of tailored clothes on offer the choice was simply to difficult to make and so we spent much of the morning "predominantly Nik" looking through designs and fabrics in various shops. As the humid temperatures began to hot up during the early afternoon, so too did our search. Nik finding a blue ball dress for 12 quid and myself finding a shirt and winter coat probably saving well over 60 quid when I get home! Sized and measured we then had a nice lunch where I sampled yet another of Hoi An's culinary specialties. Although we had spent longer searching for the right garment than intended there was still enough time to get out the free bikes from our hotel to take a trip to Hoi An's beach. The bikes were terrible with flattened tyres, rusty frames and limited braking ability, not to mention buckled tyres. Nevertheless we got there safely and en route we cycled alongside rice fields with the occasional farmer riding stubbornly looking Buffalo. Our experience on the Vietnamese roads were far more chaotic than that of Luang Prebang - Laos, particularly with mopeds racing up behind you and trucks often driving on the wrong side of the road only to warn you by the deep harsh sound of their horns. The patchy storm clouds had spoiled the luxury of Hoi An's long sandy beach lined with palms, yet amidst the crashes of semi sized waves along the coastline we were able to get a sense of the tropical nature along the shore. We cycled back quickly to avoid the dangerous roads at night time then soon found ourselves walking back into town for some grub. I sampled White Rose to Nik's delight as a symbol of her "Yorkshire Heritage." this was yet another specialty dish that can only be described as a soft "won ton" (Try at your local Chinese). This was followed by an attempt to upload pictures on the slow and unreliable internet.

Our anxiety to see the result of our tailored clothes was slightly hindered by the angry sky that seems to be engulfing much of Vietnam at the moment. Amidst the dry patches we made a run for the town, with the temperatures still hot and sweaty. Both my coat and Nik's dress needed alterations and my shirt was more like a smart shirt than casually intended! ahh well. During alteration time Nik pursued art galleries whilst I searched for internet to upload pictures. After finally having luck as you can see on my facebook page, pictures were uploaded. We then eventually collected our stuff and were both pleased with them, particularly with the price tag we payed. On the downside much of the day had rushed past and we needed some food. Suddenly the heavens opened with a monsoon style watery deposit on Hoi An. Our group hopped from one restaurant to another to avoid the rain as well as the hefty food price tags in some of the restaurants. During the same period local sellers whizzed around from puddle to puddle searching for soggy tourists to purchase raincoats. Nik taking full advantage as she forgot hers!. Once the rain had subsided we rushed home against the clock to catch our bus to Nah Trang. But then with an almighty crash as the rain suddenly hit the sandy sided streets we were stuck in no mans land getting drenched. We decided to run for it but couldn't alleviate the watery messes we were surcoming to. With next to no time before the bus arrived we quickly shedded our dripping clothes in aid of a dryer journey ahead, just making it in time with little time to dry. The night bus was similar in style to the one we caught before and so intended to be a semi-comfortable trip. However the first part of it was used to dry ourselves out including a large scale drying of my passport under the cool blustery air conditioning above. The journey ahead was relatively uneventful and and we all got some sleep in slightly cramped circumstances.

Fortunately we arrived in Nah Trang, south of Vietnam in a dry spell. Still though this would be tropical beach haven looked as if the same watery fate was to unfold as it did in Hoi An. And it did. After a short 6:30am search for a hotel we found a reasonable one in the Lonely Planet Book. Tired from last night we had a slow start to the day and when also checking the weather forecast our days in "sunny" Nah Trang seemed to have been spoilt by the monsoon conditions. After a weather affected plan of action we finally opted to go to a hot spring center near bye to the city. A very good choice. A short taxi ride took us to the spa where the 7 of us shared a "luke" warm mud bath. This was great fun, our muddy yet surprisingly buoyant bodies were tangled up and slipping on the bath surfaces, which led to a number of close encounters, speaking of which Nik's muddy exfoliating face offered a very strong resemblance to a Martian.! The muddy bath was followed by a shower and hot mineral water bathing followed by a very steamy swimming pool that was far to hot to swim in, more a reason to relax and enjoy the pleasant and well kept surroundings. Never before have I wanted to set foot in a spa but I found this to be a truly "excuberating" experience and was so relaxed I fell asleep on the deck chairs beside the pool. Only to be awoken by yet another monstrous downpour inviting all spa guests to enjoy the warm swimming pool waters with the heavy rain cooling head and shoulders. As the rain lessened we shot back to our hotel with the local side streets gushing into a frenzy of tributaries leading to the main river/road. Tired out and dreaming of food we arrived back at our hotel only to find the power cut - Giving reason to eat at a near bye restaurant immediately. A couple of times during the evening with the rain still heavily pouring down on the would be exotic location the power was cut resulting in a search for our torches and candles from reception. With little desire to dampen our already wet clothes we spent most of the evening watching a film in bed. A good day given the conditions!

3rd April
An unexpected sunny morning soon got us into gear for the day ahead. We had breakfast on the roof top terrace of our hotel overlooking the South China Sea and a mountainous background amidst a growing skyline. We then spent a short while on the beach with the fierce crash of some 6ft waves only a whisper due to a constant barrage of beach sellers selling sweets, artwork and sun glasses. They focused on Nik, the weakest link and she eventually gave into buying after a long bartering battle. We strolled along the beach with an eye on the disappearing islands fading as a dark storm cloud approached. To avoid the tropical downpour we searched for a restaurant to take refuge meeting a group of 3 along the way that we had bumped into on numerous occasions. Once fed and the shower had past Nik visited some shops on the way back to the beach. As the cloudy sun set, many locals came onto the beach for a swim and post work relax. We ate on our roof top terrace then boarded our final night bus in Vietnam en route to Saigon. We all slept communally at the back like one big sleep over. "Here today, Saigon tomorrow".

We were taken back by the suburbial sprawl of this vast city upon our arrival to Saigon. Wasting no time once disembarking the bus Nik found an affordable hotel that was hidden down a very local side street. After a quick showerlace we were ready to explore Saigon but booked our ticket to the Viet Cong Tunnels and Cambodia in nearby travel agents for the following days before we got started. The heat of South Vietnam was already evident early in the morning so we were happy to find a trendy bakery with air con overlooking the increasingly busy roads for breakfast. We took a map to explore the city with our main target being the War remnants museum. Beforehand we stopped at Ben Thanh Market, the biggest in Saigon and very busy selling an array of goods. We took a good look around trying to avoiding the smelly food section with a stench like gone off meat wafting amidst the market stalls! I was happy to buy some new Chopsticks! After the market we toured the baking streets darting from shade to shade under the towering trees lining the calmer roads. Unfortunately in the mid day heat the museum was closed so we ended up walking to an unimpressive pagoda followed by an even poorer ice cream parlor with childlike portions! On the positive side it did have air con!. After a short stop for food at a supermarket and restaurant to bring Nik back to life we headed back to the war museum. the courtyard was filled with US war craft (Aircraft and Tanks) and weaponry. The surrounding building painted a picture of the Vietnamese success, repression and sadness during the war. There was very little indication of US loss only explaining the suffering of the Vietnamese through pictures. The weaponry was scary with a B52 bomb on show which was larger than a telephone box! There was also a wreckage from a B52 bomber. the museum was well worth a visit however one can only leave with a sympathetic viewpoint to the Vietnamese during the war. We then took a long walk home exploring the richer areas of Saigon. Once home and showered to clean and cool from the day time sweat we went out for dinner. However we were delayed shortly by the guest house owners having a fight with chopsticks plates and glasses smashing on the floor.! In the evening we had a very nice meal locally before catching up on some premiership with a beer!

We had an early start ready to visit the Cu Chi tunnels for a further look into the Vietnamese War. For breakfast we headed back to the air conditioned bakery where we found ourselves on the set of a Vietnamese programme using the bakery as there backdrop! On our return we saw a woman nearly get run over so she banged on the car window resulting in the driver reversing to run her over but hit a motor biker! Only in Vietnam!. We boarded our tour bus and were fortunate to have a very good tour guide who spoke good English and enjoyed expressing the odd cockney rhyming slang! Our first visit was to an art factory, selling intricate paintings and showing the long process of creating there masterpieces. One hour further down the road we visited the main Cao Dao religion. Here they have merged Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism to create a new religion. There temple was very pretty with a very well kept flower garden adjacent to a bright colourful and inviting temple. The inside was even more impressive with dragon pillars scaling the high roof and steps to Nirvana gradually climbing to a sphere with the symbolic Cao Dao eye. From the balcony we watched a service were the Cao dao dressed in white or Yellow Blue and Red prayed and sung there hymns in a language only known to the religion. A good experience. After an expensive stop off lunch we headed to the Cu Chi tunnels. Once paying to visit to the communist army we watched a video showing how resourceful the Viet Cong were and also there way of life in the Cu Chi tunnels. Then we walked into the jungle passing B52 bomb craters and old hideouts. I climbed down a very small gorilla hideout only to find myself a little stuck when coming back out.! They hadn't made them Ben size. Further along our guide who fought against the Viet Cong against for the South Vietnamese "puppets" showed us various booby traps that inflicted slow a painful deaths to the US GI's. We also went into houses dug into the clay like ground showing how they made land mines using dud US bombs and I climbed on to a wrecked tank that had been seized during the war. Afterwards we went to a shooting range were we fired an M16! Nik's aim was amazing nearly hitting the targets in the distance. The sound from the weapons left a ringing in your ears. The recoil from the shot also left Nik's face slightly bruised! We then crawled in a "western sized" tunnel and even double the size of the real thing I felt very claustrophobic and amazed how the gorillas stayed underground. Finally we tasted Vietnamese tea and Tapyoka. We both throughly enjoyed this amazing trip. In the evening we ate at the same restaurant as the previous evening and wasn't let down again. Cambodia awaits us tomorrow.

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