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Published: November 9th 2010
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Well. Well. Well.
I'm sat here working out what I need to blog about as Amber is in a cheaper Internet cafe... One with a painfully slow internet connection. It's lucky i've started using a diary or i'd be bloody useless.
So, we left you on the 3rd of November, just after we'd got back from the British Consulate. That evening, we decided to go to a Vietnamese Water Puppet Show, which is a traditional show here. We didn't know what to expect, and it's a good job we did as it was mental. Mental and brilliant! The show is essentially about watching different puppets move about in water - Which doesn't exactly sell it to you, but when you've got 6 people using all kinds of instruments singing in high pitched voices, and 6 men behind a screen moving water puppets around in a spectacular fashion for an hour, it truly is fantastic. The coordination between the men behind the screen had to be absolutely spot on, and there wasn't a mess up in sight. I kept questioning how the hell they were doing it, I thought there were tracks planted under the water in order for the
Mat and Seb
Waiting to enter the Cu Chi Tunnelspuppets to move, but no, it was all done by hand, with sticks. Genius stuff. After the show, we went for one drink and then hit the sack as we were up at 7am to collect our Emergency Passports, and I don't think walking in there blind drunk would've helped our situation!
We arrived at the British Consulate as soon as they opened, and they handed our Passports to us straight away. Amber and I both agreed that the service they've given us was absolutely second to none, they made us proud to be British. Then, we went to our regular place for breakfast (I say regular, we've been there once) and I had once of the most immense drinks i've ever had - A Mango Tango. This is essentially a glass of lemonade with a scoop of Mango sorbet on top. Try it! Mind you, don't - I bet it's freezing back home isn't it? You poor sods! Afterwards, we headed straight to the Vietnamese Immigration Office, which was a far cry from the British Consulate! Nevertheless, we navigated our way through the crowds of people and were told we could pick up our Exit Visas on the
Amber...
... Pretending to enter the Cu Chi Tunnels! 9th. We both needed a stiff drink at that point, so we met up with Seb, Kate, Dan and Laura and literally drank the night away. Even Amber was a bit tipsy by the end of it!
The next day, we did, well, not much. I left Amber to nap and had a couple of beers watching the world go by, we then went out for lunch, and the food was terrible, but the beer was 30p a bottle... Every cloud has a silver lining! To be honest, we both agreed that we haven't exactly been blown away by the Vietnamese food - Which is a shame, but the beer is pretty cheap! See the trend appearing here? In the evening, we celebrated bonfire night in true non-bonfire night fashion; We went to Fanny's for an Ice Cream Buffet. No, this isn't an inuendo, this is actually the name of the place! We tried all sorts of flavours, we probably had above 20 different flavours between us. These included: Iced Coffee, Caramel, Mint, Peanut, Coconut, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Chocolate, Chilli Chocolate (revolting), Mint Chocolate, Strawberry, Tutti Fruitti, Pistachio, Yoghurt, Strawberry Yoghurt, Blueberry, Banana, Soft Caramel (my favourite), Mixed Berry, Passionfruit
(Amber's favourite), Pineapple and... Durian. Amber was talking to a local, and she told her to try Durian, which is known as the "King of Fruits" in Asia. Amber trotted up with Ice Cream dribbling down her face and trotted back with a face like she'd just eaten a snakes head (it's a delicacy here). It was, quite simply, the worst thing we'd both ever tasted, but Amber waded through it whilst the local lady watched on. Priceless.
The next day, we made our way to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels were built during the war with the US, lying deep underground with many stratums, nooks and crannies, as complex as a cobweb,with a total length of over 200 km. These tunnels were the only lifeline for the Southern Vietnamese - They simply had to live in them to survive the American onslaught. They were absolutely incredible. I squatted my way through 100m of the tunnels, that had been made bigger for Westerners and were still bloody tiny for me! Amber didn't go through them as it was quite a claustrophobic experience. 100m felt like 100 miles - It's amazing to think that people lived down there. Before
Mat...
... Entering! What a legend. we got to the tunnels, we were shown many booby traps that the Vietnamese used on the US troops. The one that stuck in our minds was the spike trap - If an American troop happened to stand on the trap, it would give way to a bed of spikes 4 ft below ground. They didn't stop there though - The Vietnamese would put faeces on the end of the spikes to ensure that infection would kill the US troops if the spikes didn't. It seems that the US didn't know what they were getting themselves in to; The Vietnamese were clearly very prepared.
After the Cu Chi Tunnels, we went to the War Remnants Museum. The Lonely Planet states that it's not for the faint hearted, and this was an understatement. Amber and I felt emotionally drained by the end of it; Or as I put it in the taxi on the way back, "It feels like my head has been in a boxing match". We saw photos of: American Soldiers smiling whilst holding the beheaded heads of Vietnamese people, Vietnamese being tied to the back of US vehicles and being dragged to their deaths and young children's
At the "Handicapped Handicrafts"
The victims of the War make handicrafts from Egg Shells and Sea Shells, it was fascinating to see. bodies littered with bullet holes. Like we said, emotionally draining. We also learnt that: The US dropped 100 million litres of Dioxin (Agent Orange) over Vietnam - Only 85 grams of this was enough to kill a city of 8 million people. The Dioxin in the blood of both Vietnamese and US Soldiers is still causing deformities in children today. Dioxin is the strongest chemical known to man. In 2009, the US Army and the Chemical Company were committed of engaging in an "Illegal War of aggression", and had to pay a large amount of compensation to the Vietnamese. On a lighter note, that evening was to be our last with Seb, Kate, Dan and Laura. And in Amber's words, "That was the night you ruined trying to find somewhere to watch the F1 Qualifying". I loved that evening.
The following day was a lazy day, consisting of a long lay in and souvenir shopping. In the evening, I (again) subjected Amber to an evening of Sport. My beloved Sheffield Wednesday were on TV, so we went back to the same sports bar to watch the match. After about 15 minutes of watching the game (when we were 1-0
Items waiting to be decorated...
... At the Handicapped Handicrafts up), we had a powercut. F**king timing!!! We waited another half an hour and then retreated to an Internet Cafe to watch the rest. At this point, we were 5-2 up. I'd missed 6 goals! I'm sure Amber was delighted! The power never came back on, so I missed the F1. Disaster.
Yesterday, we went on a 1 day tour on the Mekong River. We watched how they made Coconut Candy, sailed down the river to eat local fruit and listen to Vietnamese Folk music, went for lunch (which was crap, surprisingly), and visited a "Bee Farm". Honey wine is very popular here, and Amber was really looking forward to seeing how it was produced. Unfortunately, all we got was a small cup of Honey Tea (which was lovely, but not quite what she was hoping for!). The best part of the day was seeing a Water Buffalo in his element splashing away, which ironically wasn't part of the tour!!
Although we've been searching for good Vietnamese food and have failed miserably, we have fallen in love with Vietnamese Iced Coffee and Peanut Coconut Candy. Don't be surprised if we come home with half our teeth missing!
This morning, we picked up our Exit Visas. We can leave Vietnayyyym!... And are doing so tonight. We are headed to Sihanoukville, a beach town in Cambodia - Where the sun is shining and it's 30 degrees. After a couple of days of recuperation, we will head to Phnom Penh to see the Killing Fields.
All said and done, after everything we've been through in 'Nam, we can't fault our experience here. But let's get the bloody hell out!
We're off for an Iced Latte now....
Lot's off blogging love,
Mat & Amber
xXx
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