Good Evening, Vietnam!

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After a few days in Hue we caught a bus to Hoi An, which was about 4 hours away. Hoi An is an incredibly pretty coastal town, which appeared completely immune to the monsoon rains we had experienced elsewhere. During our 6 days here the weather was brilliant blue sky and scorching sunshine which appeared to magnify its beauty.

Hoi An is a very old town, with charming narrow lanes and characteristic colonial buildings. Over the centuries it has been influenced by many different trading cultures that have made their mark here. We spent lots of time just wandering around the roads stopping in cafes and shops. The central old town is not very big but exudes an enormous amount of atmosphere and charm. At night the sound of oriental music adds to this and drifts with Disney-esque charm around the area. It was definitely one of our favorite places in Vietnam to date.

One of the most significant structures to see was the Japanese Covered Bridge, which was built centuries ago to link two different communities in Hoi An. The structure looks exceptionally well built considering its age and is a perfect example of a blending of different cultural and architectural styles with many of the carvings and monuments either side of the bridge
alien to the rest of the country. At night the bridge is lit up and its shimmering reflection in the calm water below is mesmerising.

From Hoi An we took a day trip to a very ancient nearby world heritage site called My Son (pronounced Mee Sun). It was an early morning that we travelled here, before the sweltering sun had risen high enough to become unbearable. My Son belonged to a group of people called the Chams and they liked building temples and buildings with bricks, before bricks were really in fashion, using raw materials such as honey and sugar cane as concrete. This was a pioneering technique at the time. A lot of the area of this site is in ruins due to its age and destruction in the war but some of it is impressively maintained. My Son is nestled in a jungle clearing with high hills on either side and was a fascinating site to behold. The jungle appears to be sprouting from between the bricks, covering the ruins partially, trying to reclaim this ancient sight.

Whilst in Hoi An we were particularly dazzled by the quality of the food. We managed to find an excellent traditional eatery, off the beaten track. We noticed that one of the tailors we visited was eating what looked like an incredibly tasty feast of pork kebabs, rice paper and salad. We asked her where she got it from and she sprang up and walked us all the way there through a warren of alleys eventually introducing us to a simple looking setup with a very inviting, smiley owner. It was great as it appeared to be the sort of place not frequented by tourists. We got a lot of attention from locals quizzing us as to how we found the place. The owner spent time with us preparing our food and showing us how to eat it.

Our huge dinner consisted of skewers of pork, rice pancakes, salad and some kind of chili satay sauce. She demonstrated how to put all of the above into a rice paper pancake and wrap it up nice and tight. It was amazing stuff but our attempts were not quite as good as our hosts and most of our wraps ended up falling out the backside. We eat all we could and it only cost us £4 - our owner embracing us as we left and informing Victoria that she is incredibly lucky to have such a handsome boyfriend - I tend to agree!

One of the draws of Hoi An are the hundreds of tailoring shops that line the roads around both the old and new portion of town. We had heard of the addictive nature of getting garments made in Hoi An, but we didn't realise quite how much we would enjoy it. We were able to get full suits, tailor made with amazing quality fabric and fit for about $60! A lot of our days in Hoi An seemed to consist of going from one tailor to another for either our 1st or 2nd fittings. All of the girls that worked in these shops were very complimentary about everything we tried, which always helped us spend more. The women would sell in the shops whilst the men would toil over machines making adjustments to garments.

5 suits, 12 shirts, 2 coats and 3 dresses later we left Hoi An to go to Da Nang where we would get another train to Nha Trang - hard sleeper all the way for about 8 hours. This was more comfortable than our first leg and despite there being an alarming lack of head room sleep eventually found us both.

The rice paddies and jungle of central Vietnam soon gave way to a glorious sandy coastline as our train chugged along parallel to the South China Sea. Our train arrived in Nha Trang, Vietnam's beach resort town late at night after being delayed. We hadn't organised a hotel beforehand and so had to bang on a few doors to eventually find one.

We were here really to break up the journey to Saigon and to spend a few days in the sun before heading to Vietnam's most densely populated metropolis. The beach is the main draw for people coming to Nha Trang so it was therefore the first thing we decided to discover on our first full day here.

The beach looked fantastic, lined with palm trees, golden sand and enclosed in a picturesque bay dotted with islands. The only problem is that there doesn't appear to be any form of litter collection. Litter is strewn across the beach which is more visible the closer we got. One person even found a syringe near the water front.

Aside from the longest cable car in the world, there was not much else to see and we were eager to get to Saigon after a few restful days. We used the time to sample the local, varied cuisine and enjoy a couple of Nha Trang's night spots. One particularly memorable night culminated in extreme drunkenness and a sore head the following day. This was blamed on the vodka and mixer costing less than 50p. A good argument I feel.

We caught yet another train from Nha Trang to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City - HCMC - to call it by its proper name) which is about another 8 hour journey. Our first impressions of HCMC was the immense amount of traffic that filled the roads. This felt like a larger and even crazier version of the roads in Hanoi - something we didn't feel was possible! There are hundreds of mopeds on the roads, outnumbering the cars by far - literally wave after wave of them everywhere. Our cab seemed to be able to pick its way expertly through the sea of motorbikes to our hotel in Pham Ngu Lao - the budget hotel area of the city. Here we could not walk two steps without the call of "Hey you, motorbike, OK? Moto, sir?". Either that or women with 50 photocopied Lonely Planets resting on their hips and men with boards of sunglasses wafting fake Ray Bans in our faces trying to force a sale upon us. All part of the experience!

HCMC is like Hanoi but on a much larger scale with extra neon as we were to discover over the next week or so. It is a sprawling metropolis with new skyscrapers being thrown up all over the place.

We visited the Reunification Palace in HCMC, which was the President of South Vietnam's home when the countries were separate. North Vietnamese troops smashed through the gates of the palace in 1975, thus liberating the city. The palace has been very well preserved and is supposed to be almost exactly as it was when it was stormed in the 70's. The whole palace has a very seventies look and feel. Most of the rooms are roped off for viewing and range from receiving rooms to cinemas and conference rooms. The palace also includes an underground bunker system where a lot of the war was coordinated from. Rooms include radio facilities, maps and other odd looking ancient communication equipment.

We also visited the War Remnants Museum (previously called the Museum of American and Chinese War Crimes). This was a fascinating place. Each wall was lined with amazing photographs from the conflict and served as a poignant reminder of the cruel, destructive and devastating nature of war . Photos showed the gruesome consequences of battle which ranged from the physical defects of children born by parents (including the deformed dead fetus in a jar) affected by chemical weapons to the startling faces of troops about to die or under fire. The museum served as a very effective anti-war advert and shows just who the real victims of war are and its long term consequences on them.

Saigon also has it's own Notre Dame Cathedral, which is a not-so-impressive brick version of its Parisian cousin. It is situated in an older district of the city and is surrounded by immaculate colonial buildings. This is also near Saigon's wealthier area of town in which Gucci, Louis Vitton and 5* hotels line the roads. It was here that we frequented Pacific and Gloria Jean Coffee houses which provided a nice air-conditioned break in our sweaty explorations.

Most of the rest of our time in Saigon was spent sampling the local markets and cuisine. Vietnamese food has been really tasty. We have sampled the best spring rolls here ever and the noodle soups (Pho) have also been good too.

We made a couple of trips to a nearby market called Ben Thanh Market. Situated next to a busy junction, this market sold lots of fake designer goods and coffee amongst a myriad of other items. The coffee selection was really interesting as one particular brand sold is called Weasel Coffee which is basically coffee that has been passed through the digestive system of a weasel. Supposedly this is to add flavour. We bought 50g of the stuff, making sure that it did actually smell of coffee, and not poo. Something to look forward to when we get home...

After an exhaustive 10 days in Saigon it was time to move on, with only Cambodia standing between us and our return to Thailand.

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Photos

My Son
Near Hoi An

Reunification Palace
Saigon