Central and Southern Vietnam

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After the beautiful but cold northern part of Vietnam we went looking for some better weather down south. You can buy the 'open tour' ticket to go all the way to Saigon (officially called Ho Chi Minh City since 1975) for 25USD and make a couple of stops on the way.

Our first stop was Hue, the former emperial capital. There's an old citadel here and we visited the tombs of the Emperor Tu Duc. Hue is also the showcase of a sad part of the Vietnamese history: because of its location at the border between south and north Vietnam it was part of the battleground in the Vietnam war. You can visit the demilitarized zone and the tunnels used as a shelter for the vietnamese people.

Next up was Hoi An, an nice little town with a French touch to it. Very typical here are all the tailor shops who will fix you an Armani suit for 70 euro. Going further down along the coast line of Vietnam, we took a break in Natrang and Mui Ne: two places known for their beaches. On top of that, Mui Ne has some impressive yellow and red sand dunes.

Finally we got in Saigon, the biggest city of Vietnam but not nearly as nice as Hanoi. Having been the center of US activity in the war, the western influence is very noticable. We did use the opportunity though to enjoy some western food after two months of rice and noodles only. In Cu Chi near Saigon there's also a lot of history about the Vietnam war to be found because Cu Chi was the center of the Viet Cong resistance.

In the far south of Vietnam is an area called the Mekong delta. We first met the Mekong (which springs in Tibet) at the border between Laos and Thailand, then at the 4000 islands in the south of Laos and now here in the delta the river splits in 9 'dragon heads' before it flows into the sea. We visited the cities My Tho and Can Tho (famous for the floating market) and explored the country side by motorbike.

From here our trip will go to Phnom Penh in Cambodia and of course to the temples of Angkor Wat.

Nick & Steven

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Photos

It rained a lot in Hue
Out of nowhere people appear to sell you these trendy rain jackets.

School uniform
All girls wear this beautiful uniform for school and keep the front of their dress up while riding the bike. In order to avoid sun tan most people will also cover their face as much as possible.

Buddha symbol
Very weird for us at first, but here this symbol indicates the presence of Buddha and you'll find it at all the temples.

Mui Ne beach
Fishing boats in Mui Ne all look like big cups.

Champa temples
All dedicated to women. In the Cham culture women were more important than men.

Shooting range
In Cu Chi near Saigon you can try your luck with all kinds of weapons used during the Vietnam war. Just striking a pose here though because it was too expensive for us.

Cu Chi tunnels
A network of these tunnels of originally 80cm high were used by the Vietcong to surprise american GI's. The entrance is 20x30cm so the GI's would not be able to enter.

Floating market of Can Tho
The boats have these high sticks with fruit and vegetables on them so you can see from a distance where you can find what you're looking for.

Comments

[Poel]

Geniaal regenfrakken! Vanmorgen hier in de gazet nog een heel artikel over die swastika. Duitsland - voorzitter EU - wil het ontkennen van de Holocaust verbieden. Daaronder valt dus ook het afbeelden van de Swastika. De Hindoes zijn al tegen! Maar ook Boedhisten en Jaïnisten maken gebruik van dit symbool... Voor de rest altij leuk om ullie avonturen te volgen. Blijven foto's maken! Have fun! Poel

[thi]

the trendy rain jacket? very hot.

[Bene]

Dag Nick! super om te zien dat je mij raad wat opgevolgd hebt.. ook al valt er daarbuiten ook niet zoveel te zien, Vietnam is een belevenis! Geniet er er nog van!

[bakker]

schuun schuun
ie manne en vrouw, tziet er daar nog altijd schuun uit! we weten al wat plannen voor volgend jaar seh! al enig idee of ge in zuid amerika terecht ga komme? laat me iet weten, dan gaan we is e pinke pakke he! de groeten vanuit zuid-amerique!! doei bakker