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Published: January 31st 2008
Timeline: November 17th - November 25th
Hanoi - Saigon - CuChi - Saigon - Ho Coc - Saigon - Mekong Delta
30 to 40 years ago young men were flying into Saigon with a very different purpose to me. I feel very lucky to be exploring this beautiful country freely and not being forced to fight a war that I did not believe in against a local population completely dedicated and resilient in their own cause. Its hard to believe as you sit in a taxi in stationary traffic, inching across the sprawling densely populated city of Saigon, that after the 20th century wars that the Vietnamese population had fallen bellow 20 million people. According to our guide for the Cu Chi tunnels, Vietnamese women "are great baby makers" and they must be because the thriving population has now surpassed 85 million people. Agriculture has recovered and Vietnam now exports a large quantity of rice. They are following in China's footsteps with booming industry and business... it is bizarre to go to these countries with Communist governments and find such Capitalist movements going on.
The traffic in Hanoi is crazy and the number of motorcycles and scooters was insane,
Inside Cu Chi tunnels
It was very dark, hot and extremely cramped.but Saigon took that to a whole new level. The traffic is so bad that it takes an hourto get from the airport on the outskirts, into the city center. It took us quite a while to find the guest house we were looking for... whenever you get into a new place in SEA you are bombarded with people trying to get you to one guest house or another as they work on comission. We tend to ignore these people and so ignored the little old lady who was trying to show us around hotels. Finally we stopped to talk to her and it turns out that she is actually paid by the city to help tourists find a place to stay. She said "didnt you see my official patch"... like an official patch means crap in Asia. With her help we found a great little family run guest house called Ly Loan. It was off De Tham street which is the most touristy area in town but has backpacker prices.
We spent a few days kickin' around Saigon. You cannot go more than 2 steps without being told to buy something... it usually starts with "you want to
Ho Coc beach
Beautiful and deserted buy book" no... "how about marijuana" no... "okay how about coccaine or a lady". We spent another fun filled afternoon at the war remnants museum. This is a place filled with pictures and artifacts of the atrocities of war, almost entirely dominated by the "American War". It was very graphic and of course completely one sided and gave extensive documentation on atrocities committed by Americans. From reading some of the comments people left, mostly Europeans, I think people need to understand that it was a horrific war and that both sides committed despicable acts just as happens in every war. Particularly disturbing are the exhibits on the aftermath of napalm and "agent orange" used to clear the dense foliage as well as documentation on the killing of women and children. On the Cu Chi tunnels tour the next day we were shown a video boasting of the successful use of the jungle by the guerilla fighters and of how even young girls from 10 - 12 years old were shooting American soldiers. It is not right to bost of these things in one breath and condemn the enemies for reacting to this type of warfare in the next. It is
no wonder that so many veterans from the war came back to America with such bad mental problems. I do believe that the American government handled pretty much every instance of the war in SEA badly, from the decision to commit troops, to the reaction of the American people, and most tragically... the treatment of veterans upon their return home!
Although extremely intense and very sad, visits to the museum and Cu Chi tunnels are very interesting. I found the exhibition on teh photo journalists and their work fascinating... many well known photographers and writers came to Vietnam and took some amazing footage of the war... one building at the museum is dedicated to their work and many of these brave people lost their lives for the work that is shown. The complex and elaborate tunnels around the American air base at Cu Chi stretch for several Kms and is a true testament to the resilience and dedication of the people. Our guide, a veteran of the war, was adament in stating that the resistance came not from brain-washed Commies but from local farmers and villagers who did not want a US installed "puppet government" and who just wanted
a free and independent homeland. The resourcefulness and hardiness of the guerilla fighters at Cu Chi is amazing. It is further proof of the impossible task of American soldiers, fighting a hidden enemy that is all around... who might be simple peasants and farmers by day, but deadly guerrillas at night.
After spending a few days in Saigon, we grew tired of the busy city and relentless begging and propositioning on the streets as well as seeing far too many other western tourists. We decided to go some place off teh main tourist circuit. My guidebood listed a spot called Ho Coc and claimed deserted beaches could be found for those with their own transportation and an adventurous spirit. We had no transportation but plenty of spirit so we set off to the local bus station with just our day packs, leaving our big packs in Saigon. The adventure began when we hopped on the back of motorcycles for the 30 minute trip out to the bus station... normal rules of the road just dont apply in Asia... combine that with streets packed full of motorcycles with the occasional car and bus... it was a white knuckled ride out
there. We got on a local bus going out to a town near Ho Coc. 3 hours later we jumped off and both of us with our backpacks got on the back of 1 guy's scooter to take us the final 7Km to the beach. We stayed right on the beach in a little bamboo hut and pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. We were stoked to be away from the city and best of all away from the tourists. We headed out for an evening swim and on the way back started chatting to a couple of local guys fishing.
A young guy Hiep, and an older gentleman Bernard were who we had run into. They were very friendly and spoke pretty good English. They both lived in the town a few miles up the road where we had been dropped off. Hiep invited us to family dinner that night and even offered to pick us up on his bike. How could we refuse? We hopped on the back of his scooter and headed up to Hiep's brother's house by way of his mother's store to pick up some white wine. The white wine is basically
The famous Palace gates
This was the home of the South Vietnamese President before he fled. sake... clear rice wine and it takes a little to get used to and packs a bit of a punch. We sat on the floor for dinner and had great squid dishes and drank a few beers. In the middle is a hot pot device with soup in it where you cook your own veggies. It was very cool and we ate with a couple of Hiep's brothers and many of his friends stopped by to eat a little, have a beer, say hi and then be on there way. Although nobody buy Hiep spoke English, everyone was really nice and we would translate through Hiep to talk with them. Later on Bernard stopped by and we hung out with hime too. He is a fascinating man, he speaks excellent English and French. He is a retired lawyer and at 62 still looks like a much younger man... that might have something to do with his 28 year old wife! He also has 2 little boys which he says keeps him young and he has another family in Saigon. He loves life and is really nice and generous... he says he appreciates what he has now all the more for
the horrors he went through in the war and the time he spent in prison (re-education camp). We all went over to his house and he opened up a great bottle of French wine and was all set up to open up champagne which was obviously being saved for a very special occasion... we couldnt let him do that. It was a really great evening and we finished it off with iced coffees back at Hiep's. Vietnamese coffee is very good and they bring you an individual small cup of filtering very strong coffee and a glass of ice. We were so happy to have met these great people.
We spent the next couple of days hanging out with Hiep and his friends and family. We went on motorcycles about 45 minutes away to meet up with Hiep's older brother, the priest. Hiep has something like 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Although most of the country are Buddhist there are also quite a few Catholics in Vietnam like Hiep's family. We met up with Hiep's brother who showed us around the city of Vung Tau for a while and brought some of his young students along to practice their
Mekong Delta
Cant miss those cartoons. English with the foreigners. It was great seeing everything from a locals perspective and hanging out in local spots drinking and eating with them. Its the real travel experience and we were very lucky to happen across it the way that we did. One time we stopped for drinks and Hiep ordered some kind of green juice... when we asked what it was Hiep said that he didnt know what it was called in English but its very good for your health... we ordered it and it turned out to be sugar cane juice... everything according to Hiep is good for your health! Unknowingly to Hiep's family it was thanksgiving and his mother cooked us a real feast. Some of the best food that we have had in Asia, it was very special. Another night we went to sing Karaoke which is always fun and we also went to play pool. We are so grateful to have met such a wonderful friend in Hiep and his family and friends treated us with such enormous generosity and hospitality. Unfortunately it was time to leave and we headed back on the packed local bus to Saigon where I sat on a plastic stool in the centre aisle for 3 hours... ahh the joys of traveling!
After spending a couple of days in Saigon getting situated we headed off towards Phnom Penh by way of the Mekong Delta. We took a bus for a couple of hours and then got on a small boat to check out floating markets and life on the delta. The Mekong delta is not what I expected at all. I thought it would be rural with lush green rice paddies surrounded by jungle. It is big and lots of crowded towns all along the river and way more dirty than I expected. This is the dry season and I think it is a lot different in the wet season. After a long day by bus and boat we are now in the small twon of Chau Doc and are off into Cambodia tomorrow.
Some perhaps useful information for fellow travellers: (Currency is dong and is about 16,000 dong to 1US dollar... The dollar is
King in South East Asia (although it shouldnt be as its value is going down
like a led balloon) so you can pretty much pay in $ or local currency
everywhere and prices are often listed in USD)
Flight to Saigon from Hanoi was about $70
Ly Loan guest house (twin with A/C, b/r, TV) was $12 per night. Walking around with a tout is not always a bad thing as its sometimes quicker than working it out for yourself. Just makesure you are upfront about how much money you want to spend.
Bamboo hut on Ho Coc was $15 per night for a twin... food was expensive at the restaurant there.
In general food and beer prices are the same as they were in Hanoi... unless you are eating and drinking with locals and then you get local prices which suprise, surprise are a lot cheaper.
Mekong Delta trip Saigon to Phnom Penh (2 days 1night, food and accom and transport included) was $24. Now that is cheap.
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Dave
non-member comment
Dude...
SLOKES...with waves like that, you should have made yourself a board out of anything you could find! P.S. I miss your beard!