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Published: October 22nd 2005
Hello from vietnam! have been here 14 days now and unfortunately have no more days left! Vietnam is an incredibly large country and I wish I had more time to explore it so i think I will have to come back one day!
We arrived into Hanoi which is an incredibly large city and the first thing you notice after this is the traffic - one feature of vietnam is that the traffic is crazy! To cross the roads you just have to walk slowly and sedately out into the traffic as you seldom find a gap in the traffic or traffic lights, most people ride mopeds (they call them motorbikes but they are only 110cc and can probably go a maximum of 40mph) and can avoid you if you are travelling slowly. They drive on the right side of the road (most of the time) which also takes some getting used to. The main sights of Hanoi that we saw included the Temple of Literature and Hoan Kiem Lake near the old quarter. The temple of literature was the first university and those who graduated as a doctor had a stone turtle with a large tablet on its back
made out of stone as their certificate which stayed in the temple grounds(see picture). The Hoan Kiem lake is also known as the lake of the returned sword - very similar to the story of King Arthur, it is based on the legend that after 10 years of struggle in the 15th century, the king of vietnam had regained its independence - one day whilst sailing on this lake, it is said that a turtle appeared which the king pointed his sword at - the turtle took the sword and took it into the lake. The King had the lake emptied to search for the sword but neither it nor the turtle was found - he then re-named the lake as he felt the gods had helped him to victory and because vietnam was free it had been returned. We stayed in the old quarter in a nice cheap guesthouse called the old darling cafe (there are several of these in Hanoi all owned by the same family- it was $2.5 each) which was clean, friendly and included breakfast. The staff are friendly, speak good english and like you to go on their tours! We did book a tour with
Vietnamese water puppets
unfortunately we have not seen these in actionthem to Ha long Bay which was fantastic!
Halong bay, beautiful ha long bay, I could have easily stayed here a week. It was so beautiful and peaceful, we went on a boat tour for 3 days and two nights which included one night spent sleeping on the boat - the cabin was really nice and you could see so many stars. The other night was spent in a hotal on Cat Ba Island The tour included a visit to the Sung Sot caves, kayaking and swimming in the south china sea, trekking to a local village for lunch and then the option of climbing to the top of the mountain on one of the islands. I am proud to say that I did manage the arduous climb to the top of the mountain and the view was well worth it - it was an incredibly steep path with large boulders to climb in 30 degree heat! During the leisurely sail on our Junk Boat through Ha Long bay, there were a few james bond theme's running through our heads - most notably "underneath the mango tree" and "you only live twice". If you ever get a
chance to go to Ha Long bay you must go because its so relaxing and scenic. The legend of Ha Long bay is that the islands were created by the swish of a dragons tail -there are over 2,600 islands, it is as one guidebook described it, "a karst system with a difference".
On returning to Hanoi, the group had decided to split off for a while so Tom and I booked onto an overnight sleeper train to Dong Ha and travelled with some guys Tom had met on the plane to Hanoi. On arrival to Dong Ha we checked into a guesthouse and went on a motorbike tour of the demilitarized zone (the DMZ). I was incredibly scared of going on the back of a bike but went with the guide who was an incredibly good driver. We visited an old american military base, a large war graveyard, a war memorial and the Vinh Moc tunnels. The tunnels were built over two years and was home to 94 families and had three levels and included an operating theatre and maternity ward. The families would stay inside during the day and only come out if it
was safe at night time, if there was an air-raid they had to slide down a long tunnel to the bomb shelter. It was really interesting to learn more of the history of vietnam. It has had a very troubled history, facing invasion from various nations across the centuries and also having been divided between north and south in a similar way to Korea. This was the purpose of the DMZ as north vietnam were a communist country and south vietnam were capitalist. We spent one night in Dong Ha and then moved on to Hue
Hue is a city renowned for its royal tombs and the ancient citadel. Unfortunately we were unable to visit the tombs but we did visit the Citadel which was interesting to see through displays the customs of the former royal family and how life was run within the citadel. We also spent a relaxing afternoon on Lang Co beach and had a lovely steam, sauna and massage. It was nice to stop and relax for a while - an unfortunate side to Hue was that we found some people would try and scam you but it was nice to get
to know some of the decent local people e.g. a guy called Van who insisted on showing us around for free! But also to meet some new travellers too - lots of people have great stories and some helpful advice. The guesthouse we stayed in was nice, cheap, friendly staff with good english skills and was called Huang Huong I think. After a few days in Hue we moved onto Danang
Danang is famous for its close proximity to China Beach and its other beaches which are good for surfing. Whilst in Danang we visited China beach and did bodyboarding which was fun and something I feel I may need more practice in!We also visited Hoi An and had some clothes made for us which is one of the reason's Hoi An is famous - I got two dresses and an interview suit (jacket, shirt and skirt) made and delivered to my guesthouse (30km away) for me to try before paying the 2nd half of my money for just over 50 pounds! And the people in the taylors shop were so nice! We were the last customers of the day so they insisted we went out for dinner
with them and refused any money for the meal which was delicious. In fact they want us to return to Hoi An one day and they have offered to give us a place to stay and help us find a cheap guesthouse. The people we have met in Danang and Hoi An have been very nice and decent people, not trying to scam you at all, I would recommend visiting there. Our guesthouse in Danang was good and called Minh Travel Hotel, 105 Tran Phu Street, email mtjraymond@yahoo.ca The taylors we visited in Hoi An was called Vu Tu address; 115 Nguyen Duy Hieu St, Hoi An Town, email vuthu115@yahoo.com owned by Va and Thom.
From here we took a short cut by flying from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) as we were fast running out of time and have ended up staying on Bui Vien street. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 as north vietnam won the war and vietnam was reunited under communist rule - the main leader of the communists was called Ho Chi Minh. We started our time in HCM by visiting the reunification palace and the notre dame catherdral
- as you would expect the notre dame cathedral is a replica of the of its french sister. The reunification palace turned out to be basically a government building with many grand rooms where the president and his staff would recieve important guests -its also available for weddings!It has very nice grounds boasting many different species of trees and one or two lifesize models of vietnamese tanks and an aeroplane but it was certainly not my favourite part of vietnam or HCM.
The next day we booked on a half day trip to visit the Cu Chi tunnels (pronounced Ku Chee) which were famously used during the vietnam war by supporters of north vietnam - the local viet cong (V.C.). These tunnels at their original size were 60 x 80cm and have been made twice as big for tourists - the VC had to crawl on their elbows and knees - at their peak the tunnels were some 200km long,covering a huge area close to Saigon, streching all the way to the cambodian border! There is a 90 metre section for tourists to try which we did - unfortunately I wasn't dressed for it as all my clothes were in
the wash except for what I was wearing which included a knee length skirt, so I got out after 60 m's as my knees were beginning to hurt! It was amazing to learn more about how they must have lived and fought, this included watching a vietnamese (communist) propaganda style video and hearing the otherside of the story from our guide for the day who was quite anti communist. We also saw a lot of the traps the VC laid for the enemy(very brutal -see pictures) and had a chance to try firing a gun. I ended up firing an AK47 which was used by the VC and having never fired a gun found it had quite a kick to it and also left my ears ringing!There was proper supervision and we were shooting at a firing range. We also went to the underground kitchen which had to have a flat chimmney 10 metres away from it so that it couldn't be bombed and had vietnamese tea and steamed tapioca which was apparently what the VC ate as it was quick to cook and easy to grow - its kind of a sweet potato.
They
dropped us back at the War remenants museum (previously named the war crimes museum) which was very good. It basically consists of two halls with photographs of before, during and the after effects of the war. It was a very humbling experience and really brought home what vietnam had been through (the attrocities of the war) and the horror of war. The photo's of those affected by the various types of bombs and the infamous agent orange were incredibly shocking and it still goes on today as children are born with deformities and adults living with the after effects. There were also descriptions and photo's of some of those who died / missing presumed dead. In the courtyard there are also various artillery guns, tanks, planes, helicopters and bombs used in the war - each item has a noticeboard describing what it is, its firing capability, the damage its capable of causing and how many were used in the war. One bomb we saw would cause complete devistation within a 100m radius and would cause damage within a 3.2km radius. Whilst at the museum the most amazing thunderstorm broke out and some fork lightning was really close to us -I
Us at lang co beach
From left to right ; bill, james, brian, tom, dave and I don't think I've ever heard thunder so loud! We also bumped into some friends we have made during our travels to vietnam and ended up going for dinner and then onto the Apocolpse Now Bar for drinks. It'ssupposed to be a must visit and it was good fun but basically just another bar with expensive drinks! Today we went on a day trip to the mekong delta which was fun and quite relaxing - we got to see coconut toffee being made, sample some local drinks and dishes (including rice wine - very strong), see some of the local wildlife (mostly in cages including a large python which they got out for people to try holding -I decided against this!), listen to traditional music whilst sampling fruit and go on aboat ride down a narrow canal! Also visited a pagoda (temple)and a bonsai garden.
A few final thoughts on Vietnam - one of the interesting things about vietnam is that because they only pay for the width of the land they build on, many of the buildings are incredibly tall and thin and they don't have lifts!This is fun going to the top floor of a guest house
Us at the Citadel Hue
From left to right ; me, dave, tom, brian and james with a heavy backpack! We have met some great lovely people and some not so nice people but generally they have been nice. There are many children who ask you to buy postcards etc and they can be incredibly persistent which is something I don't like but then i don't like buying from children. Also although it has been a richer country in terms of road and guesthouse quality, the internet - unless you find a good one can be incredibly slow and also does not like hotmail which is why I haven't been able to reply to many of your emails! I will come back to vietnam as there have been some places i could not see due to time constraints and places i wished i spent more time at. Just be sensible about your belongings, remember to barter and take a phrasebook with you to make sure you are understood as hilarious things can happen if not!
Apologies for the length of entry but have been very busy doing stuff and as above the internet is slow. On to Cambodia tomorrow!
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