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Published: February 15th 2008
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Floating Market
Mekong Delta. Notice the stick carrying the identity of sale.
Pentax SLR Saigon is a mad house. As i said in my last email (central highlands), we nearly had our legs chopped off my passing motorbikes, and had several near misses. We booked into the Vuong Hoa, and paid an extortionate price for a rather ordinary room. We stayed there 2 nights, but the staff were so rude, that we ended up moving. There are several hotels in hotel alley, off Pham Ngu Lao. Bi Bee is great, with great food. We set off that evening (our first night), and i was gasping for a beer. So we sat outside this cute little bar at the end of Pham ngo Lao. We ordered drinks, and settled back to watch life pass by. Its was pretty cool, and we saw some strange, and some wonderful things. Note, fire eating teenagers, who shout at you for attention then proceed to swallow flaming torches, live snakes and breath fire 9for a small donation ofcourse). Theres lots of sellers selling everything from knock off sunglasses to fake rolex watches to fruit and drinks. We were enjoying our first night in Saigon, and were planning the rest of our stay here, when all of a sudden the bar
Floating Market
Mekong Delta
Pentax SLR girls came running out, and ordered everyone inside, moving chairs, tables and drinks with them. Turns out that they don't have a licence to trade in the street, and when th epolice come, they move everyone inside, or they get fines heavily!!! It was hillarious, and no sooner had everyuone settled down to their new seats, the giorls moved everyone outside again!!!
HCMC is a pretty large city, but it is possible to traverse the sights on foot (if you like walking), and avoid the plethora of tuk tuk and motorbike drivers constantly asking where you are going, where your from, and strategically sending you the wrong way, so that they can meet you the other side, and get your custom!!! Its rather frustrating, but you get used to it.
The reunification palace is a big white house of a place, with big iron gates, and two old army tanks standing sentinel outside. These were the first two communist tanks to enter the palace on the day Saigon surrendered. There are guides that escort you around this vast building, giving history on the various rooms and stories. We happened to meet this student nurse whom i had taken
under my wing whilst working at the royal perth A&E. What a small world. I wasn't sure at first who this was, as she came asking me if i was a nurse. It was a strange question, but the light finally dawned as she explained, and we ended up having a few drinks that night.
The war remnants museum is a heartbreaking rendition of life during the vietnam war. Stories of Agent orange use (a chemical now know as dioxin, which was released into the atmosphere, and rendered countless children with severe handicaps and malformations). Retired artillary, stories from various people, told during and after the vietnam war, through various news reporters, were tearful reminders of what war can do. Finally, the sight of the tiger cages, used to hold vietcong POW's. This was the most chilling, as the pictures will explain. Left in cages no bigger than you will see in chinese zoos, the pow's were tied up and tormented and tortured until they died.
We finally went for a stroll in the botanical gardens, which was nice and pretty, and stumbled into the adjacent zoo. What a mistake. The animals here are kept in such small
merry Xmas
Xmas on the Mekong
Pentax SLR cages, they are hot, its dirty, and they look hungry!!! We didn't stay long, but you saw what you needed to see about the place!!!
We then booked our trip down the Mekong Delta towards Cambodia. We booked a 3 day tour, with a home stay on night 1. The Mekong is.....well its dirty to be honest. But its the life and soul of the Vietnamese people. They do everything in that river. Wash clothes, bodies, cutlery, arses, they drive their boats through it, the kids swim in it, they drink water from it, its their lifes blood. Theres lots of colour around thou. Life starts at around 0430 here in the Mekong. Its the veritable agricultural workforce at its most charming and charismatic. As you watch life pass by, wondering where each boat is going, wondering what they are calling out to you, or their fellow farmers. We saw floating markets, coconut candy making factories, crocodile farms (with fresh water crocs nurtured and then sold off for their meat and hide. If you thought traffic on the roads was bad, take a look at the Mekong. Its packed with boats journying up and down, their 2-stroke engines blarring
Floating Trade
Mekong Delta
Pentax SLR out, and the sun getting stronger and stronger throughout the day. You have to wear protection of some sort here, as sun burn and heat stroke is a distinct possibility.
The coconut candy making facility is amazing. The make this great candy (which is also very oily), from a process of making this doughy sticky sweet substance, then letting it cool, and finally wrapping it in rice paper and wrapper. its this final process that was the most intriguing, as the speed with which the girls wrap the sweets is nothing short of superman standards. its that quich, you have to laugh!!
The most enjoyable part was eating it, and the best is when its just come off the boiler, all hot and gooey...uuummmmm!!!!!! We Bought 2 packs!!!
The Floating market is amazing. Its already near its end at 0800, when we arrive. Each boat has the particular veg or fruit handing from a mast on the boat, telling everyone what they are selling, and people just rock up to each boat saying...i want this and that and half a kilo of the other please!!! Its amazing, and we got some awesome photos!!! The better ones are
having a laugh
Mekong Delta
Pentax SLR taken with a normal pentax film carema, and they are amazing!!!!
The home stay was sligtly wierd, as we thought we would stay and eat with the vietnamese family. As it was, there were about 10 of us, and we stayed in these chalets, which were actually quite nice, and ate with each other. We managed to get one of the kids involved in a game of snap, which was highly amusing given that he started off not knowing the game, and ended up winning everything!!! Hustler!!!
We met 2 israli guys on our trip up to Cambodia, and they were 2 very interesting guys. 1 was a fighter piolet in the isreali air force, the other, his brother, was about to go in for his compulsory 3 year army stint. I've never met any isreali before, and they were both really nice guys. Chatting to them about life in Isreal was intoxicating. You just wanted more and more. There were things he would not talk about, but admitted to flying during recent wars, and dropping missiles on targets. Interestingly enough, he does not envisage a truce to the isreal pallestine war in the near future, not for
anyone for a drink?
Mekong Delta
Pentax SLR atleast 10 years. And the Iran thing he feels, is something that, if happens, will result in Iran being bombed off the face of this planet.
Funnily enough, his younger brother who is about to join the airforce, can't stand the sight of a prawn being killed, so it was amusing to think that he may one day be in the same seat as his brother, flying missions to bomb unsuspecting people from the sky. I guess he can't see them dying, so its ok!!!!!
So we finally ended up near the border to cambodia, and onto Phnom Penh.
See you in the next edition.
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