Advertisement
Published: December 11th 2005
It really is the only way to get around...
Andrew rides in the "luxury" of the cyclo. 'Come on now Jeeves, to the pagoda - Post Haste...'Sorry this blog has taken a while, and that it's actually 3 blogs compressed in to one, there are reasons for this, laziness being the prime one, Internet being pricey is another and the fact that we're can't really remember much about the last 3 weeks is perhaps the most relevant, so on to the story, we left Hoi An and headed south, destination Saigon but with a couple of beach breaks in between..........................
We had to leave Hoi An otherwise we would have bought more and more clothes!! So, we decided to head for Mui Ne before getting to our final destination in Vietnam, Saigon. We took yet another horrific taxi journey to the train station in Danang where we would get our 12 hour train to Nha Trang, stop for the night and then get the bus to Mui Ne the following day.
The train journey was quite nice and quite scenic. We finally arrived in Nha Trang around 11pm and went to search for a place to stay for the night. We eventually took the advice of some very drunk Swedish men who we bumped into and headed for a budget hotel up the street from
Saigon City rooftops
Known as Saigon but officially called District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City. the station, bad decision. The hotel was a bit of a hole and had cockroaches in the bathroom, so we didn't sleep too well. Too tired to head straight off to Muinee we changed accomodation and got some rest. Nha Trang really does not get a very good write-up, there is a growing sex industry and it had a generally sleazy feel to it, but it was fine for catching up on some sleep. In a really touristy place with a nice beach stretching the length of the town, there's loads of English bars and British tourists, far more than anywhere else in Veitnam, in fact, if you'd just landed here on a plane from the UK you'd probably think you'd arrived in Benidorm or even Blackpool, without the weather of course.
We spent a couple of days chilling at the beach and catching up on much needed rest, there was really nothing more to see, which was fine by us, we ate well, drank better and really re-charged the batteries for our last attmept at this backpacking lark, we finished all our books and exchanged them for another load, well prepared for the journey's ahead. The weather turned
The Chinese Pagoda
In China Town, District 5 of Ho Chi Minh City. bad on the third morning and we decided to head on, the forecast wasn't good but the benefit for us was that it now meant our next port of call, Mui Ne, was over the storm that they'd had for the last week, every cloud and that...............
Up early on the fourth day we took the 6 hour trip south to Mui Ne, when I say up early I mean we were meant to be. The bus was at 8am so we planned to get up at half six, pack bags, shower, get ready, get a nice big breakfast for the journey ahead etc.... In fact what happened was the receptionist called our room at 07:57, waking us up, telling us the bus was waiting outside for us, not ideal, we managed to tell them to come back in 10 minutes and we quickly got ready and jumped on the bus when it returned, the excellant staff at the hotel (The Perfume Grass Inn) even made us butties for the journey, class act.
So on to Mui Ne, this was a lovely wee beach town where we did a little more relaxing for a few days before heading
Fiona says a prayer
Say it with incense at the Buddhist temple in Ho Chin Minh City to Saigon, the beach here was really nice, the weather was great and again there was little else to do but relax and catch up on some sleep, we frequented the local restraunt and drank a bit too much most nights but other than that there's nothing much else to report, it was a very small place that was hugely popular with wind surfers and kite surfing, the wind didn't dissapoint out at sea but for us on the beach it was mearly a nice breeze to chill the feet while we sipped our drinks in the sun, god we'll miss this weather when we get home.............Next stop Ho Chi Minh City.......................
We were really not looking forward to HCMC as neither of us took to Hanoi and had heard that Saigon was just a busier version of Hanoi. Now I better explain that Ho Chi Minh is the official name of the city, and the city is huge, split up into various Districts, District 1, District 2, District 3 etc, and District 1, the centre of town, is know as Saigon, am I making myself clear? Good, then on we go.
Now first off I have to
The alter
at the Buddhist temple in Ho Chin Minh City say we were more than pleasantly surprised how nice Saigon was and enjoyed a few days there sightseeing, sure it was big and busy but it wasn't as 'in your face' as the capital Hanoi, it felt more European, kind of chilled out at the same time as being very busy and fast paces, I'm probably contradicting myself but it's my party and I'll cry if I want to.
One day we took a trip out to the Meekong Delta, now we'd nearly drowned in this particular stretch of water up in Luang Prabang when we were in Laos so we made sure we stayed dry this time. In all honesty the trip wasn't up to much, we were on a bus for a couple of hours and stopped at some tourist trap, ceramics I think, then on the bus again for another hour to get on a boat along the Meekong to another tourist trap, honey I think, then on a wee boat to a place for lunch that, as if by coincidece, sold coconut products, all a bit tacky really.
We got through the trip, even the last stop at a fruit joint where they brought
The Reunification Palace
in Ho Chin Minh City, the sight where the Vient Cong army left the South Vietnamese forces with nothing to do but surrender... out all these people to sing for us, I ate the fruit, clapped when appropriate then made my excuses and found a hammock, always in control.... then back on the bus to Saigon where it was battering down with rain, no joke it was about two feet high after two hours of constant thunder and lightning. We went to the closest restaurant, an Italian, and tucked into loads of tasty cheap grub washed down with even tastier and cheaper, appropriately named Saigon, beer, (wine for the lady guv'). This is where we met our new best friend, a cyclo driver called Nahng.
In Saigon you are constantly beeing shouted at by cyclo drivers to take a tour of the city, so we caved in (through drink it must be said) to Nahng and his book of postcards from past customers, there was even a dude from Irvine in it, and decided to do a full day cyclo tour ( a cyclo is like a big pram joined to a bike on the back).
Our guide picked us up early the next again day and off we went for a day in our prams. It was pretty hot and
The roof of the Reunification Palace
in Ho Chin Minh City, this marks the spot where the North's bombers invaded the city of Saigon being exposed to all the elements and pollution to offer in Saigon was harsh, but the novelty of being trollied along in a giant pram overcame the worry of death by exhaust fumes. We visited China Town, various Pagoda's, Markets, the War Remnants Museum (also known as the American War Crimes Museum) Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was a great day and there was a huge gathering outside the cathedral as apparently the previous week the statue of Our Lady had shed a tear!
It was a really interesting day and our guide gave us a great account of life in Saigon during the war, he had fought for 4 years with the American Backed South Vietnam troops and still had the battle scars, both mental and physical, of that horrible war. The War Remnants Museaum was our last stop and just as well because it definately dampened the mood.
It showed many pictures of decapitated prisoners and stories of the horror of War, some of the pictures of people scarred and children disfigured by Agent Orange were really horrific and brought back memories of the A-Bomb museum in Hiroshima, the conditions the prisoners were
The Shooting Gallery
in the Reunification Palace, Ho Chin Minh City. This is where suspected traitors of the Southern Army were 'dealt with'.......... kept in and torture they underwent was unthinkable, very sobering.
All in all a great time was had in Saigon, and even more so in Vietnam as a whole, we're sorry to leave but we've maxed out our visa to the last day (the first place we've done so incidentally so maybe that says something). We enjoyed Vietnam far more than we could ever have imagined, the people were lovely, the scenery fantastic and the adventure exciting, we could easily spend another month here, and it's so cheap, you should try it, you'd love it!
Next step Thailand, we've changed our plans a bit an are now missing out Cambodia, Nepal and India, we've just run out of time and we want to give the land of a million smiles a fair bit of time. I'll explain more about our change of plans and the rest our trip ahead in the next installment, here's hoping it won't be that far away.....
Until the next time my lovelies............
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0387s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
"Tis the season to be merry"
I hope you both have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.