Advertisement
Published: October 24th 2008
UNFORTUNATELY MY IPOD AND CAMERA MEMORY CARD GOT A VIRUS ON SO THERE WON'T BE ANY PHOTOS ON HERE FOR HOI AN, MUI NE, SAIGON AND THE MEKONG DELTA... NOT UNTIL I GET TO A CAMERA AND APPLE STORE
I didn't really know what to expect from the southern capitol of Vietnam... the only other major city I have ever been to in Asia was the capitol Hanoi just a few weeks ago so I thought that other than the differences that every city really has, that there would be a lot of similar aspects. This was only marginally true, of course there were all the same little businesses needed for cities in this country which included the food stalls, street sellers and the transportation section headed by the motorbike and cyclo drivers. But I was quite surprised at the development of this city, obviously there was a great American influence down here and that is quite evident when walking round the main tourist area... I was engulfed by high rise hotels and a range of trendy bars and restaurants all portraying the modernization of this city. The roads were a lot wider which is needed to handle the vast amount of traffic on the roads... on my first day walking around I actually couldn't cross the road at all... the first time this has happened to me! I had to eventually walk up the road to a spot slightly less busy and walk back, and this was very far away from the tourist center... this is how the Vietnamese get by day to day.
I was very happy to be back in the city mainly because I was back to my big selection of street food... I really missed sitting down on the side of the road on plastic stalls the size you would give a five year old in school and eating how the locals eat and all for a very small price. The importance of this was highlighted to me on my very first day. I went to a nice little place on the corner of a street and it was actually located inside with full size plastic chairs... I had a big plate of rice, some sort of chicken and two small bowls of soup all for 18,000 dong... 16,000 dong being a dollar. Plus the people there were extremely friendly and were always smiling at me... I decided to go back again and to my delight it was just as good in all the same places and what really showed their character was as I walked out forgetting my water bottle one of them ran out after me to give it to me with the utmost importance as if I had left my baby there. This really displayed their kind hearts... a gesture so small made an impact so big.
With not much nightlife in Mui Ne I needed to have a good drink in Saigon, the area I stayed in was there purely for tourists it seemed so I wouldn't be hard to find somewhere to go. I ended bumping into five Irish girls I met in Hue and two Canadian guys I met in Hoi An and we drunk till 5am... good times. The only problem when in a busy area where you bump into people you've met already or even new faces is that it's sometimes hard to have a night off. They don't know how many times you've gone out this week... and if you say know to a drink it seems a little weird and even antisocial, especially to strangers... not the best first impression you can give to people. I did however manage to have a chilled night in and so I watched a movie which was nice, it felt homely... again sometime so simple providing a big feeling of comfort.
On my second night there I had quite an interesting experience. There was a Canadian girl staying at my guesthouse and she told me she was going for a massage... but not a regular massage though (also not a happy ending one either!) But all the massages are done by blind people... its been setup to give these people the opportunity to work as no-one will hire them... providing them with some purpose in society unlike the beggars who swarm the streets. So we went to this place and as you may be able to tell it wasn't a luxury spa... but for an hour massage for 50,000 dong who can really complain (under two pounds!). So I'm led to one big room separated by 6ft wooden walls with curtains for privacy and then shown to my bed behind one of these curtains. I was waiting a few minutes before my guy came in and then he quickly began on my lower back and so on. It wasn't the best massage I had ever had but it was to my surprise a very good one indeed... it was all over, my back, shoulders, legs, arms and head and at the end I did feel extremely relaxed. It felt good to bring my custom here rather than to one of the other places on offer... I definitely recommend this place to other, not just for the massage but the whole experience. What was also a little weird was that during this time I had an extreme case of deja vu... I just turned over onto my back and so decided I would like to watch his process... therefore I opened my eyes and watched him... a few minutes later and bang... I had seen this image before and my brain clicked forward and I knew exactly what was going to happen next... dun dun dun!! No nothing crazy but I knew that he was about to walk round the table and massage my right shoulder then down my arm... quite freaky though.
By the next day I had walked around and had a massage so now it was time to do some city sights. I walked passed the moto drivers, markets and through parks while the locals rested from the midday sun all the way to the Independent Palace. Luckily when I got there a free tour was about to start... I've been pretty bad at retaining information during my trip to Vietnam which has something to do with my attention span and also because its quite hard to understand the tour guides at times let alone be drawn into an exciting tale of history... but I always try and I went on the tour while absorbing little facts. The Palace wasn't too impressive to be honest but what I did find amusing was that on the first and second floors there were official rooms like the President's room etc... but the 3rd floor was the entertainment room with its gambling room and cinema but what was more funny was the 4th floor... 4th floor is the dance floor... yes the President got down and cut a few rugs in his day! But what did interest me was the basement... down here are room like the President's war room. This area was like a secret underground military base, full of communication devices, maps of countries, typewriters, and other bits of information. In some rooms there was just one desk with a couple of phones on... it really gave you a sense of how life was during the war... having to disappear underground in order to survive and try to run your government and army from the depths. I could almost imagine the place alive with noise, orders being directed, information being conveyed to superiors and critical decisions being made... I enjoyed this level and it made my visit worth it... it also was a inviting place for photography, incredibly unpolished and dated with low orange lighting which provided aesthetically pleasing shots.
I preceded to the War Remnants Museum which was undoubtedly going to be a somewhat somber but interesting affair. I won't go into every little detail of my journey around this open space tiled with photos but I will point out a few stories that caught my attention more than others. Firstly I have to say that there was some outstanding photography on display but the thing that got me was that these photographers risked theirs lives in order to document this conflict and many died in doing so. There was one guy... can't remember his name unfortunately, too many pieces of paper... but I really liked his work and one description below one of his photos states that on the hill just to the left is where he died a few minutes later from a land mine... one soldier said of him... he must be either crazy as hell or the bravest man I have ever met. I love photography but I don't think I could risk my life for it. The next story that got me was one of love and heartless slaughter. While some American troops were traveling down a road a father and his two young sons emerged from nowhere, they instantly opened fire and moved in to finished them off... that is terrible in itself... then the older boy threw himself over his little brother, I think they were about 10 and 6... but trying to protect and save his little brother was no good, they were all killed. That boy was astonishingly brave. Lastly and what was horrific in sight was the effects of Agent Orange... a code name for a herbicide used again the Vietnamese in warfare. There were approximately 20 million gallons used and sprayed there during the war with effects so severe they have lasted to this day. Not only did it produce terrible burns at the time but today it has produced deformations of babies, they were born without limbs, deformed bones, abnormal growths and so on... but seeing these photos made your heart go out to them... the innocent bystanders caught in the middle. It was quite a shocking experience that really opened your eyes to the depths that people would go to. This visit however would actually end on a positive note for on my way out I passed a section which was completely produced by children. There were a few sections but the two I was attracted to were the 'War and Peace' and... can't remember the exact name... but the 'Ideal World.' On these walls framed were drawings by Vietnamese children explaining through the medium of drawing, painting and colouring were these extraordinary pictures portraying their feelings on war, peace and the world as they see it. For some reason they were not dated but they were produced by 10-15 year olds. Some of these were not only inspiring but some were also amazing pictures artistically and all were colourful. But it was nice to witness that innocence of a child... which was almost like a bright light shining over and eradicating all the darkness surrounding you from the main exhibit.
The next day I would leave Saigon and take a tour through the Mekong Delta which would then take me to Cambodia. I knew what to expect here... floating villages and markets and of course lots of boats trips. The Mekong Delta is where the Mekong River splits up into many different sections spreading out many miles. To be honest the whole trip was a bit of a let down but I made the most of it anyway. We did take a lot of boats some with motors and others with oars, the ones with oars were a lot more exciting as there were only four in a boat and we would glide genitally down canals enclosed by huge leaves. We stopped off at numerous places, firstly it was a coconut candy making place... delicious... we had samples and then I had some banana wine which is a lot like snake wine... strong! We then went to a place where they made rice paper for items such as fresh spring rolls, although interesting there's not much to do once you've seen it for a couple of minutes and taken a few pics. I did at our next stop hold a python... a pretty cool encounter I do have to say. And of course there were more boats to be taken round villages on the water, floating markets and fishing villages... all of these were pretty cool as we saw how a lot of people live their life and provide for their family... a fishing house floats on the water and has maybe 1000 fish trapped under the house as they feed them and prepare them to be sold. As part of the trip we went to a crocodile farm which just showed crocodiles lying in the shade... I don't really like them and don't care too much at the inhumane way in which they are kept until they are exported to china... I think they would happily eat me if they had the chance. I did however care about the two black bears trapped in a small cage who looked a far cry away from the picture of health... not a nice thing to see. The highlight of this trip for me was when we went to Sam Mountain (no not just for the name... but it does sound good), but we went to a temple on the side of the mountain, unfortunately though this wasn't a temple high up into the clouds buy only a few hundred meters up. Even so it provided great views of the Cambodian border and the rice fields which at that time were flooded. The temple was beautiful though and did resemble one from a film. After all these boat rides and sights over two days it was time to head to Cambodia by river... although before we did we quickly popped into a stilted house of the Cham people... here we saw how they made clothes and I was quickly dressed in a sarong and hat like the a old man was wearing... I don't think it went well with my trainers though! So back on the river and towards Cambodia... I was actually the only person traveling there so I had my guide and driver for company, this was my VIP tour ticket. I enjoyed it this way as I felt like I was an explorer the kind of likes you see on TV... there with a couple of locals to show me the way. The trip to the border took about three hours so I sat back relaxed and enjoyed the view of the villages as we passed until the border way in sight. Again I didn't have the best time in retaining much knowledge that my guide had fed us on the three days, which was a shame because he was a very good guide with a fountain of information about the area and history.
So now I was nearly out of Vietnam and was quite upset because I had really fell in love with the place. Initially I had thought that if I was here a month that might be too long. Would I run out of things to do and get bored? On the contrary... I wanted more time in the end. But in a short while I would making my way over the border into Cambodia...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0245s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Grannie
non-member comment
As exciting as ever though I was a bit worried where the massage story was going! I love reading about all your trips and experiences-you are very good at keeping up. Hope your camera is fixed soon so we can see some more of your good photos and look forward to hearing about Cambodia and Thailand.