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Published: March 2nd 2011
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For the record, I considered calling this blog something with a 'Good Morning Vietnam' theme...but I resisted, as I thought it was a bit cliched. Hence the brilliant title I decided on...so there.
Anyhoo, we're now in Vietnam which is proving to be quite a whistle stop tour - to be fair we're condensing 5 months of travelling into 2 so that'll be why! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's one of the best countries we've been to so far, for so many reasons.
We arrived 4 days ago, after another long winded bus bonanza! The journey started at 6am in a tuk-tuk, followed by a 5 hour bus drive to Phnom Penh. We hung around for 2 hours and then a 6 hour jaunt across the border and into Vietnam. The crossing was pretty smooth and soon we were driving into Ho Chi Minh City. The place is a buzzing mixture of big buildings and neon lights, also I've never seen so many motorbikes in my life! They swarm through the streets in their thousands making it slow going for our bus.
We're finally dropped on a random street in
the city centre, that smells strongly of wee. Not a great start. Luckily we've befriended a nice South African couple on the bus and they're staying near us, so we split a taxi fare to our accommodation. After 14 hours travelling, we're both exhausted and head to bed shortly after arriving.
The next day we have a lie in, grab our free breakfast and head out to explore Saigon. Armed with a map, we walk to all the landmark sights (or at least the ones that are within walking distance!). After spending a week in Cambodia, the city is noticeably cleaner and the architecture is very striking, with a mixture of Vietnamese and French colonial styles. We stop for lunch in the local indoor market, where a simple meal of boiled chicken and rice is very tasty. We didn't try the other delicacies there, including pig snouts and frogs heads!
It's a really nice day and it's a shame we can't stay in Saigon longer. We spend the evening drinking Saigon beers and watching all the craziness unfold on the streets surrounding out guesthouse, before grabbing an early (ish) night.
After what seems like hundreds of hours
clocked up on buses, we've decided, for the sake of our sanity, to book a flight to our next destination. The flight isn't until the following evening, so in the morning we squeeze in a trip to the famous 'Chu Chi Tunnels'.
The tunnels are 40km away and a taxi would be very expensive, so we have to break our 'no more organised tours' rule and book onto a coach trip. It feels a bit like a school trip (maybe because everyone else is so young and excitable!) but our guide for the day is really good. He speaks English well and tells us about the history of the war. We particularly like that he says that they shut Vietnam to the outside world for 15 years afterwards, to rebuild the country, clear it of mines and poison, but most importantly to cleanse their minds. The locals are taught about the war at school but they prefer to forget about it and look to the future. This sums up the mood of the whole nation, they are a hopeful and ambitious country.
Chu Chi was a village that supported the Vietcong resistance during the war. They survived American
attacks by basically digging themselves out of harms way. They created an intricate network of tunnels throughout the countryside. The tunnels were as small as 80cm wide and they created ventilation with bamboo shoots. Some of the Vietcong would stay in the tunnels for weeks on end and would set boobby traps to kill any americans that tried to get into the tunnels. After only learning about the war from an American point of view over the years, it's fascinating to see the Vietnamese version.
Our guide shows us some of the traps they set (some of them are gruesome, but very resourceful!) and we get to walk through a stretch of tunnel that they've widened for westerners to fit through. The experience is hot, sweaty and uncomfortable! At the end of the tour we have the chance to shoot a selection of guns! I fulfil an ambition to shoot a machine gun (an M60 for any gun buffs!) and my 10 bullets cost $15...it's over in about 5 seconds! The quickest money I've ever spent. It feels a bit strange to shoot a gun after hearing about the atrocities of war - it's fun though!
So after
all that excitment we head to the airport. The journey to Nha Trang would've been 10 hours on the bus, but takes less than an hour on a plane so we arrive feeling a bit smug! A taxi drives us the 40km to Nha Trang town centre - the driver plays his 'Best of Boney M' CD all the way which isn't much fun!
Nha Trang is 'Vietnam's Premier Beach Destination' and it's very pretty. However there's just not much else going on - or maybe we're staying in the wrong part!? There's a good 'night market' where we eat some tasty sushi, and we spend a few hours on the sunny beach watching kite surfers. Not much to write home about really!
So, that's 4 days in Vietnam done and I write this shortly before we catch another short flight to Hoi An. It's supposed to be beautiful so we're looking forward to it!
Ali and Clio x
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