Good Morning Vietnam……unless you are a cat or a dog!

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Warning…...If you are a cat or a dog lover please don't look at the photographs later on in this blog or read the next paragraph.

I have only posted three photos, but I was shocked with what I saw in Vietnam. One often hears that the Vietnamese population eat cats and dogs. Whilst strolling through the backstreets of Halong City, just 3 km from the touristy area of Halong Bay we came across our first Cat restaurant. The owners were cutting up the meat outside of the shop in front of our own very eyes. I felt sick in the stomach. As we wandered a little further to the market we came across our first chopped up dog which was lying on the stall ready to be bought. The Vietnamese traders looked on as we strolled through the market and one of them picked up the dog carcass in a sort of 'comical' way. Having owned dogs most of my life I again felt nauseous and that afternoon as we ate street food I could not face having any meat with my noodles. Later on during the day, we got chatting to one of the locals who could speak relatively good English and we asked him why the Vietnamese people ate cats and dogs. He replied that it was a speciality in the north of Vietnam, particularly around the Hanoi area and that the people had eaten these animals for a very long time. He stressed that the dogs were a particular breed which they caught in the countryside. Admittedly I did see a few dogs as house pets whilst trapsing through the backstreets of the cities, but there weren't many cats around.

Just as I mentioned in my previous blog on Laos, if you are an animal in Vietnam you're in for a bad time. On our journey we saw piglets flying through the air as they were tossed from one lorry into another with about a two metre drop. We saw ducks and chickens in their dozens being transported upside down on the back of the scooter, as well as goats being restrained in big plastic sacks and finally fish the size of 'Jaws' being kept in an aquarium more suitable for 'Nemo'. The only living creatures that received any form of clemency were birds, which were nonetheless all kept in cages and were hung up in the trees near their owners' shops where one could hear them singing their tunes whichever city you entered.

In a cafe in a small town off the tourist trail we even witnessed fish fighting. The contestants (black fish about 4 cm in length) are brought in by their Vietnamese owners in small glass jar. When the time is right one of the fish is taken from his owner's jar with a sieve and put into another contestant's jar. It is then put up on stage where there is an old TV set with the insides removed, whilst the men watch on firmly glued to their seats. After a minute or two the fish start fighting chasing each other around the jar biting each others tails or lips. Strange entertainment!

Vietnam has a lot to offer the person wanting to travel to the Far East. With UNESCO World Heritage sites dotted around the country such as Halong Bay, the citadel at Hue, the beautiful port of Hoi An and of course the many magnificent Cham Pagodas, there is much to see and do. Halong Bay with its beautiful Karsts is truly an amazing landscape where you can spend a couple of days embarked on a boat, stopping off to explore caves or taking a kayak for a spin around the sheltered waters. Even though it rained on our journey, the temperature still remained warm outside and the Karsts somehow gained an atmospheric feel to them.

Taking the ferry across to Cat Ba island, we cycled the length of the island, stopping off at the Cave hospital en route. The cave hospital with its cinema, operating rooms and even a swimming pool was a great feat of engineering which we thoroughly enjoyed before heading off to the island's main city to rent out Kayaks for the afternoon and go and explore the deserted beaches of Monkey Island.

Another sight we visited off the beaten track is Ganh Da Dia which is Vietnam's equivalent of Giant's Causeway. Despite it being listed in the Lonely Planet guide, when we arrived there with out bicycles we were the only two tourists to enjoy this natural phenomenon.

With a previous career at sea it was also wonderful to stop off at a Vietnamese shipbuilding yard where I was able to observe traditional wooden Fishing vessels being laid down and worked on as well as seeing the final product.

Further highlights included going to the 51st floor of the Financial Tower in Saigon as well as visiting the Independence (Reunification) Palace in the centre of the city with its outdated furniture and tapestry. Even the tanks which smashed down the gates of the palace, when South Vietnam surrendered to the Viet Cong are there to be seen in the grounds surrounding the building.

For those interested in the Vietnam war, a visit to the Cu Chi just 35 KM north of Saigon is an amazing experience as you squeeze down one of the hidden entrances/exits to a former Viet Cong tunnel and witness how the North Vietnamese soldiers set deadly traps for the US soldiers searching out their strongholds. The network of tunnels stretch out nearly 200 km in length and some even reach close to the Cambodian border. For those wishing to be even more adventurous, one can have a go at shooting a selection of many weapons from the war including an AK47, the world's most popular rifle and of course any of the American weapons left behind or seized during the fighting period. Health and Safety I have to say didn't feature too highly!

The Vietnam war is also illustrated in detail at the War Remnants museum where you can get close up to a Huey helicopter or read about the effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese population, as well as see numerous harrowing photographs taken by war journalists throughout the period. The museum was created by the Vietnamese Government and is one of the top tourist attractions in Saigon, although as one would expect, the depiction of what happened during the war is very one sided.

There is however one massacre which took place in a village called Mai Lai or Sonmy on the east coast of Vietnam, that my partner and I both visited on our bicycles which really makes you think about the horrors of war. On 16 March1968, several Huey Helicopters landed close by and US troops disembarked. There mission was to 'clear out' the village looking for Viet Cong soldiers and any sympathisers. In a very short space of time the American soldiers had killed 504 Vietnamese villagers, of whom a significant majority were women and children. Only a handful of villagers were saved when a US Military helicopter pilot and his crew witnessed what was going on and intervened preventing them from being shot by other American troops. Initially the American troops who had participated in the slaughter were praised by their superiors for their actions "having fought bravely against the Viet Cong", however later on following statements from the previously mentioned Helicopter Pilot and his crew the incident was investigated and eventually one US Army Captain was jailed for several years. When the American President joined into the debate, the Army Captain only spent 3.5 years under house arrest. The American Pilot and his crew were in the mean time quietly praised for their actions and were awarded a medal, however they declined them, as the citations were false, to cover up the events of the massacre. Eventually, they received the recognition they deserved and the tragedy is now briefed to all of the 3 services in America, so that something like this 'should' never happen again.

Before I summarise about my journey through Vietnam, I wish to mention a few things that I observed throughout my time in the country.

Vietnam has the greatest concentration of Christians (Catholics) in the Far East outside of the Philippines. I was absolutely amazed at the number of beautiful churches I saw all the way from Hanoi to Saigon including the 'Notre Dam' Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh. The cemeteries too are also wonderfully designed and quite unique and usually located on the beach or in a rice paddy field.

Many people cycle with another person on the back pannier rack. Nothing unusual with this except the person on the back shares the cycle load by using his foot on one pedal whilst the cyclist uses the other pedal. Also when it's raining both cyclists and scooter riders all wear ponchos. To help their passengers stay dry they spread part of their poncho backwards over their pillion passenger. Unfortunately the pillion passenger can see absolutely nothing and on the roads of Vietnam it was like witnessing blind russian roulette.

A haircut for a woman in Saigon costs the same as for a man…..$2.

Crossing the road in Vietnam reminds me of the frog hopping computer game where you attempt to get the frog from the bottom to the top of the screen without being run over. Quite genuinely it's best not to follow the Green Cross Code when in Vietnam. Instead step out into the road without looking and keep walking. The scooters will flow around you with ease. If you clam up and bottle it halfway across and decide to stop you'll confuse the Scooters and be in an ambulance quicker than you know it! Vietnam is now officially the worst country to cycle in for traffic demoting Iran into second place! (My Iranian partner is very happy!)

Weddings take place everywhere in Vietnam as you would expect, except here they take place in the middle of the street with canopy tents stretching out from the shops and always decorated in purple and white bunting. Whilst the canopy is still being erected, you'll see plenty of scooters still driving under the awning, where hours later the bride and groom will be celebrating with their guests.

When dining in Hanoi, you'll always end up sitting on a plastic chair designed for a 4 year old. I don't know the reason for this, but the whole of Hanoi looks like a scene from a Kindergarden.

So now to the people of Vietnam, where I have very mixed feelings indeed. On reaching the bus station in Hanoi where I had arrived with two bicycles on a bus from Vientiane, Laos, I was faced with the problem of getting them both to our accommodation situated 10 km away. With very few Tuk-Tuks available in comparison to Laos and with the drivers wishing to charge an astonishing $30 dollars I was saved by the bell and kindness of a Vietnamese girl called Dendy. She offered to show me the way to the Backpacker accommodation, whilst I left one bicycle with the security guard at the bus station. Not only did she show me the way to the hostel, but she then took me back to the bus station on the back of her scooter and then did the same journey back to the hostel once again, this time with me and my bicycle on the back of her scooter. My first impression of Vietnamese people was one of kindness and friendliness.

Unfortunately, everything else went downhill after that. Firstly, bus drivers and their assistants are some of the rudest people I have ever met. In Saigon, my partner had her mobile phone and camera stolen from her bag whilst in a crowded area (could have happened in any big city), but the problem was then getting the Policeman to complete a case report which he did reluctantly.

If you ask a taxi driver or cycle rickshaw driver to take you to any place, expect them firstly not to know where it is or secondly they will tell you that they know where it is and then drive you somewhere completely differently. If you then politely ask them to take you to the correct place they get angry and blame you. On one occasion I nearly resorted to throttling a Taxi Driver when he started shouting at my partner but managed to keep calm and just use my Drill Sergeant's voice instead!

Perhaps I have been unlucky on my travels throughout Vietnam. Another friend of mine who cycled around this country at the beginning of 2014 was greatly received by numerous 'Warmshower' hosts and even featured on Vietnamese television.

The dishonesty and impoliteness of the people I have met has been my biggest bugbear. Whilst I would still recommend any person to visit Vietnam with its jaw stopping scenery (Halong Bay, Cat Ba Island, Ganh Da Dia) and with an abundance of adventurous activities on offer, the advice I would offer is to have your defences up when dealing with any shopkeeper, driver, or hotel owner, whom I have sadly found to be the least likeable since staring my bike ride.

The journey continues into Cambodia…..

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