Vietnam: From South to North

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I arrived to meet the boys in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam after a quiet week in Sweden. The Asian heat was a welcome change from the single digit temperatures of Scandanavia. I was greeted at our hostel by Luke, Tom and Simon after a nightmare of connections which saw me pass from Stockholm to Berlin, Frankfurt, Singapore and finally end up in Vietnam. All told we were to spend around 3 weeks in Vietnam and was definitely one best times I've had in my recent travels. There's lots of photos on this blog, have a look if you have the time, but I'll try to keep the word count down.
Ho Chi Minh City, AKA Saigon, AKA HCMC:
As soon as I got into town and checked into the hostel, Luke was frantically banging at the door yelling that the cricket was on around the corner and that I should hurry up. Was good to have a couple beers with the boys, swap stories from our recent adventures and watch the Ashes Test. Day 2, after a long night of drinking, saw me sleeping in and missing a tour we'd all booked the day before. While the boys went on a bus down to the Mee Kong Delta, I somehow found myself at a Vietnamese-Chinese wedding with some of the locals I met the previous night. It was very strange walking in and having everyone at the reception look me. I clearly stood out as the only white attendee, not to mention I was generally about a foot taller than everyone there. There was also a noticable lack of english spoken, with only two people proficient enough to talk to me. I got by using some French, but mostly non-verbal gestures, smiles and clinking my beer with everyone. There was plenty of entertainment; good break dancers, a girl who did tricks with fire while dancing, a few singers among others. The folks at the wedding thought it was funny to hand me little packets of money to walk up to the entertainers to tip them in front of everyone. Was a really fun and different experience.
Next day was an impressive tour of the Chu Chi tunnels a couple hours out of the city. We got to crawl through the tunnels, I fired an M16 at the target range, we saw holes from American bombs, various traps used by the Viet Cong, and other war nostalgia. Also on that trip we went to a Cao Dai temple (one of the main religions in Vietnam) and saw an extravagant ceremony involving hundreds of worshippers dressed in different coloured robes. We were allowed to silently observe from the balcoy.
Da Lat
After a few great days in HCMC, we left Tom in to meet up with his mum and sister and moved on by bus inland to the mountains to a place called Da Lat. The primary purpose was to take a motorcycle tour we'd read about in our lonely planet. The first day there, we went on a one day motorbike tour around the area which was quite interesting. We saw the 'minority villages' (I guess equivalent to going to an Aboriginal village), saw various agricultural sites, checked out the mountains and jungle, went to a very tranquil place called Paradise Lake with a meditation palace next to it, and took a toboggan ride down a slope through the jungle. At some point during the day, we came across another lot of motorbike tour guides, the original 'Easyriders' who made the tours famous. Having had such a good first day on the bikes, we decided to book in a further 3 day tour up to Nha Trang.
The next three days on the bikes were some of the most memorable of the whole trip. Each day we rode through the jungle and countryside, Luke, Simon and myself sitting on the backs of our guide's bikes. We saw waterfalls, monasterys, brick makers, silkworms, rice wine producers, rice paddies, elephants, long houses, traditional villages, and much much more. At nights we were fed copious amounts of Vietnamese food which was on the whole very good. The guides even had a few drinks with us each night and were really funny guys- except my guide, who each night put on his best duds and went looking for women. The other guides explained to us that while he has rice back home (his wife) he also likes noodles (mistresses). Ended up in Nha Trang after the tour with sore asses but big smiles on our face.
Nha Trang
We spent first night in Nha Trang taking it easy and getting pampered at a beauty salon. We got full body massages, face massages, foot massages, straight razor shaves, haircuts, Simon had a manicure and I had a chest wax. The following day we went out on a boat for a booze cruise which was pretty hilarious. It was a junky little boat but with a fun crowd and a lairy bunch of staff, headed by Mr Phuc (or Mr Fuck as he said we could call him). We drank Tiger beers in the lovely sunny weather, swam off the boat, and were entertained by the band who used homemade instruments and sang a combination of western and Vietnamese songs. We also stopped at an island for some swimming and beach volleyball. I managed to step on a big bit of glass and cut my shin on the side of the boat, but these minor setbacks failed to put a damper on the day. We came home at the end of it very tired and pretty boozed.
Hoi An
After one more, relatively uneventful, day in Nha Trang we continued north on an overnight bus to Hoi An, an ancient Vietnamese city close to Danang and near to China Beach. Being in a group of three we aquired a 4th traveller, a Canadian girl, to make the rooms cheaper. Hoi An is a small town with some nice restaurants and sites, but most notable for its abundance of tailors. It seemed that every second business there was a tailor who would make any kind of garment you wished to have. Here we met up with Tom, his mum and and his little sister Bubs. Our time here was very relaxed. Much of the time was spent going back and forth to the tailors for measurements, and eating and drinking coffee. We got suits, golf pants, fisherman pants, PJs, jackets, and I had a Hugh Hefner smoking jacket made, among other things. The hightlight of Hoi An for me was a night fishing trip. We rented a boat for our group of 5 and spent around 4 hours fishing and drinking beer. While the boat owner was practically the only person to catch anything, it was excellent to sit on the still river and relax. I managed to pull in the end of my pole, exclaiming "I'm retracting!" (amateur mistake but my excuse was that it was dark). Luke caught a fishing net. During our time here Luke and I also made a morning excursion to a complex of ancient temples called My Son. They were Hindu in origin, I think, and quite impressive. The tour cost us $2.50US each.
Hanoi
From here we flew to Hanoi, opting to take the easy flight over the 18 hour bus. Hanoi is a busy city in the north which plenty to do and see. Highlights included;
Bia Hoi, little alleys where you go to drink beer. The thing is that the beer is brewed daily in the city and carted out to these little establishments everyday. There are no preservatives and it pretty reasonable stuff. Each pint cost around 50 cents and the atmosphere is very friendly. The staff came and sat with us and we bought them a few beers. Only draw back, a toilet unanimously rated 1/10.
Dinner at Bobby Chins. Bobby is a famous chef hailing from Vietnam. His restaurant was much nicer than most in Australia and the food was superb. We all ordered different meals and all were good. Had some nice cocktails and red and enjoyed the top notch service. We managed to spend around $55US on dinner which could literally have fed us for a week or more eating local cuisine but all agreed well worth it.
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. We went to the place where Ho Chi Minh's body is preserved and on display to the public. Pretty creepy seeing his dead body but interesting none the less.
Lowlights;
Water puppets, where there is a stage of water and puppeteers control these puppets by rods under the water. Not that interesting clearly as Luke spent most of the time sleeping and Tom and Simon spent it teasing us that they were clever enough to bring a beer into the theatre.
Halong Bay
We took a side trip from Hanoi out to the coast to a place called Halong Bay. Here we boarded a boat where we had two rooms, each with two single beds. The boat left the harbour and cruised through a spectacular archipelago of islands (is that tortological?) for two days. We spent one night aboard which was a really nice retreat from the busy sights and sounds of Hanoi. We stopped at a cave, went kayaking and spent the rest of the time relaxing and reading while our junk (the name for that type of boat) spluttered its way through the islands.
From here we returned to Hanoi, spending one more night, before moving on to our next destination, Laos.
Stay tuned for the next installment of the blog, coming soon to a computer near you.

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Photos

Paradise Lake
Very aptly named, this place was very peaceful and an excellent place to have a temple complex. Hows the serenity.

Halong Bay sunset
Doesn't get much better than this, sitting around on a boat with a couple beers, some good mates and watching the sun set between the islands

Big Buddha
Tucked away behind a Buddhist temple, a pretty sizeable Buddha, but we've seen bigger.

Meditation Palace
Outside of Da Lat in the mountains, in the south of Vietnam

The bet with Shatters
That I will quit smoking when I go to Melbourne. It'll happen, don't laugh.

Raiden
About to unleash the fury

Caodaist ceremony
Went to this big temple where they had a fairly elaborate ceremony. Different colours for different ranked religious dudes

Caodai Temple
The outside of the temple. Pretty impressive inside and out.

Ch Chi Tunnels
The guide demonstrating how the Vietcong got in and out of the tunnels during the war

Old US Tank
In not-so-good condition

Darcy the Gopher
Wrap around in the Chu Chi Tunnels

Snake spirits
They fill a bottle with dead snakes, scorpions, and alcohol. I don't see a problem with that.

Snake spirits: Part 2
Umm, on second thoughts, not so tasty

Dufus
Looking very stupid in my poncho and helmet

Silk factory
These girls are spinning the silk from single silk worm cocoons into threads of silk 800 metres long

A waterfall
Gettin nice and wet from the spray from this waterfall in Vietnam's southern mountains

Curry paste Indian
Clever boy Shatters decided to put curry paste from a curry plant under his eyes. Needless to say, he was hurting when the wind started to blow it in his eyes.

15 foot rooster
Why not? There was conflicting stories as to why this was erected. Frankly, i didn't believe either

Comments

[NNowack]

Snake shots and no more smoking?
Wow. Looked like a great trip!! I really need to organize a Southeast Asia trip as well after my Australasia trip. Can't believe you drank that Snake Shot!!! Ewwwww. And you're quitting smoking when you get to Melbourne. Good job!! See you in April!!