Vietnam

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May 8th 2007

Published: May 8th 2007

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Andrea and Ben

Beach cows!

Ben getting some rays enjoying a bit of lit, with a pesky beach cow hanging around - Mui Ne

Eventually, our time in Vietnam, like our two months in Asia, expired on us. Vietnam was a unique experience. There is a lot to both like and loath and we experienced both in about equal measure. It is very different from Cambodia, set very much apart by its relative advancement (especially in tourism), but also a little bit cynical as a result. Temples visited or sights seen don’t measure our experiences of Vietnam; rather, by how many drinks we had and people we met. It was party time and we had so much fun socialising. It started in Mui Ne and didn’t let up until our last night in Hanoi, just before we left for Halong Bay.
Having secured our visa in Sihanoukville, we headed back to Phnom Penh, spent the night, then caught a ‘VIP’ bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon and arrived in the afternoon.

Saigon

Unfortunately we booked our passage out of Saigon as soon as we arrived and only gave ourselves two nights when we could have spent a lot more time there.
With Ben’s uncle having fought in the ‘American War’ for the Australian army, Saigon and some of the war history posed some interest.

On our way to the 'waterfall'

Andrea and our 'guide' as we stroll through a stream on our way to the trickle

Though Ben didn’t (and still doesn’t) know much about what his uncle did in the war, but with the CuChi Tunnels just out of Saigon, sight seeing was a must.
The tunnel network is vast and complicated and we had a veteran as a guide, which made the experience intense. Mr Binh, a proud Vietnamese, was in the US Navy and quite bitter about the war and his life since. He would often go off on rants about any number of perceived injustices, but he was brilliant as well. After two years serving the US in the war, he spent a further two years in a Communist Reunification Camp. The information he gave us on the tour was incredible, and we felt it was because his experiences were shared with both sides of the war.
He took us on a tour of the area, showed us a tank, and some booby traps and we crawled through the tunnel about 100 metres, and we both fired an AK-47 at the range. Crawling through the tunnel was a bit suffocating, but easy enough with no ‘enemy’ trying to kill you, lights all through it and a dozen or so others walking with

Getting friendly with the locals

Andrea makes a new friend

you. It must have been hell in the war.
That night we went out for dinner near our guesthouse, and were minding our own business when our friend from Laos, Joe, walked in. It was great to catch up with him as we thought we’d lost him in Laos. He too was heading north so we thought we’d keep up along the way.
We took a bus up to Mui Ne to see what was there, expecting a beach town, but finding a resort highway.

Mui Ne

Two nights was enough for us in Mui Ne, as it was a genuine coastal resort strip that didn’t really appeal to us. There was very little going on at night and by day all that was doing was sitting by the beach. We took a trip around to see the sights of by 4x4: a waterfall (really, a trickle), a red canyon, and some sand dunes. It was nice to drive around and see the area, even if the sights were a bit contrived, and it cost way too much.
Staying at the same hotel a few doors down was an Englishman named James, who we met and would spend the next

A fishing boat in Mue Ne

week or so travelling and partying with in Nha Trang and Hoi An.

Nha Trang

Nha Trang turned out to be one long party. Friday the thirteenth turned out to be a crazy night. It started out rather innocuously, drinking Bia Hoi (cheap, homemade beer) on the street (see photo). Though, as the police arrived, we had to scuttle inside and hide everything, as the owners of the Bia Hoi place aren’t allowed to have tables on the footpath. Even though we were clearly caught out, after we’d picked up our things and retreated inside, nothing happened, and we resumed our positions. Had we not moved quickly enough, the owners told us the police would have grabbed whatever belongings we may have left on the table and kept it as penalty. The beer wasn’t fantastic, so we went looking for another place to drink and happened upon The Red Apple. This would be our starting point each night, but on Friday the thirteenth Ben bumped into two guys he went to school with, Bryce Quirk and Ben Day. No, not himself, but a guy that he used to play cricket with at school with the same name! It was unbelievable;

Bia Hoi

The boys downing cheap Bia Hoi on Friday the 13th

Bryce and Ben had been drinking rice wine all day and were well on the way, so they hung out with us that night and joined our little drinking crew. That night was a blast, we started drinking BMG beer, then moved on to the notorious Sailing Club where we drank many Buckets! Blindly we staggered home, only to be robbed by two ex-hookers: one going for Ben’s balls, while the other emptied his pockets. This blitz affected all of the other revellers we’d met that night! All at different levels, with Joe being proper mugged, while Ruben just allowed the ex-hookers to grapple at his nether region while covering his pockets!
The next day, neither Andrea or Joe could crawl out of bed, so James and Ben went on the planned boat trip. Despite being still drunk, they made the most of a pretty boring trip. They drank their first Tiger beer at about 9:30 that morning and stayed on it all night, meaning the next day was a write off for Ben.
The next day, Andrea and Joe managed to get to the boat this time and Joe enjoyed the trip as it was littered with about twenty

A Ben Day sandwich!

Ben Day on the left and Ben Day on the right ...

Danish women in bikinis! (See photo).
Finally, we had to leave Nha Trang as it was getting to be too much and we figured Hoi An would be quieter and little less in-your-face than Nha Trang.

Hoi An

We arrived into Hoi An by bus and were dropped at a hotel that had been recommended to us, Green Fields Hotel, but it was too expensive and not in a central location, so, after an overnight ‘hell’ bus mission, we went traipsing around Hoi An looking for a room. We finally found a place to stay and settled into shopping, but it was too much for Ben so we retreated to the beach!
Hoi An was brilliant for food and shopping for women’s clothing. Andrea had a few great things made (coat, several trousers, work skirt, and two pairs of shoes) and Ben had a suit, shoes and an overcoat tailored for about US$130, which was mostly one suit (that doesn’t live up to his Bangkok Raja suits, but he’ll live).
We ate most nights at Mr Kim’s CafÃ© Des Amis (see photo) with an increasing travelling group that included different combinations of Joe, James, Kajsa and Astrid from Sweden, Kiwi

Ruben and Andrea

Ruben and Andrea after too many buckets!

Carl, a Dutch girl named Sigrid, two Danish friends Ruben and Tanja, and a couple living in Scotland.
The last night that James was in Hoi An before he left for Bangkok; we decided to have a massive night. We were drinking at the local ‘hot spot’ when they shut up at 2am, Ben could easily have staggered home, but James used the old trick card of: ‘Oh come on, you soft Australian!’ So we headed out to a bar across the river and finally left at 6.30 am. On the way back, while passing the local food market, Carl thought we should check it out and see if the fish market was in full swing. We trusted Kiwi Carl and it paid off big time (can’t believe it!). The market was amazing: locals buying and selling fresh fish; not interested in us in the least (interested in Joe’s cigarettes though). The tiny ‘harbour’ saw fifty or so buyers negotiating for fish from the eight boats docked in a long line, side-by-side. Feeling brave, we wandered across, stopping to check out the weird fish and ‘talk’ to the locals. After about half an hour, it was time to go, but

Evidence ... too many buckets!

Tanja and Andrea in the middle here ... can't remember the other two!

just as we were getting off, the first boat up and left, with us on it, drunk and ready for bed. All we could think was that we were fishing for the day. We managed to escape when a little old lady wadded out in her tiny boat and paddled us back in (of course, she wanted to charge us one dollar). After giving her a few thousand dong, we escaped and headed home for some well-earned rest.

HuÃ©

The less said about HuÃ©, the better. All noteworthy to be said, is that Ben turned 30.

Hanoi

Hanoi really pisses travellers off. Before we arrived, so many people said emphatically that they hate it. Sigrid said when she arrived, people were butchering puppies and she was being attacked by rats, so she went straight to Halong.
When we arrived, it was 5:30 am, the taxi driver scammed us, and there were giant rats galloping around, but it was so quiet and inoffensive, we couldn’t understand the vitriol. It would take a few hours.
After a real battle to find a hotel, we settled on a Lonely Planet ‘recommendation’ called Venus Hotel — it was a shit hole. We paid for

The Red Apple

Ben and Andrea the following evening ... looking chipper and ready to go, again!

air con and it didn’t work, but there was no discount, it was a fight to get a fan and the staff were so rude that we spent one reluctant night and left asap. Even after all of their rudeness, they still wanted to sell us a Halong trip! We paid a little extra and went across the road to Hanoi Lotus Hotel, which was fantastic, with two crazy girls running the place.
Different travellers we spoke to, and the Swedish girls, found out the hard way about not booking your Halong or Sapa trips at your hotel. Everyone we spoke to said the same thing, if you booked elsewhere they kicked you out of the hotel! Suddenly, you had to leave, which really is appalling behaviour, another example of Hanoi pissing people off unnecessarily!
We didn’t do much in Hanoi. We saw the Temple of Literature and Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, and had a few nights out before we decided we’d go and spend our last night in Halong, in the relative quiet, escaping the noise of Hanoi.

Halong Bay

After much deliberation and procrastination, we finally decided to go to Halong Bay on an overnight tour. We teamed

Nha Trang boat trip

Joe and his bad luck ... surrounded by Danish girl in bikinis. He wishes he'd gone the day before with Ben and James!

up with Joe (from Perth), Kajsa and Astrid (from Sweden). It took four hours on the bus, but we finally made it to Halong and joined our boat crew and fellow travellers. Despite our hope for a party boat atmosphere, we got white hair and Christians spreading the word. It was a good respite though from the constant partying we ‘endured’ while in Vietnam. It would have been nice to go out with a bang, but a whimper was all we could muster. Joe and Ben drank a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black but still revelry was dead.
Halong Bay was picturesque and we enjoyed cruising around on the boat, lazing in the mild, cloudy weather on the roof of the boat. We visited some caves, went kayaking (see video), and climbed one of the craggily rocks to check out the view. It was worth it, but tiring with all the travel. One the second day we drove back to Hanoi, then straight to the airport bound for Bangkok and a night stopover, then, London.

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