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Published: December 16th 2007
Ho Chi Minh City
Motorcycles swarmed at traffic lights precariously manoeuvring their way around vehicles and pedestrians.Vietnam was all sunburn, mozzie bites and sand in my hair. I wasn’t convinced I’d have time to make it to Vietnam - but thanks to some heavy duty 12 hour slogs on buses and a time saving flight from Vientiane, Laos to Phnom Penh, Cambodia - I managed to muster up a respectable ten days. Enough for some long overdue beach action in the south with my good friend Germaine - covering off Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Mui Ne (the latter both coastal hotspots).
After Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City was a thriving metropolis. Shops operated from permanent structures, the beggars still grab you by the hand (but they wear shoes here), motorcycles swarmed at traffic lights precariously manoeuvring their way around vehicles and pedestrians. Apparently there are 3 million motorcycles on the roads here, a huge number given the population is 6 million, creating a huge market for accessories like helmets and decals. The heavy traffic also makes for terrible pollution. On the way to my guesthouse an enormous rat ran over my feet - scaring the hell out of me. Hello Vietnam!
After a chance reunion with the Irish gang at the infamous
Mama Linh Boat Trip, Nha Trang
One of my Nha Trang highlights has to be the day spent on Mama Linh's $5 island-hopping, snorkelling, eating and drinking extravaganza on water. 'Go Go Go Bar' - a rendezvous point for everyone I'd ever met backpacking, situated at busy crossroads in the backpacker district - I had one day to squeeze in some tourist sites before the overnight bus to Nha Trang. Just getting out of the backpacker district was a challenge. Local child entrepreneurs - often in PJs day and night - accosted you with skyscraper stacks of photocopied books and binders full of fake DVDs. Older salesmen sold newspapers from the UK and Oz, herded you towards their motorcycles and tuk tuks, or sold ridiculous items like scales you can pay to weigh yourself on or dried squid. No thanks!
I spent the day wandering the streets and throwing myself out in front of ferocious motorcycle traffic. In the end, I adopted the 'walk calmly into the moving traffic, maintaining a constant speed and hope they'll swerve around me' strategy. It seemed to work! The most interesting and gory site of the day was the War Remnants Museum. Some of the worst images were that of children deformed by 'agent orange' - the herbicide pumped over the countryside by the US armed forces. Cancer and genetic defects are common
side effects amongst both Vietnam veterans and local Vietnamese who were exposed during and after the war. Another picture of an American soldier holding what is left of a Vietnamese soldier - an arm, shoulder and head - was a pretty disturbing image I won't easily forget. The entire display made me realize just how sketchy my war history is.
The overnight bus to Nha Trang was ok - except for the battle of the backseat. At 2am there are just two of us left on the 5 seater backseat - me and a short, pudgy Vietnamese bloke. Giving myself three seats, justified I reckon owing to my extra height, I spread myself out for a good, long nap. It wasn't long before a tousle broke out. Australia versus Vietnam! The Vietnamese bloke attempted a foot wrestle to secure the precious middle seat. I sat up and pushed his feet off the seat, then resumed my position. He wasn't giving up that easily. Unfortunately there were few passengers left by this stage, so no umpires to adjudicate! He promptly returned his bare feet to the middle seat so they were touching mine and began snoring loudly. Australia were fighting
a losing battle and risking tinea in who-knows-what-else in the process. I admitted defeat and settled for the 'death stare' when it was time to vacate the bus. He scuttled away to the safety of a nearby shop. Gutless. Nha Trang, the Gold Coast of Vietnam, had turned on a torrential downpour for my 6am arrival. I arrived at my guesthouse just as they opened reception and Germaine rocked in an hour or so later. We caught up on gossip and sleep in a room far more comfortable than we were accustomed to.
Nha Trang was a shameless party town with big garbage and slight rat problems. Beach, booze cruise and bar are the main tourist attractions, followed by the local Hot Springs. Fortunately the rain quickly gave way to blue skies and sunshine. The beach had sizeable surf breaking closely to shore, palm trees and clean sand. We invested quality time enjoying the surf - cleaning off weeks of accumulated SE Asian grime. One afternoon we were forced to evacuate the beach after we caught a group of drunk Vietnamese boys filming us on their mobile phones. We never would have realized, except one 'film-maker' decided he wanted
Thap Ba Hot Springs
For several hours we immersed ourselves in mud, then soaked in a variety of different hot springs. a starring role and came over to talk to us whilst his friend followed filming on the phone.
One of my Nha Trang highlights has to be the day spent on Mama Linh's $5 island-hopping, snorkelling, eating and drinking extravaganza on water. The guides on this tacky, tourist boat were quality - entertaining us with their singing and ineffective pick up lines! The four islands we visited were pretty average and snorkelling visibility wasn't the best owing to the recent storms. Not to worry - we all had a great time jumping off the roof of the boat and swimming in the ocean. At lunchtime, boat was converted to a dining hall and we feasted on local food and fresh fruit. After lunch, the dining table turned into a stage/dancefloor and the boat's 'band' struck up some tunes - including some local tunes from our own countries. In the late afternoon, drama struck during 'Happy Hour'. We were happily floating in the ocean on tubes, sipping hideous Dalat red wine and pineapple from plastic cups. Refills were liberal and everyone was a little tipsy when it came time to return to the boat. Unfortunately, the tide was quite strong
Mui Ne
A coastal, resort town - famous for its fish sauce and sand dunes. and we found we'd all drifted quite some distance from the boat. Furious kicking and paddling did little to bring us closer and one Aussie guy just gave up swimming. A Spanish Leprechuan came to the rescue dragging the Aussie back to the floating bar, then from here we were thrown a rope and formed a kind of human/tube chain to get everyone back to the boat.
Certainly time spent at the Thap Ba Hot Spring Centre was far more relaxing! Germaine and I went with two travelling friends - Ken and Paul - one half of the
UK Stack Packers (a ridiculous 'sport' that has to be seen to believed apparently). For several hours we immersed ourselves in mud, then soaked in a variety of different hot springs. A very chilled afternoon, leading up to an outrageous halloween party. Germaine and I went as the UK Stack Packers and our mate Paul won the costume competition for his lycra Spiderman costume he'd had made up at a tailor in Hoi An! Certainly the most popular venue in town is the Nha Trang sailing club - equally renowned for its sensational beachside location and it's large 'jam jars' filled with a
lethal cocktail of vodka, redbull and coke. We had a great night partying it up at the Sailing Club - but were very cautious with the jam jars which have been known to be spiked.
Our next stop was Mui Ne - a coastal, resort town - famous for its fish sauce and sand dunes. You can smell Mui Ne before you see it - the fish sauce aroma assaulting the nostrils in massive wafts! A great town to chill in - Germaine and I worked on our suntans, swam and watched the sunset over the ocean. A few people warned of rubbish problems on the beach, but out front of our resort seemed to be very clean. The water was average though - nothing like going for a swim and finding a plastic bag wrapped around your leg! The main street is the only street in Mui Ne and stretched over almost 30kms, so we hired bikes to explore it. The seafood in Mui Ne was sensational and I indulged my love of rice paper rolls. The orange juice was great too - freshly squeezed - but you had to remember to ask for no sugar or you'd
find a massive glob of it in the bottom of your glass.
One day we got up early for a jeep ride for sunrise at the white sand dunes. A mediocre experience. We trudged up massive dunes next to a picturesque lake at the crack of dawn - following a young kid dragging a sand sled who it was clear would much rather be asleep. Once at the top, we took a few pics of the dissapointing sunrise and reluctantly had a go sand surfing down the dunes - but nothing's fun at 6am without caffeine or breakfast! Other tourist traps were the the red sand dunes and fairy stream where a kid tried to mercilessly rip us off for the privilige of him 'guiding' us up the stream.
The fishing culture in this coastal area of Vietnam is fascinating. During the day, hundreds of fishing boats - little more than round row boats - are moored on the beach. Then come sunset, fisherman take them out to sea for the night, lit with a lantern. What a lonely night it must be for the fisherman out battling the elements. Each morning the fisherman come to shore, selling
Fishing Village near Mui Ne
Our early morning experience at a fishing village was brilliant. their catch at lively markets. Our early morning experience at a fishing village was brilliant. Conical Vietnamese hats were out in full force, women sorted their husband's catch, fish and shellfish were carried in baskets threaded onto a pole and carried over the shoulder, massive chunks of ice were broken with picks and thrown into hessian bags to transport the fish in. Lots of shouting was going on - it seems the Vietnamese are a brash lot and in this fishing village, they were certainly not scared of hard work - everyone had a job to do. Germaine and I were the only Westerners and felt very lucky to be in the thick of things, watching transactions and sorting take place.
All too soon it was time to return to fast-paced Ho Chi Minh. In a stroke of genius, we found ourselves a fabulously cheap and friendly guesthouse up a dark alley which was home to an entire family of rats. Their night time appearance was so frequent, that we were able to give them names! From here did a day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels - a 200km network of tunnels used during the Vietnam war by
Cu Chi Tunnels
A 200km network of tunnels used during the Vietnam war by the Vietnamese for shelter and strategic warfare. the Vietnamese for shelter and strategic warfare. Like ant colonies - the underground tunnel system had several layers and rooms were also dug out for cooking, sleeping and storage. Germaine and I crawled through one of the tunnels that has been slightly widened for tourists. The tunnel was dark and helped me realize just how frightening it must have been for our allied soldiers - sent down these tunnels when trapdoors were discovered. In the end, we were two of only three people in our group of twenty who crawled through the tunnel. Around the Cu Chi war memorial park, there are a range of distasteful attractions - none worse than the shooting range where you can fire an AK47. My visit to both the Cu Chi tunnels only served to confuse my understanding of the Vietnam war, rather than clarify it. I’d always understood that American intervention was to help defend the south against the spread of communism from the north. However, the Southern Vietnamese show a fierce contempt of the Americans and the damage they inflicted during the war and are very proud of the tunnels and traps that they set during the war to both evade and
Crawling through Cu Chi Tunnels
The tunnel was dark and helped me realize just how frightening it must have been for our allied soldiers - sent down these tunnels when trapdoors were discovered. destroy Americans. We watch a propaganda film at the tunnels which calls the American Armed forces 'a crazy pack of wolves' and applauds the efforts of 'Hero American Killers'.
Our last day in Ho Chi Minh was spent on a massive Christmas shopping spree. Lots of advance planning was involved in getting the family gifts, given I'll be in Canada for Christmas. We tore up Ben Thanh market in a bargaining frenzy, leaving many shopkeepers shaking their heads in frustration and amusement. Having both travelled in south east Asia for 2 months we'd perfected our bargaining skills and ripoff radars. Closing our packs bulging with new purchases was no mean feat and we had a night on the town with some other travellers back at the Go Go Go Bar - before parting ways. Travel is hard like that - there are too many goodbyes.
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Germaine
non-member comment
Fab Times!
Wow! Just readind that blog took me straight back to the brilliant times that we had! Them memories will be with me forever. Ellen you really were such a star to travel with, I don't believe there was ever one day that past us by without long durations of laughter and fun! You really are a brilliant person!