Vietnam

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We decided to take a somewhat alternative route into Vietnam as we wanted to visit the mighty Mekong delta first and the best way to see this area of vast rivers and numerous waterways is by boat. From Pnom Penh we took a bus to the waterside town of Neak Luong, and then jumped on a boat for the two and a half hour journey to the border.

The border crossing was pretty uneventful, and afterwards we jumped onto a different boat for the Vietnamese side of the journey. This side of the journey was much better as the waterways narrowed considerably and it was easier to get a good view at the local people and see how important the water is in their daily lives. After a couple of hours the boat dropped us off in Chau Doc a pretty unexciting town but we booked a bus out for the next day, so we weren’t staying long.

Can Tho

After another two and a half hour journey further into Vietnam we arrived in Can Tho, the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. It’s famous because of its floating markets so straight away we booked a boat to take us around them the following morning and then had a look around the city, getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the locals preparing for Tet, the Vietnamese new year.

We started early the next morning for the trip to the floating markets with our guide picking us up from the hotel. She was quite a young girl and it turned out she couldn’t speak a word of English but it didn’t matter as our phrase book and excellent miming got us past the language barrier pretty easily. The boat was kind of like a canoe with a small long tailed motor, which chugged along slowly but it didn’t take too long to get to the first market Cai Rang, which turned out to be a strange mix of large and small boats all piled high with a particular fruit all bobbing around crashing into each other. The buyers then had to navigate this mess to find a particular seller they were after, turning into a big game of dodgems.

From this market we had to make an unscheduled stop as during all the bumping and crashing our propeller had hit another boat and bent meaning a replacement had to be bought and fitted. In the end I bought the old propeller off her as I thought it’d make quite an unusual keepsake of the day.

The second market we went to was Phong Dien, which was a lot smaller but saw a lot less western tourists, as when we arrived we suddenly became the attraction. At this market we bought a few pieces of fruit we’d never seen before and sat with our guide and a couple of the sellers trying to practise our Vietnamese with the phrasebook, especially trying to get our tongues around the six tones. After much laughing and mocking of our poor pronunciation we soon decided that we’d give up, it’s definitely one of the more complicated languages we’ve come across on this trip.

From Can Tho we got a lift from the hotel to the bus station and bought a couple of tickets to Mỹ Tho and were shown to a small mini bus. Unusually the bus was virtually empty to start with but it was a long journey with a drawn out river crossing so we weren’t complaining. At one point a huge Vietnamese woman got on the bus and sat next to me which is always a surprise as you hardly ever see a fat South East Asian, and a little further on we had an experience which suggested we’d been travelling maybe a little too long. While we were speeding along, a lorry unexpectedly backed out into the road causing our driver to slam his foot on the brakes and veer off the road. Everyone on the bus screamed and the fat Vietnamese lady threw herself across the seat and grabbed me, I think to try and stop me flying forward. The funny thing was Faye and I didn’t even flinch, facing death on crappy public transport had become normal to us.

When we were finally told to get off we jumped out into a massive bus station in a large city, not the kind of place I thought Mỹ Tho would be. I questioned the bus driver but as he didn’t speak any English he just looked confused. I then dug out our tickets and showed him the destination we wanted and he slapped his forehead, said Dohhh and laughed. It turned out we were in Saigon and we’d missed our stop. We then had to make a decision... the bus driver would take us back, but after five hours on the bus we couldn’t bear to get back on, so we figured we’d just do a day trip to Mỹ Tho later and see what Saigon had to offer for the time being.

Ho Chi Minh City

Our first task while in Saigon was to visit the Indian embassy to sort our visas out for when we get there later on. They take 4 days to process, so this gave us plenty of time to explore the city and to also do a couple of day trips. The first day trip was back to Mỹ Tho where we sped around the small canals amongst the islands of the Mekong delta in a small canoe stopping to eat local fruits, watch coconut candy being made and sample the local honey. The second trip was to the amazing Củ Chi tunnels, which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. There was also a shooting range so Faye and I had a quick shoot of an AK47 just to get a feel for one of the commonest assault rifles in the world.

Whilst in the city we visited the War Remnants Museum, which seemed to be very anti American outlining various ‘war crimes’ committed and the effects of using Agent Orange, but I suppose this was to be expected considering where the museum is based.

Thankfully as we were taking our time in the city we managed to catch a couple of friends from back home who were passing through on their own travels and enjoy a few glasses of Bia Hoi, while we caught up on the latest news back home and just have a general catch up.

Dalat

After we’d collected our passports with our shiny new Indian visas in we started making our way north, our first stop being the town of Dalat in the mountainous highlands. The first thing we noticed was just how much cooler it was up in the mountains a refreshing change from the weather we’d got used to in South East Asia so far. To get around while in the town we hired a scooter, which was a great idea as we then had the freedom to just cruise around the surrounding hills enjoying the change in scenery. We visited a small silk farm while in the area which was very interesting as they didn’t seem to mind us just wondering around watching them boiling the cocoons and spinning out the threads before weaving them into some beautiful fabric.

Nah Trang

From Dalat we made our way back to the coast to the town of Nah Trang, where we were going to try and get some last dives in before we moved out of South East Asia and also where we’d hole up during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.

Nah Trang turned out to be a very nice coastal resort town, and we booked a couple of dives with Pro Dive as they were one of the few operators that were going out the next day, which was effectively new year’s day to the Vietnamese. We then spent the rest of our time lazing on the beach outside the Sailing club eating freshly cooked seafood off a lady with a mobile bbq.

The night of Tet can only be described as absolute bedlam, with the streets packed with
Vietnamese partying and an amazing fireworks display later on in the night. It was a great evening, which was very different to the following day as the town was absolutely dead. Not that it mattered to us as we were going to spend the day on and under the water.

The two dives we did were not the best diving we’ve done but pretty good none the less. There was a good assortment of soft corals, and it was just nice being back in the water after so long. The only issue was the temperature, it was around 24°, which sounds warm but when you’re in it for any length of time it really sucks all the warmth out of your body. Faye ended up wearing two wetsuits on the second dive as she was so cold.

Hoi An

From Nah Trang we took an overnight bus to Hoi An, a town much further up the coast with a very different feel to it. The old town still appeared to retain a very Chinese atmosphere with lantern shops dotted around. It was also packed with tailors, which will knock up a fitted suit in a day for a very reasonable price... So I bought two! Faye managed to resist the lure of fitted clothes for a couple of days, until she saw a jacket she just HAD to have, this then turned into three jackets, but I could hardly complain as I also ended up buying a jacket. We then had to worry about how we were going to carry all these extra clothes, none of which were particularly traveller friendly. It’s an addiction which thankfully we managed to shake off for a day so we could go visit My Son for a day trip.

From Hoi An we caught a bus to the town of Hue, where we had a stop of a few hours which we put to good use by having a look around the citadel, then caught a sleeper bus overnight to Hanoi,

Halong Bay

We spent the night in Vietnam’s capital city, which was long enough to book a tour around Halong Bay, we’d be coming back to Hanoi afterwards so figured we’d see the sights then.

Halong Bay is in the northeast of Vietnam, a few hours bus ride outside of Hanoi, and words simply don’t do it justice. The bay is composed of more than 3000 limestone islands rising majestically out of the blue green waters of the gulf of Tonkin creating a simply magical landscape.

We booked a 2 night tour with one night spent on board a Junk on the water and the other on Cat Ba Island, the largest island in the bay. On our first day we sailed amongst the islands taking in the gorgeous scenery, and stopped at Hang Sung Sot caves where we were given the opportunity to wander around the vast caverns before taking to the water in Kayaks toget a little more intimate with the water. We had a paddle around for a couple of hours enjoying seeing the islands up close before returning and spending the night on the boat.

In the morning we cruised further amongst the islands and into Green Bay, where Faye and I were taken off the boat and onto Cat Ba Island. Faye and I were the only people doing this part so from here on it was only us and a local guide. He took us into a few more caves on the island and showed us how they farm prawns and fish, before stopping for dinner at a local’s house, where they provided us with numerous local dishes and a pot of lotus tea. After this the weather rapidly deteriorated so we went straight to our hotel on the island where we stayed for the night watching the rain out the window.

In the morning we went back to the pier first thing and jumped back on a passing junk, which cruised back through the bay to Halong City on the main land. From here we caught the bus back to Hanoi.

Hanoi

Once back in Hanoi, we found a hotel with a good internet connection, as we wanted to phone home and speak to our families, as we’ve got some pretty important news, Faye’s pregnant. We’re both thrilled to bits and our families both seem to be too which is a good thing, Faye and I have got plenty of love to share so having a child just seems perfect. It does mean that we’re going to have to change some of our plans as it’s not a good idea for pregnant ladies to go above 3000 metres, meaning we’ll have to cut out Tibet and instead fly straight to India from China. This is not a bad thing though as it means we get to spend more time in India, which considering it’s such a vast country can only be good.

While in Hanoi we took a walking tour detailed in the Lonely Planet which wasn’t all that great, and took in a show at the Water puppet theatre, which actually really was. We also waited in line patiently and visited the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, which was a little weird, being faced with the pale body of someone so respected in this country, and I felt a little like I was intruding, but it was interesting nonetheless.

As we were running out of time, we also had to scrap our plans of getting to Hong Kong overland, instead, opting for a couple of cheap Air Asia flights to Macau (Via Bangkok) which for the price of $0 (before tax) were a bargain, other than having to bribe some guy at the airport to allow our heavily stuffed, and overweight bags through check in, I knew buying all those fitted clothes in Hoi An were a bad idea.

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