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Published: March 21st 2010
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After meeting up with Mother Matthews at Hanoi airport we headed into the city. Our first excursion was round the old quarter, taking in the extreme hustle and bustle of Vietnam's capital. It took us quite a while to adjust to the sheer volume of traffic (mostly scooters) on the roads. Valentina and I had become sightly more accustomed to Asian roads and would often get across to find my Mum stranded on the other side with a torrent of traffic between us. When we managed to reach what was described in our guidebook as 'the most authentic street', we were able to see a number of bizarre stalls. One vendor was preparing toads by beheading them on the road, which was quite a macabre sight as once they had been decapitated they remained in the standing position twitching.
The day after we visited Halong Bay. After boarding our boat we headed out into the bay which is made up of thousands of limestone karsts and islands of various shapes and sizes. We stopped at a floating village where we were encouraged to buy our lunch from their fish farms. As everything seemed to be swimming amongst mars bar wrappers
and coke cans we weren't all that keen. In the afternoon Valentina and I boarded kayaks to get a closer look at some of the caves. Despite it being filled with tourists and overcast the bay itself was a very impressive spectacle.
We left Hanoi on a tour to the Red River Delta, this trip was designed to show us more of an authentic side to Vietnam than most others on offer. We arrived for lunch with our first guest family where we had a trip down the river with our guide and the lady of the household before we ate. After some very nice food our guide (Giang) told us we could have a nap, we duly obliged and got into the family's beds...Mum in with Giang. We woke up to find an old (ancient) lady, who we'd not met before, sat in the room observing us . Giang told us that she was just a neighbour who had come to look at us. In the afternoon we got on our bikes to see the area before we arrived at our second family farm which was where we were to spend the night.
On one of these
excursions I was invited to join the local women planting rice, although feeling decidedly under the weather - fish sauce is not for me (especially at breakfast), I plunged into the paddy and attempted to help. Despite my cack-handedness the ladies said they were very pleased to have me join them.
After a lot more Vietnamese food and scenery we boarded an overnight train to Hue. This was probably the hottest day of our entire trip. At one point we walked through a market which for some reason had a make shift tarpaulin roof and the combination of heat and pungent odors almost caused me to pass out.
Next stop was Hoi An where we had 4 days of rest and recuperation. Making use of the hotel swimming pool and our close proximity to the beach. The local beach was in fact China Beach, made famous by the American TV drama and the sight of the first US troops landing in the 60's.
Hoi An town was very picturesque and was where we spent our evenings. It is also famous for tailoring, and every other shop is a tailors where you can go in with a picture
of a designer dress or suit you like and get it made to fit for a fraction of the price you would pay in the UK. We had to wait in one such shop for our shuttle bus back to the hotel each evening. On one night while we were chewing the fat with the girl that worked there a rat ran across the room, the thing was the size of a dog. The shop assistant was trying to reassure us that it was only a mole, that lots of them live in the shop and when she is asleep in the back they often bite her. We tried to tell her that whatever had just run across the room was more akin to a horse than a mole and it was certainly not something she wanted biting her while she slept. I don't think we got through to her. From Hoi An we visited My Son, home to the remains of the ancient Champa Kingdom, which despite requiring a 5am wake up call made for an impressive sight first thing in the morning.
Our final port of call was Ho Chi Minh City or as everyone in Vietnam
still calls it, Saigon. We sampled some of the country's recent history at the War Remnants Museum (formerly known as The Museum of American War Crimes) and then the Chi Chi tunnels which were a key part of the Viet Cong's fight against the Americans. The tunnels, despite being doubled in width and height for the benefit of tourists were still very cramped and uncomfortable.
After saying goodbye to Mum we headed for Cambodia.
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Georgina
non-member comment
So funny
just read the blog about Vietnam and I can't stop laughing about the neighbour who came to sit and look at you. It will cheer me up for the whole day. Couple of other things are a bit worrying though especially that poor girl who gets bitten in the night. Sometimes it does tend to make you appreciate Britain a little more!! You are both still looking the picture of health so you must be doing something right - no stress apart from huge rats of course ! Oh well some of us have to work unfortunately so better get back to it. Take care of yourselves and Grandma sends her love as always. P.s. Katy has gone off to France for a week so I'm all on my own at home - it's very quiet and tidy !!! but I really miss her and she has only just gone !!!! Take care loads of love Georgina x x x x x x x x x