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Published: October 11th 2009
Met Dot in Saigon airport on the 14th August, flight went very well with the exception of some serious turbulance halfway through the journey. Was so exciting seeing Dot come through the arrivals gate (lots of hugging and squealing ensued) then got well and truely ripped off with a lift into the city - we did however have a brand new chevrolet with blacked out windows and free water - but for 15USD, a bit steep, although arrived in style. Checked out a hotel but decided we could get a better deal so popped to a 'saloon style' bar and got a couple of beers in then i went out to sniff out a better deal. having found said deal returned to collect Dot and our belongings from the bar then went and checked in to the very swish (..well swish by my standards having spent previous few months in rather less soloubrious joints!) Cherry Hotel and quickly freshened up before heading to the 'Blue Gecko', a bar that an Aussie had reccomended to me during the flight.
Next morning got up and had breakfast before heading to the airport to get our 2 hour flight to Hanoi (after having
to return to the hotel halfway there because i realised i'd left my camera on top of the computer... needless to say taxi driver was not amused!). The domestic terminal at Saigon airport resembeled a train station more than an airport - definately 'no frills'! water was a complete rip off at 18000VND (normally about 7000VND!) and the boarding was stopped halfway through as the computers went down - eventually boarded flight and left 45mins after planned take off. we flew the 550km to Hanoi and landed at around 17:00 hrs then hopped onto the vietnam airlines minibus into the city. It was raining really heavily when we arrived, with most of the roads resembling rivers rather than roads! However, the journey was quite an exciting one and really funny watching the locals riding their scooters with their feet bent up and resting on the seat or handlebars of the scooters to prevent them getting their feet wet! At one point the road was so conjested with people trying to make it through the floods that the driver turned around and took us down a series of narrow lanes that were packed on both sides with very derelict and poor
looking housing. all made from a patchwork of corregated metal, bits of wood and lengths of tarpaulin. The landscape on the drive was really interesting, on the outer parts of the cioty large green stretches of paddy fields appeared inbertween built up areas periodically, oft being attended by stooped figures wearing the traditional vietnamese conical hats (yes they actually do wear them!!).
The architecture is very different to that in Saigon, it is very French colonial and the buildings are a real mis-match of colour, height and level of upkeep. The overall effect however is so interesting and colourful, even the unkempt houses have a certain charm with the peeling paintwork revealing various hues of their previous facades.
Hanoi was founded in AD1010 by emporer Ly Thai To, but at the time it was known as Thong Long. The arrival of the French in the 19th century marked a period of massive reconstruction in the area and is where the unexpected but beautiful juxtaposition between French architecture and Asian culture comes from.
We were dropped at the edge of the old quarter, which is the main tourist area and has the most 'sights'. After a bit of
turning the map around in circles we figured out where we were and where we wanted to head for and set off in search of a bed... which proved to be slightly trickier than first presumed as the guesthouses in Hanoi are not quite as cheap as the 'lonely planet' guide had led us to believe... we eventually settled on a room for 13USD (everything quoted in USD out here - bizarre!) which turned out to be quite nice. We dumped our bags and headed out to find something to eat... which again turned out to be quite a tricky task! All that seemed to be in the area were either Italian/Mediteranean restaurants (which we didn't want to eat at as we wanted Vietnamese food for our first night in Hanoi!!) or street cafes with the tiniest stools in the world - on which Dot (being over 6ft) would have looked particularly ridiculous on and in the wobbled, 'travelled all day' state we were in we needed proper chairs!! After about half an hour of serious searching (with growling tummies) we found a cute little place that did fried noodles and Beer - SOLD! I tried the Hanoi beer (for
the only time on the trip...) and Dot sampled the Saigon (of which we drank plenty during the trip!). the My Xao (..thats fried noodles to you and I) was delicious, although i was a little disapointed by how bland the Vietnamese food is in comparison to spicy thai food that seems to have much more depth of flavour. after dinner looked for a bar to stop for another drink at, no luck so headed back to hotel... with a plan to pack up and move the next day...
The following morning, after a delicious fried egg sandwich (free breakfasts always go down well in my book and having had very very little bread on the trip sofar was amazing to have baguette!!) we headed out in search of a hotel further up the old quarter in an area with a bit more going on. We walked to the top west side of the lake, near to the water puppet theatre, and after enquiring in a few places we found a room for 12USD at the 'Bamboo Hotel' which was perfectly located - opposite 'Le Pub' - SOLD! It was a basic but clean room with ensuite and lots
of bamboo furniture. After checking into our room, armed with Dots map, we set out to find the 'Temple of Literature' which was set up by Confucious. It was established in 1070 as a centre of learning to educate Vietnamese students in mandarin teaching. The walk was quite hard work in the stifling, humid heat and by the time we arrived at the temple we were both in serious need of food and rehydration!! both came in the form of a vietnamese fast food joint called 'Pho 24'. They are all over the city and primarily serve the nations most famous dish Pho (delicious noodle soup). Rehydrated and bellies filled we went to the temple.
The temple consisted of 5 courtyards, each seperated by walls and ornamental gates. The grounds were lovely to walk through with towering trees and lush borders. MOst impressive, and unusual, were the rows of tortoise Stelae, of which only 82 out of the original 112 remain intact today. Each Stelae is mounted on a giant tortoise pedastal and are inscribed with the names and brief personal details of each of the scholars who passed the examinations. In the 'Well of Heavenly Clarity' (big square
pool in the middle of one of the courtyards - in which Dot and I would have happily dived into as relief from the heat were it not green and had funky looking foam floating about at the edges) we saw several terrapin turtles, which we got very excited about (*screaching and giggling and attracting odd looks from passers by*)although both failed in an attempt to get a good photo of one... they are surprisingly quick, and evidently quite camera shy! The buildings and graounds of the temple were lovely to walk through and we happily lost about 3 hours wondering the grounds doing so. ONe of the most surpeising things was how quiet and tranquil the grounds were compared to the noisy scramble of traffic in the streets outside.
The walk back was equally hot and we stoped on the way back in a little cafe by the lake to rehydrate (Dot had best fresh lemonade ever!). We returned to the HOtel and got showered and changed ready for our trip to the Theatre... Water puppet theatre no less! Its renowned as one of the best in the country in which to watch the traditional art of 'Roi
Nuoc' or Water Puppetry. The show was great to watch - a bit like Punch and Judy in water with fabulous Vietnamese music played by live instrumentalists and singers. The Pupeteers spend the entire performance in waist deep water behind a bamboo screen.
When we emerged from the performance it was raining torrentially! Again the river/road border was difficult to distinguish! although the spectacle the unfolded before us was almost as good as the show itself and kept Dot and I highly entertained for the entire 45mins or so that we were stranded on the steps of the theatre. Another performance was due to start directly after ours so numerous taxis appeared to try to drop off their passengers.... backing up through the water and over the kerb to drop them as close to the door as possible. Others, arriving by foot had to wade through water, that in places was mid calf deep (due to hidden pot holes that several of them stepped into!) really shouldn't have been quite so mean as to take great pleasure in watching them shriek as they stepped into a hole and got soaked... once the rain had slowed to a drizzle we
braved the streets and made it to 'Le Pub' reletively dry, ordered a cosmo (me) and kingfisher (Dot) and then got talking to a guy called Tom from Bristol (living/working in Malaysia originally from Bristol). Dot and I went and got some dinner in a nearby restaurant then joined Tom in Le Pub again chatting and drinking til we got chucked out at closing time. Headed out to find somewhere else to carry on and found a bar called the 'Funky Buddha' which looked quite lively so stopped in there for one but it became very evident very quickly that travelers were considered 2nd class citizens in here and we got some very dirty looks from the rich local kids drinking there so called it a night and headed back to our hotel. It was quite eary walking down streets that during the day are so jampacked and busy and nisy but are completely abandoned at night - everything shuts really early here! Turns out our hotel was one of those places that shuts really early too and we returned to see that all the shutters had been pulled down with no sign of life anywhere... Oops.... fortunately (after quite
alot of banging on the shutters a very sleepy guard came and opened up for us... apparently the doors are shut at 12pm... it was only 1am but we were told next time to be back before curfew...
Next day we did a bit of research (taking advantage of the free internet at the hotel) into Halong bay boat trips. We'd heard mixed reports but they basically all told the same story - you get what you pay for... we were determined to have an amazing trip and stay on a nice junk boat, and definately didn't want the 18-30's style trip we'd heard one very enthusiastic young brit describe to us the night before! (...am i getting old?...) saw several good reviews for a company called Colombus Travel so we popped along to their office and spoke to a very helpful sales consultant who got us booked up for a 2 day 1 night cruise departing the following day. He promised 5* luxury and a 5* chef.... yup, heard that one before, although the boat looked pretty swanky, so we left excited and hoping that the trip was as good as he'd made out!
We then set
out to spend the rest of the day walking the '36 street' in the old quarter. Every street specialises in a particular trade, from tomb and headstone engravers on one street, to paper products (lanterns, offerings, cards, wedding stationary etc etc) on the next, bamboo products on another.... it was really interesting but pretty hard work walking through the streets in the oppresive heat and humidity. We stopped for an early dinner of My Xao (fried noodles) in a restaurant with a balcony on the first floor overlooking the street below and spent our time people watching before returning to the hotel to pack.
So the following morning (17th August) we were collected from our hotel by a rep from Colombus travel and were driven to Halong Bay. We met Barbara and Sandra, sisters from Ireland same age as us and an Italian chap in his 40's called Stephano. It was a really mixed group when we boarded the ship, all nationalities and ages but everyone mingled well and we had a great trip. The ship itself was called Pinta Gold and was absolutely beatiful - we really lucked in and everything was even better than we had hoped!
Exceptionally friendly staff, amazing interior to the boat, delicious food, breathtaking scenery. i fully recomend everyone to go if they can and booked with Colombus! We went to look at some caves that have many limestone formations that look like various animals etc (including one particularly phallic shaped formation that gave the guide a good opportunity to make some rather lewd comments... ). Back on the Pinta Gold we sat on the front of the boat, legs dangling over the edge, sipping our fresh mango juice and taking in the incredible scenery unfolding before us... Anchors went down again in a beautiful secluded cove and we all got changed and jumped off the front of the boat into the sea for a swim. after showering and changing we had another amazing meal - 10 courses!!! which we couldn't finish and then retired to the top deck for some star gazing and Saigon beer.
I got up the following morning at 5.45am and watched the sunrise over the majestic Karstes but couldn't motivate Dot to join me. I was sat on the top deck watching the sun glisten on the water and cast dramatic shadows ovee the water - it
was pretty spectacular!
Breakfast was served at 7.30am as we cruised into a floating fishing village and then at 8.15am (tight schedule they run on this boat!) we all got into Kayaks and rowed around the village and Karstes for about an hour (Dot and I got a very good rhythem going...one..two...one...two... and got up quite a bit of speed in our little Kayak!) before returning to the boat for some sunbathing top deck with beautiful scenery as we cruised back to the harbour. After another fabulous lunch we checked out of our room and were collected by a smaller boat to take us back to harbour for our return trip to Hanoi.
Checked back into the Bamboo Hotel and headed to the pub for a couple of beers then to bed for an early night in preparation for our very early start the next morning. we got a taxi at 5.30am (!!!) - it was really interesting driving through Hanoi when the streets were completely empty, until we got to a really conjested area on the highway that had hundreds of scooters with their owners laoding them high with goods off the morning trains ready to take
to market. It was chaos - still pitch black, with everyone hurrying about with hand lanterns. Arrived at the airport and checked in for our flight to Danang. On arrival our bags turned up very sharpish (always a relief to see my bag coming along the carosel!) and accosted another backpacker to share a taxi to Hoi An - enter Oliver, an Ozzie from Melbourne who now lives in Sydney and ended up spending the Hoi An part of our trip with us. We got checked into a guesthouse and then met in recption to head out to explore (...and find beer...). We found ourselfs walking down the narrow streets of old Hoi An, colonial style single story buildings lining the streets in a multitude of soft pastel hues. the constant call of friendly shop clerks shouting 'hello... hello mister... hello lady.... come to my shop please...' and then we emerged from the end of one of these streets and caught a glimpse of the river meandering through the town stretching out in both directions lined by beautiful multicoloured buildings with baloconies set out with numerous cloth covered tables outside each, spoilt for choice on the restaurant front then! The
sky was clear blue and the sun was out in full force making Hoi An look one of the most beautiful towns i've ever seen!
We crossed the wide arched bridge and found a lovely bar which had an artificial beach with deckchairs on... perfect spot for our first beer. We then headed to the beach and were dropped at the Kim Lien restaurant and bar right on the beach where we took up residence in sun loungers and took in the view of the wide sandy beach. I headed straight for the sea - which was like warm bathwater! and we spent the afternoon chatting and getting to know Ollie, who turned out to be an absolutely awesome guy, loads of fun and really interesting. Got to know some of the local beach hawkers too including an absolutely adorable old dear called Hut, 83 years old and still walking up and down the beach every day laden with a heavy basket full of goods to sell. She spoke very little english but was quite contect to sit with us for long periods babbling away to us... or more like AT us in Vietnamese, of which we obviously understood
none of... but this didn't bother Hut and she just laughed at us when we looked at here quizzically after (we presume) she had posed us a question. Ollie was a real softy and ended up buying loads of stuff from her.
That evening we headed back to the river and found a lovely little restaurant covered in red paper lanterns and had some delicious local food. Had a bit of a wonder round the riverside after dinner and took some photos of pretty Hoi An at night then had an early night to recover from the early start!
The next few days are a bit of a blissful blur... Hoi An finished the restoration of my faith in Vietnam that Halong Bay started... I had been slightly disapointed after beautiful and friendly North Thailand... but i would definately return to Halong Bay and beautiful Hoi An... lazy, friendly, stunning!! We spent our days either at the beach, at the pool (which we had been told obout by our receptionist at the gorgeous, and ridiculously expensive, 'Hoi An Hotel' where for 30,000dong you could spend the day using the facilities), wondering the streets of the old town and
occasionally popping into our Tailors (bibo - amazing stuff! and thanks to Lee Garretts blog which i have been following for the reccomendation!) for various fittings and alterations. Night after night we became more and more impressed with the local cuisine, especially with Cau Lao and white Roses - Hoi An specialities. Ended up staying 5 nights before setting off for our flight back to Saigon.
I got a bus to the airport on the 25th August to surprise Dad by meeting him at the airport, although it was a good job his flight was delayed as the 40 minute journey took nearly 2 hours due to crazy crazy conjestion on the roads due to flooding! The journey back to the hotel in the Cab wasn't much better and Dad got his first taste of insane Saigon traffic! We dumped bags and headed out to a restaurant for some food and a much needed beer for Dad before heading to bed in preparation for our trip to the Mekong Delta the following morning.
We were collected at 7.30am and set off on the 2.5hr journey to the port (stopping on the way at a crafts factory set up
for people with disabilities to make a living). We arrived in My Tho and were given some rather attractive bright orange life jackets to wear and boarded the boat (that was very old, very slow and was listing procariously to one side!). The trip took us accross the Mekong which is huge (and very dirty) to one of the islands where we boarded a smaller boat to take us down the canal to a coconut farm that produced delicious coconut candy! The farmers had a huge pet python which Dot and I got chance to holdand pose for some photos then we got back on the bigger boat and went to a fruit farm for some fresh fruit, tea and some traditional vietnamese music with some rather questionable vocals. Then it was back on the boat, stopping for a lunch of pork noodles then to a bee farm for some honey tea and more candies then back over the Mekong to get the bus back to Saigon. All in all quite a pleasent day.
The following day we went on another trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. We had a really informative guide who was really interesting and gave
us a narrative of Vietnamese history, culture and customs for most of the journey. We got to the tunnels and watched a very biased and anti-american propaganda film about the Cu Chi tunnels about 'gentle and patriotic farmers' of the Chu Ci area and about how they bravely took up arms and dug an extrodinary network of tunnels to fight against the 'evil american enemy'. We then walked around the site, which now resembles a young forest, but at the time had been completely levelled to a wasteland by the Americans using chemical defolients (one of which was Agent Orange). During the war there were more than 200km of tunnels that stretched from Saigon to the Cambodian border. Only a fraction of those tunnels now remain today as many were destroyed by the americans and the rest have been collapsed as tree roots have started to grow through them. It was an incredible feat of engineering that these simple farm folk managed to create, the vietnamese 'gorilla' fighters were known as the Viet Cong and were renowned for being fierce and extremely skilled at maiming and killing the enemy. The tunnels were extremely small (as the vietnamese are so tiney)
and so they have adapted one 100 mtr stretch of the tunnel by widening it and putting a few lights down there so that 'fat westerners' can go down and get a feel for what life down there was like. Dot took a bit of persuading to go down but did really well, despite her claustrophobia and made it nearly half way along (there are exits about every 15mtrs). Dad and I managed the whole length but it was hard work crawling most of the way on hands and knees and was unbelievably hot down there!
We travelled back to Saigon and stopped at 'Allezboo' for lunch and a beer before Dot had to make her way to the airport for the journey home.
The next morning Dad and I got up early and embarked on a 'Dad planned walking tour' of Saigon - First stop War Remnants Museum, a particularly harrowing experience. Obviously very biased as its the Vietnamese version of events, but the photographs of the atrocities that were inflicted on the vietnamese people were shocking. Brief understanding of goings on - North and South Vietnam were divided, Hanoi the capital of the communist NOrth and
Saigon the capital of the south. In 1964 the North Vietnamese army (NVA) infiltrated the south and the situation for the Saigon regime became desperate. In 1965 the USA commited its first troops (soon joined by soildiers from South Korea, Australia, Thailand and New Zealand). In february of 1968 the Viet Cong (VC) launched a deadly, surprise attack known as the Tet Offensive, marking the begginning of the end of the American involvement. Obviously the story varies greatly on both sides but basically the Yanks scarpered and Vietnam was unified under a communist government led by Ho Chi Min (who then renamed Saigon Ho CHi Min City - HCMC - but those living in Saigon still refer to it as such). The VC were largely made up of farmers and radicals sympathetic to the NVA who indoctrinated the common people against the 'evil enemy' (the Americans) and commited horrendous attrocities against anyone who stood against them, including numerous women and children. The Americans it seems inflicted similar attrocities on many vietnamese, including, unforgivably, Agen Orange - a defolient meant to clear trees etc and distributed over vast swathes of south Vietnam. Tragically Agent Orange caused many hundreds of innocents to
die and the chemical has remained in the soil, thus affecting the crops and water causing several subsequent generations to be born with horrific disfigurements and disabilities. We both walked away from the museum a little shell shocked and headed to a cafe to get some strong coffee.
Next up, Reunification Palace, but it was closed (and according to the guidebook not too exciting in the first place) so took a few photos from the outside then wondered down 'Le Duan, a lovely wide, leafy road, to Notre Dame Cathedral then onto the Opera House before stopping at Ben Thanh Market for some food. as soon as we walked into the market we were accosted by numerous women waving menus at us and dragging us towards their various little stalls - we settled on one with a particularly insistant lady with a huge grin on her face and ordered some delicious My Xao with Chicken. The people watching in the market was fascinating, everyone so busy and hurrying around the place. after lunch we headed back to Allezboo for a beer then i spent some time on the internet catching up on mails etc whilst Dad watched the Grand
Prix qualifiers.
The next morning we again had a fairlyearly start and headed to 'Pho 24' for a traditional vietnamese breakfast of hot noodle soup, which were delicious but it was far too early for hot noodles!! mine didn't go down too well. We walked through the Cong Vien Tao Dan park and saw crowds of men huddled round stone tables playing board games and gossiping whilst their birds in cages were huddled together - i guess so that they could socialise too! The park was full of birdsong! We then walked to the Jade Emporer Pagoda on Phuoc Hai TU (which was very difficult to find! but we were shown the right direction by a very helpful local who saw that we looked a bit lost and stopped on his scooter to ask if he could help). It was a beautiful little chinese temple full of colourful statues of ;Phantasmal Divinities' and statues of war gods. It had been built in 1909 by the cantonese congregation, and although a little run down, was one of my favourite temples of the trip. We then walkd to the Botanical Gardens which also contain Saigon Zoo and spent a couple of
hours wondering round, stopping along the way for an icecream for me and a beer for Dad. It wasn't a great zoo and the poor animals were kept in pretty squalid conditions with alot of the cages empty , but still, it gave us a couple of great photo ops - especially when stumbling upon some concrete dinosaurs and getting dad to pose by a T-rex with a 'T-rex face' and claw action.
Went for a curry that night and got a fairly passable attempt at a Mojhito at Go2 before getting an early night, exhausted from quite a long yomp through Saigon.
Sunday was our last day together before Dad had to head home and we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to in the city. We set off for another explore and stopped for coffees and breakfast on the way round then stumbled accross an amazing Indian inspired temple called Sri Thenday Yutthapani with an incredible stupor on the roof covered in brightly coloured statues of various gods, animals and people. inside the temple was covered in brightly coloured tiles - really gorgeous.
Headed back and went to 'Le Pub' (same chain as the
one in Hanoi) for beer and spring rolls then i booked my ticket to Phnom Penh and tried to do some more catching up on my travel blogs (... i', sorry that they've been sporadic but it takes ages to write them... especially this one... and its hard to find the time when there are so many exciting things to see!!). Had our last meal at Stella. a favourite restaurant of ours, and headed back to pack ready for our early start the next day.
At 6.30am on 31st August dad was collected to be taken to the airport, I said a teary goodbye then went upstairs to shower and finish packing in preparation for my bus at 7.30 for the 6hr bus journey to Phnom Penh.
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