Vietnam

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Well, have a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately I can update this whilst at the airport waiting to travel on to Cambodia.

We left Hue and drove to Hoi An via Danang. Again lots of sights to see. Ducks in panniers stuck on the side of a moped going to market. Loads of paddy fields with mainly women planting the rice. Apparently they plant it and when the shoots have grown to seedlings they have to lift them all out and plant them in another field so they don't get some sort of rot. A huge amount of effort, the women are up to their knees in mud and water, it is very hot and sticky so they all wear the coolie hats. Not for me. We had to go across a mountain range, the top of which seems to live in permanent mist. Apparently they sell the best pearls in Vietnam here, not sure how as they aren't that close to the sea. Any way resisted the temptation to buy any. There are also bunkers that both the French and the Americans built during various wars. There are sweeping views of the coastline the otherside and the vivid green of the ricefields look like well manicured golf courses here as they are all built into the hillsides. We drove through Da Nang the 4th largest city in Vietnam. There is a huge amount of construction going on here with hotels going up all along the coastline. Beautiful long beaches with off white powder sand. Visited China Beach which was apparently where all the Americans went for R & R during the war. Then onto Marble mountain, where marble is extracted and carved, no surprise there. A pagoda and big Buddha were built half way up the side so we had a steep climb to visit it. The caves behind it were used as an American hospital during the war. Must have been awful. They are made of limestone and very porous so water seeps everywhere and they are covered in green slime.

Finally we reached Hoi An stopping at a silk factory on the way. Really interesting, again resisted the temptation to go shopping. The hotel was lovely set on the banks of the river, our room looked out on to this and the paddy fields beyond. Went into the town for dinner another good meal, tried some Vietnamese wine from Dalat, very drinkable and only 60p a glass! Went to cooking class the next day. First a walk around the market, the array of fruit and vegetables is amazing and all so fresh. The fish are caught daily from both the sea and the river and kept alive in huge washing up bowls filled with water which have air pumped into them. Meat however is a different matter, they eat absolutely everything. It is all displayed on wooden slabs in the heat, uncovered and with flies crawling all over it, yuk. There were several pigs heads on display. How we haven't caught anything yet, I don't know, as I assume the restaurants all buy their food in the market. We were then taken to the restaurant where we both prepared Vietnamese spring rolls, these aren't cooked and are filled with pork, prawns (not in my case), a crispy spring roll and lots of fresh herbs and a local sort of spinach. These are served with a chilli sauce. Delicious. Next was a green mango salad with chilli and lemongrass dressing. Vietnamese pancakes which are very different to ours stuffed with shrimp and pork. Lastly chicken skewers which we marinaded and they cooked on a bar b q for us. As we were cooking we were eating it all. They gave us a recipe book to bring home so Alan can expand his repetoire! Then off to look around the town and sneak in a bit of shopping. Hoi An is an ancient town on the banks of the Hoi An river. This seems to flood quite badly once a year. Last September the flood levels reached at least 10 ft above normal levels. In the past it has been very wealthy as merchants set up shop here and traded with people up and down the coast. There are a number of old houses that are being restored. Shopping is very good, masses of tailors who can knock anything up in a matter of hours, loads of silk, lacquer ware and handmade shoes. Needless to say another pair got purchased. That evening when we got back from dinner the river was awash with colourful lit silk lanterns. Apparently this happens once a week, the lanterns are released from a bridge in town and float down the river and out into the sea. Next day we explored a bit more and then walked a couple of kms to the sea. Yet another fantasic bit of coast line with the beach stretching for miles. Had dinner in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river.

Early start the next day with a flight from Da Nang to Saigon now Ho Chi Minh city, about 50 mins, quite like these short flights. Saigon was a bit disappointing not at all what I expected. A very young city with very little in the way of old buildings but huge and growing all the time. It has lovely wide boulevards left by the French. The Tet holiday is coming up soon and all the roads were being decorated with huge silk flowers, silk bamboo and lanterns which were all lit up at night. The traffic is 10 times worse than Hanoi, but by now we had mastered the art of crossing the road, there are over 3.5 million motorbikes. Got to the hotel, with luggage, am now paranoid about losing it again. We couldn't have our room as someone from a previous tour had been taken ill and several people had stayed behind to look after them, hence no rooms. They were going to ship us out to a sister hotel but I wasn't keen. Anyway our young guide, Than, who was great got on to H/O and low and behold a room was miraculously was found. Had a half day city tour, the following day, saw all the sights, there is a museum dedicated to the war with Americns which has some horrific photo's in it but very interesting all the same. Then off to do some serious shopping, Al was very patient, he hates shopping, ended up shipping home 7kg. Visited several roof top bars in the evenings with great views of the city at night. There are a lot more stray dogs here than in Hanoi couldn't work out why until our guide told us that they eat them all in Hanoi together with any stray cats but the south Vietnamese aren't partial to them!!

Next stop the Mekong delta, one of the highlights of the Vietnamese part of the trip. 3 hour drive to the delta where we picked up our Sampan. What a beautiful boat. All decked out in rattan style furnishings, 2 bedrooms, only one was needed as Al and I hadn't fallen out by this stage! a living area and shower room, cold water only, yikes! The windows during the day were open to allow the breeze in, at night the crew fitted shutters with mozi nets. We thought we were going to b cruising a backwater, oh no. There are several large towns/ cities and millions of waterways. The Mekong river itself is huge, 2 to 3 times wider than the Thames and it splits into a number of tributaries and then canals and arroys (small channels). Houses line the riverbanks and everywhere the children run trying to keep up with the boat shouting 'hello' which is the only English word they know. Every house has a paddy field behind it. The mud from the fields is transported by boat to the brickworks where they make house bricks and floor tiles. When the rice is harvested it is transported along the river and the husks are seperated, the husks are then taken to the bric works and used as fuel to fire the kilns. These are shaped like oval beehives and kept burning for 3 months. The entrance is then sealed for a further month whilst the bricks cool. The ash from the kilns is then spread onto the paddy fields as fertiliser. The whole area is a network of industries, nearly every family owns a boat (sort of dug out canoe), be it with a small engine fixed to a long metal pole with a propeller on the end or a set of paddles, where someone stands at the end of the boat and does a sort of upright cross jointed row. We saw several restored mandarin houses, ate in one which was excellent, however eating the same food for 4 meals was becoming a bit trying and if we don't eat pork and vegetables, and fried fisy of one sort of another for a few weeks we won't be sorry. Saw a cuple of pigs in one dug out and a couple of cows in another being taken to market. Ate loads of different fruit that we hadn't tried before, all nice I am pleased to say. We moored the first night in one of the large tributaries, which was reasonably quiet however was a bit concerned that someone might run us down even with the navigation lights on. There are some huge boats on the river and when loaded are very, very low in the water. Families live on the boats permanently and the river seems to be used for everything, thank goodness for bottled water. We spent 2 days on the boat and it was memorable part of the trip. Ther is looads more to tellbut it will have to wait until we are back.

Next stop a short flight to Phu Quoc, on a prop plane. Arrived at the hotel, nice room, outdoor shower room, very strange at night when you are having a shower and can see the stars above you. 3 days doing nothing but lying in the sun and reaing a book. We have got to day 18 and I have only finished 2, normally I read one a day when we are on our hols. Al was supposed to dive but it was cancelled as there weren't enough people. He even spent a couple of hours a day in the shade, which for those of you who know him is unheard of. Needless to say he is now a dark shade of honey.

We have now arrived in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, 32 degrees, flight was delayed by 1/2 hour as they had to change planes, This one was very old and I was not very happy. Our luggage is now over weight so we have had to put all the heavy stuff into the hand luggage. Mine must weigh at least 10kg and it is all I can do to carry it on my back. Have had to start clutching Al's shorts as his arms were taking a bit of bashing from my nails when we were in the air, I hate flying, it's not natural. The buildings here are more like the ones in Thailand, the temles are very ornate and the roofs have curly bits on the end. Our hotel overlooks the Mekong and Ton Le Sap rivers and is very nice. We went for a quick walk this afternoon, looks like more shopping, had a couple of cocktails in the Foreign Correspondents club and then dinner. Off on a city tour tomorrow and then onto Siem Reap on Friday. Have attached a few snaps. This is now up to date thank goodness.

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