Vietnam – 15 – 18th Feb 2006

---

Well with such little time free for the internet - I’ve decided I’m never going to finish our story if I don’t speed up Vietnam a bit. SO today I’m going to run you through what we did & where we went since the last entry. Maybe later I can add in some great stories - like being chased by Brendon’s new girlfriend (hilarious), but in the meantime, this entry is going to be a wee bit shorter & to the point.

Hue: 15th Feb
On our second & last full day in Hue we got up early & waited the requistional half hour for the bus (they are never on time) for a tour to the DMZ. What is the DMZ? It was the de-militarised zone in the American / Vietnam war. The zone that separates North (Communist) Vietnam from the South. IT was meant to be an area of no fighting, but ended up one of the most heavily fought over land in Vietnam.

In preparation for this tour, not only did we read up on our guidebook, but also as many ‘Nam’ books as we could get our hands on. In the past I’ve read many US ones - such as Chickenhawk,, to the collection we added ‘Up Country’ (thanks for this one dad - it was great), describing the return in 1997 of a US war Vet to the country. For balance we also read ‘The Sorrow of War” by Baoh Ninh. A haunting & harrowing book it certainly opened our eyes & just went to prove that (and excuse the cliché here) with war no-one wins. During our travels in Vietnam & Cambodia this was further reinforced. What Up Country showed us was that the winners write the history books. That’s why tour guides in Hue are forbidden from telling you that the North Vietnamese slaughtered 3,000 civilians - men, women & children in the Citadel of Hue. Instead they tell you about the destruction caused by the US - and the Mai Lai massacre. AT least the US admits and apologises for their mistakes.

What also wasn’t clear until we reached Vietnam, was that Americans weren’t the enemy to everyone. They fought against the Northern Vietnamese, but supported the South Vietnamese. Even today Northerners & Southerners hate each other - with every Southerner (often no longer allowed to work in any but the most menial jobs, or own land in the places of birth) having their own story of torture & mistreatment by the Vietnamese. Often the Southern Vietnamese welcome the Americans. So do the Montaugnards. These are the millions of ‘ethnic minorities’ who make up the hill tribes people of Vietnam. They hate all Vietnamese & were some of America’s closest allies in the war. What a tangled web of hate we humans weave.

Our readings certainly added a lot of depth to what was otherwise a bland tour. The 11 hours of tour were spent predominantly in a bus. Lucky we had such great tourist travellers to cause mischief with. And as always the tour guides ‘information’ was limited to a very high level blurb in the beginning - that the could have read straight out of the Lonely Planet as it was word for word the same. When we visited such amazing sites as the Ho Chi Minh Trail & the Rocky Mount, all we did was hop off, take a photo & get back on the bus - like good little tourists. At the heavily fought over town of Khe Sanh, instead of craters, jungle & fascinating bits of memorabilia all we did was go through a re-built town (much like any in Nam) and visit a ‘memorial’ area with touts selling fake medals, a few recreated bunkers & a couple of US planes, helicopters & a tank. All with no information on them. There was also a mini ‘museum’. A room the size of mum & dad’s lounge with some photos. While these photos were the most moving part of the trip, the captions were needlessly biased. “The Americans show panic on their faces as the Vietnamese attack” etc. If you can handle the bulls**t then this is actually quite worthwhile.

The definite highlight of the tour was the Vinh Moc tunnels. Like the Cu Chi tunnels in Saigon, except that these ones had not been enlarged for tourists. Instead we saw the tiny caves where families lives, the maternity hospital - a tiny room where 17 babies were born - and the whole (tiny) area where these villagers lived for 5-6 years underground - without going outside & seeing the light. It must have been absolutely terrifying - especially when they were taking direct hits from bombs above - and incredibly claustrophobic.

Hoi An 16th - 18th Feb -
We departed the next day for Hoi An. Apart from a flat tire that had our bus stuck on the motorway for an hour -it was an eventful trip. Our hotel in Hue had a catalogue that promised this tour had many stops, including the marble mountains, China beach etc. It didn’t. Mind you, for $3 US each I guess you get what you pay for.

Hoi An would be a lovely place to stay - apart from the touts. Wanting to stretch our legs (as we always do after a long trip) we decided to walk to the hotel we planned to stay at. Not satisfied with bombarding us before we hopped off the bus, we were hassled by touts the whole way there. For the first time we nearly lost our temper with one man who approached us on his motorbike about 12 times over the 10 minute period it took us to get to our hotel. He then waited outside the hotel afterwards - we felt like we were being stalked. These guys are desperate as they get their income as commission from hotels they take us to. Brendon got the closest to losing his cool that I’ve seen on the trip when, after walking a couple of k’s in the heat with heavy back packs (further than we needed as we had no street number for the hotel & everyone kept sending us the wrong way - to their hotels) he stopped 7 said to our pest ‘what part of No don’t you understand?’. We know you’re not meant to lose your cool with these people - but it can be frustrating. It was all worthwhile. Thanh Binh III was amazing. Unfortunately it was full, so we stayed ast the sister hotel Thanh Binh II. For $12 US we got a lovely room in a hotel with cable TV, aircon, complementary water, a nice shower over a real bath, complementary toiletries & access to the buffet breakfast & pool next door. Nice!

Hoi An is a small town & a tourist mecca. Reknowned for its tailors, about 75% of every shop is a tailor’s shop & everyone has people standing outside trying to beckon you in. Like I said, we became cynical & managed to get better & better at warding people off - while still remaining polite. We have saved so hard for our trip & all last year barely brought any clothes. IT was so bad that Brendon had holes in the crutch of every suit & his backside of each one was see-through if you held it up to the light. Haha, LyLy (shop 5 in the cloth market - cheap, professional & highly recommended) & her team hit the jackpot when they met us. Between us we brought 2 woollen suits (BR’s with 2 pairs of pants, mine with pants & a skirt), heavy woollen full-length overcoats, 2 business shirts, 2 causal shirts & 2 silk blouses, a kimono (silk dressing gown), a pair of jeans, 2 pairs of smart trousers and a party dress. All for less than $400 US. It costs us a further $211 NZ to ship these clothes plus Brendon’s 3 pairs of shoes he’d purchased to London. 12Kg of clothing. Wow - to all you shopping ladies (yes - particularly the Santa Monica Ladies) this town is for you.

Tired of all the shopping? Why not head to the cargo club for a cappuccino or Latte, complete with the BEST desserts we have EVER had. Funnily enough this dessert place became a ritual - and also a place where you would bump into everyone you had ever met in Vietnam. Highly recommended favourites (the benefits of going with heaps of people is that you all got to simple everyone’s dessert) are: Chocolate Louvre, Caramel Tart & Passion Cheesecake mousse. Hmmm. Pity about my poor waistline.
Also the local delicacies of Cau Lau & white rose were delicious - and for just $3 with drinks, a very cheap dinner.

Next instalment - Nha Trang, Mui Ne & hopefully HCMC.

---

Comments

[Em]

Happy Anniversary
Hello sweeties - just wanted to wish you a happy anniversary for the other day. Hope you found a decent 3 star!