I really do like Saigon but crossing the street is literally taking your life into your hands. There are about 5m people in Vietnam, and 3m motorcycles (more like mopeds)...so when you cross the street there is never a naturally break in the traffic so you step out slowly and keep moving slowly and let the bikes dodge you (I'm not kidding!). You just need to watch out for the kamikaze bikers who want to run you down!!
We visited the War Remnants Museum which houses remnants from the Vietnam War. We also went and saw the Cu Chi tunnels that the Viet Cong created. They run for about 200km and go from the Cu Chi river to under the US army base...the US army never knew they were literally under them the whole time! The tunnels are very claustrophobic to crawl through and I am told that they have been expanded for 'Westerners'...so the real tunnels are much smaller! There are three levels, at 3 metres, 6 metres and 9 metres deep and they had bunkers which houses the hospital, kitchen etc. Once the US realised they existed, they first tried to throw down gasoline and set it alight...but all that did was harden the clay, then they put dogs down there to flush them out, but the VC used the US garbage (food, cigarettes, toilet paper etc) to put off the dogs' scent, then they tried to drown the VC and then lastly, the US bombed the hell out of them...which did collapse the tunnels.
We then went to Nga Trang....scuba diving, lazing about on the beach and drinking Saigon beer was about the only thing on the menu! After that we went to Hoi An which we all fall in love with.
It only has a population of 80,000 and it has amazingly well preserved architecture - there is a part of the town ('Old town') recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also probably the hottest part of Vietnam so far so most of us were sweating like crazy the minute you step outside the hotel. The best time of day is after 2pm when a thin layer of clouds come over and it stops the full glare of the sun. One afternoon we went for a bike ride into the countryside and it was lots of fun. We passed people just out and about doing their everyday work and when we cycled past kids they would all high-5 us.
It is also the place to get any tailoring done. Thanks to a friend's recommendation I found a fantastic tailor (two sisters) who I then recommended to everyone else in the group and they must have made about US$1,000 from us all. If anyone intends coming over the tailor's address is: Phoung Nam, 15 Phu Tran, Hoi An.
We spent 1 night in Hanoi before escaping to see Halong Bay on a day boat. Halong Bay is in north eastern part of Vietnam and very beautiful with its nearly 2,000 limestone islands. We stopped to go to one grotto called Thien Cung, but so did every other tourist!
I liked Saigon better than Hanoi...not sure why, but Saigon has a better vibe to it. Hanoi is very historic and we were staying in the Old Quarter where 100,000 people live in 100 square miles...the most populated area in the world and only consists of 36 streets that are named after the product they sell (e.g. fabric, electrics, spices...). I went to see the water puppets and it was very entertaining (I recommend everyone go and see them). I am sure the expertise needed to manage one of the puppets is more than I have! In fact only a few families in Vietnam teach the art and every puppeteer has to study under them.
A collection of my favourite photos from Vietnam (top to bottom, left to right):
- Sleeping and keeping cool
- A very friendly local
- Young boys entranced with us westerners!
- Cruising along Halong Bay
- A temple in the lake (Lake of the Restored Sword in Hanoi)
- Harvesting time
- I even did a double take at what is on her top!!
- A monk's homework fluttering in the breeze
- Du Tuc's tomb near to Hue
- A painting by a 14 year old...it says a lot!
- A sign I found in a park...give it a read...
- Nga Trang beach
- A sailor in Hoi An
- Very brightly coloured lanterns
No comments:
Post a Comment