Mekong Delta

To gain an extra day we had another early start as our trip to Cambodia started. Not content with taking the 6 hour bus straight there we went on a trip that took us to the Mekong delta area and along the Mekong River for 2 days. We made a few stops to see how they make rice crispies (not coco pops grrr) and coconut sweets, yuk, before stopping for lunch on a cool island. After lunch we jumped in some nearby hammocks and swung for a bit (not as in drop your keys in a bowl swung!). We found some crocs lazing around (in a cage) and as we left they got fed in a dead fish frenzy! They then played some local music which was pretty good apart from the one ladies piercing voice (no not Emma's voice- I know you were thinking it!) Easy on the volume love! We crossed the Mekong on the busiest ferry crossing (after being delayed). For some reason we were asked to get off the bus and wait in an enclosed room with all the mopeds. The problem was they all insisted on keeping their engines on!! There was no fresh air and about 200 mopeds in this one small room. Cough, choke!

3 hours later by bus we stopped near the border for the night in the Chau Doc which was dead when we arrived at 8pm!

Another early morning (yea they're annoying me now- we're meant to be on holiday!) and an omelet baguette later we were off to the harbour. We were told to leave our bags on the 'big boat' for our trip later. Now imagine the scene, there a massive luxury boat and what I'd describe as a floating cage next to it. When the guide said 'big boat' we thought, the big boat. Oh how wrong we were!! The poor American girl was taking pictures of the big boat before she realised ours was the floating cage!

We then all got on rowing boats, and were rowed by Vietnamese ladies around the floating villages. The first thing we see is a kid having a number 2 off the side of his house on the water. Only a few feet away we saw a lady washing her clothes and we were later told they also drink the river water which was a shock as it's scary to think how some people live. The people seem to be so happy here though! We were told they brought electricity (for TV) to the floating villages to cut the number of children in families. I guess they're thinking their equivalent of Eastenders will help reduce the population and apparently it's worked!! We got rowed towards the Cham minority village which was pretty nice. Emma bought a nice 3 layer (pink!) scarf for a good price which was rare as we didn't have to haggle! We went to a temple but only for the view and when we came back the kids had lined all our shoes up and put flowers in our flip flops which was pretty cute. We then visited a fish farm which had 100,000 fish under our feet in a fairly small space! They sell them every six months for $1-3 a fish, although 20-40% die (usually due to pollution) The lady who owns it was poor when she started but now I think shes pretty loaded by Vietnamese standards!! She had 12 children and they all went to uni.

We then headed for the Cambodian border. We'd heard and read all sorts of stories but it took 5 minutes! A boat took us to the office and they stamped our passports (they sorted our visas on the boat). The guy who stamped Emma's visa was pretending to read the passport but was actually more interested in reading the paper!

We then had a 3, no make that 4 hour boat journey on another floating cage...I mean boat, to get to Pnomh Phenh! There was a couple from Bournemouth in their 60's on our trip who were on an impressive 12 month world tour. The guy kept us entertained with his dad jokes which helped pass the time although our fake laughs were wearing thin, especially after the 'what do call a deer with no eyes' joke! 'No ideer' is the punchline for those who haven't heard it before! The journey in parts was great though. Children ran along the riverbank waving at our boat and we waved the back. We saw people bathing in the water, washing animals and farming at the side of the river

So we get off the boat on to our cozy minibus. The 'mini bus' squeezed 14 of us plus luggage in what felt like a Morris minor! Anyway the bus broke down after 2 minutes. We broke down on a busy road next to a families hut. The mother immediately ran inside and changed into a smarter outfit! The children then brought out a table for us all the sit on! I couldn't believe how sweet and friendly they were. An Indian guy on the trip gave them sweets and they seemed really happy although the mother wouldn't let them eat them as I think they were about to have dinner (some rules are the same no matter what country your in - no sweets before dinner). Despite the driver telling us we'd have a lift in 10 minutes it was well over an hour later before our tow arrived! Some people were getting irate but we and others were enjoying where we had stopped! We think the father was trying to say that he fought in a war, but he was only communicating through actions! - he could have been saying he likes football for all we know!!

We sat in the front of the tow truck (we were too slow to get a seat on the back damn it!). In the end it worked out good as we were treated to the most amazing lightning we've ever seen! It was lighting up the sky every second or so for an hour! The tow cable kept snapping leaving the minibus stranded!. It broke on a busy roundabout but in the end we got to our free hotel in Phonh Penh which was pretty impressive. We booked the trip with Sinh Cafe who had served us well with trips throughout Vietnam and we were never obliged to stay in hotels or book trips with them! Highly recommended.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

The bus luckily stopped right in the area we wanted to stay in. Lucky because Saigon is huge! We haggled our way around hotels and found a windowless room for 5gbp, not as bad as it sounds though - it's got a bed!

After getting our laundry sorted we headed out and found some cheap local food. We weren't sure what was in it but it tasted good. You just sit down on plastic chairs that would only be suitable for year 1 kids and eat your dinner at the side of the road.

We found 'fresh beer' which is the cheap beer we've had in Vietnam. This time for 5000dong or 17pence!

We had a lie in and headed to the reunification palace. It was a bit boring, walking around large rooms which had 60s deco! The palace hasn't been changed since the tanks went through the gates and retook Saigon to end the war. The photos were interesting that were in the basement which documented the palaces' history. We headed toward Notre Dame cathedral as it was close by, needless to say it wasn't anything like the one in France- we didn't even bother to take a picture!

We found the Market our mate Rick Stein had been to (we watched his odd cooking shows) and tried to haggle for some clothes. The lady quoted a high price and converted it to pounds on the calculator and kept saying it's very cheap for us "you come to Vietnam with a lot of money". But that's no reason to let her rip us off! She wanted near enough proper prices for fakes, but they're just cheap tshirts. She wound us up and we left anyway. It may be cheap for us, although primark is cheaper, but the markup they make on them is huge! We bought them cheap the next night anyway! The problem with Saigon seems to be that a lot of people on a 2 week holidays come here and find everything is cheap compared to home, but then the backpackers find it's pricey compared to the rest of Vietnam! Whilst we're on that subject Saigon is the first place we've seen a lot of old men with young Vietnamese women. It's pretty creepy to see (or hear groups of men talk about their plans).

That evening headed for a cheap meal but it was cheap because it was a veggie meal. I had a nice sweet potato curry and naan!

An early start as we headed to the Cu Chi tunnels. We watched a propaganda video which basically was one sided against America. I have no opinion as I don't know enough about it but it was interesting to watch. Emma volunteered out of our group with a Canadian to go into the first really narrow tunnel, where there were no lights. The guide gave the guy a weak torch and down they went. I waited about 5 metres away for about 3 minutes. They emerged and said there were dead ends and it was pitch black. The guy pointed the torch to the ceiling and Emma saw a bat looking right at her (she had already suspected she was sharing the tunnels with bats after feeling things fly by her head in the complete darkness!) She also felt crawlies by her feet! Ewww.

The Vietnamese had to improvise using shrapnel from bombs dropped by the US. They made homemade bombs and weapons. The traps looked pretty nasty too!

We came to a long tunnel of 100 metres. We both went in this time and being the man I (was told to) lead the way! It was pitch black in places and there were a few exits where we couldve popped up early but decided to go the full distance.

A worthwhile visit. The photos don't do it justice for how small it feels inside!

On the way back we stopped off at "Handicap Handicraft". That's what is was called and is a government backed project to help them work. We were told that they were affected by Agent Orange chemical which has been passed down the generation. The handicrafts they made were impressive, using egg shells for decoration and then glazing them or carving wood and chipping stone. We genuinely would have bought things if we were on a 2 week holiday. The tour guide had emphasized that there were no machines used but as we walked to our bus there was a factory full of machines! You get the impression we you visit these places that they're having a beer and as soon as they get the tourist call they get to work!!!

We got dropped off at the war museum. It was mainly photo based apart from the US weapons and tanks outside. The photos were pretty horrific and was again biased showing the destruction caused by the Americans (particularly through their use of Agent Orange). A couple we have met a few times said it was worse than the Hiroshima museum. Headed to the river and crossed and recrossed the busiest roads known to man. The plan of action when walking across the roads is to walk slowly and don't stop. The bikes just go around you, although sometimes at the last minute! We pigged out that evening on a mixture of Western and Vietnamese food.

Da Lat

Arrived in dalat to see people wearing puffa jackets and hats! It wasn't that cold but the coldest we've had. It's 1500 metes above sea level. We found a hotel pretty quick as we were tired and hungover from night before! Needless to say the journey was 'difficult' and I think it was the bumpiest road we've ever been on!

We had a quick look around but nothing inspired us so when it started to rain we headed back to the room to watch a film. There are 3 channels of good films on all the time here!

We booked a trip around Da Lat as most of the sights are not accessible by foot. The trip took us to a couple of good waterfalls, the last kings palace (which looked nothing like a palace!) and a few other sights which I would've been good had it not rained so much!! To get to one waterfall you could get a tobaggan down, we went pretty fast, we kept catching up with slow coach locals!

It got really cold in the evening and we had to head out with 3 layers on! It's a pretty big change from the beach that's for sure! There are other trips here on bikes and cycles but the weather (rain and cold) and price put us off!

The bus journey to Saigon took us past some great scenary -including big cliff drops! In parts it looked like France as some of the buildings are French architecture and very green countryside.

Nha Trang

After a good sleep on the night bus we negotiated a top floor room with a sea view and air con for 5 gbp! Very cheap.

Nha trang is a beach resort and was a welcome break from our city visiting! 

We had a bumper breaky and headed down to the beach, where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon! Emma had a massage from one of the ladies which she liked! The ladies on the beach were pretty well equipped and sold everything. A couple behind us ordered lobster and it was cooked on a BBQ at the bottom of their sun bed!

We ended up eating late somehow. The only place open for food was a kareoke bar which was rubbish! We decided to order food but have it in the bar opposite which was fine!

We booked on a boat trip for 3.50gbp which was very cheap considering we had lunch, snorkelling, disgusting free wine and out all day! When we got picked up we were slightly aprehensive about the trip as we were the only western people on the bus. That's not meant in a bad way but when the trip advertises music and dancing the people on the bus didn't look the dancing type. To our relief there were some English speaking westerners already on the boat when we got there.

First stop was at a pretty bad aquarium that was in a boat. The tanks were tiny and the fish didn't look happy (-when do they ever though!) ! There were some amazing fish there including reef sharks and turtles but it was all a bit sad to see. See photo for really big random fish (Emmas the one on the right!)

The snorkelling was ok. The few types of fish that were there were colourful. 

Lunch was pretty good with... Rice ofcourse! The entertainment started as we were on the top deck. As we got downstairs they were playing drums and guitar with the tour guide singing. It was pretty funny, we were like where did that come from!?! An Aussie family on the tour then started playing guitar and sang which was pretty cool. 

The guy threw a few floats in the water and gave us all rings to lye as he became barman. We started chatting to everyone that was in the water ( westearners basically) and aftr a while realised we had floated away from the boat! Spent the next 30 minutes swimming slowly back to the boat.

We were all chatting about the Vietnamese on the boat. They didn't get in the water, didn't chat or smile! Not sure what they were expecting from a boat tour that offered mainly water based activities!

The Aussies didn't do much to calm our nerves about the sea in oz either. We asked them about jellyfish. He said they were fine, you just have to urinate on yourself (or get a close friend to do it!) He said the sea urchins and oster shells and more of a common injury. And although they see sharks, they don't bother you! That is unless you're one of the unlucky ones that gets eaten by one.

All in all it was a really good day, the people we met were nice and the sun was out!
We found a good bar in the evening that sold nice mojitos and had British based music.

The weather wasn't sunny the next day so we headed to the sitting budha on top of the hill. The budha is said to look over the entire city but it's surrounded by trees so you can't see! A kid found it pretty funny to walk round like a wideboy whilst wearing my sunglasses. He told me to tense my bicep muscle and then he headbutted it which was random but very funny!

That night we had tried some fish - a red snapper and huge tuna steak ( a safe option!). It was cheaper than uk but pricey for what we have been paying but definately worth it. Headed to same bar again and it was really lively. We saw people we had met prevously and new faces. We all went to the beach bar later and had a dance. Then it was 2am and we were getting up at 6.45am for our bus to Da Lat. Ooops!



 

Hoi An

We arrived into Hoi An using the day bus which didn't take too long. We had a quick walk and realised it wasn't that big but it was a lot quieter and had a more laid back feeling to it.

It's famous for custom made clothes but we didn't get anything made. Things were cheap in comparison to uk prices but still pricey for budget backpacker like ourselves! 

The town is set along a river which flooded about 10 days before we got there. Later that night we were in a bar and the owner was telling us that the water went over 2 metres! The town was suprisingly clean considering.

We went to the Market and got hassled a bit more than usual but its never a problem if you ignore them. You feel bad but it happens so often and if you show the slightest interest you have a job to shake them! There were echoes 'heeelo, would you like to buy something or 'dont pay for looky but buy if you likey'. I think as it's low season and because of the flooding they are pretty desperate for business, but we don't have the room for shopping. We had some nice food from the market though and bought a pineapple which the lady then spent 5 minutes preparing for us!

We also bought a couple of tshirts for 50,000 which is about 1.70gbp. I have to write gbp as the keyboards are foreign obviously!

We found a nice outdoor bar/restaurant and ate there quite a bit as it was cheap and there was lots of local food to choose from. 

Off to the beach for day 2. Weather wasn't great but still hot. The beach was nice again and the water was fun... Waves knocked emma over twice!

The last day we took a trip to My Son which has temple remains (some were destroyed in war and only bomb craters remain in places). It was good but Anchor Watt in Cambodia has similar larger temples and will be more impressive!

Waiting for our nightbus out, we milled around playing cards, again attracting interest from the locals - we were only playing umbrella! (pairs!) Advanced card playing, we know!

Hue

After arriving in Hue on the sleeper bus we were greeted with people trying to get us into their hotels. Not knowing how far we were from anything, or how big Hue was we wanted to have a look around oursevles. The only problem was that we had showed some interest and they therefore wouldn't leave us alone. As soon as Kris told them they were being too pushy it was like we'd said the magic word and they were gone. We managed to negotiate a really nice room (see photo) for 150,000 Dong (about 5GBP) a night! Bargain!

After a breakfast of beans on toast (a welcome change to eggs!!) we went for a general look around. We got chatting to a German couple and a Swiuss couple down my the river who were trying to negiate a cheap boat ride to take us to the temples. They asked us to join them at a cost of only 100,000 Dong (3.50GBP) per couple. The Vietnamese women took us out on her dragon boat to two temples and the Citadel. It was much nicer than a coach ride, and always interesting to see locals cleaning their hair and washing their clothes in the murky water!!

The second temple was a little bit set back from the river. I have no idea why we believed the guys on mopeds, but they told us it was 4km, so offered us a cheap lift. As this was one mode of transport we hadn't tried yet we gave it a go. Don't worry parents they drove very carefully! The second temple and surroundings were huge compared to the first, but it was nice just wondering round.

When we returned to the boat the lady had been to the market and prepared some food for us (we had looked through a menu and requested a few things). The prawn springs rolls were really good!!!

They dropped us off that the citadel, but as it was due to close in an hour and we felt a bit templed out we decided not to pay to go in.

I think our first days experience on the back of a moped had given us a taster for it, as on day two we agreed to go with a local guy to see the Vietnamese countryside. We agreed a price (150,000 Dong) for 2-3 hours. It was such a great experince!!! I was on Lac's moped, Kris was with his mate, lets call him Dave. They took us to a village where they made Vietnamese hats and incents. I attempted to make my own, I thought I'd done a good job, but the locals around us just laughed...so maybe not!! He then took us off road to an American bunker in the hills, and through farm land to show us rice paddies and fishing villages. It was so good to see things that most other tourists miss out on! The strangest expereince had to be when he took us to small village with 'farming museum' (more of a room full of farming equipment). The old lady there was very keen to show us how the equipment was used. At one point she was dressed in a rain coat made of bamboo leaves whipping Lac who was pretending to be a bull...all very strange. This lady (who looked in her 90's) was wearing a purple dress and for some reason had maching purple teeeth!!! I'm not sure if she has a false set to go with every outfit or if she'd been drinking something extremely purple!! It all got a bit to surreal when she started to sing a 'lullaby' to demontrate rocking a baby (accomaped by baby 'wah' noises!) in the wicker cot...it was the strangest whaling sound we ever heard come from another human being!!!

We were goign to stop at the beach to get some lunch, but when we arrived all the restarant had been swepted away by the typhoon and they were only just starting to rebuild. It was really sad to see! The beach was beautiful but there was debris everywhere, including a kids piggy bank and shoes. Everyone from the area survived but a lot of their belongings were distroyed.

So Lac took us back to Hue to get lunch. It was definately the most amazing food we have had so far!!! The nicest was call Banh Beo for those of you that have been to Vietnam or plan to go!

However, after lunch Lac offered to take us to Hoi An the following day. We had had a great day and the trip looked great, bt we had already booked our bus and it would be so difficult with our bags. So when he finally took no for an answer he tried to get more money out of us. We had been longer than the 2-3 hours but we had been everywhere he said he'd take us and we weren't to know how long it would all take! In the end we had to left the amount that we initailly agreed on the table and walk away (we were only 5 minites from our hostel). Emma left her hat on the bike which they reminded us of so we had to go back (doh) It didn't get nasty or anything, he was just trying to push his luck and gave the hat to us. It's a shame as we had such a great day!

Early start on day three as we took a day bus this time to Hoi An.

- If anyone is wondering why we have been flashing the friendly V's in photos its because everyone from this area does it for a photo. They put on a poker face and flash the friendly V's for all pictures! Then they seem to smile or laugh afterwards! Wierd.

Halong Bay

What a place! Along with the Great Wall this was a highlight of our trip so far.

We checked out of the Hotel early and headed to the 'Sinh Cafe' or 'Sinh Tourist' as its also known (who we also booked our bus ticket with). A quick mention has to go in about the hotel...they were overly nice the whole time we were there and we thought there were going to bite us in the behind somewhere along the line but they didn't! I had some odd conversations with them -they kept asking for my opinion and reminding me about the taxi pickup. I wasn't sure what to say but the words...'I'll leave a good review' seemed to work.

Got to Singh Cafe at 7.30 but bus didn't leave til 8.30! Lost lie in time. We put trust in the place and left our bags in the shop overnight whilst we went to Halong Bay. On the way we stopped off at a souvenier shop with the women blasting out the 2 English words they learnt - 'Ice-cream, pllleeeaaaasssseeee' ! No thanks, not for breakfast anyway!

We got on the Junk (not a heap of junk - thats what the boats are called!) about 1ish and were pretty pleased with what we got. We had a pretty large double room (as we stayed 1 night) with a bathroom. We had lunch straight away and sat with a couple from Belgium (does that make them Belgianese?!) Lucky they spoke the international language anyway. The food was great and better than expected with fresh fish and noodle spring rolls as well as the ever reliable boiled rice! From the mainland its quite hazy and far away so as we got closer the view got better and better. We then found a route in and we were surrounded by Limestone rocks pointing out of the sea.

We got some amazing pictures as the weather was great, the best ones are at the bottom.

Our first stop was Me Chung Titop Caves. The guide showed us around. He had a very imaginative mind and was pointing out rocks that looked that animals but we couldn't see it. It was lit up well and was a good stop as we got good photos at the top.

We then went Kayaking which Emma was very exited about, not sure why though, as it was odds on she was going to fall in. Luckily for her it was a 2 berth Kayak and I was there to steady the ship. The guide came with us as there was 1 girl on our own and we were glad he did. We went to a lagoon only accessible by low boat, ie kayaks which was amazing. We just sat there for about 10 minutes in silent, enjoying the view, the sunshine and the silence, something which we havn't had for 3 weeks!

We anchored up with other boats and enjoyed the sunset. We then went for a swim as it went dark which was so nice. The water was so warm but salty. This did however allow Emma to float on her back for the first time, yay go girl!

We showered and had another nice dinner and made awkward conversation with the Belgium couple over a few beers! After a suprisingly great sleep we had breaksfast and made our way out of the Rocks and back to the shore. We went back a different way taking in more great views including Cat Ba island. The guide showed us some more rocks which looked like fighting hens and/or kissing rocks. Again, we didn't see it!

We had lunch at the Harbour with grabby people who didn't speak and couldn't use chopsticks or a fork for that matter! grrr.

On arrival in Hanoi we were pleased to see that our bags were still there! We got taken to the night bus wondering what to expect. We were greeted by a few men underneath the bus, but luckily they were only changing the wheel! The bus as 3 rows of bunkbeds which were really comfy. However...Cockroaches, they were only small and it wasn't as bad as it sounded but we were watching out until we went to sleep! The lights went out at 9.30pm but as the driver beeped his horn at everything in front of him we thought we were in for a rough night. However We both got a great night sleep despite the appalling smell of the Ozzie ladies feet who slept above us!

Hanoi

Goooooooooooood morning Vietnam, well, evening as I write this! Arriving by air was expensive from Hong Kong but as we said the China celebrations were making our trip difficult! The flight was delayed, the captain informed us something was being repaired...nice.

We were landed and out of Hanoi airport approximately 15 minutes which is surely the fastest time I've ever got out of an airport! Thankfully our pickup from the hostel was there and we had arrived at the hostel by midnight. The room was suprisingly large and clean which suprised us. We paid 10GBP a night. We could've got a lot cheaper if we negotiated on arrival instead of booking through hostelworld but we were arriving late.

We had breakfast on the roof terrace which showed us how hot and noisy it already was! Toast, eggs, ham, cucumber + tomatoes for breaky was a good fillup for the day. The first thing about Hanoi was the bikes...everywhere. After a few days we got used to walking accross the raods (which is an fine art!). We headed to the cash machine and I became a millionaire, in Dong that is! 1,000,000 Dong = 30GBP. We walked to the lake and realised that the city isn't that large despite taxi bikes wanting to take you everywhere. We walked round the lake and into the temple in the midddle which was nice. The legend of the lake is based around giant turltes that lived in the lake. They had an 'embammed' on display which we were dubious about. There was an actual turtle walking around the temple but it was regular Blue Peter size!

We tried to find 2 markets and both had bulldozers where there should be hussle and bussle! Not happy as that makes up 50% of the toursit attractions! We had our 1st lunch which was nice. We paid the 100,000 dong and as we left the cheeky waiter tried to get more for the coke we had despite telling us we the total price. We walked out and the guy in the shop opposite laughed, so I think everyone knew he was trying it on! As we didn't ask the price, we were overcharged. From that point on we realised we would have to ask a price for every item.

We mulled around until the evening and went to the night market which was very long and quite good. We had a few beers by the waterfront (beer was 35,000 dong) which had a nice setting. Around the corner, with no view beer was 18,000!!

The next day went to tourist information and were pointed to a shop to book bus tickets. The area was swamped with fake shops for the same tour company which was pretty funny but we (think we) found the right one. We booked an open tour bus ticket which will take us all the way to HCMC (Saigon) via 4 stops - Hue, Hoi An, Nan Trang, Dalat. This was really cheap like 20GBP and 2 were night buses. We also got a free t-shirt, nice.

We saw a few western faces drinking outside a shop and decided to join them. This is where we found Bia Hoi, which was beer out of a barrell for 3,000 (10 pence!) We had a few (rude not to) and wished we had found the place the day before! We got to bed earlyish for the early pickup to Halong Bay!

The museems were closed during the 2 days we were there and Ho Chi Mings body was being re-embammed. EEEwwww.

- We just rememberred (12/10) that we saw the rear half of a cooked dog in the market. Back legs, tail n all!