The Final Frontier
Route into and around Southern Vietnam
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| Our mode of transport into Vietnam The Blue Cruiser |
And so we pass out of Cambodia, into the locale of the "American War"........
The first thing we notice is, no Tuk Tuk's. Wild, how do people get about?
Taxi's and bikes, far more than we've ever seen before.
Taxi's are (mostly) metered, and VERY cheap, and the moto bikes are everywhere.
Chau Doc is the first town in Vietnam at the end of the Blue Cruiser trip if you come from Phnom Penh, the border town that we just pass through, staying just the night, but I wander the street kitchens and, as ever, am amazed at the food and beer. Ah, this is why everybody should travel folks :)
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| Can Tuo. Not a bad hotel overlooking the Mekong |
We hear that we just HAVE to do the floating market in Vietnam, so its down to Can Tho on the bus. Really weird, first time on the trip we cannot find a hotel. "Luckily", there is a lady on a moto who follows me around and keeps telling me where there are "good rooms" available. I of course ignore her until I finally have to admit I'm screwed. She takes me to a place that's pretty ok, but the real bonus is the view of the river. We spend hours, especially as the evening descends, and the temperature finally goes below 40 (that's degrees C folks), just watching the working river from our balcony on the 4th floor.
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| We had given this random guy $US50 for our trip |
An entrepreneurial guy finds us, and tries to sell us an escorted, personalised trip to the floating market and surrounding delta waterways. I think he's a fake, (as a tourist relying on yourself, cynical expectations usually work better than trust), but I leave it to the missus to decide whether we give him the money...... She goes for it
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| I had zero expectations, but at 5:30, there's a lovely lady at reception |
Next day, up early about 5:00AM for the market. I'm expecting very little. Guess what? Our guide is in the hotel lobby, right on time at 5:30. Coffees (Vietnamese, complete with condensed milk), on the dock, our captain and boat approaches, and we're off on our own custom personalised tour.
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| We get our pre promised Vietnamese coffee and we're off to the floating market |
Without a doubt, one of the best days (and thats saying a lot!) of our travels so far. It was a fantastic insight..... lovely people and a quite unique experience. Highly recommended.
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| What's on the sticks is what's for sale on board This is all before 6:30AM |
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| An Bin for refreshments At 6:40 apparently according to my Google time line |
The market exists, because there are lots of farmers in the delta, all growing various crops, who are farmers, so don't travel to sell it. So, there is a league of middle folk who troll around, buying up literally boat loads of produce, take it down river to this area, where they sell, typically wholesale to smaller boats, who etc etc. Each boat typically has one product, that is displays on a pole, so
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| A rice noodle factory out the back |
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| 7:30 and we're back out as professional tourists again |
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| The entire trip was truly fantastic |
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| The missus trusting people worked out yet again |
While we are toodling, our captain has created some lovely BambooGami flower and shrimp. A really nice touch to the day. We continue through the delta. Lots of growing and massive amounts of green stuff and the paddy fields are newly growing, although apparently they get 3 or even 4 crops ayear here. The Yanks must have loved this place, we, soggy, great for hiding people and weapons everywhere. After another hour or so, we finally succomb to the shade on the boat. Somewhere in the wilds, we have lunch (note to potential fellow travellers; you have to buy lunch for the guide and the captain - almost $5 for both!). Around 2:00PM we head back.The frenzy of the markets have totally disappeared, and no one is to be seen, onward, and return, to the hotel, suitably entranced.
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| Our guide was really great, this wandering around the back waters of the Mekong |
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| Then, stopping only to get my guide to negotiate and set up a Vietnamese SIM card, we're back at our hotel |
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| From our hotel room the next morning The river is full of boats heading out to our yesterdays market |
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| We are now off to Saigon, HCMC to well travelled folks. But first, and overnight in My Tau On the a local bus, some of the most obnoxious people I've ever met in SE Asia |
Being on line without having to find wi-fi is such a treat.
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| We have a night in My Tho. Here's the view It's not much of a tourist spot, but I have fun there |
We watch the river below our balcony as the sun sets. A perfect day.
We are now planning around our daughter Kayla arriving in Ho Chi Minh on May 3rd. so we plan to be there a bit before, and find we have a day to kill.
My Tho seems a good enough place. I get ripped off on the local bus (for $10) and am furious with myself for hours. Glad I brought my blood pressure pills along........ I think this is the first time I've been ripped off on our tour. Suddenly, these damn orientals are out to get me!
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| A big government place during the war I think it's a museum of some sort now |
We get dumped at a roundabout, 5 Kms outside of town. Having the cell phone with hotel reviews is very useful here.
My Tho. What a place not to visit. Lets move onto Ho Chi Minh City.
The local buses travel (again) at about 40Km/ hour on average, and stop wherever they think they can get a fare on board, usually negotiating the fare as the bus waits for the potential customers. So, even after there's 3 to a seat (not European size mind you), then the aisles are filled. All along the 100Km or so, we work out the way of the road. We drive on the right here. On these major roads, there are 2 lanes, sometimes 3, the left lane is for vehicles, and the right is for moto's. Typically. At lights, the moto's take up every space available and are often in an entire phalanx taking up every space available on the road. BUT, they do stop for red lights here. By and large, everyone lives with this. Occasionally, there are vehicles and bikes coming at you on your right from road junctions. You ALWAYS pass them on your left, essentially protecting them from the traffic to your left, or someone may die, or worse. This applies equally to city streets and multi lane highways. Its fun!, but not for the easily dissuaded or of a genteel disposition.....
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| And of course, the victor gets to write the history books |
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| We've had pretty good luck with "boutique" hotels. This is the "Beautiful Saigon Boutique Hotel" |
With the phone, we now rely less on the Lonely Planet paper bible, and more online with "TripAdvisor" for our hotel needs. We find "Beautiful Saigon Hotel" on Bui Vien and enter into emails with Ms Nhi. This all on my smart Nexus 4 now. The HCMC bus station is 8 Km out of the town centre, taxi's are everywhere here, but as I have GPS tracking on my phone, I can tell if the taxi is ripping us off (they never were)
We arrive at the door, and are in a super delux room on the 6th floor, have a view of the local night club, and immediate access to the raucous music "Open from 8AM till Sunrise". OK, but it certainly has a vibe, backpackers plus area. It's a lovely place, and we celebrate with a latte and cappuccino just up the road. Can't imagine why now as we really got to like the "Vietnamese" version of coffee.
We do the "Reunification Palace" and the "War Remnants Museum", next day, mostly boring stuff with a distinct propaganda bent (surprise) glorifying, well, "patriots" who killed the most Americans. OK, this was 40 years ago folks.
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| I head up to the airport to meet Kayla Fresh from some form of advanced education release |
Next day, we take a tour around HCMC (there's not much here except the Saigon vibe) and explore the Cao Dai religious area. It's a bit weird..., spectacularly so, but its part of the tour (which btw, for reference, was $15 each for the day)
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| Next day, it's a tour around including weird global religious orders or some such crap |
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| Living the Viet Cong life Vicariously |
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| I'd only brought a few $US, which was the only currency when it comes to buying ammunition |
They also have lots of spare bullets, so we all have a shot at it, as it were, and try out some of the tunnel concepts.
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| You really didn't want to be in this war buddy |
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| Hey! Sometimes even I am a tourist |
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| You do get the idea that these folks, or maybe their grandparent are cold and calculating and bloody minded enough to get rid of any invaders |
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| I think my shooting was the worst There was also a "foxhole" here, as in what these guys lived in It was only about 5 metres long, but I went in one end and out the other I really surprised myself |
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| There was one Australian on the tour who had served here and he spend a lot of money to load up a heavy machine gun, like the one he had used in the war. OK |
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| It was really sticky here |
We head back to HCMC for fantastic coconut smoothies ($1.00 each), and Beef Stew Pho (a wonderful noodle soup full of cow) for $2.50, just down the road from our ("Beautiful Saigon") hotel.
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| I believe that this, although only a few 10's of kilometres outside of Saigon, it was a thriving village with all the utilities, but all underground |
Next day, we celebrate my birthday in the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Its REALLY! hot. 37C and even hotter with the humidity. We find a place to sit, and play crib for a lot of the day. Its a Sunday, so the place is pretty busy. We do the tour, then on the kiddies tractor train, then the local museum. A pleasant way to meet my 65th year......
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| Our regular mode of transport around, well all of HCMC |
Here's our local smoothie shop, coconut and strawberry or mixed fruit. Fantastic. There's always about 20 people waiting for them. Somehow, there is no actual "shop", its all on the road, or in this case, alleyway. No one cares, and its Totally Delicious.
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| As always, open places in hot climates have really great greenery |
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| The animal population was however a bit sad and depleted |
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| Well..... Art is supposed to make you think, I think Challenging is more like it |
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| My birthday adventure The Saigon zoo. No, I didn't get in |
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| Now this is the smoothy capital of the world Some HCMC backstreet, complete with grade 3 kids chairs |
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| Our first Vietnamese train trip The hotel folks do a great job at this. Don't try it yourself |
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| We take a dive/ snorkel trip There is zero worth diving for. I really didn't enjoy it |
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| Nha Trang. I went diving Really not safe, or particularly interesting I was diving with an Oz woman who had had 1 lesson in Scuba. And we're at 50 feet down |
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| There's a luxury beach here, and we indulge all day. Note umbrella's in the background |
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| Thap Ba Ponegar. A hillside temple. A fun afternoon waiting for the train |
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| Na Trangs finest public service |
We have pre booked "La Suisse" hotel, as the higher recommended places are all booked. La Suisse is a rather sad run down place that has seen better days, and will probably turn into a backpacker place soon. You can still see the sea from our "executive" VIP room. There's a massive amount of hotel building, some going 24 hours a day. Nha Trang is obviously quite a gold mine for developers as its packed, mainly with young swingers and Russian tourists. There's even a local micro brewery "La Lousiane" that is switched on to the needs of most tourists (great beer!), and we also head there for our next day.
We hang out on the beach with the Russians and occasional Brit & Europeans. Pampering ourselves (hey! we've earned this) under what turns out to be an SPF 20 umbrella. Kayla gets dreadfully burnt, even with the umbrella AND sun block. Canadian skin tones no longer. Big red hot skin tones now. The highlight of the day is finding a local food place and getting our laundry done ($0.75/ Kg here). I don't need to lie on beaches any more. All these chicks will just have to cope without me somehow.
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| Mostly decrepit, but HEY! I am 65 you know |
We pass into the night.
More soon
From Your Correspondent
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