My Son (29th March 2011)

This morning I’ve booked a ride with an ‘Easyrider’. The idea of the tours originated in Dalat and are now all over Vietnam. It’s really just going on the back of a larger bike with a driver who is then your tour guide, it’s a more interesting way of travelling and you get to go to places the big tour busses can’t go to. They offer all sorts of trips from one day around the local area to an entire tour of the country, that would involve a very sore bum though I think!

My Easyrider driver

The things you see on a bike!

But for today we’re off to My Son which is an ancient Cham city and a UNESCO World Heritage site which has similarities with Ankgor Wat in Cambodia but on a much smaller scale. I could have gone by organised bus tour but to be honest I really couldn’t face another day of being told when to get off the bus, on the bus, on the boat, off the boat etc, so that’s how I found myself on the back of the bike. It did take a bit of negotiating pricewise last night but in the end we were both happy with our negotiations and it was an interesting morning but the site really was packed solid with tourists.

My Son

This afternoon I had more of a wander around the actual town of Hoi An and kept coming across the same shop that had a gorgeous red skirt hanging in the door way. Hoi An is the one place in Vietnam where you can have just about any item of clothing made in just a few hours. I can remember having things made in Hong Kong many years ago and they were ok but not that great and although everything looks great here I’m not so sure. After going backwards and forwards past the shop a few times though I soon gave in and had this lovely skirt made and when I got it I wish I had more things made! Probably a good choice though cause I’ve still gotta carry it around for the next week or so. ;-(

Hoi An

The rest of the afternoon was spent making my plans for tomorrow and the next few days. After some working out I think I now have the rest of my time in Vietnam planned out which is quite strange and a real novelty for me......I wonder how it’s going to work out!

Japanese Covered Bridge in Hoi An

Hoi An (28th March 2011)

Hoi An market

Last night the receptionist in the hotel tried to sell me a tourist bus ticket to Hoi An for £3.00 but leaving at 11am. Ideally I wanted to get there earlier so got up at silly o’clock (again!) and headed out to find the local bus. There to try and get me to go on the back of his bike was a moto driver who was intent on getting my business but seeing as the journey is around 35km I really didn’t fancy it with all my gear so eventually he gave up and helped me out on where to get the local bus. 10 minutes later the bus arrived and I was on my way next though I had to barter over the bus ticket! The bus was just a local one and travelling, in my opinion, very fast without ever really stopping, people were jumping off and on at every opportunity. But back to the cost – so the LP said it was supposed to be about 10,000 dong so when I thought the lady said 16,000 I thought ‘oh that’s ok, a bit of inflation!’ but oh no, she wanted 60,000!! Well there was no way she was getting that so after 10 minutes of bartering or rather me saying I wasn’t going to pay that much, she finally let me stay on board for 20,000 still double what it should have been but cheaper than she was originally after. Bartering for bus tickets, now that’s a first.

Getting to Hoi AN only took about 40 minutes and then it was just a short moto ride, with all my bags, to the hotel I thought I had decided on. Now this is one lovely hotel and there seem to be a few Westerners milling around, what there doesn’t seem to be though is any sign of the town. The LP says this hotel is on the edge of the old town but I’m not seeing any signs of life. The receptionist, on seeing me arrive, came running out to meet me and was so keen to have me stay there that he even reduced the cost of the room by several dollars. So even bartering for a room is doable! Shame I didn’t know that at the start of the trip! It appears town was only a five minute cycle away and the hotel was so nice that I decided on staying and getting some exercise. ;-)

Village life

Hoi An is really lovely, very pretty and very picturesque and very French in appearance.

For the rest of the day I just made good use of the free bike hire checking out the local villages as well as two of the main temples in town.

The temples of Hoi An and my form of transport parked outside

Off to Danang (27th March 2011)

Saigon from the air

Right now I’m still recovering from last night! ;-) It was really lovely to see Lauren and Hadleigh again and catch up on what we’ve all been up to since Laos. It was a pretty late night though with lots of beer consumed, it was so late that we had to wake up the reception staff at our hotels to be let back in!

Since we parted ways in Laos they came back into Vietnam and I went down through Cambodia and over to Vietnam. Vietnam is a massive country to try and make your way around and I was (sort of) looking forward to using the sleeper buses and trains until Lauren told me about their scary story when travelling down from Nha Trang to Saigon yesterday when someone threw a brick at the bus which broke the window covering another traveller and them in glass. L Now that’s not good. So on that note I decided that today I would fly to Danang half way up the country. In usual Emma style though I of course hadn’t booked a flight and turned up at the travel agents around 11am wanting to fly at 4pm.

Anything’s possible here though it seems and before I knew it I was on my way to Danang.

Danang isn’t anything special really, it’s just the gateway to Hue and Hoi An but because of the time I arrived it was too late to move on anywhere so Danang for the night it was.

Saigon (26th March 2011)

We arrived in Saigon around 6.30 last night and as usual I hadn’t really worked out anywhere to stay. A German couple who were on the homestay tour with me were also getting off here so we wandered together looking for somewhere to stay. Their bags must have been lighter than mine cause after trailing around the entire city (at least that’s how it felt) I gave up and went my own way finding a nice little hotel just off the main street where I booked a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels for this morning.

The Cu Chi tunnels are around 30 km out of Saigon and were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals as well as food and weapon hiding places. The tunnel system is 121 km in length and it was quite amazing that the Viet Cong were able to live and fight in such confined areas. We were shown all around the area and shown the actual size of one of the entrances into the tunnels as well as a lot of the booby traps that were designed to not only keep the Americans at bay but also to deter others from coming in closer. I did wonder if perhaps we weren’t going to get a chance to go inside the tunnels but before we knew it we were having to read a health warning and pretty much sign our lives away and there we were! Now not only do I not like water but as well I’m not that keen on confined spaces. I gave it a go though but was very happy to have an escape route after the first 15 metres. And these were tunnels that have been made larger for tourists. There was another short tunnel system that was around 5 – 10 cm smaller than the one I had gone in but there was no-way I was giving that a go.

Cu Chi tunnels

After the tunnels I was dropped off at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. Now this really was a very moving and disturbing place. I know there must have been a certain amount of propaganda involved but at the end of the day it still doesn’t change the chemicals the Americans used on the vegetation and crops and subsequently the people, nor does it change how many people and children were blatantly murdered in cold blood by the Americans and neither does it change the fact that even now there are children being born with birth defects due to the chemicals used back then. The thing about this was is that it has been documented throughout with photographs, so although I accept there is some degree of propaganda you cannot deny the picture that clearly shows a very young boy covering his younger sibling/friend while American soldiers shot at them, killing them. It was that picture that got to me the most, I found it really hard to understand how an educated and Western country can kill innocent children in such a callous and unfeeling manner, it was as though their lives were worthless. I found it quite shocking learning about what went on during the Vietnam War and the effect it continues to have on people here but it’s important to learn about it and remember it.

War Remnants Museum

Back at the hotel I had a call from Lauren saying she and Hadleigh had arrived in Saigon that morning and did I fancy meeting up......of course! ;-)

Lauren, Hadleigh and me