Hoi An

Monday 30 September

Morning flight to Hoi An was smooth and (as usual) quicker than the schedule suggested.  We had an American pilot which was a reminder of it being a previous American airbase.  Actually the flight was to Da Nang (remember the war?) which is about 40 minutes From Hoi An.  This bus was a little more “efficient” than the one in Ho Chi Minh in that both had 4 seats across but this was 2 and 1 plus a fold-down in each row across the aisle.  Heaven only knows how anyone behind row two would get out in a hurry... of course it was immaterial to us because we didn’t need any of the aisle seats anyway.  Efficiency was also included in the knee-space available and I noticed that one of our taller members was unable to get his feet to the floor because his knees were jammed up against the seat in front.   As our tour leader says - “keep an open mind when you see things which you know are not rightor what you are not familiar with”... so we did.

After a “local lunch” of spring rolls and noodles at Da Nang we headed to Hoi An to our hotel.  It’s a smaller hotel on the sea side of Hoi An and we were welcomed very warmly.   After a couple of hours to settle in we got a taxi to Hoi An and did a short walking tour of the town.  We saw the Chinese Assembly Hall, the 300 year old “Japanese Covered bridge” actually built by Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese and an historic Chinese house which had been lived in for 7 generations.  Each building bore the record of various floods of the river including the Chinese house which had been flooded to the second floor in 2004. It was then time for serious shoppers to get things measured and organised so headed to Sisters and Yalys (tailors) to order some clothing, then to the opticians to get new glasses made.  Tomorrow we will go back for clothing fittings and to do some souvenir shopping.  Hoi An looked so pretty as all the lanterns came on and the number of people in town reduced.  It was much more pleasant in the cooler evening so will go back tomorrow night to shop and avoid the heat of the day.


Some photos from Hoi An:

Dragon outside Chinese Assembly Room

 Japapnese Covered Bridge 

Nha Trang

29 September Nha Trang
Arrived in Nha Trang after dark last night and had about a 45 minute bus ride from the airport to the hotel.  Some bright lights with an huge Ferris Wheel lit up across a bay, somewhere on the way.  Nha Trang seems to be essentially bars (some Karaoke), lots of hotels and the beaches... so lots of noise and lights.   After getting our rooms sorted, we all took a walk to have dinner together (which is mostly how it’s been with our tour party).

The tour day started this morning with us piling on to the bus dressed for the beach (us, not the bus) -  just togs and towels, not buckets and spades!  Although one of the beaches is just a block from here, we were destined to greater things and had a half hour bus ride to a busy small-ish boat port which seemed to be in rush-hour.  Lots of noise and people and boats going in all directions.  We have done quite a bit of time in boats of one sort or another on this trip (but I guess there is a lot of water in and around Vietnam) but this one was for a trip to an island where we anchored for several hours and snorkelled or just rested with a cooling breeze to make life just that more pleasant.  On the way to that spot, we got off the boat at a fishing village.      

The pathway between there and the next time we saw the boat was through a (we were told) traditional fishing village.  The path was about 3m wide and used by both people and vehicles.  It looked remarkably clean and neat to me (D) compared with many traditional Asian villages I have seen. We stopped at one point to talk with a woman who was knitting a fishing net and minding her toddler. She invited us to take a look around and demonstrated the art of knotting fishing line to make a net.   (We took the “big” camera today so many of these photos will have to wait till we can download them which is not as simple as a phone pic).

Once though the village we found ourselves on the edge of what turned out to be a fish farm/market - many (many) sectioned-off areas of water with a series of floating wooden pathways, some with sheds or huts on them for the people tending or harvesting the fish.  Transport was by “basket boats” from land to the floating fish-farm.  Our mission was to fit ourselves into four of these (along with a member of the local community practised in the art of making a round boat go a long way in a.straight line) to get to the next point across the water where our boat was waiting.  The pictures should tell the story (more or less) and we carried on to the island to spend a few happy hours in (and out) of the water.

Nothing particularly to do with today but we are often amused by our lovely guide who has some great expressions - “anyone need the happy place” (toilet), “dog bombs” (dog poo).  She also told us how some of the young Vietnamese prefer English but add their own interpretations e.g. shy is soho (which translates to ugly tiger) so they say “no I can’t do that cause I am too ugly tiger”.  That phrase has been used a number of times by us since.  Also if you don’t know someone they might say “If I know them I am dead now” which translates as not dead = don’t know them.

Basket Boats

Three people in a basket (and a local) 

The Island 

Tomorrow we fly to Hoi An.

Ho Chi Minh to Nha Trang

Saturday 28th September

Another hot day in Ho Chi Minh City!  Started with a visit to the War Remnants Museum which gave the history of the “American War’ (as opposed to the “Vietnam War”).  There were a range of weapons and war vehicles on display but the most compelling part was the photographic display and the story of the photo journalists who had died in the pursuit of recording what actually happened.  Some of the photos I had seen before but many I hadn’t.  There was also a display of photos of the effects of the war on the innocent victims from the likes of Agent Orange and Napalm which was quite disturbing.  It was good to read that some Americans had returned to Vietnam after the war in an effort to make amends for things they had been party to and to try and regain some of their own peace of mind.  

After that we did a bit of a City tour visiting the Saigon Post Office, the “mini Notre Dame Cathedral” before having lunch.  The photo with the grey building in front of the blue building is actually where the famous photo of the helicopter on a rooftop evacuating people during the Fall of Saigon was taken (but from the other side).  Evidently it was the CIA building not the US Embassy where it occurred.

We then visited the Reunification Palace (aka Independence Palace) which is now open to the public unless a special event is planned.  We got to go from the bunker in the basement (which had a maze of rooms) to the helicopter pad (next to the President’s personal cinema/theatre/games area) on the top.

 President’s Copter and 2 spots where palace  was bombed by an infiltrator to the SthVietnam Airforce 

Bank of telecommunication  Machines in bunker 

“War Room”

 We did well in temperatures reaching mid 30’s!!  Off to the airport for our flight to Nha Trang.

Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Min City/Saigon

Thursday 26 September. (Will try and add some better photos later but as we took cameras with us rather than phones its not so easy to transfer across).


7.30 start to the day with breakfast at KOTO (Know One Teach One) where disadvantaged youth are taught cooking skills as a way of leading them toward meaningful employment.  Despite being told this would be very basic “fruit and bread” we were served a range of breakfast food (including the totally delicious croissants we have come to expect over here) and it such a great programme.  We then headed approximately two hours by bus to the Mekong Delta (stopping at the “Rest Stop and Farming Resort” ??? for an ice-cream).  At Cai be we transferred to a water taxi which took us across the Mekong to one of the canal systems where we transferred to small boats to quietly glide around the small waterways (being rowed by generally slight built Vietnamese ladies).  

We then transferred back to our main boat and went back across the river for lunch (which included a whole cooked elephant ear fish that you broke apart to make fresh spring rolls) and on our way to the next destination (a rice-paper and sweet family industry) we had a spontaneous invite from a group of fishermen working at a cat fish farm to come over and see what they were doing.  Our guide was thrilled as she said they have never been asked to do that before.  Our water taxi driver was even more excited as he was given a free fish!  It was amazing watching them catch and load basket after basket of cat fish (each basket weighing between 100 - 120 kg of fish) and we probably watched them load at least 3,000 kg of fish in the short time we were there.

Next was the rice paper/puffed wheat sweet producers which was fascinating (they used old bomb shells to roll our the sweet mixture) but was also a bit disturbing as they had two rather large pythons in cages (although the owner said they were only small yet).  Needless to say I (G) came no closer than necessary to take a “semi distant photo”.  We then went back across the river to an orchard where we got to sample of range of fruits (e.g. jackfruit, guava, mango).  Back across the river yet again to our home stay for the night where we made to feel very welcome.   Our accommodation was much better than we expected and they did have wifi.  We had an outdoor bathroom attached to our bedroom which was actually really nice (and we didn’t even mind that it was only cold water as we were having yet another hot humid day in the early 30s.  We helped prepare a couple of the dishes for dinner and after eating we were treated to a short show by a group of performers who played a range of instruments and sang.

Bed was a welcome end to the day but it was certainly at the firm end of chiropractic mattresses being placed on top of a solid wooden base.

Our Homestay

Friday 27 September

Again away by 7.30 am and off to see the floating markets (which our local guide informed us were getting smaller each year as many people now chose the convenience of the supermarket).  You could tell what each boat owner was selling by what was attached to the pole at the front of the boat.

“Two” showing us the Floating Market

  We then continued on to a small fish-sauce and black bean production house.  Don’t think anyone was keen to hang around that one any longer than they had to as the smell was not amazing!  Back to Cai be to the bus and then approximately 3 hours to the Cu Chi tunnels.  By the time we got there it was already 33+ degrees which made our walk around the jungle area quite warm!   It was really fascinating though and David went through the 20 metre tunnel but I opted to stay above ground.


We then had 2 hours back to Ho Chi Min City, quick tidy up, and then out for a dinner cruise on the Saigon River.  There are over 8 million motorbikes and scooters in this city and as we came in during peak hour it seemed most of them were on the road at once!

Quite a busy couple of days but lots of different things covered!

Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Min City

Wednesday 25 September

And today’s award for the most scenic view from a hotel balcony goes to ....Patrice .... surprisingly she didn’t mention getting better reception in her room than we did!

Room with a view

After a leisurely start to the day, we head to the airport around 11.30 am to check-in for our 2.25 pm flight to Vietnam.  Akun (=Thank you) Cambodia for an interesting few days.

Xin Chao (=Hello welcome) Vietnam.    The flight to Vietnam took slightly less than the time we spent in the processing queue for our visas and passports but overall the process was fairly straight forward.    First impressions of Ho Chi Min City is that it is just as busy as Phnom Penh but quite a bit cleaner.  No tuk tuks but certainly a sea of motorbikes and scooters on all the main roads.  It’s amazing how people do accommodate each other on the roads but some of the traffic planning in Phnom Penh just seems a bit bizarre e.g. the four lane freeway that travels in both directions outside the International Airport meant the traffic going into it to drop off passengers had to cross four lanes of oncoming traffic without any clear sense of traffic lights (our driver just pushed his way across).  You would have thought that an underpass or over bridge would have been a great solution.

We met our tour guide this evening and she seems like she will be very helpful and a lot of fun!  Had a group meeting to outline all the tour details, met the other group members (minus two who were coming in on a late flight) and went out for a lovely Vietnamese dinner at a local restaurant.  Most of the group are Kiwis (and two Australians) but not sure about the two still to arrive.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the Mekong Delta with an overnight stay at a local guesthouse (which has basic facilities from what we can gather) so not taking the laptop as suspect that Wifi will be non-existent . Next update will be a couple of days away.

Phnom Penh

Tuesday 24 SeptemberUp for a 6.30am pickup then short flight through to Phnom Penh.  Our guide took us directly to the The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (one of about 360 places) and explained what had occurred at that particular site.  It had originally been a Chinese cemetery but chosen as a location for the execution of many prisoners considered enemies of the regime of the Khmer Rouge.  Mass graves containing 8895 bodies were discovered at this site when excavations took place after the fall of the regime. The bones, clothing and weapons used to kill the prisoners have now been put in a 17-level acrylic glass display cabinet inside the stupa and are identified by age, gender and method of death.

Although no further excavation is planned, a wooden walk-way had been constructed over the area where the mass graves were located as bits of bone and clothing still surface after periods of rain.  Overall it was a sobering experience - all the more for it having happened in our lifetimes.  We then went back into Phnom Penh through the chaotic traffic to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - originally a High School but used as a prison (along with about 120 others throughout the country).  It was  known as Security Prison 21 (S-21).  Truck-loads of people were shipped from there to the killing fields every day, with approx 20,000 out of the estimated 3 million killed coming from this prison alone. Only 7 people survived S-21; two of them were young children who hid under a large pile of clothing on the day the prison was being liberated, and 5 adult males. Of the 5 men who survived, only two are now alive and both were at the site to talk with if you wished. One was an artist whose paintings of his memories of the treatment of prisoners were on display in the last building we went through.  We didn’t speak with them directly as we really didn’t know what to say!!

We then checked into our hotel and got a tuk tuk to the Royal Palace.  It was around 33 degrees and dry (although we were anything but dry!!). Only a few of the buildings are accessible to the public as the Royal family still live there but perhaps they could have let us have had a quick look round inside as we understood the king is away in China at the moment.  Part of the grounds included a model of the Angkor Wat temple complex and Patrice was very amused to hear an American woman saying to her partner in a serious tone (please insert your own American accent here) “Do you really think we need to go to see the Temples now that we have seen the model!”.  Clearly she was less keen to see them than her partner!  Also for those who might travel with Patrice at any point in the future - please be aware that getting a complete photo is not something that comes naturally to her - she took no less than 8 photos of David and I sitting under a small pagoda which had a spike on the roof.  Not one had a complete spike until the last one and by that stage it was difficult to see who we were but at least we had the spike!  Extra points for perseverance though :). After reaching a level just under spontaneous combustion we decided to get a Tuk Tuk (loving this mode of transport!) back to hotel to cool down in the pool.

Buddhist Memorial Stupa

S-21

Angkor Model at Royal Palace

After dinner we decided to take a night-time tuk tuk ride around whatever sights our driver (Piet) thought might be interesting for us - it turned out we got a great look at the city’s early night life and it was pretty lively (particularly for a Tuesday evening).  I should mention that Patrice took a temple picture and was so proud she got it all in until she looked at the picture and guess what - it had half a spike!  The trip wasnt that speedy however. With three of us in the wagon, his underpowered machine made barely 15kph so any crash would have been low speed. As is typical of many parts of Asia you see some amazing sights of things loaded on scooters but yesterday included a passenger with a metal pole so high that it was at risk of hitting low level power lines as they moved along (not to mention being a hazard to people around them) and a female passenger sitting on top of a very large metal box holding a range of items and all of which were very loosely balanced! After a 40 minute drive along part of the river we were back at the hotel and got an odd, but friendly hug from the driver (might have been the extra $2 tip).  The picture below conveys just a little of the scene.

 And this one from earlier in the day at the palace shows just how creative people can be with plastic bottles in service of safety in the home, even if it was the King’s home !!!

Banteay Srei

Monday 23 September

Picked up at 8am (a most respectable hour compared to yesterday) and out into the countryside.  Lots of water to be seen as still getting reasonable rainfall (particularly in the evening) and had an enjoyable 1 hour trip to Banteay Srei to visit an early example of a Hindu temple.  We stopped at a second temple on the way back to Siem Reap but the increasing temperature made it a mixed blessing between interest and a desire to be a bit cooler.   Overall, coping fine with the heat and humidity but it is slightly more taxing!  On our return to the hotel we decided to grab a Tuk Tuk and head over to the Apopo Centre to see if we could book a tour of the Hero Rats (specially trained African rats which are used to detect both the presence of landmine explosives and also TB - although possibly not at the same time).  Much to my (G) disappointment the Hero Rats were having a weeks holiday to celebrate the Buddhist festival that finishes on the 28th of this month :(.  That had been one of the things I had been looking forward to but guess every hard worker deserves a holiday.

We then returned to the hotel and opted to have a relaxing high tea (which was a great sampler of numerous treats the hotel has on the menu) before walking to the National Museum which is located approximately 10 minutes away.  Spent an hour or so there before returning for a cool swim in the pool (going to miss our fabulous pool when we move on tomorrow).  Feel a bit sad to farewell the lovely hotel staff (who already know our room numbers by heart) and have to say that everyone we have interacted with at the hotel (and our guide) has been very friendly and helpful.  Tomorrow we have to be up at 5.30 am so that we can have an “early bird” breakfast before collection by the driver at 6.30 am to transfer to the airport for our 8 am flight to Phnom Penh.  Predicted temperature is 33 degrees there so its going to be another warm one!

Angkor Wat

Sunday 22 September

5am and off in the dark to the first stop at Angkor Wat Temple.  On the way we collected ID passes at the processing centre near the Angkor Gallery (which was built by North Korea).  At Angkor Wat itself the first section is a floating causeway (built by Canada) across a stretch of water which had a beautiful display of water lilies (this only became apparent on the way back when daylight had arrived). Then to a series of other pools of water, one of which is the moat to the temple, built in order to drain the land on which the buildings stand.  By this time, it was getting light and the temple gradually progressed from being a silhouette.  We were there at sunrise but the cloud meant that really it just got light rather than showed any colour.  We then walked around (and a lot of up and down steps!!) through the complex before heading off to Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple and The Terrace of the Elephants, and the Temple of Ta Prohm (where Lara Croft was filmed).  As Patrice wanted to experience riding into Angkor Thom on elephant back we said we would join her but not without serious reservations about the ethical issues of supporting a business that uses animals as a tourist attraction.  However, as we were told that elephant rides at Angkor are ceasing permanently in a couple of months time we at the very least hoped we were not contributing to keeping them in business any longer than they might have otherwise.  We really hope the elephants will get to live a much more natural and happier life when they retire soon!!   With regard to our own feet we hit the 10,000 step mark on the Fitbit before 10 am so doing well.  Throughout the morning you could feel the temperature rising and were very grateful for our cold towels and water on return to the van.  When we got back to the hotel our luggage had arrived which meant we were able to unpack and spend the afternoon cooling off with a swim in the pool before heading out to the Night Market late afternoon.  After a short Tuk Tuk ride we braced ourselves for the determined sales pitch of the local sellers that had been evident everywhere we went and were not disappointed!!  Just as we arrived at the Night Market it started to pour down with rain and this continued for the remainder of the night.

Outside Angkor Wat temples

Angkor Complex pre-dawn

Terrace of the Elephants