Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh city...

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  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The bus to vietnam was due to take 6 hours from dor to dorr and with most travel arrangements out here took exactly that (how they manage to screw it up back home almost constantly i'll never know). They took our passports off us as soon as we boarded and got them back after standing in line at border control for no more than 15 min, very smooth and vert efficient, totally unlike our crossing into cambodia. This was def a good start. As soon as you get into the country and look around there and subtle yet distinct difference between the two countries. Vietnam appears financially richer and better developed immediately with very few lean-to shacks which we had become so acostommed to seeing. The apssing countryside seems more like Thailand than Cambodia but then Vietnam's scars have had longer to heal. The other things that strike you is firstly the urban sprwl of Saigon which reaches almost to the Cambodian border and the other is the mopeds. They were everywhere in Cambodia but the density in the city is phenomenal. Wave after wave of mopeds line eacha nd every street somehow managing to avoid eachother as the wind through the city. You have to be very very aware when crossing the street as they come from every concievable direction even mounting the pavement when red lights hold up their progress.

Our guesthouse is another random choice as our intended destination was full but what stroke of luck. The rooms are small but very clean and the host is as friendly as anyone i have ever met, with wlecoming drinks and breakfast included in our room price. The fact that she did our laundry and we have properly washed and dried clothes for the first timesince coming away also adds to why we like this place so much im sure. The guest house is located riht in the middle of the backpacker region of the city and is therefore never quiet but we managed to get a room away from the street on the fifth floor.

The city is buzzing and full of life and we both take an instant like to the place, more so than any of our city stops so far and i think we could spend a week here at leaat. After checking in we head out to see the local area which is manic. Thi sarea is mostly backpacker guesthouses and restaurants catering to every cuisine imaginable. We find a place and flick through the bible to work out what we should see while we are here and what we should do the following day. We decide on checking out the city itself first, getting our b\earings and seeing the major sights...

In the morning we arrive downstairs to the complimentary breakfast which incldes coffee (powerful stuff over here). We decdie to pretty much stick to the walking tour of the city as suggested in the bible as it takes in most of what we wanted to see. However, i was in charge of directions for the first time after kim had navigated us throughout the whole of Cambodia. Turns out im not quite as good as she is, or rather i put up with it better when we're lost :-)

The city is a bustling hevaing place with so many people going everywhere, we begin to wonder whether the city requires half the population to be on the road otherwise it would be just too busy everywhere else. Crossing the street, esp roundabouts, is like a game of chicken until you learn the trick of walking relatively straight and purposefully and the bikes just weave around  you much like everything else. We take in the open market which sells everything from silk, to knock of branded stuff to fruit, full of noise and smells - some wof which make kim want to heave so we quickly head outside. There were stalls however which sell beautifully crafted bowls and chopsticks and other dishes, later we learn that they are crafted by handicapped people using a somewhat laborious process to prodcue the final result ( we saw the factory on a trip later on).

From the market we wander via the roadside stalls (and a few other places as i got a bit lost) to Fannys Ice Cream parlour claiming  to serve the best icecream in Saigon. We decided on the icecream platter which was 10 flavours, fruits and dipping sauces. Was supposed to be for three people but we managed it ( in about 8 mins total actually)!

From here we went to the city museum which shows a small collection of the history of Ho Chi Minh and the growth of the city over the last century or so. From here we walk to the museum which commemorates the Vietnam War, the most popular place in the city with western visitors. This place shows tanks and planes used or captured from the americans during the war, what i was not prepared for were the graphic depictions of the atrocities commited on both sides. This includes pictures of the affects of Agent Orange, white phospore and the other chemical weapons used by the US, and the after effects. Even going so far as to have deformed human babies in glass jars. The pictures of the torture of captives was also particularly graphic. The images of the american GIs grinning with beheaded captives and holding up decimated remains of humans makes you realise just some of the horrors of this war. The overwhelming feeling on leaving this place is not just the repulsion and horror and sadness, but the disgust for America and what they contributed at this time. Chemical weapons should never be used in anger against innocent people.

After this we were a little shell socked and pretty damn hot as it was mid afternoon and we'd been walking aorund in the heat for ages. We wandered back and got ourselves showers and a lie down before food at a western place round the corner. Here we decided on going to the Cu Chi tunnels the following day. Howver, in the evening we wanted to get a massage. A place rond the corner looked fairly good as it was part of a posh hotel and less likely to be a brothel - as most of the places touting massage are. We went up and undressed realising that we would have to go into the mixed spa naked. I wasn't too bothered but i think kim was a little worried as the only other people in the entire places were male. She kept a towel on for the most part and eventually convinced me that this probably was quite a dodgy place after all! Mostly very nervous we were ushered into private rooms each. I didn't know what to expect as the only other massage i have ever had was by a blind guy in cambodia. I tried to relax but was a little too worried. Eventually it seemed that all was well, esp as a good proportion of the massage involved being walked on by the vietnamese girl doing the massage. 1h of full body and 1/2h of foot massage and you feel very very relaxed indeed.

The following day we went to the cu chi tunnels. The tunnels are a big tourist attraction here and with good reason. The tunnels were using by the VC during the Vietnam war. From these tunnels they cooked, lived and slept and even raised families here. 250km of tunnels run qaround the area stretching from the Cambodia border all the way to the mekong delta. There were up to 16000 people living in these tunnels at any one time.

We got the coach out there, chatting with a guy who was here by himself touring the area in his summer break from uni. The tours started with an entrance to the tunnels which was just about big enough to fit through and completely camouflages by leaves - no more the 30cm square. The tour also showed us how the VC lived on multiple levels up to 10m below the surface, along with their booby traps for the American GIs, most of which involving vicious metals spikes.

The highlight of this tours though had to be the shooting range. Paying for your bullets you could choose your weapon from Ak47 standard issue rifle to M60 machine gun to .45 calibre handgun. I chose the AK47 and fires at targets down the range. Talk about an adreneline buzz!! I would have had a go at the other guns but the bullets were seriously expensive and the M60 was set on automatic firing about 300rpm - thereofre what you had didn't exactly last very long. Looking forward to having a go with a handgun in the states!

After a video on the war we headed back to the city, had a beer with lunch and then another beer and decided that the afternoon was a write off and went for a nap! In the evening tho Kim went to get a manicure and pedicure and in the evening she went back to the massage place. I was quite happy dozing and watching crap TV.

We decided that even though we loved HCMC we would try and see a bit more of Vietnam. We have a short 15 day Visa for vietnam and the extension turns out to be much more expensive than the initial visa. So we book tickets and head out to Mui Ne in the morning to the beach and the sand dunes...

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