Vietnam Vietnm
Trip Start
Mar 30, 2009
1
8
Trip End
Jun 29, 2009
Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sorry it has been a while since my last entry.....a lot has been going on :))
So I decided to acquaint myself with Vietnam by spending two days on the Meking River. After Sydney, Vietnam is quite a culture shock. There is a huge blend of new and old, rich and poor! Visiting the Mekong gives you a taste of the real Vietnam seeing how rice paper is made and coconut candy and everywhere you go you are continuously harrassed to buy something....!Only bonus is that here you have to barter and what a fun sport that is!!!! In the markets people are literally hanging off your arms persuading you to buy something and then the fun begins by only paying a portion of what they ask, which in other words is known as 'western tax'. We visited the floating market, which unlike Thailand is for local buyers only and not the tourists. It's amazing to see so many boats a lot of them carrying the same goods and children being used to sell the many items. And here there are many houses/shacks along the river mainly being held uo by corrugated iron and then the next minute in a village a brand new complex is being built - quite bizarre really!
Then a few days in to Vietnam I meet my tour group. I was unaware that I would be joining a group that had already been to Vietnam but there were 6 of them leaving and 6 of us joining and we had a great time! In Saigon we visited the Cu Chi tunnels where the Vietnamese fought the Americans and we were astonsihed to learn that some families lived in the tunnels for more than 10 years sometimes being allowed out at noght, though mostly only to fight. Unbelievable what they went through.
First stop was Nha Trang via an overnight train and hey ho we got an upgrade ;) 1st class train! they're such good fun but we all arrived a wee bit tired as normally they got in at the strangest of hours early in the morning!We spent a day on the beach and the next day out on a boat being goggled at by the locals but jumping off the boat and generally having a good time.
Next stop was Hoi An whih was prbably my most favourite place and we spent a few days here. One of the days Sam and I hired our won motorbike and went 'cruising' for the day - what a lot of fun!! We saw a pagoda, went to the beach, drove through crazy and saw the paddy fields in just one day - awesome!!!
After that was Hue where unfortunately I started to feel a bit poorly and it seemed that the rest of the group were suffering at one point or another too. There we visited the citadel which was built for defense purposes, though the weather was unbearable hot and it was hard to appreciate the architecture and sights.
The next day it is more motorbiking fun though this time we were being driven along the paddy fields and stopping by in villages to appreciate local custims and see how the famous conical hats were made!There is a lady who only makes one hat a day but that is beacuse she only has one full arm and the other has no hand so it is extremely impressive to perform such intricate work!
After Hue we travelled to Hanoi in order to get to Halong Bay which is breathtakingly beautiful. We had our own private boat with a fabulous seafood lunch which sailed us around the various islands, which were all very lush and green. We stopped off at some magnificent caves the scale of which I have never seen before. Then the next day it is back to Hanoi again for our last few nights. We visit Ho Chi Minh who has been 'pickled' so that people can come and pay their respects and enjoy spending the last few days together!
Vietnam is an amzing country though for anyone wishing to go I would reccomend the north over the south!
Now Thailand awaits!
Love abi xxxxx
Comments
vietnam
love you piglet!