Week 7 Update
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2007
1
19
26
Trip End
Jan 13, 2008
Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
Monday, December 17, 2007
well, it has been more than 2 weeks now and i am lagging behind...not because i am having a great time, but because I've had no time. was in Dubai last week for a stag and now in Karachi for a wedding so sleep is a valuable commodity when you have so many family functions that last till 4 AM!
so, week 7 was primarily spent in Vietnam. we flew in Hanoi from Bangkok and spent the day in Hanoi. obviously the first thing we did was get some Vietnamese noodle soup - Pho! it was quite good and the chillies were a lot hotter than i expected - broke a sweat. spent the rest of the day touring around. the mode of transportation in Vietnam is mopeds or motor cycles and thus there are motorcycle taxis knows as / xe om/ and include a motorcycle, you and a driver! so being the skinny guys we are, we both got on to the back of a motorcycle and the three of us merrily began our ride to a famous monument. and what do you know, we got a punctured tire within 10 minutes. luckily there "happened" to be a garage there and we waited while our driver had to buy a whole new tube. our driver really did not seem to know all the major monuments and museums so we had to direct him! and then he wanted $13 at the end of the 2-3 ordeal of us directing him to several sites! ended up giving him $7.
that night we went to a neighborhood known for its food where there are supposedly 100s of food stalls! after walking around, finding the area and making sure we were at he right place, we were disappointed to see 10s of stalls and not many people. nevertheless we picked a place, sat down and luckily befriended a Vietnamese lady living in Australia so she guided us through the menu. ate some mussels, sea shells, and red snapper and payed a total of $15, which we thought was expensive for a road side meal! anyway, that's Vietnam for you. somethings are dirt cheap and some things are not. like they say in SE Asia, "same same, but different"!
next morning we went for a 2 day, 1 night boat tour along the famous Halong Bay on the great china sea. it has approx 2000 small and large islands scattered off the coast and is one of the most beautiful bays in the world. but first the breakfast.....freshly baked french baguettes sold with egg, pate, and other goodies for 5000 - 10000 Dong (30 - 50 cents). there are so many baguette ladies around Vietnam due to the French colonialists. we got to the boat dock late morning and there were about 100 boats all doing the same business and taking tourist out on 1 or 2 night excursions. our boat had 12 people and half were french and the other half were Australian and us two Canadians. so obviously we split into two groups and it was quite odd as both groups could not effectively communicate with each other! luckily the English speakers were in their 20s so we all got along. we smuggled some alcohol on the boat as the prices on the boat were dear. that afternoon on the water was spent visiting one of the largest man made caves in the bay, a nice beach, sun taning and some people paid to go kayaking as well. the food on the boat was a bit disappointing though and at some points we were hoping for more. after dinner we just sat on the deck and drank. there were many other boats around but within earshot. slept well on the boat last night. it was basically a houseboat with 7 rooms, each with a bathroom. next morning we just sailed around and toured the islands.
got back to Hanoi in the evening and went for a water pupped show which is a Vietnamese skill. it was really well done and the show was entertaining. not much more i can describe about that!
we took a sleeper bus that evening to Hoi An. the infrastructure in Vietnam is not even close to that of Thailand so it was either a train or a bus, bit journeys being close to 15 hrs. the sleeper bus is a cool concept with the insides of a large tour bus being replaced with fully reclining beds with your legs along the length of the bus. there are three rows and two levels. for the cost of $25 we got to sleep semi-comfortable and made it to our destination...well not really, we stopped at Hue in the morning and had a stop of 3 hrs. that was not what the travel agent told us. so we tool the opportunity to see the large cathedral and royal palace in Hue so that was a blessing in disguise. had a good pho lunch and then had out 4 hr journey on a "regular" bus to Hoi An.we arrived at 6 PM so basically it was a 24 hr journey from Hanoi to Hoi An!!!!!!
Hoi An is the place to be to get tailor made clothes. over 80% of the retailers are tailors. the town itself is also beautifully situated on a river and has remnants of old school french architecture. the pace is slow, the streets are quaint etc and all the charms of a nice laid back small town - which for backpackers like me is a heaven! so we stayed for 3 nights in a room for $10 which had A/C, private bath, hot water, reception,satellite TV, fridge etc... we came to realize that Vietnam is not really up on the backpacking scene as most places of accommodation are actual hotels and it is hard to get a room less than $10 as we did in Thailand and Laos. so in that respect, Vietnam is NOT cheap as many people would have you believe. that same night we hit a a few tailors and shopped around for a good place. while deciding, we met a couple of friends we had met in Chiang Mai and had dinner with them at a local fav called mangoes. the chef has supposedly traveled the world! the staff was good, wine was dear, food was phenomenal and we paid $25! the most expensive meal i have had in over 7 weeks (not counting the ones paid for by Bookham!!)
so, we picked a tailor by 9:30 PM and spent the next 2 hrs telling them what we wanted, haggling over the price, and getting measured. so i got 11 shirts, 4 trousers, 3 full suits, 3 sports jackets, and 2 winter jackets for $700!!! pretty much my whole new wardrobe and custom made - couldn't resist having my name embroidered on most of the items!!! so over the following three days, we went in for fittings and alterations and all my stuff cam out great! unfortunately, all of Alykhan's stuff got screwed! it's like that made it to fit someone else. there are two theories. one is the tailor could not believe how small the measurements were for a man, and decided to scale them by 10%! or the tailor was high! so it was a quite a frustrating experience for Alykhan and those that know him can appreciate how important fashion, clothing and style is to him! feel sorry for the guy..............i on the other hand don't care much for these things and everything went well. karma sucks! in fact, we were still getting alykhan's stuff altered right till 15 min prior to us catching another sleeper bus to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. so now in addition to my backpack, I've got a 15 kg box of clothes and gifts for family at the wedding.
the sleeper bus to Saigon was a two part trip. we go their late so choice was limited and i had to take one the sleepers at the back where there are five placed side by side! so i slept between two strangers that night, both Vietnamese so could not even make any decent conversation. in the morning we go to Na Trang which a popular stop in Vietnam for a "hopping" night life. we were only there 20 minutes and then on our way to Saigon. now this drive during the day was phenomenal as it was mostly along the coast line and the white sand was blinding! wish we had time to stop at a resort town called Mu Hien (or something like that). instead we got to stop for lunch and so we ate some good seafood on the beach and enjoyed the breeze. there were lots of surfers so i imagine it is a popular spot for that. we got into Ho Chi Minh City after dark and right in the heart of the tourist area. found a room for $12 on the the floor with no elevator! the weather got lot more humid too so Saigon was not as comfy as N Vietnam. that night we just walked around, tried a donner kebab Vietnam style and just slept. early next morning we started a half-day tour of the the Cuchi Tunnels which are a maze of over 200 km built to fight the Americans. it was quite impressive. the tactics used by the guerrillas is just awe inspiring. goes to show that even a super power like with all the technology in the world cannot win a war. we took a dip into the caves and alykhan and i were the only ones in our tour group that could fit into the narrower ones. we crawled about 100 meters and were tired. at the tunnels. one can fire war weapons so for a $1 a bullet i fired an M16 rifle 5 times. so loud that i can't imagine being on a battlefield. after that we visited the war remnants museum and that was an eye opener in terms of the damage (including to the present generation) and horror inflicted in the Vietnamese during the war due to the use of agent orange. we saw pics of birth deformities that one could not even imagine and that defy nature. i was moved and at one point had to walk away from some of the pics to regain my composure. that night we walked around Saigon and went to a night market, shopped, ate and just enjoyed the local culture. nothing extra i can say about Saigon as in my opinion, all big cities are the same. like they say, same same, but different! but about Vietnam i can saw several things. first off, people are not as friendly and rightly so as foreigners have in the past tried to conquer them. they are not honest with their prices and will quote whatever they think you can afford, including food! that is just plain wrong in my eyes. the tourist industry is in its infancy so lots of changes if they wish to embrace the industry. and lastly, crossing the road is so much fun. you just walk in and the onus is on the mopeds to dodge you. if you stop, you'll cause more confusion and likely be hit due to indecision on your part.
all is all, Vietnam was fun and certainly a place to see and experience. but not sure if i would make a separate trip for that country.
hope you all enjoyed this email as i did writing it. will send week 8 update in a few days and then next week i am off to my auto-rickshaw race in India. i'll actually be driving one this time next week.........
take care and best wishes for the holidays.
sameer
