Vietnam - The rellies track us down!!!!!!!!
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
19
22
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tw. Vietnam, wow!! There’s so much to say about it I’m not sure where to begin. What I can say, is that to date, it’s probably my second favourite place behind New Zealand and despite having been there for 2 months, it’s definitely somewhere we could go back to and have a whole different adventure to the one we’ve just had. Why’s that Toby? Well it’s everything about it, and it’s not all good I can assure you. It starts off when you leave the airport. You’re immediately hit by a wave of noise, smells, people and traffic. Not of the M25 jam kind, but a fluid mass of mopeds, millions of them, literally. There are 6 million people in Ho Chi Minh City and 4 million mopeds and first impressions are that they all come to meet you at the airport!! The second impression is that everyone is wearing face masks, as if there was some pandemic type disease going around!!?? The truth is they wear them due to an obsession with keeping the sun off them
Statue of Mr Ho Chi Minh himself
. Pale skin means a good job inside, a higher social standing and being desirable to the opposite sex. Now, For those of you that have been to Bangkok and other manic asian cities that are thinking I’m describing any one of them, I can assure you Vietnam takes things to a whole new level. When we were on the bus from the airport the mopeds where everywhere. On both sides of the road regardless of the direction they are travelling in and on the pavement!! And not just one or two, 3 deep all along the pavement. It’s no wonder there are bag snatches here!! Then there’s the noise. It’s a constant symphony of hooters going beep beep beep. The driver on one of our tours later told us, that if you no beep beep, you no go, and it seems that is the one part of moped school everyone listened to. Having said all of that, everyone seems to gel into one and the trust between all of them is immense. We only saw 6 or 7 minor accidents and 4 or 5 major ones, which on reflection seems remarkably low. Suzanna and I also had to forget everything we thought was correct about crossing the road. There’s an unwritten rule here, that size matters. Trucks give way to no one, buses only give way to trucks, mini buses only give way to trucks and buses and so on, so, us tiny people give way to everyone, even on the pavement and at pedestrian crossings. We were even warned by the guide book to take extra care at pedestrian crossings as some Vietnamese go for pedestrians, as they are unhappy that there is something that technically gives pedestrians the right of way!! So, we had to learn to just step out into the road and walk steadily and confidently to the other side. The first few times have a mild laxative effect, but it works and you soon see it’s the safest way to do it as all the traffic just sways around you. So that’s first impressions and there are so many other things that are different in Vietnam
View from Reunification Palace
. Far to many to mention here but more will come out as I tell you about our time here. We’d come to Vietnam when we did, due to family coming out to spend some time with us. Suzanna’s Mum and one of her sisters, Carly came out first, whilst we were in the South and my Mum and Dad came out later, when we were in the North. We arrived in Ho Chi Min City (also known as Saigon) a week before the first set of rellies arrived. It worked well as it meant we had time to get our bearings and understand, first hand I might add, some of the scams that go on there. Yes, although I hate to admit it, after 8 months of avoiding trouble, we got caught out twice in Vietnam. Neither of them where particularly major and only cost us a few quid, but we were annoyed at ourselves out of principle. First time happened outside the Reunification Palace. Suzanna wanted a coconut to drink. No problem there, as there are loads of people selling them. Our first mistake though, was to take the drink off the guy before we checked the price, then, with another couple there, we all got embroiled in a debate on the price, with none of us understanding what the seller was saying, which we later decided was part of his scam. In the end we all got confused and ended up paying 40000 for a coconut drink which we saw someone else selling round the corner for 5000. The difference is about £1.40, so nothing in the grand scheme of things, but try paying 800% more for your next pint and see how you feel. Next scam was actually more like day light robbery
Traffic in HCMC
. We were with Suzanna’s family and were crossing the road. One of us got stuck and was helped by a local, so, we thought to be nice we’d buy some water of him. He tried to charge 40000 for 2 small bottles. No way we said and we’d worked our way down to 20000. It was at this point I got some money out to show him some notes to explain how much we wanted to pay. The seller then, in the blinking of an eye, swiped a note out of my hand saying 10000 and stuck it in his pocket. Unlukily for him, I’m anal enough to know how much money we have and in what denominations they are and I was sure it was 100000 he’d taken, so I challenged him, at which point he dug the note out of his pocket and sure enough it was a 100000 note. We then paid the 20000 and got rid of him. So we paid double the price for the drinks and again the amount was minimal, but again I say, next time you go to the pub and you get your money out, try letting the barman casually nick a tenner off you!? Away from the new increased threat of being ripped off, we really liked Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed in a great area, full of café’s, bars and restaurants that had a great feel about it. We also took the time to visit some attractions, all of which focused on the Vietnam War. We visited the war museum, which showed off a few trophies in the shape of American Tanks and Planes, but also took us through the story of the war, with facts and figures as well as personal stories and the ongoing effect of the war
Chu Chi Tunnels
. It really opened our eyes to the atrocities everyone was subjected to. We also visited the Reunification Palace, which is significant as the place where the South Vietnamese (the American side) organised their side of the war. The place where the Viet con and South Vietnamese freedom fighters sent their tanks crashing through the gates to finally defeat the American backed South Vietnamese and is now used as a place for government meetings etc. It was an interesting tour that showed us some of the secret passageways and the basements full of war paraphernalia, in offices that were pretty much left as they were when the Viet Con won the war in 1975.As well as this we went out of town to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels, which is one of the areas where the Viet Con had a network of tunnels to avoid detection from the Americans. It’s was great to see the innovative ways they set traps and decoys, as well as how they cooked and even managed to have schools and maternity wards in these tunnels, especially once we’d got to go in one. It was so tight and cramped and this was one they’d doubled in height for us tourists. Having experienced how cramped and hot the tunnels were it was amazing to think the network of tunnels went on for hundreds of kilometres and were continually being replaced and repaired after American carpet bombings. We found all of them extremely interesting and informative. They provided loads of information we didn’t know and I must say, it was great to see things from their perspective. It was incredibly one sided, but why not I say. I’m pretty sure the Americans didn’t give a balanced view during the war itself.Next up on our Vietnam adventure were the rellies. Suzanna’s mum Linda and sister, Carly. Well, the less said about that the better!! Not really, we had a great time. It was fab to see them after so long, even though the imagined running at each other for a hug at the airport didn’t materialise . This was due to some issues around visas. It turned out that Suzanna’s mum didn’t have one!! Oops. It wasn’t her fault, or Carly’s!!?? but some bloke somewhere in the world wide web. Anyway, it meant the greeting was an hour and a half after expected and was with a tearful Carly and no Mum. She was being “detained” until her visa was arranged, which took about 4 hours. Poor Linda was stuck in immigration while Suzanna and I “consoled” Carly at Le Pub in the centre of Ho Chi Minh. As you can imagine, when Linda finally got through customs, she was less than pleased. The rest of us though thought the whole things was quite funny by this stage and I’m pleased to say once we had taken Linda to the Go 2Bar for a couple of Saigon Greens, she felt the same way to. After the initial problem, we had a great couple of weeks. We spent a few days in the city before heading to Phu Quoc Island off the Southern tip of Vietnam. First up though was Suzanna’s Birthday. The family sent presents, which were opened over breakfast in our favourite Saigon café, Sozo’s. This was followed by a somewhat dodgy massage for the girls, where again they were conned out of more money that they expected to pay and a stroll around the posh part of town. Later that afternoon, I was in the room and Suzanna was in the other’s room performing a fashion show of her new clothes, when I got a knock at the door and there was the Manager and her daughter, who was about 5, and they had a cake for Suzanna . I’m ashamed to say it was after no prompting from me, but they’d noticed her DOB in her passport, had a cake made for her and then delivered it with the Managers daughter so she could sing Happy Birthday to Suzanna. It was totally unexpected and a real nice touch. So, after stuffing our faces with cake, we all put our glad rags on and hit the town. We had a nice meal and then went to a few bars and even a night club for a little bit of dancing. A good day all round was the general concensus. A couple of days later we were off to the island. We spent a week here relaxing, sunbathing, drinking various colours of cocktail, as well as doing a snorkelling trip. We liked the island, it was very relaxed and quiet. No real partying to be done, although we had a go on a few evenings., although due to the lack of other people due to the time of year, it usually ended up with us all playing pool, which was good fun. I just need to say something to Carly and Linda at this point. Suzanna has continued to practice and would now officially kick your butts should you wish to challenge on our return!!? The other reason for us not having to many cocktails was due to all the restaurants and bars being along the beach which was a challenge due to the sea condition. It was rough, is the best way to describe it and Linda can vouch for that, although no detail on that will be provided here! The other factor was no lighting along the beach, so when it came to going out we had to head out with our torch and watch out for rogue waves that would come the whole way up the narrow beach and soak us
Trying the tunnels out for ourselves
! An example of how strong the waves were is with one restaurant near us. When we first arrived we could walk past their wall on the edge of the beach and they had tables out the front. By the end of the week we had to walk behind their wall to get past the restaurant and they were putting sandbags out in front of their wall to protect said wall, as all the sand in front of it had been washed away! We survived though and enjoyed several stolls along the beach to various nice spots for lunch etc.So after a relaxing week on the Island we returned to Ho Chi Minh City. The plan was to take a trip to the Mekong Delta, but unfortunately, Carly picked up acute tonsillitis, which meant that trip was cancelled. It did mean that Carly got to visit the International SOS clinic and that wouldn’t be the last time our guests got to attend one of these places, but more on that later. Instead of the Mekong Delta, the girls went on a shopping trip. Now, I’m sure they would have gone anyway, but it was sold as something they would do instead of the Mekong trip. I can’t tell you exactly what went on, but I can tell you from first hand experience that they were very brave taking on the Market and the surrounding shops, as they are manic. The moment you step inside they are pawing you and shoving various products in your face to try and get you to buy. This is all done in a massive market with aisles that are no more than a metre wide with a new stall, either side, every 3 metres. Crazy and not somewhere any self respecting bloke could handle, so I settled for an afternoon in front of the telly watching the Moto GP. It’s safe to say they returned with armfuls of goodies and stories of battles with shop keepers. They seemed content though.
So it was, we said goodbye to the first set of rellies and we had a little over a week until the next set turned up
Tunnels not made for western sized men!
. We looked at various options for transport, but decided we wanted to do the Mekong Delta trip and then we would fly to Hanoi City in the north to meet up with my parents. We picked a 2 day trip to the Mekong and it was great. It gave us loads of variety, a night in a decent hotel and 3 meals, all for $25 dollars each!! What we really loved about it though was that it showed us the workings of the Mekong. We got to do several different types of boat trip, see how, yummy, coconut candy is made, see a local dance troupe perform, see how rice paper is manufactured, as well as visiting a floating market that was actually for the locals and not just there for us tourists. We also got to visit a bee farm (no, there isn’t anything different about making honey in Vietnam), try some rice wine, that knocks tequila off the top of the worst drinks list and spend several hours chugging up and down the Mekong river watching the locals go about their business. It was a great trip and set a standard that was hard to beat. Having said that we would try hard to top it.Next up was Hanoi. Hopefully I got across to you how crazy Ho Chi Minh City was? Well, Hanoi had the same amount of craziness, but they put it into a city centre that has streets the width of those in Wokingham (that’s not very wide for those of you that don’t know Wokingham very well). Even though Suzanna and I felt comfortable with the whole craziness thing, it took a couple of days to get used to Hanoi and as for my parents, well, my Dad was like a kid in a candy shop, but my Mum, and I’m sure she won’t won’t mind me saying, was overwhelmed by the whole experience. It’s no surprise on reflection, as you can’t go from some sleepy village in Devon to Hanoi in a minute, and to her credit, by the end of their trip my Mum was ambling across the road like a local
Suzanna and her little b day friend
. First impressions though were very much, OMG!!! So, having got our bearings and settled in we welcomed the next set of relies, my Parents. They’re in their late sixties and early seventies and have never been to Asia before. I know that overall they loved it, but there were certainly some times along the way when Bishops Nympton seemed a very long way away. We packed a lot into their 2 weeks though and I’ll try not to ramble on to much when telling you. We spent a few days getting know Hanoi. We visited the Perfume Pagoda, (Pagoda is a temple) separate to my parents. It was another great trip. We were rowed up the river passed loads of limestone kasts, before walking up, for 45 minutes, to see a lovely pagoda in a cave. We also went to see the Woman’s museum, which focused on the role of women in the war. Then we tried to visit the museum of Ethnology, which focuses on indiginous tribes in Vietnam, but, and this is where we get to visit another International SOS centre, my mum took a “funny turn”. Not the type that involves slap stick comedy or a stand up routine, but a turn that involves us asking for an ambulance only to be told they don’t have them and then getting a taxi to the SOS centre. It sounds all very dramatic and it was for a while, but it all turned out well and it seems my mum was suffering from something many would say I havn’t inherited from her, that is, over doing it, working to hard and not drinking enough, which led to exhaustion. It was nothing that the now FAB, International SOS couldn’t fix
Suzanna's cake - Wrong date but nevermind!
. So revitalised, we were off on our first trip out of Hanoi. A 3 night, 2 day trip to Sapa, a town in the mountains with beautiful scenery, good trekking and, as it turned out, really annoying local tribes people that would leave a sour taste in mine and Suzanna’s mouths (metaphorically speaking). But, having wetted your appetite for more, I’m going to leave it there for now and get this part of the Vietnam blog out to you, while I continue slaving away on the next part over a cold beer in a hot country.Take care everyone and we’ll see you very very soon. Love to you all
Tons and Suzanna
xx.
