Good Morning Vietnam!

Good Morning Vietnam! Despite what many of you may think traveling can be hard work – planes to catch, photos to take, a bed to find, blogs to write etc. It’s a tough life on the road! It can be quite tiring especially when you get up at dawns crack and walk for hours and hours. In Vietnam we had lots of early mornings and as those who are close to us know, neither of us are morning people but we still ended the day and in fact this leg of the trip with big smiles on our faces and fond memories.  

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), or Saigon, was our first stop and it surprised us in many ways and gave us a good idea of what was to come in Vietnam. The biggest challenge was crossing the road. There is absolute chaos but some how it is completely systematic to the locals. Picture this – an intersection fed by 6 roads all with two way traffic, now remove the traffic lights you automatically added, then the pedestrian crossings and cars, and now add in as many motorbikes as you can fit in your picture and now double that. With the fear of being run over Scott held Sara’s hand to cross the road just to ensure she wasn’t left on the other side (such a gentleman!). As always one of our first stops was to one of the biggest markets in the city, Ben Thanh Market. We pulled up a pew and dug our chopsticks into fresh and fragrant phos, buns and fresh spring rolls. This was Vietnam food at its fresh, fragrant best! (it was un-pho-gettable, haha get it? A Sara joke!) A must do for anyone in HCMC is the War Museum which had many displays on the American-Vietnam War with some heart wrenching photograph exhibits. We followed this up to a visit to the Chu Chi Tunnels where we crouched/walked through some modified western sized tunneling used in the war. With our battered bodies a little tight and sore we decided that a $7 hour and half full body massage was required. What an experience! Maybe we should have known better but you are literally straddling a very thin line to more than a massage ;-)  

 Yummy food at the markets

 

 A conical hat in progress

The biggest highlight of Vietnam for us was most definitely a 3 day bike tour around the Mekong Delta. We were joined on the trip by a family of four from Portland in Victoria. Sara’s biking skills have dramatically increased this year with not a single fall off the narrow path; in fact it was the mother of the family that fell 1 meter into a barbed wire ditch. This trip got us into the thick of the local community and for the first 2 days we didn't see another tourist. As part of our biking adventure we rode through durian and rambutan fruit orchards, purchasing the odd kilogram for cents. As we cycled along the river we were assailed by local children screaming “hello” “hello” “how are you?” without any expectations. Needing a sugar hit we stopped in at a local coconut candy and pop-rice factory and also saw a dozen or so women making rice paper over burning woks. We were also fortunate enough to enjoy a meal with a local family in their home. By home it was a very small wooden framed house with a mud floor with no sign of running water or an operational bathroom. It is moments like these that give you a real appreciation of the great life we live back home. Our local interaction didn’t stop there, with the local snake man befriending Scott and feeding him snake rice wine while showing him pictures of their hero Ho Chi Minh. The last day was a trip to the Cai-Rang floating markets where the locals boats are close to sinking with kilos and kilos of produce piled on. With our legs burning and a 100km of cycling under our belts we went back to HCMC before moving on.  
 

Roadside cock fight

 

Local fruit vendor selling rambutan

 

Rice paper factory

 

Riding through a banana plantation looking cool
  

 

Local transport in the Mekong

 

Comparing smiles with a local 

(thanks mum and dad for all the dental work!)

Fruit vendor at the floating market

Scott's best mate - the Snake Man

In Hoi An we did the compulsory tourist circuit which is to do a cooking class, eat as much as you can at Cargo Bar and get a few tailor made items. Without going into too much detail both of us left Hoi An with more than a few extra kilograms in our backpacks and an outfit for any occasion. Our cooking class was highly enjoyable and despite our terrible singing voices, our teacher insisted that we sing “sprinkle sprinkle little star” every time we put a dash of sugar into our dishes, which in Vietnamese cuisine is quite often. By the end of it we had very full and satisfied bellies along with a few tasty Vietnamese dishes up our sleeves. A short drive out of town is the My Son Cham Ruins which are compared to the Angkor Wat, so we felt it obligatory to check it out. Slightly disappointed by this day trip and what we saw, we were happy to be back in the charming riverside town and enjoying the French inspired bakery treats from Cargo Bar that night. We haven’t mentioned it yet, but throughout our time in Vietnam we rarely had a sunny day, but very happily missed both the flooding in the Mekong region and typhoon in the North.

 

Hoi An town and river

Crispy Vietnamese pancake

My Son Ruins actually looking pretty impressive

 Cooking up a storm with big smiles 

Next we jumped on a bus to Hue. This cute little town is shadowed by its famous Citadel. Wanting to get the most out of our full single day we jumped on a tour bus with a very enthusiastic guide who told us maybe too much information. As part of the day we also visited three unique tombs in the area (Ming Mang, Khai Dinh and Tuc Duc) and understood why some Emperors were loved and hated, mostly determined by the size and glamour of their tomb. Of course there was a stop at the very grand Citadel. After a ride down the Perfume River on a “dragon” boat, we jumped on a sleeper train to Hanoi.  

 

 A cool dragon at the tombs

Rain rain go away!...

Hanoi was different to HCMC, and possibly more relaxed despite it being the capital. We unfortunately missed out on seeing the body of Ho Chi Minh in the flesh as he was being restored in Russia at the time; but it meant that we got the opportunity to go to the very informative Women’s Museum. We cannot resist a good feed and especially when it’s for a good cause, so we dropped by the KOTO café which educates and employees disadvantaged youths. It is a small world, and you realize how small it is when you can meet friends (Lonie and Pete) by sheer coincidence in another city. We had a lovely catch up and enjoyed a traditional pho together. For anyone travelling to Hanoi, unless you have a night to kill avoid the water puppet show which is not meant to be a comedy but somehow we found it hilarious as the right puppet was continuously out of time and appeared drunk. From Hanoi we took a few long day trips out to spectacular natural sights. The first was Tam Coc, which is known as the Ha Long Bay on land. Our rower managed to get us all the ways down the Ngo Dong River using her feet instead of hands to power the oars. The landscape was magnificent with jagged mountains stretching towards the sky and three long low caves. The second was, of course, Ha Long Bay which was just as spectacular as Tam Coc but instead the limestone karsts were studding the dark green ocean. Finally, you cannot leave Hanoi without a good session of bargaining!  
 

Row row row your boat

Tam Coc vista

Drinks with Lonie and Pete

 

Ha Long Bay 

More smiles at Ha Long Bay

We arrived in the mountain village of Sapa after an extraordinary day. We had woken up before the sun rose to catch a 10 hour train from Hanoi. It was the most disgusting train we have ever been on and there is no exaggeration when we say that the carriage had not been cleaned in years and there was a terrible green brown gray scum built up on every surface. Eager for a shower we arrived at the train station to find that we were at the whim of the local taxi gang who needed to drive us 1 hour up the mountain. We have been lucky to avoid these situations in the past. With not much more than a tiny Lonely Planet map we managed to find our hotel in the dark and heavy fog. After a goodnights sleep and a long hot shower, to rid of all the train germs, we made the most of this little mountain village which has kept so much of the traditional culture. The scenery was nothing short of stunning with the rice terraces framing the lush green mountains. We had picked a beautiful destination to finish our Vietnam leg.  

Sapa rice terraces

And so we are another country down and a little closer to home, but very excited about the Radventures still to come.  

Until next time,
Scotty and Sara