We caught our mini-bus at the station, and headed straight for Hoi An, another 45 min. ride. This city is all about tailors; people come from all over the world to have suits, dresses, shirts, overcoats, shoes, etc. tailored at any of the (reportedly) 300 shops, at perhaps 10-20% what they would cost at home. The world famous Yaly’s told us they have 300 tailors, themselves. Well, two of our group took full advantage of this, ordering up suits, overcoats and shirts Friday afternoon. They were all done Saturday afternoon, with several fittings in between. The rest of us wandered around this very relaxing town with hundreds of tiny shops. The old town has many old temples and assembly halls, some of which we were able to access even without buying the “high priced” admission tickets (90,000 Dong-$4.50) for five admittances. Eventually they all look the same anyways (“same, same, but different” is the most common expression in SE Asia). We could have rented bicycles for $0.75/day or motorbikes for $3/day but chose to walk. With the heat, the walking was at a very slow pace.

Yesterday, three of us (the three not needing repeated clothes fittings) went on an excellent day trip to My Son ruins, apparently a junior version of Ankor Wat in Cambodia, and less restored. The ruins deterioration from natural causes was significantly aided by American bombs, as they suspected the Viet Cong were hiding in the temples. The hour ride there was by bus, and it was great to get into the countryside, watch the farmers harvesting rice, and see all the rice being dried over tarps wherever there was a flat area (including taking up one lane of the highway in some places). My Son is in a beautiful jungle setting, as you’ll see from the photos (if and when I get them uploaded). It is one of the main remnants of the Cham civilization which inhabited the central part of Vietnam for over a millenium before being gradually pushed out by the Viets from the north. The Cham were Hindu, having come originally from India. It was a wonderful occasion to relax, learn from our excellent guide, and experience nature. Returning to Hoi An, we took a boat trip for the last half, which included a meal. Altogether the bus ride, guide, boat trip and meal cost us $6.00 (plus $3.00 admission to the ruins.) Well worth it! After returning, I relaxed for a while, spent some more time wandering the shops–and buying a few things, before meeting the group for dinner together.

Sunday morning, we had only a couple of hours before catching a private bus to Hue. I started this blog, but then the power went out in the hotel, so am now finishing on Monday. Stopped at Marble Mtn, where they had an amazing cave network with religious icons and carvings everywhere. The trip was very enjoyable, as we finally got to see more of the Vietnam countryside. Traversing one pass, we went through a tunnel approx. 10 km. long.

Hue (pronounced “whey”) is the ancient capital of the empire, and so has within it the ancient walled city, and within that, protected by moat and walls, the citadel, or royal headquarters. It is now a major tourist attraction and two of us chose to explore it yesterday afternoon, hoping to catch a boat ride to some other ruins–tombs of the kings–this morning. But the schedule didn’t allow us to take a regulalry scheduled trip and the private tour was too costly, so I’m just catching up on blogging, journalling, etc, and going to the market later. We leave this afternoon for the overnight train to Hanoi.

Last night, three of us went to a “cultural event” on a dragon boat on the river. The lovely Vietnamese women in their galmorous outfits, provided the strange vocal music of the imperial era, accompanied by three musicians playing strange stringed instruments. All in all, the ancient traditions, both religious and otherwise, remind me a lot of the kinds of things we read about in the Old Testament.

Still hot, but maybe a little more bearable than earlier–or I’m just getting used to it.

Other than getting clothes made, eating at the Cargo Club and going to souvenir shops, we ventured out of town and visited the My Son temples (pronounced “me son”) and the beach. The My Son temples were discovered by French some time ago. The scenery was gorgeous, but to be honest it was too hot to be interested in what they meant.. plus I’ve seen a million temples now and after Central America, I don’t mind if I don’t see another one for a while. The beach was really nice too, though Julia Black disappeared and was temporarily replaced by Julia Pink which turned into Julia slightly Brown. I suppose I can’t complain.

Hoi An is super hot during the day so everything comes alive (or more so) at night. The lanterns light up and candles float down the river creating a really pretty picture. You’ll find more street restaurants with the owners screaming at you to eat there, local artists, and even more traffic than usual. More beggars come out at night too. It’s hard to believe some of these people survive on people taking their pictures. So when you go to a developing country, give them a donation amigos!

By this stage of our trip, Cameron has taken to eating two meals at lunch and dinner as well as dessert. He is really annoying to sit next to at the dinner table, in a taxi, or on a plane because he simply the biggest boom boom I know. That’s right Tanz, you’ve been overtaken. Also, everyone other than the best quarter of the family (me) has been sick.. I find this hilarious as they tried so hard not to be sick by taking precautions such as not brushing teeth with the local water which I do every day. I do sympathise though. Mum can now cross the streets without holding Dad’s hand, and I can find my way back to the hotel without getting lost. This is a big deal.

Anyway, after five nights in Hoi An, we took a taxi for 30 minutes to Denang and boarded the plane to Hanoi. We landed in Hanoi pretty late, so we walked around to find some dinner and went to bed. The next morning we woke up really early to go to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is dotted with hundreds of rocks rising from the green water, in other words- stunning! I think a James Bond movie could have been filmed here too, but I could be wrong. When we got to the boat, they took us on a tour to a floating village, taught us how to cook spring rolls and went for a swim. The next day we went on a tour to the “Amazing Cave”. It’s such a pity they haven’t preserved this cave well, but nevertheless it was still pretty nice. The food on this boat was probably just as amazing as the cave by the way.

That afternoon, we headed back to Hanoi. I was an idiot and plucked out an ingrown hair causing my leg to swell ridiculously. As you can imagine, it was a massive pain walking around for ages and getting lost (thanks to Dad’s directions this time) only to find a restaurant that was too expensive to eat at, turning around and heading back to the hotel. At least it was nowhere near as hot as Hoi An or Ho Chi Minh.

This morning we got up nice and early again to fly to Kuala Lumpur, which is where we are now. In about half an hour we’ll be boarding the 9 hour flight back home. It’s definitely been and interesting, but fun trip with the family!

I don’t think I’ll be making another journey until January, so until then zài jiàn, au revoir, and buenos noches bitchaz!

In the morning, I just wandered around Hanoi, booked a trip to Halong for two days and night train ride to Da Nang to follow. Hanoi is pretty dirty, hazy, buzzing with scooters, and oddly French here and there. I was also blown away by the number of white people I ran into.

In the late morning, I went off to a water puppet show. A very traditional Vietnamese show performed in a waist deep pool. The puppeteers are hidden behind a curtain and there’s a traditional orchestra that accompanies the show.

After the water puppet show, went and got my Cambodian visa from their consulate. However, it took forever to find the place. Whenever I tried to get some help, the language barrier kicked in pretty hard. Everyone just pointed me to the nearest bathroom. After touring every bathroom in Hanoi, I managed to find the bathroom of the Cambodian consulate and got my visa in 20 minutes. What a joke. Walk in, give a guy who’s office has bureaucratic paper everywhere some arbitrary cathedral in hanoiamount of money that he could have just made up right on the spot and he puts a visa in your passport. I had heard from many Internet comments that you needed to get the visa beforehand if you were entering Vietnam by boat from the Mekong delta… But, it turns out you can just get it on arrival.

For lunch I got pho ba, a bowl of rice and bia hoi (beer that restaurants locally make for the day). It’s amazing how gestures and pointing can get you by.

Met up with an Australian young couple later that day who had been traveling in Cambodia and Vietnam for the past two weeks. I wandered around the city a bit more with them and they had some great stories. They gave me the number to a Vietnamese lady in Nha Trang who made some great custom made suits, but unfortunately I never went to Nha Trang. They also talked about certain kids on the Tonle Sap river in Cambodia will inter tube up to you from their water village carrying snakes. After you decide to take a picture because of how awesome that looks, they ask you to pay them a dollar. Apparently they can ask for a dollar in a number of languages. Tour guides tell you not to pay them though, because if they can make money from that all day, they won’t go to school.

The next day I got up to venture out to Halong Bay. Little did I know, it was the booze cruise of the century. When you’re on a junk ship with 90% Australians and a tour guide that’s chain smoking and drinking a beer at noon when he welcomes you, you can’t expect anything other than your liver to have a panic attack. We went kayaking around the bay, hiking through a cave and then back to the boat for the afternoon. Pretty amazing views of limestone rocks coming out of the ocean like the back of a dragon (hence ha LONG [龙] bay, long means dragon in Chinese and Vietnamese). Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy the two days I was there. Came back to the boat, had some dinner, watched some Australians drink each other under the table and called it a night.

The next day we cruised back to the shore and then to Hanoi.

I took an overnight train to Da Nang, which was delayed by five hours and got in about 3 pm. Not the nicest train in the world, and I definitely held my pack like a teddy bear throughout the night. One of my friends got his wallet and passport stolen when he was traveling around SE Asia, so I was a little paranoid.

I was rushed off to Hoi An on a bus when I got in. When I got to the bus station the man tried to tell me the bus ride cost 50,000 dong while his friend stood in front of the sign. I just got on the bus and pointed to a 10,000 dong bill after seeing the sign. He then pointed off the bus. As we were leaving, this exchange went back and forth for a while, and he secretly took 10,000 bills from the rest of the customers. He placed 50,000 in a few of their hands and made sure that I watched the transactions. Then he kind of violently suggested I get off the bus and I just gave him 50,000 dong instead. The bus violently erupted in laughter, and it was clear no one wanted to help me.

I then spent the next hour listening to a woman vomit right behind me, with virtually no leg room and my body being forced into a shrugging fetal position. The smell was grotesque and the bus driver drove like a bat out of hell, straight down the middle of the road. Some of the passengers would lean out of the doors onto the road to shoe away the mopeds that looked like a school of fish.

Finally, after we got in, I wandered around Hoi An for several hours. Hoi An is FLOODED with foreigners. The town is geared mostly towards selling kitsch, custom tailored suits and silk. The streets are really comfortable to walk around and most shops light up with a welcoming glow.

Next morning, I awoke for a 7 am tour out to My Son. The temples of My Son are ancient ruins from the Champa people. Some have survived since the 4th Century and others have fallen or need scaffolding. They’re Hindu ruins that were partially bombed during the war, because some Vietcong had gone off into there.

The ruins encompass about 2 square kilometers and are made of brick and sandstone. A mix of sugar cane and honey holds the bricks together. They’re located in a secluded valley and surrounded by the jungle filled rolling hills. The ruins were used for prayer and tombs, not for living in. They were mostly dedicated to worship Shiva and all the ruling kings of Champa people from the 4th to 14th century are buried there.

That afternoon, I got back to Da Nang via car arranged from the hotel (still pretty cheap and vomit free) and went by plane to Ho Chi Minh.

Street sellers sell corn drinks and donuts and the market is alive with every food type imaginable; squashed mangled pigs heads to metre long cucumbers! It is a gorgeous place…. That is until the tourists arrive and the town turns into one huge bustling sales pitch! ‘hey mister, you look in my shop, you buy suit’! That is when this place becomes dangerous…

One pair of shoes turns into three and the idea of designing your own tailor made dress is just too tempting! We told ourselves we would be sensible, just a suit for rikki (that he had been planning on getting for ages) and just a dress for me. But of course the suit needed a shirt, a tie, and extra shirt and then you can’t try on the suit without shoes! We would promise ourselves each evening that we wouldn’t buy anymore but by breakfast the next morning we would find ourselves being measured up for something else! We have been so strict to our budget up until now but having a £520 pair of louis vuitton shoes replicated for you for £12 is too hard to turn down! And to be fair we spent much less than most, most of the girls we met were buying an average of 10 dresses each, I stopped at 3!

Our first few days here followed the same general pattern; shopping in the morning followed by eating lunch on the river front or drinking fruit shakes by the market. The town is so picturesque and the old buildings are really pretty, it’s so easy to sit and watch the world go by for hours.

After a couple of days, we were worried about spending too much money so we hired out bikes and cycled to the beach to get away from the shops. But here we found another addiction in the form of lazy days spent sleeping on the beach! We loved it so much we stayed an extra 2 days; we would get up, have pineapple for breakfast, cycle a pretty little route to the beach (a route that would be relaxing but for some reason we would turn into a race, always feeling smug and satisfied as we whizzed past other westerners!), buy a cheese and cucumber baguette and then sleep for the afternoon on the warm sand. Heavenly! The beach itself was lovely, nothing too spectacular but really quiet and relaxing with some fun waves to play in. We could have stayed for longer but were worried about our time in Vietnam running out, so we reluctantly booked our bus to Hue.

Apart from a display of coloured photos and banners with images of Vietnam, the programme exhibited traditional musical instruments, embroideries, handicraft items, books and publications promoting the country’s tourism and cuisine, and screened videos featuring the land and culture of Vietnam.

Addressing a workshop on Vietnam, held within the framework of the programme, Vietnamese Ambassador to Denmark Vu Van Luu highlighted Vietnam’s achievements on socio-economic development and external affairs in 2010, and the success of the 11th National Party Congress in January.
(Source: VNA)

Vietravel said visitors booking domestic and outbound tours during Tet increased 40% over last year. Notably, its office on 190 Pasteur, in HCMC welcomed a record 2,300 people on the second day of Tet.

The nation’s leading Saigontourist offered 130 tours for 10,000 visitors, including overseas Vietnamese returning home to enjoy the Tet holiday. It also received over 9,000 foreigners on cruises. The number of Saigontourist visitors increased nearly 20% over last year’s period.

Meanwhile, the number of tourists to Hue over the holiday increased sharply, reaching about 50,000, some 20,000 more than last year.

From the first to third day of Tet, Hanoi welcomed over 1,000 visitors through its Noi Bai International Airport, most of them from European countries and overseas Vietnamese.

Other well-known cites such as Danang, Nha Trang, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Quang Ninh are expected to attract a large number of domestic tourists for the many traditional festivals held in the spring.

(Source: VOV)

One thing we all enjoyed was the shopping in Hoi An. It is a gorgeous little town with attractive narrow streets which lead down to the river. The streets are full of cafes, restaurants and most importantly, shops making custom made clothes and shoes. Apparently there are over 200 tailors shops crammed into the small town making unbelievably cheap suits, dresses and anything else you may desire. You would think all these shops would spoil the look of the place but somehow they seem to blend in with the architecture.

We spent a whole afternoon looking around the shops and I think everyone ended up buying something. Dima and Verbal bought themselves a fake designer watch each. They spent at least an hour and a half deciding which style and colour they wanted. The woman in the shop had to keep leaving to get different watches from another shop to meet their demands. By the end of it she was so annoyed with them that she ended up smashing the glass cabinet as she slammed the door shut!

Dima has asked me to comment on how cheap the beer is in Vietnam. We found a place in Hoi An down near the river that sold beer for 3000 Dong, that is 10 English pence. They may as well give it away for free! I don’t really like beer but it was actually really nice.

There are things to do other than shop and drink cheap beer in Hoi An. On the second day we booked a trip to My Son which are remains of the ancient Cham empire and a Unesco World Heritage site. They date back to the 4th Century and are pretty impressive.

They would be even more impressive if the Americans hadn’t bombed them during the war. You can still see the evidence of this and there are several large bomb holes around the site, which now just look like grassy craters. We got a boat back to Hoi An and then cycled to the nearby beach in the afternoon. It had been a scorching hot day so it was nice to cool off in the sea and then drink beers on the beach as the sun went down.

We found a brilliant little restaurant in Hoi An and we ended up eating there all three nights because it was so good. Foolishly we never made a note of the name. The place itself was nothing to look at, and when we asked where the toilet was we were just directed to the field at the back of the kitchen. That didn’t matter because the food was amazing, the staff were really friendly and welcoming and it was full of locals which is always a good sign. They found out that it was coming up to my birthday and told us to come back on the 16th and they would make me a cake.

We went along and sure enough there was a cake and some flowers waiting for me. Everyone in the restaurant sang happy birthday to me. It was quite painful to listen to but it’s the thought that counts! I had a great birthday night out with everyone but sadly we had to say goodbye to them all over the next two days and we were back to travelling solo again.

Next stop for us was Mui Ne which is on the coast. We were looking forward to relaxing on the beach for a few days before moving on to the busy and noisy Ho Chi Minh City. The main beach in town has lots of posh resorts and is full of Russian tourists. We decided to hire a scooter and escape the crowds so took off to find a more secluded beach. It didn’t take long to find an empty stretch of sand so we parked up and went for a swim. Dima decided to take it one step further and take advantage of an empty beach in the middle of the day by going skinny dipping! He was like an excited child running into the sea, it was very funny to watch. We do have photographic evidence but I won’t subject you to Dima’s skinny white ass!

After the beach we went to find the sand dunes which are one of the ‘sights’ in Mui Ne. As you arrive, loads of kids surround you trying to sell plastic sheets to slide down the dunes on. The dunes really didn’t look big enough for this so we decided not to bother. The kids are clever though and follow you as you walk saying they will only leave you alone if you rent a sheet from them. We didn’t mind the company so we let them come along! We asked one of them to show us how he slides down the dunes. He set off but only got about two meters before stopping so we weren’t overly impressed and knew we had made the right decision. As we walked back the kids started to get annoyed and I’m pretty sure they were shouting obscenities at us in Vietnamese!

Our next and final stop in Vietnam was the fabulous Ho Chi Minh City, although most of the locals still called it Saigon. It was one of those cities that you instantly know you are going to like. It has a similar feel to Hanoi but on a much larger and grander scale. The traffic is crazy. HCMC has a population of around 10 million and has over 5 million bikes whizzing around. We decided against hiring a scooter because it is likely we would have been killed! The first day we did a walking tour of the city but it started to rain so we jumped into a couple of cyclos to take us around and then back to our hostel. The drivers are fearless and think nothing of positioning you directly in front of a stream of oncoming traffic or weaving in and out of the bikes and cars as they cycle along. You can’t help but feel slightly exposed and vulnerable when travelling amongst the sea of traffic. Obviously they know what they are doing and we made it back alive. It was well worth doing and a great way to see the city.

We booked a few trips to explore the surrounding area. The first one was to the Cu Chi Tunnels which were created and used by the Viet Cong during the war. It was unbelievable to see how small the tunnels were and even more amazing that the soldiers spent days, weeks and even months underground in such confined spaces. We were able to go down into a section of the tunnels to experience it for ourselves.

They were tiny and we only managed to crawl a few meters before escaping out of the first exit. Apparently the tunnels have actually been made bigger for tourists so I can’t even imagine what it must have been like in reality. We were also shown some of the traps used by the Viet Cong. They were pretty brutal and would have caused some painful injuries. There is also a shooting range at the tunnels, where you can shoot various guns from the war. Dima shot two rounds of an AK47 and loved it. After the tunnels we stopped off at the War Remnants Museum which was both fascinating and disturbing. My knowledge of the Vietnam War (or the American War as they call it in Vietnam) is limited, but having seen the information and pictures at the museum I just cannot comprehend how and why the war ever started.

Our Clothes still on for now!next trip was to the Mekong Delta which basically involved getting on and off various shapes and sizes of boat all day! It wasn’t the best tour and it was a bit rushed because we only had one day but it was nice to get out of the city and see the networks of rivers, canals and streams that make up the region. We also got to try the snake wine that we keep seeing everywhere. It looks disgusting in the glass jar with all the dead snakes coiled up but it actually tasted ok. I don’t think I will be rushing out and buying some but it was good to try.

Christmas was quickly approaching and we had both agreed we didn’t want to be travelling on Christmas day so we booked our bus to Cambodia for the 24th and said a sad farewell to Vietnam. We both loved Vietnam and could easily have stayed longer. It is such a fascinating place to visit and the people both in the north and south are unbelievably friendly and accommodating. The food is amazing, the beer is stupidly cheap and the accommodation is really good value for money. Definitely one of my favourite places so far.

today Lasse and i decided to look for the motorcycle rental place we sawon the internet and with address in hand and map we headed out. we could not find the place at all and two very giggly vietnamese girls we met on the street gave us directions that sent us off in a completely different direction and we found nothing. shortly after that they came riding by on a bicycle and apologized and said they had given us the wrong direction and told us where to go instead.this time i was more skeptical and sure enough we ended up up no where. i think they actually didnt know where the business was but just wanted to be helpful and were curious to talk to us.
eventually, we turned to head back down a side street and were approached by a man who has a motorcycle rental business. he did not speak english so he phoned his brother to come by and we were able to explain what we wanted. then the brother phoned his friend who works for a motorcycle touring company and we arranged to have him provide bikes and be our guide. all this to say that the business owner, the brother who interpreted and the tour guide all are making money out of today. that’s how things work here. everyone in the link makes a bit of money. the guide is picking us up tomorrow and we’re heading to the ho chi mihn trail a(off road trail)used to transport weapons south during the vietnamwar. we will be riding, staying with local families and learning about local cultures, and will do a hike and overnight stay in a jungle. the guide has all the connections and places to stay lined up and its great because its all “off the beaten track”. Lasse has been told he will be given a gun while in the jungle in case he has to shoot an attacking TIGER! (hope that target practice he’s been doing will pay off if needed)
So we’re off on our Honda 125cc bikes tomorrow for the next 8 days!
Yippee!!

The local authorities are also offering a 50 percent discount on entrance fee to students and soldiers.

Town authorities are also further considering reducing the entry fee for diplomatic delegations, scholars and researchers.

Hoi An is an ancient town located in the central province of Quang Nam and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants.

The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lam Ap Pho (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth.

Hoi An was an important trading centre in Vietnam in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled.

During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the “Japanese Bridge”(16th-17th century). The Chua Cau bridge is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.

In 1999, Hoi An was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with buildings that display a unique blend of local and foreign influences.

Source: VietnamNet

Many luxury and deluxe hotels and resort newly built make Hoi An an ideal place for relaxation: