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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Good Morning Vietnam!
After leaving dirty smelly Phnom Penh bright and really bloody early, we headed for Vietnam. I'm actually used to the honking now, and am getting pretty good at sleeping straight through the noise of all these horny motorists! The border crossing was pretty uneventful, though a bit more thorough than the Thai-Cambodia one - this time we had to take all our stuff off the buses and put our bags through x-ray machines before they were allowed back on the bus.
After crossing the river by ferry (very weird looking through the bus windows and seeing water) and then what seemed like forever driving through Ho Chi Minh City (that city sprawls out for miles) we finally jumped off the bus, and handed our luggage to two poor cyclo drivers to pedal to our hotel - their cyclos were so overloaded they couldn't actually see over the pile of bags and had to crane their heads around the piles - we were all convinced that we were going to hear a screech and crash and see our bags (oh, and the cyclo drivers) strewn out all over the road - it still amazes me that they pedal around at normal bike pace through the crazy SE Asian traffic!
Once we got to our hotel and checked in (complete with intact luggage), a few of us headed to the Ben Thanh markets to check out this amazing shopping we'd all heard about. Since it was Sarah's last night and she'd brought an extra bag for her shopping, she was good to go, but ended up being a bit disappointed - we were on the hunt for fake Haviannas (thongs) but couldn't find any... Though there were lots of grabby Vietnamese women trying to sell t-shirts, genuinely fake handbags and wallets (they were pretty cool - wish I'd bought one now), and other souvenirs and bits and pieces. I bought a couple of Lancome moisturisers for about $5.50 each (normally about $60 at home), but before I could find out whether they were legitimate or whether they'd melt my skin off, I managed to leave one in a cafe - genius...
We ran into Sam, my roommate from the Thail and tour while at the markets, and once again her group doesn't sound the greatest. But it turns out she's heading to Laos after she finishes Vietnam so we might meet up then. The walk back was like playing Frogger (remember the 80s computer game about crossing the road?), dodging motorbikes, cars, and the odd bicycle. I get the feeling the phrase "Hello Motorbike" is one that we'll be hearing a lot of while we're in this country. I can't believe that the guys lounging around in bare feet on their motorbikes (some of them actually lie down and sleep on the seat) are considered to be employed, just because they yell out to tourists occasionally. Guess it makes the census results look good...
That night, the last supper with the Cambodia crew - only four of us are continuing on for the Vietnam leg of the tour, although quite a few are doing Vietnam on their own, so we'll probably run into them around the traps. Our guide, Haing, actually seemed upset that the tour was. over - we're just so loveable...We're starting to notice a bit of a theme around the backpacker haunts - pub graffiti! Half the places we go are covered with wall to wall messages and comments from other travellers! I've seen a few good ones and I'm getting a bit of a collection of photos of them all. A few drinks and a few hugs goodbye later (though we all ran into each other around checkout time the next morning anyway), it was back to the hotel ready for departure day (for some) and a free day for others.
I had quite liked our room when I first arrived at the hotel, since it was a decent size and it opened out on to the street. At 5am when a gong started going off, my fondness for the view started to run low... Then when the marching band started up (yes, a marching band - of all the cliched things to be woken up by!) I was wishing we'd been allocated one of the tiny, windowless shoebox rooms that some of the others had been given... Good morning Vietnam...
This was departure day for the tour, but for those of us continuing on the Vietnam leg of Indochina unplugged it meant we had a free day to kill before our new group meeting at 6pm. We decided we were sufficiently cultured and edumacated for the time being, and decided a nice brainless day of throwing ourselves down waterslides was in order. So Jen, Georgina, Tom and I got greased up and bikini-fied and headed to Dam Sen water park - kind of similar to Adventure World, except with better slides! One of them didn't spitus out into a pool, but into a big bowl with a hole in the bottom, so afte ettig tothe bottom, you'd spin around a while before going down the plughole into the pool at the bottom - I wonder if you'd spin in the other direction if they had this ride in the southern hemisphere...?
So after cooling off and being sufficiently violated by our bikini bottoms on the speed slide, and giving ourselves shoulder and neck injuries on the flying fox, we decided to check out the rest of the park. Actually not a lot to see, and very unimpressed with the way they kept their animals. The elephants they used for rides were kept ina concrete enclosure chained to the floor by one ankle, barely able to walk more than a metre in any direction, the monkeys looked bored stupid in their bare enclosure, and the orang utan was staring out at us from behind the bars of a very small, separate cage - not impressed, very different standards over here. The elephants didn't look nearly as happy or healthy as the ones in Thailand.
We arrived back at the hotel in time for a quick shower and change before metig the new group and leader. Ialso met my new roommate Fleur, who like me, had been rudely informed at 11:30 that morning that she would be changing rooms. I got my wish anyway - our new room was one of the little dark shoeboxes! It was also time to say godby to my fellow Aussie, Sarah, who had been on both the Thailand and Cambodia tours. She was heading home with suitcases ull of presents for family (and we had to check that she didn't have any Cambodian orphans stuffed in there as well).
The new group was a bit of a change to the last one. On this tour i was mostly Aussies - my Gotye shirt was immediately recognised and appreciated after two weeks of poms with no idea who he was - yay! There was Sam and Stacey, a married couple who were celebrating their third anniversary during our trip, but still acted like newlyweds (aww...), Jo and Sarh, a mother and daughter from NSW, Brigitte from Melbourne, Pat from Melbourne, Liz from Tassie, my roommate Fleur, and us Cambodia leftovers.
Our tour leader, Huy seemed like a bit of a ladies man right from the start, asking all the girls whether they had boyfriends, and immediately teaching us a new phrase - "noodle soup". When you're married, you have rice every night, so sometimes you get bored and order noodle soup instead - so, having noodle soup means getting a bit on the side. Interesting... it came to be a phrase we used a lot on this trip, especially in relation to Huy!
I did say earlier that Intepid seems ohave a a few favourite places that they take ther groups - we found ourselves having our Vietnam-getting-to-know-you dinner in the sameplace we'd had our Cambodia last supper - the waiter even recognised some of us too! Thenafter dinne it was back to the same bar, complete with spiral staircase and graffitti'd walls. But we didn't make it a late one, early to bed like good boys and girls.
The next day was a bit of a cultural and educational one, a massive full-on day! We started off at the Cu Chi tunnels, which the Vietnamese used to hide from US troops during te war. It still amazes me - despie some of the things I've seen on this trip - the things that human beings can not just survive, but completely kick arse at. Tunnels, underground bunkers, wells, hospitals, almost like little villages, all underground. They even had ventilation holes which looked like termite mounds on the surface. A few people had a go at going down into on of the hidden trapdoors into a little hdey hole, but I didn't bother - I wasn't in the mood for getting my big western arse stuck in a hole with an audience! I did try going though the tunnels tough, but not for long! The ption is there to walk the full 150m, but I don' htnk that my lazy legs were up to duck-walking that kind of distance! They were so tiny, we pretty much had to crouch or crawl and keep our elbows in - and this was after they'd widened the tunels for us fat tourists!
One bumpy bus ride later, we arrived at the Mekong Delt for another boat ride - murky brown river instead of crazy ocean swell this time - either way, you don't want to fall in! As soon as we wre in the boat, the coconuts with straws came out - I tried this in Thailand and wasn't a fan, but their coconuts must be different here in Vietnam, because these ones were actually pretty tasty! From the big boat, we were into the tiny little canoes, where we were all given incredibly sexy conical hats to wear. You see them in pictures, and I always assumed it was a real old fashioned thing, but heaps of people here actually wear them, especially in the rice paddies.
After being punted along, gondola-style, we came to a stop at a little hidden-away restaurant among the reeds in the canals. No sooner had we sat down than food began magically appearing in front of us - my favourite kind of restaurant! The plate with chopped pineapple and cucumber was a bit of a worry, but as soon as I lifted the glad-wrap the little black bugs underneath escaped and flew away - shame, I needed the protein... There was a whole fish, cooked, garnished, and propped upright, staring straight at me witha chilli sticking out of his mouth. The "most awesome person in the world" (named because we were hungry and she was feeding us) then came to our table and started turning the fish, cucumber and pineapple into fresh rice-paper rolls. Now, I'm getting pretty bloody good with the chopsticks, but it still amazes me how people can use them like an extension of their fingers - she was taking fish off the bone and rolling spring rolls with nothing but a set of chopsticks - all of a sudden I wasn't quite so proud of my skills anymore...
After a massive meal, the obvious next step is sleep right? Which explains the hammocks randomly strung up around the outside of eh restaurant. I was pretty cranky when told to moveafter only about 10 minutes, but our next stop (which we arrived at in motorbike-drawn carriages) had more, and bowls of fresh fruit (all the yummy tropical stuff I actually want to eat). I finally tried dragon fruit, the really exotic looking pink and green one with whte fles an black seeds - bit of a disappointment really, very bland. I'm happy top just look at it from now on I think.
From there to the coconut candy "factory" (ie: little workshop on the river). We saw women making it from scratch and got to try some while it was still warm - good stuff! Anyone who knows me can probably guess that I didn't leave empty handed...
So what could possibly top of a day with this much awesome food? More food! It seems likevery part of this trip has revolved around the next meal. Most people wanted to do their own thing, so a few of us headed out with Huy for a "real" Vietnamese meal. He was quite dressed up so we started to worry that we were going somewhere a bit fancy, until after one death-defying road-crossing, he took us around the corner to a little roadside restaurant with plastic tables and chairs which we had to move each time a car drove past! The entire menu was in Vietnamese, so we had to give Huy an idea of what we wanted, then hope for the best - I ended up with squid stuffed with pork, not exactly "something with chicken", but still pretty tasty!
From there we headed on to a bar called Guns and Roses, which (surprise surprise) started cranking out Sweet Child of Mine as soon as we walked through the doors. Huy was busily showing off his skills at the pool table while under the watchful eye of a couple of giggly Vietnamese girls at h next tale. More than willing to serve up some noodle soup I think. They ended up coming with us to the next place, which was definitely a new experience after Perth nightclubs! Looking over at the bar we saw nearly all guys - he male:female ratioi there was way out of whack! Now imagine these guys nodding and shaking their heads, eyes closed, while holding onto thebarad practicing their best pole dance moves, but not to any music resembling Joe Cocker's "Leave Your Hat On" - no, speed it up, and add some serious happy hardcore beats and you'll start to get the gist - bloody hilarious!
We watched this from our table, which we had been shown stright to when we walked in - turns out Huy's a bit of a regular - there was a platter of fruit and half a bottle of Jim Beam (from last time) waiting on the table for us. From that point on, there was always someone behind us, pouring bourbon and coke, making sure the glasses were topped out. Bigitte ad i left early, and it turns out all that service comes at a price - when we fixed up Huy the next morning, the total bill had been 2,000,000 Dong - about $120 which was bloody expensive by Vietnam's standards!
Once I got back to the hotel, Ijumped on te computer in the lobby to catch up on emails, and about half an hour later, Fleur and Pat stumbled in, pretty much carrying Tom the Pom Turns out he'd enjoyed t constant flow of bournbon a little more than we'd realised! I quickly ran upstairs to crab my camera, they brought him up to level and dragged him out of the lift so the moment could be documented, then Pat bundled him back into the lift and down to their room on L2. Tom has absolutely no memory of any of this, and didn't even realise there were photos until he was told the next day. I've been forbidden to put themon Facebook, and depending on whether he ends up with any incriminating photos of me, I might comply...
Unfortunatly when I got up the next morning, just after I'd frinished packing my bags, I realised thatmy visa card was missing. F*ck. Genius here had left it in an ATM the night before - never send SMSes while using the ATM, it affects the concentration! And before you ask, no, I wasn't even drunk! So what was meant to be a relaxing free morning ended up being spent running from hotel to ATM back to the hotel, trying to get on the internet to find out if all my money was gone, back to the bank, and on the phone to mum to get her to cancel my card, since none of the numbers would work from my phone (thanks Testra, your global roaming service sucks). I never did find the card (the bank didn't have it), so now I'm unbelievably glad I got those Travelex cards at the airport! Best invention ever!
Back to the hotel, and off on a slow-paced cyclo tour of Saigon. I don't know how those poor cyclo drivers can do it in that heat, riding a bike with a person in a seat on the front. I was hot enough just sitting still! First stop was the war museum, where I finally found out what Khe Sanh actually is (nothing to do with trains out of Sydney, apparently). From there it was on to Notre Dame Cathedral (at least it's a change from temples), the post office, and a quick food shop to stock up before our overnight train ride to Nha Trang.
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