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Hello again, I write this from Beijing, This is a previous blog entry that I wanted to ammend...anyway, below are the highlights of my Vietnam experience.....
Prior to arriving in Vietnam we had heard a number of mixed reviews (mostly negative) from other travellers that had passed through there....after 2 weeks there all I can say is go there and find out for yourself because I loved it!
It was said that the people were rude and pushy and looked to rip you off at every opportunity....yes it's true that you have to be a bit more weary about purchasing goods, as there is no set price and you pretty much have to barter for everything (even a bottle of water) but as for the people, I don't have a bad word to say about them....You get great value accommodation ($5 for a nice hotel room), food = great, amazing scenery and not over travelled.
Anyway, we arrived in Saigon / Ho Chi Min City and soon felt the lively energy that the city has to offer, well advanced it had lots to offer including 3000 Vietnamese Dong Beer (12 pence). The roads were as crazy as we had imagined with over 3 million motorcycles occupying the roads (crossing them was fun!)...one quick mention for a postcard seller named Charile...I was sporting my newly shaven head and his sales pitch involved flattering me with whom I looked like....he couldn't quite work it out, firstly saying "Beckham" quickly changing his mind to "no no, I know now....Rooney! that's it Rooney!".....I didn't buy any of Charlies' postcards.
The highlight of Saigon was the War Remnants Museum, detailing events of the vicious War with the US. It was one of the most impressive exhibitions I have been to with lots of interesting info, harrowing photographic images and US war armoury including tanks and fighter jets.
After 2 days there we caught a night bus to Dalat on which I left my newly purchased sunglasses. Anyone who knows me, knows that I like nothing more than to lose sunglasses and so I was delighted by this. Dalat, as I and Tom soon found out, was the honeymoon getaway for the Vietnamese and so we felt right at home. We rented a motorbike whilst there and went off exploring through the local valleys and visited some nice waterfalls. There wasn't an awful lot to do there but there were hardly any tourists which was refreshing. We took a cable car to a Chinese temple / gardens and discovered there was a rather low budget film being made. Naturally we took the opportunity to have photos taken with the stars as did the locals. On doing this the locals became quite excited and then formed an orderly queue to have their photos taken with us....
We left Dalat for Nha Trang, Tom and I were craving the beach and this is the main beach resort of Vietnam. Purpose built for tourists, it did the job and had a good looking beach and warm waters so we didn't have any complaints.
After a few days of on the beach we headed to Hoi An / Danang. Hoi An was a really quaint town with a relaxed feel and lots of suit shops (I bought 2 suits for $140). There we rented push bikes / motorbikes and went of exploring the local towns close by. We visited the Marble Mountains in Danang which were Mountains made of marble which had some nice caves embedded inside and some pretty attractive religious shrines up top.
We left Hoi An for an overnight trip to Hanoi with a stop off in Hue along the way. Hue played home to residence of the past emperors of Vietnam. There was a massive Citadel which we rented push bikes to visit but much of it was destroyed in the Vietnam war which was a shame. We then got the overnight bus to Hanoi. About 1am it made it's scheduled stop at a "middle of nowhere" restaurant, there I saw for the first time the Vietnamese delicacy of "Fertilised Duck Egg"...a hard boiled egg but the middle containing a mini duck embryo (beak and all). I watched the reaction of a fellow traveller who tried it and decided not to indulge. Whilst at the restaurant I took the opportunity to use the toilet; on my return Tom informed me that our bus had gone without us but with everything we owned, after 10 minutes trying to convince a non english speaking local to go on a motorbike chase for $1 our Bus thankfully returned after a fellow traveller pointed out the extra empty seats....relief was felt by all.
We arrived in the capital, Hanoi, which was much like Saigon but not as nice and for the first time on the trip we experienced rain...I guess 8 weeks without wasn't bad going. We visited some of its sites including the Ho Chi Min Museum.
After a night we left for Ha Long Bay, which prior to leaving England I had picked as being one of my main highlights of the trip....it didn't disappoint. One of natures wonders, with 100's of gigantic rock formations cluttering the horizon amongst the calmest of waters. It really was spectacular and one of those "must-visit" destinations. There we cruised on the boat before visiting the most impressive caves I've ever been in, appearing to resemble something from Disneyland but 100% natural (minus the effective lighting). We visited Monkey Island which homes a number of agressive monkeys who I luckily didn't feel the wrath of. However, I did witness a monkey Vs Dog fight (not organised), something you don't see every day. The monkey eventually prevailed with a gauge to the eyes....
We left Ha Long for Hanoi and our last night in Vietnam. We opted for a taste of culture to end our time there and went to see a "Water Puppet Show" whereby a number of human / animal puppets skimmed the surface of the stages water to tell the history and everyday life of the Vietnamese, capped off with Vietnamese folk music and vocals....it was something you do once.
So that's it, quite long I know but I had a bit of time on my hands....We left Hanoi and flew to Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to Sumatra, Indonesia (where I write this from now)....I have only been here a few days but it is fast turning into my favourite place in Asia, I have a few more weeks here and then I'll let you know all about it!
Hope all is well for everyone reading this.....
Take care, bye, tchau, ciao, au revoir, auf weidersehn.....
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