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Word of the day: lưu lượng truy cập; Traffic
Highlight: T - Shirts; the many many T-Shirts we bartered down to almost nothing.
Lowlight: Being hustled
Weather: 15°C - 30°C
Even before we had a chance to get into the country it was clear parts of Vietnam were going to be niggly. And if I'm going to be truly honest, after two months and almost ten countries, it's fair to say we were both suffering from a bit of travel fatigue and homesickness. I guess it's like anything, you can only ingest so much information before your eyes glaze over and things rush by in a blur. But we were still in an amazing part of the world, so it was time to suck it up and see what Vietnam had to offer.
It started with having to pay an extra 65USD for an entry visa, as the visa's we had already paid for online were only useful when entering the country via one of the major airports. Queue another six hour international bus ride, a very casual border crossing, one domestic flight, and after a 13 hour day of travel we checked into an amazing resort in the east coast city of Da Nang .
Beach front views greeted us, with a private balcony, pools overlooking the sand, and resort food prices beyond our means, so we decided pizza and beer in true frat party style was in order.
Off we walked in search of a cheap vendor and directly across the road found a lady who would not only order pizza for us, but provide us with .50NZD beers, chocolate, laundry services and foot massages. We stopped at laundry. After being convinced the pricey pizza was the best in town, we retreated to our room and spent the evening on our private balcony hypnotized by the sound of the waves, the beach views and geckos scampering up the walls chasing black beetles with fluorescent green glowing back sides.
It wasn't until I called the pizza place myself that I realized the girl across the road had charged us twice the price and pocketed most of the money. The actual amount she had pocketed was only a mere 10NZD, but it was about principal and considering you could hire a scooter for the day for that much I was ropeable. After a heated one way "conversation" with the six women now sitting outside the store, between them trying to decipher what this demanding foreigner was yelling about with words like "stolen from me" and "police", I was told to come back the next day and handed back the money. We went back the next day and bought more beer in hope of teaching them it was detrimental to business to steal from tourists, Rich told me I was dreaming.
We'd read that Da Nang itself hasn't been busy since the war, which was easy to visualize. We seemed to be surrounded by resort graveyards, maybe fifty skeletons of half finished promises gazing longingly out to sea, hoping for the foot traffic to return and push the much needed economic boom. It's terrible to think, but it's almost like they needed another war to get things ticking over again. But the good thing about Da Nang is it's proximity to Hoi An and Hue, two beautiful must see tourist attractions.
We hired a scooter and scooted half and hour to Hoi An - don't worry, I didn't drive. Hoi An is beautiful. A small city filled with mazes of shoe and clothing stores which will take your measurements and tailor make anything your heart desires in the space of an afternoon. A river runs through the town where you can hire long boats, or take the board walk and foot bridge and explore the open food market and the many of dining and souvenir options on offer. We found the most amazing restaurant to have dinner, away from the "hustle and bustle" of the major towns, just off the highway. It overlooked a picturesque Vietnamese river scene and served great food to be enjoyed with shoes removed, sitting at a table on floor level. The only unsettling thing about the place was the Vietnamese man on the side of the road stomping his foot and shaking his fist at us with a look in his eyes as if he'd like to rip our heads off. Rich thinks it was because of the obnoxious helmet he was given to wear, an army green GI helmet with a screaming eagle on the side. I think he was just crazy.
We didn't make it to Hue, but both agree it's a must see when we come back and see the North of the country.
A walk along China Beach was nostalgic for me simply because I remember watching the show "China Beach" with my sister when we were kids. All I really remember was the helicopter flying over the beach with the sun set in the background, "Reflections" playing as the soundtrack. It's where the US Army used to retreat for R & R during the Vietnam war, and our resort backed right on to it. We got caught out, underestimating the intensity of the sun and arrived back to our room redder than the t shirt Rich was wearing. Nothing a bit of Aloe Vera won't fix.
The thing that strikes me about Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, as many locals still call it, is the saturation of communist memorabilia. There are hammers and sickles and stars EVERYWHERE. The entire city is red. And i think it's odd. It's almost like they're insecure about their political stance, and have to make sure they're reminding every single person about it every minute of the day. There were even communist flags on the watch towers at the beaches in Da Nang. It would be the equivalent of New Zealand attaching democratic flags to every lamppost on every street. But i guess that's what a communist government is about. They do what they want without being questioned, and that's that. I think it's an eyesore and streets would be much more aesthetically pleasing without.
HCMC was what we'd seen in every big city. Dirty, smoggy, the muddy waters of the Saigon River running through with branches from the jungles up river accumulated at every landing. The thing HCMC has that others don't is the level of chaos on the streets with traffic. People aren't lying when they say "to cross the street, don't make eye contact, hold your breath and go". There are no lanes, there seem to be no rules, you have to take your life into your hands, step out and pray as the cars, buses, trucks and millions of scooters weave their way around you. Miraculously we have not one scratch on us, and once you get past the threat to life potential, it became quite entertaining.
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