Vietnam 2
My original roomie,
Marvin, had, regretfully, left the tour in Hanoi and had been replaced by a
young lad from Leicester, Dan, who was travelling with two mates, brothers
Martin and Phil.
The 4 of us bunked up on the psychedelic train and made the best of the 15
hour journey, the tedium of which was eased by the availability of cold beer,
which I discovered upon boarding, bought in its entirety and had delivered,
cool box and all, to our cabin. No disco carriage this time but a few hours
with the ipod through a portable speaker was a more than adequate alternative,
before another uncomfortable night on the tracks.
We arrived
in Hue, the former ancient capital of Vietnam, home, most notably, to a seven
storey, 400 year old, pagoda, an ancient set of tombs of former kings, laid out
in accordance with strict Feng Shui principles, and the ancient walled citadel.
In all
honesty I don’t think anyone was that taken by Hue, I certainly was not, but
this was not helped by the local guide we had, who unlike the others, was a bit
bossy and intense, the weather, which was overcast, hot and oppressive and my
foot, which continued to impair my movement. {For those of a strong constitution I have included a picture at the end of this blog .... it is not too pleasant!}
Indicative
of my lack of enthusiasm for Hue is that perhaps the most memorable part of our
visit was when a small group of us went out to a local bar for our evening meal,
and we got involved in their Jenga challenge. We managed 32 levels which won us
a round of very strangely coloured shots
Everybody
back onto the bus’ was by now a very regular call and being rounded up to head
out of Hue was a relief, I think, to all.
What back
home, would seem like a real chore, 4 hours in a minibus, seemed to us like
light relief, as we set off for our next 3 day stop in Hoi Ann. Hours spent
travelling, in all sorts of vehicles, and/or waiting, had now become easy, just
as well considering what was to come over the next few weeks.
A really
different landscape this time as we left behind the flat lands and paddy
fields, Vietnam is the 5th largest producer of rice in the world,
and it is also estimated that if global warming continues at its present rate,
the rise in sea level will mean that up to 70% of Vietnam is likely to
disappear before the end of the century, so get there fast!!
We passed
picturesque lakes and then climbed up into the mountains high above the coast
and passed through Bunker Hill, a scene of much fighting during both the French
occupation and American invasion, as these are the hills outside Duanang, and
then dropped down into the picturesque town of Hoi Ann.
Hoi Ann grew
up originally as an important centre, predominantly for the Japanese and
Chinese traders, who considered it the most important link to the rest of Asia
in the early 15th century. It lost popularity as the river got
busier as it suffered from silting and the town flooded regularly. Flooding is
still a problem today, as was explained to me by a local bar owner, and this is
why no commercial properties within the old town have floor coverings on the
ground floor as their premises will be underwater at least once a year .
It is now a
bit of a tourist trap, as many of the old buildings still survive and in fact
it has been giving UNESCO World Heritage site status. There are many bars and
restaurants, many of which are lit by coloured lanterns and a great old
fashioned day/night market. Also there are many speciality tailors, who will run up a suit or, like some
of the girlies on the trip had them do, copy a designer dress, in about 24 hours,
for very little cost and the quality was pretty good, according to those that
had stuff made.
There were
various excursions available, but I chose to get involved in some serious R&R,
as my foot needed it and also I had not really done nothing for a day, it felt, since leaving the UK. There was a lovely
pool, that I decided would be silly to swim in, but was great for lounging next
to, and the restaurants both in the hotel and nearby, down by the riverside,
were very good and excellent value.
I thought Hoi
Ann was a lovely place and it was also the scene of two remarkable occurrences.
Firstly, the chance meeting with two mates from Cardiff, Rob and Linda, who
were sat in a restaurant as I walked passed and spotted me. It was so good to
see them and catch up on some home news .... go Bluebirds!!
Secondly an
amazing, although a little gory, sight, when a bat flew into a restaurant from
the street ....... straight into a fan
!! Splat!! Onomatopoeic perfection, clearly
his radar was on the blink.
After a very
pleasant few days we left Hoi Ann, travelled to Duanang airport to take an hour
long flight to our last stop in Vietnam, the former capital of the South, and
still the major commercial centre of the country, Ho Chi Minh City, which used
to be called Saigon, and here is the man...
HCMC is
huge, over 7 ¼ million people live there, and they own over 5 million motorbikes!! I think only about 36 of them were off the
road when we arrived....... don’t worry, I won t bore you again ...... but it really
was incredible.
What we saw
of the city on arrival was very different and pretty impressive with some very
grand buildings and parklands, also avenues of top hotels and expensive shops.
At times it felt like a European city, no doubt largely due to the heavy French
influence on the architecture - they even have an opera house and a church
modelled on Notre Dame - but a European
city hosting ‘everybody go to work on a moped day’..... stop it!
We had 2
excursions from our base in HCMC.
The first was a fascinating trip to the Cu
Chi tunnels accompanied by a brilliant guide who had actually fought alongside the US troops in the war, in that area and had many anecdotes and a huge amount of detail that he shared with us.
The tunnels, 75 MILES(!!!!) of which have been preserved, show the
resilience, ingenuity and determination of an army facing a vastly superior
enemy in terms of firepower and resources. Have a look at this link for
information, it really is staggering
The second
was a full day spent with, or should I say on, our old friend, the Meekong.
This time we were on the Delta, a huge flood plain covering up to 15,000
square miles, (dependent upon the season), where several rivers converge and
eventually flow to the sea.
This is not
only a vitally important food growing area, due to the nutrient rich sedimentary
soil laid down over tens of thousands of years, but also has been described as
a ‘biological treasure trove’ as up to 10,000 new species of life have been
discovered there. We were not on a scientific field trip, rather it was a
chance to sail the Delta, take a small motor boat up one of the many rivers and
then transfer via horse and cart to an oriental ‘punt’ and then
we were ‘rowed’ through the network of
canals to a small village for a traditional lunch.
.
. OUCH !!
.
As always,
the people we met were charming – especially the owner of the python, get it? –
the scenery spectacular and the experience unforgettable.
On our
return to HCMC I did suffer quite a disappointment. Unlike some of my mates, I
went back to the hotel before heading into town to visit a couple of, what I
considered, must see attractions, namely the former presidential residence and
the war remnants museum. When I got there, the whole of the centre of HCMC had
been affected by a total power failure and the guards were not allowing any
admissions, by the time the power came back, they were shut and we moved on
next morning. Bugger!
With the
exception of Hue, and maybe that was more me than it, Vietnam was fantastic.
With hindsight I feel that it would have been quite easy to do alone via public
transport and I do think I will be back, especially as there are many more
areas that I didn’t get to.
Next stop, a
taster of what I just alluded to, Cambodia .... by public transport !!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.You have been warned !
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.You have been warned !
.
.
.
.
. OUCH !!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment