As Robin Williams said – “Good Moorning Vietnam!!!” (and indeed, it was the morning – but only just). And if you have never watched the film then do so. It’s very good.
Thanh Hoa
Once more, a small bus whisked us along twisty roads up and down in the mountains and through stunning scenery from Xam Neua and even with the usual ‘Postman Pat’ scenario of stopping at every other building to pick up or deliver, it got us seemingly very quickly to the border post at Nam Soi.
Once through, we re-boarded and continued across Vietnam from West to East. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed. The mountains and valleys were still there, as were the rice fields and terraces, but here there also seems to be a big harvest of bamboo. And the roads seem to have tarmac across the full width, consistently, mile after mile, with road markings! Villages appear wealthier, some even with street lamps and an occasional pavement, and the houses seem more well maintained and somehow neater and better ordered outside.
As we descended towards the coast, the roads became straighter and the air more humid and warmer. And of course – it rained – new country after all.
On coming into the outskirts of Thanh Hoa we were surprised by it’s size and ‘busy-ness’. Lots of traffic – plenty of motorscooters and cars, on wide roads with shops and businesses lining them along with trees and greenery and neon signs. It felt a mix between Cambodia and Korea and after the small villages and towns of Laos where there were more cows and dogs than vehicles, it was a bit of a surprise. However, it’s still very much “off the beaten track” in terms of western tourists if the number of looks we got is anything to go by (or maybe it’s just us..!)
The bus station, as usual, was on the outskirts and after some tough negotiations, a taxi took us to our hotel for the night before we headed to Hanoi the following day. A wander out for dinner in what we found out later was the more modern area of Thanh Hoa was an education us, and for our waitress, who having very little English (but much better than our Vietnamese!) couldn’t help us with the menu. Being a ‘fish only’ restaurant, we eventually managed to use google translate and the help of the manageress to order a fish stir-fry (cooked at the table) which didn’t include entrails, eyes or full heads – all of which were explicitly mentioned on the menu. It was worth the slight anxiety though and was a good insight into delicious tastes of Vietnamese food. And of course, we had our first Vietnamese beer which comes with a glass full of ice to keep it cold but, also watered it down. Note to self: avoid the ice next time!
The following day, we walked from the hotel to the departure point for our bus to Hanoi, via some delightfully normal Vietnamese streets. We had a fabulously strong coffee to set us up for the day at a very nice little cafe, and then some Xoi Thap Cam – sticky rice with sausage, pork, dried shredded fish, crispy onions, and limes, chilli, pickled cucumber and garlic – at a street food cafe. We are going to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine very much!
Even though tourists are obviously a very rare sight in Thanh Hoa we had lots of smiles and ‘Hellos’, as well as lots of “double-takes” and stares, and children were especially excited to wave at us and shout “hello!”. It all felt very friendly, and people are incredibly helpful too, as the next couple of hours demonstrated.
We found this out properly when we got to the area indicated by the directions sent by the booking company we had organised the bus ticket through. At the ‘bus terminal’ indicated on the map we found a parking lot with derelict buildings and disused cars – eek. Eventually, we asked someone who’d just arrived in a small truck, and they led us along the road a bit, and round the corner to where the bus actually does go from. The staff in the office, although seemingly very happy to see us, had no knowledge at all of our booking!! After much emailing and trying to contact the booking agent – all to no avail – and lots and lots of google translate between us and the staff, they suggested they would put us on the next bus anyway, and we could pay at their office in Hanoi. Panic over, we were even more impressed when the ‘bus’ – actually a very smart minibus – arrived on time, loaded us on, and left on time. And more than impressed, when on reaching their depot in Hanoi and having paid a cheaper price than the booking agent had originally charged (refund sorted), they put us, and three others, into a car and drove us the 45 minute journey to our respective guesthouses.
Hanoi
It is difficult to describe Hanoi – it’s sort of a cross between Seoul in Korea, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Paris – in parts, and a provincial French city. And NOISY!!!!! and THE TRAFFIC!!!!! Non-stop cars, buses and motor-scooters – all intent on getting to their destination as quickly as possible and letting everyone in front of them know it with liberal use of the horn. None of the give-and-take, almost river-like flow of the equally intense Phnom Penh traffic – this seems far more determined and focused on the end-objective; no quarter given, none expected. That said, it will flow around you when you walk onto a zebra crossing (but it won’t stop!). Despite there being traffic lights, no one seems to take much notice and a one way street? Well – “I’m only going one way!” And a pavement is a useful shortcut (or parking lot).
There are many street vendors – many peddling their wares from their bicycles, who just stop in the middle of the traffic to sell their product to someone. And the street food and produce sellers just spread their wares out on the pavement. It’s not a great place to be a vegetarian.
We have walked many miles in Hanoi and enjoyed every moment. It’s an eclectic mix of old and new, modern and traditional…
of frenetic activity and calm oases of tranquility.
There is a whole neighbourhood known as “Train Street” where the train literally runs between the houses which front onto the tracks. But while the train isn’t there (there are only about 6-8 per day), people make full use of the space, and there is a thriving community of cafes who will sit you at the edge of the tracks.
We have found fabulous coffee (including egg coffee – had to be tried – surprisingly delicious) and fabulous food and the people are friendly, helpful and commercially astute.
And the range of things that can be carried on a small bike knows no bounds.
All in all, Hanoi is a fantastic melting pot of sights and sounds, flavours and experiences. We are very much looking forward to the rest of our travels here.
Hanoi to Ha Giang and overnight in Ha Giang at Style Motorcycles guesthouse
Because our entry to Vietnam was south of Hanoi we were at risk of missing out some of the more northerly bits that we would have come across if we’d come in to Dien Bien Phu, so we decided that from Hanoi we’d head north. 6am saw us on a pick up for a bus to Ha Giang. This is the starting point for a route around northern Vietnam, running up along to the border with China. There is a looping route through the mountains that can be done by minibus or taxi, but really lends itself to a motorbike – so that was an easy decision 🙂
The quality of the transport has definitely been improved by being in Vietnam
The only downside was that we weren’t allowed to take a coffee onto the bus and by the time we arrived we were very much in need. We arrived at Ha Giang early in the afternoon and grabbed that much needed coffee at a local coffee shop called King Koi – clue was in the name:
Ha Giang City seems to be focused on the provision of bikes, kit, and accommodation for people wanting to “ride the loop”, which is a bit of a shame as its tourist-focus seems to distract from what a rather nice, and surprisingly big, town.
The bike rental place we had opted for, along with its guesthouse – Style Motorcycles, was just around the corner from the coffee shop and easily found.
Generally, most of the bikes used by tourists and “easy riders” (riders who take someone around the route as pillion as part of an organised – often Hostel-based, tour) are 125 or 150cc. We were restricted by travel insurance to a 125, so that’s what we hired.
We sorted out the logistics on Friday, and stayed overnight in the basic but clean accommodation. Our wedding anniversary this year is definitely going to be remembered.
Day 1 Ha Giang Loop. Ha Giang to Yen Minh
We set off on Saturday, through a very misty and hazy, albeit pretty warm, morning. Within about 10km of Ha Giang we were climbing steadily and soon started to hit some really interesting roads! Without wanting to bore the pants off you all, we’ll let the photos do the talking from here…
By 3pm we had arrived at Yen Minh after many stunning vistas, lots of twisty roads and quirky roadside stops which reminded us very strongly of Austrian après ski huts – booming music and wooden balconies.
A quirky viewpoint reminded us of South Korea – definitely a bit of a theme park vibe going on.
In addition to the superlative-exhausting scenery and quirky view points, the roads were full of groups on the aforementioned ‘easy riders’ bikes, self-drive tours, as well as locals on bikes, buses (of which there were many), limousine/mini buses, and plenty of lorries carrying many different cargos, slowly grinding their way up the hills and frying their brakes coming down.
At first, Yen Minh didn’t seem very enticing, but we headed for a loop around the back and walked several miles on an almost deserted road which ran alongside rice fields and fabulous scenery from one end of the town to the other before heading for dinner in a restaurant, which despite being in the remote north of Vietnam, was showing Man U versus Fulham!!!!
Day 2 Ha Giang Loop. Yen Minh to Dong Van via North Pole loop
We headed out of Yen Minh fairly early, hoping to avoid some of the tours and were soon in the almost overwhelming scenery again. Our second day of the loop was to take us to the extreme north of Vietnam – as close to the Chinese border as we could get. The route takes you to ‘the North Pole’, which sports a large (54 sq metres, one meter for each of the ethnic groups that make up the population) Vietnamese flag on a tower at the top of a hill at a village called Lung Cu. This is, of course, an incredibly popular venue with the Vietnamese ‘youth’ and also with the bike tours, but we also took a couple of smaller roads where we could to avoid some of the crowds and to a small extent, this worked (although road works meant we couldn’t do all the roads we wished to do as some were no more than tracks, and we didn’t think the bike would survive!)
We headed back down the route from ‘the North Pole’ to Dong Ven where we are spending the second night; again, not the most attractive town on first viewing, but as dusk falls and the lights come on, the old quarter is quite charming and it was very pleasant to wander around.
Day 3 Ha Giang loop. Dong Van to Meo Vac to Bao Lac
Having had a pretty rough night’s sleep on a particularly brick like bed (the hoteliers in Vietnam seem to have a sadistic approach to mattress choice), we had a strong coffee and Banh Mi (baguette type sandwich which is very popular in Vietnam) and set off on the DT172 towards Meo Vac – our first stop point for the day. This road would allow us to avoid the allegedly vertiginous main road out of Dong Van and thus also avoid much toe curling and eye shutting anxiety on the back of the bike. However, road works stopped play and although we had initially enjoyed the virtually empty and very picturesque road, it got more and more rough, covered with small boulders, and seemingly prone to small landslips. Eventually we agreed that we didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike (it was getting that rough), so we turned back to Dong Van. Two options remained – return to Ha Giang the way we had come, or go for the route ‘carved into the mountainside’ along with everyone else. Not wishing to miss the promised views (and also not wanting to repeat any part of the loop) we chose the latter option and, despite misgivings, it was actually a stunning ride.
When we’d looked south down the main road in Dong Van that morning the cloud had been ominously looming, and pretty low
and it didn’t disappoint, however, it only rained for about 10 minutes, stopping just before we got to the most spectacular section and we timed it pretty well with the other bike tours – they were stopped for pictures and shelter, which seemed to have turned into coffee, so we grabbed the opportunity to admire the views, get some pics, and move on ahead of the crowd. Luckily, the road was situated in a way that meant we could ‘hug’ the mountainside and it was definitely worth keeping eyes wide open to admire the views which just kept on giving! (Note: for the avoidance of doubt, one of us had eyes wide open the whole time!)
Meo Vac arrived very quickly and we stopped for a coffee before heading off on a small, very lovely, and relatively peaceful road (limited roadworks and very few lorries or buses) towards Bao Lac – a slight detour from the loop, adding on a few more kilometres. It’s a small town on the confluence of three rivers and our final night of the Ha Giang loop. It was amazing how the scenery changed in such a short time, going from vertiginous drops and huge limestone karsts, to a gentler more bucolic scenery.
We did rather well with our hotel room – a comfortable bed (at last) and with a view from the balcony (!) of one of the rivers. Bao Lac is quite small in Vietnamese terms, but pretty, and we enjoyed nosing around and drinking coffee and green tea with lemon juice (both delicious – although maybe the ‘snack’ wasn’t quite what we planned on), while planning our next few days in Vietnam.
Day 4 Ha Giang Loop. Bao Lac to Ha Giang – the end of the Ha Giang Loop
Our final night on the loop was accompanied by rain. We woke in the morning to find it was still raining. Ho hum, but then, we are used to British weather so we decided we would still head to Ha Giang to drop off the bike but that rather than heading out again on a night bus, we would stay over in a hotel.
Teasingly, the rain eased off a little as we loaded our gear on the bike and we set off hoping the day would improve. Well, the best laid plans and all that….. The rain got heavier and we got very wet. The rain didn’t let up at all during the whole journey so we just pushed on to get to journey’s end – 135km away. Despite the rather damp nature of the weather it was very mild, and we were still able to admire the most beautiful scenery as the road wound (in an often torturous fashion) it’s way along the edge of a river for the whole journey.
The roads in Vietnam are quite comical (if that’s the right word!!), beautifully laid out with wide streets, lights and street markings in the towns then suddenly narrow, bumpy and twisty, sometimes sealed, often not, along the rest of the route. You can be driving along thinking everything is lovely and then suddenly have to bring the bike to a virtual crawl and bump over potholes, road rubble and rubbish and then all of a sudden, it’s okay again. Very challenging and even more so when it’s raining.
However, we made it and are very pleased that we completed the ‘Loop’ and even more delighted having seen some scenery that we have not seen the like of, nor will see the like of again, on this set of travels.
416km and 3 nights after starting, we dropped the bike at the rental shop, collected our luggage and walked over to our hotel to plan the next stages of our journey.
Wet weather and a slight touch of illness delayed our exit from Ha Giang and another day in the hotel gave us a chance to dry out a bit more and make some decisions and bookings for our onward journey.
During the delayed exit from Ha Giang to allow for full recovery, we arranged with our excellent bus company via a protracted WhatsApp to be collected at 6:30-7:00am the following day for a connection in Hanoi to Cat Ba Island where we wanted a bit of beach and sunshine (hopefully).
We should have listened to the Universe……
Just before 6:30am we were outside our motel – then realised from the travel confirmation that perhaps the bus was expecting us at the original location where we had dropped the bike. We hot-footed it there (about 300m around the corner) – no sign of a pick-up. Checking the very protracted WhatsApp thread to find that there was a brief mention of our new hotel. We legged it back again (it started raining, again – what a surprise). A car arrived very shortly afterwards and it seemed this was our pick-up. We loaded up, and they drove us the whole 100 yards to the bus station and put us on a large bus (very comfy sleeper bus). Not what we expected, but we were used to things not being quite as expected, so we went with it. At 6.50am the bus rolled out of the bus station – ooh, leaving early? (no one else on the bus!). Nope, it stopped outside the station on the main road and switched off. After much discussion with bus driver, and back on our protracted WhatsApp, it appeared our original pick up had ‘missed’ us and we had been put on the next available transport for Hanoi. It also transpired that we had to pay for this bus (having already paid for the other – although a refund was promised) and that we would miss our connection to Cat Ba. So, another night in Hanoi then and a connection to Cat Ba at 6am the following morning. Our excellent bus company was very “:-(” and “so tired” by then, but they remained helpful and communicative throughout. On the upside, it gave us the opportunity to catch up with a couple of fellow travellers we’d first met in Laos, and share stories over dinner.
6am the following morning saw us at the bus point for Cat Ba. Everything worked as planned. Hooray! We got there two days late – but we made it!! Quite a backpacker destination, but a bit less so at this time of year; pretty, quiet, and good for sitting in restaurants and people watching. The weather was glorious – two days of sunshine, beach and a boat tour. This included a “we are on the wrong bus and heading for Nimh Binh rather than the harbour” moment (in fairness, we had taken our advice from the hotel owner who sold us the tour!), but all worked for the best in the end, and we had a great boat trip around Lan Ha and Ha Long Bay, kayaking, swimming in wonderfully warm water, and enjoying some delicious food.
During our “down time” here, we arranged the next leg of the trip. We are currently sitting in the hotel lobby, an hour before the pick up, determined NOT TO MISS THE BUS!!!!! :-))
Next leg: (hopefully) train to Saigon……..
Hanoi to Saigon
See the post for this specific journey, which was, as we had hoped – an experience not to be missed. A long train journey has been on our ‘to do’ list for many a year and we have finally achieved it – in bucket loads (of rain!!!). We enjoyed it – would we do it differently next time? Not sure, perhaps, perhaps not…
Saigon to Da Lat
We had decided in Cat Ba that we would immediately head back out of Ho Chi Minh for a few days in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and then on the coast, before returning for our final Vietnam days in and around Ho Chi Minh. So after arriving at Saigon station (strangely, although the name of the city changed, the name of the station didn’t), we had a wander around to stretch our legs and get some breakfast before getting a taxi to the bus station for the journey to Da Lat – our next destination, chosen because it is one of the main coffee production areas of Vietnam, and specifically where Arabica coffee is grown due to it’s altitude (1500 mtrs above sea level).
A lengthy taxi journey got us to our bus depot (oh dear, something wrong with the bus, it will be delayed by around two hours, however, they were able get us on the next bus – which was actually the earlier bus running late and so arrived about same time as our original bus (?)). Whatever! It worked, and we arrived in Da Lat mid afternoon and set off to walk to our hotel to offset three days of sitting around. It was a curious experience – Da Lat is touristy – big time, but mainly South East Asian tourists – only a very few westerners (and an even smaller number of Australians and Kiwis), so we were once again in the minority and the object of some curiosity, both because of this but also because we were still comfortably warm in shorts and t-shirts whereas everyone else was tightly wrapped in hats, gloves, scarves, jumpers, boots etc – for all the world looking like it was mid-winter rather than 21 degrees! We got some strange looks indeed.
The following day we were up early with the intention of hiring a scooter to ride to the coffee plantation we had found for our search for all things coffee. However, it was pouring down! So a Grab taxi was summoned instead and we arrived dry at our destination: K’Ho Coffee. That was the driest we were to be for the rest of that day.
After an introduction to the other couple on our ‘tour’ we had a coffee (of course!) alongside the usual Vietnamese tea (often served together, the tea being palate cleansing and thirst quenching with the coffee giving you a bit of energy, they complement each other well). Whilst sipping coffee we shouted at each other above the noise of the thunderstorm raging overhead and laughed at the thought of doing a plantation tour ‘in this weather’! Oh how we laughed when we donned ponchos and headed out to the vehicle to transport us to the plantation itself.
After 20 minutes of splashing through potholes, bouncing over rocks and very off-road tracks we arrived at a hut in the plantation where our guide, Dala, talked to us about how the K’Ho cooperative is made up of around 40 different families who work the farm together. They are currently trying to develop new varieties of coffee plant that will be better able to stand up to the effects of global warming – a task that takes about four years before results will be seen. We were shown how to recognise and pick ripe cherries, then tasked with picking around 250g each – not easy task when all the ripe cherries are hidden amongst the under- and over-ripe, and the bushes densely packed with only around 1m space around each, and each is around 1m in circumference! Also, before picking you had to shake the tree to both shake off the water, and the spiders and other creatures on it and in it.
Although it was still pouring with rain, the scenery was mesmerising. Alpine like mountains covered in low cloud and mist with beautiful valleys stretching into the distance. Bright red soil and verdant green trees and bushes surrounded us, and the colourful red and green coffee cherries positively glowed.
Once enough cherries had been gathered, we were shown how to check for ‘dead’ berries – they float in water, wash them, ‘pop’ them – this means squeezing the berry so the coffee beans inside literally pop out and then sort the ‘dead’ beans out from the good ones.
Once done, we loaded the beans into a basket and set off on a hike through the plantation to see where the cherries are sorted in large quantities before being fermented for a couple of days, washed and then dried.
This is pretty much all done by hand
A bouncy journey back to the coffee roasting area and cafe was followed by a fabulous picnic lunch and then our chance to prepare the beans for roasting began.
Dried beans are pounded to remove their outer skin and then ‘fanned’ to remove the skins before being roasted to the required light, medium or dark roast required for the flavour needed.
Roasting was quite a quick part of the whole process and once the required roast was achieved, the beans have to be quickly cooled to stop further roasting – they can take up to three days to cool otherwise, during which time they carry on cooking which will change the flavour.
Once we had roasted the beans, we were then challenged to the “cupping” process. There are about eight different aspects to “cupping”, and tasting is probably less than half. It involves sampling the smell and taste the coffee both in bean, ground, and drink form to identify the fragrance, aroma, body etc. Our final challenge was to finally identify which was our favourite from the variety of processing options the beans were put through.
It was a fabulous day – we thoroughly enjoyed it all, including the rain – and we now have a different and much more appreciative attitude towards our daily coffee. Understanding the length of time it takes to grow the fruit – at the mercy of the elements; and the labour intensive process it needs to harvest and produce the beans for use makes us less likely to complain about the cost of buying actual coffee again (prices charged for prepared coffee however, well, that’s probably a different discussion:). Each cup consumed will now be seen in a different light!
Day 2 in Da Lat started dry. We visited the main market for a bit of food and people watching and then headed out to explore the city.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that when we planned our direction of travel it was with the promise of somewhat drier weather.
After an hour waiting in a cafe for the rain to ease off we donned ponchos and headed out. After all, just how wet can you get? Answer – very!
Luckily, we had the latest drying accoutraments in the hotel room.
We enjoyed Da Lat but were not able to really do it justice. One to return to when we come again perhaps. Here’s hoping that our next destination on the coast is a bit less damp.
Mui Ne (and some sunshine!)
Another bus journey on yet another day time ‘sleeper bus’. The bus journeys in Vietnam are definitely less ‘exciting’ as they generally are very much people carriers and not ‘couriers’, therefore, each journey is pretty much the same other than the scenery changes. Certainly we went from hilly to flat, around many hairpin bends, on this journey.
Mui Ne is a small fishing town, just along the coast from Phan Thiet – a small city. The whole coastline is a ribbon development – mostly ‘resort’ type hotels on the beach front and smaller guest houses on the other side of the road. We had a very peaceful guesthouse with all the rooms fronting onto a lovely quiet courtyard, which was very relaxing, despite being next to an often busy road. The family running it were really helpful and very friendly and nothing was too much trouble. In addition – the sun was shining!!
We enjoyed a nice couple of days, rented a small scooter, so as well as walking on the ‘local’ beaches, we pootled up and down the coast visiting a town called Ke Ga to look at a famous lighthouse, Phan Thiet and exploring the less often seen bits of Mui Ne itself.
On our first day there, a lovely warm onshore breeze was making some pretty large waves, which one of us particularly enjoyed when we stopped for a cold drink at Bikini Beach (a huge hotel resort, which, despite its idyllic beach appeared to be almost deserted)
Two of the well-known tourist attractions around Mui Ne are the Red Sand Dunes (which give a splendid panoramic view around the headland) and the White Sand Dunes (which we didn’t get to).
We also enjoyed exploring the town and came across a very attractive and busy Catholic Church secreted in the centre of Mui Ne – definitely a very different architecture (and colour) to European churches. It seemed that Sunday School was on and there were many children of all ages there, chatting, reading and generally enjoying themselves.
Being on the coast, each of the towns is a working town, and we particularly enjoyed the fishing ‘villages’ all along the coast and along every river tributary – so, so many boats of all shapes and sizes
Watching the locals fish and manoeuvre their boats and nets was a good way to lose several hours in the day and the sunset on the second day also proved a winner.
All in all it was a fascinating and relaxing break in which to recharge our batteries a little and enjoy the sunshine.
Ho Chi Minh – formerly known (and still often known) as Saigon
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh after a surprisingly smooth journey with the bonus that our accommodation was only 15 minutes walk from our bus depot stop!
And how to describe this city? It’s almost impossible. Ho Chi Minh is noisy, frenetic, huge. It struck us immediately that it perhaps suits that it has two names, as it is most definitely a city of two personalities that rub along together – sometimes seamlessly, sometimes awkwardly. Long wide boulevards lined with glass tower blocks, commercial businesses, designer shopping centres, tourist attractions, car parks and bus routes, vie with small bustling streets and alleyways lined with a jumbled array of houses, local shops, restaurants, markets. The new trying to absorb the old and being robustly repelled. And all the while there is noise, noise, noise and haze in the air from what must be millions of scooters rushing from A to B – flowing down all roadways like a river with cars and buses lumbering in between, everyone making everyone else aware of their presence with a blasts of their horns.
Rather than a hotel, we have an AirBnB apartment in District 1 (Hunger Games fans – this is nothing like the Capitol!) – very close to all the main tourist attractions. It’s a very small studio on the 6th floor in a tenement block of many apartments and appears typical of the size of apartment most people seem to live in. The children play in the corridors and the lift is obviously a gathering place for residents to chat – it takes a long time for the lift to arrive.
Our first on the list of things of do in and around HCM is the Cu Chi tunnels – used by Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. Research showed that doing the tunnels solo is awkward, and we felt a tour would give us a better understanding so we bit the bullet and hopped onto the tourist trail, significantly increasing the average age of our chosen tour. The tunnels are clearly a major tourist attraction, as observed by the huge number of coaches and the QR ticket scanners in the access route. The tunnels themselves were built by the Viet Cong during the war and total 250km, running underneath the jungle linking up many strategic points. There was even a leg which runs down into HCM into a cellar in the city where weapons and vehicles were stored – that’s 70km away! Although some utilised tunnels farmers had dug during WW2 to hide food from the Japanese military, the majority were built during the early part of the Vietnam war. More incredible is that they were dug by hand with small hoes, the spoil being removed in bamboo baskets and dumped in the river – there was much ingenuity in their design, providing deeper shelters to hide from bombing, and decoys to divert and confuse. Many were booby trapped and the traps were horrific.
As part of the “experience” a replica tunnel has been created for tourists to go through. This is about half as big again as the original tunnels. It was an unpleasant experience, I think, for everyone who went into it – incredibly hot and humid, very cramped, and almost no light. There was also a set of “original” tunnel entrances, and our guide explained how these were entered and disguised, and how the booby traps set there were avoided.
Somewhat incongruously, given the theme of the place seems to be about the harshness of war, there is also a shooting range where you can fire assault weapons, AK47, M-16, up to a large calibre machine gun. Although you do have to buy ammunition the shooting range was very popular.
We came away from the tunnels feeling a bit conflicted, as it had the feel of an “attraction” when it was probably more of a memorial to those, on both sides, who suffered there.
There was no confliction, however, with the War Remnants Museum the following day, back in the city. This was a no holds barred description of the horrors of the Vietnam war, including war crimes and the use and impact of Agent Orange. Whilst being unashamedly pro-communist, it presented much historical fact very objectively. No photos – it’s all just etched on our minds.
Wandering around the city has given us many more glimpses of the ability of street hawkers to carry a huge range of goods
We had a brief visit to the Central Post Office – very attractive, and amazingly still a post office as well as an attraction in its own right, and a venue for selling souvenirs…
and a thwarted attempt to get into the Notre Dame Cathedral (which seems to have come out in sympathy with the Parisian original and was closed for renovation). Our second full day in HCM also included a high speed lift ride up to level 49 of the Bitexco Financial Tower to the Saigon Skydeck.
The Skydeck is the second highest building in HCM, having recently been usurped of its title of tallest by the Landmark 81 Skytower (looking a little Burj Khalifa-like). The views from the 49th floor however, were impressive and although it was a little hazy we were able to see HCM stretching into the horizon in all directions – it is a BIG city.
A trip to Landmark 81 is on the cards if the weather holds.
Day three was an exploration of the Saigon River in a northerly direction; a tour is booked to take us South on another day. A fairly recent attempt to set up a river taxi system, much like that on the Thames apparently seems not very successful as a commuting method, but it has become a popular way for tourists to see HCM from the river. We got on at the 1st station with a ticket to it’s terminus five stops north and watched the city float serenely past. A relaxing way to spend an hour followed by a walk across a peaceful island to hop onto a local bus to take us back into the city centre, a journey of about another hour through many interesting and busy communities.
Another walk through some tiny alleyways gave us a view of real HCM life – families and small businesses living cheek by jowl, the footways only just wide enough to allow a scooter through with pedestrians squeezing into doorways. Our eye was definitely on the sky above as heavy rain threatened and thankfully, the sanctuary of our apartment was achieved before it let go – and did it let go!! The need to deploy hairdryer on trainers successfully avoided (for today).
Back on the river
Following the somewhat ‘mass market’ tour to Cu Chi tunnels and being unable to see any tours that suited our desire to see more of Ho Chi Minh and the Mekong Delta from the river, which didn’t involve long coach journeys at each end, we finally came across a tour which, although a bit more expensive, promised to be a day on the river rather than on the road.
We were not disappointed and enjoyed a day with a small group and an excellent guide, speeding around the waterways from Ho Chi Minh to the Mekong in a speedboat. We did have some land-based interludes, such as visiting a small-holding of a Vietnamese family who also owned a rather hefty python – 42kg!; a couple of temples – one Buddhist and one Cao Dai (a relatively new, and seemingly burgeoning, religion which takes the most positive aspects of several other religions such as Buddhism, Daoism and Confucionism, and also a bit of Christianity) and a local market – definitely not tourist-focussed. We enjoyed a really delicious lunch including Elephant Ear fish as the centre piece – a first for all of us, but the joy for us, was seeing how people lived and worked with the Saigon River and it’s waterways and how these all ran into the Mekong and on to the South China Sea. The photos tell the story (although they cannot convey the smell which was a little pungent on occasion…..)
Heading up river
Small holding
Local Market
Cao Dai temple
And back again
Day five in Ho Chi Minh started with Pho Ga for breakfast at a recommended cafe – it was definitely popular, and also worth the walk.
Much of the rest of the day was enjoyed just wandering around and taking in the sights, one of which was a lovely park with many sculptures…
..and seeing a bit more of Ho Chi Minh and life within it.
The History Museum Saigon, where the history was centred around the development of Vietnam from prehistoric to modern day was definitely worth a visit. It was interesting to be reminded of just how many ethnic groups there are in Vietnam (54) and how they have blended together and yet remained very individual. It was only a small museum and we whiled away a peaceful, and enjoyable couple of hours in the cool air conditioned rooms. We finished our wanderings with a rather different temple – that of the shopping variety – by visiting a couple of designer shopping malls. We both agreed that we hadn’t missed them one little bit, especially in the run up to Christmas!
Our final full day in Ho Chi Minh and our final full day in Vietnam was grey but no haze. The rain of the previous night had cleared the air a little and the pollution was much reduced. We were keen to see the Independence Palace and headed in that direction, but as usual, were thwarted in our attempt as there was a ‘meeting’ in the palace and it was closed for the full day, despite the website update saying it would re-open at 11am. One to do next time…
A little disappointed, we decided to head instead, for the Landmark 81 – Vietnam’s tallest building – especially as the views would be good with the reduced haze.
We encountered an over-eager and rather stroppy bus driver – determined to get us off his bus at the right stop (in his mind), he dropped us at a point, very insistently shouting this was where we needed to be, which meant a 50 minute walk, rather than the 5 minutes we thought it should have been. Never mind, it was an interesting walk through more “un-touristy” HMC, which we enjoyed – a silver lining to every cloud. On arriving at the tower’s complex we then encountered “captured market” capitalism. Basic tickets for the weekday visit are 300,000vnd pp (about £10). Basic ticket price for a weekend visit – 540,000vnd pp – about £18, however, it included a “free” drink, a “free” photo and a “free” VR session – Ho hum… We decided to go with it as we would not have an opportunity to return any time soon, and in the great scheme of things, it would probably be worth it. And it was (although we definitely didn’t need the “free” add-ons!!)
We really did have a great time – it was incredibly quiet (maybe a dozen people spread over the three floors) so we didn’t have to jostle with others to get a good picture,and the views were amazing, not only of Ho Chi Minh, but also of the weather fronts passing us by.
The bus journey back towards our digs also worked well – no over -eager driver, thank goodness. To top it all, we had a fabulous meal out that evening with one of the most tasty dishes we have had in the whole of Vietnam. A great finish to a lovely day.
Our final morning saw us heading to the Tan Son International Airport (right in the heart of Ho Chi Minh) for our flight to our penultimate destination – Malaysia!