On 14th December, 2015 our family of 4 embarked on an adventure in Vietnam. We were excited but nervous as taking two kids to a country where EVERYTHING is different was bound to be challenging. Reid had just turned 11 and Megan is about to turn 14. Following is my travel diary. Some parts are gross, some are embarrassing, but I figured that if someone else is contemplating a trip, now they will know the good, the bad, and the itchy.
Vietnam day 1 - Ha Noi
First impressions. The airport was large and modern and clean. Clearing customs was way easier with less paperwork than at home, although the officer that processed us wanted to see us one at a time, despite the fact that other lines were taking couples through together. I tried to go through with both kids and she said "one baby" so I went through with Reid and Megan had to go through with Dallas. I think the fact that we had pre-done our visas made the process much faster than it could have otherwise been. There were no customs forms to fill out and you only have to declare things like alcohol, cigarettes and large amounts of cash. Note: I applied directly to the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia for our visas a couple of months before we left. They came back 2 days later with no problems.
I had also pre-booked transfers to our hotel so as we came out of customs there was a man holding a sign with my name on it, which was a first for me. He took us outside and motioned for us to wait at the kerb while he went to get the car.
The drive into Ha Noi from the airport was about 20 mins and was very interesting. The landscape is so different. There are lots of little farms and then groups of buildings but so many of the buildings are really tall and skinny with 3 or 4 floors and often only the facade would be painted and the rest left as bare concrete. There were also a lot of unfinished buildings.
As we came into the town the number of scooters increased dramatically and we saw many insane loads on the back of scooters, like big rolls of carpet, big water bottles tied together and even a fridge.
We are staying at the Hong Ngoc Cochinchine Hotel which is just north of the Old Quarter. As we waited in the foyer were we given drinks that tasted like some sort of cordial.
We have two adjoining rooms, a double and a twin. A double means two twin bed frames with a large mattress over the top of them smile emoticon The mattress is feeling pretty solid so we will see how we sleep. I don't know what you would call the room style - dark wooden carved furniture. It is nice and clean and we have a balcony where we have already done lots of people watching.
After checking in we went for a walk to find a phone store that supposedly sells SIM cards and to find Reid some food. It really is a bit overwhelming at times with the cars and scooters going everywhere. Crossing the road is an adventure. We found the store and they only sell top ups and figuring that out was also an adventure. It seems like most people know about as much English as we know Vietnamese so there is lots of gesturing and pointing. So far we have found the people quite friendly though and willing to try to communicate. Note: We never did buy SIM cards - we found that wifi was everywhere and we were never far from internet if we needed it. We had downloaded offline maps which we used heavily.
We walked past a "cafe" that said "fast food" on the window and thought we might be able to find something for Reid. The guy there kept saying "coffee" but we managed to communicate that we wanted to see a menu. It was mostly drinks but there were some smoothies so Megan had a mango smoothie and Reid had a custard apple smoothie and both were quite good. They were 40000 dong each which is about $3. While we were sitting there the guy also brought out some drinks that looked like cordial, saying "beer" which confused us because he also gave it to the kids. It didn't smell like beer and Dallas thought it was some kind of tea.
We started walking again and Reid was keen to get back to the hotel, being a bit overwhelmed by it all I think. While I was people watching from the balcony I saw a lady selling bananas off a cart so I ran down and bought a bunch for 20000 dong.
Overall I feel like we are in an old Indiana Jones movie if that makes sense, with the buildings and the scooters and bikes and the crazy electrical wiring everywhere. Tomorrow we will start to see some of the sights and maybe will come across more foreigners. On our walk around the block we did not see any others and I only saw one other couple from the balcony. Note: We came across very few foreigners in the north but the numbers increased heavily as we travelled south.
Vietnam Day 2 - more Ha Noi
Today we took a 10.4 km stroll around the city. My phone congratulates me that this is my "best day ever". Go me.
You can look at photos and even videos of places like this but nothing can quite capture the feeling and atmosphere of being here and wandering the streets. Today I am very grateful for downloaded offline maps and GPS technology without which we would still be wandering aimlessly.
We started by heading for Dong Xuan Market. We thought we might have reached it a few times as the streets all around just look like one big market with everything you could possibly think of on sale. But once we reached the real market there was no mistaking it and it was unlike anything I had ever seen. 3 floors of wall to wall market stalls with barely enough room for one person to walk in between. The really strange thing was that there were people running everywhere delivering boxes of products to stores but we didn't see anyone buying anything. One lady even pushed me out of the way to stack more products while I was looking at her stall. It didn't take Reid long to get tired of that place.
There were many many many shops around the market and although many seemed to have clothes and other things at the same prices that we would pay at home, Megan found one shop with pants for 50000 dong (only a few dollars) and of course had to buy 2 pairs.
Next we walked to the Bach Ma Temple which was very ornate and was mostly built in the 18th century. It feels a bit funny going to these temples and looking around as a tourist while there are people worshiping in various spots. It looks like they bring food and other offerings to leave, including packaged food. We also saw people feeding fake US money into a fire. Not sure what that was about. (Note: found out later it is an offering)
We then walked down towards the Hoan Kiem Lake. This was quite beautiful. Along the way a lady bailed us up and when we showed some interest in the treats that she had, she started piling them into a bag and then wanted 150000 for them. We need the translation for "we know you are ripping us off but will pay you because we think you probably need it". They were actually quite delicious and kept us going as we toured the next couple of spots.
There is a temple on the Lake that we paid 30000 dong to enter (kids free). I am not sure that she believed me that Megan is only 13. There were some amazing bonsai type creations and a huge tortoise that I think was originally from the lake. There were also people worshiping in this temple.
As we walked around the lake there were a lot of people selling food and toys. We had lots of offers from guys on bikes to take us where we wanted to go. They told us it was way too far to walk.
We tried to visit a couple of museums, but being the middle of the day they were closed. A lot of places close between 11 and 1. Instead we pressed on to the Hoa Lo Prison, which was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by the Americans during the war.
This was both fascinating and sobering. It was originally built over the site of a village with temples and the story goes that the French colonialists made the village move elsewhere so they could build their prison. Many Vietnamese were imprisoned here by the French and the conditions appeared to be deplorable. It reminded me of visiting the concentration camps in Germany. Here we saw the guillotine that was used to execute prisoners, complete with a photograph of some heads which was a bit grisly.
After viewing the cells there were some rooms then that talked about the American war from the 60s-70s which I found very interesting. There was one room dedicated to photographs showing many other countries protesting American involvement. Then another room talking about the number of pilots that were shot down over Vietnam. Then one last room showing photos and videos demonstrating how well the Americans were treated in Hoa Lo. I will be interested to read up more on this after I get home.
By now we were hungry so we were on the lookout for food and a place to sit down and have a bit of a rest. Finding something to keep everyone happy is a challenge. We ended up at a place called Mealtime which looks like it is trying to imitate the look and feel of a western fast food joint. It looked clean and quiet and above all it had chips. smile emoticon Dallas had some of duck dish and the kids had some chicken and chips and with a couple of drinks and a panacotta type dessert. It was still only 189000 dong. A little respite from the busy streets was welcome.
We are now back at the hotel having a rest. Reid's cough did get worse and I have started him on the antibiotics that the Dr gave us just in case, and now Megan is looking quite unwell with a cough and possibly a mild fever. It would be nice to have a trip where no one gets sick but we will press on. Our official tour starts tomorrow night and it will be good to be able to have a guide that we can ask questions of. I think we are doing OK but it is a struggle at times. It is a great lesson in how it must feel for those that come to Australia not being able to speak much or any English.
As I sit here writing I can hear the never ending traffic outside. I think they honk their horns more than the New Yorkers did. If you are still reading you are probably my mum so I will also say that except for the nutty traffic we feel quite safe and have not had any of the issues that we were warned about. My biggest issue right now is that I think I might need a foot massage.
Note from Dallas: Dinner day 2. 5spices reataurant Hanoi. Very nice. 518000d. About A$38 for the 4 of us. They had josh groban and michael buble christmas music playing, great service and their English was pretty good. Cassie had papaya salad, reid spring rolls which would be the nicest I've ever eaten (had to help reid of course), megan had roast chicken with coconut sauce, I had chicken thigh with lemongrass cooked in a banana leaf. All round very good. Found the restaurant on trip advisor.
Vietnam day 3 - Ha Noi
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was how an old lady walked right up to Reid and stroked his face and said something. I assume it was something about his looks. Those of you who know Reid will know how much he enjoyed that and could imagine the look of disgust on his face. (Note: this happened a LOT through the trip - many older ladies expressed interest in him. Towards the end of the trip one lady said something about him being tall compared to a Vietnamese 11 year old so perhaps that was it)
I am very proud of him actually as he handled yesterday better than the first day. We talked in the morning about how it is overwhelming but that we would try to take breaks away from the traffic and noise. At dinner last night he even tasted my papaya salad and Megan's coconut chicken and discovered that he liked the chicken.
Another thing that occurred to me this morning as I read about yet another traffic standstill on the Pacific highway is that we have not seen a single traffic jam here, despite the massive number of vehicles on the road. There is something to be said for the high usage of scooters and motorbikes, even if you do have to spend all day picking your way around the thousands of bikes parked on the footpaths. We have also not seen a single accident. (yet - we saw a couple later on)
Today we plan another walking loop of the city, including Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum (with his embalmed body) and museum, the military history museum and the Imperial Citadel.
.......
Today we smashed our best ever record and clocked up 18.6 km of walking.
Dallas says he will give me a foot massage but I don't think I will hold him to that as he is a bit under the weather. The kids are still coughing away in the next room. I think I need to ask for my own room to get away from the sick people and avoid the inevitable!
We had the buffet breakfast in the hotel again. It is a mixture of western and eastern options. Rice gruel seems to be a staple and Megan tried it but it didn't have a lot of taste. I think you are supposed to add more stuff on top of it. They had two small canisters of cereal with a box of long life milk. I presume there are not a lot of cows locally! One is some sort of corn flakes and the other is cocoa pops. There are various stir fry type dishes, bacon and some small sausages and they will make you scrambled eggs or an omelette. There is fresh fruit and then an array of little pastries and little cups of yoghurt.
We headed off early towards the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We approached it from the direction of our hotel and could see the line to get in and walked towards it only to be waved off by a guard and had to walk all the way around the entire complex to find the actual entrance. I though we would never find it.
You go through security with bag scanners and metal detectors and then have to check your bag instead of taking it with you. They said we had to pick up the bag by 10:30 and it was about 8:45 at the time. After that you start walking through a series of covered walkways. As you approach the mausoleum there are a number of guards in white uniforms, some holding rifles with bayonets. They instruct people to remove hats and as you enter the building, to be silent. There are signs everywhere saying no phones or cameras.
We walked up some stairs after entering and then came into the chamber holding Ho Chi Minh's body. He is inside a glass case and the walkway is raised so that you walk around three sides of it. The room is darkened and the case is lit up. There are four guards standing at the corners of the case. He looks quite good. I understand from my reading that he is removed for a couple of months every year to be restored again.
There is something quite amazing about feeling the reverence that the people have for this man. In other photos and documents we have seen him frequently called Uncle Ho.
After this we really wanted to go to the Ho Chi Minh Museum but it seemed that the only way to get there was to go through the Presidential Palace site which was a separate small entrance fee. There was a sign pointing to the museum but on attempting to follow it a guard made it clear that we must not go that way.
In the Presidential Palace complex we saw the garage of his cars and the small stilted house where he slept and worked. As we were walking through this complex we realised that some young Japanese tourists were pointing at Megan and giggling. They ended up taking photos with her. I think they were interested that she was so tall. Then one of them grabbed Reid and took photos with him too. He was a good sport about it smile emoticon
We eventually found the museum and it too was very interesting. One of the most interesting parts though was that a large group of soldiers was going through at the same time and they also found Megan quite intriguing. I think they may have been cadets of some sort as they all looked quite young. Many of them said hello or xin chao to her as we walked past them. I doubt they realised she is only 13 as she was taller than all of them.
As we visited the bathrooms on the way out, Megan and I were struggling to find a stall that contained toilet paper, only to realise that the ladies behind us in the line were all holding a wad of toilet paper. There was one roll of toilet paper attached to the wall outside the entrance to the toilet and you had to collect some on the way in. Too bad if you had issues while in there and needed more! (Note - if you are going to Vietnam take toilet paper and carry it around with you everywhere - it was usually easy to FIND a toilet as they were mostly labelled as "WC" - Water Closet, but many did not have paper)
We collected our bag just on 10:30 and were ready to continue on. We must have been in a much more touristy area today as we were constantly asked by guys on bikes and scooters if we wanted a ride. Not on your life. We didn't actually see a lot of tourists walking like we were, perhaps they are mostly on tours. The locals don't even seem to walk much, they all seem to get around on their scooters or bikes.
From the Ho Chi Minh complex we headed towards the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. We reached the spot on the map where we thought it should be and all we could see was a walled enclosure on the right with lots of old buildings. We figured that must be it and started looking for the entrance. It was a repeat of the earlier HCM entrance hunt and we had to walk all around the entire complex to find the entrance. There was a sign at one point saying the entrance was 100m away. They must measure metres differently here. In the process we managed to walk right past the Fine Arts Museum without seeing it and when we reached "the entrance" we found we were actually at the Temple of Literature. They aren't big on tourist friendly signage here.
But all good as that was going to be our next stop anyway. This was built a thousand years ago as a University. Originally only the rich could attend but later others were allowed in. There are stellae showing the names of the graduates and a large statue of Confucius and four of his disciples. Again here I felt weird being a tourist and looking around while people were worshiping at these statues. There was also a large crane like statue and people appeared to be doing some sort of ritual where they rubbed the belly and then the legs. They were taking photos of each other doing it.
By this stage Dallas was feeling pretty awful. He thinks it is perhaps something he ate. I hope so because the alternative is something contagious. We found a little cafe up the street where Megan had a baguette and I had a croissant and Dallas was able to get a juice down. Despite them having ham and cheese sandwiches on offer Reid refused to order anything because he had seen the pizza next door! He had a milkshake and we said we would go back after the Fine Arts Museum, which by now we realised we had walked right past.
I really enjoyed the fine arts museum. As I said to Megan, art can tell you a lot about the culture and history of a place. Often it is only through artwork that we know some parts of history. In this case the more modern artwork was heavily influenced by the various conflicts, especially with the French and the Americans. My favourite pieces were the lacquer engravings, where they started with a black surface and the cut in the design and added colour.
By now it was after 1 and the Military History Museum would be open again (obligatory midday shutdown). However we had promised Reid pizza so we went back across the road for that. The pizza place was just a lady with a tiny stand and some photos of pizza. I wasn't holding my breath but hoped for the best and ordered a Hawaiian. She told us to follow her upstairs and we went up these tiny winding stairs to an upstairs room with low tables that you sit around on the floor. Dallas took one look and said he would go get a juice next door and wait for us there. When the pizza arrived she had actually made us two pizzas. The second was some kind of sausage (I probably don't want to know) and capsicum. It was actually delicious and very fresh.
We were again confused getting to the Military History Museum because the front looked nothing like the photo, but it was definitely across from a giant statue of Lenin and had a tank and bomber plane out the front. There were rooms in here dedicated to the various conflicts and wars and there was a large tower that was about 1000 years old that we explored. They have a large collection of planes and missile launchers as well as the wreckage of a downed plane. While we were there a group of children came through obviously on a school excursion. They could not have been more than about 4 years old and were all wearing little orange tracksuits. Very cute. I did note both here and earlier when we saw school groups going through the HCM museum that they appeared to be going through very fast and not doing much explaining of what they were seeing. The main goal for the four year olds seemed to be to get their photo in front of as many exhibits as possible.
Just because we weren't quite tired enough, we stopped at the Imperial Citadel on the way back to the hotel. I can't remember the exact age but they are doing archaeological digs there and there were things from the 5th century on display. A group was doing wedding photos on the front lawn which appeared to involve a giant game of tug of war.
We arrived back at the hotel at 4:30 totally exhausted but I am pretty sure that we have seen all of the vital stuff! Anyone else going to Vietnam? I can give you my crazy Ha Noi in two days and 30km of walking itinerary smile emoticon Bring good sneakers.
After a quick rest we met up with our tour guide Bao and the other family on our tour - Matthew, Rachael, Emaleigh and James. They are from Sydney and seem nice. Their kids are a older than ours - James is almost 16 and Emaleigh is 20 or 21, can't remember exactly. After a welcome meeting we went to dinner together. Again I was proud of Reid as he tried a beef noodle soup. He didn't eat a lot of it but trying it was a good start. Megan has been keen to try some new things and has picked some winners. The food was all delicious but we were very glad to get back to the hotel and get to bed. Hopefully everyone wakes up healthier tomorrow.
Vietnam day 4 - Ha Noi
Today was the first day with our tour guide. His name is Bao and he lives in the suburbs of Hanoi and has two small children. It must be hard being away on tours for two weeks at a time.
We started with breakfast at a restaurant called KOTO. If I remember correctly this stands for Know One Teach One. It is a foundation that works to help street kids. They train young people to work in hospitality and the restaurant is where they do it. It was a fabulous breakfast so they are training them well.
We then went to the Temple of Literature. We had been there yesterday but missed an entire section and our tour guide was able to provide much more detailed information. It pays to take a local. He talked about how the entire back section was bulldozed by the French to make room for their troops and was rebuilt only recently.
After that we headed to the Ho Chi Minh complex. We also went there yesterday but apparently the mausoleum is closed on Fridays so we were glad to have done that part. Then it turned out that they had inexplicably closed the Presidential Palace section, so lucky we saw that yesterday. Bao took us through a couple of pagodas that we totally missed yesterday and talked about the different types of Buddhas that are seen in pagodas etc. He took us through the museum and talked a lot about Ho Chi Minh and how he wanted to free his people from the French but saw that so many had failed, so he spent a long time abroad to learn about the world so that he could return and liberate his people. He said that the history of Vietnam is "complicated". The Japanese kicked the French out but then the French came back and then they reached a point where the French left but under the Geneva convention they had to have an election within two years. Before this time the US had been supporting Ho Chi Minh to get rid of the French but then didn't want him elected because of his Communist ideology and that is apparently the root of the American war as they call it here. Something along those lines, and the Russians were in there too somewhere. He said that Vietnam has natural resources like tin and aluminium which were desirable to other countries as well as a large population to subjugate as slaves. It is clear that feelings about this relatively recent history run deep and for good reason.
With the rest of the complex closed we agreed to meet again later and had the afternoon to ourselves. We walked through the old quarter where some ladies tried very hard to sell Megan more clothes. We stopped at KFC for lunch and found that they have an adapted menu. I had some chicken with rice. They still have popcorn chicken which the kids opted for. They have Milo on tap for 20000 dong which they serve in real glasses. The food all came out on proper plates with silverware. We also tried some egg tarts which turned out to be like little custard tarts and were very yummy.
Megan was dragging by mid-afternoon so we came back to rest for a bit. I have started her on antibiotics too. I don't think the air quality here is doing much for her recovery or her lungs. Reid on the other hand is looking much better and barely coughing. Hopefully she responds to the meds as quickly as he did. I am glad that his cough started before we left so I have a good supply of pills to use for them both.
We met up with the other family and Bao at 4:30 to look for some street food before attending the water puppets show. He first took us to try Bahn Mi. This is essentially a baguette with shredded meat and spices inside. It was fantastic. Reid didn't like his so I had to eat two.
Next we tried Bahn Cuon. We actually watched the lady make rice wraps with chopsticks on a big steel plate, and they then added a mix of pork and mushrooms. Finally they sprinkle it with dried onions and dried shrimp. This was also delicious.
Our last stop for the day was the water puppet theatre. I was wondering how it worked before seeing it. Reid was imagining them scuba diving down there. The puppeteers stand behind a screen and work the puppets in the water using long poles. It must be hard work and was quite clever. The dialogue was all in Vietnamese so we were a little lost but the pamphlet gave us the gist of the story.
Tomorrow we go by bus to Ha Long Bay for a night on the boat. I am looking forward to getting out of the city and hopefully getting to some cleaner air.
Vietnam day 5 - Ha Long Bay
It was an early start today as we had to be packed and ready to leave by 7:30 after having breakfast at the hotel. We left our main luggage in our rooms to be stored away and packed a day pack for our trip to Ha Long Bay.
The bus ride to Ha Long Bay is four hours long. I don't remember there being a break in the houses and buildings the entire way. The buildings are so strange to us, half painted, some half built, some look half demolished. We figured out the reason for the skinny buildings - it is to do with taxes being levied based on the frontage of the building. That reminds me that yesterday we saw a building near the Ho Chi Minh complex and Bao told us that they had built it five levels higher than it was supposed to be, so now they are being made to pull down the top five levels.
Most of the ride we saw a mix of farmland and buildings right next to each other, with one set of rice paddies being right in the middle of an enormous loop of the highway. We also saw a massive shopping mall and a number of factories. Bao pointed out the words that mean dog meat and we then saw those regularly on the signs at roadside food stands.
At the beginning of the trip Bao gave us a lengthy booklet containing a lot of detail about Vietnamese history and in particular the history since the French colonized the country. I spent most of the drive reading it. I feel like I was very ignorant of the history of this country, even after doing some reading in preparation for coming. The things these people have endured in the last 100 years are atrocious. Even worse is the fact that it is not over, with people still being killed by unexploded ordnance, families still enduring the effects of agent orange and areas that still will not regrow after being bombarded by chemical warfare 40 years ago.
We stopped halfway at a ceramics company where we saw how they make ceramic pots from beginning to end. We even saw the women hand painting them. They appear to have deals with the tour companies as they had free tea laid out. We purchased a small souvenir to take home and hope it makes it.
As we approached Ha Long Bay we could see the islands start to appear. Ha Long Bay is made up of thousands of limestone islands. When it is hazy like today they look very mysterious. We were excited to get on our boat and to find that the cabins are actually quite nice. The bathroom is very basic but is clean!
If Ha Noi felt like an Indiana Jones movie, cruising into Ha Long Bay reminded me of a Bond movie, and funnily enough Bao told us later that Tomorrow Never Dies was originally supposed to film here.
We cruised for about half an hour before it was time to eat lunch. They certainly know how to lay on the food. Unfortunately most of it was not to Reid's liking but he found enough to eat. They had prawns and clams, spring rolls and fish cakes, and then a couple of stir fry dishes with rice. For dessert they brought out some watermelon. Everything was beautifully presented. Drinks were not included in the ticket and have been about 40000 to 60000 dong each, so just a few dollars for smoothies and mocktails. Megan does love a virgin pina colada.
Mid afternoon we stopped and Bao said we were going to visit a cave. "Cave" does not do it justice. It was called Hang Sung Sot. This was a series of massive caverns inside one of the islands with a winding walkway built through them. I have never seen anything like it. Of course at the other end there were the stalls of souvenirs and food and Reid would have loved a fanta but sadly I had brought no money.
smile emoticon
From the cave we went a little further and the stopped and a tender boat came to get us so we could go kayaking. They have a pontoon set up in the middle of these islands with piles of kayaks there. They gave us life jackets and oars and put us in two to a kayak. Reid and I were in the first one and as soon as he sat down the life jacket, which was one size fits all, promptly hit the seat and lifted itself up over his head. He had a lovely view out the armpit of the jacket. smile emoticon With a bit of rearranging and the guy realising that he had forgotten to put the plug back in and fixing that, we were on our way.
As we headed out some girls told us that they had seen some monkeys by going through to the other side of the cave that we could see. That sounded pretty awesome so we paddled into the cave and out the other side. The monkeys were climbing all over the cliff face and seemed quite unconcerned that we were only a few metres away.
Paddling with Reid was an experience. He would try to go very fast and end up splashing water all over me which was not pleasant because it was cold! Then I had him stop paddling and he would drag his oar in the water.
After kayaking we returned to the boat just in time to see the sun go down. Before dinner we sat on the top deck for a while and soaked in the atmosphere. Again you can see photos and videos but being here is different. Even though there are hundreds of boats they are all spread out and it is very quiet and there is a feeling of tranquility and peace just floating among the islands.
Dinner was equally spectacular and just as full of seafood. This time Reid decided the squid cakes were ok (of all things) and ate a bunch of those. They had a very nice chicken curry as well as prawns, oysters, some kind of local shrimp, papaya salad, fish and fried cabbage. Dessert was pineapple. (Dessert is typically fruit - a habit that I quite enjoyed)
We have retired to our cabins to turn on the heaters because it is cold!!!! The blankets are quite thin like in the hotel so I have taken the one off the spare bed to use as well as mine. They must source their mattresses from the same hard mattress company as the hotel.
In our daily health update, Dallas is fine, Reid is better, but Megan sounds terrible. I hope the antibiotics work. Last night she was coughing all night and we were very worried about her, to the point where Dallas went to check that she was still breathing. She woke feeling fine and said she didn't know she had been coughing all night. As the day went on she got worn out though, particularly climbing heaps of stairs at the cave. Tonight she seems to have picked up again.
Side note
Megan and I started making a list of the things we have seen happening on footpaths in Ha Noi that are different to home.
Grey hair plucking - we thought they were picking nits out but we asked our guide why two ladies were picking at another lady's hair and he said they were pulling out grey hairs. I'm sure at some point this ceases to be an effective strategy in the war against grey.
Barber shops - looks like you just set up a chair on the path and stick a mirror on the wall or fence and start trimming hair. Another service that they appear to offer is ear cleaning, which involves a long skewer like a kebab skewer. Looks a bit daring to me.
Rubbish - I don't know if it is at set spots or just where ever but people make little piles of rubbish at the edge of the footpaths. I have seen people walking along just drop bits of rubbish in these piles. Later I saw a woman with a big bin going along picking up the rubbish and putting it in her bin.
Badminton - we had seen lines painted on the areas where there are wide paths but didn't realise that it was for badminton until we saw a bunch of people playing.
Scooter parking - the majority of the footpath appears to be reserved for scooter parking. Often there will be a line painted "scooter distance " from the shop front. Once we saw a big platter filled with scooter keys, maybe in case one had to be moved? The other thing you will often see is people riding scooters in and out of shops so there are ramps, sometimes metal ones and sometimes just a piece of wood.
Scooter and bike repairs - they will have all of their tools all laid out on a cloth or board and there will be scooter parts and nuts and bolts all over the path.
Shoes at shop entrances - we didn't see this at all shops and I don't know what the criteria is but at many shops there was a pile of shoes at the entrance.
Cooking fires - we would often see people cooking over a little fire right there on the path, and entire families sitting down eating.
To go along with the cooking we often saw women throwing cooking water out onto the street. At least I hope it was cooking water.
Checkers - seems to be a popular game and we walked past many groups of men playing.
Tiny plastic chairs and tables - and I do mean tiny. At lunch time these are all filled with people, including girls that look very dressed up. Many people seem to sit around drinking the yellow Vietnamese tea.
Shoe cleaning - every morning opposite our hotel a man would come out with a basket of shoes and clean them all on the footpath.
Gardens - I did not see this right in Ha Noi but as I sit on the bus writing this I have seen little garden plots in the middle if the paths out the front of buildings. The plants looked like different varieties of cabbage.
Dogs - a lot of people seem to have tiny dogs, often with coats on. I did see one doberman and one guy brought a husky put of a shop, presumably to take it for a walk.
Fruit and veg sellers - these people are often walking around with a rod across their shoulders and baskets hanging from both ends of the rod, or they are pushing a bike with a big basket on the back. They will often stop on the corners.
Food vendors - especially in the evening - they come out with their carts.
Piles of electrical wires - often connected to the electrical poles and with exposed ends. I can only hope they are not live.
Money changers - didn't visit any of those.
Weddings - saw a tent put up right out over the footpath.
Couch repairs
With all of this happening on the footpath you can see how going for a walk can be quite the adventure. You have to spend a lot of time walking on the road where you then have to contend with a sea of scooters and cars.
VIETNAM Day 6 - Ha Long Bay
I slept quite well despite the very hard mattress. The bay is so calm that it didn't really feel like we were sleeping on water. I went up to the deck and Megan and I watched the sunrise while chatting to James from the other family on our tour. It was again spectacular and photos do not do it justice.
Breakfast was another delicious meal of multiple courses. They had muffins and bananas and yoghurt on the table as we sat down, and then added dragonfruit and toast, then fried eggs and bacon and even a beef stew.
After breakfast the chef came up to give us a lesson in how he creates "nets" made out of carrot to drape over fish (this was something we expressed amazement about last night).
We see a lot of fishermen rowing their boats with their feet and thought there must be some traditional reason for it. Instead Bao tells us this is so they can use their mobile phones smile emoticon
We spent the morning cruising further around the bay and then returned to the docks and boarded our mini bus which has a 4G wifi hotspot.
We stopped after a couple of hours at the Hong Ngoc center, which is a social enterprise that was started to help the disabled children of war veterans, by war veterans, and has now expanded to employ all people with disabilities. They train people to create all sorts of artworks including embroidered art, lacquer works, sculptures and clothing. We had lunch there, where Reid was excited to find that American Hotdogs were on the menu.
Once we got back on the bus for the remainder of the trip our guide Bao serenaded us with his Vietnamese flutes, made out of bamboo.
We returned to Ha Noi where we had access to day rooms at the hotel before it was time to go to the train station. We cleaned up and repacked and went out to get some supplies for the overnight train to Hue. We picked up some milo poppers and snacks from the tiny convenience store around the corner. We also went to the bakery to get some danishes for breakfast.
Bao had a guy come to the hotel with a takeaway menu from which we ordered dinner, with the promise that it would be delivered to the train station just before we left.
At 6:30 we met in the lobby and headed to the train station. The entrance to the train carriage was very narrow and you have to get around a couple of corners to get in, with a pack on your back and dragging your duffle bag. The corridor is also extremely narrow. The compartment is just big enough for two double bunks with about a metre between them. The beds are hard but really no worse than the hotel. The top bunk bent a little when Megan got up there so I think I would be nervous if I was sleeping under a large adult.
Each bed is covered in a sheet and has a pillow and quilt. The quilt is warmer and thicker than anything we have had so far. There is a small table coming out from under the window with two power points underneath. All of the power points that we have come across so far have taken the plug with the two round prongs. My research prior to the trip suggested that we may find multiple types of plugs here. (Note - the two round prong adapters worked everywhere that we went)
Bao came in with our dinner and sat down to eat with us. He has been put in another cabin with other travellers not in our group as the other family also has 4 people. He told us he went to University and studied culture. He has been a tour guide for about seven years. He is very good at it.
While we were eating Megan spotted a cockroach running across the underside of Reid's bed, right above my head. I dispatched it with my shoe. Shortly after that Megan found another one munching on her donut that she had left temporarily on the shelf above her bed. We promptly instituted a "no food on the bunks" policy and realised our cabin was even more crowded than we first thought. Reid is not fond of bugs and has spent the last half hour beating the shelf with his shoe.
Bao told us that the train only stops for five minutes in Hue so we have to get off quite quickly which will be a challenge with the narrow corridors and our bags. Reid is quite concerned about this and has told everyone that they have to be ready early.
A girl just knocked on the door selling steamed buns for 15000 dong. Apparently they do sell food in the first carriage (we are in carriage 10) but Bao said we are better off staying here as it is cleaner. They must have extra friendly cockroaches up there. He said sometimes they get mice on the train too. Hopefully not today. Soon we will brave the bathroom and turn in for the night.
Before we went to the bathroom I said to Dallas that it couldn't be any worse than the ones we have already been to. I was wrong. This is the first stop but it already reeks and there is water everywhere. We used the last of the toilet paper and we don't expect any more to be added so good thing I have started carrying a roll in my back pack. Funnily enough they have invested in an automatic flush in one of the grossest toilets I have seen. But at least there is one I suppose!
From Dallas: Finished the boat ride through Halong bay this morning. Today is day 6. I will add that Halong bay is an incredible place. Kayaking through a cave into a beautiful cove watching monkeys climb and jump around the cliffs and trees was a great experience. The limestone islands (mountains) were spectacular and the water a nice green colour. If it was summer i would have been keen to swim. The boat was nice and food excellent. I have such admiration and respect for the people here as I continue to read and learn of their history and observe their way of life. Technology hasn't changed a lot of the culture here although we found it amusing that a guy was rowing a small boat out in Halong bay with his feet so he could use his mobile phone with his hands. There is a mobile phone tower in the middle of Halong bay on an island about 10km off the coast and the locals all love their phones. I will post photos of Halong bay boat trip in a separate post.
Vietnam day 7 - Hue
It was a long night on the train. The mattresses were hard and I woke up quite a few times. There were about ten stops along the way as well. There were no more creepy crawly friends though thankfully.
I gave up on sleep at about 5am and by about 5:30 I think we were all up. The kids read for a bit and we had our bakery treats. Food carts went past several times with drinks and snacks like potato chips as well as tea and coffee. We were getting packed up ready to get off when Bao told us we were still about an hour away so we just watched the scenery. It was interesting to finally see some countryside. We saw lots of cows and water buffalo. Through the country the houses are not built up as high and are just small homes. The conditions still look quite rough compared to what we are used to.
At 8:30 it was time to be ready to disembark and Reid was in the corridor waiting. He was still very concerned that five minutes was not going to be long enough to get off.
As we got off the train there were quite a few ladies with stalls selling snack food and quite a few men outside seeking those that needed transportation. Our bus was waiting and we headed off to the hotel.
We are staying at the Thanh Lich hotel. It is very nice and probably a step up from the Ha Noi hotel. The downside is that there is no safe so I have to carry everything jmportant on me. It is only for one more day though. One thing I noticed in the hotels is that they seem to just keep re-filling the shampoo and soap containers - the writing on the ones here had worn off . They both contained a green liquid that looked identical to me.
We stopped in for 45 minutes for a welcome shower before heading out again to yet another restaurant. I am not sure why I thought I would not eat a lot here. All we seem to do is eat! I ordered an omelette with bread which I assumed would be an omelette on toast. The bread turned out to be a huge baguette!
After brunch we went to visit the Imperial Citadel which includes the Forbidden or Purple City. It began construction in 1802 by the Nguyen dynasty and took 30 years to build. It essentially was the entire town of Hue at that time, with the normal people inside the outer walls, the government inside an inner citadel, and an exclusive central citadel for the royal family. Much of it was destroyed during the war.
There are all sorts of buildings, from residences to the treasury to temples to the royal library to the building where they taught arts and music.
After that we drove about 20 mins out of town to the tomb of the Emperor Thieu Tri. Bao told us that it was tradition for an emperor to plan and build his tomb before he died, and also to have a large tomb, and kill those who laid the body to rest so that no-one actually knew exactly where the body was. We should have taken the bug spray with us as we did a lot of traipsing through the forest.
Hue is very damp and there was a very fine mist of rain through the day, but not enough that we needed jackets. Bao said that winter is the rainy season and sometimes it rains for a few weeks on end. The dampness results in a lot of moss which was evident on the tombs. Like Ha Noi it is overcast and cloudy all of the time. It is a bit warmer here though. Hue is also smaller than Ha Noi and definitely seems a lot calmer on the streets.
Megan was really dragging today. She really needs to be able to sleep well at night to recover but last night it just didn't happen. We are having a couple of hours of rest now before going to the home of a local family for dinner. Now this is going to be interesting, for Reid and for me. The boys went up to check out the pool but it was icy so instead Reid is having some laptop down time before we go out.
I did some laundry the old fashioned way - in the bathtub - because the hotel charges per item of clothing. Dallas has just come back from a walk having found a lady that does it for 40000 dong per kilo right next to the hotel, so we will get the rest of it done there.
We are back from dinner now. What a feed! We travelled by taxi and the driver honked his horn most of the way. When we arrived at the house we met our host and his mother in law Bao said he doesn't know her real name and out of respect elderly women are called "ba". She sat with us for a while and answered questions through Bao. She also rolled up the betelnut with some leaves and white powder for the adventurous to try. It turns your mouth red. The family has lived in the house for over 100 years and had bunkers in the front yard during the war.
After a while we were taken to the kitchen where we saw all of the ingredients prepared and ready to cook. They had the front room prepared with low-ish tables and after we sat down the food started coming. Pumpkin soup was the first course but it had a very nutty taste as it contained ground up peanuts. Delicious. I will try to remember the rest. Spring rolls. Jackfruit stir fry - my favourite. Pork and tofu caramelised in a clay pot with rice. Tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms and pork. Beef and starfruit soup. Morning glory greens. French fries. And pineapple to finish off. Every time I thought we were done another dish came out. I was so nervous about this dinner thinking that we would get some local delicacies that I wouldn't be able to stomach but it was fabulous. This meal was 200000 dong per person.
When we got back to the hotel we all tried to get in the elevator but it started beeping at us so we obviously ate way too much.
Vietnam day 8 - Hue
At 7am this morning Dallas collected our laundry from the lady next to the hotel. It smelled nice and was all folded nicely. Either our children put odd socks in the bag or even Vietnamese washing machines eat socks. I know which one my money is on.
The breakfast buffet in the hotel looked amazing but didn't actually contain a lot of variety. Sadly for Reid there were no cocoa pops here. The banana pancakes and fried banana were both delicious though and they would make an omelette if you asked. There were also lolly jars on the table and packets of chocolate marshmallow biscuits which was a bit odd. Of course Reid had to have one and slip a few lollies into his pockets for later. It just could have used some yoghurt or something like that. I would also love some fresh orange juice. The "orange juice" at the hotels so far has been cordial.
We met Bao in the lobby at 8:30 ready for our day. We had all agreed to pay an extra $9 each to have the bus for longer and see some extra sights, which turned out to be well worth it.
First stop was a village just outside Hue where we walked through a small market. There were all sorts of fruits and vegetables as well as women chopping up ducks on benches right there. There were chickens and ducks in cages and baskets of baby ducks. One girl was cooking popcorn and the kids got a bag each for 5000 dong. One lady came and started talking to us and we thought she was being friendly but it was soon evident that she just wanted to lure us to her shop. A lot of the older ladies here seem to find Reid interesting for some reason. They also have a bridge there that was built in 1776. They had flood markers next to the river showing two floods from the 90s reaching 3m and 2m but Bao said there have been many more as they often get storms and typhoons here. Their floods are like ours, where the mud and silt gets into everything.
It is definitely the wet season and just outside Hue the fields are all inundated. The road is built up over the water so we would be driving along a road that is only wide enough for one car and scooters would still be passing with only barely enough room to avoid going straight in the water.
From the village we went back through the town and boarded the dragon boat on the Perfume River to go to the Thien Mu Pagoda. This sounds a lot more exotic than it actually is. The river looks a lot like the Brisbane River - very silty. The boat has dragon heads coming off the front and the sides are decorated but it is really just a big barge with enclosed front and sides and plastic chairs to sit on as you go. It was fun but very noisy. As always there were girls on the boat trying to sell souvenirs.
The pagoda was beautiful. It is a Buddhist pagoda. Bao said 70% of the population is Buddhist and that Hue has the strongest concentration of Buddhists. While all of the tourists are wandering around, the monks are inside worshiping and studying. I think he said this one dated back to the 1600s. There is a pond containing catfish where Bao showed the kids how to lure the catfish to the top with food like mandarins and the kids had a great time feeding the catfish and watching their whiskers poke up through the water.
At this pagoda we also saw an old car. This is the car driven by the monk who drove into town and self immolated in protest against the oppression of Buddhism at the time. That was quite sobering to see.
We walked back to our boat and they took us a bit further up the river where we got off again and Bao led us through some alleyways and up behind some houses where we suddenly came across an old stone arena from 1830. This is the arena where they used to fight tigers against elephants for entertainment. Bao said sometimes they would cut the claws of the tigers first if they looked too dangerous. The elephants usually won. We were able to go and crawl in through the tiger tunnels into the cells where they held them. You could see the claw scratches all over the walls. Reid had been hoping to see real tigers and elephants fighting but the scratches on the walls were pretty awe inspiring.
The next stop was a village that makes incense sticks and the conical hats. We saw piles of the colourful bamboo incense sticks drying, and then watched a lady rolling the incense onto the stick. The one she was doing smelled like cinnamon. Megan was able to have a turn at making her own incense stick. Next we watched a lady making the conical hats and saw how they can actually make it so that you see picture outlines when you hold the hat up to the light.
The last sightseeing stop was to some old American bunkers from the war that overlook the Perfume River. The view is spectacular but it is overshadowed by the memories of violence that this forest must hold.
For lunch Bao took us to a vegetarian restaurant that is run by nuns that does a set menu for 120000 per person. The profits go to an orphanage that they also run. We weren't sure what the food would be as vegetarian at home usually means a lot of beans and lentils and chickpeas which aren't my favourite but we should know by now to trust Bao. Again I have to try to remember all of the courses. They started with some sort of fig mixture on crackers that looked like prawn crackers but were made from rice. Then there was a noodle soup. Then some saffron noodles with fried onion and vegetables, also delicious. There were battered oyster mushrooms. Eggplant in some sort of amazing sauce with rice. Sliced fried potatoes. Something that they they call a pancake with vegetables in it. I am sure I have missed something but at that point Megan threw up on the floor in between her chair and Reid's. She had been feeling quite good right up to the bunkers and then was not feeling well but I thought she probably just needed to sit down and eat something. I also discovered this morning a stash of pills that I had given her that she had not taken. I have threatened to take her to a Vietnamese hospital if she does not cooperate in her recovery. I started cleaning it up with napkins but one of the employees came and took over and mopped up while I washed off her jacket sleeves. Of course this was all going on in front of the other family and I think Rachael (the mum) gave her some wipes and tissues while I was cleaning up her jacket. Bon appetit everyone.
After that thankfully it was time to return to the hotel. Megan is struggling to swallow the antibiotics so I broke them into some milo for her and she got them down. I have just checked on her again and her fever is back so forced a couple more panadol into her. Surely it can't go on too much longer. She seems to wake up feeling great and then by the afternoon has had enough again. She hasn't vomited again so I hope it was not gastro or food related.
Dallas has taken Reid to get yet another smoothie. They came back ten minutes later after they realised that they did not take any money with them. Reid is subsisting on smoothies and the odd serve of hot chips some days. He does actually try a lot of the dishes as long as I reassure him that they are not spicy so this is a big achievement for him.
Dallas and Reid will go out to dinner with the rest of them tonight and I will keep Megan in bed to rest. I could actually use a break from the massive amounts if food. I am sure more food photos will be forthcoming. I really did not think that I would eat a lot here but Bao certainly seems to know where to find excellent food. Maybe I should use my free time this evening in the hotel gym (which is a treadmill, a bike and an elliptical).
Tomorrow we head to Hoi An.
Vietnam day 9 - Hoi An
Another two for the footpath list - stands for ponchos and scooter helmets outside the hotel. And a guy making coffins on the footpath.
They had bacon at breakfast this morning so Reid stocked up for the day. Megan seemed a bit better. She is actually taking her meds now, mixed with milo. She put on some shorts that she hasn't worn since we left home and I would swear she has lost weight. We learned from Bao that you can get most medication here without a prescription so that could prove helpful.
We hopped on the bus at 8am and started heading towards Hoi An. The first stop along the way was about 1.5 hours in, on a lagoon where they do oyster farming. There was a cafe there and they were waiting for us. There were at least ten people in this one shop trying to sell souvenirs, snacks, drinks, coffee, paintings and clothes. I asked Bao why they hover and follow you around the shop and he said it is in case you have questions or need help. To us it comes across pushy. Reid bought a drink and got another cheek rub along with it. The lady wanted to know how old he is. He is dealing with the unwanted touching well.
The next stop was on the top of Hai Van pass in the mountains before Da Nang. There were shops here too and they were beyond pushy. As soon as we got off the bus we had several women around us telling us they had a free toilet to get us into their shops. We made it through them to get across the road and climb the hill where there are bunkers from the American war and also old archways from the old road that came through the pass in the 19th century. Although we were at the top of the mountain it was very foggy and misty so we could see much. At times we couldn't even see the bus any more but when we could we saw that there were several ladies still waiting around the bus for us to come back. As we returned to the bus they started up again and one lady actually followed Rachael and blocked her from getting to the bus, holding a little carved pig, saying 100000, 100000.
After Hai Van pass the fog started to clear and as we came down into Da Nang we actually saw the sun come out over the coastline. The beach looked quite inviting. Da Nang appears to be like many seaside towns at home, being built up for the tourists. The main road that winds along the coastline has kilometres of pruned and shaped trees so it looks like an effort is made to make the town look appealing. It is a very large city with a lot of high rises. There is a lot of development with many modern looking resorts. Bao says it is a very desirable place to live. It was here that the Americans made a large base of operations through the war and built hospitals and even an entertainment centre here. We stopped at what the Americans used to call China Beach which was beautiful but there are no swimming signs everywhere as the current is too dangerous in winter. The kids all ripped off their shoes and socks to have a little fun in the water. This beach is where the first American troops landed. On the way through town we passed the old airport and could see the old aircraft hangars from the war. The airport was used to store tanks and chemicals and parts of it are still polluted today.
Random note, I forgot to record the other day that Bao said the average salary is about $2200 a year here.
We arrived at our hotel at lunch time, or should I say RESORT?? The accommodation level of this tour has been quite nice but not what you would call resort standard. The Hoi An Silk Village resort was only finished two months ago and this is the first time Bao has had a group come here. It is amazing. The rooms are stunning. The kids have one of those fun outdoor showers in their room. Ours is upstairs with a balcony. The beds are soft and the rooms are huge.
I did another milo antibiotic milkshake plus panadol for megan and then we were back into taxis to the Old Town. We had another fantastic restaurant and then Bao took us on a walking tour of the old town. We saw a temple and a house that was built 200 years ago. It has withstood multiple floods every year due to the marble foundations and ironwood pillars. We saw the process of making silk including the silkworms and how they sew the embroidered pictures and make woven mats. We saw the Japanese covered bridge. Bao pointed out a couple of reputable tailors.
After the walking tour we returned to the tailor where Dallas was measured for a suit and shirts and Megan found a skirt that she loved. I was measured for a free shirt because of some special.
We then wandered through the old town looking at the various shops and picked up a few small gifts for family. Reid had picked up this annoying little rubber band powered flying toy and in one shop the owner had a little boy who must have been maybe 2 or 3 that saw it and was crying as he wanted it. I have been carrying around little matchbox cars in my pack as gifts for kids so I gave him one. The kids thought it was the cutest thing ever when he came back and said thank you in English.
We met at 5:30 at the lantern town restaurant which again was reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, including the music, where we continued our eating tour of Vietnam. I had an eggplant and mushroom stir fry. I must say that my view of vegetarian food has greatly expanded over here.
When we returned to the resort the boys were keen for a swim as we have suddenly gone from quite cool weather to very warm weather in the space of a couple of hundred kilometres. While we were out they had brought in bananas and left them in our rooms. The staff brought out fresh pool towels that felt like they had come straight put of the dryer. I am looking forward to a heavenly sleep tonight on this very nice bed.
Tomorrow we visit a children's charity and the beach.
From Dallas: Day 9 Vietnam photos Hoi An. A very nice little city about 200,000 population. We started the day by leaving Hue at 8am via bus. We stopped on top of the mountain 'pass' where we observed the bunkers from the Vietnam war (American war) and fought off the ladies ttying to sell us various wares. Unfortunately it was very foggy on the mountain so pictures didn't show the ocean but got some good ones of the bunkers in the mist - good colours and the mist created an eerie setting. We arrived in Hoi An and checked in to resort and then went to Hoi An old original part of the city which is very tourist driven and a very nice area to visit. Thd temple and Japanese covered bridge and original home visit were on the walking tour with Bao our tour guide. We went to tailors and got some clothes ordered and measured up. That was fun! Browsed other shops and then met up for dinner at 5:30 with the whole group.
Vietnam day 10 - Hoi An
Hoi An is proving to be a welcome spot to slow down a bit. The warmer climate and seaside location mean that there are a lot of tourists here, so prices are a bit more inflated than previously but it is nice to see the sun again after over a week of grey skies.
After another buffet breakfast (with cocoa pops on offer again for all of the children large and small) the bus picked us up and we visited a charity called Children's Hope in Action. They essentially provide a free boarding house for very poor children from the outlying villages, and pay for them to attend school and get them everything that they need. The kids were all studying for exams so we did not get to meet them but we saw their dining room, computer room and library. It was a good reminder of how privileged we are to have easy access to education and basic essentials.
Next stop was An Bang beach. This appears to be set up as a series of restaurants along the beach where each restaurant then sets up deck chairs and umbrellas for their patrons. No sitting unless you are ordering! Bao had reserved us spots at a place called the Soul Kitchen. The other different thing about this beach is that there is a constant stream of people trying to sell you stuff from nuts to toys to sunglasses to newspapers to jewelry. It gets harder to politely say no thank you the fifteenth time they come past. I did buy a frisbee which was a good investment. The kids had a fabulous time in the water and Reid and James spent ages digging around in the sand. Bao had brought a picnic lunch with us which was banh mi and bananas and mandarins. This one was a bit spicy for me. Milkshakes from the restaurant were 50000.
As soon as we got back to the resort Reid headed for the pool again. He is loving this stop. The entire tour has been great but he needed a break from the "sights" to have some fun.
We caught a taxi back into town to have the fittings for the clothes that we ordered. Generally the taxis from the silk village to town have been between 21000 and 33000 so only a couple of dollars. When we arrived at the tailor (called Aobaba) they knew who we were and whisked us into changing rooms to try things on and confirm lengths etc. They have done a great job. They want Dallas to come back for one more fitting tomorrow.
We wandered the old town for a bit longer and visited Mekong quilts and another fairtrade shop that sells products made by people with disabilities. We met Bao at 4pm at the Lantern restaurant again where he introduced us to Mr Hung, a chef, for our Vietnamese cooking class.
Mr Hung took us on a walk through the markets where he pointed out all sorts of fruits and vegetables and herbs. He was pulling things out of baskets to smell and off trees to taste. He said that for the next 2 days all Buddhists go vegetarian so there is less meat in the markets than normal.
He then led us to his restaurant called The Tropics where chef hats and aprons awaited us. The first dish was a pancake made out of rice flour and egg and spring onion with a pork and bean sprout filling. Dallas and Megan managed to drop one all over the gas burner but we all made one in the end and they were scrumptious. Reid even tried it and liked it. He was not cooking so he was the food taster and photographer.
Next we prepared some fish wrapped in banana leaves which would be steamed and brought out later.
Vegetable spring rolls were next on the menu. They put shredded taro in these with a bunch of other veges. We had to figure out how to rotate these in the oil constantly using chopsticks. Also delicious and Reid ate a bunch.
Lastly we made a green papaya salad. I have had a number of these in restaurants and this is one of my new favourite dishes. With the ground up peanuts it is such a yummy flavour. You would struggle to find food here if you had a serious peanut allergy.
We arrived back at the hotel just in time to see a skinny Vietnamese Santa going into the Christmas Eve gala dinner that they are holding in the pavilion right in front of our rooms. They have been massacring Christmas carols out there for a while but now have some Vietnamese performances happening. We get to listen and watch without paying a thing.smile emoticon
Merry Christmas to you all near and far. It will be a strange Christmas for us but a good one I hope.
From Dallas: Day 10 Vietnam Hoi An. We went to a boarding school this morning that looks after children who aren't able to go to school in their home areas due to poverty or other circumstances. Some are orphans. The school provides 24x7 care and support and education. They are privately funded from donations. Started by an Australian women. It was a humbling experience. After this we went to a beach where Reid particularly enjoyed the frisbee and playing in the water. It was a lovely spot but the experience tainted somewhat by the constant stream of locals trying to sell to you in a pushy way. We had bread rolls for lunch that Bao picked up from a bakery on the way. They were fire starters but good. We went back to the hotel then and had a swim in the pool and cleaned up. We went back to the tailors at 2pm for a fitting. Then walked around the old city until meeting the group again at 4pm for the tour of the markets with a chef and then going to his restaurant for a cooking lesson. The cooking lesson included us eating our own dishes for dinner. We caught a cab back to resort around 7pm.
Vietnam day 11 - Hoi An - Christmas day
We were up early as we were supposed to do a cycling tour today. However Megan is still not well and we didn't want to leave her here on her own, so we thought Dallas and Reid could still do it. Let's just say Reid decided to have a contrary day today and Dallas went on his own rather than cancelling completely at the last minute. He had a great time.
Before he left we skyped with my parents and my sister and her family.
I managed to get Reid out for a walk through the silk village but he lasted about ten minutes (see note about contrary day).
Later I got him into the pool but then his rashie was scratching his chest (contrary day) but he refused to go back and put sunscreen on (contrary day) and also refused to believe me that his shoulders were still red from a burn he got just before we left (contrary day). So he floated around in the shady part of the pool for a little bit.
I got a plate of fish and chips from the hotel restaurant for us to share for lunch. If you come to Vietnam, french fries can mean a lot of different things. In this case it was not hot chips, but very crunchy potato chips, or crisps some people call them. The kids were not impressed but we were all so hungry that we ate all of the fish, even me.
It ended up being a lazy afternoon and then we met our guide for dinner back in the old town. Prices here are definitely inflated over Ha Noi, I assume because of the large number of tourists here. We spent twice as much for dinner as we had previously.
We were also able to Skype Dallas' family before dinner and talk to his parents, his brother Dale and family, and his sister Mandy.
I felt a bit disappointed that the day wasn't what I had planned for Christmas and that we didn't get to do the cycling tour together. I wish Megan was completely better so she could enjoy things more. Tomorrow we head to Ho Chi Minh city which Bao tells us is busier than Ha Noi. Not looking forward to that traffic again.
From Dallas: Day 11 Vietnam Hoi An, Christmas day. After sickness with Megan and other dramas, I ended up going on the bicycle tour by myself. I really enjoyed it. It was a local guide and 2 other tourists from Finland. We rode through part of the old town and then boarded a boat to Cham Island which is very close to the coast and a popular tourist destination on the bike. Most of the island folk live very simple and traditional lives including harvesting rice with only basis machinery, a very labour intensive process. The guide was great, showing us real rice growing and explaining how rice is grown including the difference between sticky rice and normal rice. Sticky rice takes longer to grow and is smaller than normal rice. We visited a lady who makes sleeping mats from straw and learned how to do this. We visited a man who makes rice wine, quite a complex process. He was a war veteran who lost a leg in the Cambodian war. He sang to us with his guitar and his beautiful daughter also sang a song for us about Ho Chi Min. Our last stop was a home where the wife makes rice noodles. We learned how the process works and ate a noodle dish for lunch which was very nice. We then rode to the boat and went back to the mainland and rode back to the bicycle depot. Riding the streets here was certainly different to back home. Much more traffic here and the riding slower by default. On the island it was very quiet and peaceful. Just a few scooters on the small concrete paths.
After arriving back at the hotel Cassie and I worked put a plan for the afternoon. I went in to the old city again by taxi and did my final fitting for my suit and shirts.
Vietnam day 12 - Ho Chi Minh City
We had to have our bags ready by 5:45 am this morning which was a bit of a mission. I called the kids room 4 times before they finally woke up and started getting ready. After a quick breakfast we were on the bus to Da Nang airport.
Despite the early hour there were heaps of people out along the beach playing sports and doing exercises.
Da Nang airport is similar in style to the Ha Noi airport - large and lots of glass. Bao told us that it was first opened only two years and one day ago. Checking in was quite painless although we needed passports for every checkpoint despite it being only a domestic flight. Once through security there were a few shops. Some crispy m & ms caught Dallas' eye but when converted they would have been $22 for the packet. Megan was excited to see a burger king and got some fries and a milo.
Our flight was with Vietnam Airlines. The boarding procedure was a little strange. We had to get on a bus to take us to the plane, but when we got off the bus there was no direction given so those at the front of the bus went up the front stairs of the plane and those at the back of the bus went up the back stairs of the plane. This resulted in chaos inside the plane as people were trying to squeeze past each other with hand luggage to get to the right row. The flight was only an hour long and was quite uneventful except for the people in front of us who had clearly not heard the unwritten rule that you don't recline on a one hour flight in the day. The one in front of Megan even re-reclined after we landed and were taxiing to the gate. Getting off was a repeat of the bus experience in reverse with a driver who liked to pump the brakes.
Bao had organised a bus but the driver arrived and started to pick up the wrong group. Once he realised he had the wrong group they all had to pile off again. It is only a short distance to the hotel from the airport but it took a while as the traffic is busy. We immediately noticed that Ho Chi Minh City is much more modernised than Ha Noi. There are still plenty of old buildings but there are a lot of western brand shops and the footpaths are wider and without many of the interesting things that we saw in Ha Noi. Bao warned us to be more careful here with regards to theft as drive by motorcycle theft is even a problem for the locals.
We went to lunch at a place called Pho 2000 where Bill Clinton has eaten. It was quite good - I had the vegetarian noodle soup. They use lots of varieties of mushrooms here that I have never seen before.
Bao had asked us earlier if we would like to add on a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels in the afternoon and we were keen. It was a 2 hour drive and I would say we were driving for over an hour before it felt like we were out of the city. It is huge. On the way we saw something else new - hammock cafes. This is a bunch of hammocks strung between trees with some tables between them. The locals come to hang out and have a drink.
The tunnels were extremely thought provoking. We first saw a map of the area showing the tunnels and the US bases as well as which villages were controlled by the US and which were liberated areas. There was also a model like a worm farm showing a cross section of the tunnels.
We watched a video featuring whimsical music behind videos of the war in this area and stories of the peasant farmer "american killer heroes". I wondered what people thought who come to visit from the US. What they did is quite amazing though, living in and fighting from these tunnels. Some of the tunnels even went under one of the major US bases.
We then went for a walk through the forest where we saw some of the secret entrances, saw examples of some of the traps that they used to set, and got to walk (doubled over) through some of the tunnels. They were dark and very hot and sticky. I can't imagine being in there for hours on end and fighting from there. I went through one section about 25m long. Reid and James kept going through the narrower parts and said they had to scoot through on their butts at one point.
To add to the atmosphere there is a shooting range on site, so the whole time that you are walking around, you can hear gunfire. I had heard about it before we went and thought at first that it was in bad taste but it was sobering to think about the constant barrage that would have been heard back in those days. Once we got to the range Dallas, Matt, James and Emaleigh all had a turn. You have to buy the bullets up front with a minimum of ten bullets. They range from 20000 to 45000 per bullet depending on the type of gun. Some of them were very loud.
Bao also described some of the methods that were used to try to get them out of the tunnels, including flooding them, using 3000 dogs, and pumping gas into them.
Overall it was a very interesting afternoon and a worthwhile outing. For the last hour of the trip back the children all amused themselves by waving at people on scooters to see who they could get to wave back. They were getting quite rowdy and I am thinking I might need ear plugs for the 3 hour bus ride tomorrow!
We arrived back in HCM city just in time for dinner. I think this was our first real disappointment as far as restaurants go as the food took ages to come out and was just ok when it did. Except for the spring rolls which were delicious. I think it was called Nek Restaurant.
We made a trip to the "Co-op mart" for some supplies which was an experience. It was like big w and Woolworths together. There were staff everywhere though which seemed odd. With the fresh produce it looked like you were supposed to take it to a lady at a desk in that section who would weigh it and put a label on it so it could be scanned at the front registers.
The other news of the day is that my head was so itchy all day today, and I brushed my hair out tonight thinking that I would ask Dallas to check for critters in case I had picked them up somewhere, only to have a large one come out on my brush. I immediately went and checked both kids to find that Reid had a few eggs. From the timing I would guess he picked one up on the overnight train, which had some fun on his head and then transferred to me as he is always hanging all over me. We saw their cabin reset procedure as we were disembarking - fold up the quilt and put it back on the bed.
We leave early tomorrow morning for an overnight trip to the Mekong Delta so with no time to attempt to locate some real treatments, we are doing the best with what we have. Reid was easy with his short hair. I had both Dallas and Megan go through my hair and between them they found a handful of eggs. Dallas used his high powered bike light to help the hunt. It was an education for Dallas as I have always been the lucky one to deal with them on the kids. I have scoured my supplies and I sit here writing this with my head covered in several tiny bottles of conditioner and the hotel shower cap. At least I can smother anything that might be left alive and keep it at bay until we source something better. Just nasty.
PS Megan has not had a fever for the last two days so I think things are looking up. We also learned how cashews are grown today and no wonder they are so expensive.
From Dallas: Day 12 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon). After arriving at HCMC via Vietnam Airlines we went to the hotel via bus. Victory hotel in the old part of town which is often still referred to as Saigon. We then went to a noodle restaurant in the city near the markets for lunch which was super busy. The food was great. Bill Clinton ate there in 2000 and it is well known. We then went via bus to the Cu Chi tunnels which was about 2 hrs from HCMC. This was a real eye opening experience as a few of us went in to the tunnels and also fired some guns on the target range. The gun fire from the M16 and M30 machine guns was so loud. I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for those in the conflict. I fired 10 rounds of a carbine rifle (USA M1 0.3 calibre) which was the smaller rifle. I assume used more in closer combat.
The tunnels were intricate and many people lived in them during the day. Special ducts allowed smoke from cooking to escape in multiple directions so it didn't give away their location. The tunnels and guerrilla warfare were problematic for the USA. The perspective on the war here is very different to the USA and it is difficult to comprehend why and how this specific war occurred and how it went on for such a long time. Nothing can replicate being here and hearing the experience from people who know and understand the country. Our tour guide Bao has a degree in Vietnamese culture and has been terrific.
We came back to HCMC and went straight to dinner. The traffic at peak hour was a sight to behold. I have never seen traffic so thick. It was incredible. Thousands of scooters but also cars as HCMC is a more modern and affluent city than the others and many people have cars. The city is more like an Australian or American city with malls, supermarkets, large stores on the streets, advertising billboards and many businesses in the city. It has been nice seeing HCMC so far as it is very diverse and is a culmination if everything we have seen to date and more. In many ways similar to Sydney and New York but also very different based on the Vietnamese culture and history. A partial union of West and East.
Tomorrow we head to the Mekong Delta for an overnight stay with a local family and visit to floating markets.
Vietnam day 13 - Mekong Delta
Well we are in the middle of nowhere and we still have wifi. This may be short as I have no energy and I am typing this laying down with one finger.
The Victory Hotel boasts that they have over 50 dishes on their breakfast buffet . 48 of them are Asian breakfast dishes. I realize that we are in Asia but most of the hotels have tried to have a mix. This morning I had to make do with cornflakes and toast. The other cereals were fruit loops and cocoa pops.
It was a three hour bus ride to Cai Be where we met our local tour guide and got onto our boat. We only had our group on our boat but there were some boats with masses of people on them.
Excuse me, just had to throw up again. More on that later.
The Mekong Delta is also confronting. The people here live hard lives, fishing and working the land. Many of them live on boats. They offloaded us onto three smaller boats, three passengers to a boat with a person standing on the back paddling, for a view of some of the smaller inlets. They gave us one of the cone hats to wear and a life jacket.
There were a lot of boats coming back the other direction and I would swear that some of the women pushing them were older than my mum. I felt terrible and wanted to help them. As much as I wanted to enjoy this little side trip, it was stinking hot and very uncomfortable. I was glad that I had worn my long hiking pants so my legs could not get sunburned. I had sunscreened my arms twice but could still feel them burning so I ended up sitting with my arms inside my life jacket for part of the way. It was about a half hour trip and it was feeling like torture by the end.
When we got back on the boat Rachael went and laid down on the floor at the back and I thought she was also affected by the heat at the time.
Shortly after we arrived at lunch and they brought out fried elephant fish. Not wanting to be rude, I tried some. They also had spring rolls and a soup with rice, followed by papaya. I had been feeling a bit yuck all morning but thought it was just the heat and ate and drank quite a bit, trying to pick myself up.
By this point it was clear that Rachael was not doing well and I gave her some of my gastro stop. On the way to the next stop the boat driver set up his hammock for her.
The next stop was on watching rice paper and coconut lollies being made. They took Rachael on to the homestay and i went up to watch but started to feel very ill. They put me in a hammock while the others looked around. Once back on the boat i claimed the hammock and the rest of the afternoon was a blur so Dallas will have to fill in all of the stops.
All I have seen of the homestay is my bed and the bathroom. They have mosquito nets so i am in my little quarantine bubble. If you have a weak stomach turn away now. I had only been at the homestay for a few minutes when i chucked the first time. The problem is that I did it in the sink and then found out that the drainage is not too good. Solution was a mug and the toilet which led to more gagging.
Have just gone my third round and hoping I follow the same path as Rachael who is now walking around again.
The others have gone and helped make dinner but I can't even think about food.
Vietnam Gastro update - 1:30 am. I think it is over for me but have not been able to sleep, and Reid just woke up and chucked up. Luckily only on his pillow which was easy to contain as he is sharing a bed with Megan so that I could take a single bed to contain the outbreak. That clearly worked well. You will have noticed from the nits story that we share everything! As I said to him, the good news is that it will probably be over by morning. So that's 3 out of 8 down so far. Hope the other family is faring better.
From Dallas: Vietnam day 13 Mekong Delta. Like most days here today was confronting and we were overloaded with information and food. If you have read Cassie's post for today you will know she was very ill throwing up a few times late today and skipped dinner in preference for bed and rest. After breakfast at the hotel in HCMC we boarded our bus at 8:15 for Cai Be where we met a local tour guide and boarded a nice wooden boat for our trip up the Mekong Delta. As Cassie described life is very difficult for families in this region and they try to live off the land and water and through basic production such as making bricks and extracting sand and clay for home and pottery construction. The husk from the rice is also transported up the river and used for burning in food production and making the bricks (kiln gets to 745 degrees). Many people live on the banks of the river however they are very simple homes with the occasional home or pagoda that stands out due to its higher quality finish or size.
We had a number of stops. First one was to take a canoe ride through an inlet to see homes on one of the islands. It was super hot and the back was killing me after a while so was very glad when that 30-40 min journey came to an end. Other stops were a ecotourism property for lunch (fried elephant fish on the menu) then a place that makes rice paper and various candy (yum). Then to the brick works and pottery plant. The last stop was a garden centre where we saw various fruit trees and plants. We then went across to the other side of the river to the homestay arriving around 5pm. The farmstay is a large home with multiple rooms and large verandah with hammocks and a living area. The sleeping rooms have 3 x double beds with mosquito nets and wall fans. We helped make dinner and then ate around 7pm.
As Cassie was not well and didn't have dinner and the kids hardly eat a thing I was left with the responsibility of not letting all the food go to waste. I was helped on our table by the local tour guide. We did well. Lots of dishes and they were all nice. The interesting thing I have noticed is that I don't feel heavy after eating even if i have eaten more than I expected. The food is very healthy and light most of the time. After getting the kids settled I am in bed now doing this update. Tomorrow morning we go to the floating markets and then back to HCMC which is about a 3hr drive based on the roads and traffic here. Hopefully Cassie is back to normal in the morning.
Vietnam day 14 - Mekong Delta
It has been a very long day but not a lot to report.
My vomiting stopped by about 9pm last night but I was unable to go to sleep. I still felt pretty yuck and then there is the fact that these were probably the hardest beds yet by a long shot. No matter how I laid I would end up with one limb or another losing circulation.
At 1:30 am Reid started vomiting. He had several rounds for the rest of the night so I was up and down. Sometimes I would start to doze off and then Megan would cough and I would think she was starting too.
By breakfast he was still going so he lay in a hammock while we had breakfast. I only ate a couple of bits of fruit as I was still feeling pretty awful. They had omelettes, fruit, bread and some coconut rice cakes.
We packed up and paid our drinks bill. In most spots even when the meals are included we have had to buy drinks. Water is generally 10-15000 and soda 15-20000 so it is not too bad but usually I would expect water at least to be included given that coffee and tea are. I miss being able to just take a drink out of the tap. The bottled water tastes different too.
We piled back on the boat armed with several plastic bags for Reid. This time he claimed the hammock on the boat. During the night Matt had also come down with gastro taking the tally to four out of eight. Reid chucked once more on the boat and that was the last time for today.
On the way back to the docks and the bus we passed through the Cai Be floating markets. It didn't really look like the photos we had seen but was interesting. We learned that each boat will tie some of their wares onto a long bamboo stick up in the air so that others know what they are selling from afar. Some of the boats had TV antennas. It is fascinating to consider the local industries that spring up to support the different needs here. For example there are people who provide a service where they swap out batteries that are used to watch tv. We saw a few people bathing in the river and washing their hair. It looks so silty I don't know how clean they would feel.
After that it was back to the bus for the 3 hour drive back to Ho Chi Minh city. Reid was really pale and tried to lay down in the back row of the bus but felt so horrible that he couldn't lay down and spent most of the trip with his head braced against the seat in front of him. The roads are shocking and seemed even bumpier on the way back. I still felt queasy and now Dallas had a funny tummy so we all felt every bump. We stopped at a rest stop part way and found that they had coconuts so after a suggestion from a friend we bought one to get Reid to drink some coconut water. I think it did help a bit and got some fluids into him. I also had some and it was quite soothing.
When we arrived back at the hotel we found that the kids room was fine but ours was barely big enough for the bed. Feeling awful anyway Dallas went down and expressed our desire not to live in a wardrobe for the next three nights and we have ended up in another twin room with plenty of room.
We have spent the afternoon resting. Dallas took Megan out to the supermarket briefly but came back quickly as he has become gastro victim #5. He doesn't seem to have it as badly as we did so has now gone out to the final tour dinner with Megan. Reid and I have stayed back and are enjoying the Weetbix that I had packed as a contingency. Smartest thing I packed I think. It felt great to have a small taste of home.
From Dallas: What a day (in the not so great context)! Day 14 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. I have returned from dinner with Megan and the rest of the group. It was our last dinner together so I didn't want to miss it despite being in bed sick for the afternoon. Megan really wanted to go so I went with her given Cassie and Reid were not up to it (they have improved as the day has progressed and I have gradually got worse but am hopefully heading in the right direction now. Dry reaching 3 times in the toilet at dinner was not fun combined with the runs. The smell in the toilet (even though they were nice and clean) was likely part of the problem. Muscle aches as well and very tired. I am a bit worse than when sick in Ha Noi early in the trip. Looking forward to sleep even though the mattress is another torture machine. I've had 4 of these torture machines so far out of the 5 places we have stayed.
The day started off at our home stay on the Mekong Delta. I woke not feeling good at 3am and went to the bathroom. I was pretty good the day before so something changed overnight. I managed to get about 10 mins to have some breakfast by the time I got out of bed, washed and dressed (around 7am). I felt up to eating so had the omelette that was prepared for everyone. A lovely setting sitting outside the house with the river close by and boats going up and down. We then left for our only river stop today which was the floating markets. I had no idea what to expect so it was interesting to think that people still trade this way in the modern era. Bao said that the number of traders (boats) has declined in recent years which would be largely due to transport capabilities and technology developments. The boats have a bamboo pole with the type of goods they are selling tied to the top of the pole. This indicates to other traders and buyers what they are selling. Other boats taxi children to the shore to go to school (many families live in the boats). Some boats are also used to swap out batteries to power televisions that are on the boats. We saw the tall antennas on the boats and then the use of the batteries was explained to us. There weren't a lot of boats, in guessing we saw 15-20. The location was close to the port at Cai Be where we started the Mekong trip yesterday. We arrived back at the port and then headed back on the bus to HCMC. One of the interesting things mentioned by the local tour guide yesterday is that the Mekong is home to 700,000 people and provides produce to 20 million people in the region. It is very much the lifeblood of the region, particularly fishing and supplying water to crops and rice husk to the brick factory (for fueling the kiln) which we saw yesterday.
The bus trip was very rough given the status of the roads. The main highways are in need of repair and a lot of roadworks are in progress. It was very bumpy and with my stomach starting to feel funny it was a tentative ride and we were all glad to get to the hotel to rest and shower. Bao asked us what we wanted to do for lunch and we unanimously without hesitation all indicated we were not going to lunch and were heading to bed. So that was the main activity for the afternoon. Megan and I went to the local convenience store around 3pm to get some hair conditioner for Cassie so she could say goodbye to a few new friends she picked up a couple of days ago. That was fun using the torch to check her long thick hair. A new meme comes to mind. A picture of me going through Cassie's hair with my 700 lumen bicycle rechargeable torch and a comb with the words at the bottom "This is what love looks like".😊
Interesting experience in the store. A young American guy who lives and works here was trying to ask the shop assistants where fabric softener was. They weren't able to understand his English and he had nothing written down in Vietnamese related to the product. Megan and i tried to help him and saw a product with "softener" written in English on it. I pointed it out to him and he said his washing machine had been playing up and eating his clothes and that he was just going to buy a towel instead. Not sure if i missed something but I was confused. It seemed like he had never done washing before and never lived away from home and here he was on his own working and living in Vietnam. Throw yourself in the deep end. He would have done well to look up the words first and translate to Vietnamese although that is not always a straight forward process and Google translate isn't that good.
Dinner was at Koto in the ANZ building in a central and busy part of the city. The restaurant was expensive in Vietnamese terms with a fruit mocktail being 75000d and most main meals being from 150000d. The location would have made it expensive. I had the caesar salad with green apple and cashews. The egg was cooked correct and overall it tasted good. I got through about 75% given my stomach was not right. On the way home Bao pointed out a banner over one of the main streets from the Government which indicated that families should have 2 children. A policy that has been in place for a couple of years now. From the 1980s the policy of the Government was that parents should have 1 or 2 children. If parents had more the opportunity for promotion in their jobs was limited, essentially they couldn't get promoted. When we got back we gave Bao a gift and card and thanked him for being a great guide given tonight was our last night together. Cassie was already asleep at that point around 8:30. She has been feeling better as the day has progressed as has Reid but they are still a ways from full recovery. Lets hope tomorrow brings better health.
Vietnam day 15 - Ho Chi Minh City
I actually slept really well last night but Dallas' back has had just about enough of these hard mattresses. He may have to request several extra pillows tonight. Funny story about that - at our first hotel in Ha Noi we had 2 extra pillows show up in our room one day and disappear the next. We later found out that the other family had requested extra pillows and were told they had them, but were not there when they checked. Later the pillows appeared in their room. Perhaps they don't have a lot of extra pillows to go around.
Dallas was still not feeling right and did not have breakfast, so the kids and I braved the 48 asian dishes for breakfast again.
We headed for the War Remnants museum. Oh my. I feel like we have used the word confronting a lot on this trip. This museum was enough to rip your heart out. It started with some war planes and tanks out the front, and then some displays showing how the political prisoners were treated.
Inside was mostly photos with some displays of guns etc. Many of the photos were extremely distressing. They had one section dedicated to a large scale massacre that happened in one village where hundreds of women and children were killed. A soldier who later became a US senator was involved. There were many photos of the dead piled up afterwards.
Another section showed the effects of unexploded ordnance on ordinary people.
The hardest section to view was photos of people of all ages who have been affected by agent orange, which was sprayed extensively in the war to strip back the trees and cut off food supplies. Not only did it cause horrible diseases in those that were exposed, it has also caused birth defects, deformities and diseases in their children and grandchildren. There was one photo that was just shelves of jars of dead babies. There were also some photos of Americans and Koreans that were affected as well as their children.
As we explored this museum I reflected on how war really does bring out the worst in everyone.
From here we wandered over to the Diamond shopping Centre. Except for the millions of security staff everywhere, we could have been back in Brisbane. KFC was on the top floor and we treated ourselves. I thought it was funny that I got an entire meal for 35000 which is maybe $2.
Across the road from this shopping centre is the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The Cathedral was closed but we went into the post office. It sounds odd but it is a tourist attraction due to the architecture. It is quite beautiful.
The kids were keen for the hotel but we needed some laundry done so we used the wifi to search for "laundry" and found a place a couple of blocks from our hotel called F5 laundry. Sounded good so we headed there, walking though the park that leads up to the Independence palace on the way. Their laundry is 27000 per kilo, washed and dried.
After we came out of the laundry I saw a pharmacy and thought I would try my luck there. I mimed an itchy scalp to the girl and she gave me some little sachets. It didn't look quite right so I pulled out my phone and brought up google translate and typed in "head lice". "Ahhhh" she said and pulled out some shampoo that was clearly the right thing. There was some giggling going on. 15000 dong, less than a dollar. Hopefully it works!
When we got back to the hotel the kids went for a swim while Dallas went to take the laundry bag to F5 laundry. We had 9kg which was quite a large bag. They will deliver it to our hotel tomorrow afternoon for free.
The pool is on the top floor so you can see out across the city. The school nearby has a massive rock climbing wall which the kids think is quite cool and wanted to figure out how they could get themselves in there, so I took a photo of that from the roof.
We felt like something non-vietnamese for dinner so we researched on trip advisor and found a place called chuck's burgers that looked good. We walked all over trying to find it and ended up finding a huge sort of town square with lots of lights which was fun to see except we were starving. We ended up going into a shop called the burger box, where they led us up the back into the tiniest elevator I have ever seen, which went up a couple of floors and then there were a couple of flights of stairs and we were in a restaurant called The Kafe. It was excellent. Megan and I shared a chicken parma burger. Delicious.
Back to the hotel for more nit checks all around. You know, all part of the holiday fun. I had been super itchy on my neck and they tell me I have bites all over the back of my neck too. Bed bugs? I don't know? I really don't care as long as none of them come home with me and I can stop being itchy. Times like these I miss having easy access to chemists and doctors and the things that I usually rely on.
Only one more day to go and then we hit Singapore for a few days. There is a lot we want to see and do so hopefully we will still have the energy left for it!
From Dallas: Our time in Vietnam is drawing to a close. Wed is our last full day in HCMC as we fly to Singapore on Thursday. I wasn't feeling good this morning so skipped breakfast. I didn't want to sit at the hotel though so was happy to get out so long as i was close to bathroom facilities. We left around 9am and went to the war remnants museum not far from our hotel, a few minutes walk. This was a highlight for me as it had much more detail related to the war than the war museum in Ha Noi had and was a very moving experience. The museum has numbered rooms starting on the top (2nd) floor working down to ground floor. The story is told of the many conflicts that Vietnam have been in such as the Indochina war and Vietnam (American) war. Much of the focus was on the Vietnam war given the recency and length of the conflict and its lasting impact still seen today. As I walked through the many exhibitions I couldn't help but be teary eyed as I gained a greater understanding of the atrocities committed and the impact that the war has had here in Vietnam. The thought came to mind that there is no victory in war. I noticed many other patrons also teary eyed as they contemplated the visuals and stories through the exhibitions. Of particular impact was the room that covered the use of chemicals (agent orange) in the war and the ongoing impact this has had even today multiple generations on. A boy born with no eyes etc. Many babies are born with serious deformities and conditions and die shortly after.
A bit about the history of Vietnam for those interested and how the Vietnam war came about. Vietnam has struggled for hundreds of years to gain independence from mainly french rule (who wanted the natural resources here such as tin and slave labour). Ho Chi Minh saw the problems in the early 1900s and left Vietnam as a young man to live amongst the french (during world war 1) and other countries (russia) to learn their ways and culture in order to one day free his people. After 30 years he returned to Vietnam after world war 2. The French were kicked out by the Japanese and then the French took over again after the Japanese were defeated after WW2. The French were heavily funded by the Americans who were anti-communist. The French set up a local person in the south to be a Vietnamese leader but he was really a puppet and doing what the French wanted and other allies mainly the USA. Ho Chi Minh returned to Ha Noi after ww2 and as leader of the communist party declared Vietnam a democratic state (North Vietnam given the south was not under full control). The next 25 years under Ho Chi Minh was focused on gaining independence from the French and anti-communist regime in the south and their allies the USA. This is primarily what we know as the Vietnam war or as termed by the Vietnamese the "American War". The separation of Vietnam into North and South was a result of the geneva conference in 1954 where the french agreed not to interfere with Vietnamese affairs. However the south Vietnamese emperor (a figurehead and really a puppet) and USA did not sign the agreement and this led to a demarcation of the North and South. The underlying motivation was the USAs anti-communist view. Prior to this from the late 1800s the French had divided Vietnam into 3 areas as part of their colonisation plan.
Australia played a significant role for a year or two as did other countries such as Thailand and New Zealand at various times. I remember hearing about the war as a young boy given it ended a year or so before I was born.
After the museum we went to KFC for lunch at the Diamond Department Store building, a very modern building with a bowling alley on the top floor, food court and other boutique shops. I was starting to feel a bit better so had a vitamin c juice and a bit of the kids KFC (a few pieces of popcorn chicken). We then visited the general post office which was a popular spot for tourists given its architecture and history. We then went back to the hotel. I took a load of washing up to a laundromat about 10 mins walk away and it will be delivered to our hotel room tomorrow (wed) 24 hr turnaround. Cost 243000d for 9kg @ 27000d per kg. Pretty reasonable. About AU $17. Much cheaper than getting the hotel to do it which charge by the number of items.
We had swim in the pool while Cassie Woolley read a book poolside. After cleaning up we went for a walk to find a restaurant we looked up on trip adviser called chucks burgers. We were feeling like a non-vietnamese meal tonight and something we hadn't had for a while. Well google maps made life difficult for us as we couldn't find the restaurant. There was construction happening on the building at the address and we couldn't see any restaurants. We kept on going and eventually settled on a place we found while wandering called Kafe. It was very good and reasonable prices. I was feeling much better at this point and ready for a meal. I had a gourmet beef burger. Cassie and Megan shared a chicken burger and Reid had chips with his milk shake. He was a bit upset that we didn't find the intended restaurant and that we wouldn't go to maccas after that. He was in a bit of a mood but was happy by the end of dinner and on the journey home. Overall it was a good day.
Vietnam day 16 - Ho Chi Minh City
Today was our last day in HCMC as we leave for Singapore tomorrow morning. I was just sitting here thinking about how much we have crammed into the last couple of weeks. We have certainly been educated in many ways.
Breakfast was the same 48 asian dishes again. We have a theory that they can just cook the same thing for the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets that way. We finally saw some pineapple this morning instead of aging dragonfruit.
First stop today was the Independence Palace, also called the Reunification Palace. This is the spot where the tank crashed through the gates at the end of the war. This was the Presidential Palace in the 1970s and interestingly has hardly been touched or used since then. There is a conference room that is used for functions but the rest appears to have been preserved. There are receiving rooms for the president, the vice president, ambassadors and the first lady. These were beautiful but I found the private areas more interesting. The bedrooms were large but quite simple. There was none of the opulence that you would normally expect in a palace. In the living quarters were some hunting trophies including elephant's feet.
Upstairs they have a cinema and a games room. The games room looked totally 70s and was even sporting a circular couch. There is a helipad with circles showing where bombs were dropped and later repaired. There is a bunker in the basement but it was closed today. They also have some documentaries running which were interesting. Lastly there was a shooting gallery. The kids spent a few minutes on the aging playground outside before we left.
Next stop was the Ben Thanh market. We didn't really know what to expect but wanted to get a few final gifts for family. It was a bit nuts. As you walk down the aisle (narrow gap between stalls) all of the girls that run the stalls are sitting right in front so it is like running the gauntlet. As you squeeze past it is a constant barrage of "what are you looking for?" "You want t shirt?" "Bracelets for you" "you have a look here". We picked up a couple of things but Reid was starving and we were all thirsty so we headed outside in the general direction of the last shop that I wanted to look at - Mekong quilts. Supposedly the merchandise is sewn by the rural poor to help support themselves. I would love to have bought a quilt as they were beautiful but space and money dictate otherwise.
We then headed out in search of KFC which was supposed to be a block away. We are realising that the problem in this city is that many of the fast food restaurants are inside shopping malls so they are hard to find just from a dot on a map. We ended up in the Vincom shopping centre which is very nice. We never did find KFC but stumbled across Carl's Jr and went with that. Very tasty except for the drinks. A fresh orange juice may just be the first thing I buy when we get home. Juice here often seems to be mostly cordial, sometimes with pulp in it. I actually wouldn't mind Vietnamese food tonight before we leave but the others are over it and we no longer have Bao to tell us what places are good to eat.
Ho Chi Minh is definitely a very different city to Ha Noi. It is much more modern and westernised. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Ha Noi was challenging but had a lot of character and was very memorable. The air there was pretty shocking though. We haven't noticed any issues with the air here which was surprising given the size of the city. Despite the warnings about theft I have not ever felt unsafe here. I do bear in mind that the city is massive and we have mostly stayed in district 1. There are many women here wearing short skirts which I don't remember seeing in Ha Noi, although it was colder there too.
This afternoon Dallas and the kids had another swim as it is very hot and we started to pack up for the flight tomorrow.
For dinner we found a french place on trip advisor called chef lac that sounded great and on the map was only a block away. We spent another hour trying to find that one and ended up stumbling onto chuck's burgers that we were trying to find last night. They have very cool artwork on the walls. The burgers were good and we had seats on the first floor looking out over the street so we could watch the traffic chaos. The kids enjoyed waving at patrons in the restaurant across the street. We considered Haagen daas for dessert but it is just as expensive here as at home - 75000 for one scoop. Pass. I didn't have much money left so they shared a caramel milkshake from a cafe.
The street numbering is very odd here. It is almost like one number, say 140, covers an entire block, and then each building is 140a, 140b etc. It is not consistent though so it is very hard to predict how far a certain number will be. Chef lac was supposed to be at 122a, so we walked past 124, then past a big stone wall which was the side of a hindu temple, and then the next one was 116. We were left wondering if you had to be harry potter to get to this restaurant.
We are ready to move on tomorrow. It has been amazing and we have learned so much but in a way now have so many more questions about Vietnam and the wars and the world. I don't think I have ever been on a more eye opening trip. I am looking forward to chatting with our American friends next month to hear their perspective on some of the things we have heard.
Off to use some more of my special Vietnamese nit shampoo, just to make sure we have no extra friends travelling with us tomorrow smile emoticon Next time we travel I am packing a bottle of Moov. I was prepared for gastro, headaches, hayfever, flu, allergic reaction, migraines, but never thought we would pick up nits. It is embarrassing but I figure someone else can learn from it. Take your own pillowcase on the overnight train. Oh also pack cockroach spray for that train. We also heard from the Brookshaws that their friends went on the train a few nights after we did. They had packed some sandwiches for their breakfast and had them wrapped up in a bag on one of the girls beds. In the morning they found that a rat had eaten right through the bag and had a good go at the sandwiches. Maybe nits is not that bad...
From Dallas: The hotel must have one CD/playlist. Since we have been here (3-4 days) we have heard the same few songs over and over. They are instrumental versions of western songs with a Vietnamese flavour by using flute and string instruments. The 2 songs I have heard the most are my heart will go on (titanic), and i love you baby. Would be nice if they had a longer playlist. You know how it is when your kids keep playing the same songs over and over in thr car. Its like that. Drive you crazy.
Our last full day in Vietnam. Tomorrow we fly to Singapore in the morning. It has been a great trip. Today included the palace of independence and then the ben thanh markets which was a crazy place. After lunch a swim in the pool at the hotel and then to dinner. The language barrier has certainly been a challenge. Google translate came in handy on a few occasions. I think at times it has been challenging for Megan and Reid but they have been great. Having a tour guide was great we learned more through him than what we would have done on our own and he helped with translation and knew good places to eat. Vietnam has a complex history and the people are to be admired given their struggles and resilience. I have gained a great appreciation and respect for the people. I am looking forward to learning more about Vietnam in the future and have a much better context and base understanding now for further study. I will be interested to discuss Vietnam with our friends from the USA that we are meeting in about 5 weeks.
Ho Chi Minh City has been my favourite city along with The Hoi An region including Da Nang. HCMC is more modern and cleaner, parks and open spaces, with some Western influence but still has the underlying culture of Vietnam. The size of 6 million people though does make it crazy busy which was a negative. Ha Noi was very much the old world and very traditional Vietnam, chaotic as it is also a big city and not very clean. I felt like I was in a completely different world and set back in time. Cassie describes it as being in an Indiana Jones movie. It had great history and culture and provided an understanding of how things were in ages past. Hue was similar to Ha Noi. Each city had its positives and negatives. On to Singapore tomorrow for a few days which will be very different I expect from what we have experienced in Vietnam.
Singapore day 1
I say Singapore but we really only got here in the afternoon.
After our last breakfast of 48 asian dishes (sans cocoa pops this morning) we checked out and went to the lobby to wait for our ride to the airport. I had pre-booked it and really was just hoping that they would show up. When they were only a few minutes late I went up to reception to ask them to call the company. At the same moment the phone rang and it was the transport company calling to let me know that the driver was caught in traffic and would be there shortly. What great service! The driver arrived and after we started driving he handed me his phone. It was his manager just calling to make sure that everything was all good. I was impressed. I think it was the Vietnam Travel Company.
At the airport as we were standing in line to check in at Singapore Airlines and a member of the staff handed us a piece of paper each "for our entertainment". It was one of those find the differences pictures. That was a nice idea. They put another puzzle sheet in with our boarding passes after printing those.
After checking in we had to go through security. It seemed more strict at Ho Chi Minh airport than at the other airports we have been through in Vietnam. The customs counters have been an interesting exercise. Again the kids were allowed to come to the counter with me, and the officer kept Dallas' passport to process, but made him go back and stand behind the line. We can't quite figure out what that is all about.
We headed to the designated gate only to find that it had moved. I had some dong left that I had intended to use to get water at the airport. Turns out that everything in the airport is sold in US dollars. Where we had been buying water for 4000 or 8000 dong on the street, in the airport it was more like the equivalent of 45000 dong. We did find a filtered water fountain. It was clean but was not cold. I took Reid for a walk and we found burger king. I decided I needed to try their mozarella sticks and got a taro pie for Dallas as we have not seen that before.
We landed in Singapore at 3pm. I would guess that we stood in the arrivals hall for almost an hour waiting for immigration processing. The lines didn't seem that long but took forever to move. Once again we had to split up to go through. I saw some lines taking kids through with their mothers but another line that had a girl that must have been 8 going through on her own.
We had some trouble finding the SIA Singapore stopover counter. The website says it is after carousel 38 in the arrivals hall. You actually have to go right out of the baggage claim area and all the way down the hall to the left. Finally we found it and were able to get the transport to the hotel organised and pick up our attraction passes that will get us into a bunch of stuff for free.
We decided against going to the marina tonight and opted for dinner in an Italian restaurant across the river after we learned that the dinner buffet in the hotel is $98. We discovered that when you eat out here the prices do not include a 10% service charge AND a 5% GST. I prefer our system where prices have to include tax.
We will ring in the new year from our hotel room and possibly in my sleep smile emoticon If we are still awake perhaps we will get glimpses of the fireworks from the window.
From Dallas: Arrived safely via bus to HCMC airport to catch our flight to Singapore with Singapore Airlines. Cassie surprised me with a taro pie from burger king at the airport which was very yummy. So much so that I took Megan with me and we did a run to BK and I got another one along with a drink of Milo. Megan got mozzarella cheese sticks for her and Reid and Cassie asked me to get her an apple pie. All very nice and not available in Australia (to my knowledge). The flight was fine and I was so excited to see real orange juice on the plane which I had with lunch (2 cups). We didn't see real orange juice in Vietnam which was surprising as they do grow oranges but they are green skinned and don't appear to be as popular as other fruits such as jack fruit, dragon fruit, strawberries, lychees and mandarins. Coconut quite popular also in various forms and real cocunuts available to purchase for drinking from 15000d - 30000d (less than $2.50) from various places. The lunch on the plane was a choice of fish with rice (I've eaten too much of that over the past 2 weeks) or a pork dish with noodles (which I opted for). Lunch included a bread roll and caremel custard desert. Quite nice meal overall. Only a short flight of 2 hrs so didn't get through much in terms of movies or entertainment. I started watching a movie on the in-flight system which according to the outline seemed interesting however it was not to my taste so I turned it off. By this time there wasn't much time left before descending but I started watching a movie I have on my phone (that I rented from home) called Winning Favor, based on a true story of a few young men who play high school basketball and achieve something special. So far it is good and has a spiritual undertone, feel good etc. Only got though about 20 mins so looking forward to watching the rest soon.
Immigration/customs at Singapore took a long time and I can't work out how these officers determine who and how many people can come to the counter at once. At HCMC on departing Cassie went to the counter with Megan and Reid and I followed last. Once at the counter the officer asked me to stand back behind the line and he processed all of us with me standing at the front of the line. Then on arrival at Singapore we saw different customs officers treat each group or family differently with some children going through on their own with the rest of the family processed separately. I couldn't follow the logic and criteria used. If anyone works in this industry or knows about this please feel free to share if allowed. We went to a special service desk at Singapore airport to arrange transport into the city based on some passes we have. Finding the counter was not straight forward but it was all pretty straightforward after that and a bus showed up fairly soon and took us to our hotel.
It was a lovely drive from the airport to the city. Clean and green with nice buildings, very modern and interesting sights, parks etc such as the marina area. Quite different from the world we had left only 2 hours earlier. The hotel has softer beds which is very pleasing. Still not quite like Australian beds but close. Perhaps other rooms here have different beds, particularly more expensive rooms. We got organised and planned out tomorrow as we will be meeting with my sister for lunch who is also in Singapore at the moment and meeting Keith and Marilyn Walker for dinner as they are also here. Dinner was close by at a Italian place called Giordanos. Very nice food. Prices here similar to back in Australia and more expensive than Vietnam. The fact that they add gst and other service tax/tips on top of the advertised price is a bit messed up. I prefer like in Australia knowing exactly what the price is inclusive of any taxes. We went back to the hotel around 8:30. We lost an hour between the time zone change so we had a later dinner than normal. If I can stay awake to midnight (about 50 more minutes) I will see if the fireworks are visible from the hotel room window.
It was strange walking to dinner tonight and not seeing any scooters and very little traffic at all including only hearing one honk of a car horn. A nice thing. One thing I did notice often in Vietnam was that many people honked their horn unnecessarily. There wouldn't be anyone close by but people still honking their horns to say I'm here. It was crazy and really frustrating for a outsider (the noise pollution) but they are so used to it. Tomorrow we are exploring the area near the Singapore flyer and the Suntec building and then special gardens (forget their name) with Terina and her friend Angela in the afternoon after lunch. Reid will make sure we get in the pool and spa at some point too I'm guessing.
Singapore day 2
I thought we had humidity in Queensland but they take it to the next level here. At 8:30am as we were walking to Clark quay it was already oppressive. We hopped on a Singapore River Cruise which had an audio visual commentary as we cruised up the river towards the Marina. The commentary was interesting as it described the old Singapore where there were lots of vendors cooking food on the street. It made me imagine what we had seen in Vietnam here in Singapore on the banks of the canal, and also wondered what Vietnam will look like in another 50 years.
We hopped off at the esplanade dock (we had to ask them to stop there). From there we walked to the Singapore flyer. This was awesome. It is bigger than the Brisbane wheel. You can see so much from up there.
At the base of the flyer is a group of shops called the Singapore food trail. Our passes gave us $5 in vouchers each to use here. It comes as two $2 vouchers and a $1. Megan got a local treat called an ice ball. Reid went for a milo and we also got a bunch of food on a stick and some waters. By this point we had not spent a cent as everything we did was part of the pass.
We then walked over to Suntec City and visited the Alive museum. This is essentially a series of 3D Scenes that you can photograph yourself in. It is very clever and the kids loved it.
Dallas' sister Terina was also here in Singapore with her friend Angela so we had arranged to meet them at lunchtime. We caught up over lunch and then walked across to the Gardens by the bay. This is pretty spectacular. They have these structures called super trees. Two of them are connected by a sky walk. Then they have two conservatories which are massive air conditioned domes containing gardens. One is the flower dome and the other is the cloud dome.
An $8 taxi ride got us back to the hotel at 6pm. We had organised to meet our friends the Walkers at 6:30 for dinner. Reid was desperate for a swim so went for a quick 15 minute dip. Dinner was on Robertson Quay and was great as it is 3 restaurants in one, so you can get Indian, Thai or Western food.
Last day tomorrow so we are hitting Sentosa Island.
From Dallas: Today was a spectacular day all round. We started out with a very humid walk to Clarke quay to catch a boat ride to the Marina area where we then went to the Singapore flyer. The flyer was amazing. The views spectacular and it highlighted how much of an incredible place Singapore is. There were dozens of ships in the sea ready to either dock and load or head for their next destination. The Marina area was calm with amazing buildings and a floating sports field (soccer) with fixed seating for large events including events such as the fireworks last night. There was a building designed to look like a rocket and other buildings with unique architecture such as the super trees, two garden domes, marina sands hotel, science centre shaped like a flower and cruise ship terminal. Quite the contrast coming from Vietnam. The flyer was very smooth and took about 30 minutes so was a great experience all round. Air con in the carriages was very appreciated. Next stop was to the alive museum at suntec city building. This was fun for the kids as it allowed them to pose in painted settings that made look part of the picture. We met my sister Terina at about 1pm and her friend Angela who are on a great adventure through Asia at the moment and head back to Thailand tomorrow. We went from the Suntec building to the gardens by the bay, a short walk. This was amazing. The super trees with the walkway between two of them and the gardens in general. Then we went in to the two domes housing plants and walkwsys, waterfalls, christmas decorations and video displays. I have never been in anything quite like it before. Taxi from the gardens to hotel around 5:45 and then a quick dip in the pool before showering and getting ready to go out for dinner. We met the Walkers (keith and marilyn) around 6:30 at Robertson Bridge and went to a restaurant close by. I had Indian (they offered Thai, Indian, and Western food). Reid got adventurous and had mac and cheese. A nice walk to the hotel after dinner then planning for tomorrow our last day in Singapore before we fly out at Midnight Saturday. Tomorrow we will go to Sentosa Island.
Singapore day 3
Today was Sentosa Day. Unfortunately I found it a bit of a frustrating day all around. Partly I think I am just tired and ready to come home.
We awoke to the pouring rain. Dallas and Megan went down to the hotel buffet and Reid and I had weetbix in the room. It is not worth paying for him to eat three bowls of cocoa pops from the buffet and nothing else.
We had a taxi take us to the cable car station. There was no line and we jumped straight on. The view from the cable car was spectacular. We were able to see more of the island and also had a great birds eye view of sentosa as we arrived. The resort there looks massive.
From the cable car station we took Bus 1 that is free and stops at various spots around the island. As we arrived at the Resort carpark I was astounded as I have never seen such a beautiful car park with sculptured columns lit up. Upstairs the resort itself was just as amazing. It looked like a theme park in itself.
I joined the line to get tickets for Universal studios as we have our SIA passes which we show to get free tickets to all of the attractions. I had the passes out all through the line but got to the front 20 minutes later to be told that those ones have to be done at guest services, another line. A sign would have been nice. We had planned our time to get there early to try to get the big rides done first but ended up getting in about half an hour after it opened.
The remainder of the day reaffirmed that I made the right decision not to have our family holiday be to New Zealand. I made that call based on the fact that Reid is not very adventurous and I would have spent the whole time watching Dallas and Megan do all of the fun stuff.
Dallas and Megan went to do the Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster and Reid and I joined the line for Transformers. We agreed to meet about 75 mins later. The estimated wait time had just hit 40 mins which was about my limit. We ended up in line for 52 mins and it would have been longer if not for the fact that they were looking for 2 people to fill a carriage. The ride was excellent - 3D movies interspersed with a moving car and lots of special effects. It took five minutes. Reid spent most of the ride with his eyes closed.
By the time we got out it was too late to do another ride as it was just about time to meet Dallas and Megan. When they arrived we learned that they had managed to get 3 rides in. We stayed together for the rest of the day and saw the waterworld show, did a few tame family rides and did the sound stage show which was pretty awesome. Reid was scarred by transformers and wouldn't do anything else exciting. We joked with him that crossing the road in vietnam was more scary than most of the rides. It rained quite heavily at one point and cover was sparse outside of the central areas. We hung out under a tree for a bit and then ran for it and found an indoor show.
I can't help comparing Universal to Disneyworld. The rides are good but the waiting areas are not very well done. I was really annoyed that they do not have wifi as we had no way to communicate with each other and had to arrange meeting points and times which wasted a lot of time. For the amount of money that they charge to get in they should be doing things like wifi to make life easier for guests. Coming from Vietnam where every hole-in-the-wall cafe has wifi, I have been somewhat disappointed in Singapore in this regard. I also thought the express pass system was not well designed and caused a lot of delays to people who did not have them. The disney fast pass system is better.
We caught a taxi back to the hotel and they had a quick swim before we had to check out at 6. We then went to the Funan Digitalife Mall which is a mall just for electronics. Dallas thought it looked pretty awesome when we first walked in. The prices appeared to be much the same as at home though. This mall also did not have wifi. Reid wanted subway so I bought his sandwich and then we went to get pasta for the rest of us. The staff at the pasta place informed us that he couldn't sit with us eating his subway even though we were all going to buy their pasta. Thought that was pretty dumb. Dallas had to take him back to subway so he could eat his sandwich. She also got on my case about holding a bag of subway cookies that we had for later. Very very strange. I was tempted to start eating the cookies in her eyesight after finishing the pasta.
We are now at the airport about to board our flight so in about nine hours we will be on home soil. It has been an incredible few weeks.
From Dallas: Last day of trip. We catch a midnight flight tonight so will do a few small posts tonight providing an update on the day and the trip overall. Update 1.
This morning we went via cable car to Sentosa island. Wow. The island is well developed and well set out. We spent the day at Universal Studios and it was a mixed day or fun, thrill, and rain. Overall the park seemed to be too small to cope with the numbers and lines too long. Food terrible and expensive. Megan and I went straight to the big roller coaster called the cylon. It was awesome. About a 35 min wait as it was not long after opening. Then went to Revenge of the Mummy also a good ride. An indoor roller coaster. Megan found it a bit scary but liked it. About a 35 min wait for that one. We came back to the hotel around 5pm. More on Universal Studios later in update 2.
Vietnam day 1 - Ha Noi
First impressions. The airport was large and modern and clean. Clearing customs was way easier with less paperwork than at home, although the officer that processed us wanted to see us one at a time, despite the fact that other lines were taking couples through together. I tried to go through with both kids and she said "one baby" so I went through with Reid and Megan had to go through with Dallas. I think the fact that we had pre-done our visas made the process much faster than it could have otherwise been. There were no customs forms to fill out and you only have to declare things like alcohol, cigarettes and large amounts of cash. Note: I applied directly to the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia for our visas a couple of months before we left. They came back 2 days later with no problems.
I had also pre-booked transfers to our hotel so as we came out of customs there was a man holding a sign with my name on it, which was a first for me. He took us outside and motioned for us to wait at the kerb while he went to get the car.
The drive into Ha Noi from the airport was about 20 mins and was very interesting. The landscape is so different. There are lots of little farms and then groups of buildings but so many of the buildings are really tall and skinny with 3 or 4 floors and often only the facade would be painted and the rest left as bare concrete. There were also a lot of unfinished buildings.
As we came into the town the number of scooters increased dramatically and we saw many insane loads on the back of scooters, like big rolls of carpet, big water bottles tied together and even a fridge.
We are staying at the Hong Ngoc Cochinchine Hotel which is just north of the Old Quarter. As we waited in the foyer were we given drinks that tasted like some sort of cordial.
We have two adjoining rooms, a double and a twin. A double means two twin bed frames with a large mattress over the top of them smile emoticon The mattress is feeling pretty solid so we will see how we sleep. I don't know what you would call the room style - dark wooden carved furniture. It is nice and clean and we have a balcony where we have already done lots of people watching.
After checking in we went for a walk to find a phone store that supposedly sells SIM cards and to find Reid some food. It really is a bit overwhelming at times with the cars and scooters going everywhere. Crossing the road is an adventure. We found the store and they only sell top ups and figuring that out was also an adventure. It seems like most people know about as much English as we know Vietnamese so there is lots of gesturing and pointing. So far we have found the people quite friendly though and willing to try to communicate. Note: We never did buy SIM cards - we found that wifi was everywhere and we were never far from internet if we needed it. We had downloaded offline maps which we used heavily.
We walked past a "cafe" that said "fast food" on the window and thought we might be able to find something for Reid. The guy there kept saying "coffee" but we managed to communicate that we wanted to see a menu. It was mostly drinks but there were some smoothies so Megan had a mango smoothie and Reid had a custard apple smoothie and both were quite good. They were 40000 dong each which is about $3. While we were sitting there the guy also brought out some drinks that looked like cordial, saying "beer" which confused us because he also gave it to the kids. It didn't smell like beer and Dallas thought it was some kind of tea.
We started walking again and Reid was keen to get back to the hotel, being a bit overwhelmed by it all I think. While I was people watching from the balcony I saw a lady selling bananas off a cart so I ran down and bought a bunch for 20000 dong.
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| Electrical wiring in Ha Noi |
Vietnam Day 2 - more Ha Noi
Today we took a 10.4 km stroll around the city. My phone congratulates me that this is my "best day ever". Go me.
You can look at photos and even videos of places like this but nothing can quite capture the feeling and atmosphere of being here and wandering the streets. Today I am very grateful for downloaded offline maps and GPS technology without which we would still be wandering aimlessly.
We started by heading for Dong Xuan Market. We thought we might have reached it a few times as the streets all around just look like one big market with everything you could possibly think of on sale. But once we reached the real market there was no mistaking it and it was unlike anything I had ever seen. 3 floors of wall to wall market stalls with barely enough room for one person to walk in between. The really strange thing was that there were people running everywhere delivering boxes of products to stores but we didn't see anyone buying anything. One lady even pushed me out of the way to stack more products while I was looking at her stall. It didn't take Reid long to get tired of that place.
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| Dong Xuan Market |
There were many many many shops around the market and although many seemed to have clothes and other things at the same prices that we would pay at home, Megan found one shop with pants for 50000 dong (only a few dollars) and of course had to buy 2 pairs.
Next we walked to the Bach Ma Temple which was very ornate and was mostly built in the 18th century. It feels a bit funny going to these temples and looking around as a tourist while there are people worshiping in various spots. It looks like they bring food and other offerings to leave, including packaged food. We also saw people feeding fake US money into a fire. Not sure what that was about. (Note: found out later it is an offering)
We then walked down towards the Hoan Kiem Lake. This was quite beautiful. Along the way a lady bailed us up and when we showed some interest in the treats that she had, she started piling them into a bag and then wanted 150000 for them. We need the translation for "we know you are ripping us off but will pay you because we think you probably need it". They were actually quite delicious and kept us going as we toured the next couple of spots.
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| Hoan Kiem Lake |
As we walked around the lake there were a lot of people selling food and toys. We had lots of offers from guys on bikes to take us where we wanted to go. They told us it was way too far to walk.
We tried to visit a couple of museums, but being the middle of the day they were closed. A lot of places close between 11 and 1. Instead we pressed on to the Hoa Lo Prison, which was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by the Americans during the war.
This was both fascinating and sobering. It was originally built over the site of a village with temples and the story goes that the French colonialists made the village move elsewhere so they could build their prison. Many Vietnamese were imprisoned here by the French and the conditions appeared to be deplorable. It reminded me of visiting the concentration camps in Germany. Here we saw the guillotine that was used to execute prisoners, complete with a photograph of some heads which was a bit grisly.
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| Hoa Lo Prison |
After viewing the cells there were some rooms then that talked about the American war from the 60s-70s which I found very interesting. There was one room dedicated to photographs showing many other countries protesting American involvement. Then another room talking about the number of pilots that were shot down over Vietnam. Then one last room showing photos and videos demonstrating how well the Americans were treated in Hoa Lo. I will be interested to read up more on this after I get home.
By now we were hungry so we were on the lookout for food and a place to sit down and have a bit of a rest. Finding something to keep everyone happy is a challenge. We ended up at a place called Mealtime which looks like it is trying to imitate the look and feel of a western fast food joint. It looked clean and quiet and above all it had chips. smile emoticon Dallas had some of duck dish and the kids had some chicken and chips and with a couple of drinks and a panacotta type dessert. It was still only 189000 dong. A little respite from the busy streets was welcome.
We are now back at the hotel having a rest. Reid's cough did get worse and I have started him on the antibiotics that the Dr gave us just in case, and now Megan is looking quite unwell with a cough and possibly a mild fever. It would be nice to have a trip where no one gets sick but we will press on. Our official tour starts tomorrow night and it will be good to be able to have a guide that we can ask questions of. I think we are doing OK but it is a struggle at times. It is a great lesson in how it must feel for those that come to Australia not being able to speak much or any English.
As I sit here writing I can hear the never ending traffic outside. I think they honk their horns more than the New Yorkers did. If you are still reading you are probably my mum so I will also say that except for the nutty traffic we feel quite safe and have not had any of the issues that we were warned about. My biggest issue right now is that I think I might need a foot massage.
Note from Dallas: Dinner day 2. 5spices reataurant Hanoi. Very nice. 518000d. About A$38 for the 4 of us. They had josh groban and michael buble christmas music playing, great service and their English was pretty good. Cassie had papaya salad, reid spring rolls which would be the nicest I've ever eaten (had to help reid of course), megan had roast chicken with coconut sauce, I had chicken thigh with lemongrass cooked in a banana leaf. All round very good. Found the restaurant on trip advisor.
Vietnam day 3 - Ha Noi
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was how an old lady walked right up to Reid and stroked his face and said something. I assume it was something about his looks. Those of you who know Reid will know how much he enjoyed that and could imagine the look of disgust on his face. (Note: this happened a LOT through the trip - many older ladies expressed interest in him. Towards the end of the trip one lady said something about him being tall compared to a Vietnamese 11 year old so perhaps that was it)
I am very proud of him actually as he handled yesterday better than the first day. We talked in the morning about how it is overwhelming but that we would try to take breaks away from the traffic and noise. At dinner last night he even tasted my papaya salad and Megan's coconut chicken and discovered that he liked the chicken.
Another thing that occurred to me this morning as I read about yet another traffic standstill on the Pacific highway is that we have not seen a single traffic jam here, despite the massive number of vehicles on the road. There is something to be said for the high usage of scooters and motorbikes, even if you do have to spend all day picking your way around the thousands of bikes parked on the footpaths. We have also not seen a single accident. (yet - we saw a couple later on)
Today we plan another walking loop of the city, including Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum (with his embalmed body) and museum, the military history museum and the Imperial Citadel.
.......
Today we smashed our best ever record and clocked up 18.6 km of walking.
Dallas says he will give me a foot massage but I don't think I will hold him to that as he is a bit under the weather. The kids are still coughing away in the next room. I think I need to ask for my own room to get away from the sick people and avoid the inevitable!
We had the buffet breakfast in the hotel again. It is a mixture of western and eastern options. Rice gruel seems to be a staple and Megan tried it but it didn't have a lot of taste. I think you are supposed to add more stuff on top of it. They had two small canisters of cereal with a box of long life milk. I presume there are not a lot of cows locally! One is some sort of corn flakes and the other is cocoa pops. There are various stir fry type dishes, bacon and some small sausages and they will make you scrambled eggs or an omelette. There is fresh fruit and then an array of little pastries and little cups of yoghurt.
We headed off early towards the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We approached it from the direction of our hotel and could see the line to get in and walked towards it only to be waved off by a guard and had to walk all the way around the entire complex to find the actual entrance. I though we would never find it.
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| Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. To get in you walk ALL the way around to the left. And I mean ALL the way. |
We walked up some stairs after entering and then came into the chamber holding Ho Chi Minh's body. He is inside a glass case and the walkway is raised so that you walk around three sides of it. The room is darkened and the case is lit up. There are four guards standing at the corners of the case. He looks quite good. I understand from my reading that he is removed for a couple of months every year to be restored again.
There is something quite amazing about feeling the reverence that the people have for this man. In other photos and documents we have seen him frequently called Uncle Ho.
After this we really wanted to go to the Ho Chi Minh Museum but it seemed that the only way to get there was to go through the Presidential Palace site which was a separate small entrance fee. There was a sign pointing to the museum but on attempting to follow it a guard made it clear that we must not go that way.
In the Presidential Palace complex we saw the garage of his cars and the small stilted house where he slept and worked. As we were walking through this complex we realised that some young Japanese tourists were pointing at Megan and giggling. They ended up taking photos with her. I think they were interested that she was so tall. Then one of them grabbed Reid and took photos with him too. He was a good sport about it smile emoticon
We eventually found the museum and it too was very interesting. One of the most interesting parts though was that a large group of soldiers was going through at the same time and they also found Megan quite intriguing. I think they may have been cadets of some sort as they all looked quite young. Many of them said hello or xin chao to her as we walked past them. I doubt they realised she is only 13 as she was taller than all of them.
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| Ho Chi Minh Museum |
We collected our bag just on 10:30 and were ready to continue on. We must have been in a much more touristy area today as we were constantly asked by guys on bikes and scooters if we wanted a ride. Not on your life. We didn't actually see a lot of tourists walking like we were, perhaps they are mostly on tours. The locals don't even seem to walk much, they all seem to get around on their scooters or bikes.
From the Ho Chi Minh complex we headed towards the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. We reached the spot on the map where we thought it should be and all we could see was a walled enclosure on the right with lots of old buildings. We figured that must be it and started looking for the entrance. It was a repeat of the earlier HCM entrance hunt and we had to walk all around the entire complex to find the entrance. There was a sign at one point saying the entrance was 100m away. They must measure metres differently here. In the process we managed to walk right past the Fine Arts Museum without seeing it and when we reached "the entrance" we found we were actually at the Temple of Literature. They aren't big on tourist friendly signage here.
But all good as that was going to be our next stop anyway. This was built a thousand years ago as a University. Originally only the rich could attend but later others were allowed in. There are stellae showing the names of the graduates and a large statue of Confucius and four of his disciples. Again here I felt weird being a tourist and looking around while people were worshiping at these statues. There was also a large crane like statue and people appeared to be doing some sort of ritual where they rubbed the belly and then the legs. They were taking photos of each other doing it.
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| Temple of Literature |
By this stage Dallas was feeling pretty awful. He thinks it is perhaps something he ate. I hope so because the alternative is something contagious. We found a little cafe up the street where Megan had a baguette and I had a croissant and Dallas was able to get a juice down. Despite them having ham and cheese sandwiches on offer Reid refused to order anything because he had seen the pizza next door! He had a milkshake and we said we would go back after the Fine Arts Museum, which by now we realised we had walked right past.
I really enjoyed the fine arts museum. As I said to Megan, art can tell you a lot about the culture and history of a place. Often it is only through artwork that we know some parts of history. In this case the more modern artwork was heavily influenced by the various conflicts, especially with the French and the Americans. My favourite pieces were the lacquer engravings, where they started with a black surface and the cut in the design and added colour.
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| Fine Arts Museum - Lacquer painting |
By now it was after 1 and the Military History Museum would be open again (obligatory midday shutdown). However we had promised Reid pizza so we went back across the road for that. The pizza place was just a lady with a tiny stand and some photos of pizza. I wasn't holding my breath but hoped for the best and ordered a Hawaiian. She told us to follow her upstairs and we went up these tiny winding stairs to an upstairs room with low tables that you sit around on the floor. Dallas took one look and said he would go get a juice next door and wait for us there. When the pizza arrived she had actually made us two pizzas. The second was some kind of sausage (I probably don't want to know) and capsicum. It was actually delicious and very fresh.
We were again confused getting to the Military History Museum because the front looked nothing like the photo, but it was definitely across from a giant statue of Lenin and had a tank and bomber plane out the front. There were rooms in here dedicated to the various conflicts and wars and there was a large tower that was about 1000 years old that we explored. They have a large collection of planes and missile launchers as well as the wreckage of a downed plane. While we were there a group of children came through obviously on a school excursion. They could not have been more than about 4 years old and were all wearing little orange tracksuits. Very cute. I did note both here and earlier when we saw school groups going through the HCM museum that they appeared to be going through very fast and not doing much explaining of what they were seeing. The main goal for the four year olds seemed to be to get their photo in front of as many exhibits as possible.
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| Military History Museum |
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| Imperial Citadel |
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| Archaeological Digs at Imperial Citadel |
We arrived back at the hotel at 4:30 totally exhausted but I am pretty sure that we have seen all of the vital stuff! Anyone else going to Vietnam? I can give you my crazy Ha Noi in two days and 30km of walking itinerary smile emoticon Bring good sneakers.
After a quick rest we met up with our tour guide Bao and the other family on our tour - Matthew, Rachael, Emaleigh and James. They are from Sydney and seem nice. Their kids are a older than ours - James is almost 16 and Emaleigh is 20 or 21, can't remember exactly. After a welcome meeting we went to dinner together. Again I was proud of Reid as he tried a beef noodle soup. He didn't eat a lot of it but trying it was a good start. Megan has been keen to try some new things and has picked some winners. The food was all delicious but we were very glad to get back to the hotel and get to bed. Hopefully everyone wakes up healthier tomorrow.
Vietnam day 4 - Ha Noi
Today was the first day with our tour guide. His name is Bao and he lives in the suburbs of Hanoi and has two small children. It must be hard being away on tours for two weeks at a time.
We started with breakfast at a restaurant called KOTO. If I remember correctly this stands for Know One Teach One. It is a foundation that works to help street kids. They train young people to work in hospitality and the restaurant is where they do it. It was a fabulous breakfast so they are training them well.
We then went to the Temple of Literature. We had been there yesterday but missed an entire section and our tour guide was able to provide much more detailed information. It pays to take a local. He talked about how the entire back section was bulldozed by the French to make room for their troops and was rebuilt only recently.
After that we headed to the Ho Chi Minh complex. We also went there yesterday but apparently the mausoleum is closed on Fridays so we were glad to have done that part. Then it turned out that they had inexplicably closed the Presidential Palace section, so lucky we saw that yesterday. Bao took us through a couple of pagodas that we totally missed yesterday and talked about the different types of Buddhas that are seen in pagodas etc. He took us through the museum and talked a lot about Ho Chi Minh and how he wanted to free his people from the French but saw that so many had failed, so he spent a long time abroad to learn about the world so that he could return and liberate his people. He said that the history of Vietnam is "complicated". The Japanese kicked the French out but then the French came back and then they reached a point where the French left but under the Geneva convention they had to have an election within two years. Before this time the US had been supporting Ho Chi Minh to get rid of the French but then didn't want him elected because of his Communist ideology and that is apparently the root of the American war as they call it here. Something along those lines, and the Russians were in there too somewhere. He said that Vietnam has natural resources like tin and aluminium which were desirable to other countries as well as a large population to subjugate as slaves. It is clear that feelings about this relatively recent history run deep and for good reason.
With the rest of the complex closed we agreed to meet again later and had the afternoon to ourselves. We walked through the old quarter where some ladies tried very hard to sell Megan more clothes. We stopped at KFC for lunch and found that they have an adapted menu. I had some chicken with rice. They still have popcorn chicken which the kids opted for. They have Milo on tap for 20000 dong which they serve in real glasses. The food all came out on proper plates with silverware. We also tried some egg tarts which turned out to be like little custard tarts and were very yummy.
Megan was dragging by mid-afternoon so we came back to rest for a bit. I have started her on antibiotics too. I don't think the air quality here is doing much for her recovery or her lungs. Reid on the other hand is looking much better and barely coughing. Hopefully she responds to the meds as quickly as he did. I am glad that his cough started before we left so I have a good supply of pills to use for them both.
We met up with the other family and Bao at 4:30 to look for some street food before attending the water puppets show. He first took us to try Bahn Mi. This is essentially a baguette with shredded meat and spices inside. It was fantastic. Reid didn't like his so I had to eat two.
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| Bahn Mi - This was the tastiest one that we tried. A little spicy but not too hot. |
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| Bahn Cuon (I think - I may not have written that down right. Delicious anyway) |
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| Water Puppet Theatre. Quite entertaining even if you can't understand it. |
Vietnam day 5 - Ha Long Bay
It was an early start today as we had to be packed and ready to leave by 7:30 after having breakfast at the hotel. We left our main luggage in our rooms to be stored away and packed a day pack for our trip to Ha Long Bay.
The bus ride to Ha Long Bay is four hours long. I don't remember there being a break in the houses and buildings the entire way. The buildings are so strange to us, half painted, some half built, some look half demolished. We figured out the reason for the skinny buildings - it is to do with taxes being levied based on the frontage of the building. That reminds me that yesterday we saw a building near the Ho Chi Minh complex and Bao told us that they had built it five levels higher than it was supposed to be, so now they are being made to pull down the top five levels.
Most of the ride we saw a mix of farmland and buildings right next to each other, with one set of rice paddies being right in the middle of an enormous loop of the highway. We also saw a massive shopping mall and a number of factories. Bao pointed out the words that mean dog meat and we then saw those regularly on the signs at roadside food stands.
At the beginning of the trip Bao gave us a lengthy booklet containing a lot of detail about Vietnamese history and in particular the history since the French colonized the country. I spent most of the drive reading it. I feel like I was very ignorant of the history of this country, even after doing some reading in preparation for coming. The things these people have endured in the last 100 years are atrocious. Even worse is the fact that it is not over, with people still being killed by unexploded ordnance, families still enduring the effects of agent orange and areas that still will not regrow after being bombarded by chemical warfare 40 years ago.
We stopped halfway at a ceramics company where we saw how they make ceramic pots from beginning to end. We even saw the women hand painting them. They appear to have deals with the tour companies as they had free tea laid out. We purchased a small souvenir to take home and hope it makes it.
As we approached Ha Long Bay we could see the islands start to appear. Ha Long Bay is made up of thousands of limestone islands. When it is hazy like today they look very mysterious. We were excited to get on our boat and to find that the cabins are actually quite nice. The bathroom is very basic but is clean!
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| Cabin on the boat on Ha Long Bay |
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| Our boat |
We cruised for about half an hour before it was time to eat lunch. They certainly know how to lay on the food. Unfortunately most of it was not to Reid's liking but he found enough to eat. They had prawns and clams, spring rolls and fish cakes, and then a couple of stir fry dishes with rice. For dessert they brought out some watermelon. Everything was beautifully presented. Drinks were not included in the ticket and have been about 40000 to 60000 dong each, so just a few dollars for smoothies and mocktails. Megan does love a virgin pina colada.
Mid afternoon we stopped and Bao said we were going to visit a cave. "Cave" does not do it justice. It was called Hang Sung Sot. This was a series of massive caverns inside one of the islands with a winding walkway built through them. I have never seen anything like it. Of course at the other end there were the stalls of souvenirs and food and Reid would have loved a fanta but sadly I had brought no money.
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| Hang Sung Sot - The Cave |
From the cave we went a little further and the stopped and a tender boat came to get us so we could go kayaking. They have a pontoon set up in the middle of these islands with piles of kayaks there. They gave us life jackets and oars and put us in two to a kayak. Reid and I were in the first one and as soon as he sat down the life jacket, which was one size fits all, promptly hit the seat and lifted itself up over his head. He had a lovely view out the armpit of the jacket. smile emoticon With a bit of rearranging and the guy realising that he had forgotten to put the plug back in and fixing that, we were on our way.
As we headed out some girls told us that they had seen some monkeys by going through to the other side of the cave that we could see. That sounded pretty awesome so we paddled into the cave and out the other side. The monkeys were climbing all over the cliff face and seemed quite unconcerned that we were only a few metres away.
Paddling with Reid was an experience. He would try to go very fast and end up splashing water all over me which was not pleasant because it was cold! Then I had him stop paddling and he would drag his oar in the water.
After kayaking we returned to the boat just in time to see the sun go down. Before dinner we sat on the top deck for a while and soaked in the atmosphere. Again you can see photos and videos but being here is different. Even though there are hundreds of boats they are all spread out and it is very quiet and there is a feeling of tranquility and peace just floating among the islands.
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| Ha Long Bay |
We have retired to our cabins to turn on the heaters because it is cold!!!! The blankets are quite thin like in the hotel so I have taken the one off the spare bed to use as well as mine. They must source their mattresses from the same hard mattress company as the hotel.
In our daily health update, Dallas is fine, Reid is better, but Megan sounds terrible. I hope the antibiotics work. Last night she was coughing all night and we were very worried about her, to the point where Dallas went to check that she was still breathing. She woke feeling fine and said she didn't know she had been coughing all night. As the day went on she got worn out though, particularly climbing heaps of stairs at the cave. Tonight she seems to have picked up again.
Side note
Megan and I started making a list of the things we have seen happening on footpaths in Ha Noi that are different to home.
Grey hair plucking - we thought they were picking nits out but we asked our guide why two ladies were picking at another lady's hair and he said they were pulling out grey hairs. I'm sure at some point this ceases to be an effective strategy in the war against grey.
Barber shops - looks like you just set up a chair on the path and stick a mirror on the wall or fence and start trimming hair. Another service that they appear to offer is ear cleaning, which involves a long skewer like a kebab skewer. Looks a bit daring to me.
Rubbish - I don't know if it is at set spots or just where ever but people make little piles of rubbish at the edge of the footpaths. I have seen people walking along just drop bits of rubbish in these piles. Later I saw a woman with a big bin going along picking up the rubbish and putting it in her bin.
Badminton - we had seen lines painted on the areas where there are wide paths but didn't realise that it was for badminton until we saw a bunch of people playing.
Scooter parking - the majority of the footpath appears to be reserved for scooter parking. Often there will be a line painted "scooter distance " from the shop front. Once we saw a big platter filled with scooter keys, maybe in case one had to be moved? The other thing you will often see is people riding scooters in and out of shops so there are ramps, sometimes metal ones and sometimes just a piece of wood.
Scooter and bike repairs - they will have all of their tools all laid out on a cloth or board and there will be scooter parts and nuts and bolts all over the path.
Shoes at shop entrances - we didn't see this at all shops and I don't know what the criteria is but at many shops there was a pile of shoes at the entrance.
Cooking fires - we would often see people cooking over a little fire right there on the path, and entire families sitting down eating.
To go along with the cooking we often saw women throwing cooking water out onto the street. At least I hope it was cooking water.
Checkers - seems to be a popular game and we walked past many groups of men playing.
Tiny plastic chairs and tables - and I do mean tiny. At lunch time these are all filled with people, including girls that look very dressed up. Many people seem to sit around drinking the yellow Vietnamese tea.
Shoe cleaning - every morning opposite our hotel a man would come out with a basket of shoes and clean them all on the footpath.
Gardens - I did not see this right in Ha Noi but as I sit on the bus writing this I have seen little garden plots in the middle if the paths out the front of buildings. The plants looked like different varieties of cabbage.
Dogs - a lot of people seem to have tiny dogs, often with coats on. I did see one doberman and one guy brought a husky put of a shop, presumably to take it for a walk.
Fruit and veg sellers - these people are often walking around with a rod across their shoulders and baskets hanging from both ends of the rod, or they are pushing a bike with a big basket on the back. They will often stop on the corners.
Food vendors - especially in the evening - they come out with their carts.
Piles of electrical wires - often connected to the electrical poles and with exposed ends. I can only hope they are not live.
Money changers - didn't visit any of those.
Weddings - saw a tent put up right out over the footpath.
Couch repairs
With all of this happening on the footpath you can see how going for a walk can be quite the adventure. You have to spend a lot of time walking on the road where you then have to contend with a sea of scooters and cars.
VIETNAM Day 6 - Ha Long Bay
I slept quite well despite the very hard mattress. The bay is so calm that it didn't really feel like we were sleeping on water. I went up to the deck and Megan and I watched the sunrise while chatting to James from the other family on our tour. It was again spectacular and photos do not do it justice.
Breakfast was another delicious meal of multiple courses. They had muffins and bananas and yoghurt on the table as we sat down, and then added dragonfruit and toast, then fried eggs and bacon and even a beef stew.
After breakfast the chef came up to give us a lesson in how he creates "nets" made out of carrot to drape over fish (this was something we expressed amazement about last night).
We see a lot of fishermen rowing their boats with their feet and thought there must be some traditional reason for it. Instead Bao tells us this is so they can use their mobile phones smile emoticon
We spent the morning cruising further around the bay and then returned to the docks and boarded our mini bus which has a 4G wifi hotspot.
We stopped after a couple of hours at the Hong Ngoc center, which is a social enterprise that was started to help the disabled children of war veterans, by war veterans, and has now expanded to employ all people with disabilities. They train people to create all sorts of artworks including embroidered art, lacquer works, sculptures and clothing. We had lunch there, where Reid was excited to find that American Hotdogs were on the menu.
Once we got back on the bus for the remainder of the trip our guide Bao serenaded us with his Vietnamese flutes, made out of bamboo.
We returned to Ha Noi where we had access to day rooms at the hotel before it was time to go to the train station. We cleaned up and repacked and went out to get some supplies for the overnight train to Hue. We picked up some milo poppers and snacks from the tiny convenience store around the corner. We also went to the bakery to get some danishes for breakfast.
Bao had a guy come to the hotel with a takeaway menu from which we ordered dinner, with the promise that it would be delivered to the train station just before we left.
At 6:30 we met in the lobby and headed to the train station. The entrance to the train carriage was very narrow and you have to get around a couple of corners to get in, with a pack on your back and dragging your duffle bag. The corridor is also extremely narrow. The compartment is just big enough for two double bunks with about a metre between them. The beds are hard but really no worse than the hotel. The top bunk bent a little when Megan got up there so I think I would be nervous if I was sleeping under a large adult.
Each bed is covered in a sheet and has a pillow and quilt. The quilt is warmer and thicker than anything we have had so far. There is a small table coming out from under the window with two power points underneath. All of the power points that we have come across so far have taken the plug with the two round prongs. My research prior to the trip suggested that we may find multiple types of plugs here. (Note - the two round prong adapters worked everywhere that we went)
Bao came in with our dinner and sat down to eat with us. He has been put in another cabin with other travellers not in our group as the other family also has 4 people. He told us he went to University and studied culture. He has been a tour guide for about seven years. He is very good at it.
While we were eating Megan spotted a cockroach running across the underside of Reid's bed, right above my head. I dispatched it with my shoe. Shortly after that Megan found another one munching on her donut that she had left temporarily on the shelf above her bed. We promptly instituted a "no food on the bunks" policy and realised our cabin was even more crowded than we first thought. Reid is not fond of bugs and has spent the last half hour beating the shelf with his shoe.
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| Cosy cabin on the overnight train to Hue |
A girl just knocked on the door selling steamed buns for 15000 dong. Apparently they do sell food in the first carriage (we are in carriage 10) but Bao said we are better off staying here as it is cleaner. They must have extra friendly cockroaches up there. He said sometimes they get mice on the train too. Hopefully not today. Soon we will brave the bathroom and turn in for the night.
Before we went to the bathroom I said to Dallas that it couldn't be any worse than the ones we have already been to. I was wrong. This is the first stop but it already reeks and there is water everywhere. We used the last of the toilet paper and we don't expect any more to be added so good thing I have started carrying a roll in my back pack. Funnily enough they have invested in an automatic flush in one of the grossest toilets I have seen. But at least there is one I suppose!
From Dallas: Finished the boat ride through Halong bay this morning. Today is day 6. I will add that Halong bay is an incredible place. Kayaking through a cave into a beautiful cove watching monkeys climb and jump around the cliffs and trees was a great experience. The limestone islands (mountains) were spectacular and the water a nice green colour. If it was summer i would have been keen to swim. The boat was nice and food excellent. I have such admiration and respect for the people here as I continue to read and learn of their history and observe their way of life. Technology hasn't changed a lot of the culture here although we found it amusing that a guy was rowing a small boat out in Halong bay with his feet so he could use his mobile phone with his hands. There is a mobile phone tower in the middle of Halong bay on an island about 10km off the coast and the locals all love their phones. I will post photos of Halong bay boat trip in a separate post.
Vietnam day 7 - Hue
It was a long night on the train. The mattresses were hard and I woke up quite a few times. There were about ten stops along the way as well. There were no more creepy crawly friends though thankfully.
I gave up on sleep at about 5am and by about 5:30 I think we were all up. The kids read for a bit and we had our bakery treats. Food carts went past several times with drinks and snacks like potato chips as well as tea and coffee. We were getting packed up ready to get off when Bao told us we were still about an hour away so we just watched the scenery. It was interesting to finally see some countryside. We saw lots of cows and water buffalo. Through the country the houses are not built up as high and are just small homes. The conditions still look quite rough compared to what we are used to.
At 8:30 it was time to be ready to disembark and Reid was in the corridor waiting. He was still very concerned that five minutes was not going to be long enough to get off.
As we got off the train there were quite a few ladies with stalls selling snack food and quite a few men outside seeking those that needed transportation. Our bus was waiting and we headed off to the hotel.
We are staying at the Thanh Lich hotel. It is very nice and probably a step up from the Ha Noi hotel. The downside is that there is no safe so I have to carry everything jmportant on me. It is only for one more day though. One thing I noticed in the hotels is that they seem to just keep re-filling the shampoo and soap containers - the writing on the ones here had worn off . They both contained a green liquid that looked identical to me.
We stopped in for 45 minutes for a welcome shower before heading out again to yet another restaurant. I am not sure why I thought I would not eat a lot here. All we seem to do is eat! I ordered an omelette with bread which I assumed would be an omelette on toast. The bread turned out to be a huge baguette!
After brunch we went to visit the Imperial Citadel which includes the Forbidden or Purple City. It began construction in 1802 by the Nguyen dynasty and took 30 years to build. It essentially was the entire town of Hue at that time, with the normal people inside the outer walls, the government inside an inner citadel, and an exclusive central citadel for the royal family. Much of it was destroyed during the war.
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| Imperial Citadel |
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| Imperial Citadel |
There are all sorts of buildings, from residences to the treasury to temples to the royal library to the building where they taught arts and music.
After that we drove about 20 mins out of town to the tomb of the Emperor Thieu Tri. Bao told us that it was tradition for an emperor to plan and build his tomb before he died, and also to have a large tomb, and kill those who laid the body to rest so that no-one actually knew exactly where the body was. We should have taken the bug spray with us as we did a lot of traipsing through the forest.
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| Tomb |
Hue is very damp and there was a very fine mist of rain through the day, but not enough that we needed jackets. Bao said that winter is the rainy season and sometimes it rains for a few weeks on end. The dampness results in a lot of moss which was evident on the tombs. Like Ha Noi it is overcast and cloudy all of the time. It is a bit warmer here though. Hue is also smaller than Ha Noi and definitely seems a lot calmer on the streets.
Megan was really dragging today. She really needs to be able to sleep well at night to recover but last night it just didn't happen. We are having a couple of hours of rest now before going to the home of a local family for dinner. Now this is going to be interesting, for Reid and for me. The boys went up to check out the pool but it was icy so instead Reid is having some laptop down time before we go out.
I did some laundry the old fashioned way - in the bathtub - because the hotel charges per item of clothing. Dallas has just come back from a walk having found a lady that does it for 40000 dong per kilo right next to the hotel, so we will get the rest of it done there.
We are back from dinner now. What a feed! We travelled by taxi and the driver honked his horn most of the way. When we arrived at the house we met our host and his mother in law Bao said he doesn't know her real name and out of respect elderly women are called "ba". She sat with us for a while and answered questions through Bao. She also rolled up the betelnut with some leaves and white powder for the adventurous to try. It turns your mouth red. The family has lived in the house for over 100 years and had bunkers in the front yard during the war.
After a while we were taken to the kitchen where we saw all of the ingredients prepared and ready to cook. They had the front room prepared with low-ish tables and after we sat down the food started coming. Pumpkin soup was the first course but it had a very nutty taste as it contained ground up peanuts. Delicious. I will try to remember the rest. Spring rolls. Jackfruit stir fry - my favourite. Pork and tofu caramelised in a clay pot with rice. Tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms and pork. Beef and starfruit soup. Morning glory greens. French fries. And pineapple to finish off. Every time I thought we were done another dish came out. I was so nervous about this dinner thinking that we would get some local delicacies that I wouldn't be able to stomach but it was fabulous. This meal was 200000 dong per person.
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| Delicious meal made by a local |
Vietnam day 8 - Hue
At 7am this morning Dallas collected our laundry from the lady next to the hotel. It smelled nice and was all folded nicely. Either our children put odd socks in the bag or even Vietnamese washing machines eat socks. I know which one my money is on.
The breakfast buffet in the hotel looked amazing but didn't actually contain a lot of variety. Sadly for Reid there were no cocoa pops here. The banana pancakes and fried banana were both delicious though and they would make an omelette if you asked. There were also lolly jars on the table and packets of chocolate marshmallow biscuits which was a bit odd. Of course Reid had to have one and slip a few lollies into his pockets for later. It just could have used some yoghurt or something like that. I would also love some fresh orange juice. The "orange juice" at the hotels so far has been cordial.
We met Bao in the lobby at 8:30 ready for our day. We had all agreed to pay an extra $9 each to have the bus for longer and see some extra sights, which turned out to be well worth it.
First stop was a village just outside Hue where we walked through a small market. There were all sorts of fruits and vegetables as well as women chopping up ducks on benches right there. There were chickens and ducks in cages and baskets of baby ducks. One girl was cooking popcorn and the kids got a bag each for 5000 dong. One lady came and started talking to us and we thought she was being friendly but it was soon evident that she just wanted to lure us to her shop. A lot of the older ladies here seem to find Reid interesting for some reason. They also have a bridge there that was built in 1776. They had flood markers next to the river showing two floods from the 90s reaching 3m and 2m but Bao said there have been many more as they often get storms and typhoons here. Their floods are like ours, where the mud and silt gets into everything.
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| Fish at the local market. A new use for broken fans. There are "frogs" in the red bucket but they looked like cane toads to me |
From the village we went back through the town and boarded the dragon boat on the Perfume River to go to the Thien Mu Pagoda. This sounds a lot more exotic than it actually is. The river looks a lot like the Brisbane River - very silty. The boat has dragon heads coming off the front and the sides are decorated but it is really just a big barge with enclosed front and sides and plastic chairs to sit on as you go. It was fun but very noisy. As always there were girls on the boat trying to sell souvenirs.
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| Dragon boat |
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| Thien Mu Pagoda |
We walked back to our boat and they took us a bit further up the river where we got off again and Bao led us through some alleyways and up behind some houses where we suddenly came across an old stone arena from 1830. This is the arena where they used to fight tigers against elephants for entertainment. Bao said sometimes they would cut the claws of the tigers first if they looked too dangerous. The elephants usually won. We were able to go and crawl in through the tiger tunnels into the cells where they held them. You could see the claw scratches all over the walls. Reid had been hoping to see real tigers and elephants fighting but the scratches on the walls were pretty awe inspiring.
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| Tiger and Elephant Fighting Arena |
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| Tiger claw scratches in the arena |
The next stop was a village that makes incense sticks and the conical hats. We saw piles of the colourful bamboo incense sticks drying, and then watched a lady rolling the incense onto the stick. The one she was doing smelled like cinnamon. Megan was able to have a turn at making her own incense stick. Next we watched a lady making the conical hats and saw how they can actually make it so that you see picture outlines when you hold the hat up to the light.
The last sightseeing stop was to some old American bunkers from the war that overlook the Perfume River. The view is spectacular but it is overshadowed by the memories of violence that this forest must hold.
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| Bunkers outside Hue |
After that thankfully it was time to return to the hotel. Megan is struggling to swallow the antibiotics so I broke them into some milo for her and she got them down. I have just checked on her again and her fever is back so forced a couple more panadol into her. Surely it can't go on too much longer. She seems to wake up feeling great and then by the afternoon has had enough again. She hasn't vomited again so I hope it was not gastro or food related.
Dallas has taken Reid to get yet another smoothie. They came back ten minutes later after they realised that they did not take any money with them. Reid is subsisting on smoothies and the odd serve of hot chips some days. He does actually try a lot of the dishes as long as I reassure him that they are not spicy so this is a big achievement for him.
Dallas and Reid will go out to dinner with the rest of them tonight and I will keep Megan in bed to rest. I could actually use a break from the massive amounts if food. I am sure more food photos will be forthcoming. I really did not think that I would eat a lot here but Bao certainly seems to know where to find excellent food. Maybe I should use my free time this evening in the hotel gym (which is a treadmill, a bike and an elliptical).
Tomorrow we head to Hoi An.
Vietnam day 9 - Hoi An
Another two for the footpath list - stands for ponchos and scooter helmets outside the hotel. And a guy making coffins on the footpath.
They had bacon at breakfast this morning so Reid stocked up for the day. Megan seemed a bit better. She is actually taking her meds now, mixed with milo. She put on some shorts that she hasn't worn since we left home and I would swear she has lost weight. We learned from Bao that you can get most medication here without a prescription so that could prove helpful.
We hopped on the bus at 8am and started heading towards Hoi An. The first stop along the way was about 1.5 hours in, on a lagoon where they do oyster farming. There was a cafe there and they were waiting for us. There were at least ten people in this one shop trying to sell souvenirs, snacks, drinks, coffee, paintings and clothes. I asked Bao why they hover and follow you around the shop and he said it is in case you have questions or need help. To us it comes across pushy. Reid bought a drink and got another cheek rub along with it. The lady wanted to know how old he is. He is dealing with the unwanted touching well.
The next stop was on the top of Hai Van pass in the mountains before Da Nang. There were shops here too and they were beyond pushy. As soon as we got off the bus we had several women around us telling us they had a free toilet to get us into their shops. We made it through them to get across the road and climb the hill where there are bunkers from the American war and also old archways from the old road that came through the pass in the 19th century. Although we were at the top of the mountain it was very foggy and misty so we could see much. At times we couldn't even see the bus any more but when we could we saw that there were several ladies still waiting around the bus for us to come back. As we returned to the bus they started up again and one lady actually followed Rachael and blocked her from getting to the bus, holding a little carved pig, saying 100000, 100000.
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| Hai Van Pass |
Random note, I forgot to record the other day that Bao said the average salary is about $2200 a year here.
We arrived at our hotel at lunch time, or should I say RESORT?? The accommodation level of this tour has been quite nice but not what you would call resort standard. The Hoi An Silk Village resort was only finished two months ago and this is the first time Bao has had a group come here. It is amazing. The rooms are stunning. The kids have one of those fun outdoor showers in their room. Ours is upstairs with a balcony. The beds are soft and the rooms are huge.
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| Hoi An Silk Village Resort |
After the walking tour we returned to the tailor where Dallas was measured for a suit and shirts and Megan found a skirt that she loved. I was measured for a free shirt because of some special.
We then wandered through the old town looking at the various shops and picked up a few small gifts for family. Reid had picked up this annoying little rubber band powered flying toy and in one shop the owner had a little boy who must have been maybe 2 or 3 that saw it and was crying as he wanted it. I have been carrying around little matchbox cars in my pack as gifts for kids so I gave him one. The kids thought it was the cutest thing ever when he came back and said thank you in English.
We met at 5:30 at the lantern town restaurant which again was reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, including the music, where we continued our eating tour of Vietnam. I had an eggplant and mushroom stir fry. I must say that my view of vegetarian food has greatly expanded over here.
When we returned to the resort the boys were keen for a swim as we have suddenly gone from quite cool weather to very warm weather in the space of a couple of hundred kilometres. While we were out they had brought in bananas and left them in our rooms. The staff brought out fresh pool towels that felt like they had come straight put of the dryer. I am looking forward to a heavenly sleep tonight on this very nice bed.
Tomorrow we visit a children's charity and the beach.
From Dallas: Day 9 Vietnam photos Hoi An. A very nice little city about 200,000 population. We started the day by leaving Hue at 8am via bus. We stopped on top of the mountain 'pass' where we observed the bunkers from the Vietnam war (American war) and fought off the ladies ttying to sell us various wares. Unfortunately it was very foggy on the mountain so pictures didn't show the ocean but got some good ones of the bunkers in the mist - good colours and the mist created an eerie setting. We arrived in Hoi An and checked in to resort and then went to Hoi An old original part of the city which is very tourist driven and a very nice area to visit. Thd temple and Japanese covered bridge and original home visit were on the walking tour with Bao our tour guide. We went to tailors and got some clothes ordered and measured up. That was fun! Browsed other shops and then met up for dinner at 5:30 with the whole group.
Vietnam day 10 - Hoi An
Hoi An is proving to be a welcome spot to slow down a bit. The warmer climate and seaside location mean that there are a lot of tourists here, so prices are a bit more inflated than previously but it is nice to see the sun again after over a week of grey skies.
After another buffet breakfast (with cocoa pops on offer again for all of the children large and small) the bus picked us up and we visited a charity called Children's Hope in Action. They essentially provide a free boarding house for very poor children from the outlying villages, and pay for them to attend school and get them everything that they need. The kids were all studying for exams so we did not get to meet them but we saw their dining room, computer room and library. It was a good reminder of how privileged we are to have easy access to education and basic essentials.
Next stop was An Bang beach. This appears to be set up as a series of restaurants along the beach where each restaurant then sets up deck chairs and umbrellas for their patrons. No sitting unless you are ordering! Bao had reserved us spots at a place called the Soul Kitchen. The other different thing about this beach is that there is a constant stream of people trying to sell you stuff from nuts to toys to sunglasses to newspapers to jewelry. It gets harder to politely say no thank you the fifteenth time they come past. I did buy a frisbee which was a good investment. The kids had a fabulous time in the water and Reid and James spent ages digging around in the sand. Bao had brought a picnic lunch with us which was banh mi and bananas and mandarins. This one was a bit spicy for me. Milkshakes from the restaurant were 50000.
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| An Bang Beach |
We caught a taxi back into town to have the fittings for the clothes that we ordered. Generally the taxis from the silk village to town have been between 21000 and 33000 so only a couple of dollars. When we arrived at the tailor (called Aobaba) they knew who we were and whisked us into changing rooms to try things on and confirm lengths etc. They have done a great job. They want Dallas to come back for one more fitting tomorrow.
We wandered the old town for a bit longer and visited Mekong quilts and another fairtrade shop that sells products made by people with disabilities. We met Bao at 4pm at the Lantern restaurant again where he introduced us to Mr Hung, a chef, for our Vietnamese cooking class.
Mr Hung took us on a walk through the markets where he pointed out all sorts of fruits and vegetables and herbs. He was pulling things out of baskets to smell and off trees to taste. He said that for the next 2 days all Buddhists go vegetarian so there is less meat in the markets than normal.
He then led us to his restaurant called The Tropics where chef hats and aprons awaited us. The first dish was a pancake made out of rice flour and egg and spring onion with a pork and bean sprout filling. Dallas and Megan managed to drop one all over the gas burner but we all made one in the end and they were scrumptious. Reid even tried it and liked it. He was not cooking so he was the food taster and photographer.
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| Cooking class - spring rolls |
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| Cooking Class |
Vegetable spring rolls were next on the menu. They put shredded taro in these with a bunch of other veges. We had to figure out how to rotate these in the oil constantly using chopsticks. Also delicious and Reid ate a bunch.
Lastly we made a green papaya salad. I have had a number of these in restaurants and this is one of my new favourite dishes. With the ground up peanuts it is such a yummy flavour. You would struggle to find food here if you had a serious peanut allergy.
We arrived back at the hotel just in time to see a skinny Vietnamese Santa going into the Christmas Eve gala dinner that they are holding in the pavilion right in front of our rooms. They have been massacring Christmas carols out there for a while but now have some Vietnamese performances happening. We get to listen and watch without paying a thing.smile emoticon
Merry Christmas to you all near and far. It will be a strange Christmas for us but a good one I hope.
From Dallas: Day 10 Vietnam Hoi An. We went to a boarding school this morning that looks after children who aren't able to go to school in their home areas due to poverty or other circumstances. Some are orphans. The school provides 24x7 care and support and education. They are privately funded from donations. Started by an Australian women. It was a humbling experience. After this we went to a beach where Reid particularly enjoyed the frisbee and playing in the water. It was a lovely spot but the experience tainted somewhat by the constant stream of locals trying to sell to you in a pushy way. We had bread rolls for lunch that Bao picked up from a bakery on the way. They were fire starters but good. We went back to the hotel then and had a swim in the pool and cleaned up. We went back to the tailors at 2pm for a fitting. Then walked around the old city until meeting the group again at 4pm for the tour of the markets with a chef and then going to his restaurant for a cooking lesson. The cooking lesson included us eating our own dishes for dinner. We caught a cab back to resort around 7pm.
Vietnam day 11 - Hoi An - Christmas day
We were up early as we were supposed to do a cycling tour today. However Megan is still not well and we didn't want to leave her here on her own, so we thought Dallas and Reid could still do it. Let's just say Reid decided to have a contrary day today and Dallas went on his own rather than cancelling completely at the last minute. He had a great time.
Before he left we skyped with my parents and my sister and her family.
I managed to get Reid out for a walk through the silk village but he lasted about ten minutes (see note about contrary day).
Later I got him into the pool but then his rashie was scratching his chest (contrary day) but he refused to go back and put sunscreen on (contrary day) and also refused to believe me that his shoulders were still red from a burn he got just before we left (contrary day). So he floated around in the shady part of the pool for a little bit.
I got a plate of fish and chips from the hotel restaurant for us to share for lunch. If you come to Vietnam, french fries can mean a lot of different things. In this case it was not hot chips, but very crunchy potato chips, or crisps some people call them. The kids were not impressed but we were all so hungry that we ate all of the fish, even me.
It ended up being a lazy afternoon and then we met our guide for dinner back in the old town. Prices here are definitely inflated over Ha Noi, I assume because of the large number of tourists here. We spent twice as much for dinner as we had previously.
We were also able to Skype Dallas' family before dinner and talk to his parents, his brother Dale and family, and his sister Mandy.
I felt a bit disappointed that the day wasn't what I had planned for Christmas and that we didn't get to do the cycling tour together. I wish Megan was completely better so she could enjoy things more. Tomorrow we head to Ho Chi Minh city which Bao tells us is busier than Ha Noi. Not looking forward to that traffic again.
From Dallas: Day 11 Vietnam Hoi An, Christmas day. After sickness with Megan and other dramas, I ended up going on the bicycle tour by myself. I really enjoyed it. It was a local guide and 2 other tourists from Finland. We rode through part of the old town and then boarded a boat to Cham Island which is very close to the coast and a popular tourist destination on the bike. Most of the island folk live very simple and traditional lives including harvesting rice with only basis machinery, a very labour intensive process. The guide was great, showing us real rice growing and explaining how rice is grown including the difference between sticky rice and normal rice. Sticky rice takes longer to grow and is smaller than normal rice. We visited a lady who makes sleeping mats from straw and learned how to do this. We visited a man who makes rice wine, quite a complex process. He was a war veteran who lost a leg in the Cambodian war. He sang to us with his guitar and his beautiful daughter also sang a song for us about Ho Chi Min. Our last stop was a home where the wife makes rice noodles. We learned how the process works and ate a noodle dish for lunch which was very nice. We then rode to the boat and went back to the mainland and rode back to the bicycle depot. Riding the streets here was certainly different to back home. Much more traffic here and the riding slower by default. On the island it was very quiet and peaceful. Just a few scooters on the small concrete paths.
After arriving back at the hotel Cassie and I worked put a plan for the afternoon. I went in to the old city again by taxi and did my final fitting for my suit and shirts.
Vietnam day 12 - Ho Chi Minh City
We had to have our bags ready by 5:45 am this morning which was a bit of a mission. I called the kids room 4 times before they finally woke up and started getting ready. After a quick breakfast we were on the bus to Da Nang airport.
Despite the early hour there were heaps of people out along the beach playing sports and doing exercises.
Da Nang airport is similar in style to the Ha Noi airport - large and lots of glass. Bao told us that it was first opened only two years and one day ago. Checking in was quite painless although we needed passports for every checkpoint despite it being only a domestic flight. Once through security there were a few shops. Some crispy m & ms caught Dallas' eye but when converted they would have been $22 for the packet. Megan was excited to see a burger king and got some fries and a milo.
Our flight was with Vietnam Airlines. The boarding procedure was a little strange. We had to get on a bus to take us to the plane, but when we got off the bus there was no direction given so those at the front of the bus went up the front stairs of the plane and those at the back of the bus went up the back stairs of the plane. This resulted in chaos inside the plane as people were trying to squeeze past each other with hand luggage to get to the right row. The flight was only an hour long and was quite uneventful except for the people in front of us who had clearly not heard the unwritten rule that you don't recline on a one hour flight in the day. The one in front of Megan even re-reclined after we landed and were taxiing to the gate. Getting off was a repeat of the bus experience in reverse with a driver who liked to pump the brakes.
Bao had organised a bus but the driver arrived and started to pick up the wrong group. Once he realised he had the wrong group they all had to pile off again. It is only a short distance to the hotel from the airport but it took a while as the traffic is busy. We immediately noticed that Ho Chi Minh City is much more modernised than Ha Noi. There are still plenty of old buildings but there are a lot of western brand shops and the footpaths are wider and without many of the interesting things that we saw in Ha Noi. Bao warned us to be more careful here with regards to theft as drive by motorcycle theft is even a problem for the locals.
We went to lunch at a place called Pho 2000 where Bill Clinton has eaten. It was quite good - I had the vegetarian noodle soup. They use lots of varieties of mushrooms here that I have never seen before.
Bao had asked us earlier if we would like to add on a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels in the afternoon and we were keen. It was a 2 hour drive and I would say we were driving for over an hour before it felt like we were out of the city. It is huge. On the way we saw something else new - hammock cafes. This is a bunch of hammocks strung between trees with some tables between them. The locals come to hang out and have a drink.
The tunnels were extremely thought provoking. We first saw a map of the area showing the tunnels and the US bases as well as which villages were controlled by the US and which were liberated areas. There was also a model like a worm farm showing a cross section of the tunnels.
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| Cu Chi Tunnels |
We then went for a walk through the forest where we saw some of the secret entrances, saw examples of some of the traps that they used to set, and got to walk (doubled over) through some of the tunnels. They were dark and very hot and sticky. I can't imagine being in there for hours on end and fighting from there. I went through one section about 25m long. Reid and James kept going through the narrower parts and said they had to scoot through on their butts at one point.
To add to the atmosphere there is a shooting range on site, so the whole time that you are walking around, you can hear gunfire. I had heard about it before we went and thought at first that it was in bad taste but it was sobering to think about the constant barrage that would have been heard back in those days. Once we got to the range Dallas, Matt, James and Emaleigh all had a turn. You have to buy the bullets up front with a minimum of ten bullets. They range from 20000 to 45000 per bullet depending on the type of gun. Some of them were very loud.
Bao also described some of the methods that were used to try to get them out of the tunnels, including flooding them, using 3000 dogs, and pumping gas into them.
Overall it was a very interesting afternoon and a worthwhile outing. For the last hour of the trip back the children all amused themselves by waving at people on scooters to see who they could get to wave back. They were getting quite rowdy and I am thinking I might need ear plugs for the 3 hour bus ride tomorrow!
We arrived back in HCM city just in time for dinner. I think this was our first real disappointment as far as restaurants go as the food took ages to come out and was just ok when it did. Except for the spring rolls which were delicious. I think it was called Nek Restaurant.
We made a trip to the "Co-op mart" for some supplies which was an experience. It was like big w and Woolworths together. There were staff everywhere though which seemed odd. With the fresh produce it looked like you were supposed to take it to a lady at a desk in that section who would weigh it and put a label on it so it could be scanned at the front registers.
The other news of the day is that my head was so itchy all day today, and I brushed my hair out tonight thinking that I would ask Dallas to check for critters in case I had picked them up somewhere, only to have a large one come out on my brush. I immediately went and checked both kids to find that Reid had a few eggs. From the timing I would guess he picked one up on the overnight train, which had some fun on his head and then transferred to me as he is always hanging all over me. We saw their cabin reset procedure as we were disembarking - fold up the quilt and put it back on the bed.
We leave early tomorrow morning for an overnight trip to the Mekong Delta so with no time to attempt to locate some real treatments, we are doing the best with what we have. Reid was easy with his short hair. I had both Dallas and Megan go through my hair and between them they found a handful of eggs. Dallas used his high powered bike light to help the hunt. It was an education for Dallas as I have always been the lucky one to deal with them on the kids. I have scoured my supplies and I sit here writing this with my head covered in several tiny bottles of conditioner and the hotel shower cap. At least I can smother anything that might be left alive and keep it at bay until we source something better. Just nasty.
PS Megan has not had a fever for the last two days so I think things are looking up. We also learned how cashews are grown today and no wonder they are so expensive.
From Dallas: Day 12 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon). After arriving at HCMC via Vietnam Airlines we went to the hotel via bus. Victory hotel in the old part of town which is often still referred to as Saigon. We then went to a noodle restaurant in the city near the markets for lunch which was super busy. The food was great. Bill Clinton ate there in 2000 and it is well known. We then went via bus to the Cu Chi tunnels which was about 2 hrs from HCMC. This was a real eye opening experience as a few of us went in to the tunnels and also fired some guns on the target range. The gun fire from the M16 and M30 machine guns was so loud. I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for those in the conflict. I fired 10 rounds of a carbine rifle (USA M1 0.3 calibre) which was the smaller rifle. I assume used more in closer combat.
The tunnels were intricate and many people lived in them during the day. Special ducts allowed smoke from cooking to escape in multiple directions so it didn't give away their location. The tunnels and guerrilla warfare were problematic for the USA. The perspective on the war here is very different to the USA and it is difficult to comprehend why and how this specific war occurred and how it went on for such a long time. Nothing can replicate being here and hearing the experience from people who know and understand the country. Our tour guide Bao has a degree in Vietnamese culture and has been terrific.
We came back to HCMC and went straight to dinner. The traffic at peak hour was a sight to behold. I have never seen traffic so thick. It was incredible. Thousands of scooters but also cars as HCMC is a more modern and affluent city than the others and many people have cars. The city is more like an Australian or American city with malls, supermarkets, large stores on the streets, advertising billboards and many businesses in the city. It has been nice seeing HCMC so far as it is very diverse and is a culmination if everything we have seen to date and more. In many ways similar to Sydney and New York but also very different based on the Vietnamese culture and history. A partial union of West and East.
Tomorrow we head to the Mekong Delta for an overnight stay with a local family and visit to floating markets.
Vietnam day 13 - Mekong Delta
Well we are in the middle of nowhere and we still have wifi. This may be short as I have no energy and I am typing this laying down with one finger.
The Victory Hotel boasts that they have over 50 dishes on their breakfast buffet . 48 of them are Asian breakfast dishes. I realize that we are in Asia but most of the hotels have tried to have a mix. This morning I had to make do with cornflakes and toast. The other cereals were fruit loops and cocoa pops.
It was a three hour bus ride to Cai Be where we met our local tour guide and got onto our boat. We only had our group on our boat but there were some boats with masses of people on them.
Excuse me, just had to throw up again. More on that later.
The Mekong Delta is also confronting. The people here live hard lives, fishing and working the land. Many of them live on boats. They offloaded us onto three smaller boats, three passengers to a boat with a person standing on the back paddling, for a view of some of the smaller inlets. They gave us one of the cone hats to wear and a life jacket.
There were a lot of boats coming back the other direction and I would swear that some of the women pushing them were older than my mum. I felt terrible and wanted to help them. As much as I wanted to enjoy this little side trip, it was stinking hot and very uncomfortable. I was glad that I had worn my long hiking pants so my legs could not get sunburned. I had sunscreened my arms twice but could still feel them burning so I ended up sitting with my arms inside my life jacket for part of the way. It was about a half hour trip and it was feeling like torture by the end.
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| On the smaller boat on the Mekong Delta |
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| Mekong Delta |
Shortly after we arrived at lunch and they brought out fried elephant fish. Not wanting to be rude, I tried some. They also had spring rolls and a soup with rice, followed by papaya. I had been feeling a bit yuck all morning but thought it was just the heat and ate and drank quite a bit, trying to pick myself up.
By this point it was clear that Rachael was not doing well and I gave her some of my gastro stop. On the way to the next stop the boat driver set up his hammock for her.
The next stop was on watching rice paper and coconut lollies being made. They took Rachael on to the homestay and i went up to watch but started to feel very ill. They put me in a hammock while the others looked around. Once back on the boat i claimed the hammock and the rest of the afternoon was a blur so Dallas will have to fill in all of the stops.
All I have seen of the homestay is my bed and the bathroom. They have mosquito nets so i am in my little quarantine bubble. If you have a weak stomach turn away now. I had only been at the homestay for a few minutes when i chucked the first time. The problem is that I did it in the sink and then found out that the drainage is not too good. Solution was a mug and the toilet which led to more gagging.
Have just gone my third round and hoping I follow the same path as Rachael who is now walking around again.
The others have gone and helped make dinner but I can't even think about food.
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| Making dinner at the homestay |
From Dallas: Vietnam day 13 Mekong Delta. Like most days here today was confronting and we were overloaded with information and food. If you have read Cassie's post for today you will know she was very ill throwing up a few times late today and skipped dinner in preference for bed and rest. After breakfast at the hotel in HCMC we boarded our bus at 8:15 for Cai Be where we met a local tour guide and boarded a nice wooden boat for our trip up the Mekong Delta. As Cassie described life is very difficult for families in this region and they try to live off the land and water and through basic production such as making bricks and extracting sand and clay for home and pottery construction. The husk from the rice is also transported up the river and used for burning in food production and making the bricks (kiln gets to 745 degrees). Many people live on the banks of the river however they are very simple homes with the occasional home or pagoda that stands out due to its higher quality finish or size.
We had a number of stops. First one was to take a canoe ride through an inlet to see homes on one of the islands. It was super hot and the back was killing me after a while so was very glad when that 30-40 min journey came to an end. Other stops were a ecotourism property for lunch (fried elephant fish on the menu) then a place that makes rice paper and various candy (yum). Then to the brick works and pottery plant. The last stop was a garden centre where we saw various fruit trees and plants. We then went across to the other side of the river to the homestay arriving around 5pm. The farmstay is a large home with multiple rooms and large verandah with hammocks and a living area. The sleeping rooms have 3 x double beds with mosquito nets and wall fans. We helped make dinner and then ate around 7pm.
As Cassie was not well and didn't have dinner and the kids hardly eat a thing I was left with the responsibility of not letting all the food go to waste. I was helped on our table by the local tour guide. We did well. Lots of dishes and they were all nice. The interesting thing I have noticed is that I don't feel heavy after eating even if i have eaten more than I expected. The food is very healthy and light most of the time. After getting the kids settled I am in bed now doing this update. Tomorrow morning we go to the floating markets and then back to HCMC which is about a 3hr drive based on the roads and traffic here. Hopefully Cassie is back to normal in the morning.
Vietnam day 14 - Mekong Delta
It has been a very long day but not a lot to report.
My vomiting stopped by about 9pm last night but I was unable to go to sleep. I still felt pretty yuck and then there is the fact that these were probably the hardest beds yet by a long shot. No matter how I laid I would end up with one limb or another losing circulation.
At 1:30 am Reid started vomiting. He had several rounds for the rest of the night so I was up and down. Sometimes I would start to doze off and then Megan would cough and I would think she was starting too.
By breakfast he was still going so he lay in a hammock while we had breakfast. I only ate a couple of bits of fruit as I was still feeling pretty awful. They had omelettes, fruit, bread and some coconut rice cakes.
We packed up and paid our drinks bill. In most spots even when the meals are included we have had to buy drinks. Water is generally 10-15000 and soda 15-20000 so it is not too bad but usually I would expect water at least to be included given that coffee and tea are. I miss being able to just take a drink out of the tap. The bottled water tastes different too.
We piled back on the boat armed with several plastic bags for Reid. This time he claimed the hammock on the boat. During the night Matt had also come down with gastro taking the tally to four out of eight. Reid chucked once more on the boat and that was the last time for today.
On the way back to the docks and the bus we passed through the Cai Be floating markets. It didn't really look like the photos we had seen but was interesting. We learned that each boat will tie some of their wares onto a long bamboo stick up in the air so that others know what they are selling from afar. Some of the boats had TV antennas. It is fascinating to consider the local industries that spring up to support the different needs here. For example there are people who provide a service where they swap out batteries that are used to watch tv. We saw a few people bathing in the river and washing their hair. It looks so silty I don't know how clean they would feel.
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| Floating Markets |
When we arrived back at the hotel we found that the kids room was fine but ours was barely big enough for the bed. Feeling awful anyway Dallas went down and expressed our desire not to live in a wardrobe for the next three nights and we have ended up in another twin room with plenty of room.
We have spent the afternoon resting. Dallas took Megan out to the supermarket briefly but came back quickly as he has become gastro victim #5. He doesn't seem to have it as badly as we did so has now gone out to the final tour dinner with Megan. Reid and I have stayed back and are enjoying the Weetbix that I had packed as a contingency. Smartest thing I packed I think. It felt great to have a small taste of home.
From Dallas: What a day (in the not so great context)! Day 14 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. I have returned from dinner with Megan and the rest of the group. It was our last dinner together so I didn't want to miss it despite being in bed sick for the afternoon. Megan really wanted to go so I went with her given Cassie and Reid were not up to it (they have improved as the day has progressed and I have gradually got worse but am hopefully heading in the right direction now. Dry reaching 3 times in the toilet at dinner was not fun combined with the runs. The smell in the toilet (even though they were nice and clean) was likely part of the problem. Muscle aches as well and very tired. I am a bit worse than when sick in Ha Noi early in the trip. Looking forward to sleep even though the mattress is another torture machine. I've had 4 of these torture machines so far out of the 5 places we have stayed.
The day started off at our home stay on the Mekong Delta. I woke not feeling good at 3am and went to the bathroom. I was pretty good the day before so something changed overnight. I managed to get about 10 mins to have some breakfast by the time I got out of bed, washed and dressed (around 7am). I felt up to eating so had the omelette that was prepared for everyone. A lovely setting sitting outside the house with the river close by and boats going up and down. We then left for our only river stop today which was the floating markets. I had no idea what to expect so it was interesting to think that people still trade this way in the modern era. Bao said that the number of traders (boats) has declined in recent years which would be largely due to transport capabilities and technology developments. The boats have a bamboo pole with the type of goods they are selling tied to the top of the pole. This indicates to other traders and buyers what they are selling. Other boats taxi children to the shore to go to school (many families live in the boats). Some boats are also used to swap out batteries to power televisions that are on the boats. We saw the tall antennas on the boats and then the use of the batteries was explained to us. There weren't a lot of boats, in guessing we saw 15-20. The location was close to the port at Cai Be where we started the Mekong trip yesterday. We arrived back at the port and then headed back on the bus to HCMC. One of the interesting things mentioned by the local tour guide yesterday is that the Mekong is home to 700,000 people and provides produce to 20 million people in the region. It is very much the lifeblood of the region, particularly fishing and supplying water to crops and rice husk to the brick factory (for fueling the kiln) which we saw yesterday.
The bus trip was very rough given the status of the roads. The main highways are in need of repair and a lot of roadworks are in progress. It was very bumpy and with my stomach starting to feel funny it was a tentative ride and we were all glad to get to the hotel to rest and shower. Bao asked us what we wanted to do for lunch and we unanimously without hesitation all indicated we were not going to lunch and were heading to bed. So that was the main activity for the afternoon. Megan and I went to the local convenience store around 3pm to get some hair conditioner for Cassie so she could say goodbye to a few new friends she picked up a couple of days ago. That was fun using the torch to check her long thick hair. A new meme comes to mind. A picture of me going through Cassie's hair with my 700 lumen bicycle rechargeable torch and a comb with the words at the bottom "This is what love looks like".😊
Interesting experience in the store. A young American guy who lives and works here was trying to ask the shop assistants where fabric softener was. They weren't able to understand his English and he had nothing written down in Vietnamese related to the product. Megan and i tried to help him and saw a product with "softener" written in English on it. I pointed it out to him and he said his washing machine had been playing up and eating his clothes and that he was just going to buy a towel instead. Not sure if i missed something but I was confused. It seemed like he had never done washing before and never lived away from home and here he was on his own working and living in Vietnam. Throw yourself in the deep end. He would have done well to look up the words first and translate to Vietnamese although that is not always a straight forward process and Google translate isn't that good.
Dinner was at Koto in the ANZ building in a central and busy part of the city. The restaurant was expensive in Vietnamese terms with a fruit mocktail being 75000d and most main meals being from 150000d. The location would have made it expensive. I had the caesar salad with green apple and cashews. The egg was cooked correct and overall it tasted good. I got through about 75% given my stomach was not right. On the way home Bao pointed out a banner over one of the main streets from the Government which indicated that families should have 2 children. A policy that has been in place for a couple of years now. From the 1980s the policy of the Government was that parents should have 1 or 2 children. If parents had more the opportunity for promotion in their jobs was limited, essentially they couldn't get promoted. When we got back we gave Bao a gift and card and thanked him for being a great guide given tonight was our last night together. Cassie was already asleep at that point around 8:30. She has been feeling better as the day has progressed as has Reid but they are still a ways from full recovery. Lets hope tomorrow brings better health.
Vietnam day 15 - Ho Chi Minh City
I actually slept really well last night but Dallas' back has had just about enough of these hard mattresses. He may have to request several extra pillows tonight. Funny story about that - at our first hotel in Ha Noi we had 2 extra pillows show up in our room one day and disappear the next. We later found out that the other family had requested extra pillows and were told they had them, but were not there when they checked. Later the pillows appeared in their room. Perhaps they don't have a lot of extra pillows to go around.
Dallas was still not feeling right and did not have breakfast, so the kids and I braved the 48 asian dishes for breakfast again.
We headed for the War Remnants museum. Oh my. I feel like we have used the word confronting a lot on this trip. This museum was enough to rip your heart out. It started with some war planes and tanks out the front, and then some displays showing how the political prisoners were treated.
Inside was mostly photos with some displays of guns etc. Many of the photos were extremely distressing. They had one section dedicated to a large scale massacre that happened in one village where hundreds of women and children were killed. A soldier who later became a US senator was involved. There were many photos of the dead piled up afterwards.
Another section showed the effects of unexploded ordnance on ordinary people.
The hardest section to view was photos of people of all ages who have been affected by agent orange, which was sprayed extensively in the war to strip back the trees and cut off food supplies. Not only did it cause horrible diseases in those that were exposed, it has also caused birth defects, deformities and diseases in their children and grandchildren. There was one photo that was just shelves of jars of dead babies. There were also some photos of Americans and Koreans that were affected as well as their children.
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| War Remnants Museum - the after effects of chemical warfare |
From here we wandered over to the Diamond shopping Centre. Except for the millions of security staff everywhere, we could have been back in Brisbane. KFC was on the top floor and we treated ourselves. I thought it was funny that I got an entire meal for 35000 which is maybe $2.
Across the road from this shopping centre is the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The Cathedral was closed but we went into the post office. It sounds odd but it is a tourist attraction due to the architecture. It is quite beautiful.
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| Post Office |
After we came out of the laundry I saw a pharmacy and thought I would try my luck there. I mimed an itchy scalp to the girl and she gave me some little sachets. It didn't look quite right so I pulled out my phone and brought up google translate and typed in "head lice". "Ahhhh" she said and pulled out some shampoo that was clearly the right thing. There was some giggling going on. 15000 dong, less than a dollar. Hopefully it works!
When we got back to the hotel the kids went for a swim while Dallas went to take the laundry bag to F5 laundry. We had 9kg which was quite a large bag. They will deliver it to our hotel tomorrow afternoon for free.
The pool is on the top floor so you can see out across the city. The school nearby has a massive rock climbing wall which the kids think is quite cool and wanted to figure out how they could get themselves in there, so I took a photo of that from the roof.
We felt like something non-vietnamese for dinner so we researched on trip advisor and found a place called chuck's burgers that looked good. We walked all over trying to find it and ended up finding a huge sort of town square with lots of lights which was fun to see except we were starving. We ended up going into a shop called the burger box, where they led us up the back into the tiniest elevator I have ever seen, which went up a couple of floors and then there were a couple of flights of stairs and we were in a restaurant called The Kafe. It was excellent. Megan and I shared a chicken parma burger. Delicious.
Back to the hotel for more nit checks all around. You know, all part of the holiday fun. I had been super itchy on my neck and they tell me I have bites all over the back of my neck too. Bed bugs? I don't know? I really don't care as long as none of them come home with me and I can stop being itchy. Times like these I miss having easy access to chemists and doctors and the things that I usually rely on.
Only one more day to go and then we hit Singapore for a few days. There is a lot we want to see and do so hopefully we will still have the energy left for it!
From Dallas: Our time in Vietnam is drawing to a close. Wed is our last full day in HCMC as we fly to Singapore on Thursday. I wasn't feeling good this morning so skipped breakfast. I didn't want to sit at the hotel though so was happy to get out so long as i was close to bathroom facilities. We left around 9am and went to the war remnants museum not far from our hotel, a few minutes walk. This was a highlight for me as it had much more detail related to the war than the war museum in Ha Noi had and was a very moving experience. The museum has numbered rooms starting on the top (2nd) floor working down to ground floor. The story is told of the many conflicts that Vietnam have been in such as the Indochina war and Vietnam (American) war. Much of the focus was on the Vietnam war given the recency and length of the conflict and its lasting impact still seen today. As I walked through the many exhibitions I couldn't help but be teary eyed as I gained a greater understanding of the atrocities committed and the impact that the war has had here in Vietnam. The thought came to mind that there is no victory in war. I noticed many other patrons also teary eyed as they contemplated the visuals and stories through the exhibitions. Of particular impact was the room that covered the use of chemicals (agent orange) in the war and the ongoing impact this has had even today multiple generations on. A boy born with no eyes etc. Many babies are born with serious deformities and conditions and die shortly after.
A bit about the history of Vietnam for those interested and how the Vietnam war came about. Vietnam has struggled for hundreds of years to gain independence from mainly french rule (who wanted the natural resources here such as tin and slave labour). Ho Chi Minh saw the problems in the early 1900s and left Vietnam as a young man to live amongst the french (during world war 1) and other countries (russia) to learn their ways and culture in order to one day free his people. After 30 years he returned to Vietnam after world war 2. The French were kicked out by the Japanese and then the French took over again after the Japanese were defeated after WW2. The French were heavily funded by the Americans who were anti-communist. The French set up a local person in the south to be a Vietnamese leader but he was really a puppet and doing what the French wanted and other allies mainly the USA. Ho Chi Minh returned to Ha Noi after ww2 and as leader of the communist party declared Vietnam a democratic state (North Vietnam given the south was not under full control). The next 25 years under Ho Chi Minh was focused on gaining independence from the French and anti-communist regime in the south and their allies the USA. This is primarily what we know as the Vietnam war or as termed by the Vietnamese the "American War". The separation of Vietnam into North and South was a result of the geneva conference in 1954 where the french agreed not to interfere with Vietnamese affairs. However the south Vietnamese emperor (a figurehead and really a puppet) and USA did not sign the agreement and this led to a demarcation of the North and South. The underlying motivation was the USAs anti-communist view. Prior to this from the late 1800s the French had divided Vietnam into 3 areas as part of their colonisation plan.
Australia played a significant role for a year or two as did other countries such as Thailand and New Zealand at various times. I remember hearing about the war as a young boy given it ended a year or so before I was born.
After the museum we went to KFC for lunch at the Diamond Department Store building, a very modern building with a bowling alley on the top floor, food court and other boutique shops. I was starting to feel a bit better so had a vitamin c juice and a bit of the kids KFC (a few pieces of popcorn chicken). We then visited the general post office which was a popular spot for tourists given its architecture and history. We then went back to the hotel. I took a load of washing up to a laundromat about 10 mins walk away and it will be delivered to our hotel room tomorrow (wed) 24 hr turnaround. Cost 243000d for 9kg @ 27000d per kg. Pretty reasonable. About AU $17. Much cheaper than getting the hotel to do it which charge by the number of items.
We had swim in the pool while Cassie Woolley read a book poolside. After cleaning up we went for a walk to find a restaurant we looked up on trip adviser called chucks burgers. We were feeling like a non-vietnamese meal tonight and something we hadn't had for a while. Well google maps made life difficult for us as we couldn't find the restaurant. There was construction happening on the building at the address and we couldn't see any restaurants. We kept on going and eventually settled on a place we found while wandering called Kafe. It was very good and reasonable prices. I was feeling much better at this point and ready for a meal. I had a gourmet beef burger. Cassie and Megan shared a chicken burger and Reid had chips with his milk shake. He was a bit upset that we didn't find the intended restaurant and that we wouldn't go to maccas after that. He was in a bit of a mood but was happy by the end of dinner and on the journey home. Overall it was a good day.
Vietnam day 16 - Ho Chi Minh City
Today was our last day in HCMC as we leave for Singapore tomorrow morning. I was just sitting here thinking about how much we have crammed into the last couple of weeks. We have certainly been educated in many ways.
Breakfast was the same 48 asian dishes again. We have a theory that they can just cook the same thing for the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets that way. We finally saw some pineapple this morning instead of aging dragonfruit.
First stop today was the Independence Palace, also called the Reunification Palace. This is the spot where the tank crashed through the gates at the end of the war. This was the Presidential Palace in the 1970s and interestingly has hardly been touched or used since then. There is a conference room that is used for functions but the rest appears to have been preserved. There are receiving rooms for the president, the vice president, ambassadors and the first lady. These were beautiful but I found the private areas more interesting. The bedrooms were large but quite simple. There was none of the opulence that you would normally expect in a palace. In the living quarters were some hunting trophies including elephant's feet.
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| Reunification Palace |
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| Retro Games Room in the Reunification Palace |
We then headed out in search of KFC which was supposed to be a block away. We are realising that the problem in this city is that many of the fast food restaurants are inside shopping malls so they are hard to find just from a dot on a map. We ended up in the Vincom shopping centre which is very nice. We never did find KFC but stumbled across Carl's Jr and went with that. Very tasty except for the drinks. A fresh orange juice may just be the first thing I buy when we get home. Juice here often seems to be mostly cordial, sometimes with pulp in it. I actually wouldn't mind Vietnamese food tonight before we leave but the others are over it and we no longer have Bao to tell us what places are good to eat.
Ho Chi Minh is definitely a very different city to Ha Noi. It is much more modern and westernised. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Ha Noi was challenging but had a lot of character and was very memorable. The air there was pretty shocking though. We haven't noticed any issues with the air here which was surprising given the size of the city. Despite the warnings about theft I have not ever felt unsafe here. I do bear in mind that the city is massive and we have mostly stayed in district 1. There are many women here wearing short skirts which I don't remember seeing in Ha Noi, although it was colder there too.
This afternoon Dallas and the kids had another swim as it is very hot and we started to pack up for the flight tomorrow.
For dinner we found a french place on trip advisor called chef lac that sounded great and on the map was only a block away. We spent another hour trying to find that one and ended up stumbling onto chuck's burgers that we were trying to find last night. They have very cool artwork on the walls. The burgers were good and we had seats on the first floor looking out over the street so we could watch the traffic chaos. The kids enjoyed waving at patrons in the restaurant across the street. We considered Haagen daas for dessert but it is just as expensive here as at home - 75000 for one scoop. Pass. I didn't have much money left so they shared a caramel milkshake from a cafe.
The street numbering is very odd here. It is almost like one number, say 140, covers an entire block, and then each building is 140a, 140b etc. It is not consistent though so it is very hard to predict how far a certain number will be. Chef lac was supposed to be at 122a, so we walked past 124, then past a big stone wall which was the side of a hindu temple, and then the next one was 116. We were left wondering if you had to be harry potter to get to this restaurant.
We are ready to move on tomorrow. It has been amazing and we have learned so much but in a way now have so many more questions about Vietnam and the wars and the world. I don't think I have ever been on a more eye opening trip. I am looking forward to chatting with our American friends next month to hear their perspective on some of the things we have heard.
Off to use some more of my special Vietnamese nit shampoo, just to make sure we have no extra friends travelling with us tomorrow smile emoticon Next time we travel I am packing a bottle of Moov. I was prepared for gastro, headaches, hayfever, flu, allergic reaction, migraines, but never thought we would pick up nits. It is embarrassing but I figure someone else can learn from it. Take your own pillowcase on the overnight train. Oh also pack cockroach spray for that train. We also heard from the Brookshaws that their friends went on the train a few nights after we did. They had packed some sandwiches for their breakfast and had them wrapped up in a bag on one of the girls beds. In the morning they found that a rat had eaten right through the bag and had a good go at the sandwiches. Maybe nits is not that bad...
From Dallas: The hotel must have one CD/playlist. Since we have been here (3-4 days) we have heard the same few songs over and over. They are instrumental versions of western songs with a Vietnamese flavour by using flute and string instruments. The 2 songs I have heard the most are my heart will go on (titanic), and i love you baby. Would be nice if they had a longer playlist. You know how it is when your kids keep playing the same songs over and over in thr car. Its like that. Drive you crazy.
Our last full day in Vietnam. Tomorrow we fly to Singapore in the morning. It has been a great trip. Today included the palace of independence and then the ben thanh markets which was a crazy place. After lunch a swim in the pool at the hotel and then to dinner. The language barrier has certainly been a challenge. Google translate came in handy on a few occasions. I think at times it has been challenging for Megan and Reid but they have been great. Having a tour guide was great we learned more through him than what we would have done on our own and he helped with translation and knew good places to eat. Vietnam has a complex history and the people are to be admired given their struggles and resilience. I have gained a great appreciation and respect for the people. I am looking forward to learning more about Vietnam in the future and have a much better context and base understanding now for further study. I will be interested to discuss Vietnam with our friends from the USA that we are meeting in about 5 weeks.
Ho Chi Minh City has been my favourite city along with The Hoi An region including Da Nang. HCMC is more modern and cleaner, parks and open spaces, with some Western influence but still has the underlying culture of Vietnam. The size of 6 million people though does make it crazy busy which was a negative. Ha Noi was very much the old world and very traditional Vietnam, chaotic as it is also a big city and not very clean. I felt like I was in a completely different world and set back in time. Cassie describes it as being in an Indiana Jones movie. It had great history and culture and provided an understanding of how things were in ages past. Hue was similar to Ha Noi. Each city had its positives and negatives. On to Singapore tomorrow for a few days which will be very different I expect from what we have experienced in Vietnam.
Singapore day 1
I say Singapore but we really only got here in the afternoon.
After our last breakfast of 48 asian dishes (sans cocoa pops this morning) we checked out and went to the lobby to wait for our ride to the airport. I had pre-booked it and really was just hoping that they would show up. When they were only a few minutes late I went up to reception to ask them to call the company. At the same moment the phone rang and it was the transport company calling to let me know that the driver was caught in traffic and would be there shortly. What great service! The driver arrived and after we started driving he handed me his phone. It was his manager just calling to make sure that everything was all good. I was impressed. I think it was the Vietnam Travel Company.
At the airport as we were standing in line to check in at Singapore Airlines and a member of the staff handed us a piece of paper each "for our entertainment". It was one of those find the differences pictures. That was a nice idea. They put another puzzle sheet in with our boarding passes after printing those.
After checking in we had to go through security. It seemed more strict at Ho Chi Minh airport than at the other airports we have been through in Vietnam. The customs counters have been an interesting exercise. Again the kids were allowed to come to the counter with me, and the officer kept Dallas' passport to process, but made him go back and stand behind the line. We can't quite figure out what that is all about.
We headed to the designated gate only to find that it had moved. I had some dong left that I had intended to use to get water at the airport. Turns out that everything in the airport is sold in US dollars. Where we had been buying water for 4000 or 8000 dong on the street, in the airport it was more like the equivalent of 45000 dong. We did find a filtered water fountain. It was clean but was not cold. I took Reid for a walk and we found burger king. I decided I needed to try their mozarella sticks and got a taro pie for Dallas as we have not seen that before.
We landed in Singapore at 3pm. I would guess that we stood in the arrivals hall for almost an hour waiting for immigration processing. The lines didn't seem that long but took forever to move. Once again we had to split up to go through. I saw some lines taking kids through with their mothers but another line that had a girl that must have been 8 going through on her own.
We had some trouble finding the SIA Singapore stopover counter. The website says it is after carousel 38 in the arrivals hall. You actually have to go right out of the baggage claim area and all the way down the hall to the left. Finally we found it and were able to get the transport to the hotel organised and pick up our attraction passes that will get us into a bunch of stuff for free.
We decided against going to the marina tonight and opted for dinner in an Italian restaurant across the river after we learned that the dinner buffet in the hotel is $98. We discovered that when you eat out here the prices do not include a 10% service charge AND a 5% GST. I prefer our system where prices have to include tax.
We will ring in the new year from our hotel room and possibly in my sleep smile emoticon If we are still awake perhaps we will get glimpses of the fireworks from the window.
From Dallas: Arrived safely via bus to HCMC airport to catch our flight to Singapore with Singapore Airlines. Cassie surprised me with a taro pie from burger king at the airport which was very yummy. So much so that I took Megan with me and we did a run to BK and I got another one along with a drink of Milo. Megan got mozzarella cheese sticks for her and Reid and Cassie asked me to get her an apple pie. All very nice and not available in Australia (to my knowledge). The flight was fine and I was so excited to see real orange juice on the plane which I had with lunch (2 cups). We didn't see real orange juice in Vietnam which was surprising as they do grow oranges but they are green skinned and don't appear to be as popular as other fruits such as jack fruit, dragon fruit, strawberries, lychees and mandarins. Coconut quite popular also in various forms and real cocunuts available to purchase for drinking from 15000d - 30000d (less than $2.50) from various places. The lunch on the plane was a choice of fish with rice (I've eaten too much of that over the past 2 weeks) or a pork dish with noodles (which I opted for). Lunch included a bread roll and caremel custard desert. Quite nice meal overall. Only a short flight of 2 hrs so didn't get through much in terms of movies or entertainment. I started watching a movie on the in-flight system which according to the outline seemed interesting however it was not to my taste so I turned it off. By this time there wasn't much time left before descending but I started watching a movie I have on my phone (that I rented from home) called Winning Favor, based on a true story of a few young men who play high school basketball and achieve something special. So far it is good and has a spiritual undertone, feel good etc. Only got though about 20 mins so looking forward to watching the rest soon.
Immigration/customs at Singapore took a long time and I can't work out how these officers determine who and how many people can come to the counter at once. At HCMC on departing Cassie went to the counter with Megan and Reid and I followed last. Once at the counter the officer asked me to stand back behind the line and he processed all of us with me standing at the front of the line. Then on arrival at Singapore we saw different customs officers treat each group or family differently with some children going through on their own with the rest of the family processed separately. I couldn't follow the logic and criteria used. If anyone works in this industry or knows about this please feel free to share if allowed. We went to a special service desk at Singapore airport to arrange transport into the city based on some passes we have. Finding the counter was not straight forward but it was all pretty straightforward after that and a bus showed up fairly soon and took us to our hotel.
It was a lovely drive from the airport to the city. Clean and green with nice buildings, very modern and interesting sights, parks etc such as the marina area. Quite different from the world we had left only 2 hours earlier. The hotel has softer beds which is very pleasing. Still not quite like Australian beds but close. Perhaps other rooms here have different beds, particularly more expensive rooms. We got organised and planned out tomorrow as we will be meeting with my sister for lunch who is also in Singapore at the moment and meeting Keith and Marilyn Walker for dinner as they are also here. Dinner was close by at a Italian place called Giordanos. Very nice food. Prices here similar to back in Australia and more expensive than Vietnam. The fact that they add gst and other service tax/tips on top of the advertised price is a bit messed up. I prefer like in Australia knowing exactly what the price is inclusive of any taxes. We went back to the hotel around 8:30. We lost an hour between the time zone change so we had a later dinner than normal. If I can stay awake to midnight (about 50 more minutes) I will see if the fireworks are visible from the hotel room window.
It was strange walking to dinner tonight and not seeing any scooters and very little traffic at all including only hearing one honk of a car horn. A nice thing. One thing I did notice often in Vietnam was that many people honked their horn unnecessarily. There wouldn't be anyone close by but people still honking their horns to say I'm here. It was crazy and really frustrating for a outsider (the noise pollution) but they are so used to it. Tomorrow we are exploring the area near the Singapore flyer and the Suntec building and then special gardens (forget their name) with Terina and her friend Angela in the afternoon after lunch. Reid will make sure we get in the pool and spa at some point too I'm guessing.
Singapore day 2
I thought we had humidity in Queensland but they take it to the next level here. At 8:30am as we were walking to Clark quay it was already oppressive. We hopped on a Singapore River Cruise which had an audio visual commentary as we cruised up the river towards the Marina. The commentary was interesting as it described the old Singapore where there were lots of vendors cooking food on the street. It made me imagine what we had seen in Vietnam here in Singapore on the banks of the canal, and also wondered what Vietnam will look like in another 50 years.
We hopped off at the esplanade dock (we had to ask them to stop there). From there we walked to the Singapore flyer. This was awesome. It is bigger than the Brisbane wheel. You can see so much from up there.
At the base of the flyer is a group of shops called the Singapore food trail. Our passes gave us $5 in vouchers each to use here. It comes as two $2 vouchers and a $1. Megan got a local treat called an ice ball. Reid went for a milo and we also got a bunch of food on a stick and some waters. By this point we had not spent a cent as everything we did was part of the pass.
We then walked over to Suntec City and visited the Alive museum. This is essentially a series of 3D Scenes that you can photograph yourself in. It is very clever and the kids loved it.
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| Alive Museum Singapore |
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| Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay |
Last day tomorrow so we are hitting Sentosa Island.
From Dallas: Today was a spectacular day all round. We started out with a very humid walk to Clarke quay to catch a boat ride to the Marina area where we then went to the Singapore flyer. The flyer was amazing. The views spectacular and it highlighted how much of an incredible place Singapore is. There were dozens of ships in the sea ready to either dock and load or head for their next destination. The Marina area was calm with amazing buildings and a floating sports field (soccer) with fixed seating for large events including events such as the fireworks last night. There was a building designed to look like a rocket and other buildings with unique architecture such as the super trees, two garden domes, marina sands hotel, science centre shaped like a flower and cruise ship terminal. Quite the contrast coming from Vietnam. The flyer was very smooth and took about 30 minutes so was a great experience all round. Air con in the carriages was very appreciated. Next stop was to the alive museum at suntec city building. This was fun for the kids as it allowed them to pose in painted settings that made look part of the picture. We met my sister Terina at about 1pm and her friend Angela who are on a great adventure through Asia at the moment and head back to Thailand tomorrow. We went from the Suntec building to the gardens by the bay, a short walk. This was amazing. The super trees with the walkway between two of them and the gardens in general. Then we went in to the two domes housing plants and walkwsys, waterfalls, christmas decorations and video displays. I have never been in anything quite like it before. Taxi from the gardens to hotel around 5:45 and then a quick dip in the pool before showering and getting ready to go out for dinner. We met the Walkers (keith and marilyn) around 6:30 at Robertson Bridge and went to a restaurant close by. I had Indian (they offered Thai, Indian, and Western food). Reid got adventurous and had mac and cheese. A nice walk to the hotel after dinner then planning for tomorrow our last day in Singapore before we fly out at Midnight Saturday. Tomorrow we will go to Sentosa Island.
Singapore day 3
Today was Sentosa Day. Unfortunately I found it a bit of a frustrating day all around. Partly I think I am just tired and ready to come home.
We awoke to the pouring rain. Dallas and Megan went down to the hotel buffet and Reid and I had weetbix in the room. It is not worth paying for him to eat three bowls of cocoa pops from the buffet and nothing else.
We had a taxi take us to the cable car station. There was no line and we jumped straight on. The view from the cable car was spectacular. We were able to see more of the island and also had a great birds eye view of sentosa as we arrived. The resort there looks massive.
From the cable car station we took Bus 1 that is free and stops at various spots around the island. As we arrived at the Resort carpark I was astounded as I have never seen such a beautiful car park with sculptured columns lit up. Upstairs the resort itself was just as amazing. It looked like a theme park in itself.
I joined the line to get tickets for Universal studios as we have our SIA passes which we show to get free tickets to all of the attractions. I had the passes out all through the line but got to the front 20 minutes later to be told that those ones have to be done at guest services, another line. A sign would have been nice. We had planned our time to get there early to try to get the big rides done first but ended up getting in about half an hour after it opened.
The remainder of the day reaffirmed that I made the right decision not to have our family holiday be to New Zealand. I made that call based on the fact that Reid is not very adventurous and I would have spent the whole time watching Dallas and Megan do all of the fun stuff.
Dallas and Megan went to do the Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster and Reid and I joined the line for Transformers. We agreed to meet about 75 mins later. The estimated wait time had just hit 40 mins which was about my limit. We ended up in line for 52 mins and it would have been longer if not for the fact that they were looking for 2 people to fill a carriage. The ride was excellent - 3D movies interspersed with a moving car and lots of special effects. It took five minutes. Reid spent most of the ride with his eyes closed.
By the time we got out it was too late to do another ride as it was just about time to meet Dallas and Megan. When they arrived we learned that they had managed to get 3 rides in. We stayed together for the rest of the day and saw the waterworld show, did a few tame family rides and did the sound stage show which was pretty awesome. Reid was scarred by transformers and wouldn't do anything else exciting. We joked with him that crossing the road in vietnam was more scary than most of the rides. It rained quite heavily at one point and cover was sparse outside of the central areas. We hung out under a tree for a bit and then ran for it and found an indoor show.
I can't help comparing Universal to Disneyworld. The rides are good but the waiting areas are not very well done. I was really annoyed that they do not have wifi as we had no way to communicate with each other and had to arrange meeting points and times which wasted a lot of time. For the amount of money that they charge to get in they should be doing things like wifi to make life easier for guests. Coming from Vietnam where every hole-in-the-wall cafe has wifi, I have been somewhat disappointed in Singapore in this regard. I also thought the express pass system was not well designed and caused a lot of delays to people who did not have them. The disney fast pass system is better.
We caught a taxi back to the hotel and they had a quick swim before we had to check out at 6. We then went to the Funan Digitalife Mall which is a mall just for electronics. Dallas thought it looked pretty awesome when we first walked in. The prices appeared to be much the same as at home though. This mall also did not have wifi. Reid wanted subway so I bought his sandwich and then we went to get pasta for the rest of us. The staff at the pasta place informed us that he couldn't sit with us eating his subway even though we were all going to buy their pasta. Thought that was pretty dumb. Dallas had to take him back to subway so he could eat his sandwich. She also got on my case about holding a bag of subway cookies that we had for later. Very very strange. I was tempted to start eating the cookies in her eyesight after finishing the pasta.
We are now at the airport about to board our flight so in about nine hours we will be on home soil. It has been an incredible few weeks.
From Dallas: Last day of trip. We catch a midnight flight tonight so will do a few small posts tonight providing an update on the day and the trip overall. Update 1.
This morning we went via cable car to Sentosa island. Wow. The island is well developed and well set out. We spent the day at Universal Studios and it was a mixed day or fun, thrill, and rain. Overall the park seemed to be too small to cope with the numbers and lines too long. Food terrible and expensive. Megan and I went straight to the big roller coaster called the cylon. It was awesome. About a 35 min wait as it was not long after opening. Then went to Revenge of the Mummy also a good ride. An indoor roller coaster. Megan found it a bit scary but liked it. About a 35 min wait for that one. We came back to the hotel around 5pm. More on Universal Studios later in update 2.
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