DeNang to Ho Chi Minh

 

On the move again. We flew down from DeNang International airport to Saigon. DeNang Airport was a 30 minute drive from our hotel in Hoi An. Saigons modern name is Ho Chi Minh City, but no one seems to care which name we use. An easy flight, taking about 90 minutes.

We land to humid weather. Pouring rain and 31 degrees Celsius. Saigon is the financial centre of Vietnam, while Hanoi is their government centre. The two cities are very different. Saigon feels like a modern Asian City. It’s busy, with all the western shops and a buzzing night life. A Rolls Royce showroom is on the opposite side of the road to a Communist government building. This is a city which contradicts their politics, but most likely a sneak peek into Vietnam of the future.  

As we walk out of the airport, our driver is waiting for us. Perfect organisation as always, apart from a small flaw in the plan. Our drivers car gets wheel clamped. For the last three weeks we have seen organised chaos on the roads, with minimal rules or laws. We arrive in Saigon to a wheel clamp…  

But our Asian journey has given us a little tolerance and the problem is soon solved. We arrive safely at our hotel, keen to unpack and walk the streets of Saigon.

Dinner is a different experience, a roof top bar with live music, over looking the city. Opposite is a modern shopping mall with Merry Christmas being projected onto it. After spending two weeks visiting Buddist temples, it feels strange to see gitterging snow drops fall in 31 degree heat attemptng to promote a religous ceremony unknown to most of people filling the city. What we notice is the price of food and drink have gone up. It’s still a long way from London prices, but inflation is increasing the further south we go in Vietnam 

  Tomorrow we head to the Chi Chi tunnels from the war. An early start. 

 Good night Vietnam.

Lazy Day

 

Our last full day in Hoi An and its a free day. A 7am morning run down the beach and a chance to see the fishermen coming ashore in their Coracle boats. We still struggle with the time zone, 7am in Vietham is midnight in London. 

The biggest decision of the day, which type of eggs for breakfast; scrambled, fried, poached or omelette. It was tough, but poached eggs on brown toast was the winner.

Down to the pool for a day reading, swimming and sleeping. Very chilled. We did need to collect our washing from a local laundry. They charged us 50,000 Dong (under £2) for a kg of clothes. There is very little to dislike about Vietnam.

 

We head to Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon) tomorrow. Good night all. 

P.S a photo from the Hoi An Precious Heritage Art Gallery which is home to the Rehahn Photo Collection. We visited yesterday. The project documents the 54 regions across Vietnam. We love this photo.

                                             

On our bikes in Hoi An

 

Our third morning at the Palm Garden Resort, the longest time in one place since leaving home. Our activity for the day was a cycle ride around the Hoi An area.We met our guide, Hiem, at 8 am. She had already organised for our bikes to be delivered to the hotel earlier in the morning. The logistics throughout the holiday has been excellent.

Our cycle ride took us through the Hoi An countryside, stopping at one of the farm communes, where local farmers share the land to produce crops for the local community. They grow a diverse range of beautiful vegetables and herbs. Our favorite new vegetable for the holiday is Morning Glory (named before the Oasis song), which when sautéed with garlic is wonderful. 

Morning Glory 

Vietnam is changing fast and new job opportunities are opening up, which means the next generation are not as interested in farming, so the average age of the farmers is quite high. To help the farmers, the tourism industry is using what they call Eco-Tourism, where the tourist guides pay the farmers to host and entertain the tourists, which results in the farmers encouraging the tourists to take on their work, such as watering their crops…

A local farmer watering the plants

Its a lovely area to cycle around, with the heat and high humidity its nice to take your time, enjoy the countryside and wildlife, like the Water Buffalo who enjoy the muddy water to keep cool in the days heat.

 

Our cycle ride took us to the river estuary, so the only answer was to take a river boat to another area of Hoi An. October is the start of the rainy season, which often results in flooding in this part of Vietnam. Only a month ago a Typhoon swept through the region and flooded the area. Many of the houses had 20 cm or more of water in their houses. This seems to be part of their lives, so they sweep down when the water drains away and move on. The biggest tell tail of the flooding is the river, which is deep brown from the soil run off during the flooding. 

This is a hot country and the people are hardworking. They wake early and work throughout the day, but they also have a siesta culture. After lunch they have a sleep while the sun is high. This is normal for adults and children, in business, schools and farms. It enables them to start early and finish late.

While trying to find someone in a local restaurant, the only person we found was fast asleep, so I couldn’t resist taking the photo below. She looked both comfortable and contented. Just brilliant. 

Market Street Restaurant 

So back to the hotel and the pool. Before heading out for dinner, one of the hotel staff offered to cut down a coconut for us to drink. Lovely and refreshing after a not so hard day.

 

Coconut juice, our drink of the day. 

Hoi An

 

Good morning Vietnam. 

We couldn’t resist it, we watched Good Morning Vietnam last night on Amazon Prime. Released in 1988, but still worth watching. The brilliant Robin Williams at his best.

A free day. Just the beach, pool and bar to keep us entertained. It’s winter in Vietnam, The temperature is around 28 degrees Celsius in Hoi An during November. It’s their rainy season, but like many countries globally the weather is not as expected. Only the occasional shower to break up the sunshine, but perfect weather for two tourists to spend a few hours reading books. Amazon Audible for Janice. I’m working through the Neil Stephenson Cryptonomicon, which is a brilliant book, but 900 pages of print which needs a magnifying glass to read, so at my reading pace, I’m unlikely to finish this holiday or even the next. 

Dinner was in down town Hoi An, which required our first taxi journey for a night out this holiday. Hoi An is a port town, which has become well know for lantern’s and river boat journeys. From what we could see this has predominately become a tourist town. The markets, bars and resturants had more europeans than we have seen previously. But it had a good feel to the area and as usual it felt safe and very welcoming.

A fairly uneventful evening. A really nice and spicy Thai meal and then taxi back to the hotel. A full day ahead tomorrow exploring the area, so early to bed. 

Good night Vietnam. 

Hai Van Pass

 

Hue to Hoi An

Time to leave Hue. Our next journey was to Hoi A via the Hai Van Pass, which Top Gear declared as one of the worlds best coastal routes during their 2008 road tour through Vietnam. The coastal road runs along the South China Sea and rises to 500m above sea level, dividing Hue and De Nang. A tropical area which was covered in mist as we drove over it. The pass is a steep winding road which was scattered with rocks that had slid down the hillside. There appears to be a constant battle to keep the road clear and safe. Our journey took about 3 hours, with a stop at the highest point for coffee. 

De Nang and Hoi An are joined together and are growing beach resort towns. The largest luxury hotel chains are either present or under construction. Investment is flowing in. Change and development is underway. Our hotel for the next four nights is the Palm beach resort in Hoi An. A nice resort on the beach with golden sand.

  Congratulations to the England Cricket team for winning the T20 World Cup. Sad as it may seem we ignored the swimming pool and sat infront of an Ipad watching the game. We did try to find a television showing the game, but cricket has not made an impact in Vietnam yet. Football and the Premier League is very different. We are often asked where we are from, when we respond England, the first question is what team we support. No surpises that Man City and Liverpool are the two most supported teams over here. To be kind, they often declare West Ham to be their second team.  

Good night Vietnam.

Home and Hue

We had a day in Hue (pronounced Hway). The ancient Imperial City for the Emperors of Vietnam. The last Emperor resigned in protest [encouraged by Ho Chi Minh] in 1945 as Vietnam attempted to take back control, following the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and a move by the French to reimpose its colonialism when the war ended. Our first stop was the walled Citadel, where the last Emperors resided. This was the scene of one of the most bloodiest battles during the Vietnam War [ The Vietnamese refer to it as the American War]. In 1967 Ho Chi Minh wanted to bring the war to a conclusion before he died. The Tet offensive was a series of coordinated attacks on the South controlled Vietnamese cities (100 cities), which started during the Luna New Year in 1968 when many of the South Vietnamese troops were celebrating. The attack on Hue was one of the most intensive and bloody. As we walked around this ancient city, it seemed difficult to comprehend what had happened. Our guide Ling was born after the war and very philosophical about what had happened. He explained later that his grandfather had fought in the war. He was only 5ft tall, most likely due to his poor diet, and struggled to lift his AK47 which had be designed for larger Russian soldiers. But in their view it was a war of liberation. This was clearly all in the past and Vietnam has a incredibly bright future. This is a country which will only grow stronger and I suspect a great a place to invest over the next 50 years.

From the Citadel we explored a number of the temples, Joss Stick and traditional hat makers, followed by a trip down the Perfume River. 

Khai Dinh Mausoleum 

Our evening re-enforced how much has changed in Vietnam. Whether change is all for the good is hard to say, but this is a country which is developing fast. In the centre of Hue they pedestrianise the roads in the evening. Heineken were launching their new beer in Vietnam, Larue Smooth. A full stage was set up to promote it and some of the biggest regional pop stars were hired to perform. We had no idea who they were, but they were great fun. All the time the rain fell, while everyone danced in shorts and tee shirts. Asian night life was in full swing.

 

We have to thank Heineken for an evening of fun, They handed out beer and merchandise while we watched the evenings entertainment. There were many europeans enjoying the party and we even bumped even into a dutch couple who were on our cruise in Bai Tu Long Bay. We really felt like backpackers 😀

Overnight train to Hue

 

Our overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, was just under 13 hours. Having our own cabin with beds gave us our own space. The beds were comfortable and long enough to stretch out straight. The biggest challenge, the toilets. Two foot pads and a hole, a true knee trembler, this was far from ideal for Janice. Fortunately we did find a more conventional toilet later that night. 

Our attendant recommended we keep the cabin door locked to avoid other passenger’s looking for spare beds, so we locked ourselves in and attempted to sleep. It was not the quietest train and you could hear and feel every joint and bump on the rails, so sleeping was difficult. The train also stopped at various points throughout the night to bring on more passengers. But, we managed to survive the night, waking around 7:30 for coffee and watch Vietnams beautiful scenery go by. We finally arrived in Hue at 11:00 AM, with our next guide ready to drive us to our hotel.

After this a relaxing afternoon, we set off for dinner in the streets of Hue, which are buzzing at night. Packed with what appeared to be local Vietnamese partying. We like Hue and looking for to exploring more tomorrow.