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Saigon, Vietnam
Well arrived here on Tuesday night (22 March, 2005) at 8.15pm our time but 4.30pm Saigon time, so it was going to be a long night. The flight was okay - a new Boeing 777 but there wasn't a vacant seat on it and the service was just okay - no smiles from the crew. The other people in our group are around our age or a bit older but they are all seasoned travelers and fun to be with. There are three couples traveling together who joined us after a Cambodian cruise. Three Dutch ladies, two married to Dutch fellows, and one to an Englishman. They have known each other for many years and often travel together (long time Canberra residents).The two other couples are from Cooma and Bywong respectively and are full of good humor. We all met up at 7 pm in the courtyard of the Continental Hotel over a beer and then headed off to a restaurant.Mind you by that time I was ready for bed and it was still very hot.We had a very enjoyable meal at Tan Nam down from the Sheraton Saigon. Only cost us $16 with drinks and there was plenty to eat.
Our hotel the Continental was built in the 1880's and has a lot of history with famous writers, journalists and politicians staying there over the years. The Hotel was made famous in “The Quiet American” and Graham Greene’s room (214) was two doors along from ours.Our room is huge with 4 meter ceilings and the furniture is beautiful hand carved timber. Our second day (Wednesday 23 March) started early with us going on a walking tour of the centre of Saigon with Ross.Fortunately we started at 8.00am but it soon became very hot - 32 and humid.Much of Saigon was built by the French and you can see that with the wide boulevards lined with trees. We were warned about the traffic here but you really don't appreciate it fully until you see it for yourself. There are 8 million people in Saigon and 5 million motorbikes, no I am not kidding! There doesn't seem to be any real adherence to road rules. You cross the street walking purposely at a steady pace, trying to suppress the urges to freeze or run, and they just swing around you. They don't wear any protective clothing and most only wear sandals, or in many cases the women are riding in 5 inch heels.We have seen the most jaw dropping things carried on these bikes - like mum, dad and the 3 kids or 3 adults, 6 bags of cement, ladders, large glass windscreen, large basket full of 12 geese, TV's, computer monitors held by one hand behind while steering with the other. But the one who won the award was a man on a pushbike with bamboo poles strapped on to his back with about 20 plastic bags of live tropical fish hanging from the poles!
We went into the Notre Dame Cathedral built by the French and every brick was brought out from France, opposite was the Post Office built in the late 1880's designed by Eiffel. We went to the Re-Unification Palace where the famous Neil Davis photo was taken of the tank crashing through the Palace Gates in April 1975. We also visited the War Remnants Museum which represents (as might be expected) the victors view of the “American War”. There are also some unpleasant graphic photos, so we didn't spend much time there. Lunch was at a Pho (pronounced fur) Noodle Soup cafe.Big bowls of clear beef soup with beef slices, noodles on the table with bunches of basil and mint which you added yourself along with the chillies, soy bean paste, bamboo shoots. "Sorry Sir – Chicken is off the menu." No doubt something to do with Bird Flu. Very nice and quite enough for lunch. After lunch we drove to the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Vietcong built what amounts to a whole village underground. In total the tunnel network stretched for about 200kms. The original tunnels are extremely small but they have enlarged one for the tourists but I was very apprehensive about entering and just went down a short distance before backing out. We drove the ninety minutes back to our hotel where we all had a much needed beer and a cool shower.
The group re gathered again at 7 pm when Ross took us to a very up market restaurant called the Temple Club and we again enjoyed the Vietnamese food - spring rolls, fish, meat and vegetable dishes to share. The meal and the drinks only cost 400,000 dong - about A$35 for both - but this was considered a very expensive restaurant. On Thursday (24 March) we traveled by bus to the Mekong Delta about 1 ½ hours south. We boarded a boat and headed off for an island where we transferred to a much smaller boat for a trip up a narrow canal.Passing orchards and heavy growth with palms etc, we arrived in a village were we sampled coconut toffee made while we watched and some ginger.Of course, Geoff had to buy a bottle (plastic) of banana wine! We then had rice wine, tea and honey in one glass which wasn't as bad as it sounds. We then went to another island where we had to walk about 20 minutes in the heat along a dusty track passing villages and families.The little children came out with flowers to greet us and wanted to say hello.We sat down at a café and had their fresh fruit and some more tea (artichoke which I am not too thrilled with) and then walked to some really small boats with a woman at each end paddling us for about 30 minutes.The woman in the front looked about 80 with a young girl at the back and both worked very hard to get us to our original boat.
We then met up with our bus and went to a famous restaurant on the banks of the Mekong River, which specializes in Deep Fried Elephant Ear fish - which was beautifully presented standing up!I have noticed that all the food is so well presented even the street stalls selling melons, bananas etc are all displayed beautifully. On the way back to Saigon again we passed many amazing motorbikes carrying all sorts of cargo - one bike towed a trailer full of long bamboo poles with 4 men sitting on the top. So many near misses but we haven't seen any accidents yet. There are 6-8 road deaths a day here but they think with 85 million people that it isn't too bad! We called into Chinatown here and went to the wholesale market where I bought some cashews and ginger for our long bus ride on Saturday (7 hours). Anyway going back now to have a shower. Tonight is a do- your-own-thing night and we are going by ourselves to a restaurant recommended by Ross "Lemongrass" a good name - Geoff has been there while I have been typing and says it looks really good. It has a menu in English with pictures! Tomorrow Ross is taking me to a hairdressers he goes to and we are having an hour head massage - can't wait - Geoff is thrilled because it is our rest (read ‘shopping’) day and he thinks it will keep me out of the shops for at least an hour!!!!Poor Geoff thinks he has had a win but he doesn't know me!
Well it is now Friday (25 March) and if you were wondering how the massage went - it was heaven. Ross took us to the Barber Shop down from the Sheraton Saigon where 4 of us sat down in the barber chairs. I had my hair washed sitting up – with shampoo and water from a bottle, then into another room to have it rinsed, and then she washed it twice more! Back to the chair where she massaged me from my neck down to my toes and then rolled over (the chair was now flat) and she did the same to the back. Cost 90,000 dong (less than $8.00) for over an hour massage. Great massage too - hurt like hell but I felt so good. Then we walked down to the markets where I bought 2 Ralph Lauren shirts for myself for $7 each and a Rado watch (genuine of course) for $20. Geoff had already bought 2 Ralph Lauren shirts for himself earlier from a shop for $12 each. While walking back Geoff was on the lookout for another memory stick for his Sony and bought the biggest one (256MB I think)for $60. So now he can take thousands of photographs on the lowest resolution! It is very hot outside and we had lunch back in the Continental courtyard – all Vietnamese food, 3 salads and drinks for $30. We also had photos with two of the waiters who were very helpful and obliging. We then headed through town on our way down to the Saigon River as we have crossed it many times by bus but hadn’t walked along the river. Saigon to me is very dusty and dirty although there are women sweeping the streets all the time. They haven't had rain for nearly 6 months and this is coming up to the end of their dry season, the wet starts in May. I find the people while not totally unfriendly, very reserved. There are examples of really nice and interesting buildings such as the Post Office, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Rex Hotel and our hotel the Continental – but many others are very ordinary.
We noticed on the bus coming back yesterday that all the new buildings on the new highway under construction are very colorful, with what appears to be an Italian influence. They are 3 or 4 floors tall with only about 1 room wide and on the top is an open terrace with a roof, always with an altar for the ancestors. The walls of many are adorned with huge murals in tiles and there are large statues (often what you would expect to see in Catholic Churches) with lots of trees in pots on balconies. The Vietnamese seem to like bright paint too. We are getting very good now at crossing the roads - just don't look at them and keep walking at a steady pace, but slowly, never ever run. Tonight we are all meeting at 6 pm for a drink and then going to a place where all the best street stalls have gathered together into a type of cooperative restaurant. Eating there should be interesting. Tomorrow is a 7 hour bus ride to Dalat and as I said before I bought lots of ginger in case the narrow winding roads cause motion sickness. So don't know when next I will come across another internet place.
Looking forward to Dalat as it is supposed to be a lot cooler there (up high) with pretty scenery. Oh I forgot to mention that yesterday we got out and walked across a rice paddy field because they were starting to harvest the rice. Very interesting and I was so proud of myself walking through the dried rice - thinking snakes of course. There was a huge python in one of the cafes we visited yesterday, being offered to tourists to have their photo taken with it on their shoulders. Luckily it was a distance from me as I would have moved very quickly away if it came too close.
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