Time to say farewell

We said our fond farewells to Di and Wattie and our thanks for them taking this side trip to meet up with us.  It was terrific seeing them again.  Tomorrow we fly back to our floating homes in Malaysia after five incredible weeks touring Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  Was it all worth it?  You're darn right it was.  What a fabulous experience it was delving into a part of the world so unlike any that we've experienced before.

Through our travels, we've come across many different peoples, languages and cultures and this definitely took the cake.  And the fact that we certainly weren't staying in top class hotels (far from it in fact), we met the people on more or less their own level which gave us a good insight into their lives and country which may not have been possible had Oppenheimer footed the bill.

Vietnam, where we spent the most time, surprised us in many ways.  We hadn't expected such diversity in people, character and scenery and we loved it, especially the northern regions.  Laos was a tad disappointing but then in fairness, we only travelled through a small area of the southern provinces.  Had we managed to get up further north, there would have been so much more to see and do but it was a long way and we'd left ourselves too little time to venture farther afield.

Cambodia (aka Kampuchea), proved to be another very poor country.  With a population of some 15 million squashed between a very populace Thailand and Vietnam, it sort of gets the short end of the stick (Laos even more so).  It's history of wars, genocide and political unrest has taken its toll so despite its current economic improvements, it still ranks pretty low in terms of human development.  

Tourism, however, is very much alive and well primarily due to their rich ancient history which built such magnificent temples as Angkor Wat.  We noticed that much of the reconstruction taking place was sponsored by foreign countries, namely the Chinese, and can only hope that the payback price isn't too high; a sting in the tail we have seen time and time again wherever the Chinese step in to help.  Corruption is the name of the game at all levels and that produces a nation of haves and have-nots and I doubt that will change anytime in the foreseeable future.

All in all, despite some of the ups and downs we experienced, we can highly recommend the journey if any of you are wondering where to take your next holiday.  Just be prepared for the inevitable scams, rip-offs and frustrations but also be prepared to be very pleasantly surprised.  In short, we have all declared this trip an outright success.

The piéce de resistance

What can we ever say about Angkor Wat and it's surrounding temples that can possibly do it justice?  'Awesome' sort of helps but I think it's one of those places that one simply has to see for oneself.

We purchased a three day pass late on the Friday afternoon which allowed us free entry from 5 p.m. until sunset without jeopardising the three days.  So this we did.  We rushed in to see at least one temple in the setting sun, a great time to visit and to see the fading light on the temple walls.  We chose a small one, Ta Prohm (circa 1191), which has had less reconstruction than most but it has incredible ancient trees and roots growing up and between the ruins which makes it very special.  The fading light also added to the spectacle.  It was love at first sight.

The following day, we arrived back at the grounds before sunrise to watch the sun come up on the main attraction, Angkor Wat (built in the first half of the 12th century), along with half a million other tourists.  Where do they all come from!  However, Angkor Wat is huge and the masses were soon dispersed throughout with the exception of the waves created by the arrival of yet another dozen or more tour buses filled with Chinese and/Japanese tourists rushing through at a rate of knots.  

WOW, it really is spectacular in every way.  There didn't seem to be anything, inside or out, that wasn't covered with some form of carving or relief work.  And what makes this more amazing is the fact that it only took 37 years to build though there were a myriad of wall reliefs depicting the flogging of hundreds of slaves which could explain this.

The grounds cover some 200 hectares including it's wide surrounding moat and the vast scale enabled the Khmer of that era to give full expression to religious symbolism.  It's a pyramid of three levels, each one enclosed by a gallery with four gopuras and corner towers and the summit is crowned with five towers in a quincunx.  In short, it's positively stupendous.

After one circumnavigation, we decided to go over to another amazing temple, Bayon, for a quick look around before we had to get back to Siem Reap to meet Di and Wattie, good cruising friends who decided to join us for a couple of days while flying out of New Zealand on their way to South Africa.  So fabulous to see them again but we hardly gave them time to breathe before we stuffed them into a tuk tuk to head back to the temples.  Bayon was another incredible spectacle.

I could go on at great length about each and every site we visited naming names, dates, history or interesting aspects but I'd have to write a book to do it justice.  Suffice it to say, it was an experience of a lifetime and one that we'll never forget; a definite highlight in what was already an amazing trip starting from the moment we left Calypso behind in Malaysia five weeks ago.  When we finally get back, I'll be spending a month of Sundays offloading my photos onto my PC in the hopes of sharing just some of our experiences in photo form.

And now onto Cambodia

We did our homework.  We studied Lonely Planet and read all about the trials and tribulations of taking a bus across the border into Cambodia.  Honestly we did.  We were forewarned, we knew, we took precautions, we trod the streets to enquire, but still........

While in Don Det, we went to many different places advertising bus travel over into Cambodia.  We asked all the right questions primarily to find out which bus company was running the trip as we were warned repeatedly not to take Paramount bus company.  Assured that we were booked onto another tour group, we paid our money and got our tickets for the Soraya Bus Company which was to leave the following morning.  We were to meet the ferry at 7:50 a.m. and the bus was to depart at 8:30 and arrive in Kampong Cham at 3:00 p.m.  Yeah right!

After much toing and froing, the ferry finally left three quarters of an hour late.  We arrived at the bus station to be told we had to fill out the immigration forms there to save time at the border, a half hour trip away.  Forms duly filled out, we were now told that we had to pay a handling fee of $10 each in addition to the $20 border fee, mutter, mutter.  Then we were informed that we had to get a different ticket from another man before we could get on the bus; no charge so we didn't argue, everyone followed suit.

Eight thirty had long since come and gone yet still we waited.  By nine thirty, we had boarded the bus (just a temp one as we would be changing to a double decker VIP bus at the border) and they pulled the usual trick or trying to load many more people than seats.  Finally by ten, we were off.  Ten thirty sees us dumped on the Laos side of the crossing and we have to walk over to the other side where there's a really smart new building built in the beautiful Cambodian style.  But no, we're not allowed in there, we have to climb over a wall and sit by the vendors at the side of the road in all the dust and dirt.  The toilet consisted of a wooden shack perched precariously close to a raging veld fire.  It appears that the fancy new building, which has obviously been completed for some years, has yet to be opened and looks in no hurry to do so.

You're bus will be here in 40 minutes.  Hmmm.  Needless to say, two hours and forty minutes later, we are told that the scrap of metal on wheels that arrived is our bus which seats about 35 when there are close to 50 waiting for it.  Great, why were we not surprised?  It was then that we discovered that our original tickets had been changed to, guess what? - the Paramount Bus Company, the very company we'd gone out of our way to ensure we didn't get on! 

Tiny plastic stools were placed down the centre isle for the overflow and several of the younger travellers just gave up and slept on the floor.  We were the lucky ones, we got seats but our six-hour bus trip to Kampong Cham arrived seven hours late!  We're still trying to work this one out.  Travelling by bus in this part of the world is not for the faint of heart.

Onwards in Laos

From Attapeu, we bussed it over to Pakse, a larger town but not what one could classify as a city.  It wasn't all that far but Laos roads leave a fair amount to be desired so the trip still took time.  

We arrived in Pakse and took a tuk-tuk to our hotel (pretty tacky) which was right on a road with some major earthworks in progress causing an unbelievable amount of dirt, dust and mud.  Pakse really had nothing to offer but we did find a fairly good Indian restaurant right across the road so our meals were sorted.

Our main objective was to find transportation down to the Four Thousand Island region of the Mekong River where we hoped to spend a few days.  A nice option would be to take a live aboard river boat down but that proved to be way beyond our budget.  We could also have booked an organised tour but wanted to do the trip on our own so a local bus down was the only other alternative.

Well, the word 'bus' is a bit of a misnomer in this instance.  It was one of those open-sided wagons with seats running along the sides and one down the middle designed to take about a dozen and a half people but, naturally, they managed to stuff in twice that and the luggage!  It doesn't exactly fall into the category of the VIP or luxury classification I can assure you.  Three and a half hours of this and we were well shaken, rattled and rolled.

As we travelled, abject poverty was very much in evidence.  Tiny wooden structures built on stilts, most without windows or electricity and none with running water.  Laos has a population of barely over six million people and about 80% of these practice subsistence agriculture but there's apparently only a very small percentage of the land which is arable, something like 4%.  However, with demand for its metals, it's economy is accelerating rapidly.  It's a single party socialist republic that espouses Marxism and is governed by a communist politburo dominated by the military but despite communism, like Vietnam, free enterprise is developing throughout and two thirds of the population openly practices Buddhism.

The area called Four Thousand Islands lies just north of the Cambodian border and is a riverine archipelago on the Mekong River.  There are many islands with tourist accommodation but we chose one of the smallest, Don Det, and thought that we'd wait until we got there to find a place to stay after hearing that there was plenty to choose from.  We'd no sooner hopped off our 'bus' when we realised we were heading into a backpackers mecca. 

A rickety ferry took us a short distance over to the Island where this was confirmed; everything was geared up for the younger generation and there were hundreds of them just hanging out.  I know, I know, I was one of them once too.

We walked through an array of small dilapidated hutted rooms until we finally found one that had three to accommodate us all - definitely not salubrious by any stretch of the imagination but it was a bed.  However, when we relaxed in the poor excuse for a restaurant enjoying a drink in the quiet ambiance next to the river, a French chap came in (NB: we were the only customers in the place) and turned on some very loud music.  We politely asked him to turn it down; he refused.  When we pointed out that there was no one to listen to the music and we wished to hear ourselves talk, he none too politely informed us that we could leave and that included the rooms as well.  I would never have thought I'd ever get kicked out of an establishment but here we were, all six of us:  evicted, not welcome.

However, we stayed that night then went on to find somewhere else the following morning but we went from bad to worse as our next abode really hit an all-time low.  Something I haven't mentioned before is that we've never, not once, stayed anywhere on this journey where the plumbing actually works properly.  We've had a 100% hit on leaking basins!  I promise I'm not exaggerating, but this one topped the lot!  If you spit into the bowl after cleaning your teeth, it simply landed up on your feet.  But to make matters worse, the beds all had sharp springs sticking out so none of us got any sleep.

We couldn't wait to get out of there so Jason went out early the following morning to find something a little (no, make that a lot) more acceptable. He did.  A brand new building, new beds, new everything, great.  But, true to form the record was not broken, the basin leaked; none of the doors closed properly, the wiring was appalling, the finishes beyond shoddy.  This would be considered a very good standard by anyone living in this part of the world so we happily accepted it.  Most importantly, it was clean and comfortable. 

Getting to know the locals and the way they live? No one can accuse us of not trying.

Into Laos

Another very early start as we had to get to the station by 6:30 a.m. for the bus which would take us to Attapeu in Laos, an eight hour journey.  It turned out to be another of those adventures.  This bus was a 28-seater but there were many more than that waiting for it, (why were we not surprised).  That wasn't so much the problem though.  Each and every one of us had luggage and the locals had almost more stuff (boxes, tables, chairs, humongous bags full of goods and fruit to trade and, believe it or not, even a kitchen sink) than the bus could carry without any passengers.  

Many items were placed around inside the bus but the majority found its way up on top, strapped flimsily together.  About halfway through the trip, we stopped to pick up another dozen people and these were the ones who had all the chairs and tables:  four tables (with glass tops) and at least thirty folding chairs and a big flat screen TV.  By some miracle, they all fit up on top piled precariously high.

The stretch of road towards the border was fairly rough going and very dusty due to roadworks, and the driver managed it all very well while watching music DVDs on the screen in the central console.  Once we passed through into Laos, the road was very windy through a mountainous pass - I couldn't see because of the number of people crammed in but I think he concentrated more on his driving at this stage.

Anyway, we arrived in Attapeu safely, retrieved our bags from up high and found a reasonable hotel nearby.  We are now in Laos; new language, new money and a totally different feel to it.

Laos has only 6.1 million people compared to the 90 million in Vietnam so we passed by miles of jungly terrain and more miles of rubber plantations, all sparsely inhabited.  And, although there is definitely evidence of motor bikes, there are next to none in comparison to our previous experiences.

Our initial reaction is that it's a very poor country.  We did see some rather elaborate homes but, as a whole, most were mere shacks.  Prices, however, are higher than in Vietnam but that was particularly cheap in the most part.

Our plan now is to visit the Four Thousand Island region of the Mekong River for about a week before moving into Cambodia.  As it's completely non touristy here in Attapeu, we'll have to negotiate around using some more of these wonderful (ahem) local buses.

My Impressions of Vietnam

Motor bikes/scooters:  millions of them, everywhere; on the roads, sidewalks, entrance ways, even in our hotel lobbies.  Literally seas of them!

Traffic, chaotic traffic: nothing can prepare you for coping with Vietnamese traffic other than, we're told, if you have experienced traffic in Shanghai.  The one and only rule is; the little guy gives way to the bigger guy.  There's a t-shirt stating "Vietnamese traffic laws" and it shows a traffic light with the words next to the green light "I can go", next to the amber light, "I can go" and then next to the red light "I still can go".  The funniest thing about it is, it's absolutely true!  I've never seen so many motor bikes in my life, all oblivious to any form of traffic law.   We thought that Indonesia was bad but that was baby stuff in comparison.

Drivers:  trains couldn't go too far wrong but every other driver, especially bus drivers, have a permanent death wish!  We had thought about hiring a car amongst us but not one of the six of us was prepared to take on the driver's job.  We all want to live to see tomorrow.  Later we discovered that you can't hire a car without a local driver anyway - wise rule.

Things transported by motor bikes:  as many as six people on one bike (2 adults & 4 children), boxes piled over ten feet high with almost an equal amount to the sides.  Huge pot-planted trees, refrigerators, queen-sized mattresses, 5-metre lengths of pipes, wardrobes, pigs, goats, baskets of chickens and ducks.  Cooking apparatus and the food to go with it, anything your imagination can conjure up and more.  One of the cutest was a purpose-made baby's high chair which sat in front of the driver; the western world would scream.

Street wiring:  imagine a massive plate of mixed up thin spaghetti, then add several packages of two-minute noodles, now get some kids to play with it and string it all around the place.  The end result would be an approximation of what phone wiring looks like around the poles in the cities.  Vietnam's own unique version of Telecom.

Rice paddies:  terraced hillsides, lush patches of green, men and women planting and tending water logged fields.  The classic paddy field scenes, spectacular.  

Motor bikes:  oh, I think I've mentioned them.

Rice:  prior to 1997 when the political situation in Vietnam changed radically, the country depended heavily on imported rice as local production was grossly insufficient and rice is, by far, the most important food commodity in this country.  Today, less than twenty years later, Vietnam is the largest exporter of rice in the world.  Quite a feat.

Coffee:  we had no idea, but Vietnam is a major coffee producer and has ousted Columbia's position to become number two just behind Brazil.  The way they serve it, (sickly sweet with condensed milk unless asked not to) the coffee is very, very strong, even more so than expresso but coffee lovers worldwide enjoy it in a more refined version.  One of the best is weasel coffee which passes through that little critter before it's roasted (the beans, not the weasel).  I'm not a coffee drinker but Paul sampled it and declared it great.

Grave yards:  the most elaborate gravestones we've ever seen and they're placed anywhere and everywhere.  Rarely did we see a rice paddy without a couple of huge, decorative grave monuments plunked in the middle.  Many were far more elaborate than the homes.

Motor bikes:  gosh, I may have mentioned these, they just keep springing to mind.

Buy from meeee-eeeee, buy from meeee:  these plaintive words were repeated over and over again whenever we stopped to view something.  It became a bit of a joke.

Flowers:  flowers, flowers everywhere:  just prior to TET was the annual flower festival so everyone had displays, then TET itself generated even more.  But throughout, the Vietnamese seem to love flowers.  Every structure had some, and wherever there was a traffic circle or centre division in a more modern road, there were flowers and beautifully maintained box hedges forming some incredible artistic gardens with huge flowered centre-pieces.

Cleanliness in the cities:  not something one would generally think of as most rubbish is dumped out onto the roads during the day making the streets an absolute eyesore with some rather unpleasant odours thrown in.  However, little fairies come along regularly sweeping it all up and carting it away.  These fairies (generally women) can be found braving the motor bikes to sweep everything to the sides for cleaning.  They even ring a little bell to warn the shopkeepers and residents of their impending arrival who then rush out to dump more into the streets for pick up.  If you're out early in the mornings, you'll find the streets spotless.  Sadly, this doesn't hold true of the countryside and outer edges of cities where plastic pollution is rife.

Motor bikes:  have I told you about motor bikes yet?

Pho:  this is their national dish.  There are pho stands on every street corner and a dozen in between too.  It's a noodle soup which comes in a myriad of varieties but is primarily a meat broth with a bit of meat, vegetables and lots of noodles.  This is served with more fresh veggies, lemon wedges, chili and garlic.  The streets are full of people eating pho at all times of the day, sitting on little kndergaten-sized stools or chairs around kindergarten-sized tables.  They drop all their tissues and bones right where they're sitting (charming) so everything looks quite disgusting but the food is good and don't forget those little fairies who prowl the streets at night cleaning up the mess.

The Dong:  Dong is the name of their currency.  It's one of those with umpteen dozen zeros attached so that when you buy a beer for example and they ask for 12,000 dong, your first reaction is "how much!" until you realise that it's only about 55 cents.

Face masks:  the cities's air is heavily polluted so many, many locals (especially women) wear face masks.  These come in a variety of colours and patterns and are worn everywhere, even on a plane.  Apparently the girls also wear them to stop their skin from getting too brown - the whiter, the better.

The things they eat:  bugs, snakes, rats, frogs, worms, little birds, eels, turtles, you name it.  They purportedly also eat dogs and cats but, thankfully, we saw no evidence of that.

Fresh Produce: some of the best we've ever seen.  Fruit we recognised and a lot we didn't.  First class vegetables of every description with lots and lots of greenery.

Motor bikes:  oops, think I've covered this one.

The beautiful people of Sa Pa:  wonderful and friendly, dainty little people who are hard-working, happy and colourful.

Sharks:  as much as we'd met many wonderful people, sadly we also met those on the take, the ones who impose heavy levies because of the 'skin factor'.  Or more so, the ones who quote one price but deny it when it comes time to settle the bill and, fairly commonly, those who hand you change but always make the mistake in their favour.  Beware the sharks, they are out in full force.

Tourists:  where do they all come from?  And if tourism is currently in its infancy having really only become possible at the end of last century, I shudder to think what it'll be like in a few years time.  Unfortunately, if they don't put some controls on it, they may be in jeopardy of ruining the very industry they're trying to create.

Misspelling of English signs, menus or whatever:  well this was an immense source of amusement for all of us.  One at the first hotels stated that we should perform "no sinful events" while in their establishment and a cocktail menu served "Blobby Marry's". I'd have to list hundreds to even touch sides but suffice it to say, there were very few English translations that were even remotely correct.

Motor bikes:  by now I think you've got the message - the place is overrun with motor bikes!

Farewell Vietnam.

Pleiku

Transport up the Ho Chi Minh Trail is via primarily by local buses and, after some of our experiences travelling in so-called luxury tour buses, we felt we could only grin and bear so much of that even taking short day hops.  There were sleeper bus coaches available along the route but they're built for little people and Jason who is six foot six, would simply not fit in.  Apart from Myra, none of us fall into the category of 'little'.

We weighed up the costs of buses and extra nights in hotels and came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to fly most of the way up and leave only the last leg into Laos to cover on the ground.  Hence, we hopped onto a local flight to the city of Pleiku, a totally different scene altogether.  I don't think they see very many tourists in Pleiku; most people actually smile without an ulterior motive.

There wasn't much to see or do but we loved been off the beaten track for a change.  The market was another fabulous sight.  Again, we simply couldn't get over the number of different fruit and vegetables and the quality of these on display.  These folk speak no English at all so, through sign language and persevence, we attempted to learn the uses of some odd-looking stuff.  They waste absolutely nothing.  Even the stems of banana trees, palms and a myriad of other unknown stems, are finely slivered to be either fried or pickled.  Every single solitary part of an animal is used - there is simply zero wastage.

The first day we stopped at the restaurant next to the hotel as the guys wanted beers and, as it was lunchtime, the restaurant just assumed that we wanted to eat.  Suddenly the table was loaded with a bowl of soup each, a dish with some weird mixture of thinly sliced vegetables and sauces, a couple of plates of salad (a rare sight) and then afterwards a plate of chicken and rice.  We discovered that that's all they served and gave the owners a good laugh when we all immediately mixed the little dish of veggies into our soup.  It was apparently to be mixed with soya sauce as a dipping sauce for the chicken.

Another meal was one variety of Pho which previously had always cost us around $2 but in Pleiku, it came to the grand total of 75 cents - not bad for a good filling meal.

Unfortunately, we left our time there on a bit of a sour note as the young chap at the hotel had quoted us one price but his mother refused to honour it.  As they held our passports, we started out being very tactful but when that didn't work, we had to resort to threatening to call the police.  The son knew what he'd quoted and we eventually got our passports paying that which we'd agreed but mother and son rather came to blows over the situation.

Our stay in Vietnam has come to an end; we've thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the north, and now look forward to the next stage, a short hop through Laos.

Mekong Delta

The first day of our trip to the Mekong Delta had us all thinking we'd made a very big mistake.  The tour guide was a most irritating man who obviously thought he was a good singer.  He wasn't.  Karaoke bars are extremely popular here; no doubt he spends much of his free time in one but despite what he may think, he definitely can't sing.  He talked and sang none stop over a mike instead of just allowing us to enjoy the scenery.  He also got up everyone's nostrils by constantly asking for tips in song and speech.  We were originally going to but he went on for so long we all put our money back in our pockets.

As with most tours, we got taken to a host of places which are supposed to be of interest but are really just souvenir shopping tourist traps.  Our prime reason for this trip was to see the floating markets on the Mekong but we had to put up with a coconut candy-making tour, hmmm, yet another temple and laughing Buddha, honey tea tasting, a rather pathetic music show, cycling, lying in a hammock, rowing on a small tributary and tasting local fruits.  Now some of this would have been interesting but each was short on interest and long on trying to get us to spend more money

The lunch (included in the tour price) left an awful lot to be desired but we did get a kick out of the a la carte menu offering snake in a variety of forms, turtles (not happy about that one) and a wonderful dish of coconut worms.  Wow, I can't wait to try that out!  Right.

We spent hours in a crammed bus with our luggage blocking the aisles, then to get to the homestay that night, 12 of us were crammed into a tiny narrow boat to go up the river several miles to our accommodation, again with all the luggage piled on top of us.  Not a life jacket or navigation light to be found anywhere.  Elsewhere in the civilised world they wouldn't have allowed half that number of people on such a small boat let alone all the luggage, in fact, it simply wouldn't have been allowed at all.

The homestay was supposed to be a means of getting in touch with the locals.  It was pleasant enough with us all housed in little reed huts but a homestay it was not.  The only evidence of locals were those who served the meal.  However, they fed us a pretty decent dinner.  It was late by the time we ate and we had to be up very early for breakfast and the floating market, so we faded shortly afterwards.

Up before dawn in heavy fog with a new guide (a slight improvement but not by much) we were taken down the small tributary into a wider river where we reached the market.  All negativity disappeared as this was what we came for.  Dozens of boats laden with pumpkins, cabbages, a myriad of green things, pineapples and a host of other produce.  Smaller boats, either rowed or with long shaft props, selling steaming coffee and cold drinks.  It was a scene of vibrant activity and a thrill to see.  A year prior to leaving South Africa, we'd visited Thailand and seen the floating market in Bangkok which we'd loved.  This was very different but just as exciting.  Our boat took us right through then stopped amongst the traders for a while to let us enjoy the atmosphere.

After that, we travelled further up the river viewing local river life then went to a rice noodle factory which we also found very interesting.  Every step of the process was done by hand in a small covered back yard.  A mixture of rice flour and tapioca flour is mixed with water then skilled hands made the pancake-type disks to dry in the sun before feeding them through a shredder to form the long noodles.  These are then hand wrapped to be sent off to shops and restaurants.

Another stop was to buy local fruits and barbequed snake, frogs, rats or any number of other hideous things and, of course, to buy souvenirs.  We declined on all accounts.

Despite feeling a bit like an item on a processing conveyor belt, the time at the floating market was very worthwhile so we declared the trip a success.

Back to HCM City as we leave the next day for Pleiku up northwards towards the border into Laos.

Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon

The morning we had booked to travel down to Ho Chi Minh City (HCM City) didn't exactly start out on an auspicious note.  Our bus failed to collect us at the predetermined time but they eventually sent a car to drive us to the bus.  The 35-seater turned out to be a 28-seater with 35 passengers waiting to board.  Fun and games.  After much hooha with passengers getting upset when they tried to load even more people onto it (several got off in disgust) we eventually left one and a half hours late with four extra bodies.

The driver was a kamikaze pilot and he stopped multiple times along the way to pick up even more passengers who ended up huddled together up front or on the floor of the aisles ducking whenever police were nearby.  We had been told that the bus would stop every few hours for refreshments etc but after three and a half, had made no effort to do so.  Eventually, one of the passengers threatened something (all in Vietnamese) as his girlfriend was desperate for a loo.  He finally dained to pull over but flatly refused to stop for the planned lunch break - nice guy.  And so, after a pretty hectic journey which should have taken a sedate eight hours but only took six at a blistering, reckless speed, we arrived in HCM City (the locals still call it Saigon) still alive but somewhat shaken.

Big, vibrant, dirty and full of tourists.  It's also full of warning signs about theft, something we hadn't encountered further north.  We spent the first day trying to organise a trip down to the Mekong Delta and prepare for our journey back northwards towards Laos.  It's amazing how something like this can take up an entire day but as there are six of us to consider, there's quite a lot involved.  

And disaster struck with the SD card in my camera which is storing all the photos to date:  it suddenly told me it needs to be formatted and putting it into a PC just told me the same thing so now I don't know if I've lost all my photos or not.  The lady at a camera shop told me that they may be recoverable but there's no guarantee.  I'll need to find someone in the know once we return to Langkawi.  Yikes.

Our hotel was central to some of the city's most active streets so we had a chance to drink in the atmosphere.  Sitting out on the streets having dinner one evening was a sight to behold.  There were literally hundreds and hundreds, no, make that thousands, of people and bikes passing by in a constant stream.  The various restaurants placed chairs out encroaching further and further into the street making it all the more difficult for the passing two-way traffic.  So many people and so many of them were tourists.  We had heard that Vietnam had a fledgling tourist industry but I honestly can't recall seeing so many in all our travels.  Heaven only knows what it'll be like when it matures.

Next we're off to the Mekong for two days which will, I hope, involve a little less trudging around.

Da Lat

The bus up to Da Lat wound it's way up through some very pretty, mountainous countryside taking us to another 'larger than we'd thought' city.  I guess with 90 million people in a long but very skinny piece of land, they've got to all live somewhere.  It proved to be quite cool so we were back into our warmer clothes again.

We'd originally booked into a hostel as all hotels had doubled their prices for TET and all indicated that they were full when we checked on Internet, however, when we reached the hostel, it was appalling and certainly didn't live up to its advertisement.  We demanded our money back and trotted on down the road to find something more suitable which turned out to cost considerably less than the hostel.  We're all getting too old to put up with what would have been perfectly acceptable in our old backpacking days.

Mission accomplished, we dropped off our bags and had a good wander around the city market where we savoured the season's fresh strawberries; delicious.  The fruit and vegetables here were amazingly fresh, the best we've seen in months.  

In the middle of the city lies a man-made lake where, due to the holidays, the locals were out in their numbers paddling swan-shaped peddle boats.  The roundabouts and roadside verges were covered with flowers making the entire city look very festive.  

We also visited the oddest building one could imagine, appropriately called The Crazy House.  It had originally been built as a house but has been added to over the years and is now a guest lodge and a tourist attraction.  It would have looked quite at home in the Hobbit's Shire.

We joined a tour the following day to take us to some of the local attractions, one of which was a cricket farm.  A cricket farm?  Yup, they actually breed the things for food and even I tasted one; just one mind you.  They deep-fry them and serve with chili sauce - not that bad but I won't rush across the road for another taste.  The tour also took us to a silk factory, a rice wine factory, the inevitable temple with a huge laughing Buddha and a beautiful waterfall which involved quite a clamber to get down to it.  By the way, the word 'factory' for the silk and wine manufacturers is a bit of a glorified term for what really wasn't more than a backyard operation.

Da Lat primarily survives on growing flowers so many many covered greenhouse-type structures can be seen for miles around.  It also has a modest wine industry but we learned that the wine is made up from some imported grapes mixed with local mulberries and strawberries. The wine wouldn't win any prizes but it's palatable enough.

No time to dawdle so farewell Da Lat, we're now off to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the morning.

Nha Trang

Time to move on again.  We left Hoi An to go back up to Da Nang as Hoi An has no railway station.  We were booked on the ten o'clock overnight train to Nha Trang but by well past midnight, there was still no sign of the train.  In some respects, this was rather nice as we got to see the fireworks display for TET at midnight but when another hour passed, it started to get a bit much.

It finally arrived about one thirty but proved to be the worst train to date.  It looked as though they'd dug it out of mothballs for the occasion and it hadn't been cleaned in the last couple of decades.  As there are six of us travelling and the sleeper carriages only sleep four, we've taken turns to share with strangers.  This time was our turn but no one appeared so we had the cabin to ourselves, such that it was.  We had also shared on the first train and were fortunate to have two nice young Australian girls, whereas Myra and Paraic got stuck with a crying baby when it was their turn and Jason and Karen got a really unfriendly French couple on theirs.  The joys of travelling on a meager budget.

Nha Trang is a very popular resort town as it has some long beaches.  I guess we're terribly spoiled as we felt they weren't anything to write home about at all.  We'd stopped in Nha Trang primarily to break the journey on some of the long stretches and thought we'd like to take a side trip inland to Da Lat which was easy access from there. Otherwise, with everything closed for TET, there was nothing really worth stopping for in our minds so once we could organise a bus to Da Lat, we set off again.  A four hour trip back into the hills.

Hoi An

It worked out cheaper for us to take a minibus to Hoi An, a trip that went over a mountain pass, the original vantage point between North and South Vietnam where many American bunkers were built during the Vietnam war.  The alternative was to go on a much shorter route through a tunnel where we would have seen nothing.  This was definitely the better option as the scenery was quite beautiful and, historically, very interesting.

Tourism is alive and well in Vietnam and there was no greater evidence of it than Hoi An.  We hadn't expected this and although the whole town was spectacularly decorated for TET (Lunar New Year), it was somewhat spoiled by being overrun with tourists.  I know, I know, we're also in that category but you know what I mean.

We had heard that Hoi An was a great place to have clothes made really cheaply so the three girls had brought along materials to have a few things copied and made up.  I'd done this in Cartegena and it was incredibly reasonable but here it turned out to be almost laughable with the prices we were quoted (London High Street prices).  Obviously things have increased dramatically over the last couple of years; a sign that tourism greed has taken over (what's euphemistically referred to as skin tax).  Bit disappointing.

Hand made shoes were another item for which Hoi An had been well known and as Paul has a serious problem with shoes, he thought this would be a good opportunity.  Unfortunately, the TET holidays meant that most places would be closed for a week so this wasn't possible but he did find one pair of sandals which he bargained down then purchased.  Two hours later they broke so we took them back.  They were fixed only to have them break again 20 minutes down the line.  Good quality Chinese cr*p!  He demanded his money back.  We had already discovered that western shoe sizes are a rare commodity in this part of the world so he's stuck with his uncomfortable old ones for the time being.

The fresh produce market in the ancient city was the best part: a vibrant scene of activity, variety, colours and insight into the lives of the local population.  We ate local street food and wandered through the vendors just enjoying the atmosphere.  

This would have been a wonderful stop had there not been so many tourists and had the locals not been so greedy.

We didn't feel compelled to stay longer so it's off to Nha Trang.

Next stop - Hue

Huế (pronounced whay), was another overnight train trip heading directly southwards and south meant warmer weather.  We were able to shed our socks and scarves and walk around comfortably in normal clothing.

Huế was the imperial capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty between 1802 and 1945 when the emperor abdicated and communism was established so, as such, has a fascinating history.  Sadly, most of it was completely flattened during the Vietnam war but is growing out of this devastation at a considerable rate with new buildings and restoration of remaining monuments.

We took a boat ride down the Perfume River to one of the famous emporer's tombs which fortunately have been beautifully restored.  We chose to visit the Minh Mang tomb, that of the second emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty, which was surrounded by a beautiful lake and gardens and we were truly impressed.  Visiting temples and tombs one after the other tends to leave us somewhat jaded but we were really glad we took the time to see this one.

On the trip down, we passed the beautiful Thiên Mụ Pagoda and the long wall of the Citadel which we'd briefly visited the previous day.

We had, unknowingly, chosen to visit Vietnam just as they were preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year or Spring Festval.  Because of this, every street, building, home, shop, bridge, etc. was decorated for the occasion.  They use fruit laden kumquat trees the way we do Christmas trees and, in addition, place thousands of flowers in the entrances of buildings, patios, shop surrounds, everywhere and in this instance, it was tall flowering yellow mums.  What a display!  To the Chinese, this Festval is akin to our Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving and birthdays all rolled into one so you can imagine the impact it has.

So, to all the Chinese who are welcoming in the Year of the Horse:

                                            chúc mừng năm mới 

The hill tribes of Sa Pa

An overnight train trip heading north of Hanoi, took us to the beautiful mountainous region of Sa Pa, an area inhabited by many different hill tribes who have settled there from all over Asia.  These tribes are differentiated by their dress and often their language and appearance as well.  All beautiful and all very colourful.

The mountain sides are covered with rice paddies using every square inch possible.  Due to the cold, they are only able to produce one crop of rice a year unlike further south where as many as three crops can be produced annually.  Their rice production is only sufficient to fill their own needs so they rely heavily on tourism and their handmade crafts.

We arrived early in the morning where we were met by a bus to take us even higher into the mountains to our hotel and it was freezing.  None of us had expected it to be quite that cold so thank goodness for our hotel for renting out jackets to the likes of idiots such as us who came totally unprepared for such conditions.

After a quick shower and change followed by a great lunch of local fare, we were met by Van, a lovely girl who was to act as our guide for the duration of our stay.  She was to lead us on various hikes down the mountains to other villages.  Now, I'd always thought that the Kuna Indians of Panama were the smallest people in the world after the pygmies but now I'm not so sure.  Myra in our group, is just under five feet tall and she was taller than all the girls we saw in Sa Pa.  Van is a dainty thing from the Black H'Mong tribe who all wear very colourful costumes.  She spoke excellent English which she'd taught herself and was a mine of information of all things relating to the hill tribes.

Our first trek was to a nearby village, down steep paths, through their craft market and homes and down to the river and waterfalls below.  Here we were treated to a show of their tradional dancing and music which was lovely.  The only problem was, we'd hiked three and a half kilometres down and now had to do the same distance back up again.  Boy, did I ever feel this the next morning.

But no time to dwell on this as, the following morning, we were off for a full day hike down to another village twelve kilometres away.  Before descending, we experienced magnificent views down into the valleys showing miles upon miles of the terraced rice paddies.  It was a fairly strenuous trip but really worthwhile.  Lunch was served at the bottom village inhabited by the Red Dzao people and then we continued the hike up to a second village where, thankfully, a bus picked us up to return to the hotel.

We would have loved to stay longer but there's still so much ground to cover so it was back to Hanoi by overnight train again.

Heading down to Halong Bay

A four hour bus trip took us down to the scenic region of Halong Bay.  It's really not that far but Vietnamese traffic is a nightmare so slower was better and definitely safer.

Halong Bay is a World Heritage site of thousands of steep-sided limestone islands/mountains called karsts, protruding from the waters creating an amazing scenic spectacle.

As we arrived, we noticed that there was a heavy fog or smog across the water hindering visibility so asked when that would lift only to be told, "oh, this is the wrong time of the year to visit Halong, it's always foggy now". Hmmm.  OK, so it's not the best but it was still very beautiful.

We boarded one of the many hundreds of tour boats to take us on a two-day, one night trip around the bay.  The boat had terrific accommodation for nine couples so we were joined by some others from Russia, Argentina, Britain and Rumania - quite an international mix.

Despite the poor visibility, the entire trip was fabulous.  The islands are spectacular and well worth visiting.  Lonely Planet mentioned that it was getting overrun by tour boats so advised to make the trip before it's totally ruined.  We had to agree that there were far too many boats out there, literally hundreds, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and can only hope that numbers are limited before it gets out of hand.  

Tourism in Vietnam is growing by leaps and bounds but, at this stage, it's still fairly unsophisticated and they have a lot to learn if they want to develop the industry to the level most western tourists expect.  Although it's technically a communist country, free enterprise is flourishing and, apart from our visit to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, we've not really felt it's influence at all.

The tour included a stop at a pearl farm and into some magnificent caves on one of the few islands where landing was possible.  We kayaked Into another big cave which opened up into a large enclosed lagoon; quite beautiful.  Again, I'll only be able to post photos once we return to Calypso.

Back to Hanoi to catch the overnight train to the mountainous region of Sa Pa.