We spent 2 days in Hoi chi Min City – one of Vietnam’s biggest cities which is in the very south of Vietnam. We went to The War Museum where we were saddened and shocked to learn more of the graphic details of the Vietnam war that divided the country for over two decades. We also visited a nearby site called the Cu Chi tunnels where a village community took to living underground in very narrow self-dug tunnels for 3 years whilst the Americans dropped bombs and the horrific Agent Orange chemicals onto all the crops and towns. during the war. We visited the usual museums, temples, pagodas, a botanical garden, food and textile markets and generally enjoyed observing life passing by all around us. The Vietnamese are very keen on babminton and volleyball; they also play a game with a special kind of shuttlecock which they hit to each other with their feet! Neil and I decided to buy one and joined the many people playing this in the park – much to their amusement – as I am sure you can imagine we weren’t quite as well-practiced as them!
One afternoon we whizzed around a few of the city’s sites on the back of mopeds - which is the dominant mode of transport here (city population of 9 million, 3 million mopeds – and no road rules – literally anything goes – it’s a nightmare as both pedestrian and on a vehicle!) This was courtesy of Mr Chow and his friend, and Neil and I enjoyed a local beer with them afterwards (I stuck with coke). We generally enjoy looking at all the foods for sale in the markets wherever we are and sampling whatever we dare to. For example the local fruits such as custard apple, dragon fruit, jackfruit, chinese pear, mangostine and pomello. Along the way we have observed frogs, chicken feet, chickens heads and eels but politely refused any offers of these! On the subject of food, to our amusement we have discovered Vietnam’s take on Western products: Wrigley’s do a cinnamon flavor chewing gum, Galaxy chocolate over here is called ‘Dove’ and it tastes different too – not as milky smooth, and just 10 minutes ago Neil popped open a tube of pringles and they are in fact slightly smaller! Neil says that it is because as the Vietnamese are small they must have smaller mouths and therefore pringles have to be made smaller….personally I’m not so sure….maybe they are just not as greedy as us Brits!
We then travelled along the Mekong Delta for 3 days – this is the main river which flows through many countries throughout South-East Asia and has its final tributaries and mouth in the south of Vietnam. We went on different boat tours and saw a range of local traditional ways of life in towns in the Mekong area: Ben Tre, Van Tho, My Tho, Chau Doc. We also saw and tasted the water coconut – a palm which as the name suggests grows in the river along the smaller tributaries and is a large and beautiful nut that looks a bit like a flower – you will see what I mean from our photos! Some of the highlights included visiting a floating fish farm where their houses are built to float on the river and house vast quantities of fish caged underneath. We have also seen many houses built on stilts, and seen local production of coconut sweets and silk scarfs handmade on a loom and Vietnamese honey. The women throughout Vietnam wear conical hats made out of woven fibres (bamboo?) tied under their chin with a ribbon – in the cities and the villages. We also saw the region’s largest floating markets where they sell their fruit and veg produce on boats on the river. You will see pictures of Neil and I enjoying pineapple beautifully spiraled for us to eat, and wearing the local hats they gave to us for our boat ride.
We have met some really nice travelers along our way, mostly couples, a few lone travelers and a couple of girls also from England who we have bumped into a couple of times along the way. It’s great to share stories, exchange information and laugh (or complain) about our experiences of the country and its people. It’s also great to meet people of all nationalities from different backgrounds and different ages.
We headed on up north from the Mekong, following the main coastal road to Mui Ne where we stayed in a nice hotel (but still within budget!) with a garden and a pool (yay!) next to the beach for a couple of days. It was great to relax by the pool, work on our tans and live at a slower pace than in the city, or when touring the Mekong delta, where our day trips sometimes started at 6.30am! Much to our surprise one afternoon we were taken to visit some really beautiful sand dunes and limestone rock formations along a stream ‘fairy stream’ which consisted of red, yellow and white sands! We then went on to marvel at rolling hills of what looked like Saharan desert and watched a magnificent sunset over the dunes. We were given no explanation as to how this bizarre topology came into existence but enjoyed it all the same.
Even in the rain, Hoi An is a very pretty place. On old town that survived the war, Hoi An, our next main destination is now a UNESCO heritage site due to its distinctive French architecture of the 17th century that remains from the influence of French rule and missionaries who brought Christianity to the town. It was also a famous port even centuries before when the Chinese ruled for silk, mother-of pearl, tusk, fabrics, tea, beeswax, paper and porcelain. Hundreds of years on and every other shop is desperate to sell you silk paintings, tailor-made clothes, kimonos or porcelain tea sets. Whilst Neil and I resolutely stuck to our guns and were not persuaded to buy any of the usual tourist trinkets at massively inflated prices, I confess I fell for some beautiful pieces of local art which we bought directly from the artists’ galleries. Charcoal drawings, ink paintings on rice paper and photographs. Well at least they don’t weigh much and are a lot easier to carry! At night time the town is lit up by colourful paper lanterns all along the river, and in the day you can stroll along the streets which are lined with mustard yellow and white French buildings complete with archways, pillars and oriental yin and yang roof tiles! On our last evening we even stumbled upon a beautiful patisserie with the most exquisite selection of beautifully crafted cakes – even Neil was tempted – and we were instantly transported to Paris!
We are now travelling on from Hue where we have just spent 2 days admiring many more pagodas, temples and tombs of previous kings. I am now officially templed out. I really cannot see another one. Ever again. Well at least not until we are in Cambodia. We also were pedaled around a Citadel – a sort of walled fortress with beautiful old buildings from the 18th and 17th centuries where Emperors and Kings ruled. The temples are beautiful here, don’t get me wrong, they are intricately detailed inside and out, and almost every town we pass through on our seemingly endless bus journeys seems to have one. You occasionally see a Church. Although the country is Communist (Facebook is officially banned but apparently people seem to find ways to access it anyway) four religions and philosophies are practiced here: Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Christianity. Over time the first three of these have fused together with other Chinese beliefs and Vietnamese animism. Every home and place of work has a small shrine with offerings – be it hairdresser, boat, coach or the pavement next to their stall. The offerings include flowers, incense sticks and fruits. Although one offering we passed on the street was such a contrast to the sweet scents and fruits I found it very funny and mused that the person must be feeling pretty pissed off with God that day. Why? Their offering consisted of garlic and instead of incense sticks they were burning cigarettes.
Well, back to the present: Neil and I only a few hours into a 14 hour night bus journey up to Hanoi and it is time now for me to rest my head on my tiny, luminous pink, quilted cushion, stretch out on my 1 and a half foot wide bed, and try to catch some quality sleep.
From Neil and myself, goodnight, x
No comments:
Post a Comment