Chau Doc

Chau doc was the last Vietnamese town i visited in the Mekong delta.



At Chau doc, i was woken up from my sleep at 5am in the morning by a strange, loud noise. sounded like someone trying to hack a wall -repeatedly. Looked down from my room and found a woman hacking large chunks of ice on the road with a cudgeon and shovelling them into a bucket! I didn't take any ice drinks for the rest of the day.



View from atop the Sam mountain in Chau Doc. You can supposedly see Cambodia from here but its all the same to me - rice fields and more rice fields! i love that colour of green though.

Mekong Delta

So here are some pictures of the towns i visited in the Mekong delta -the last leg of my Vietnam travels.

At the floating markets in Cai Rang. The farmers put their produce in small boats, and paddle them out to the Mekong to sell to the bigger boats. This is the pineapple aisle by the way, because you can see the pineapples stuck atop the poles!

Someone taking off with alot of durians ...

Most villages/ towns are built along the river. Everyone has a boat in their backyard.

Trying my best to blend in... naturally i succeeded. Actually, i think i can possibly look Cambodian too. While i was at an internet cafe the other day, another customer came up to ask me how much to use the terminals :-)

Cao Dai Temple

Today, i took an excursion out of Saigon to go to the Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh town, and the Cu Chi tunnels.

Cao Dai is a religion founded in Vietnam in the 1920's and takes in elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism and Catholicism.
The Holy See (in the above picture) is really interesting to explore and somewhat bizarre in design! You have to be here to truly appreciate the east-west-and everything else blend!

Inside the temple, the ceilings are painted baby blue with white clouds and stars (but no cherubs). And the pillars have dragons wrapped around them!

And the windows are kind of Buddhist-ish with lotus flowers all over it. But there's the Divine Eye in the centre.

Female Cao Dai worshippers in their white robes. Some of the males were in bright red, yellow or blue ones.. depending on hierarchy, so my guide says.

i'll post the Cu Chi pictures later. these take an awfully long time to upload! yawn...

Fun day in Nha Trang

Nha Trang is Vietnam's beach party town - kind of like Phuket but minus the sleaze. Lots of dive shops, boat cruises out to neighbouring islands, and a laid-back relaxed atmosphere. Even local Vietnamese come to Nha Trang for their share of the sun, sand and sea and there was a sizeable crowd during the weekend so i had some trouble finding a hotel.

I went on a boat cruise that took us round a few islands for swimming and snorkelling. Lunch and entertainment included - all for US$6! There were more vietnamese on my boat than foreigners.

"We won't drown, and we WILL stay cool under the sun!"

when our boat stopped, this man (in the straw hat) paddled by in his giant glass-bottomed bathtub. For a small fee, he'll paddle you closer to the corals to let you see the fish swimming underneath.

someone caught a sea urchin - it was still alive. (no, this wasn't on the lunch menu)

After lunch, the floating bar opened. The little rubber dinghy was leashed to our boat by a rope to ensure the bartender didn't try to swim away with all that red wine.

strange moment when half the sky/beach was grey and cloudy, and the other half was sunny.

24

Friday (yesterday) was a total nightmare. I'll start by telling you our initial plans for the day -and then tell you everything that went wrong in between!
The plan was: To cycle to the beach at 6am and get some sun, and then followed by a quick visit to the tailors for Helena to collect her clothes before going back to the hotel for breakfast (ends 10.30am!). She'll then head for the train station at noon, while i would have 6 more hours to idle until my bus to Nha Trang in the evening.

We started off on target at the beach but everything went awry for Helena right after that. The 2 women at the tailor shop turned nasty and intimidating when she rejected 1 item that was poorly made. They insisted that it was already done and there was no changing of minds and she'd have to pay full price for it. After an hour of haggling and cajoling and argument they still wouldn't bulge. (we had paid them for the rest of the items and they refused to hand them over!) Thugs! One thing led to another, and i had to threaten to go to the police (and carry it out!) to ask for help because our hotel "would really like to help but we are sorry we can't interfere", as they told me apologetically. "The police might help but they don't speak English". Rights.

With a bit of luck, i found myself at the police station trying to explain to a very sweet and patient cop (who was one of the 3 out of the100 police officers that could speak English in Hoi An and happened to be on duty) how we were being bullied by some nasty women -just as well i played up the damsel-in-distress bit -hey i had to! :-). Anyway, even with the gallant policeman on our side, it was easier said than done trying to summon them to the station as they gave all sorts of excuses such as "i'm not dressed for the police station" - great irony and humour from a tailors shop??!!, "my boss is not here" etc or simply ignored our phone calls!

2 hours later at noon, we finally emerged from the police after reaching a settlement! Then it was a mad rush back to the hotel so Helena could rush to the train station for her trip back to Hanoi. Just when we thought we had all the morning's stress put away, we hit more problems with Helena's train ticket - the booking office booked her a wrong seat and she had to end up paying more even though it was no fault of hers - poor girl, it just wasn't her day!

Anyhow, that left me with only a couple of hours to get packed up and ready to leave Hoi An. After much faffing about with the bus going round the whole of Hoi An to pick up passengers, we were finally on our way.

13 hours later, i arrived in Nha Trang on saturday, 7am. I had survived a hot and stuffy 13 hour bus journey sandwiched between 2 big, lanky caucasians and enduring some really loud this-is-my-lifestory type conversations between a couple of Canadians in front of us -ugh. Didn't sleep a wink. Too squeezy! but hey - only USD$8!!

I've never been so glad to get off! So how's that for a budget bus ride? You really pay for what you get
;-)

so anyway, its been exhausting - its been the most stressful, and dramatic 24 hours i've had for a long time so i'll be sleeping early tonight.

Vietnamese cooking lesson

Helena suggested going for a cooking class held in one of the cafes in Hoi An so i went along for the ride. For $5USD, we learnt how to make the following items:

1) Grilled fish in banana leaves
2) Vegetable spring rolls
3) Squid salad

and we get to eat them too (obviously, because they probably won't want to serve it to anyone else!)

We didn't take too many pictures because we were busy preparing the ingredients (really!) but here's a picture of the unfortunate fish being being prodded with stuffing by Helena :-)

Posing with the chef Mr Bup and MY spring rolls!

If anyone is coming to Hoi An, let me know and i can give you the name/addy of the cafe. They serve up some really good food!

exhibit A

Note to self:

I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.
I will watch for the exhaust pipe when i get off a motorbike.

see Exhibit A for evidence of bad motorbike burn/blister if you don't.

Lazy day in Hoi An

Today i decided to take a break from sightseeing and trains -yes its a tough life ;-)
Anyway, Hoi An (which is 40mins by car from Danang) is a nice little laidback town so i've decided to set up camp here for a few days.

The town is small enough to explore by bicycle and its not far from the beach. Roads are flat and the traffic not so crazy like Hanoi. So at 7am this morning i peddled to the beach 6km away, passing by streams, vegetable fields and more rice paddies on the way.

Beach at 7am -where are all the tourists?

There, i met up with 2 new friends i'd made from my train journeys -Peter and Helena. We were the sole tourists for at least a few hours. The girls selling trinkets/ nuts/ pineapples/ pringles/ foot massage/ manicures etc. were very disappointed at the poor turnout and our insistence in not buying anything.

Vietnam Railways Happy Meal

Ok, i knew i wasn't going to eat it and should have just said no but my healthy sense of curiousity made me open those little containers sealed with foil. So may i proudly present the contents of the set meal you get when sitting on the Hue to Danang leg, soft seat with a/c - only 40,000 vnd!

n.b. i tried the veggies -they tasted a bit sour - didn't try the stewed meat is unidentified - (is it dog?!)

"The Extras-cart"

To "upsize", you had to pay for the good stuff -namely fried fish cakes, giant chicken drumsticks, and what looks like kebabs or satays. The train officers helpfully cut it into smaller portions for your convenience. On another note, they are the most multi-tasking train officers i've ever seen. Vietnamese officers industriously hand out meals, water, clear out rubbish and even sweep the floor in addition to checking your ticket and patiently answering questions from stupid tourists ("Are we there yet?") ! Oh, and they also help to recycle the containers that were used for the rice in the set meals! Yes... you heard me...

Hue to Danang - Trigger-happy train ride

It was a very scenic ride from Hue to Danang as the train chugs along the coast and up the Hai Van pass. i was trigger happy throughout the 4 hour journey. Everyone else (all local) were oblivous to the views -some were sleeping, others were reading their newspapers - i was the only person gawking and was some source of amusement to the passengers behind me. Oh well, at least no other tourist fought with me for the window seat :-)

View from the train - its part misty, and part smudged window pane -they were sealed so i couldn't wind them down.

At some parts, the railway tracks were so close to the sea that it felt like we were almost above the water.

Hanoi to Hue - Carriage 10, Bed 14

Yingzi and Fuikien left for Singapore yesterday so i'm on my own now! I'm glad they started off my trip with me though - we had loads of fun -well at least i did :-)!

This morning, my overnight train from Hanoi rolled into Hue at 9am. The ride took 14 hours but it wasn't so bad. For those uninitiated to Vietnamese train rides - don't look to finding any peace and quiet or privacy - Vietnamese music blares out from the speakers, kids run up and down the carriage screaming and playing games, and entire families can squeeze in to have a picnic -even if you are sitting in the same cabin!

The soup trolley comes round at about 8pm to dish out some beef soup for 5,000d (about 50 cts SGD) but i didnt have the stomach for it. For breakfast, cup noodles are handed out -Gourmet! i love instant noodles.

A French couple and a Vietnamese man were in the same carriage as me. The French couple were taking part in the Hue Festival of Arts starting June 3 (which i'm going to miss because i'd have left by then) and the Vietnamese man was well, curious. He poked around my guidebook, and my rucksack, and asked where i was from. When he heard that i was from Singapore, he gave a really bright grin and pulled out his laptop and proudly showed me his photos of his Singapore and Malaysia holiday -which he had artfully done in a MS Powerpoint presentation. Cue in slides of the Merlion, the zoo and the birdpark. It didn't exactly make me miss home ;-)

My guidebook said that Hue was a city that was small enough to explore by foot but i couldn't walk 5 metres without being asked if i wanted a "motor? cyclo? tour? hotel??!" Finally gave up (did i mention it was also sweltering out here?) and spent the rest of the afternoon riding pillion to explore the sights around Hue. Its much more fun to whizz around in the traffic than walking - i've had some harrowing moments where my life flashed before me when trying to cross the streets in Hanoi.

i can't post pictures again. I can't even access my own blog (BLOGSPOT, are you reading this?!)

ok time for dinner.

Ha Long Bay

Chillin on the deck

Sailing around the coast -this is a UNESCO world heritage sight - my pictures definitely don't do justice to the scenery!

In the limestone grottoes - this one is called "Surprised cave" - i kid you not. maybe something got lost in translation somewhere.

Yingzi and Fui Kien getting on like a house on fire. They didn't know each other prior to this trip. Thank goodness they both got on well together! I wouldn't have known what to do if they didn't - maybe vote one of them back to Singapore or something :-)

My first bout of food poisioning in Vietnam

Not exactly a wonderful occasion to mark ;-) but nonetheless i've survived.. so it seems.

Yingzi, Fui Kien and I have returned from our excursion to Ha Long Bay today. The junk boat meandered around the islands and limestone grottoes - there are 3,000 islands in total! Its the low season now so we have managed to avoid most of the other boats and sailed in relative peace and tranquility.

Anyway, i think it was the dinner that i had on the boat that caused the food poisoning so by the next morning, i was pretty glad to get off the boat and survive a bumpy 3 hour bus journey to get from Ha Long city back to Hanoi! What a shame though - it was really relaxing on the boat!

Not sure why i can't post pix now so i'll try again later.

Trekking in Sapa

Just got back from a fantastic 4 day trip to Sapa Valley. Sapa is located in the north-west of Vietnam. To get to the trail head at Sapa, we took an overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, followed by an hour's drive.


We spent 3 days trekking through rice terraces and villages around the valleys, and stayed at the homes of local hill tribes for a couple of nights.

Most of the local hill tribes survive on small-scale subsistence farming. In Sapa valley, they can only grow 1 crop of rice a year. They are currently cultivating young rice saplings in anticipation of the rainy season in June and July.

On the first night, we stayed in the Ta Van village, with the Dzay minority people. Here are the proud grandparents of the household with their granddaughter.

Tired trekkers! Our entire 3 day trek route was 30km in total. It was great to get some fresh air up in the mountains.

On the 2nd day, we trekked down to the valley to Ban Ho village to stay with the Tay minority tribes. This is the local provision store.

I didnt get a picture of the Tay house we stayed in though - because it had been pouring all day, up until we'd left. They rear some pigs, ducks, chickens, and grow crops like rice, bittergourd, sweet potatoes, etc. Its definitely an educational trip for city people! The Tay tribes stay in stilt houses -don't think matchstick houses. Ours had 2 levels, plus an attic. The house comes complete with TV, dvd player and posters of Korean soap stars! Globalisation -what can i say ;-)

More photos of Hanoi

Everyone going about their business at 9am in the old quarter of Hanoi.

The stately Hanoi Opera House, next to the Hanoi Hilton hotel.

At the Van Mieu - Temple of Literature.

You can't tell from the photos but its sweltering hot here!! Leaving on an overnight train to Sapa tonight for some trekking. Hopefully it will be cooler up in the mountains. I'll post some more photos when i get a chance.

Happy Birthday Uncle Ho!

Not the latest movie poster for X-men.. Yesterday, May 19 was Uncle Ho's birthday. There were loads of red and yellow banners on the streets commemorating this event.