Ho Ho Ho in Ho Chi Minh

Saigon traffic
see all photos »

We organised ourselves in Hoi An for our midday flight down south - only marred by being stung over $2 for a broken glass in our hotel room.  (Outrageous!)  The weather had returned to drizzle and rain so we were relieved to have skipped the long bus ride.

There was a worrying moment as we headed out of the terminal towards our plane when Keith suggested that it was the small one with propellors!  However, we were soon boarding a lovely large airbus with a couple of jet engines to make Wendy feel that much safer.  (A spare engine for when one fails is always a good idea according to her!)

The face of claustrophobia - Cu Chi tunnels
see all photos »

It was a short hop (1 hour) down to Ho Chi Minh city and there we were - heading into the city of 8 million people, all of whom appear to own a motorbike.  We've never seen so many, they must be thirty deep at some intersections.  Learning to cross the road has been a major challenge for us as it seems that pedestrians have no status in this city.  Many of the bike riders are wearing masks to avoid the ever present fumes and it can be a scary sight as you are about to be run down by a masked crusader.  The trick apparently is to keep walking slowly but steadily making no sudden moves so that the drivers can avoid you.  Well, that's the plan and so far it has worked.  Another trick is to align yourself with a local and keep up as they part the traffic for you.  Still, there have been a couple of worrying moments.

Cao Dai Great Temple
see all photos »

We settled first into Hotel 211 in the heart of the downtown backpacker area.  Unfortunately the hotel was just about booked out and the only room they had was one with no room for swinging the proverbial cat.  The bathroom was so small that Keith could shit, shower and shave at the same time.  It sure saved precious moments in the morning - he could stay in bed an extra 10 minutes!  Fortunately we could move to a larger room the next day so we put up with the $8 special room (incl. breakfast) for the one night.  It was a bit noisy though as it was out the back overlooking a lane way that seemed to have no break in the traffic either.

Mekong River, Cai Be
see all photos »

Our first day in Ho Chi Minh City (known as Saigon by the locals) was spent wandering around on a walking tour, seeing the sights and learning to cross the road (see above!).  We visited a couple of market areas, discovered the Pho 24 restaurant chain (Saigon's answer to MacDonalds specialising in the Vietnamese favourite dish of Pho = noodle soup served with a plate of greens/onions/pepper/mint that you add to the noodles to create your own dish).  We also trekked across downtown into District 3 to visit the War Remnants Museum. This was a chilling experience that pulled no punches and gave us a few moments of contemplation about Australia's role in the fracas (and indeed its role now in Iraq).  The Vietnam War is known here as 'The American War' and there were many exhibits and photographs showing exactly what went on from the Vietnamese perspective. Sobering.

Making rice paper
see all photos »

To cheer up after this, Wendy made a visit to Tony and Tuan's Beauty Salon in a vain attempt to spruce herself up for Christmas.  The deal included a 20 minute head and face massage was not too hard to take although the salon's dalmatian sitting on the neighboring seat was a little unsettling.  Tony snipped and trimmed for quite sometime but hopefully the hair will grow back before the Alexandra hairdresser gets wind of what happened to her careful styling.

Wednesday morning it was off to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  (We'd decided to get all the war stuff done at the beginning of our stay!)  These were the tunnels used by the Viet Cong to stage guerrilla warfare against the Americans and to move supplies around.  The Viet Cong lived and worked in the tunnels throughout the war, amazingly pretty close to an American base. We'd organised a private tour with another couple - a luxury but we were tired of being herded around en masse and not having enough time to see things properly (or, if the truth be known, for Keith to use up his 1Gb memory card in the camera!!)  We visited the section of the tunnels that has not been widened for tourists and Keith found his claustrophobia getting the better of him at one stage.  Fortunately, Wendy was able to capture this so it can be shared with family and friends later!  The tunnels area has been developed to show all aspects of the struggle by the Cu Chi people and was pretty amazing.  We did pass on the opportunity to fire a AK 47 'just for fun' but heard the guns going off regularly so some tourists must have enjoyed the experience.

A pomelo & Minh
see all photos »

After the tunnels we headed out near the Cambodian border to see the Holy See of the Cao Dai religion.  This is a blend of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity and Islam and probably a few other religions thrown in as well for good measure.  We'd arrived just as a service was starting so after removing our shoes we were able to climb upstairs to the viewing area.  The temple was an amazingly ornate one, and there was much singing, music, bells & prostrating.  Apparently about 12% of Vietnamese are adherents, especially in the south.

Christmas festivities
see all photos »

On our return to Saigon (we don't call it Ho Chi Minh City any more!) we moved to a swish hotel we'd previously booked via internet for our last few days in Vietnam - a bit of luxury after all the privations of the past 7 weeks!  Soft beds, fluffy towels and American breakfasts included.  Wendy is truly in heaven.

The following day we were picked up again by our tour guide, Minh, for a trip to the Mekong Delta.  Minh had been a pilot with the South Vietnamese Army during the war. had been sent to "re-education camp" after 1975, and had been forced to earn a meagre living as a cyclo (rickshaw) driver afterwards, before getting a break working for a tour company.  It's a hard life for many in this part of the world.

Our first destination on the Mekong was a town about 70km south.  The land is flat with large expanses of rice fields.  At the river we boarded a small boat for a look at the floating market - by this time, mid-morning, there wasn't a lot of activity, but here the locals bring their produce by small boat from the surrounding areas to sell to wholesalers on bigger boats.  There was plenty to see on the river as well as along the banks.  We stepped ashore on the other side to see some local cottage industries - everything you can do with or make out of coconuts, rice paper production, puffed rice and so on.  At each stop we had to have a cup of tea and try the particular specialty of the house - we have enough snacks with us now to last for quite a while.

Back on the boat we cruised upstream along the Mekong.  It is most impressively wide!  We then passed into smaller canals between a number of islands.  The islands are covered in fruit orchards, and we stopped for lunch in an old house (now part house, part restaurant) in the middle of the orchards.  Must mention the special delicacy for lunch - "elephant ear" fish, cooked deliciously and served standing bolt upright!

It was a fairly short boat ride back to the car, then back to Saigon.

The next two days were spent sauntering around Saigon taking in the sights - museums in the morning, shopping in the afternoon!  Saigon is in full swing for Christmas - one night we stopped for a while to watch a pop music performance in a park (Vietnamese pop music seems stuck in a time warp from many, many years ago - gotta love the satin jump suits and the rhinestones!)  A second night we were enticed by a food fair at another park, which was also, it turned out, the venue for a children's fair - the big thing is to bring your kids along dressed in a Santa outfit.  That night was the most amazing for traffic we have yet seen - everyone in Saigon had their whole family out on the motor bike for a big night out!  Even the footpaths were not safe from motor bike traffic as the roads became too clogged to move!  Fortunately we made it back to the hotel in one piece though!

Our plans for Christmas Eve include a buffet dinner at the hotel (extravagant at $15 per person!) but we wanted to do something special!  Our flight to Singapore is around midday on Christmas Day so we are hoping for big things from Vietnam Airlines..... special Christmas peanuts in our snack box perhaps???