Vietnam - North to South

Mopeds galore in Saigon
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We flew into Hanoi for our north to south journey through Vietnam. Our taxi driver clearly still had hopes of one day becoming an F1 driver because whilst the guide book said the journey into town would take 40 minutes we made it in half that time and the car’s horn was on more than it was off.

We had planned to spend a couple of days in Hanoi before heading to Halong bay but our guesthouse explained that bad weather was coming in a few days and that we should go tomorrow. We thought this was a ploy to get us to book the tour through him before checking out other tour providers but it turned out to be true and so 3 hours of horn honking brought us to Halong city and our junk boat.

Uncle Ho's Mausoleum
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Halong bay is a group of islands off the north east coast of Vietnam and a UNESCO world heritage site. During our two days here we visited huge limestone caves, kayaked into lagoons, swam (avoiding jellyfish) and visited a floating village.

We arrived back in Hanoi in time to visit the water puppet show and managed to get front row seats. The water puppets tell historical and mythical stories to the soundtrack of traditional Vietnamese music and was great fun to watch.

The next day was spent wandering Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum grounds (Uncle Ho was actually in Russia having his make-up touched up), the presidential palace and the museum of ethnology. Afterwards we jumped in a cab to a restaurant. When the cab stopped the cabbie pressed a button and the fare tripled! He tried locking the doors and screaming at us for the inflated fare but we just popped the doors open and chucked the right fare at him, the locals watching nearby thought it was hilarious, we were not so amused.

Driving a moped in Vietnam is hard enough but this thing?!
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The restaurant was called Hoa Sua and was a bit like Jamie Oliver’s 15 in that all the staff are underprivileged street kids. The food was amazing, the beer was cold and despite Clare’s fears the cabbie did not return with his mates or the police.

Our last day in Hanoi was spent wandering around Hoan Kiem lake and the temple of literature before heading back to the guest house. I needed a haircut and the guys at the guesthouse recommended their local guy. The haircut was fine but without too much warning the guy then proceeded to shave the inside of my ears with a razor blade!! A very weird experience but the guys back at the hostel assured me this was perfectly normal in Vietnam?!

I love the smell of napalm in the morning
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Next stop was Hoi An, an old port town with beautiful streets and hundreds of tailors. We wandered the streets looking at houses, temples and pagodas which are heavily influenced by China, Japan and the other surrounding countries due to it being a main trading port in the past. We also saw arts and crafts and a traditional music show. We both got measured for some tailored shirts and Clare indulged in a few silk dresses.

On Thursday we hired a motorbike and set off on the roads to My Son, some champa ruins deep in the countryside. On the way we got see the agrarian lifestyle locals lead in Vietnam. Corn was drying by the roadside and rice was drying right there on the road we were supposed to be driving down which left little room for error. Especially when every other truck and car thinks they have the right of way all the time.

Reunification palace, Saigon
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On the way back we decided to take a detour to the marble mountains but as this had not been in the original plan we had to ask locals the way. We did make it there before sunset but lets just say the locals have very different ideas about what constitutes a road and how far a kilometre actually is.

One sleepless night on a sleeper bus later brought us to Nah Trang. It’s a bit like the Vietnamese costa del sol but I had read good things about the scuba diving here and wasn’t disappointed. The highlight being lots of unusual nudi branchs. We also visited the thermal hot springs here and enjoyed a mud bath and swimming in a 37 degrees swimming pool.

Playing on the kids stuff at the Museum of ethnology
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A sleeper train ride later brought us to Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) where we visited the markets and reunification palace. We left the war remnants museum with mixed feelings because whilst it was cool seeing all the weapons and learning more about the Vietnam war, the devastation the chemical warfare has left in this country is sickening.

Cu Chi tunnels were next on the agenda where the Viet cong hid successfully from the Americans for years. God knows how they managed it though because crawling through the tunnels for 50 metres was bad enough for us. In the evening we were picked up and driven across the city on the back of mopeds to an English school for the poor kids living in the area where we were volunteer teachers for the evening! It was really fun but quite nerve-racking. Both of us came out with a big smiles, a huge sense of relief and a better respect for the tough job teachers have keeping a room full of kids interested and under control.

Cu chi tunnels entrance
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Last stop in Vietnam was the Mekong delta where we hired boats and buses to get us round this huge agricultural area in the south of Vietnam. During our time here we learnt how to make coconut candy, rice paper and noodles. We visited floating fruit and veg markets and fish farms. We both tried banana wine and I got stuck into some snake wine which is rice spirit with 7 dead snakes soaking in it. I also tried the local delicacies including snake curry, BBQ rat and stir fried frog and can report that all tasted pretty damn good!

Cu Chi tunnels exit
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Our last boat here was taking us straight up the Mekong and into Cambodia!