Vietnam - Hue, Nah Trang, Mui Ne & Saigon

Pod and our cylco driver inspecting the tanks
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We took the sleeper train to Hue. We spent the first day sightseeing on foot and in a cylco (a bike taxi) which included a tour of the ancient city, an visit to an old pagoda and ended with an argument with the driver over the price we had agreed!

The second day we did the DMZ tour. This was a tour of all the major historical sites of the American & Vietnam war. Pod went down one of the war tunnels ( I didn't as I knew I would get too claustrophobic) used by the Viet Com to hide from the Americans. He has asked me to add that if anyone is interested in a evening discussing an indepth history of the war he'll be holding seminars at Earls Court in June. To say he got into the war stuff would be an understatement....I enjoyed it although to be honest a lot of the time you had to use your imagination as you stared at a hill or a bridge and were told this was where American troops was seiged etc.

For starter there was deep fried scorpion...

Pod inside the tunnels used by the Viet Com for hiding during the war
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When we got back from the tour we arranged to go for dinner with an Irish girl we met called Ipifiney. We followed dinner with a drink at the DMZ bar. We should have been wary of the Irish connection as we started drinking Vietnamese vodka. They were cheap and everytime we looked up Ipifiney was back at the bar ordering another round. In the end despite having been up at 6am and the fact we only said we'd go for one or two we were the last ones to leave. The bar staff eventually threw us out at 2am, we wandered the streets lost for a while before a couple of local cylco drivers picked us up and for less then a dollar cycled the three of us home!

The beach at Nah Trang
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After all of the war stuff and chaos of the cities I was glad we were moving onto our first Vietnam beach resort - Nah Trang. We picked up the same train we had arrived on from Hanoi and took the 9 hour journey south. We had booked a sleeper cabin which was great as Pod & I were both happy to lie down and sleep off our hangovers. When we were feeling better we began playing poker. We were sharing our cabin with four Vietnamese people who spoke a little English. They all began taking an interest in our game. I was showing them my hand so they felt involved but they kept saying things like "Very lucky" or "yes"  - this didn't exactly help with my poker face!

Pod enjoying the palm trees on the beautiful Mui Ne at sunset!
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We got to Nah Trang and spent two fairly uneventful days and nights there. Mainly sunbathing during the day and eating nice seafood at night. We didn't think the place was that great. It was quite developed which we weren't expecting, we were told to avoid the beach at night as it wasn't safe and the place just didn't feel very welcoming.

Our next stop was Mui Ne - which was another beach resort further south. This  this was quieter and had a really chilled atmosphere. We spent our days sunbathing and then early evening we walked to the end of the beach and watched the kite surfers ride the waves until sunset. On our last day we took a motorbike tour of the red canyon and the sand dunes. We we tried sand sledging but it was impossible with the piece of plastic that we were given. Feeling completely baked in the sun we returned to our guest house for a quick swim before cathching the bus to Saigon.

Exhausted through the climb up the and dunes
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Saigon had a great atmosphere, with loads of bars, restaurants, other backpackers, hawkers (of course) and bikes!There were also dozens of shops selling reproductions of famous paintings. They were so cheap we couldn't resist buying a couple. We found ourselves a room in a cheap but not particularly great place in the centre of the backpacker area of town. It was perfect for sitting in cafes and people watching.

For sightseeing Pod went on another day trip to more war tunnels, these were so small he had to crawl in parts, whilst I went to the Reunification Palace and then shopping. We both spent an afternoon at the War remnants museum. After saying before that the museums in Hanoi had painted a rosy picture of things during the war nothing could be more different in Saigon. There were photos and videos showing victims of agent orange and napalm attacks. Walls lined with photos of American and Vietnamese soldiers killed in action. At the end there was a section to highlight the brutality of the war, one of the most disturbing images was a photo of three American soldiers holding the heads of their Vietnamese victims while they smiled to the camera. We left for our hotel feeling really depressed!

Trying to sand sledge
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Fortunately for our happiness levels we had arranged to go out for dinner with two German friends we had met the night before called Eva and Sebastian.

I just thought I would intervene and give you a quick update on the craziest restaurant so far.  It was a recommendation from a German couple who wanted to visit the place, so the next night off we trundled.  First impressions were good, filled with locals.  We sat down and examined the menu, 2 minutes later the order was placed.  For starter, scorpions, one 3 inch deep, freshly picked minutes before from the tank - excellent.  Well maybe a wrong choice of word but lets say interesting or unique.  You have to eat it all, apart from the very end of the sting.  The pincers and legs were pretty dam nice, but the main body was awful, like pate but not nice.  But when in Rome.....  Then Came the main course, minced snake and snake soup, that was cool.  Finally the pud the 'piere des resistance', yum yum I am starting to feel hungry.  Do not worry no one would go near the 'rat' that would just be wrong, so out came the goat.  Well not the whole thing, its pud remember so we were quite full, just his 'member', 1 and 1/2 inch of pure manhood.  Now to be honest it was well, nice.  A bit like the fat under the crackling on pork, yum yum yum.  The taste was not the hard bit it was just that the goat kept tring to walk off.  Do not be silly it was dead, just a cheap joke, not even funny.  What fun.

Baking red canyon of Mui Ne
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Just to add Eva and I were enjoying our BBQ beef throughout this time. We did try a taste of everything the boys had including the member which was disgusting. The restaurant owner was great fun and found the whole thing hilarious! On the menu was the goats thing and with the meat and two veg (so to speak) you had to pay as much as the rest of our food put together. When I expained the two boys just wanted to try it to tell their mates at home (which Eva and I thought was crazy) he gave us the meat for free.

Crazy bike numbers in Siagon
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We finished off the evening with a few glasses of wine in town and the next day we flew out to Hong Kong.