Maureen's Travel Blog

Wet start on bus with talk about spiders – our next stop.  Spiders make useful medicine for malaria and for pregnant women. Crickets, water beetle, silk worm, spider.  Skun town is where they sell the insects for eating near the Mekong River.  We stopped at the ‘spider town’ where the locals sell deep fried insects.  Here is a photo of our guide eating her tarantula.  I ate one too!  It was crunchy but not a lot of flavour.

We drove along the motorway then on to smaller roads where we stopped at the roadside to buy some lotus fruit, tastes like unripe nuts. The lotus flower is offered to the Buddha.

As we continued along the highway, the rain was torrential so probably still on the cusp of the rainy season. Glad we brought our plastic ponchos – although ever tried going to the loo in a wet plastic poncho where the toilet is a hole in the ground and there is no loo paper!

The land either side of the road flooded with muddy brown water. I noticed a type of palm not seen outside Cambodia which was tall with a Pom Pom shape at the top.

We stopped for fuel. Fuel very cheap imported from Thailand 75c per litre.

Early lunch stop at a silk farm. Interesting watching the process from the Silk worm eating the mulberry leaves and creating the cocoon from which the silk is spun. The silk worm grubs are edible and I ate one. It tastes like peanut.
We enjoyed a delicious homemade lunch, a variety of home produce fresh from the garden. Our money helps to support the workers on the farm.

We passed a funeral procession. Then stopped to see hammering of the fresh rice. Mixed with banana and coconut is sweet to eat to celebrate the moon. It is the season for rice and the fresh rice mixtures are used to celebrate the water festival 13-18 November when they have floating candles down the river. Six people in one family working together in the business at the side of the road. They also have cows and chickens behind.

Old sandstone bridge 12th century, one of only 11 left
Frangipan flowers growing nearby.  Roz picked some and we put them in our hair.

Tonle Sap Lake freshwater from the Mekong River, brings thousands of fish. 3m live around the lake and build their houses on the lake on stilts and grow rice. Snakehead fish over exported.

Intrepid funds help road improvement so tourism helps the local people

Great boat trip on the lake through the village of stilted houses. There was even a primary school and a hospital. We were very lucky that the weather had dried up for this trip and pond fascinating to see how people live their whole lives on water. It reminded me very much of Inle Lake in Myanmar.
Arrived at our hotel about 6pm. Out again to a local cultural show and dinner at the Kulen Restaurant. Put my posh dress on and taken by tuk tuk.

Reasonably good night in the Bloom Hotel.  Breakfast on the top floor with an outside area and view of sorts over the city.

About three and a half hours to the Cambodian border with a comfort stop. Passing through was fairly straightforward with the local guide collecting our completed immmigration and visa forms and passports so that we could go through quickly. It cost 800 dongs or $35 US.  We did NOT need passport style photos as had been instructed by Trailfinders before we left.

We then stopped at the duty free area for half an hour for lunch. I had chicken and rice. Here we were all desperately trying to get rid of dongs as the currency changed to riels, although they use mainly dollars in Cambodia.

I noticed lots of water across the land as we entered the country.  I don’t think this was because of recent rains as many of the houses appeared to be built on stilts.

After a further comfort stop, we finally Arrived Phnom Penh – Phnom means hill, Penh is the person who founded it.  The local guide started telling us about how teachers and doctors and any educated or intellectual people were separated from farmers. They were told they would be sent for further training but were sent instead to prisons then out to killing fields. They had to dig their own graves, were killed with a hammer or sticks because bullets were expensive.

Communism meant people were not allowed to go to school, choose a partner, or get married, only be a farmer. King Polpot who was defeated in 1979 killed intellectual people. Started to have elections in 1998 and the new president still rules today – liberation day. Current president corrupt – city of heaven and hell – rich and poor. King was dishonest so many were lost in war. These are just a few notes for now – more detail tomorrow when we go to the Killing Fields.

Checked into nice hotel with pool but half an hour walk to centre. Our room is nice and with a balcony and view of the city.

We followed Rouz down to the restaurant Kabbas – half hour walk.   It was run by local people who we would be supporting. I chose a delicious Amok curry which was heavily flavoured with lemon grass and a fresh lime juice. Afterwards they wanted a drawing recommending the place which they put up on the wall with hundreds of others.

We have to move hotels this evening. We were introduced to our local guide for the day, ‘Tiger’ (after Tiger Woods because he plays golf). We sadly said our goodbyes to Quan then left on the bus (with all our bags) for Cu Chi. Here is a picture of Quan taken yesterday on the sampan.

Tiger tells us about Saigon history and I am making notes while he talks to us on the bus… no longer communism although there is still a communist party. Clinton was largely responsible for capitalism and the introduction of Coca-Cola, Nike, etc. The population of Saigon is 13000,000.

Tunnels in Cu Chi accommodated 7000 people, little oxygen, booby traps poisoned spikes, scorpions, snakes. Tunnel 1 meter wide and high max. People had to crawl. Tunnels connected to bunkers zigzag to avoid fragments from bombs. Many babies born underground. Vietcong lived like animals in the jungle eating fish from the river and vegetation.  It took them 4 months to move from north to south.  Half a million tons of shells and bombs dropped by Americans – many unexploded which killed people after the war.

We finally arrived at Cu Chi to see all this for ourselves. Basically the local people of Vietnam conducted the war against the Americans with their sheer ingenuity! They thought of everything underground and made all they needed from recycled American equipment either during conflict or left behind when the American army pulled out. They even made their sandals from old tyres. These could be worn round the other way so that the Americans would be put off the scent! An exploded American tank was buried by the Vietcong and used as a secure hideout.

The clever but simply designed booby traps were deadly! American sniffer dogs were put off the scent by using the clothes of dead American soldiers around hidden entrances to their holes.

We eventually went down a tunnel ourselves. It was horrible – dark, claustrophobic, hot and too low- even bending down. One or two of us left the tunnel at the earliest opportunity.

There was a rifle range and Jac was keen to have a go although she said it was very difficult to hit the target. The deafening shots were a reminder of what it must have sounded like hiding in the jungle… many of the local fighters were women.

My sobering thoughts as we left the area went back to what I was doing in the 60s while this dreadfully war was going on…. listening to the Beatles and being part of the ‘Flower a Power’ scene.

We returned to the bus for the 60k journey back to our new hotel in Saigon – The Bloom.

Entry to this part of the city meant sitting for ages in interminable traffic jams with hundreds of motor bikes weaving their way in and out on roads, on pavements… anywhere there was a space to get through.

We set off for lunch with Michael leading us to one of his special recommended restaurants and then afterwards to a great coffee shop hidden away that we would never have found by ourselves.

Gill and Laire and I went to look at the Old Post Office and the Notre Dame while the guys returned to the hotel.  Laire then had to say goodbye to us as she was flying direct to Seam Reap.

The Post Office – a beautiful building designed by Eiffel – it took 5 years to build and was opened in 1891.

Gill and I finally found our way back to the hotel where we had a meeting at 6 with our new guide for Cambodia (Ros) and we were joined by 5 more group members – all from Sydney. After introductions and a chat about our itinerary, etc we all set off together in search of an alternative restaurant to the one the guide was offering which we had learnt from experience would be much more expensive.

We had a good meal then left the guys at a beer bar while Jac, Gill and I made our way back to the hotel.

An hour and a half journey including motorway. Quan speaks of differing cultures in north and south Vietnam and about the river which is over 4000 km long from china, through Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam. He spoke of dry season when the wells and river have only salt water.

We arrive at Mekong and take boat ride on the brown water scattered with floating water hyacinths. Lan (one of Quan”s many concubines, so he says!) talked to us about the river’s history and the local people as we made our way across to a small Island.

Here we were led to a place where they told us everything there was to know about coconuts. They grow everywhere here and are used to make everything from the tools they use to the houses with their palm roofs and their boats; also bags, cooking, vessels, bath oils and various foods. We watched their amazing coconut sweet production line from the shelling of the raw coconut, removing the inside, desiccating, cooking with malt and sugar. It is then flavoured with chocolate, ginger, peanuts, coffee etc. then kneaded and rolled out and cut into little squares. They even had girls wrapping each individual sweet and packing them all for sale. There were many other coconut products for sale but we bought mainly sweets – buy 5 get one free!

Then we tried some very strong coconut liquor. This one with a snake and ginseng was supposed to be good for men’s virility and also for bad backs so I thought I should try some. This was before I saw the snake inside!

We were then shown the process for making rice paper and crispy nibbles all out of rice paper.

Next a tuk tuk ride through the jungle. These are motorbikes (or Hondas) with little carts on the back.  We were taken to a clearing in the jungle where we were offered delicious refreshing fruits – papaya, pineapple, water melon and sweet grapefruit, then lay in hammocks under the palms like lazy tourists!

Back a different way by tuk tuk with palms flicking past us we arrived to find a table all set for us for lunch. All manner of delicacies arrived starting with elephant ear fish!  This was the ugliest bird I have ever seen!
A final nap in the hammock before we were taken to step aboard our banana boat which was quietly paddled through water coconut trees along a narrow river back out to the Mekong where we met our boat again with Lan for the return trip to where our boat was waiting.

We were so lucky with the weather as it rained all the way back to Saigon!

Early start @ 5am. It’s still raining as we board the bus for Da Nang International airport. Quan handed out our breakfast packs which consisted of 2 slices of bread, butter and Laughing cow cheese, a boiled egg and a banana.

Our 45 minute drive was through heavy rain but we were in good time. Several members of the group had to rearrange luggage as there was a weight limit which we hadn’t been warned about. Pretty stupid as Hoi An had been our major shopping place! Eventually we were able to distribute weight amongst the group and the heaviest group member paid for an extra bag which was the lightest that another group member carried (if that makes sense).

There was some turbulence on the 1 hour Jetstar flight but we finally arrived in Ho chi Minh city (formerly Saigon)  at 9.30 am.

On the way to the hotel we had a short tour of the city centre by bus.  We spent an hour at the very humbling War Remnants Museum, full of graphic images of the atrocities that took place during American occupation.Then on to the Notre Dame Cathedral and decorative architecture of The General Post Office.   We passed The Royal Opera House where several members of our group planned to see a show in the evening.

The minibus then dropped us near our restaurant chosen by Quan for lunch.  He had promised us we could have a baguette style meal there but no, when we arrived it was noodle soups, curries, etc again… very nice but more than we needed for lunch.

We finally checked in to Queen Ann Hotel was fine except it had a very tightly packed dining room and you need to allow an extra 10 minutes for the lift which randomly stopped at all floors going down and was known to then return to to the top floor (there were 10) before returning to the ground floor…. even if there was no one waiting.  It was also very small and often left people behind because there wasn’t room.

Gill, Jac, Michael and Gareth and I had a walk in the nearby park to get away from the noisy traffic if the city centre.  It was very peaceful here.

Later,  Jac and I walked around the streets nearby looking for competitively priced massage parlours.  I decided to have a pedicure and Jac sat with me and we chatted while this was done, while others went to the opera.

In the evening we all met up again for a meal at a bustling and very popular restaurant where you could walk around and look at the wonderful variety of foods.  So difficult to make choices.

Today was a down day (a day to ourselves).  We were able to lie in and just gather our thoughts.   Quan had a bit of an upset stomach so just as well.   Six of us met up for coffee in our favourite coffee shop before collecting our tailor- made items and returning to the hotel.  I was very pleased with my shoes – they fitted perfectly and the soft leather smelt wonderful.

Some of the others were more adventurous and had several suits made as well as shirts and shoes.

We were casually looking in shops afterwards when I somehow managed to get lured away and into buying not one, but two shirts I didn’t really need….and having them specially tailor-made and delivered to the hotel… well I guess we all make bad decisions!

Eventually, Gill and I met up with Michael to go to the beach.  We took a taxi as Michael and I desperately wanted to swim in the ocean.  When we arrived at Cui An Beach, the waves were huge and it looked to be foolhardy to attempt to swim – but in we went.  However the waves were pretty powerful and after a quick dunking, I climbed to the safety of the sandbags.

We spent several hours just sitting in this little piece of paradise, coconut palms, yellow sand and turquoise rollers topped with white froth!  In fact I felt the need to paint and did a very quick watercolour before we headed off back to the hotel.  In fact Michael had commented that it was getting a bit overcast and by the time we reached the hotel the heavens opened.

We had booked ourselves on to a cooking course in the evening which consisted of five Vietnamese dishes.  The first was a veggie and chicken  pancake, followed by spring rolls, then mackerel steaks marinated and cooked in banana leaves, lemon grass, carrot, taro, ginger and garlic salad and finally an aubergine dish…. all eaten as we made them.

sorry I had to post up all the foods pics.

Last night in our lovely hotel so here’s a goodbye pic or two. Got to be up before dawn.  Huge electric storm this evening just as we went to bed.

Good breakfast back on the bus. Quan talks about funerals in Vietnam and what happens to the body. Some years after burial the body is exhumed so that the bones can be cleaned and then reburied in stone or marble. He told us all about his father in law whose coffin he opened.

Notes made en route…. 4 hrs to Hoi An shipping port 17/18 century – many Chinese. Not dated by war. Good shipping port for French. In 1991 became tourism centre. Tailors prolific. Will be options to cook local food, cycle to a farm and visit a 7th century temple.

The rain came on heavily after about an hour.
Stopped for coffee comfort stop pic of boys in boat
Stopped at Lang Co Beach to take photos
Stopped again near some American bunkers. Amazing high up views of the ocean (if we could see it) very misty with drizzle.

Da Nang city important for Americans
Big net – fixed at 4 corners, light in the middle turned on at night attracts the fish like calamari.

At last arrived at our beautiful hotel in Hoi An. – Thuy Duong 3. We were all so excited by the place that we rushed into each other’s room to check them out. Each had some feature artistically designed to make it unique. Our room had a little hideaway area with a balcony, overlooking the colourful street, with a window seat.

After freshening up, Quan took us to a restaurant for a group lunch. We were beginning to find his choices of restaurant a little pricey, having discovered (and with Michael’s knowledge) that we could eat very much more cheaply elsewhere! So we just had light bites with Quan then ate more substantially when out on our own.

We spent the next hour or so exploring the relatively quiet streets of Hoi An, not nearly as treacherous as previous towns. This town is known for it’s silk and tailors. Gill’s daughter had given her the name of a tailor she had used when she was here some years ago which we found. While Gill was ordering special flip flops for her daughter, I decided to have some shoes made.. reckless I know, but I’ve never in my life had shoes made to measure and probably won’t again! After choosing style, colour of leather and being measured, I did a bit of bargaining on the price. We met up with the others and found that they had also been shopping for tailor made items. We would collect our items the next day.

Jac and I had decided we would like a massage. Quan had earlier mentioned I could get a taxi to one and it would cost $15-20 which was quite reasonable. However I thought I could do better nearby as I’d had one in Bangkok for very much less. Indeed Jac and I booked ourselves in just 2 doors from the hotel. Wow what a great experience. A young Vietnamese girl (she looked no more than 16) set about my back and went in deep all the way up my vertebrae as if putting every bone back in place. Then she worked on the muscles and sinews of my arms and legs turning me over for a repeat treatment. Then she set about my shoulders neck and head, pushing her fingers deeply into each temple and then knocking 6 bells out of my skull!

In the evening we had decided to go to a restaurant we had passed during the afternoon. It was a great place down a narrow back alley and clearly very popular. All manner of different foods were placed on the table almost immediately and we were shown how to make wraps with cucumber lettuce, vegetables and meats then dipped in chillie sauce of course. The idea was to eat as much as you wanted for a set price.

The breakaway group then set off to the waterside for cocktails – Michael, Gareth, Laire, Gill and I. We ended up at a top balcony table overlooking the water and the boats. We decided to choose a different cocktail each so that we could try each others. Each cost less than £4 – Fabulous evening!

Fortunately Gareth requested an extra half hour for us all before setting off this morning. The sun shone as ever over the city as I peeked through the curtains and we had a huge breakfast in the hotel dining room…. well you just gotta try everything!

Our motor bikes awaited us at 8.30am and we hurtled through the city in convoy…. same rules applied as yesterday – NONE!  …..only this time we were going much faster and dodging everything in sight including cats and potholes.

First we stopped at the ancient Citadel.

A boat ride down the Perfume River…

Vegetarian lunch in the Monastery.  Delicious fig and coriander, sliced dumplings with chillies and spices and other delicacies…..

Then the pagoda,

Followed by the Emporer’s Tomb

We rode up to the top of the hill with view of the river below, stopping en route to see conical hats being made, and Gareth had a go making incense sticks.

High speed back through the traffic to the hotel.

This evening Michael had a recommendation dish for us to try and this time Quan took us to a little street restaurant nearby that served it.  It was called  Bun Bo Hue, supposedly very hot and served with extra chillies but mine was not too hot and very nice.

Afterwards we all suddenly had a hankering for ice cream but could not find any anywhere.  Michael decided to go on a mission to find us all ice cream and that’s what he did, along with one or two others. Ice cream appeared at my hotel door just as I had prepared to go for a swim in the hotel pool.  Thanks Gill (and Michael).

Hotel pool taken at night.  It was open air on the 4th floor with a balcony view down to the city.

All packed for an early start tomorrow.

We woke to find ourselves out in the countryside, Paddy fields on one side, a river on the other and a heavy mist hanging over the rocky outcrops…. perfect painting scenery! Indu had everything with her for travel including a kettle, so our little group of 4 including Jack and Gill had coffee with Coffeemate, to go with the pain au chocolate bought at the bakery the evening before for this purpose.

The morning light revealed rural farmland, occasional cattle, egrets, and memorial stones, then a river on one side and rocky outcrops on the other with early morning mist hanging about them.  We enjoyed the scenery for a few hours before finally arriving in Hue station.  Our new driver took us to The Gold Hotel – large and comfortable with a pool.

No sooner had we arrived than Quan took us to a nearby restaurant to sample Hue specialities and Beer. The pancakes were delicious!  Then back to the hotel for a quick swim before our planned rickshaw rides out of the city to a small village.  It felt very odd being peddled along individually and quite vulnerable although we soon got used to it and chatted merrily with our drivers although I don’t think they knew much English.  We stopped to photograph some cattle with huge horns and then masses of ducks.  There were many very small children along the way that delighted in waving and saying hello to these silly tourists – sin chau sin chau!

Quan showed us a place that had been struck by typhoons many times and the water level by the river had reached 4.2 meters.  Many of the locals had lost everything.

As dusk fell we peddled back to the city, passing field many workers making their way home on their bicycles.The sunset was beautiful then we hit the rush hour in the city. Wow, pretty scary in a rickshaw but they clearly had as much right of way as any other vehicle and gallantly peddled right across a dual carriageway with vehicular coming from all directions.  No one waits for anyone, you just go purposefully forward and somehow survive!

We managed to get back to the hotel then out to supper with a local family in the evening…. I’m running out of time here so just making notes… all the family lived in a very small and basic house down a dark back street.  We took our shoes off before entering.   Delicious meal brought including pumpkin soup, the best spring rolls ever, rice, catfish, pork, morning glory, which is like spinach, a type of quiche and beers.  The children entertained us afterwards, and we finally said our goodbyes feeling quite humbled.