From Saigon to Boston

Time to head home-- and our waiter managed to find us a cycle. We were not the proud owners of a Vietnamese cyclo...for a mere $250 in cash. We did have a bit of unease at handing over $250 in cash- close to the entire annual wage for our waiter - and trusting that he would send the cyclo to Boston.

Note- several months later- our cyclo arrived!

Sunday in Saigon

Time was running out for our trip and it was time to shop... John got a cold Tiger beer and I shopped..

We got our Q bar t-shirts and met an American trying to do business in Vietnam. He had an interesting perspective....He commented that in 1993/1994, police permits were required to go between cities/districts. Things have gotten easier, but police are still everywhere. To do business, you must follow the rules..no deviations...

Sunday night in Saigon is time for everyone to promenade.. families on motorcycles... We had great views from the Brousard Cafe...

Later, we enjoyed the view from the Rex Hotel rooftop bar. The Rex was the haunt of many journalists during the Vietnam War.

The Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is the bottom half of Vietnam's two rice baskets (the other being the Red River Delta in the North). The delta is formed by the depositis of the Mekong River- originating in the Tibetan highland plateau some 2,800 miles away. The river flows through China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam before flowing out into the South China Sea.

Our Mekong Delta Guide was Nguyen. We cruised the Mekong Delta with Tiger Beers and Nguyen, the ex-ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam). He owns 5 boats and a bar.

We stopped at a small village where the family makes and sells sticky candy.

The CuChi Tunnels

We took a 1/2 day tour to the CuChi Tunnels....Our guide was VC (Viet Cong) who lived in the tunnels for 9 years.

Cu Chi served as the base where the Vietnamese mounted their operations of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The tunnels are between 2- 3 feet wide, just enough for a person to walk along by bending or dragging. However, parts of the tunnels have been modified to accommodate "visitors" (they've been widened for large American butts!). The upper soil layer is between 9-15 feet thick and can support the weight of a 60-ton tank and the damage of light cannons and bombs.

The underground network provided meeting rooms, sleeping quarters, commanding rooms, hospitals, and other social rooms

While our guide was initially quite distant, by the end of our tour, he was laughing and joking with us.

Our lunch at the Tiger Tavern back in Saigon.... was it hamburger--or was it water buffalo???...or was it ….dog??!! mystery meat....
We made great friends with a local waiter-An Dung. When John mentioned that he wanted to buy a cyclo to take home to America, An Dung took it as a personal challenge. Tonight, over ice cream, the plot thickened.

Touring Saigon

We took a 1/2 day city tour-- the driver slept, we raced....

We saw the "War Crimes Museum", Reunification Palace, and the History Museum

John did get alot of very delicately phrased questions like "Is this your first visit to Vietnam".

Found a great American Bar - the "Q Bar"

The Q Bar Staff:

Dalat to Saigon

More shake and bake...John played “The License Plate Game”-- “what’s that plate...” with the guide
Finally in Saigon (now know as Ho Chi Minh City). We had a hotel with a great location- New Hotel.

The heat and humidity in Saigon is like nothing we'd ever experienced. You would walk out of your hotel room and immediately start to sweat. We found a floating Hotel--with great A/C.

Nha Trang to Dalat

5:00 am....start your day with the PA from Hanoi letting you know of the days activities.

We got into Dalat-- COOL at last.....mountain air felt so wonderful after the heat and humidity of the Vietnamese coast.

We did our typical walking tour.

We were staying at a hotel right out of Dr Doolittle- amazing spider web structures.
We found a restaurant to chill 2 bottles of wine...bought a 3rd and drank it on our balcony..

Qui Nhon to Nha Trang

4:00 am-- people were out playing tennis, swimming....
We literally coasted into Nha Trang-- the car died just outside town and we held our breath that we'd make it into town.

Our hotel was an old state run facility- very Soviet...

We walked through town--- saw a motorcycle collision-- the drivers were spitting out teeth and 3 minutes later, it was all cleared.

We took cyclos back to town. Many of the cyclo drivers are ex-ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam aka- South Vietnamese army) ...John asked, “Where’d you learn English” . The driver quickly responded, ”ARVN...haven’t’ used it in 20 years cause we got those f-----in Communists...”.... spent years in reeducation camp.....
We had drinks by the water....

According to one of our fellow tourists, "Vietnamese justice-- 2 years in prison if you steal from a tourist, 55,000 years if you kill a tourist"
While we were talking we saw a thief arrested, taken from the beach and beaten...
While we sipped our wine, we listened to the Eagles at 1/2 speed....”Hotel California", Vietnam style.

Hoi An to Qui Nhon

We had negotiated a great price for a car and driver to take us from Hoi An south to Saigon. LIttle did we know that we contracted for the “Shake and bake”--a Toyota Cressida from hell
The first day, we drove from Hoi An to Qui Nhon. Our hotel- the Seagull Hotel....rats and bats and cats......We ate at the outdoor restaurant at the hotel- next to the "bat tree". We had drinks with our guide and driver. Our driver is 42 years old and lived in the Vinh Moc tunnels during the war..

From Hue to Hoi An and China Beach

You'll feel “Transported back in time” is how the guidebooks described walking through Hoi An. We felt like we'd landed in a Vietnam theme park.

We did get to stop at the famous "China Beach"

We had dinner at the Floating Restaurant-- once again a menu surprise- Tin Cat Chen-- half cooked cat kidney with lemon...$1.20 and Sparrow- Roasted or grilled.

The Ancient City of Hue

The Imperial City of Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the reign of the Nguyen dynasty, the last dynasty in Vietnam. Even today, the Vietnamese regard Hue as their Imperial city. It also has the distinction of being one of the rainiest cities in Vietnam-- more than 120 inches a year.

The city is dominated by The Citadel, a moated, walled fort, constructed during the early 19th century. Within these walls lies the forbidden Purple City, former home of the royal family. The Citadel was also the scene of brutal fighting during the 1968 Tet Offensive, when the North Vietnamese held the fort for 26 days before being driven out by American forces. The damage inflicted is still being repaired and the Citadel may never be fully restored.

Outside of the city are the royal tombs of the Nguyen emperors.

In the Thien Mu Pagoda, we discovered the car in which Thich Quang Duc traveled to his self-immolation on June 11, 1964. (He was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection while protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese Diem administration.

Famous Quotes from our guide Que :
“70% of the tourists are French...unfortunately...”
“Americans- the only people who speak only one language....”
“The French-- they travel in groups and argue over who got the biggest fish in restaurants”.
“Vietnamese- everything full of symbolism--Americans- no symbolism”

We saw our first traffic accident-- a car/bicycle collision....not a pretty site.
At lunch, I saved some duck for the stray dog wandering around the restaurant. The dog decided to be a selective eater and turned up his nose-- in front of all the Vietnamese diners. They were appalled!

From Hanoi to Hue

4:00 am-- The "Road Warrior" backed up to the hotel with “Clair de Lune” playing...he drove through Hanoi, honking his horn constantly
At the airport, we had a bit of communist consumerism—no coffee but lots of snake wine and bad candy

The Vietnamese "Cyclo"

When we arrived in Hue. we did a walking “restaurant tour”.. We were followed everywhere by the cyclo driver from hell. We dubbed him "Dick shaw" Out of sheer frustration, we finally grabbed a cab and watched his face drop as we drove away.

Our hotel- $90 including breakfast- a suite with river view.

The day in Halong Bay

4:30 am-We woke up to dogs barking throughout the city..... John suggested “barking dog soup”--lips and tongue in broth...

We had a private Boat in Halong Bay, a World Natural Heritage site. It covers an area of over 1,500 km and is dotted with thousands of rocky islands - filled with caves and grottoes.

We took a small boat through what we called, "Bob’s Cave" -with an charge extra for a camera.

When we returned to our boat,we were met by a woman in small boat with 2 children selling coral to the tourists. We bought a small piece of coral for $1.00-- She said, “Now I can feed my family for another day”.

According to our guide, Hanoi is known for 5 things- Lakes, Beautiful women, illegal wine, autumn and pho noodles

From Hanoi to Halong Bay

We dubbed our driver, The Road Warrior. Driving in Vietnam - dodging pedestrians, bikers and animals. Nothing compares to driving with a crazed Vietnamese guy.
On the 5 hour drive to Halong Bay, we stopped in a small town. After experiencing my first "squat toilet", we were tempted by the menu of “steamed, grilled and sticky dog”-- Sticky Dog: Dog intestines with dog lips cooked in dog blood....

On the ferry, we met a beautiful little girl --tried to talk as best we could and ended up exchanging presents....
Vietnamese driving-- Kill a pedestrian-- pay the police $1000
We finally arrived in Halong Bay at the mini hotel Thu Trang--it was like living in a Barbie dream house...$25

A day in Hanoi

Lunch at the Emerald (Irish pub in Hanoi)- met 2 servicemen- in MIA unit. We talk about Hanoi driving- they said that they saw a pig hit--before the pig could get up, people were carving him up for dinner...

Street Scene:

Visited the infamous "Hanoi Hilton".

Drinks by Hoan Kiem Lake

Room Service...jet lag hit John - zzzz’ing....

A trip to the Perfume Pagoda and a walk through Hanoi

We set the alarm for 5:00-- one hour early -and took a morning walk through the streets of Hanoi.

We stopped at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum-- (John has now seen all 3 embalmed leaders--Ho, Lenin, Mao... we called him "Parchment Ho"
Note: The high cost of keeping Ho-- Vietnamese people would like to “heave Ho”....

In the complex is Ho’s home on stilts--solid mahogany but very modest.

A two hour drive out of Hanoi on the limestone rocks of Huong Son Mountain is the Perfume Pagoda, a complex of some 13 shrines, temples and pagodas. The only way to reach the temples is floating along a narrow stream by row boats. An iron boat can carry 3-5 people and a large wooden boat – up to 20 locals.

The first temple is called Den Trinh (i.e. The Shrine for First Presenting), where Vietnamese burn jossticks to inform the local deities about their presence and pray for a good trip and good luck for the year ahead.

The main wharf of Huong Son mountain is the start of an uphill climb to the Main Grotto of Huong Tich.

The uphill trip takes an hour climbing on the ancient flat and sometime slippery stones. The main pagoda is set in a huge grotto. Each stalactite and stalagmite inside, which are soaked by undercurrent, is combined with a legend about its miracle and good luck.

Notes:
Gifts to Buddha-- now he gets Johnny Walker and cigarettes
Monks -- Three rules: No marriage, no wine, no dog meat....
“Hell Market”--Vietnamese people go there when they want to eat dog....
Back in Hanoi- Dinner: Mothers Pride-- 53 Ba Trien