Get on the Boat, The Banna Boat

The Mekong Delta is a pleasant change from the War Remnants museum and Cu Chi Tunnels with beautiful scenery and welcoming smiles. The delta is home to about half of Vietnam’s rice production surpassing both Japan and Korea combined. This is due to countless rivers and tributaries providing water throughout the region allowing them to grow rice year round.

We took a three day tour of the delta in route to Cambodia. It seemed more interesting to cross the border by boat than on yet another bus. Although there are several major cities throughout the region, a fare number of locals still live in villages only accessible via the river system. We spent an afternoon on a longboat visiting several villages where they demonstrated their skills at making rice paper, honey, and various candies.

Being a region based around the water we got an opportunity to visit two floating markets, Cai Be and Cai Rai. Both markets were fairly similar with people selling their goods as they paddled between different customers. There were lovely bunches of coconuts and even a banana boat. Like a billboard back home, each boat would suspend their specific produce from a bamboo stick. It was interesting to note that the majority of vendors and customers were female. Our guide explained that women are far superior at bargaining because men are too timid to bargain with a female whereas two women will barter to the end.

Our trip through the Mekong required several ferry trips with the bus and hundreds of mopeds. Once the large vehicles were loaded, flood gates were open to the mopeds. People fought for their space on the boat for fear that the next ferry in 5 minutes wouldn’t arrive soon enough.

One night of our trip was spent in Can Tho, the largest city in the delta with over 1 million people, where we got our chance to try frog and another helping of snake. The frog was quite pleasant tasting like a mini chicken leg, but I guess all things fried taste similar. Although Jenny couldn't get the thought of Michigan J. Frog out of her head. After dinner we walked around the waterfront where everyone was smiling and waving, which caught us off guard as the majority of people from the rest of Vietnam haven’t been as warm. We spent the rest of the evening kicking back a several beers with some friends.

Saigon

Also called Ho Chi Minh City, it was renamed after the fall of Saigon in 1975. However, many locals still use the previous name in memory of the city’s pre-war history. Besides the history, the city is filled with markets, temples, catholic churches, and millions of mopeds! By now we’ve become professionals at crossing the road in third world countries, but HCMC has the added obstacle of numbers. After figuring there were just too many to count we learned that there are about 3 million motorbikes zigzagging the congested streets. It is the main method of transportation as it is affordable and convenient to navigate the city of 7 million; that’s the total population of Laos! 3 million sounded low to us but then we figured that, on average, each moped usually transports 3 people.

Arriving in the afternoon we met up with some friends from Nha Trang, Eriola and Morgan, for an exotic dinner at Duyen Hai Restaurant. Nothing normal about this place! Though we missed the cobra slaying and heart eating, we did partake in the consuming of cobra stew. With the Vietnam Cheers, “Yo”, the bright red shot of snake blood went down the hatchet. There were many other bizarre dinner options that we didn’t try like bat, porcupine, and gator. After dinner we made our way out to the bump’n Saigon clubs. Thanks girls for the fun night and the pics!


The next day we wandered around some markets and temples before going to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was much more informative, yet distressing, than the one in Hanoi. Vietnam was a horrible mess and it is shows throughout the exhibit in quotes, numbers, but mainly heart wrenching black and white photos. While you have to wonder if the captions on some of the pictures are completely accurate, you can’t get over the fact that the captured image happened to somebody.


For our last morning we headed out of town to the Cao Dai Cathedral and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Founded in Vietnam in the 1920’s, Cao Daoism, is an intriguing fusion of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam. This out-of-place cosmic like place of worship is enshrouded in a blend of pastels, dragon columns, and mirrored stars. Just like the priest themselves, the colors have a symbolic meaning. Yellow is for Buddhism and virtue, blue for Taoism and pacifism, and red for Confucianism and authority. At noon, the patrons wander out harmonically chanting as they slowly made their way down the checkered floor. Women on the left and men on the right, they formed ordered rows based on level of practice. Quite an interesting sight to behold, but you hope that tourism doesn’t overrun this curiously enchanting place.


A severe contrast to the peace of Cao Dai, we enter the grounds of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The 75 mile intricate underground maze was originally built during French reign and later expanded during American occupation. These small tunnel systems became the Guerrillas’s underground city acting as homes, hospitals, and weapon storage while spending most of the day inside and only alighting at night. We crawled through the “Big People Tunnels” and couldn’t wait to get out. We can’t image what life was like for these people. Food and water was minimum, tunnels were crawling with poisonous insects, spiders, and mosquitoes. Malaria was the second cause of death after battle wounds and “100% of the population had intestinal parasites of significance.” For the first real time in Vietnam, however, we experienced the wartime propaganda as we listened to the black and white video say “Cu Chi, the land of many gardens, peaceful all year round under shady trees ... Then mercilessly American bombers have ruthlessly decided to kill this gentle piece of countryside ... Like a crazy bunch of devils they fired into women and children ... " We found that most Vietnamese no longer hold this harsh view.

Sand in All the Wrong Places!

It was hard to drag ourselves away from the beach, but we must head on to our next destination, Mui Ne. As we spent extra time in Nha Trang we only had one day to explore the town. We joined a half day tour to the local fishing village and the white and yellow sand dunes. It seems that we’ve done more tours in Vietnam than anywhere else. Perhaps it’s too bad that they make the tours so easy and cheap, but it would cost much more money and stress to go about ourselves; although we quickly get reminded why we try to avoid tours as we’re herded around like cattle.

Our first stop was the fishing village, which was quite impressive with the entire horizon dotted with hundreds of fishing vessels and basket boats. We watched as locals mended their nets and packed their boats for the night. One could easily spend hours admiring the daily activities throughout the village, however, a large sand dune was calling our names.


We tried our hand at sliding down the sand dunes with minimal success as Jason stopped after 6 inches. The trick apparently is to lie on your back to distribute the weight as we watched others sail past us. Regardless of the embarrassing attempts of sliding, the view over the dunes was magnificent.


Our tour ended just in time to catch sunset falling across the ocean. We watched as several fishermen were returning to the harbor with their days catch. It was a long day of traveling and touring, but we’re glad to have taken in the sights. Our next stop is Saigon!

Nha Trang

As we leave the rain behind we board our 12 hour “sleeping bus” to the seaside resort town of Nha Trang. And by “sleeping bus” we mean Vietnamese sized sleeping bus as we cram ourselves into our sleeping pods for the night. It was actually quite cozy having three rows of beds stacked two tall with extra drivers/riders sleeping in the aisles to maximize capacity.

After a few hours of sleep we reached our new home for the next four nights. Surprisingly as it sounds this was the first time in our 6 months on the road that we spent an entire day doing nothing but lounge on the beach. Although the beach wasn’t suited for swimming it was pleasant to relax listening to the waves crash.

We teetered back and forth on whether we should dive Nha Trang as it’s supposedly the best diving in Vietnam; however, it was the off-season with low visibility and cold water. So we compromised and did a snorkeling/sighting seeing cruise around the nearby islands. We chanced upon several large Blue Starfish, a cleaning station, and a pair of Octopi (that weren’t too happy to see us).


We sailed past a fishing village where locals were paddling their thuyen thung (basket boats) to their favorite fishing spots. It was quite interesting to learn that these boats were invented under French rule when a new tax was levied on all boats. Leave it to the clever Vietnamese to turn a basket into a pseudo boat to evade foreign taxes.


We made several friends during our cruise; some were traveling around the world similar to us, others just a few weeks here. We met up at the Louisiana Brewhouse (don’t quite know why Louisiana) for some homemade brews before parting ways for the time being. We had to eat dinner at the “Good Morning Vietnam” restaurant simply for the name. Although one would think they would serve American food, they severed some of the best Italian we’ve had on the trip. Its sad to say, but our pizza here was better than Italy!

Shop till you drop!

That seems to be the main theme of Hoi An, a town littered with shoe shops, lantern makers, and over 400 tailors. You can get some great deals for a chic new ensemble; while tempting, we decided to explore the other side of Hoi An.

Downtown is full of character as you stroll past the alleys of dilapidated mellow yellow houses adorned with colorful lanterns. Along the riverside women sell fresh fruit and knick-knacks and others wash their clothes or lazily fish. After seeing the red washed Japanese Covered Bridge our tummies were rumbling and a traditional dish specific to Hoi An sounded like it would hit the spot. Cao lau is rice noodle dish that uses water from a special well in the city. It is then topped off with pork, fried dough, and stems of herbs. We also enjoyed some fresh spring rolls and deep fried wantan dumplings; washing it all down with some local brew. We like to call it ‘tree tree tree’ beer but it’s really ‘Ba Ba Ba’ in Vietnamese.

The next day we got out of town on some rickety bikes and pedaled our way out to the rice paddy fields and beaches. Vietnam will surpass Thailand as the top rice exporter in the next couple years, and it is easy to see why as flooded paddies line the country side roads. Families and neighbors head out in the morning to plant this life crop spending most of the day bent over sowing the delicate green blades in tidy rows.

A couple more kilometers down the road we find ourselves at Ang Bang Beach, said to be the local beach. There are a couple basket boats made from weaved bamboo dotted along the beach. After walking down the vacant strand we hopped back onto our bikes and started for Cua Dai Beach. The sun finally came out and we took another walk amongst the breezy palms and mild surf. Jenny even went for a swim!

The Hue Citadel

Our journey to Hue started at 8am and ended at noon the next day. We had a short bus ride to the pier for a four hour boat ride back to the mainland where we hopped on our bus to Hanoi. Once back in Hanoi we boarded our sleeper train, which was fairly similar to the ones we traveled on in China. There were four berths to a room; however, the main different to Jenny’s excitement were the western toilets in each car as well as the informative signage.

Arriving in the afternoon we set out to visit the Citadel. Set on the northern bank of the perfume river this fortress was home to the emperors under the Nguyen Dynasty, beginning construction in 1805 and coming to completion 27 years later. The massive projected consisted of 140 complexes and protected in a 10km perimeter square wall. One could spend a whole day discovering the royal houses, halls, and gardens.

Despite all of the beautiful structures we later learn of the darker past the Citadel holds, as do many areas in Vietnam. January 31st, 1968 the Viet Cong were directed to remove the residing Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers, civil servants, politicians, priests, and other foreign civilians, including Americans. The USMC, US Army and ARVN deployed units to recapture the city and in the following months mass graves containing thousands of the captured civilians and POW’s were found.

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“I’m on a Boat”

We boarded our Junk, a.k.a. tourist version of Chinese sailing vessels, for a 3 day tour of the World Heritage Site Halong Bay. Halong Bay, literally translated as “Bay of Descending Dragon,” is home to 1,969 limestone islands jutting above the horizon. It wasn’t until the 19th century that these islands were officially marked as Halong Bay; however, that hasn’t prevented them from gaining international recognition.

We were greatly surprised when our room actually looked like the pictures shown to us on the brochure. It was a private en-suite room with all the bells and whistle including our very own window view of the magnificent scenery. The boat can carry 16 passengers; however, it was only us and a group of 5 Aussies for this tour.

We spent our day cruising around the Karsts with a stop at the Amazing Cave. Although a major tourist trap, the cave was quite impressive. There were numerous rooms that were lit with all kinds of color. We know what you’re thinking, lit up in all its glory, but the non-perverted see it as a “finger” pointing the way out of the “cave.” But that didn’t stop the giggles echoing through the cave.

As the day came to an end we climbed one of the karsts to enjoy the sunset across the bay. It was nice to see the sun as it has been overcast our entire time in Vietnam, which is normal throughout winter. Later, Jason challenged our guide to several games of XiangQi, Chinese Chess. Things look pretty tense in the shot, but everyone had a good time. When the dust settled Kane was champion, 2 to 1.

Our last day was spent kayaking around Cat Ba Island, navigating our way through the floating villages and fish farms. That night we had a nice hotel overlooking one of the largest fishing villages in the area. The town wasn’t much to get excited about; however, we did enjoy the happy hour one of the local bars and we couldn’t complain about three large Saigon beers for USD$2.

Good Morning Vietnam

The streets of China seem calm compared to the organized chaos flowing around the capital city of Hanoi. Thousands of mopeds flood the streets inviting us into our very own game of Frogger as we attempt to cross the streets. We even saw a moped carrying a load of chickens and yes they were still alive as they glanced up to say, “Just another day.”

With so many sights to take in we started our day touring the Ngoc Son Temple. The Ngoc Son Temple, located on the Hoan Kiem Lake, is a small but charming temple offer pleasant views across the lake as well as a mummified carcass of a giant turtle. This may seem odd, but legend has it after King Le Loi expelled the Chinese with a magical sword sent by the Gods a giant turtle rose for the depths and took the sword from the King returning it to the Gods. Therefore, turtles as well as dragons, unicorns, and fish are considered sacred animals in Vietnam.

A common sight throughout all the temples is fake hundred dollar bills waiting to be burned as an offering. This offering is supposed to bring wealth and good fortune. Our next stop brought us to the Temple of Literature. Established in 1070, it became Vietnam’s first university six years later. It features numerous stone tablets. or stelas, mounted on the back of tortoises listing names of graduates. It was a peaceful place with numerous gardens to roam through.

The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre was a highlight of our stop in Hanoi. Not knowing what to expect as neither of us had been to a puppet show before, we were greatly surprised at the detail that went into each puppet. They weren’t controlled by strings, but rather by bamboo pools connected to them underneath the water. With the exception of the Vietnamese sized seats that Jason pinned himself into, it was a great experience.

We visited the Vietnamese War Museum to see their perspective of the Vietnam War or known to them as the American War. It was interesting seeing pictures, uniforms, and old war machines that had faced fire in the front line. The museum was not as informative as we would have thought, but the displays were captivating. There were numerous Vietnamese and American aircraft and tanks on display some in perfect conditions others just ruminants of an engine or a wing molded together in a pile.

Like General Mao, Ho Chi Minh was embalmed and put on display against his will in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Unfortunately due to the limited display hours we didn’t get to see an embalmed Ho, perhaps next time.

Kuala Lumpur

On our way to Vietnam we decided to stopover in Kuala Lumpur to visit the world famous Petronas Towers as well as a few other sites. But before we made our way to the towers we had to check out the first annual Malaysia Chocolate Fair. It was a small fair of a few dozen exhibitors, but we found some interesting selections including durian and strawberry covered in chocolate. Afterwards we found some exotic fruit stands and tried some sweet mangosteem and rambutan.
By recommendation from a friend we day tripped to visit the synchronized fireflies of Kuala Selangor. Before the firefly park we made a stop at Bukit Melawati, also known as Monkey Hill, to feed the Silver-Leafed Monkeys and Long-Tailed Macaques. Though we felt these guys seemed more like the Wizard of Oz monkeys in manners and appearance, minus the wings and spiffy vest. After demanding their sweet rolls and veggie sticks from the tourist they scattered off into their respectable groups to sleep it off. The sun began to set and it was our turn for dinner before the firefly show. Just after dusk we make our way down the dock to see thousands of twinkling lights flash in the mangroves along the river. It looks like Christmas as the trees blink in unison. Nobody is quite sure why this rare activity happens but some believe it’s related to diet, social interaction, and altitude.


Next day we head up to Batu Caves, where the Hindu deity of war is worshipped and the bizarre festival of Thaipusam occurs. As an act of devotion to god, worshipers are to carry some kind of burden and many will pierce their skin, tongue, and backs in order to carry the weight. Supposedly the more pain one endures the greater merit he will earn with the Gods. While no mutilation was going on while we were there, we noticed some Hindus had shaved their hair off and painted it will a yellow paste.



For our last day in Malaysia it’s off to the country’s most symbolic building that has appeared in several feature films. No longer the tallest buildings in the world after 2004, they are however, the tallest twin buildings at a staggering 1,482.6 ft and 88 floors. While we didn’t get to ride up all 88 floors we did make it the 41st for a walk on the skybridge. Later, we walked around the park below and watched the stainless steel ribbons light up in the night.