2007
09 May
09 May
Saigon/HCMC
5/5 - 9/5
Back into the big smoke from Cat Tien NP... we spent the Sunday wandering around and looking at the war museum and palace. Quite interesting, a lot of the pictures at the museum were quite graphic and disturbing - as i guess war is! It seemed to be very swayed towards the Communist Vietnamese but it was interesting to see their perspective on things... I'm reading "The Girl in the Picture" at the moment and it gives a very good overview of the war, its interesting to get lots of different angles....
We had quick taste of the markets and decided that we had to go back and do some serious shopping. Lots of "encouraging" stall holders calling out things like "madam, u buy" " we have t-shirt you size lady" "buy from me, make me lucky, first customer!" very funny!
On the monday went for a half day trip out to th Cu Chi tunnels. We stoppd off at a lacquer workshop on the way which provides disabled people with a job. It was interesting watching them work, they make some very beautiful stuff... At the tunnels we learnt about how the viet cong and guerrilla locals fought and hid during the war. They had some seriously nasty weapons and traps, very cunning and smart. We also got a chance to walk thru a section of the tunnels... it had been altered a little so us big westerners could fit but still was very narrow and small, most of our group didn't make it thru to the end (there were exits every few hundred metres) but both mum and i managed - bent double and squeezing thru! It was fun but doing it for real would suck!
Yesterday we spent looking around the local hardware/army surplus markets (dad and Tim, u would have loved it!), the electronic goods store (huge and expensive) then back to Ben Thanh markets for clothes and gift shopping - great bargains.
Today is our last day in vietnam, we fly out tomorrow, its been a great trip!
07 May
Cat Tien National Park
3/5 - 5/5
Got picked up by motorbike from our hotel at 8am and after strapping our big packs to the back we headed off. A few stops along the way: Chicken Minority Village, Tea Factory and a short break for our guides to fix the clutch cable on mum's bike! It was more comfortable and easier than expected, but still a long way to go, almost 200km all up to reach the NP and thats about 4 hours riding in Vietnam!
Caught the boat over the river into Cat Tien and then jumped on the back of a hilux to head further into the jungle. Just as we stopped at the walking track it started to bucket down, a real tropical storm... our driver managed to drive the ute down a small embankment and get himself stuck! After much engine revving and tire spinning we finally managed to get him on his way again.... by now soaking wet we headed towards Crocodile Lake. There were literally hundreds of leeches on the way, bleagh! Little vampires trying to suck our blood at every step, lots of stops to pull them off before they got well and truly attached! Great nite at the rangers station at Croc lake, we saw crocodiles and deer hanging out at the edge of the lake and lots of fireflys buzzing around as well. Shared dinner with the rangers which consisted of the same little boney fish prepared in 3 different ways, a bit weird but not too bad, and it came with homemade french fries! Also shared their strawberry and honey rice wine which was very yum...
Next morning we were taken for a paddle in the lake and saw lots of birds and some monkeys, what a gorgeous location! We headed along the same trac k back and met the hilux to go back to the main "hotel" area at the entrance to the NP. We checked out some more walking tracks and saw some squirrels, monkeys and birds. That evening we went on a spotlighting trip in the bac k of the ute, with a head ranger as our guide. He was a wizz at spotlighting and very knowledgable about the park. I saw my first civet which is a funny cross between a possum and a cat, with a really long tail!
The next morning, after a walk and some more animal spotting, we took the boat and the bikes back out to the main road and said goodbye to our guides Xan and Thinh... Back on another bus to Saigon...
02 May
Dalat
30/4 - 2/5
Left for Dalat, in the southern highlands about 300km northwest of Saigon, at 11am. Bus ride was interesting but long....
Arrived in Dalat and found because of the public holiday that accomodation was scarce... had to accept bit of a dodgy place that was the most expensive yet! bugger! headed out for dinner and found THOUSANDS of Vietnamese people milling around shopping and eating etc. Absolutely crazy town! Had the BEST chicken pizza for dinner.
Next day we went for a walk around the town lake (6km) and checked things out.... A few horse and carriages cantering (on bitumen!) around the lake with tourists aboard... Spent the arvo walking too, checked out the Crazy House which is definitely crazy! its a local artists construction, a mostly concrete structure with themed accomodation rooms, steps, tunnels, fake giraffes, spider webs - very abstract and surreal! Also visited the Crazy Monk, a nice older fellow who lives behind a pagoda and has literally thousands of sketches, paintings and sculptures. He was a friendly guy and fell in love with our map of vietnam because it has his pagoda on it! We are planning to send him one when we get back to australia!
This morning we went on an easyrider tour of Dalat and surrounds. Saw flower farms, silk factory, meditation monastery, lake and went for a walk to and behind a beautiful waterfall. very interesting tour, nice to do it without a million other tourists around with informative guide(s).
Tomorrow we head to Cat Tien national park to spend two nites!
Mekong Delta
27/4 - 29/4
Arrived in Saigon and immediately booked a Mekong trip for the next two days.... Picked up by bus the next morning and headed down to the delta with a small group. We first hopped on a medium sized boat and and cruised along one of the larger arms of the delta. Hopped off and watched the locals make coconut candy and sampled the warm candy, yum. Next onto a small boat and we were paddled down a very narrow part of the delta, through the palms and bamboo. We stopped at a couple of the river islands for tea and lunch and some local music. Also met a big python and we all lined up for the obligatory "hold and photo". Beautiful snake.
We went back to the bus in the afternoon and headed further southwest into the delta. We headed for our homestay by ferry, motorbike cart taxi and small longtail boat. The last was quite freaky as it was very dark and the river was narrow and in the middle of nowhere! Homestay was in a small basic bungalow, good nite chatting with the host and other tourists on homestay.
Next morning we got up very early and checked out the floating markets by boat. Interesting, boat loads of produce everywhere. Spent the rest of the morning cruising around the delta villages in a boat and wandering along the little lanes, including over a very narrow bamboo bridge (monkey bridge). In the afternoon we headed back for Saigon by bus. Had a bit of a wander around Saigon, seems much more modern than other places we've been, lots of neon signs, western looking shops and people with "cool" haircuts and dye jobs. Even saw a couple of KFC's, first western fastfood joints that we'd seen, disappointing!
28 April
Mui Ne
Arrived at Mui Ne in time for lunch, quite an interesting journey, passed through this weird area that was dry dirt, rocks, cactus and very few houses. Very different from the lush, green Vietnam that we've seen elsewhere. We even saw some flocks of sheep!
We stayed in a cute little bungalow resort right on the beach. Lovely little spot with lots of coconut palms and fishing boats. We went for a walk to the Fairy Stream which flows from springs. through the sand dunes and out to the sea, really pretty following the stream up into the dunes, lots of beautiful colour and even a little waterful at the end. We also came upon some young boys fishing with nets.
Next morning we went on a sunrise tour of the white sand dunes, red canyon and red sand dunes. We left at 5am (ouch) but no sunrise because it was rainy! Not fair! Still, it was a cool tour, in a jeep with lots of great sand sights. The canyons were fun cause we climbed through them and got an awesome view to the sea. I also had a couple of slides down the red dunes, with eager help from lots of kids with their sledding boards. They expect payment of course and are very insistent that you go down.... still it was fun and they still manage to be cute even while they're heckling!
Had a bit of a beach relax when we got back to the resort and packed up again for yet another bus trip, this time all the way to Saigon.
hey great you moved your old blog
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