The Mekong Delta

We escaped the traffic and crazyness of Saigon for a day to visit the lush Mekong Delta region. This is the river we have been in contact with on and off throughout the trip. The slow boat in Laos, the capital, Vientiane, and now we are at the mouth of this huge river system.

It is a lush and green world, with water the colour of coffee with cream. We took a boat ride up the canal of the delta, checking out the houses and shops on stilts - it is it's own little world. We stopped and checked out a couple of places where they made various kinds of candy, and got to sample some with tea.
















We headed way across a wide stretch of water to the other side, and some very narrow channels. We switched to smaller boats where local women rowed us to our lunch spot. We had a very good lunch in a restaurant with stilt rooms for our tables.

We were back across the delta for our bus ride back to Saigon, and its crazy traffic.

Miss Saigon

We now find ourselves in the south of Vietnam, and its largest city, Ho Chi Mihn City, or more romantically known as Saigon.

The city is larger, more spread out and much more cosmopolitan than Hanoi in the north, and we have also returned to hot humid weather.

We went out to the Cu Chi tunnel complex this morning, and heard about the war from the Vietnamese side. Basically, their film was telling us Vietnamese people were all out on picnics when the Americans started dropping bombs on them (I am not kidding).

They then go on to tell and show you how they killed the Americans in the most grusome ways, demonstrating all their lovely booby-traps made of pointy bamboo sticks. They put sewage on the tips of the bamboo, so that if the Americans survived the booby traps, they would die of the most horrible of infections.



























Truly a lovely way to spend the morning. If that weren't enough, at the end of the tour, you could fire a real AK-47. I cannot wait for the Killing Fields in Cambodia, now.

Seriously, still having an amazing time.

Street Food and Cheap Beer

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It is a bit of a cliche, but street food is one of the true joys of travel. I have been getting better and better at indulging in it, with no tummy problems so far.

This is Miss Hay's little stall on the riverfront in Hoi An, Vietnam. Just a couple of wooden stools and old wooden tables under big umbrellas, with all the cooking done on the street with a small gas burner on a table. Ingredients are stored in wooden boxes, and the dishes washed in buckets...... Absolutely delicious!

Oh yah, and 25 cent beer does not hurt either!

And Hoi An makes Three

Three perfect little laid back towns. Luang Prabang, Laos; Hue, Vietnam and now Hoi An, Vietnam. The kinds of places you could just hang out in for weeks, enjoying the atmosphere and vibe.

So what makes a perfect town? Small, no crazy traffic, a laid back feel, Chinese and French Colonial influenced architecture, a beautiful physical setting, nice family run guesthouses, tons of small restaurants and bars with great food and cheap beer, and lots of wonderful places to shop for interesting locally produced goods. Yes, these places are touristy, but there is lots of opportunity to interact with the locals, and it is the touristy things that truly make it so nice.

We are here for three full days, then off to Saigon and the Mekong Delta region.

Born to be Wild in the DMZ

DMZ...... DMZ..... repeat after me dee ehm zee. Canadians, Brits and Aussies, please don't say dee ehm zed...... sorry it just sounds lame.

Dee ehm zee...... dee ehm zee.......

Anyway, so here I find myself in Hue, Vietnam (pronounced "hway") near the 17th parallel, and the former DMZ, Demilitaritzed Zone. The war and its memories are all around us, yet there is little physical evidence of it. You just feel it.

The first thing to note is that here the war is referred to as the American War. That alone is very telling. All the wars here took place in Vietnam, so that is the way to identify the particualar one that we are too familiar with.

Hue itself, is a beautiful little town located on the Perfume River. And yes, it is as pretty as it sounds. Our hotel is perhaps the nicest we have had on this trip, and signs note that the hotel has won a number of awards.















All around us are things that we associate with the war.... Danang, China Beach, we are just inside what used to be South Vietnam. And yet everything seems so nice and normal here. The Americans lost the war, communism won, did the domino effect happen??? I don't know, but the point is, there is no sign of it now, and you are left wondering what it was all for. It is a beautiful part of a beautiful country, the people are nice, and seem happy and normal. They are not rich, but everyone seems to have a lot to eat, and entrepreneurism is alive and well, everyone owns a little shop, cafe or bar. The only thing missing is American multi-national corporations........ hmmm, maybe that's what it was all about.

Anyway, we went to a couple of historical sites here, including the tomb of a former Nguyen emperor. Just after that, a dozen guys on motorcycles picked us up, and we all went on a two hour tour of the countryside.















We zipped along on the back of the motorcycles, the drivers doing an excellent job of both thrilling us, and keeping us save. We zipped along back country roads, through spectacular scenery, over dirt trails, down the narrow alleys of villages, racing along highways back towards the city. I think the highlight was as darkness fell, we zipped along in formation over the tops of rice paddies, trying not to smile too much and get bugs in our teeth.

Several people remarked it was the highlight of the tour so far, and I cannot disagree. My third time on a motorcycle, and all three were on my around the world trip.

Halong Bay, the actual trip

In the previous blog, I got all wrapped up in the luxury of our junk (boat). But rest assured, the comfort of the boat was only exceeded by the amazing scenery of Halong Bay.

We cruised through countless rugged limestone islands, surrounded by jade coloured water. We stopped at some amazing caves in the afternoon, then our local guide took us on a tour through them.




















After that, eight of us went kayaking through the islands. Our guide asked if we wanted the short or long route after about an hour. We opted for long, and spent about 2 1/2 hours kayaking in paradise. We paddled through some cave like openings into secluded lagoons, completely surrounded by mountains.

It was both envigorating and peaceful. We were not too tired when we returned, took some showers, then met for dinner. The dinner was even more elaborate than lunch, and to be honest, I was still too full from lunch (even after kayaking) to eat a bite. It seemed such a shame, but my body said noooooo.

As you may have guessed, I have still not lost the weight I gained in India, and maybe put on a little more this part of the trip.

I am definitely heading up to Chiang Mai after the GAP tour, for at least 10 days of yoga. I must lighten up on the meals in the meantime.

We woke up to a light breakfast, hiked to the top of an island with a 360 view of the Bay, then went back to the junk for the bigger breakfast (yes, I am going to explode!).

We drove back to the city, and I jumped on the fastest internet in months, and am completely caught up in blogs and pictures (don't forget my flickr account).

We take an overnight train south to Hue tonight, then further south for some sun and sand.

More soon.....

Roughing It - Cruising Halong Bay, GAP style

You all know that the reason I like GAP is that they so not do high-end tours. We stay in small scale family run guesthouses, travel by overnight train and local buses, and eat in local restaurants. But sometimes, as I have experienced several times in the past, they have a surprise for you.

We took a three hour drive out from Hanoi to Halong Bay, probably Northern Vietnam's most famous site (if you don't count a dead body sitting in an air conditioned tomb). I knew we had an overnight stay with cabins, and that all meals included, so I was looking forward to a little rustic relaxation.

There were tons of boats and people waiting, seemingly everyone doing something similar to us. We were shown to our boat by our local guide, it was about noon, and were greeted by the following sight:
















"Ummm, before you sit down to a sumptuous seafood lunch" said Erin, our GAP leader, "you should each check into your cabins". Because the composition of the new group is odd numbers, I now find myself with a private room for the rest of the trip, without paying a single suppliment.

And the cabin looked like this, complete with nice linens, silk bathrobes, an immaculate PRIVATE bathroom (huge surprise), complete with little shampoos, toothpastes, razors etc...














After settling in, we headed up to the main deck for our lunch. It was a total feast of seafood, so a Chilian Sauvignon Blanc was in order (it wasn't just me, practically everyone ordered wine!). Then out came order after order of food. We started with jumbo prawns with butter and garlic, which was quickly followed by fresh local crab. The fantastic waiters gave us a quick lesson in crab cracking, and assured us the finger bowls were not some lemon and flower soup. This was followed by calamari, a fresh fish dish, rice (of course), beautiful veggies and a dessert of fresh local fruits.














As you can see, the table was set immaculately, and as we were dining, we were also cruising through some of the most stunning scenery imaginable.

As I said, sometimes GAP really surprises you!