Saigon, the Mekong and Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Hi All,

The last part of my trip to Vietnam was best characterized as a series of highs and lows. First the lows.

When we got to Saigon, I went to the opera house to see if anything was going on. The lady at the desk told me that there was a free concert the next night, and it was invitation only, but I should come back and she would get me an invitation. But when I returned,the next night the new lady told me it was sold out and cost 100 000 dong, so a bought a ticket from a scalper for 50 000. WHen I went in, I found the first lady and asked her why I had to pay, and she told me the concert was free and they had ripped me off.

Also, I checked with the travel company we had booked a three day tour with to confirm. While there was no problem, we found out we baid $50 dollars each instead of the normal $36 price, because TNK travel in Hanoi is not the real TNK travel and took a $14 service charge for booking for us. We also were accompanied on the tour by a loud, obnoxious American Woman who talked at anyone who sat beside her nonstop the whole trip. Luckily, on the third day, she took the fast boat to Phonon Phen, so everyone on the slow boat escaped. We did manage to run into her again at the border crossing, where she scared us by saying there was a problem with her boat and she might ahve to go with us, and again at a museum on Phnom Pehnh. Furthermore, we met a fun Israeli girl named Miriam with an expired Visa, who had been told before leaving she would have to pay a fine at the border, but would get through. But then the tour guide said this would not be the case, and she had to take a bus all the way back to Saigon to have it renewed, and it all happened so fast we didn't even exchange emails.

But the biggest low by far was that I went to an internet cafe to back up my photos onto CD. The guy gave me back my card, saying he couldn't copy it, and when I checked, I couldn't access my pictures. It turns out his computer has given my card a virus, and he retreived about 100 of my 400 pictures, but that was it. I also had to buy a new card as the card I have is unusable with the virus on it. So, there will be no pictures in this or the last blog posting. There were some great highs though.

The first was that after getting ripped off by the scalper, the lady from the first day marched me back outside, found the scalper with me, and after some giving him some dirty looks, got my money back for me. What a great person!! The concert itself wasn't the greatest, as it was more or less pop music, but it was interesting because every few numbers were clearly communist propaganda, with a lot of Army uniforms and flag waving.

The second was that, though the extra fee left a bad taste in our mouth, the TNK tour guides were excellent as was the tour. And today, while at the Royal Palace in Phnom Phen, we ran into Miriam!! It turns out the tour guide was wrong, and when she got back to Saigon her guesthouse owner promised her to go the border and there would be no problem, which there wasn't, so she got here a bit later than planned, but only by a morning.

And the third was that, during the tour, we went to a festival where some locals walking by helped us buy food from a very busy vendor, then showed us how to eat it, and then walked away after saying goodbye, without expecting anything in return. What nice people.

As for the the camera, hopefully I can retreive the pictures when I get back, and memory cards are cheaper here, so it wasn't so bad.

I am now in Phnom Pehn, and will miss Vietnam and my five weeks there. I will especially miss the happy reactions I would get when, as a tourist, I would wish them Çhuc Mung Nam Moi. It means happy new year, and they would always laugh when I said it, often surprised that I knew how. Phnom Pehn is HOT, and today we visited the royal palace, which is spectacular. It is, in fact, depressingly spectacular, because it is so beautiful and extravagant, but at the same time there are so many disabled and child beggars on the streets. And from what I have heard, Phnom Pehn is one of the richer areas in Cambodia.



I will be off in a few days to hopefully volunteer with an NGO caled Hope in Pursat province, Cambodia, so it will be awhile till my next post, I think.

See ya.

Slow ride through the central highlands

Hi everyone,

After leaving Hoi An, we took a six day tour through the central highlands of Vietnam. But not just any tour, it was a motorbike tour,. taken with the "Easy Riders!" Its funny how things change while travelling Before leaving, I told myself I would never take a motorbike. Two weeks later, after taking a motorbike, I told myself never in big cities. Next thing you know, I'm travelling exclusively by moto for six days straight.

The tour was really fun, and the scenery and people were great, but not as interesting as in Northern Vietnam, the other area known for its mountains and ethnic minorities. We visited an orphanage, which was quite moving for me. It was interesting how much the children wanted to grab on to you. I interpreted it as a need for affection and physical contact, Nika interpreted it as a subconscious or vaguely conscious understanding that if a tourist becomes attached to you, s/he might give you some money or sponsor or adopt you.

The other highlight for me was the night we spend in a wooden bungalow next to some beautiful rapids, surrounded by brushland. The resort served mostly Vietnames tourists, (we were the only non Vietnamese), and a couple of them asked me to pose in some pictures with them! I though it was a hilarious reversal, because I always ask Vietnamese if I can take there pictures, and they must think I''m crazy to think them farrming, building a house, etc is of any interest. The next morning, I went for a solo walk in the brushland nice in early. I saw some young local hunters kill a bird with a slingshot, which was pretty cool. But the best part was a bit later, when I hear a rustle, and looked over and saw an elephant eating its breakfast!! I found an elephant!!!! All by myself!!!! It was a 'free range' elephant, meaning it was clearly domesticated by the rope around its neck, but then they are left to run wild in the brushland, and then searched for when needed. I asked at the resort about the elephants, and they said they were all far away, but not too far for me to find!!

The other highlight was the great, cheap food. Travelling with the locals, you get to see the real prices and order the good dishes, so we normally spent about 3 dollars a day on food. AS for Vietnamese food in general, I really don't like it when I try it in Canadian restaurants. Buit here it is delicious. On the other hand, I did not see them use Hoi Sin Sauce once here, though it is on every table in every Canadian-Vietnamese restuarant I've been too.

P.S Anyone get the joke in the name of the post?

Hue and Hoi An

Happy New Years!

For those of you who don't know, Chinese and Vietnamese New Years, aka 'Tet' in Vietnam was February 7th this year. The new year here is the year 2008, but I can't figure out why its the same year as on the Western calender, and no one understands what I'm asking here when I try to find out. Does anyone know? Tell me if you do. We arrived in Hue, the former capital of Veitman, the morning of the sixth, and visited the remains of the citadel's imperial enclosure. What was left was quite impressive Hue was the sight of heavy fighting during the Vietnam/American war, and much of the citadel was destoyed.

That evening, we went to check out the News years concert and fireworks show. The concert, included a dubious Salsa dance number followed by an only slightly better hiphop segment. The fireworks were surprisinglly well done. However, in Veitnam, you can go much closer to the fireworks than you can in Canada, and this turns out not tobe a good thing. Firstly, it starts to hurt your neck to look more or less dierectly upwards for fifteen minutes. Secondly, the smelly smoke falling from the fireworks gets so thick it starts to obscure the view, never mind your breathing. And lastly, dodging the falling fireworks casings can be distracting. Most don't hurt much when they hit you, but Nika was lucky enough to get beaned by a nice big chunk :-).

Tet is a family affair in Vietnam, celebrated in a manner more similar to Christmas than to North American New Years. We expected to spend a quiet day in our Hotel. However, our hotel held a Dragon dance early in the morning that we got up to see. Following that, we went to visit Phung and Hue and meet their family. Phung is an artist that Nika started talking to at the citadel, and Hue is his wife, who is also an artist. He invited us to his house for Tet. We went and hung out with his family, and then they took us on motos to visit a couple pagodas and pray. Finally, in the afternoon, we went on another motercycle tour of another agoda and three roal tmobs. So much for a quiet day in the hotel.

On the third day, we did a tour of the 'Demilitarized' zone, the border between NOrth and South Vietnam during the American war. The villagers here had to build and live in underground tunnels to escape constant American Bombardments. Below is a picture of a shelter set up in case one was caught away from the tunnels as shelling started.

Incidently, if anyone is looking for avacation destination in June, central Vietnam would be a great location. The semi-annual (or bi-annual, whichever one means every other year) festival Hue is from June 3-11, I think. If you could co-ordinate it with the monthly festival Hoi An, which takes place on the 14th of the lunar month, you would be sitting pretty.

From Hue, we moved to Hoi An, know for its heritage buildings and tailors. Hoi is a lovely place to vist, but not so good to visit if you are on a tight budget. We have been spending our Dong like nobody's business. HOwever, amongst other things, I do have a custom made suit to show for it.

While Hoi An is quite picturesque, it will be awhile before I can post pictures as I am travelling to the rural areas of the central highlands the day after tommorow, so I will probably not post any pictures.

Hanoi and Area

Me and Nika spent five days in Hanoi, including a one day trip to nearby Nihn Binh. Unfortunately, Hanoi was freezing. most rooms in our price range were not equipped with heating, so we spent a couple extra dollars for a room with a space heater, which I managed with, but still was cold for Nika. WE still had a good time though. The main highlight of Hanoi is just walking around its bustling old quarter, trying to dodge the constant traffic while you eat and window shop.

The other two highlights for me were the water puppet theatre and the Ho Chi Mihn Complex. The water puppet theatre is quite different from anything I'd seen, and not really what I envisioned with the limited description I had read before viewing it. The puppetteers stand behind a screen, and the puppet show takes place over a pool of water meant to resemble the rice paddies where they originally take place. The puppets are controlled with sticks hidden under the water and controlled from behind the screen. THe show is very colourful and enjoyable, as is the accompanying traditional Vietnamese music.

At the Ho Chi Mihn Complex, it was interesting to observe the reverence for Ho Chi Mihn by the Vietnamese. His tomb had the highest security of any location I have so far visited in Vietnam, and is directly surrounded by 6 sentinel gaurds. The majority of tourists are Vietnamese. The Ho Chi Mihn museum's exhibits were also worth visiting. They were not very infromative; most did not explain much, or just consisted of sample documents passed between either the Veitnamese or their embassies. However, there were many modernish art exhibits to signify different parts of Vietnamese history, or their aspirations, and viewed as an art gallary, it was enjoyable. Most of the art's meanings went over my head though :-).

On our second last day in Hanoi, we took a day trip to the limestone caves of Nihn Bihn. They are like Halong Bay, but the caves themselves are not nearly as impressive. However, there weer relatively few tourists, and instead of staying on a big boat, you paddle through the rice paddies to reach the limestone Karsts containing the caves, so the voyage to the caves was better than Halong bay. The rowers get tired after working all day, so often substitute their feet for their hands when rowing.

From Hanoi,we caught a surprisingly comfortable (comfortable enough to actually get a good sleep on) night train to Hue.

Vietnam-Laos Border to Hanoi

Hello Everyone,

Once crossing into Vietnam, we made our way to Mong Lay. This town will soon no longer exist, as the government is building a huge dam that will flood it. Thats fine with me though, as the only hotel in town had awful service. It took us 45 minutes to get just rice one meal!! Plus, I had an upset stomach, so I didn't get to see much. From there, we got ripped off three times by bus drivers on our way to Sinho, which is annoying, because you know you are getting ripped off, but can't avoid it as they threaten to kick you out of the bus in the middle of no where if you don't pay. Out early experiences in Vietnam made us suspicious upon getting to Sinho, which was a shame, as Sinho is lovely.



In Sinho, nobody speaks English, and we did not see another white person in our three days there. It is very beautiful, though unfortunately it was foggy. There are many ethnic minoriteies who dress in their traditional clothing regularly, making the markets a vibrant place. WE went into a small restaurant, and tried to order just a bit of food, but they brought the three of us 6 dishes. WE thought they would then try to overcharge us, but in the end, the only charged us 50 000 Dong (about 3.50) total because they were honoured to have us as guests!! The food was delicious and we went back there again for an equally good meal. We also got called over one day by a soldier, who invited us in for dinner that night, and pointed out the chicken we were going to eat on his lawn. We spent the evening eating and teaching his children English. WE also went on some spectacular walks through the scenery and nearby villages. After our poor experience the first few days, it was nice to see the good side of Vietnam.

From there we went to Son La, a newly constructed town. We ended up spending an evening with the hotel owner, who offered us some Bee wine. I thought he meant honey wine, but when it came, the bottom half of the bottle was full of dead bees. I drank it, but could help but feel that little bee wings and feet were going down my throat, which was a little disconcerting.

We stopped for an afternoon in Sapa, which was freezing!!! It was around 3 degrees and rainy, which is really cold when you have no warm clothes and no where warm to warm up in. We had to buy some warm clothes before taking the overnight train to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. Overall, I would highly recommend northern Vietnam, but at a warmer, less rainy time of year.



In Hanoi, we immedietly joined a three day tour of Halong Bay, shortlisted for the new 7 wonders of the natural world. Though crowded, the limestone caves we visted were quite impressive. I also had my first conversations with other tourists, as we hadn't seen very many until this point. WE then returned to Hanoi, and Don, Nika's father, left us for Canada. It was fun travelling with him,, and we were sorry to see him go.