Mekong Delta canal

Mom shows us a snake for sale in Mekong Delta market

Hello again, this time from Saigon. We are coming to the end of our trip through Vietnam. We have seen & experienced a lot, missed several must see places & wished we had more time in several of our stops, but the Visa has an expiry date & our travelling schedule says move on.

Hoi An Bridge

Market in Hoi An

We thoroughly enjoyed Hoi An. That was one of the places we could have lingered longer. We rented Vietnamese bikes for the princely sum of 5000 Dong per day (0.60 CAD) & zipped around town. The main business in Hoi An is custom made clothing, so we visited one of the multitude of small shops & of course ended up ordering a few things. I had a 3 piece Vietnamese raw silk pant outfit made for 18 USD & Ray got himself a black silk nightshirt. Très soignée. They had never heard of such a thing so I drew a picture & it came out just right. Great for travelling as it is so light & packs up very small.

Hoi An has a great beach about 5 K away so we rode out there in the afternoon to enjoy the sun & surf. The white sand beach stretches for several Ks in each direction & the water temperature was a balmy 25 C. The glitch is that to get to the beach you have to get past girls selling fresh pineapples. They are often very friendly & Ray struck up a conversation with Linda. When he told her he was not buying pineapple right then, she kept saying 'later, later', but we kept on going. Then you reach the beach and the lady keepers of the deck chairs that are arrayed invitingly under thatched roofed canopies are after you to sit in their chairs. It seems simple. You buy a soft drink or beer from them, you get to use the chairs. We tried to escape them but ended up sitting with 2 young Australian girls we had met in Halong Bay. We went for a lovely swim & a walk on the beach and even bought pineapple from one of the girls. It was delicious. Then we agreed to buy a soft drink from the deck chair lady, but the price she quoted was double the going rate. I told her so & gave her what I considered was more than fair, but I guess she considered she had lost face, & told us to go. We stayed, but who should come along but the lovely Linda. She said she had been looking for us for an hour & Ray had promised to buy pineapple from her alone! She was most upset that we were not buying any more & first tried the guilt trip. When that didn't work she told Ray that he looked like her father and he was always mad at her and that I looked like her mother and her mother would never do that to her. We decided it was time to leave. Sigh. Never, never say 'maybe' if you are asked if you want to 'buy later'.

The next day we took a bus tour to visit the Champa ruins at My Son, about 1 hr away. This is Vietnam's equivalent to Ayuthaya in Thailand & Angkor Wat in Cambodia. They were built between the 2nd & 17th century by the Cham kings and the temples were heavily influenced by Indian & Javanese architecture. We had visited the Cham museum in Danang & some of what Mr Louis told us came to have more meaning here. The area was an intense war zone during the Vietnamese war and heavily damaged and mined. Only the entreaties of a French archaeologist to Pres. Nixon resulted in the cessation of bombings of the site itself. Some of the temples are in the process of being restored, but there is a great deal left to do. It was an interesting and peaceful walk amongst the temples, set in a valley with the Cat-Tooth Mountain in the background but you don't stray from the paths due to uncleared land mines.

Back in Hoi An for the afternoon, we rented bikes again and despite our problems the previous day, made for the beach again. This time we escaped serious hassles & once again enjoyed riding the gentle waves into shore. On our way out, we were distracted by a lot of noise and activity in a yard next to the road. We investigated and watched about 100 women in the midst of cleaning the catch of the day. They were sitting on small stools expertly gutting & filleting small fish and filling bags and baskets with the results. We continued home, riding beside many of the women who had finished their quota for the day and carried their stools, knives and sometimes fish home with them on their bicycles.

Hoi An was also a great spot to sample seafood, as you could guess. We had some of the best food yet in Vietnam. Amongst other dishes, we sampled shrimp ravioli, cuttlefish (tender squid), stingray and mackerel cooked in banana leaves.

Jan 8 found us on the road again. It was a long, bumpy almost 13 hour bus ride, including stops, to Nha Trang. At least the scenery was lovely as we passed by long expanses of white sand beaches and rode over mountains that fell straight to the sea. Nha Trang was quite a large city with a lovely beachfront right in town, which we enjoyed walking along in the evening.

The next day, we signed up for an all day boat cruise through the many islands just offshore. This is a very popular tourist activity and there are many different boats to choose from. Ours was one of the smaller ones that we shared with 12 other people from all over the world. Our OBC friends would have been interested to meet some of them. One couple from Holland was touring on recumbent bikes through Thailand, Laos & Vietnam. They built the bikes themselves and used a 28 " back wheel and a 26 " front wheel, so they sit higher than the usual recumbent. Another couple from Norway was travelling the same route on mountain bikes. They were both very pleased with their progress, although the Norwegian girl, Ingun, told me she had suffered at first on her bike as she had only bought it a few days before starting and the seat was most uncomfortable. The Dutch couple had navigated several roads in Laos that we had passed up as being too rough and planned to bike up to Sapa, 32 K uphill as well. Oh to be that young & strong.

We had a great day, snorkeling off a coral reef, jumping into the sea from the boat, enjoying a great buffet lunch of seafood & fresh fruits, having my toe nails painted and taking a ride in one of those small woven tea cups they use for fishing boats. The tea cup ride was around a fishing harbour & a highlight was visiting a fish pond on a raft where they kept lobsters, crabs, cuttle fish and lots of other unknown types of quite large fish. Our souvenir of that day is a slight sunburn on our backs. We forgot to wear T-shirts for the snorkeling, I guess.

Jan 10 we were on the road again, this time to Saigon, AKA Ho Chi Minh City, although we found out every one prefers Saigon. The road was the best yet so the bus zoomed through in just under 9 hours. The buses were a very good and inexpensive way to travel. The tour companies all offer 'open ticket' deals where you can stop as often & as long as you want. The rate from Hue to Saigon for a comfortable greyhound type bus was just 23 USD each. As the roads in Vietnam improve, the travelling will get only better.

As usual, we are staying in the tourist, backpacker area of the city. There is a good selection of rooms and the competition keeps the price s down. This time we are paying just 8 USD for a double with A/C & attached bath. It is clean & the owners are friendly. Not Hilton standards, but fine for us. Saigon is hot during the day and the motorcycles are out in force, but we have found it easy to get around in and despite some dire warnings regarding personal safety, are enjoying ourselves. Our first day we limited our sightseeing to a visit to the Art Gallery, which has an interesting collection of old ceramics and sculptures and modern art, much of it with Vietnam War themes. We also walked through one of the many markets and over to the Saigon river. There was a nice looking park at the mouth of a small tributary, but we didn't stay long. Seems this is where the junkies go to exchange needles & the tributary was just black, sticking sludge. I have read that some of the city canals are being rejuvenated but I guess this one has not made the list yet. Too bad.

Jan 12 we started a 3 day visit by mini bus and boat to the Mekong Delta. There were 17 in our group and our guide, Nguyen Van Son, was very informative. In fact, we thought he was the best guide we have had yet. He was secretary of protocol for the President of South Vietnam in the 1970s & as a result was on the wrong side when the South was defeated & ended up in jail for 4 years. He did not seem bitter, but he is still barred from several types of jobs and must pay higher fees for his children's schooling. This is still a communist country even though free enterprise has arrived and seems to be changing some of the rules.

The tour always included stops in the bus or the boat to visit areas of interest. Our bus stop the first day was to visit a pineapple plantation and sample some of the delicious sweet fruit. Once we reached Cai Be in the Mekong the first day, we boarded small tour boats to navigate the river. It was low tide and we watched the fishermen wade into the water & retrieve the fish caught in the basket weirs along the shore. We had a stop to visit a brick kiln where they use rice husks as fuel. Bricks and tiles are hand made on site and then piled into the conical kilns, sealed up and fired for 25 days. The resulting ash is then returned to the rice fields as fertilizer. We also stopped to see cottage industries making rice paper spring roll wraps and rice candy, sort of the original rice krispie squares. Very good. The boat trip ended in a tour through the first of the many floating markets. Larger boats filled with produce anchor off shore and do business with smaller boats as they come alongside. Each town also has a thriving land market selling all kinds of produce and seafood's. We walked through the market in Vinh Long, where the novelty here was live snakes being sold for meat or as ingredients in snake wine.

That night, our guide took us to a local restaurant in Can Tho to sample some sticky wine he had bought along our route and also to sample their specialty, snake wine. The jar of snake wine was gross. It was filled with snakes coiled inside the jar and the waiter just used a plastic cup to scoop out a glass full. I can tell you it wasn't bad, although quite alcoholic. Ray thought it was great. The sticky rice wine was more like a strong sherry and was OK, but I wouldn't bring any home.

The 2nd day of our trip started with a tour of the Can Tho floating market and canals. This time the market was in full swing and more interesting than the previous afternoon. Each large boat advertised their wares by tying a sample of their produce to a flagpole at the front of the boat. As well as purchasers in small boats, floating vendors with soft drinks, snacks and portable kitchens circulated in the market area. This time we were in small open boats. Our guide provided us with Vietnamese palm leaf hats to shelter us from the sun and we were glad of it. He himself wore a hat the whole time as well as full-length gloves to protect his arms from the sun. It is only the Europeans & Westerners, who sunbathe, the Vietnamese know enough to cover up. He also gave us samples of several fruits purchased along the way and we finally got to taste some of the unfamiliar but delicious varieties we had seen in the markets. The trip through the canals was a hit. Most are lined with trees and bushes, many flowering. The children in each small house come running out to say hello and wave to the tourists. Just like along the roads in Laos, we had to respond. Again, we know how the Queen feels on her tours. Our boat stops were to visit a larger rice noodle factory, low-tech variety and a casket making & decorating operation.

Loaded boat

Sunset from Sam Mountain

Back in the bus we drove to our overnight spot, Cau Doc, and nearby Sam Mountain, with a brief stop to see a crocodile farm. The crocodiles are all kept in a crowded cage in the front yard of a house and as well as being ugly were rather sad awaiting their fate as belts or purses. Sam Mountain sticks up about 300 feet in the middle of the very flat plain of the Mekong Delta. The object was to visit some of the many pagodas on the hill and to see the sunset over the hills on the Cambodian border less than 20 K away. We climbed about half way up the west side of the mountain to see the Cavern Pagoda first. Two monks were observing their day's end prayers complete with chanting and beating of drums. One was playing such a syncopated rhythm on a large drum that I thought it could be a good CD. Gregorian chants were top sellers, so why not Buddhist chants from different parts of the world. Call them Under the Bodhi Tree. Anyway we made the top of the hill just in time to see the sun turn red and sink behind the hills, leaving red trails on the watery rice fields below. We left via the stairs on the east side ending at dark next to two large temples, one Hindu, one Buddhist. They both had the requisite Buddha statues but these ones had been updated with round wheels of flashing disco lights behind the main statues. Hmm.

Day 3 of our trip started with an open boat tour of the Cau Doc harbour. Our hotel that night was right on the bank of the river so even before we left we were entertained by the hive of activity just below us. This is an area where much of the population live on the river in small houseboats. There are obviously no pesky municipal regulations here as anything goes. The people wash their clothes and themselves in the river, fish for supper and conduct business right from their homes. We toured through the floating village area then turned into one of the small canals to visit a Cham Muslim community. Their specialty is hand-woven cotton produced by the women on large wooden looms under the houses. We were invited into one of their homes, built of ironwood, to have some tea and admire the products of their weaving. Several of us bought lengths of the colourful plaid or patterned materiel used for sarongs and headscarves.

We also visited a mosque a few doors down and even the women were permitted a look into the main sanctuary. At the end of our boat ride the minibus picked us up and raced to the town of Long Xuyen to let 4 people off at the local bus station. They planned to travel to the Vietnamese coast and take a ferry to visit Phu Quoc island and sample the beaches there. It is sure to be uncrowded, as it is certainly not yet on the usual tourist route. The rest of us boarded boats again for one last visit to a floating market. Then it was back on the bus to Saigon with a stop for lunch and one last breather where our guide announced he had a surprise for us. It was. The owner has a huge pet python, which was brought out for our pleasure. It was so tame that the owner's small daughter flopped down on it like a pillow and rode it around the yard. Those brave enough got to hold it or at least feel it slithering along. I guess it is well fed. They tell me one chicken or duck a week is the preferred diet.

Ducks taken to market

Fresh eels for sale

Today, back in Saigon, Ray & I hired cyclos to take us to the Cholon (Chinese) district and visit the markets there. It was huge. Whole streets are given over to the same products. We went through the motorcycle parts street then down the street selling live chickens and ducks. We got off and followed one of the drivers as he conducted us on a tour of the indoor portion and several more streets. And they say North American society is consumer oriented. We have nothing on the Asians. Local markets are a national pastime.

The last night in Saigon, we treated ourselves to dinner at a restaurant in the upscale part of town. The decor of the Lemon Grass definitely took us out of the backpacker league and we enjoyed a very nice meal accompanied by music played on a Cambodian auto harp. The restaurant was near the center of town during French Colonial times and the night was nice and warm, so after dinner we walked around admiring the beautiful National Theatre and old Hotel de Ville, which is now the People's Committee for Saigon. I guess the Vietnamese still appreciate the French architecture. Right in front of the Hotel de Ville was a park crowded with families and their toddlers holding balloons and pulling toys bought from the many street vendors. There is a large statue of Ho Chin Minh holding a small child, his Uncle Ho persona, so this seems to be the children's park.

Tomorrow afternoon, Jan 16, our visas for Vietnam expire and we fly to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. I'm not sure what the email situation is in Cambodia, so next you hear from me may be when we return to Thailand. We plan to end our trip at the beach, starting with Ko Chang, which we will reach by land a ferry from Cambodia.