Viet Nam
If you get a chance, you should definitely find time to visit Vietnam. It is an incredible country.
Have fun reading this…if you manage to get through it. ;)
We left Narita Airport on March 28. My entourage included Lynnette and Elena (two Chichibu girls) and Shuhei, a Japanese friend from Tokyo.
Elena, Lynnette, and Shuhei on the plane
Elena, Shuhei, and me on the plane
We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) around midnight. We debated on our next move since we had no plans set in stone. We sat at the airport entrance with our luggage talking about what to do and decided that we would stay all night at the airport and try to purchase 4 tickets to Nha Trang (my desire to go to Hanoi (up north) was shot down…but no regrets ) at 5:00am when the “ticket office” opened. Meanwhile, a very nice young college student who was working at the information booth asked us if we wanted to grab a bite to eat. We obliged considering we were pretty damn hungry. So, our first meal in Vietnam was none other than pho...at 2:30 am. The guy even paid for it, but we paid for the cab ride to get there, so it worked out fairly even. He chilled with us at the airport until almost 5am practicing his English.
The first night pho
So, 5a.m. rolls around and Elena and I gather with the rest of the crowd waiting to buy a ticket. And man, was it a madhouse! I was being pushed and shoved and cut by people who need to get the hell out of Ho Chi Minh for one reason or another. It was like they were giving away money or something. We would have put those Amazing Race contestants to shame. Eventually Elena was able to talk to a person in the office and we were able to book four tickets to Nha Trang by 5:45am. The flight left at 6:30am…but we made it.
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam from above
We arrived in Nha Trang and grabbed a cab and were taken straight to our first hotel where all of us were dead tired and dying to take a shower.
Our hotel
The view from the hotel
Our room (Lynnette and I shared this one)
Nha Trang is a beach town and quite lovely, but a little more crowded than another beach town we went to, Mui Ne.
Coconut milk drink
In our brilliancy (and a few mai tais on my part), Lynnette and I decided that it would be fun to go parasailing. We went together and were having a good time (well, at least I was) until we crashed into the sand. The boat driver took us for our final swoop over the sand for what appeared to be in preparation for our real landing on the beach a ways down the shore. But instead, we continued to get lower and lower and…we crashed. As we lay sprawled on the beach, covered in sand, strapped to a parachute at one end and a boat on the other, with bloody knees, the parasailing guys come running over and tell us that maybe it wasn’t safe to have two people go together. WTF? Perhaps that little tidbit of information would have been helpful before they took our money and strapped us in for our death ride in the sky. We hit the ground hard. It could have been worse…which was why I was laughing as we took our walk of shame back to the parasailing cabana to get half of our money back. They guys kept saying that we could go again for free. Hmm…I did think about it though. Later in the trip, we met a couple in Hoi An from South Africa who said the same thing happened to them. Ha. Had I only known…I was pretty bruised on my left arm and all over my thighs where the straps dug in…but alive nonetheless.
Here is the infamous event…unfortunately you can hardly see the parachute, but you’ll just have to trust that it’s me with my baby Lynnette strapped to my chest.
We stayed in Nha Trang for one night and continued on the next day to Hoi An via an overnight bus. I don’t remember the ride so much…but I know I didn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep much on the whole trip come to think of it. We arrived in Hoi An early in the morning, around 7:30ish, I think. We decided instead of sleeping that we should hop on a tour bus right away to see some sights around Hoi An. So, we hauled ass to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and got on a tour bus by 8:45 am.
The bus took us to My Son where there are ruins of temples…most of them are pretty damned ruined. I suppose I was unimpressed by the ruins because 1.) I was tired 2.) It was hotter than a mo’ fo’ and c.) Not much can compare to Angkor Wat.
The Temple at My Son
This is a fertility sculpture a.k.a. “statue of a penis and vagina.” You’re smart; I am sure you can figure out which one is which.
After the temple, we had the option of taking the bus back or taking a river boat back. We all opted for the river boat, but I kind of wanted to take the bus because I was hot and tired. I know, waah waah. But I was literally pulled by my arm by the tour guide as I was pondering my decision. But the boat was fun. It was an old rickety wood boat. There were 9 of us on it including the boat driver and our charismatic tour guide. They gave us lunch, which was vegetable rice, spring rolls, and a banana. Quite good despite the fact it was probably sitting in the sun for several hours. But hey, we didn’t get sick! The boat cruised us down the river for an hour and a half or so. We saw locals going about their daily routine, fishing and what not.
Our boat driver and the tour guide
The boat
Boat on the river
Locals loading watermelons into a boat
Windblown lunch on the boat
Later that day, we rented bicycles for a dollar and rode down to the Japanese Bridge (because I just haven’t seen enough Japanese things and I was missing “home” oh so much.) Then we drove through the city marketplace…pretty difficult trying to maneuver a bike through that madness, but I didn’t hit anyone.
Japanese Bridge
Riverfront
House by the bridge
From Hoi An, we decided to head out to Mui Ne, another beach town. This time we decided to take a train, a 15 hour overnight sleeper train. And good God…was that an experience. We thought it was a more popular choice among tourists in Viet Nam, but damn…we were wrong. We were the only non-Vietnamese on the entire train (not that that is a bad thing.) We got some interesting looks from people, if you could imagine. The “rooms” had 6 beds in them. Unfortunately, we were only able to book one room with three beds and another room with 1 bed. Being girls, we volunteered Shuhei to take the 1 bed room. However, only one guy came into our car early on in the trip and he pretty much went right to bed at the top most bunk after dinner. He had a pretty badly injured foot, so I imagine he just wanted to rest. Poor guy had to put up with our big mouths for a few hours. So, since foot man was sleeping, Shuhei stayed in our room and hung out with us until the other two guys got on the train, which was around 10:00pm…bedtime anyway. So, from 4ish to 10ish, Shuhei, Elena, Lynnette, and I sat on the bottom bunks and played cards, drank some local beverages, and laughed. KIRITSU! It was fun.
A couple hours into it our train fiesta, we ran out of drinks, so Elena and I set out to find the drink cart that had come by around dinner time. We walked through at least 7 or 8 cars to get to the end of the train where the drink cart was. And wow…that was an interesting walk. I wish I had taken my camera to document it. Our rooms were apparently the first class part of the train. The closer we got to the drink cart, the worse the cars got. There were wooden benches where people were sleeping; some were on the floor. The windows did not have any glass, just chain link. But the people were still doing there thing. Come to think of it, I am sure I should have slept much better on the floor in that car than on my bottom bunk in the sleeper car with foot man coming down every couple hours and snoring man in the bed across from me, who was snoring SO loudly that even my iPod at its highest volume could not muffle the sounds. I have never heard anything like it. But I digress…
Elena and I made it to the drink cart, bought our drinks, and headed back to our room to continue our train party.
By 10pm, we turned out the lights and headed to bed joined by the two other men who came in around that same time. The night was long and noisy, as I have mentioned. I officially woke around 6am, when the cart lady came by. I got up and was greeted by cotton balls covered in blood and what looked like iodine on the floor. I can only assume that foot man decided to clean his wound in the night and left his cotton balls there for the entire world to see. Another missed photo opportunity.
Breakfast was served as we waited to get off the train and to out hotel in Mui Ne.
And I forgot to mention the bathrooms…gross…squat toilets…with puddles of urine accumulating in the corner…but there was toilet paper!... and a huge ass window in the bathroom that would have given any farmers working in the field a free peep show had they been looking when the train went by.
The train
Our sleeper car
Dinner
View from the train
Once we got out of the station, we were wondering where the beach was…nowhere in sight. A bunch of motorbike guys asked us if we wanted a ride to Mui Ne and we said that we would prefer a taxi. They responded that no taxis come to the station and we really had no choice but for them to take us on a 45 minute motorbike ride to Mui Ne. So, with my huge backpack between his legs and me on the back (and neither of us with helmets because everyone knows helmets are for wussies), we rode to Mui Ne. Scary, but the only way to go in this country. I made it to the hotel in one piece vowing that I wouldn’t ride a motorbike that far again unless I was the one driving.
Our hotel in Mui Ne was great. I’d like to have stayed there for a long time. Mui Ne is a beautiful beach town and it was not at all crowded. There was hardly anyone on the beach. The water was warm and fairly calm. Nice. We spent three days and two nights here just relaxing for the most part. It was lovely. It was hot, but always very breezy on the beach. The owner was really nice and the rooms were big and clean. There were also three dog who were the hotel pets. They were also excellent watch/guard dogs. One followed us out of the hotel for quite a bit as if he were making sure that we were safe. He did the same thing for Elena when she decided to walk around at midnight. Very smart and cute. I just didn’t want to pet them.
The hotel
Outside of me and Shuhei’s bungalow
Inside the room
The huge bathroom
The beach
Dog on the beach
The next day I woke up at 4:00am to meet a Jeep for a tour around some of the sites of Mui Ne . We got up early enough to see the sunrise at the White Sand Dunes, which was our first stop. Unfortunately, it was too overcast to see the sun...and I am not complaining. It gets hot early in Vietnam and that was the last thing I wanted while trying to hike up a giant sand dune. Once at the dunes, a “guide” joined us and walked us up to the dunes along with three plastic slides. We hiked up to the tallest point of the dunes (at least it appeared that way to me) and we slid down on our bellies to the bottom. It looked a lot scarier than it was. I was hesitant because I had already crash landed in the sand once on this trip ;), but I did it anyway. Really fun…but not fun enough to hike back up that damn dune to do it again.
Our jeep
Sign at the entrance
The dunes
Preparing to slide
Guard dog at the dunes
Our dune guide, who joined us at the beginning without asking. At the end of the dune visit, he said "You pay now." He tried to get 60,000 dong out of each of us, which is a little more than 3 dollars. I can't remember what we paid him, but it wasn't that much considering we didn't even ask for him to come. We didn't know he was going to charge us. Sneaky, sneaky.
After the dunes we headed to Red Canyon, which is exactly what it says it is…a red canyon. Very beautiful. We walked around it for a bit, took some pics, and got back in the Jeep.
Red Canyon
On the way to our next stop, we hit a traffic jam.
After mooving through the traffic jam (hardy har), we went to the Red Dunes. By this time is was nearly noon and blazing hot and we all decided that we could pass on hiking up another hot sand dune. So, we took in the view and headed on our merry way.
Red Dunes
Kid climbing a tree at the dunes
Our Jeep driver
Shuhei and I in the back seat of the Jeep. Check out the sweet sunglasses I bought for a couple bucks. Hey…I left the ones I was going to wear at home. I had to do something.
After the Red Dunes, we stopped by a local market where we witnessed that madness in all of its glory. There were the traditional Vietnamese hats as far as the eye could see. Fish covered in flies. Interesting smells.
The view inside the market
A vendor
Women choosing fish
Cutting fish
Our next stop was the Fishing Village. Boats, boats, boats. I met an adorable little local girl, Tram, who was trying to sell crappy souvenirs to the sucker foreigners. I bought a key chain…I guess that makes me a sucker. She was too cute. She just hung out with us while we sat on the edge of this wall like thing and chatted.
Tram
The Fishing Village
Our last stop on this trip was Fairy Stream. We were told if we trekked through the stream, we would be greeted at the end by a waterfall. So, I took off the flip flops and started my journey through Fairy Stream. As I walked I could only think of my friend and her Discovery Channel shows on the random sorts of parasitic worms in less-developed foreign countries that burrow themselves into the bottom of unsuspecting tourists feet when hanging out in the water. (Thanks a bunch, Gail ;) ) Apparently, I took the risk. And I haven’t woken up with worms crawling out of my tear ducts or nose, so it appears that it was a safe gamble…so far. The water seemed really clean though. I do have a cut on the bottom of my big toe now…not sure if it was from climbing barefoot on rocks at Fairy Stream or from the sharp shells in the ocean. Hmm... Anyway, we finally got to the waterfall by the road less traveled and all in all, it wasn’t that impressive, pretty small…but fun to get there nonetheless.
Fairy Stream
Doing his best imitation of a fertility god statue above the waterfall. Hot damn!
The rest of our time in Mui Ne was spent chilling out on the beach and having fun.
I was able to break the record for the amount of bug bites obtained in an evening. Shuhei, Elena, and I went to the beach late at night and chilled. I saw a bug on my leg, but it just looked like one of those sand flies, so I shooed it away. The next morning I had 25 bites on my right leg. 25 BITES! Good God…it was horrible. Almost as bad as my parasailing accident…did I mention that? Ha.
Here is a picture of Shuhei and his tiny 17-year old waitress “girlfriend” Tram at the restaurant next to our hotel. It took her forever to take our order because she was so busy oogling over the precious Shuhei saying over and over and OVER again how “young and handsome” he was and flirting with him. Pimpin’ all over the world.
After our relaxing days in Mui Ne, we regrettably had to leave and head back to see the sites of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh and also had to say goodbye to Shuhei who had to get back to Tokyo for school. So, once again we were back on the bus, but this time only for five hours or so. When we got to Saigon in the evening, we found an available room at this guy’s hotel, who was quite the character.
Hotel owner
Inside of hotel
It was nice enough.
The next day we took a tour, with a bunch of other damn tourists, to the Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Our tour guide was a Vietnam Veteran who served as an interpreter between Vietnam and the U.S. He said he didn’t like talking about the war because of the terrible things he witnessed on both sides and how pointless the entire war ended up being, but felt that we young people (most of the people on the tour were probably under 30) should know about the past. He talked a whole hell of a lot about nothing in particular, but was nice.
Our tour guide
The Cao Dai temple was about an hour and a half or two outside of Saigon. The temple was huge, but there were SO many tourists, and I prefer to avoid that at all cost. But there wasn’t much of a choice in this case. We were able to go inside the temple and see a ceremony take place. It was pretty peaceful…no talking…just some music being played. Cao Dai is a very interesting religion. It was created in Vietnam and is a combination of all the major world religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, etc. I don’t know all the details, but I am sure you know how to “Google” things if you are interested.
The Temple
Inside during the ceremony
After the visit at the Temple, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Yes…it is pronounced that way too. There are a lot of sick things I could write in reference to these tunnels and their name, but I will spare you…at least for the time being. :)
The tunnels were dug out during the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong in Cu Chi. With this complex network of SMALL tunnels and various traps, the VC was able to defeat the American troops at Cu Chi. Once again, I don’t know the details…so “Google” it if you want accurate information.
The day at the tunnels started with a video that was filmed circa 1963 or something like that. It was from the Vietnamese perspective, with English dubbing. It was about the success of the tunnel system in Cu Chi over the “evil American devils.” (This is quoted from the video and I do not claim to agree or disagree with any statements made on said video.) The video showed clips of various Vietnamese men and women who won awards for being “great American killers of the war.”
After the lighthearted and uplifting video, we continued out to the jungle to see the tunnels. Our tour guide walked us through the jungle and showed us several different types of trap used against the Americans, including the tiger trap and the folding chair trap. Meanwhile, we could all hear the sounds of guns being fired (there was a shooting range there…added to authenticity of being at the tunnels.) After seeing the traps and several dummies of the Cu Chi fighters, tanks, and some smaller tunnels (just from the outside), we headed to a small gift shop and the shooting range. Well, I just had to shoot a gun. I had about 8 to choose from, but I chose the AK-47…mostly because I didn’t know the names of any of the other ones except for the machine guns, but I knew the bullets wouldn’t last long in that. So, I had to pay 20,000 Vietnamese dong per bullet (with a minimum of 10 bullets) which cost me 200,000 dong…about 12 bucks! But how many people my age can say they shot an AK-47 in Vietnam? Had to do it despite the outrageous cost. That gun is pretty damn powerful…well, that is probably because I have only shot BB guns before, but it jolted me every time I shot it. Bang, bang, BANG!
The AK-47 bullets
Tiger Trap
Folding Chair trap
Tunnel that leads all the way to Saigon. Extremely small.
Another hidden tunnel entrance
Cu Chi Fighters models
AK-47 Bullets
After the firing range, we went into an actual tunnel. And I do believe that I may be claustrophobic after all this. I almost backed out of going into the tunnel. It was hot, stifling, and dark…but I went in anyway. I don’t know how the VC did it. Even a shorter person had to bend over quite a bit to get through. I was bent over completely and my back was scraping the top of the tunnel. It seemed to get smaller as we went on and eventually I had to drop to my knees and crawl to get through. Ugh. An experience to say the least. I am still trying to decide if it was fun. I would do it again if I had to…yeah, it wasn’t “fun”, but everyone should try it once.
Entrance into the tunnel that I went into
A photo taken from Elena’s camera of inside the tunnels. I was at the end, behind Elena. I couldn’t see her rear in front of me and I ran into her…or maybe I did it on purpose. : ) As you can see in the picture, Lynnette, who is 5’1”, is bent over quite a bit…and I have 8 inches on her.
The next day we took motorbikes into town to see some other sites, but only a 10 minute ride this time. We went to the War Crimes museum.
Motorbike traffic in Saigon
War Crimes Museum
Depressing. It showed the horrible things that the American side did during the war including some very graphic photos of torture, dead bodies, people injured by bombs, American soldiers holding up severed heads, the effects of dioxin a.k.a. Agent Orange, etc. There were also two preserved stillborn babies in jars that were born malformed due to dioxin and many photos showing the still ongoing effects of Agent Orange on both Vietnamese and Americans who were exposed to it and their offspring who many years later would be affected by it.
Once again it was interesting to see the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective. Either way, it was terrible for both sides and made me feel slightly uncomfortable.
Recreation on a prison cell
We also saw Notre Dame Cathedral and it happened to be Good Friday. See…I am a good girl after all! It was pretty, but I have seen enough cathedrals to keep me going for the rest of my life.
Notre Dame cathedral
We had dinner at a large outdoor restaurant. There were gads of waiters there who thought it would be fun just to hang around our table. Seriously, they would just watch us eat. Not really sure if that is the way it is in Vietnam, but no other diners were being watched like us. I think they just liked watching us fool around with our food.
We attempted to get as many waiters in the picture as possible, and had about 6-8 who seemed willing, but before the camera went off they all scrambled away. So here we are with our two waiters. Doh! We wanted a Man-Fest!
Our last day in Saigon was relaxing. We woke up late, checked out of our hotel, went to a café where they played movies in a mini-theater, and chilled out for a few hours to stay out of the crazy heat and not get too sweaty before our flight at midnight. After we walked around, checked out some shops, and decided to get our nails done. Hey…it’s Vietnam! I paid around $1.50 to get my nails filed and painted…only the second time in my life. And less than 24 hours later, it is chipping off. This is why I never get manicures. We finished our last night in ‘Nam with a bowl of yummy $1 pho (which I miss already…oh, if only Japanese ramen had that much flavor!) and then headed to the airport where I said farewell to Vietnam.
Like I said in the beginning of this extremely large blog (and congratulations if you made it this far), go to Vietnam if you get the chance. The land is beautiful and the people are nice. It does take a while to travel to and from various cities (if you don’t fly) because the country is so long, but very easy to find places who will set up all your travel needs. Not once did I feel unsafe in Vietnam (except when I was lying crumpled in the sand with a parachute and Lynnette strapped to me…but that was my choice ;)
Good times.
Have fun reading this…if you manage to get through it. ;)
We left Narita Airport on March 28. My entourage included Lynnette and Elena (two Chichibu girls) and Shuhei, a Japanese friend from Tokyo.
Elena, Lynnette, and Shuhei on the plane
Elena, Shuhei, and me on the plane
We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) around midnight. We debated on our next move since we had no plans set in stone. We sat at the airport entrance with our luggage talking about what to do and decided that we would stay all night at the airport and try to purchase 4 tickets to Nha Trang (my desire to go to Hanoi (up north) was shot down…but no regrets ) at 5:00am when the “ticket office” opened. Meanwhile, a very nice young college student who was working at the information booth asked us if we wanted to grab a bite to eat. We obliged considering we were pretty damn hungry. So, our first meal in Vietnam was none other than pho...at 2:30 am. The guy even paid for it, but we paid for the cab ride to get there, so it worked out fairly even. He chilled with us at the airport until almost 5am practicing his English.
The first night pho
So, 5a.m. rolls around and Elena and I gather with the rest of the crowd waiting to buy a ticket. And man, was it a madhouse! I was being pushed and shoved and cut by people who need to get the hell out of Ho Chi Minh for one reason or another. It was like they were giving away money or something. We would have put those Amazing Race contestants to shame. Eventually Elena was able to talk to a person in the office and we were able to book four tickets to Nha Trang by 5:45am. The flight left at 6:30am…but we made it.
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam from above
We arrived in Nha Trang and grabbed a cab and were taken straight to our first hotel where all of us were dead tired and dying to take a shower.
Our hotel
The view from the hotel
Our room (Lynnette and I shared this one)
Nha Trang is a beach town and quite lovely, but a little more crowded than another beach town we went to, Mui Ne.
Coconut milk drink
In our brilliancy (and a few mai tais on my part), Lynnette and I decided that it would be fun to go parasailing. We went together and were having a good time (well, at least I was) until we crashed into the sand. The boat driver took us for our final swoop over the sand for what appeared to be in preparation for our real landing on the beach a ways down the shore. But instead, we continued to get lower and lower and…we crashed. As we lay sprawled on the beach, covered in sand, strapped to a parachute at one end and a boat on the other, with bloody knees, the parasailing guys come running over and tell us that maybe it wasn’t safe to have two people go together. WTF? Perhaps that little tidbit of information would have been helpful before they took our money and strapped us in for our death ride in the sky. We hit the ground hard. It could have been worse…which was why I was laughing as we took our walk of shame back to the parasailing cabana to get half of our money back. They guys kept saying that we could go again for free. Hmm…I did think about it though. Later in the trip, we met a couple in Hoi An from South Africa who said the same thing happened to them. Ha. Had I only known…I was pretty bruised on my left arm and all over my thighs where the straps dug in…but alive nonetheless.
Here is the infamous event…unfortunately you can hardly see the parachute, but you’ll just have to trust that it’s me with my baby Lynnette strapped to my chest.
We stayed in Nha Trang for one night and continued on the next day to Hoi An via an overnight bus. I don’t remember the ride so much…but I know I didn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep much on the whole trip come to think of it. We arrived in Hoi An early in the morning, around 7:30ish, I think. We decided instead of sleeping that we should hop on a tour bus right away to see some sights around Hoi An. So, we hauled ass to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and got on a tour bus by 8:45 am.
The bus took us to My Son where there are ruins of temples…most of them are pretty damned ruined. I suppose I was unimpressed by the ruins because 1.) I was tired 2.) It was hotter than a mo’ fo’ and c.) Not much can compare to Angkor Wat.
The Temple at My Son
This is a fertility sculpture a.k.a. “statue of a penis and vagina.” You’re smart; I am sure you can figure out which one is which.
After the temple, we had the option of taking the bus back or taking a river boat back. We all opted for the river boat, but I kind of wanted to take the bus because I was hot and tired. I know, waah waah. But I was literally pulled by my arm by the tour guide as I was pondering my decision. But the boat was fun. It was an old rickety wood boat. There were 9 of us on it including the boat driver and our charismatic tour guide. They gave us lunch, which was vegetable rice, spring rolls, and a banana. Quite good despite the fact it was probably sitting in the sun for several hours. But hey, we didn’t get sick! The boat cruised us down the river for an hour and a half or so. We saw locals going about their daily routine, fishing and what not.
Our boat driver and the tour guide
The boat
Boat on the river
Locals loading watermelons into a boat
Windblown lunch on the boat
Later that day, we rented bicycles for a dollar and rode down to the Japanese Bridge (because I just haven’t seen enough Japanese things and I was missing “home” oh so much.) Then we drove through the city marketplace…pretty difficult trying to maneuver a bike through that madness, but I didn’t hit anyone.
Japanese Bridge
Riverfront
House by the bridge
From Hoi An, we decided to head out to Mui Ne, another beach town. This time we decided to take a train, a 15 hour overnight sleeper train. And good God…was that an experience. We thought it was a more popular choice among tourists in Viet Nam, but damn…we were wrong. We were the only non-Vietnamese on the entire train (not that that is a bad thing.) We got some interesting looks from people, if you could imagine. The “rooms” had 6 beds in them. Unfortunately, we were only able to book one room with three beds and another room with 1 bed. Being girls, we volunteered Shuhei to take the 1 bed room. However, only one guy came into our car early on in the trip and he pretty much went right to bed at the top most bunk after dinner. He had a pretty badly injured foot, so I imagine he just wanted to rest. Poor guy had to put up with our big mouths for a few hours. So, since foot man was sleeping, Shuhei stayed in our room and hung out with us until the other two guys got on the train, which was around 10:00pm…bedtime anyway. So, from 4ish to 10ish, Shuhei, Elena, Lynnette, and I sat on the bottom bunks and played cards, drank some local beverages, and laughed. KIRITSU! It was fun.
A couple hours into it our train fiesta, we ran out of drinks, so Elena and I set out to find the drink cart that had come by around dinner time. We walked through at least 7 or 8 cars to get to the end of the train where the drink cart was. And wow…that was an interesting walk. I wish I had taken my camera to document it. Our rooms were apparently the first class part of the train. The closer we got to the drink cart, the worse the cars got. There were wooden benches where people were sleeping; some were on the floor. The windows did not have any glass, just chain link. But the people were still doing there thing. Come to think of it, I am sure I should have slept much better on the floor in that car than on my bottom bunk in the sleeper car with foot man coming down every couple hours and snoring man in the bed across from me, who was snoring SO loudly that even my iPod at its highest volume could not muffle the sounds. I have never heard anything like it. But I digress…
Elena and I made it to the drink cart, bought our drinks, and headed back to our room to continue our train party.
By 10pm, we turned out the lights and headed to bed joined by the two other men who came in around that same time. The night was long and noisy, as I have mentioned. I officially woke around 6am, when the cart lady came by. I got up and was greeted by cotton balls covered in blood and what looked like iodine on the floor. I can only assume that foot man decided to clean his wound in the night and left his cotton balls there for the entire world to see. Another missed photo opportunity.
Breakfast was served as we waited to get off the train and to out hotel in Mui Ne.
And I forgot to mention the bathrooms…gross…squat toilets…with puddles of urine accumulating in the corner…but there was toilet paper!... and a huge ass window in the bathroom that would have given any farmers working in the field a free peep show had they been looking when the train went by.
The train
Our sleeper car
Dinner
View from the train
Once we got out of the station, we were wondering where the beach was…nowhere in sight. A bunch of motorbike guys asked us if we wanted a ride to Mui Ne and we said that we would prefer a taxi. They responded that no taxis come to the station and we really had no choice but for them to take us on a 45 minute motorbike ride to Mui Ne. So, with my huge backpack between his legs and me on the back (and neither of us with helmets because everyone knows helmets are for wussies), we rode to Mui Ne. Scary, but the only way to go in this country. I made it to the hotel in one piece vowing that I wouldn’t ride a motorbike that far again unless I was the one driving.
Our hotel in Mui Ne was great. I’d like to have stayed there for a long time. Mui Ne is a beautiful beach town and it was not at all crowded. There was hardly anyone on the beach. The water was warm and fairly calm. Nice. We spent three days and two nights here just relaxing for the most part. It was lovely. It was hot, but always very breezy on the beach. The owner was really nice and the rooms were big and clean. There were also three dog who were the hotel pets. They were also excellent watch/guard dogs. One followed us out of the hotel for quite a bit as if he were making sure that we were safe. He did the same thing for Elena when she decided to walk around at midnight. Very smart and cute. I just didn’t want to pet them.
The hotel
Outside of me and Shuhei’s bungalow
Inside the room
The huge bathroom
The beach
Dog on the beach
The next day I woke up at 4:00am to meet a Jeep for a tour around some of the sites of Mui Ne . We got up early enough to see the sunrise at the White Sand Dunes, which was our first stop. Unfortunately, it was too overcast to see the sun...and I am not complaining. It gets hot early in Vietnam and that was the last thing I wanted while trying to hike up a giant sand dune. Once at the dunes, a “guide” joined us and walked us up to the dunes along with three plastic slides. We hiked up to the tallest point of the dunes (at least it appeared that way to me) and we slid down on our bellies to the bottom. It looked a lot scarier than it was. I was hesitant because I had already crash landed in the sand once on this trip ;), but I did it anyway. Really fun…but not fun enough to hike back up that damn dune to do it again.
Our jeep
Sign at the entrance
The dunes
Preparing to slide
Guard dog at the dunes
Our dune guide, who joined us at the beginning without asking. At the end of the dune visit, he said "You pay now." He tried to get 60,000 dong out of each of us, which is a little more than 3 dollars. I can't remember what we paid him, but it wasn't that much considering we didn't even ask for him to come. We didn't know he was going to charge us. Sneaky, sneaky.
After the dunes we headed to Red Canyon, which is exactly what it says it is…a red canyon. Very beautiful. We walked around it for a bit, took some pics, and got back in the Jeep.
Red Canyon
On the way to our next stop, we hit a traffic jam.
After mooving through the traffic jam (hardy har), we went to the Red Dunes. By this time is was nearly noon and blazing hot and we all decided that we could pass on hiking up another hot sand dune. So, we took in the view and headed on our merry way.
Red Dunes
Kid climbing a tree at the dunes
Our Jeep driver
Shuhei and I in the back seat of the Jeep. Check out the sweet sunglasses I bought for a couple bucks. Hey…I left the ones I was going to wear at home. I had to do something.
After the Red Dunes, we stopped by a local market where we witnessed that madness in all of its glory. There were the traditional Vietnamese hats as far as the eye could see. Fish covered in flies. Interesting smells.
The view inside the market
A vendor
Women choosing fish
Cutting fish
Our next stop was the Fishing Village. Boats, boats, boats. I met an adorable little local girl, Tram, who was trying to sell crappy souvenirs to the sucker foreigners. I bought a key chain…I guess that makes me a sucker. She was too cute. She just hung out with us while we sat on the edge of this wall like thing and chatted.
Tram
The Fishing Village
Our last stop on this trip was Fairy Stream. We were told if we trekked through the stream, we would be greeted at the end by a waterfall. So, I took off the flip flops and started my journey through Fairy Stream. As I walked I could only think of my friend and her Discovery Channel shows on the random sorts of parasitic worms in less-developed foreign countries that burrow themselves into the bottom of unsuspecting tourists feet when hanging out in the water. (Thanks a bunch, Gail ;) ) Apparently, I took the risk. And I haven’t woken up with worms crawling out of my tear ducts or nose, so it appears that it was a safe gamble…so far. The water seemed really clean though. I do have a cut on the bottom of my big toe now…not sure if it was from climbing barefoot on rocks at Fairy Stream or from the sharp shells in the ocean. Hmm... Anyway, we finally got to the waterfall by the road less traveled and all in all, it wasn’t that impressive, pretty small…but fun to get there nonetheless.
Fairy Stream
Doing his best imitation of a fertility god statue above the waterfall. Hot damn!
The rest of our time in Mui Ne was spent chilling out on the beach and having fun.
I was able to break the record for the amount of bug bites obtained in an evening. Shuhei, Elena, and I went to the beach late at night and chilled. I saw a bug on my leg, but it just looked like one of those sand flies, so I shooed it away. The next morning I had 25 bites on my right leg. 25 BITES! Good God…it was horrible. Almost as bad as my parasailing accident…did I mention that? Ha.
Here is a picture of Shuhei and his tiny 17-year old waitress “girlfriend” Tram at the restaurant next to our hotel. It took her forever to take our order because she was so busy oogling over the precious Shuhei saying over and over and OVER again how “young and handsome” he was and flirting with him. Pimpin’ all over the world.
After our relaxing days in Mui Ne, we regrettably had to leave and head back to see the sites of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh and also had to say goodbye to Shuhei who had to get back to Tokyo for school. So, once again we were back on the bus, but this time only for five hours or so. When we got to Saigon in the evening, we found an available room at this guy’s hotel, who was quite the character.
Hotel owner
Inside of hotel
It was nice enough.
The next day we took a tour, with a bunch of other damn tourists, to the Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Our tour guide was a Vietnam Veteran who served as an interpreter between Vietnam and the U.S. He said he didn’t like talking about the war because of the terrible things he witnessed on both sides and how pointless the entire war ended up being, but felt that we young people (most of the people on the tour were probably under 30) should know about the past. He talked a whole hell of a lot about nothing in particular, but was nice.
Our tour guide
The Cao Dai temple was about an hour and a half or two outside of Saigon. The temple was huge, but there were SO many tourists, and I prefer to avoid that at all cost. But there wasn’t much of a choice in this case. We were able to go inside the temple and see a ceremony take place. It was pretty peaceful…no talking…just some music being played. Cao Dai is a very interesting religion. It was created in Vietnam and is a combination of all the major world religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, etc. I don’t know all the details, but I am sure you know how to “Google” things if you are interested.
The Temple
Inside during the ceremony
After the visit at the Temple, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Yes…it is pronounced that way too. There are a lot of sick things I could write in reference to these tunnels and their name, but I will spare you…at least for the time being. :)
The tunnels were dug out during the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong in Cu Chi. With this complex network of SMALL tunnels and various traps, the VC was able to defeat the American troops at Cu Chi. Once again, I don’t know the details…so “Google” it if you want accurate information.
The day at the tunnels started with a video that was filmed circa 1963 or something like that. It was from the Vietnamese perspective, with English dubbing. It was about the success of the tunnel system in Cu Chi over the “evil American devils.” (This is quoted from the video and I do not claim to agree or disagree with any statements made on said video.) The video showed clips of various Vietnamese men and women who won awards for being “great American killers of the war.”
After the lighthearted and uplifting video, we continued out to the jungle to see the tunnels. Our tour guide walked us through the jungle and showed us several different types of trap used against the Americans, including the tiger trap and the folding chair trap. Meanwhile, we could all hear the sounds of guns being fired (there was a shooting range there…added to authenticity of being at the tunnels.) After seeing the traps and several dummies of the Cu Chi fighters, tanks, and some smaller tunnels (just from the outside), we headed to a small gift shop and the shooting range. Well, I just had to shoot a gun. I had about 8 to choose from, but I chose the AK-47…mostly because I didn’t know the names of any of the other ones except for the machine guns, but I knew the bullets wouldn’t last long in that. So, I had to pay 20,000 Vietnamese dong per bullet (with a minimum of 10 bullets) which cost me 200,000 dong…about 12 bucks! But how many people my age can say they shot an AK-47 in Vietnam? Had to do it despite the outrageous cost. That gun is pretty damn powerful…well, that is probably because I have only shot BB guns before, but it jolted me every time I shot it. Bang, bang, BANG!
The AK-47 bullets
Tiger Trap
Folding Chair trap
Tunnel that leads all the way to Saigon. Extremely small.
Another hidden tunnel entrance
Cu Chi Fighters models
AK-47 Bullets
After the firing range, we went into an actual tunnel. And I do believe that I may be claustrophobic after all this. I almost backed out of going into the tunnel. It was hot, stifling, and dark…but I went in anyway. I don’t know how the VC did it. Even a shorter person had to bend over quite a bit to get through. I was bent over completely and my back was scraping the top of the tunnel. It seemed to get smaller as we went on and eventually I had to drop to my knees and crawl to get through. Ugh. An experience to say the least. I am still trying to decide if it was fun. I would do it again if I had to…yeah, it wasn’t “fun”, but everyone should try it once.
Entrance into the tunnel that I went into
A photo taken from Elena’s camera of inside the tunnels. I was at the end, behind Elena. I couldn’t see her rear in front of me and I ran into her…or maybe I did it on purpose. : ) As you can see in the picture, Lynnette, who is 5’1”, is bent over quite a bit…and I have 8 inches on her.
The next day we took motorbikes into town to see some other sites, but only a 10 minute ride this time. We went to the War Crimes museum.
Motorbike traffic in Saigon
War Crimes Museum
Depressing. It showed the horrible things that the American side did during the war including some very graphic photos of torture, dead bodies, people injured by bombs, American soldiers holding up severed heads, the effects of dioxin a.k.a. Agent Orange, etc. There were also two preserved stillborn babies in jars that were born malformed due to dioxin and many photos showing the still ongoing effects of Agent Orange on both Vietnamese and Americans who were exposed to it and their offspring who many years later would be affected by it.
Once again it was interesting to see the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective. Either way, it was terrible for both sides and made me feel slightly uncomfortable.
Recreation on a prison cell
We also saw Notre Dame Cathedral and it happened to be Good Friday. See…I am a good girl after all! It was pretty, but I have seen enough cathedrals to keep me going for the rest of my life.
Notre Dame cathedral
We had dinner at a large outdoor restaurant. There were gads of waiters there who thought it would be fun just to hang around our table. Seriously, they would just watch us eat. Not really sure if that is the way it is in Vietnam, but no other diners were being watched like us. I think they just liked watching us fool around with our food.
We attempted to get as many waiters in the picture as possible, and had about 6-8 who seemed willing, but before the camera went off they all scrambled away. So here we are with our two waiters. Doh! We wanted a Man-Fest!
Our last day in Saigon was relaxing. We woke up late, checked out of our hotel, went to a café where they played movies in a mini-theater, and chilled out for a few hours to stay out of the crazy heat and not get too sweaty before our flight at midnight. After we walked around, checked out some shops, and decided to get our nails done. Hey…it’s Vietnam! I paid around $1.50 to get my nails filed and painted…only the second time in my life. And less than 24 hours later, it is chipping off. This is why I never get manicures. We finished our last night in ‘Nam with a bowl of yummy $1 pho (which I miss already…oh, if only Japanese ramen had that much flavor!) and then headed to the airport where I said farewell to Vietnam.
Like I said in the beginning of this extremely large blog (and congratulations if you made it this far), go to Vietnam if you get the chance. The land is beautiful and the people are nice. It does take a while to travel to and from various cities (if you don’t fly) because the country is so long, but very easy to find places who will set up all your travel needs. Not once did I feel unsafe in Vietnam (except when I was lying crumpled in the sand with a parachute and Lynnette strapped to me…but that was my choice ;)
Good times.
posted by Jamie at 6:57 PM
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