Mui Ne, farewell to Vietnam

From Saigon, I took the relatively short bus trip to Mui Ne Beach. Mui Ne is a beautiful Beach about 4-5 hours drive NW of Saigon. The area is known as one of SE Asia's premier wind surfing/kite surfing destinations. I toyed with the idea of trying my hand at kite surfing, but I'm told that it takes more time to learn than I had in Mui Ne, so I suppose I'll just have to wait.

This little ocean side town was the first place on my trip where I've had a personal encounter with theft. I had 120,000 Dong (about $8 US) lifted from my purse by the guesthouse cleaning lady. It happened as I was packing my bag and preparing to check-out of the room; she was waiting in the doorway for me to check-out so that she could clean the room, I had the cash sitting on the top of my open purse, I went into the bathroom for 30 seconds, and when I reemerged, the money and the cleaning lady were gone. I talked to both the suspect and the hotel owner, but conveniently neither of them understood what I was trying to say, so it was a lost cause. It was particularly disappointing that the owner didn't make more of an effort to apologize or recoup the cash. The experience didn't ruin my visit to Mui Ne, but it was a sobering reminder that I need to watch my back. Word to the wise, if you are headed to Mui Ne, skip the Xuan Uyen Guesthouse and head elsewhere.

I met some pretty cool travelers in Mui Ne. Bobby from Manchester brought his guitar and we had some good, old fashioned beach side sing-a-longs (not quite as much fun as singing with Billy, but I'm fairly biased towards my brother). Johannes from Stuttgart explained the essence of kite surfing, and even though he claims it's difficult to learn, he made it look like a piece of cake.

-Julia


Mui Ne Beach


Xuan Uyen Guesthouse, scene of the crime


Mui Ne at sunset


A little girl and her pet kitten, aptly named "Cat"


Kite surfing lessons

Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City)

After my short but relaxing stay in China beach, I hopped on a plane to the steamy city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Lots of travelers seem to dislike Saigon, but I enjoyed my time there; the people were a bit more friendly than in the north, it was easier to get around using English (lucky for me since my attempts a Vietnamese still go down in flames), and the traffic was slightly less insane than in Hanoi. The city even has special police officers set up on select corners to help guide clueless foreigners through the throngs of scooters. I had one help me, but it really wasn't necessary since I have more or less mastered the Vietnamese traffic crossing game (which essentially amounts to playing chicken with oncoming traffic).

In Saigon, I met up with Matt, my friend Liz's husband. Originally, the plan had been for us to meander about and take some photos, but Matt's camera got swiped by some crafty motorcycle-snatch thieves right after his arrival, so we just walked around instead. We ended up having a great time just wandering around the city, taking in the sights and getting the feel for Southern Vietnam's largest city. Two Aussies "blokes" (yes, I have started incorporating these strange terms into me vernacular), Mikey and Leigh, who I met at Hoa's Place, were also on my flight to Saigon, so we all took Matt out to enjoy a little Bia Hoi (Ingenious Vietnamese beer invention, see Hanoi blog entry for further details). Needless to say, the four of us had tons of fun.

I managed to break yet another pair of sandals ins Hanoi. This is an ongoing problem that I have..there is something I'm doing with the toes of my right foot, that cause all of my sandals to prematurely kick the bucket. So Matt and I beat feet to the market in search of replacements. This wouldn't have been an issue, but I have pretty large feet and Asian women tend to have tiny feet. After much searching and negotiating, I settled on an 80,000 Dong (about $5 US) pair of sandals that were a mere two sizes too small. It remains to be seen how long they will actually last.

In Saigon, I also had the opportunity to meet up with some friends of a friend of my dad, Kevin and Brenda, a young Canadian couple who have been living in Vietnam for several years now. Not only were they super cool and welcoming, even though they didn't really know me, but they had some unique and fascinating insights into life in Vietnam and the national psyche. Plus, they've traveled extensively through SE Asia and had some fantastic travel tips.

-Julia


Saigon


Lunch with Matt


Saigon's Central market


Proving the pretty much any/all sea creatures can be dried and eaten


At 4000 Dong per liter, it's a bit more pricey than Hanoi, but still a good deal


Leigh, me, Mikey and Matt


Scooter parking madness on Sunday afternoon at the shopping mall


Buying pork buns...yum!

China Beach

After my trials and tribulations in Hoi An, China beach was exactly what I needed. When I got the sledge-hammer-outside-my-door wake up call, I knew that it was time to move on. I'd booked a fight from Da Nang to Saigon, so I decided to head up towards Da Nang, to China beach, for one day before flying out.

I'd heard rave reviews about a little guesthouse called Hoa's place and decided to check it out. It was perfect. Very basic accommodations, but the owner (who speaks near perfect English) and his wife were so kind, trusting and open to talking about life in Vietnam. Oh yes, and the food was fantastic...best spring rolls I've ever had.

Their place was also just a short walk from China beach, the famed beach where American soldiers enjoyed a little R&R during the Vietnam war. The area is little more than a fishing village, and there were only a handful of other tourists in the area. The beach was nice, but very windy and the water was a bit too rough for swimming. Not a big deal though...I wasn't there looking for a beach, I was there for something else. I was pretty wound-up after Hoi An, and it was great to have a truely relaxing day. If I hadn't had made that flight reservation, I would have stayed a little longer.


-Julia



China Beach


Hoa's Place


Local kids putting on a show for the foreigners


Road to Da Nang

Hoi An

The several days I spent in Hoi An were an interesting experience for me. I'm not going to lie, Vietnam has been a challenging place to travel. I've had some fantastic experiences, and some trying ones, but in Hoi An it felt like some divine force was really attempting to test my patience.

The city of Hoi An was virtually untouched by any conflict in Vietnam's recent history, so the town, a UNESCO world heritage site, is full of gorgeous, old Chinese-style buildings and ambling riverside streets. This pleasant ambiance makes the town a magnet for foreign tourists, but where there are tourists, there are aggressive hotel-owners and touts trying to sell stuff to the visitors. The more tourists, the more aggressive the selling (and on my personal opinion, the more jaded the local people become). Needless to say, Hoi An has an interesting vibe to it.

Pretty much any time I tried to buy something, I had to haggle for way too long to get a fair price, and on several occasions my interactions with shop-owners disintegrated into a bit of a squabble. Usually these incidents ended with the shop owner telling me that because I'm a foreigner, I must have lots of money and should pay more. I actually had one little woman at a cobbler-shop make a fist like she was going to pop me in the nose when I refused to pay extra for her to fix my shoes after we had previously agreed on a price. She never actually took a swing at me, but I was pretty astounded.

This is also where the butt-tapping started to get to me. Ever since I arrived in Vietnam, women (but no men, thank goodness) have been giving me little butt-pats. Usually, this is a signal for me to move aside, or they are just trying to get my attention. Normally, I try to relax and remember that it's not considered an offensive move here, but in Hoi An, it got to be a bit much and I started walking around town with one eye looking out for my backside.

The last straw was the hotel. On my last morning at the hotel, I awoke at 7:30 am to some the-world-is-ending-grab-your-stuff-and-head-for-the-hills crashing noises. I ran to the door and flung it open only to find a construction worker removing the tiles in front of my room with a sledge hammer. Apparently, the hotel was re-doing the floor and sledge hammer usage is the tile removal strategy of choice here in Vietnam. I am not usually cranky in the morning (and when I am the problem can normally be remedied with a cup of coffee) but this was insane, and I was not pleased. I had some words with the hotel staff and checked out.

Ok, so I want to keep this blog as an honest window into my experience traveling, and sometimes that means writing about the negative stuff...but Hoi An was, by no means, all bad. There were some very positive parts as well. 1) I met lots of great travelers, including a very cool group of Belgian backpackers, and ran into my friends Phil, Dave and Becky who I had met in Hue. 2) I had some clothes tailor made, the most exciting of which was a replica of my favorite skirt of all time (the original was definitely on its last legs and ready to retire). 3) I rented a "Martin" brand bicycle and enjoyed some very scenic rides around town and to the beach (which was a bit too windy to swim, but still very beautiful).

So, that's my experience in Hoi An in a nutshell.

-Julia


Hoi An


The beach


Cruising around on the "Martin" bicycle


Lantern Shop


The Belgian contingent


School kids in Hoi An


The Japanese covered bridge

Hue and the DMZ

After my visit to Halong bay, the trip to Sapa, and several days in Hanoi in between, I felt like I had spent maybe a bit too much time in Northern Vietnam. It was time to head south, so I opted for the Hanoi-Hue night train rather than the night bus. A "sleeper bus" is only a sleeper bus if you can actually fall asleep in a teeny, tiny cramped bus seat, which I cannot. Night travel was pretty much unavoidable since it's a 12-16 hour journey between Hanoi and Hue, and there weren't any buses that made the trip during the day. Actually, the night train worked out well; I shared a cabin with 2 Danish travelers and a really nice Vietnamese guy, (miracle of all miracles) I slept the whole night, and no one tried to break into the cabin to steal our stuff during the night (not that anyone would realistically be able to "sneak" off with my 20 kg bag, but you know, it's good to know that no one tried).

Hue was a nice city. It was at one point a the capital of the Nguyen dynasty, so the city is full of beautiful old buildings and monuments (some have been restored and others are in a bit of disarray). I enjoyed an afternoon strolling through the remains of the ancient citadel and the forbidden purple city.

I had also come to this part of Vietnam to visit the demilitarized zone, aka the DMZ, and learn a bit more about the American-Vietnamese war. The area surrounding the DMZ is where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. The land is still pockmarked from bombs raids, bare patches on the mountainsides are reminders of defoliating agents used during the war, and unexploded mortals remain hidden in the rice paddies (not a good place to wander off the path). Since most of the sights are fairly spread out and difficult to find and the DMZ isn't the safest place to go wandering around alone, I took a tour (I am usually not a big fan of tours, but in Vietnam they are cheap and often the best way to see certain sights).

One of our first stops was the Vihn Moc tunnels, a network of tunnels built by north Vietnamese civilians who used them as shelter during periods of intense fighting. We also visited several American bases (which have been picked apart and overgrown, so they don't look much like bases anymore), part of the Ho Chi Mihn trail, and the bridge which now spans the former north/south border. It was interesting to see these sights, but honestly, I found much of it disturbing. The thought of war isn't a pleasant one, and I think that most Americans probably view the Vietnam war as a mistake, but all of the memorial sites were so full of ridiculously pro-North Vietnam/anti-American propaganda and personal items of fallen American soldiers, that it was difficult to see.

My visit to the DMZ was also my first glimpse in the the tension that remains between northern and southern Vietnamese. Even though the war has long since finished, the people from North Vietnam still control most of the country, and sometimes the Southern Vietnamese are treated as second class citizens. It's an aspect of Vietnamese culture that's well hidden from most tourists, but definitely there.

-Julia


Waking up from a night on the train


Entrance tot he ancient citadel


Inside the citadel


Plaza within the citadel


Lake within the citadel


Emperor's reading house


The bridge connecting North and South Vietnam


Vihn Moc tunnel network


In the tunnel


Tunnel passageway


Beach near the tunnel entrance


"The Rockpile" American lookout/base


Bridge leading to the Ho Chi Mihn Trail


A little bit of war propaganda


American helicopter at the Khe Sanh base


A bit more propaganda (it says: "The American Soldiers' panic at Lang Vay base. What's president Johnson thinking?)


And still more.... (it says: "The American Army carrying out the "flying horse" campaign to support their soldiers and followers at Khe Sanh but still failed to ameliorate the situation")


The bus

Trekking in Sapa

After parting ways with Dean, Marcos, Snoopy and Richard, I decided to head up to Sapa for a couple of days of trekking. Billy and I didn't have a chance to do any trekking in Thailand or Laos, and I really wanted to see the hill tribe villages, so this was a perfect opportunity.

Sapa is in the very far northern part of Vietnam, only a couple of kilometers from the Chinese border. The inhabitants there are a mix of Hill tribe people (Hmong and Dzao are just two of the ethnic minority tribes represented in the area) and Vietnamese who have moved to the area. Sapa is (relatively speaking) cold and damp, but the weather is perfect for hiking and after some days of serious heat in Hanoi and Halong Bay, it was a pleasant change. The city itself was a sleepy little place set on the slopes of the mountains: picturesque and very tranquil...an excellent place to relax for a few days.

The treks were great. During the first day of trekking, I hiked with a local Hmong guide named Lulu. Her English was pretty good, so I had the chance to ask her about what it's like to be a young woman in an ethnic minority village in Vietnam. She's 18, almost past marriage age, and happy to be independent and working as a trekking guide to support herself. It sounded to me like life changes dramatically for a Hmong girl when she gets married.

My detour to Sapa was the first time, since Billy flew home, that I've actually been on my own for several consecutive days. I'm a pretty social person, so before I stared traveling solo, I was a little nervous about feeling lonely during these times. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the time by myself. It was nice to be alone for a few days to relax and clear my head. Don't get me wrong, I haven't become an introvert, but I was surprised at how calming it was to just be alone for a while.

-Julia


Sapa countryside


Landslide on the road to Sapa


Sapa market


Home-made indigo dye used to color cloth


The family water buffalo taking a nap on the porch


Sapa village


Local boys


Feeling like a bit of a giant standing next to my guide, Lulu


Yes, I actually climbed down that (and-miracle of all miracles-managed not to slip and fall)


drying tree bark to make incense


If you want to see more photos of Sapa, check out the link to my Picasa web album.