Saigon
Saigon was the mayhem we were expecting - scooters everywhere, but virtually no cars. Crossing the road was a bit like stepping out into a firing range, you just had to dodge the bikes and hope that they avoided you too. On arrival in Saigon we decided to have a second birthday celebration for Olly. The official celebration had been fun, but lacking in the company that Olly would have liked (we were the last in the only bar on Phu Quoc beach by midnight, when we were sent off to bed). This celebration was slightly more sophisticated - think imported Australian steak and gorgeous French red wine at a very authentic French bistro. Some of the fine things that the French brought to Vietnam. The mean set us back a whopping $120, extortionate by Vietnamese standards, but was worth every penny! We continued the celebrations in slightly more backpacker styles at an Ozzy bar in the backpacker district.
Our first full day in Saigon was spent on a walking tour. We visited the fine art museum, wondered through markets and streets full of everything from fake designer clothes to antiques harking of luxurious colonial living, the museum of Ho Chi Min City and the Reunification Palace - a Gucci art deco palace which Olly took an immediate liking to. On several occasions he exclaimed "this is what I want my house to be like!" He particularly enjoyed pushing all the buttons on the ancient computers and communications tech downstairs in the war bunker.
We finished our tour with a visit to the War Remnants Museum - a memorial to the atrocities committed in Vietnam by the US. As well as tanks, planes and bombs left behind by the Americans, the museum houses harrowing accounts and images of the war, the crimes against humanity and the continuing genetic defects inflicted by Agent Orange. It was a dark place which left us both feeling thoroughly disgusted with humanity. Whilst the museum tells only one side of the story (that of the Vietnamese), it was hard not to leave feeling revolted by the US's indiscriminate approach to the war.
We finished our tour with a visit to the War Remnants Museum - a memorial to the atrocities committed in Vietnam by the US. As well as tanks, planes and bombs left behind by the Americans, the museum houses harrowing accounts and images of the war, the crimes against humanity and the continuing genetic defects inflicted by Agent Orange. It was a dark place which left us both feeling thoroughly disgusted with humanity. Whilst the museum tells only one side of the story (that of the Vietnamese), it was hard not to leave feeling revolted by the US's indiscriminate approach to the war.
The following day we went to see the Chu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong famously held out against the US invasion, living in a rabbit warren on tiny tunnels filled with booby traps and all their living conveniences. We were the only people in our tour group to make it to the end of the narrow winding tunnel which tourists could crawl through to get an idea of what it would have been like for the Viet Cong. It was hot, claustrophobic and uncomfortable. When I can I'll post some photographs. We also got to try our hand at firing an AK47 (at least I think that's what it was! Olly was more excited about that bit than me!)
Dalat, The Central Highlands
On the 28th we headed out of Saigon on the morning bus to the highlands. The winding bus journey took 5 hours - a comfortable experience on the whole apart from the fact that Vietnamese, used to travelling everywhere by motobike, do not have the stomachs for coach journeys. We had at least two people sitting around us who spent the journey throwing up.
Dalat is beautiful. It's a favourite honeymoon destination for the Vietnamese and was once a holiday destination for the French colonialists. As a result it's a mixture of OTT kitch and Alpine ski resort. It's hard to explain, but the flower garden complete with bushes and flowers grown into the shape of animals probably said it all. I felt like a kid who had arrived in Disney Land for the first time. We spent a very amusing day exploring the town on a tandem bicycle (we only argued once!) which included a ride on a swan shaped pedalo across the lake and a visit to a very Alice-in-Wonderland-esk guesthouse known as "the Crazy House". The owner, a French trained architect has let her imagination run wild to create something totally out of this world. You'll see what I mean when I can post the photos...!
We also explored the town's bustling night market selling all the local produce, crazy food and pretty much all the clothes you could think of. Olly brought a North Face jacket for $50 - very authentic!
Day 2 in Dalat, we took an Easy Rider tour of the highlands. Each on the back of an impressive motorbike, we were whisked through the picturesque countryside to visit local villages, tribes, waterfalls and small cottage industries. Our trip included visiting the flower farms - row upon row of green houses full of amazing colourful farms, a noodle factory, an incense factory and a silk factory. We also stopped at a coffee farm and tried weasel coffee i.e. coffee made from coffee beans which have been digested and then pooed out by weasels. It tasted surprisingly good. Olly didn't try the aphrodisiac rice wine aka "Happy Water" through, despite our guide, Duc's, encouragement.
Day 3 was probably the closest we've come to the elements on our trip so far. We'd booked ourselves onto a 'scenic' mountain bike ride through the highlands north of Dalat. We found out later that the ride is also known as the "Crazy 8". It turned out to be more strenuous, wet and frightening than either of us (or our guide) had expected. Right at the highest point of the ride through the forest on single track paths a typhoon blew in. To start with it rained like someone was tipping buckets of water out of the sky. Then the lightening, followed immediately by thunder started right over our heads, accompanied by a howling wind. In hindsight it was quiet comical, but as the path turned into a raging torrent of water, there was not much we could do but keep going. We did take shelter for a few minuets behind the trunk of a pine tree, but that's not really the best place to be during a thunder storm. To make matters worse, the paths that weren't rivers, were knee deep in mud. We had to keep stopping to clean it off our brakes which became pretty ineffectual. We both fell off our bikes once. I toppled into a mud bath before the rain even began. Olly went flying off a narrow path and down a bank into the trees. I was above him and just saw the tire of his bike flying through the air. We both made it back in one piece - despite looking very muddy and bedraggled, much to the local's amusement. By the end of the 33km odyssey we were both totally knackered.
We left Dalat yesterday, feeling that we could have definitely stayed of longer, and headed for the coast. We're now in Nha Trang, another holiday favourite for the Vietnamese, and the Russians. It has a beautiful beach complete with water park and jet skis. Last night proved a bit messy thanks to the 'free cocktails for girls' policy at the bar we went to. We're leaving tomorrow to head north to a less touristic part of the coast.
Jo
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