VIETNAM!!!!

Well it has been a few days, but they have been action packed and adventure filled. On the morning of the 28th we awoke bright and early to board a bus to go to, well to be honest we weren't really sure, we were just hoping that we'd get over the boarder and into Vietnam, somehow!!!

We were not disappointed. We were picked from the hotel at 0730 in a little tiny bus; we assumed that we were going to the bus station to catch a larger bus to the border. 2 hours later we corrected this assumption, as we were still on the same bus. We arrived at a little shack where we disembarked from the bus, were led around the back of a hut, to a boat! A little one, very little. We then chugged, very nosily, along the lower Mekong for a while till we came to customs, and immigration, and boarder control, where we were checked and stamped and stapled through passport control. It cost us 2000dong to get through the boarder, each! That’s about uh, 25 cents!!! We stopped here for lunch. This was our first experience with…squat toilets! Oh the wonders… but apparently the toilet at the restaurant was worse, having no toilet only a floor, which you then washed away with a bucket. We then changed boats and tour guides to make our way to Chau Doc.

Must mention a fellow tourist who was with us on the boat. A Chinese lady who carried her own LIFE VEST…in her pack, what a waste of space, I mean the ratio of life jacket to people wasn’t quite right about 16:24 but who’s complaining, she was a strange women. Very strange. Her partner refused to get on a motorcycle, “it’s too dangerous” I mean where’s the sense of adventure…very strange people…

On the way to Chau Doc we saw a multitude of locals and all the children insisted on calling out and waving to us in the boat. We also saw a “monkey bridge” for the first time and were conned into joining a three day tour of the Mekong to Saigon. We arrived in Chau Doc around 1630 where we booked into a hotel and went to find dinner. We found in a little local restaurant, where dad decided he would try FROG!!!

Much against my quite protests about eating endangered species, Dad enjoyed the Frog and apparently it “tastes like chicken, just with a little more personality”, wow how original dad!!! The rest of us had much tamer meals…

Chau Doc to Can Tho…

Well this morning it was a 0600 start. To get on a stupid little bus which had no leg room. Especially not for tall people. It was not made for westerners.

We boarded a boat and went out to a Cham village; well it seemed much put on. Cham is a Vietnamese ethnic minority. They lived in a little village with a mosque and schools.

After the Cham village we went to a fish farm where they were breeding cat fish and basa, you could see them all splashing and snapping around.

We then re-bordered the bus and took a couple of hours to get to our next destination Can Tho. We arrived at Can Tho around midday, in time for lunch. Checked into the hotel and wandered around the town.

That evening, we went out for dinner to a nice looking, rather empty restaurant. The meal was rather good. Then dad decided that he would have a go at traditional methods of healing…CUPPING. looks like it might be dangerous, with a flame like that!

Apparently it was not painful, though he still has the nasty welts from it…oh so very attractive. It was early to bed, and early to rise the next morning.

Can Tho to Saigon

A 0630 start again this morning, off to the floating markets, a “monkey bridge”, a rice noodle/paper factory and a fruit plantation.

The floating markets were very interesting. The stall owners, place on top of a large bamboo pole an example of their wares, a boat selling turnips and cauliflower, had a few turnips and cauliflowers attached to the pole, high above their boat.

We then went to the monkey bridge, much constructed like a rope bridge, with three bamboo poles, one to stand on and two either side to hold. It was rather precarious. But it was not that scary to cross … rather overrated.

Next stop, was the rice factory, where they ground the rice into a paste, consisting of 60% rice and 30% tapioca. The tapioca is what makes the rice noodles/vermicelli rubbery. They then dried the paste into rounds in the sun on bamboo mats.

Final stop before making our way to Saigon, was the fruit plantation, where we bought some delicious mango. We made our way back to the boat and then to the bus to settle in for the trip to Saigon.

We arrived in Saigon in the pouring rain after a very un-educational bus ride with
ignorant (short legged ) Vietnamese couple (so obviously newly married I needed my sick bag) who thought that we 6 footers could fit into a sardine space…not so. It’s the closest dad has ever seen Mum come to punching someone (other than him) out!

Frankly the “tour” was a bit of disappointment.

Money here makes one feel ever so rich, with about $300USD equating to 4 million Vietnamese Dong Did I mention the rain and it looked for a while that Mary and Joseph, and the wise children would all have to stay in a manger, however it was not Christmas, so after a bit of hard negotiations in the dark and rain we found a room at an inn.

It was “God Mothers” and it was run by a lovely old lady. Showed us the room US$30.00 for the night, and we settled in. Went out for tea at the “God Mothers” and then went for a bit of a walk. It rained again….Not cold though. The roads became a river. The road almost immediately clears of Motorcycle riders, only to reappear shortly after as caped crusaders. Relatively early to bed, in a shared room, all 5 of us. What wasn’t immediately disclosed in the PDS was that just below the poorly shuttered window of the room was a revelation. It was not an Inn; it was an all night bar.
Oh well slept not all that good. It was too noisy, too bright, and possibly fleas, as evidenced by bites on Dad and I. we quickly went house hunting this morning, aroung oh, 0730, before people had even checked out. However this was a good move it seems as the number of people that we have come across seeking accommodation tonight was phenomenal. And being NY’sE, the owners can quite rightly charge what-ever they please.

We had a slow day once checked in to a new hotel, very clean very pleasant. We went to the Ben Than market in the centre of town. Just wandered around, purchased two fake Ralph Lauren tees for 250,000 Dong, bartered down from 400,000, works out to about $7US each and 2 fake LV wallets, for the same price, although I was ripped off, because the next vendor dropped his price to 100,000. although I’m sure he was just annoyed that I did not buy from him.

Quite afternoon, had dinner in a noodle bar. I learnt how to say “I’m vegetarian”....”Toi an Chay”…however the noodle bar catered for locals…not westerners… we were a HUGE source of amusement for the staff there as I’m sure we did everything incorrectly… dad asked how he was supposed to eat his meal!!!

Anyway

Went into the park this evening to watch the preliminary NYE celebrations, and I’m going to pack it in now…

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL, and it’s only 2230 here…I’m exhausted. 0230 at home, hope that you all have a wonderful NYE and a safe and happy 2009.

More later

Xin chou

P.S. i did get warned by a friendly local to "to take care of photo" meaning " watch out for your camera, there are people around" i thought that it might be nice of me to pass the message onto dad... well he didn't find it amusing...

i was just trying to do the right thing! :)

Good night!!!