the overnight bus to ho chi min/saigon wasn't too gruelling, remembering back, but the reason for this will become clearer as you read on. we had the good fortune of meeting thien on the journey, who gave us a lit of foods to try, places to visit and his email address. and thankfully the bus dropped us really close to the place we were staying. a quick wander around made it clear we were in tourist central, but found a great pho restaurant just on the edge of the area.
during our time in saigon we visited the cu chi tunnels, which the viet cong used to hide from the americans during the war. a very funny guide and some eye opening sights (plus a very claustrophobic visit to one of the tunnels) made the experience very memorable. i also had a wander around alone to visit the modern art gallery, which really isn't very good - sorry saigon - but also watched the sun go down from the bitexco financial tower skydeck- beautiful!
that evening we met with thien, who took us to an area of town where we were the only whiteys to be seen, and had - wait for it - amazing food!! a strange but enjoyable folded omelette with beansprouts and prawns inside, and an even stranger but enjoyable rice flour and fish dish.
the next morning i headed to the mekong delta on a day trip that cost $7 - the tunnels trip was 4! - while emma met with thien again for breakfast. she then headed to da lat to find us a cheap place to stay. so i visited a coconut candy making place, where i also saw group making rice paper, a riverside village and took a smaller boat up the narrower waterways. oh, i also had my finger shoved into a honeycomb covered with bees - pretty scarey but escaped being stung, and the honey was incredible!
on arriving back to saigon i caught a bus to da lat to meet with emma. my bus was cancelled so i had to wait another hour for the next one, meaning i got to da lat at 2am.thankfully he was waiting for me at the bus station, with all the local homeless people it seemed.we caught a taxi into town, giving a lift to another traveller - eric from seattle.
the hotel we were in hired scooters soo we got one of those bad boys the next day and headed to a mountain range called liangbang, where we hiked up the first part and had lunch in a tiny little cafe/restaurant run by some locals (and i recorded a rope bridge with contact mics), and then on to datanla, one of the waterfalls to the south of da lat. in the evening we met up with larry, a guy from los angeles that emma had travelled with to da lat. we also managed to catch up with eric once again, hiring scooters then next day and visiting various temples and a gorgeous lake, before getting a bus to danang.
this was a bus journey of around 14 hours, with very little leg room and no space for rucksacks so didn't get much sleep on that one! and when we left the bus, we were supposed to have a shuttle service to our hotel, but the guy took one look at the address and told us to get a taxi! when we did get to the hotel, it was actually rather pleasant, and a stone's throw from a gorgeous - and empty - sandy beach. i'm not a beach person, but it was really nice to go and swim in the warmest sea i have ever been in and sit with a cold beer in the sun.we could only manage a short time however as it was sooo hot. after a siesta we went out around 6 to get some food and the beach was absolutely full of people and scooters everywhere!
escaping danang the next day on a scooter - where we were was practically a building site surrounding the street we were on -we saw the caves and pagodas of the marble mountains which were amazing, nd then to where everyone else seemed to go, hoi an. this is a nicer looking town than where we were staying in danang, but the beach nearby was nowhere near as nice.
catching a bus to hue in the morning meant we were there by lunchtime, so took a wander around the citadel, which was fun as the map we had didn't cover that part of hue! i think itwas in hue that i had my first western food of the trip - burger and fries - and it was gorgeous! i realise i haven't mentioned the food too much until now - but i think it's because pretty much everything i have had in vietnam has been great, and i'd have a hard time singling out the best meals! one was a fresh grilled fish in danang, in a crazy big outdoor place where all the locals were having family meals or getting drunk!
the following day, the 17th, we hired a scooter once more and visited ming mang tombs. now up until this point i also haven't mentioned how pretty much everyone who offers to help you here then expects some money in return. ladies will show you around a cave or a temple and then hold their handout or just ask for money - and will tell you if it's not enough!on the way to ming mang a lady stopped to help us and then tried to lead us to her village rather than the tomb! it was weird!
and while we were at the tombs we parked up next to a small cafe, so felt we should buy a drink when we returned to the scooter. when asking how much it was we were told a coffee and a sugar cane drink cost 90,000 vnd - $4.50 or £3. seems cheap right? well you normally pay around 20,000 vnd for a coffee so no, not really cheap for here...we then discovered our front tyre had a puncture and so at one point it looked like we would be pushing the scooter 11km back to hue!! thankfully one of the locals stopped and took emma to the nearest village where she waited for me to arrive and we had the tube repaired. phew!
we then decided to go ino the citadel once more for lunch, before catching our bus to hanoi. now remember i said our map didn't cover the citadel? well after eating we tried to head out the way we knew, but couldn't because of a one way system. cutting a long story short, we drove blindly around and around the citadel, trying to find away out even, and eventually asking at 3 gas stations, finally escaping and arriving at our hotel with 15 mutes to spare before the bus arrived!!!
this was another14 hour journey, so we'd booked on a sleeper bus but we found our seats had been taken and the people in them wouldn't move, so we were at the back, right by the engine, and the seats are inclined at an angle with your feet beneath the person in front, and this wasn't big enough to put your feet in! basically one of the most uncomfortable journeys so far - and then we had a further 4hourson an overcrowded minbus to halong bay when we arrived in hanoi.
while in halong bay, which is gorgeous, we stayed on a boat. here we hung out with other tourists and were taken - en masse- to some caves and a floating village, then headed out to drop anchor in amongst the rocks. i won't dwell on negatives regarding this part, but there was once again the feeling that you were being ripped off all the time...
back to hanoi for a couple of lazy days before emma sets off home - and when she let i headed to atk where i will be performing on sunday evening, meeting dougie who runs the place,and trinh, a local musician whose music i am listening to right now on soundcloud - very nice! a couple of beers and some sticky rice wine and i was ready for bed, so headed back to the hotel. as i neared the place three girls rode by on a scooter, then stopped and two got off to offer me a few favours for money - i think you know what i mean. now i am still polite even when telling hookers to leave me alone, but did not realise as one was talking, the other had found a front pocket in my bag and stolen my phone!!
thankfully it was an old one i was traveling withso my current one didn'tget swiped, but of course i then had to report the theft to orange and get the sim card blocked - at 1am - after beer and sticky rice wine. all done though, and even found i have stored all my contacts on my current phone's memory card so although annoying, not a great loss...
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