Before we went to Cambodia we were warned that the locals basically view you as a walking ATM and while there were plenty of booksellers and beggars etc we didn’t think it was really any different from Thailand in that respect.  Vietnam on the other hand was really where the walking ATM analogy should be used.

The hotels, travel agents, tour guides, book sellers, taxi drivers all wanted more.  “You are rich.. you can afford more.. so you give me more!”  That was the attitude everywhere we went – irrespective of whether the service or whatever we were paying for was up to scratch or overpriced by local standards etc etc.  It got really painful after a while and after our Halong Bay cruise, where we got well and truly sick of it, we were really looking forward to leaving for China.

Saying that though, we did enjoy our time in NhaTrang, Dalat and HoiAn and the Mekong Delta was well worth the trip.

Favourite thing we did:

Paul – Cruise to the floating markets on the Mekong
Amanda – VinPearl Land, Nha Trang
Caitlin – Riding motorbikes on Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay
Georgie – VinPearl
Ashlea – VinPearl
Michael – VinPearl

Favourite Place:

Paul – Dalat
Amanda – NhaTrang
Caitlin – Dalat
Georgie – Dalat
Ashlea – NhaTrang
Michael – NhaTrang

Favourite Food:

Paul - Fried squid in butter at the Rainbow Cafe, Hanoi
 Amanda – Crispy pork at the Kangaroo Cafe, Hanoi
Caitlin – Spaghetti Bolognese at Hot Tuna Cafe, Hue
Georgie – Crispy pork at the Kangaroo Cafe, Hanoi
Ashlea – Tuna sushi at Louisiane Brewhouse, NhaTrang
Michael – Creamy chicken penne at Little Italy, Hanoi

Thing we disliked most:

Paul – Halong Bay junk cruise
Amanda – Halong Bay junk cruise
Caitlin – Halong Bay junk cruise
Georgie – Halong Bay junk cruise
Ashlea – Halong Bay junk cruise
Michael – Halong Bay junk cruise

Unfortunately, I think the sheer numbers of tourists means that the boat operators pretty much get away with whatever they want and once you are on board there  is nothing you can do about it.  Our boat was ok but certainly not what we were promised – the service was non-existent and the food barely average.  The weather was also against us – for our whole time in Hanoi it has been misty, cold and overcast and so the famous karsts of Halong Bay were pretty much hidden.  The kids however were telling us they thought  it looked like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean which certainly gave it a mysterious, eerie quality!

Oh well, cruise done…  Now we’re back in Hanoi waiting for our Chinese visas. 

(Just a note about Chinese visas – anyone planning on travelling through Vietnam into China – you cannot apply for your visas at the embassay in Hanoi.  You can use a travel agent and pay a little extra in commission or apply in Saigon – allow 6 working days).

I mentioned uneventful, well everyone else appeared to have a good nights sleep, while for some reason, I found myself wide awake at two in the morning, only to see a truck that had just overturned, with people crowded all around. Next we go past the other vehicle involved, which looked like a minibus with its front all smashed in – suddenly I’m even less likely to sleep!

I looked back at my family, they were all sleeping peacefully at the back of the bus, and again like a few times on this trip, I heard the voice in my head saying, you shoudn’t be doing this trip, its too dangerous – followed up by the voice saying, you shouldnt be doing this, you should be at home working like everybody else.   I write this, not to sound kooky, but to let other readers know, especially those people planning a trip like this, not to let anyone or anything rob you of the dreams that are placed inside of you.  

The bus dropped us off at the outskirts of the city, this happened in Saigon as well. So we then got  a taxi to The Old Quarter of town.   Hanoi is a very old city, this year it is celebrating its 1000th year. The site where Hanoi stands today has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, and it was in AD 1010, that the then Emperor moved his capital here.

The weather in Hue was really hot and humid but Hanoi dropped to about 15C and very misty and overcast – time to dig out our jackets.

 We have based ourselves in the Old Quarter of town (OQ), this area is the heart of the city, it is made up of about 50 streets, with the majority of them having their name begining with – Hang – meaning Merchandise, followed by the name of the product that was traditionally sold there, our Hotel is on Hang Hanh – meaning Onions were once sold here.

We are having  a bit of a recharge here, before we head to China, but we have still managed to tick off the highlights.  We have walked around most of the OQ – meandering through little alley ways (avoiding those crazy motorbikes who like to speed down crowded alleys and up on the footpath).

One of the recommended tourist attractions here is the Water Puppet Theatre.  This is apparently an age old traditional stemming from using wooden puppets in the rice paddies.   Unfortunately, we thought it was a bit of a tourist rort.

The other big tourist attraction here is to visit the mausoleum of  Ho Chi Minh (HCM) – the founder of Vietnamese communist ideology.  I have to say this really was the most bizarre thing we have done so far.

Uncle Ho didn’t live to see the “liberation” (aka the fall) of Saigon – he died in 1969 and contrary to his request for a simple cremation, his frail, pale body has been embalmed and on display in this massive building purpose built for the people to forever revere him. 

Apparently for the Vietnamese, it is something of a pilgrimage. Visiting HCM was more like going to an international airport, first there was the bag search,  followed by the baggage scanner and walking through the metal detecters.  Then we had to hand over all cameras and “electronic instruments” but could keep my Iphone(!).  

Next we had to form two straight lines which went for about a km (the lines have to be straight or the soldiers who line the route blow whistles and yell at you to get orderly!).  When we finally reached the mausoleum complex, we were all ushered to keep quiet- the couple in front of us were told off for talking and another was told to take his hands out of his pockets!

HCM’s body is located deep inside the building, set in a glass case – surrounded by a number of soldiers.  He looks a bit like the sensai in Karate Kid!  It really was bizarre and apparently you can do the same thing in Beijing and visit Mao.  Looking forward to that!

Hoi An also has it’s own World Heritage listed “Old Town”.  Apparently, both sides agreed in the war to not destroy Hoi An and it is largely intact of its French townhouses and also the original ancient Chinese architecture.  At night, motorbikes and cars are banned from the Old Town which is a massive relief.  All the streets are lit up with lanterns and you can walk up and down the alleyways relatively unhindered (except for the shopowners who continually yell out to you “Madame! Madame! You buy something!”)

Danang is the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam and is in between HoiAn and Hue (pron. Hway).  We drove there to check out the scenery along the way from HoiAn before we caught the train to Hue.  The section of China Beach at Danang is where GI’s came to take R&R during the war and it must have been great then when it was under developed.  It  is a beautiful section of beach now and is quickly being bought up by the likes of Sheraton etc for massive beach resorts and there is very little public beach left.

Getting on the train to Hue was another of those funny stories which by now are probably not that funny.  Mainly because nobody spoke English – we knew we had to get to platform 2 but couldn’t work out how to get there.  The train guard got so frustrated with me that she grabbed my wrist  and pushed me onto the train, yelling at me the whole time.  It turns out we had to walk through the train on platform 1 and onto the tracks to then climb into our train (platform 2 is not a platform!!)  The train was hot and grotty and we were pretty fired up after trying to find the right train – attitudes were in need of check I can tell you!  After a couple of Riverview podcasts and a shower, we were sort of back on track – but we all agreed that Vietnam was definately taking its toll!

Hue was the original empirical capital of Vietnam and as such was the site of it’s own Forbidden City and Citadel.  Unfortunately, during both the French and American wars, the sites of the Emperor’s palace and complex were largely destroyed (as was most of Hue).  It appears the government has only recently started to renovate the old buildings.  It must have been very impressive in its day and it is very sad to see it in the state it is today.

For those of you who want to revisit your China Beach memories click here!

Otherwise, it’s pretty much like most other beaches we’ve been to in Asia.  It’s fairly sheltered so there are no waves and the water is nice and warm.  Although we didn’t swim much here because we found this great place called the Louisiane Brewhouse.   It’s a microbrewery with a fullscale menu of their own beer, variety of different international food, including sushi and cocktails etc.  If you buy something off the menu, you can use their pool and lounge around on the sunbeds.  Why sit in the sand when you can swim and sip sand free I say!  BTW the sushi was just divine!

So we spent a couple of days lolling about and the one day at Vinpearl.  Truly the strangest theme parks I’ve ever been to.  The one ticket included the cable car ride to the island (ie the longest over sea cable car in the world at 3km), all the outdoor rides, all indoor games (like a giant Timezone), 4D movie theatre, Underwater Aquarium, Sound & Light Show and also the WaterPark.  All six of us went for about $85! 

This, of course, wasn’t the strange part – that was in the fact that there were so few people there.  We are still wondering how they can afford to keep it open.  The kids went on the rollercoaster and stayed on – there was no need to get off as there was no else lining up to get on!  It was quite a difference from Australia, particularly at the water park where you would normally have to line up for ages for each ride.  We all had a great time.

…You sit in your two seater donut and the thrill ride begins! you’re almost flying off the ramp, (make sure you don’t have your butt touching the ground when your doing this ride - IT WILL HURT.)  After the Tsunami we went to the toilet bowl!. Me, Caity, Boodle and Daddy went on it. But when we got to the top we started to question if we really were going to do it…Caity went first to show everyone how to do it, then Boodle, then ME! Only  to find that this ride really hurts. After that we went on the family slide again and we went on it 3 more times. Then it started getting late so we went and saw a water light show…..     by Georgie

…Then we went to a place were you sit down and music starts playing and water comes out to the beat. Then we went to go on the cable car but the line was huge so we went back to the indoor games where we went on the bumper cars again and we played racing cars ect. Then we went and stood in the line for the 8 minute long cable car, & we finally got back to our hotel…     by Ashlea

…I had Fun! But when we had to go  back on the cable car it was scary because the lights started turning off and the music was cutting out…     by Michael

Unfortunately, our coach driver  – and I mean coach, not a little minibus – thought he was driving a minibus and drove up the mountain “path” at full bore.  Typically beeping his horn madly to warn anyone stupid enough to be coming from the other direction that he was coming through!   I guess this wasn’t anything we hadn’t previously experienced, until the road became more like a one lane track through rock falls and road works – including over rocks.  The sheer drop from the side of the road down the mountain was enough to make most of us close our eyes and pray to God that Dalat was just around the next bend.

Needless, to say there are no cute photos or funny video of this drive as I was too busy hanging on!  We did take some photos when we left Dalat going down the mountain – not quite as hair-raising as the driver was a little more conservative.  Check out the state of those roads on our Flickr photos.

So we did arrive in Dalat – as I mentioned, Dalat has a bit of an identity crisis.  There’s an Eiffel Tower and the cathedral is called Notre Dame.  The houses all have pitched roofs (for the snow to fall off???) and there’s even a cable car. 

The locals were still zooming past on their motorbikes and bicycles. Apparently it’s winter here and they all had fur lined coats, gloves, woolly hats etc etc.  We didn’t get the memo – we were still wearing shorts and boiling!  It’s a great place to buy winter coats and jumpers – the markets are full of all that sort of stuff for quite reasonable prices.

Dalat is well know for its market gardens and the food is very good.  Our guesthouse also supplied some of the famous Dalat strawberry jam for breakfast.  It’s a lot thicker and stickier than we’re used to but full of whole strawberries and very tasty.

It was a pleasant change from the buzz of the city and we had a nice couple of days here.  We also met another travelling family – this time with an Aussie connection – Mick from Brisbane and his German wife Tina with their 2 kids Skye and Jamie – aged 5 and 2.  I have put in a link to their website – check it out.

For starters, footpaths are used for parking your bike on.  They are also used for when the traffic is not going fast enough or you need to go the opposite way so you just ride down the footpath.  At the normal speed of course.  It’s incredibly dangerous.

When you cross the road you have to use a certain method I like to call the en masse and pray, ie, get in a group and pray the whole way that they will in fact drive around you.  Traffic lights are merely a suggestion, so you have to be able to walk out into the traffic if you want to cross – there is no such thing as a break.  We’re getting pretty good at it now and having 6 of us makes a big enough group to be really obvious.

Unfortunately, we have had a few run ins with taxi drivers and cyclo riders in Saigon.  They agree on a price but then when you get out they demand more.  When we ask them – what happened to the agreed price and Paul tries to give them that, they get angry and throw the money back at you.  After a couple of times of trying to get them to take the money, they get even more huffy and drive off!  So we’ve had a couple of free rides but it didn’t add anything to our opinion of the Vietnamese.

Before we’d even got off the boat, we had already been influenced because we had booked a tour into the Mekong Delta.  After travelling for half the day, the tour lady came and said to us that our tour wasn’t running anymore.  It seemed very dodgy and when we  complained and wanted the remainder of our money back she told us that Vietnam was open to anyone and we didn’t have to come here – if we don’t like it we could always leave!!  Not sure how she would make any money but she certainly wasn’t the poster girl for Vietnamese tourism!!

We did a couple of excursions to the Reunification Palace (basically Parliament House for the South Vietnamese before the North  drove a tank through the gate to mark the fall of Saigon) and also to the War Remnants Museum (previously known as the Museum of American War Crimes).   They may have changed the name but the content was the same – graphic details of every nasty thing the Americans did during the war, including nice photos of napalm victims and deformed agent orange babies preserved in a tank.  If nothing else, a gruesome exhibition of the horror and senselessness of war but of course terribly propogandist  and one-sided (at least I hope so…)

Here’s a couple of videos of the traffic.  The second one was a bit scary when we were riding through a roundabout full of bikes at a snail’s pace on cyclos!

The kids are so not into this whole dawn thing – Angkor Wat was bad enough, but getting into a little boat to see what?  People selling fruit?  Oh COME ON!!

They have become addicted to cable tv and their only pre-requisite for our accommodation is that it must have cable – preferably Disney Channel.  We shake our heads and hope that something of what we have seen or experienced, especially in Cambodia is sinking in.

Anyway, back to those people selling fruit – it was quite a pleasant cruise and yes we saw the people who live and work out of their boats.  Some were absolutely packed to the brim with fruit or veges.

We also went down some of the more narrow canals to see the people who live along the banks and some rice fields.  We had come specifically to CanTho to do this and it was well worth while.

The vehicle itself was new and in good condition and designed to seat 15 including the driver.  We piled in with the driver and 18 other people plus a little baby that one lady was holding.  Several people shared seats without backs and 2 guys stood up for most of the way – 4 hours..

Paul has had a few problemswith minibuses so far, as he suffers from claustrophobia and being locked in the back of one of these, stuffed full of people and a lot of the time the windows are sealed shut – he can’t do it, so he normally sits in the front with the driver.  In this case, it turned out to be a mistake because he was right there for all the action when Mr K got into gear!  I could hear him (I was in the very back row with the girls) telling the driver to slow down and that he was being crazy.  The rest of the passengers were Vietnamese and they were laughing- the lady in front of me turned around and said “I think your husband scared!”

We were all scared!  Mr K was attempting to drive the usual minimum speed of  100km + an hour, but in quite heavy traffic.  He would counteract that by braking hard and swerving wildly around motorbikes and slower trucks, with naturally one hand on the horn and the other to his ear on his mobile phone. 

I tried to take some video so I could share this thrill ride with you but it was pretty hard because we were lurching around so much.  Hopefully you’ll get the idea.