we got into saigon after a six hour bus ride from pnomh penh, made bearable by 'universal soldier' - i thought that seeing it was based around the vietnam war it was mildly inappropriate, but hey i enjoyed it anyway. as we got out of the bus we got herded into a taxi and got taken a roundabout way to our hotel and then charged 500,000 dong for the trip. we had no idea what the exchange rate was but when we worked it out it was $30 US! what a nice start to saigon.we booked a city tour the next day and went to the war remnants museum. there was an awesome photography exhibition, focusing on the media correspondants. it was really interesting to see the vietnamese side of the war, even if it was a little biased. after the museum we went to a temple and a church, but couldnt get in to the reunification palace as it was closed.
the next day we headed to cu chi tunnels, which were definately a highlight of saigon. we saw how tiny the entrances were; jess could barely fit down there! we also got to walk through a section of the tunnel that had been widened to accomodate tourists and it was still small. jess walked the entire lenght (about 120m) but gael, ross and i piked at around 40m. we waited for jess at the end, and saw a bat fly in to the tunnel. it turns out it flew straight into her face. scary! we also watched a video about how the brave inhabitants of cu chi village won the war. again, it might have been a little biased...
i didnt like saigon as much as i thought i would. i was looking forward to a big bustling city and thats certainly what we got, but it was a rude city, where everyone was trying to rip you off and take your money. we were looking forward to going up the coast, and the next stop was nha trang.
as we drove into town the scenery was stunning. there were mountains that disappeared into the clouds, and cliffs dropping in to the bay. the weather was pretty bad, but that kind of added to the mystical-ness of the whole place. we got to our hotel and were greeted by lovely staff. they booked us on a four island boat trip the next day.
the weather wasnt looking promising for the boat trip, but we set off anyway. the skipper said it might be cut a little short - three islands instead of four. the first stop was an aquarium in the shape of a ship. the exterior was probably the most exciting thing about it, and jess was particularly excited that you got to walk through a lionfish. the next stop was a beautiful bay on the other side of the bay. the weather was a lot nicer, and i even got up the nerve to jump in. jess followed and we enjoyed it for a few minutes before jess talked to a girl with goggles who could see hundreds of jelly fish surrounding us! we couldnt get back to the boat fast enough. we only got stung a couple of times. we were told we were going to a floating restaurant, which turned out to be the boat we were on. the food was ok, but the whole boat was a little grimy so we avoided most of it. ross, gael, jess and i escaped to the roof of the boat before they started karaoke (even though jess said that she would be totally awesome at it but didnt want to show off) and we listened to everyone murdering 'sweet child of mine'.
we were also promised a stop at a 'floating bar', which turned out to be the crazy skipper (now quite drunk) jumping into the ocean with a grimy piece of styrofoam with a table cloth and a vase with plastic flowers in it glued on. everyone then was told to jump in (we were still hidden on the roof) and have some cheap nasty wine/sea water. he had six bottles and refused to go anywhere else until it was all gone. most of the wine ended up in his stomach - straight from the bottle - despite the gallant efforts of a few brave english guys avoiding the jelly fish. it was a fun day, considering it was NOTHING like what we expected and we only visited two islands instead of four.
the next place we wanted to go was called Hoi An. its an ancient city that is part of the UNESCO world heritage listing, which meant that we could only get there by bus. we booked some tickets and found out that it would be an overnight bus. this will be interesting i thought. we got on the weirdest bus i have ever seen! it had these sort of bunk beds, and if you were on the bottom you basically were on the floor, but in this little pod. i knew there would be a problem for ross when my feet touched the end quite easily.. when the bus took off and we were fairly sure no one else was coming on, we went to the seats at teh back, which were basically 5 seat-beds in a row, but with no feet restrictions. everyone else though it was better but still damn uncomfortable, but i loved it! its was so cosy and it felt like a wicked little cubby! i thought it was also awesome that every bump we went over - and there were A LOT - we all got lifted two feet off the bed and then thrown back down. no one else thought this was fun... weird, i know.
the one thing that i didnt like along with everyone else was that the toilet was bolted shut, and the sign said 'to please make your journey pleasant, to not use the toilet for no smell' or something very similar.. this was going to be a VERY long 11 hours.. by about 2 hours in, everyone was about to wet their pants, and everyone asked to stop. the bus driver said we would in 10 minutes. three hours later, we stopped. i do not know how i held, every bump felt like someone punching my bladder. the toilet we stopped at was worse that my worst nightmare of a toilet, but i was so glad to see it i nearly cried. everyone got back on the bus looking very, very satisfied. Hoi An turned out to be really nice. very beautiful, and we tried to make the most of our short time there. we then got a short bus ride to Hue, which was a largish city, but not too crowded. we went to the citadel, which is an ancient imperial city that is basically a lot of ruins. we were able to walk through them, which was really cool. the next day we headed to hanoi by plane (which, thankfully, had a toilet) because we were running out of time fast!
we decided to escape the chaos of hanoi and headed out to halong bay for a day trip. you know those places that everyone talks about and says you have to go there and you think they're going to be overrated? well halong bay was so not overrated. it was absolutely amazing. we got an awesome lunch on the boat and all sat in silence as we passed the first islands. it was spectacular. we got to go kayaking and went into this grotto that the boat couldnt fit through, and there was only our kayak, gael and ross' kayak and one other in the bay. it was magic. we headed back to the boat for some more island sight seeing before heading to a cave. it might not have been as spectacular as some that we have in WA, but our caves certainly couldnt compete in the disco department. there were neon lights EVERYWHERE!! there were lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and giggles from the gaggle of japanese tourists in front of us.
i need to tell you about anges incident at the caves. basically, i was walking along, minding my own business, when i heard a slight "agh!" followed by a rumbling sound. the rumbling sound was ange falling very fast and very awkwardly towards me down a big flight of stairs (i found out after that she looked so awkward because she was trying to save the camera..) i went "ange!" and, of course, saved the day by catching her head right before it smashed into a rock. i dont want to brag or anything.. a medal would be enough..
it wasnt that bad. it was totally a controlled fall and i knew what i was doing. i would have been fine without the head catch. whatever.
we headed back to hanoi and had a final dinner with ross before he left for the airport at six the next morning. we spent the day wandering around eating icecream and drinking coffee; we didnt want to do any more tours!
the next day we headed to cu chi tunnels, which were definately a highlight of saigon. we saw how tiny the entrances were; jess could barely fit down there! we also got to walk through a section of the tunnel that had been widened to accomodate tourists and it was still small. jess walked the entire lenght (about 120m) but gael, ross and i piked at around 40m. we waited for jess at the end, and saw a bat fly in to the tunnel. it turns out it flew straight into her face. scary! we also watched a video about how the brave inhabitants of cu chi village won the war. again, it might have been a little biased...i didnt like saigon as much as i thought i would. i was looking forward to a big bustling city and thats certainly what we got, but it was a rude city, where everyone was trying to rip you off and take your money. we were looking forward to going up the coast, and the next stop was nha trang.
as we drove into town the scenery was stunning. there were mountains that disappeared into the clouds, and cliffs dropping in to the bay. the weather was pretty bad, but that kind of added to the mystical-ness of the whole place. we got to our hotel and were greeted by lovely staff. they booked us on a four island boat trip the next day.
the weather wasnt looking promising for the boat trip, but we set off anyway. the skipper said it might be cut a little short - three islands instead of four. the first stop was an aquarium in the shape of a ship. the exterior was probably the most exciting thing about it, and jess was particularly excited that you got to walk through a lionfish. the next stop was a beautiful bay on the other side of the bay. the weather was a lot nicer, and i even got up the nerve to jump in. jess followed and we enjoyed it for a few minutes before jess talked to a girl with goggles who could see hundreds of jelly fish surrounding us! we couldnt get back to the boat fast enough. we only got stung a couple of times. we were told we were going to a floating restaurant, which turned out to be the boat we were on. the food was ok, but the whole boat was a little grimy so we avoided most of it. ross, gael, jess and i escaped to the roof of the boat before they started karaoke (even though jess said that she would be totally awesome at it but didnt want to show off) and we listened to everyone murdering 'sweet child of mine'.
we were also promised a stop at a 'floating bar', which turned out to be the crazy skipper (now quite drunk) jumping into the ocean with a grimy piece of styrofoam with a table cloth and a vase with plastic flowers in it glued on. everyone then was told to jump in (we were still hidden on the roof) and have some cheap nasty wine/sea water. he had six bottles and refused to go anywhere else until it was all gone. most of the wine ended up in his stomach - straight from the bottle - despite the gallant efforts of a few brave english guys avoiding the jelly fish. it was a fun day, considering it was NOTHING like what we expected and we only visited two islands instead of four.
the next place we wanted to go was called Hoi An. its an ancient city that is part of the UNESCO world heritage listing, which meant that we could only get there by bus. we booked some tickets and found out that it would be an overnight bus. this will be interesting i thought. we got on the weirdest bus i have ever seen! it had these sort of bunk beds, and if you were on the bottom you basically were on the floor, but in this little pod. i knew there would be a problem for ross when my feet touched the end quite easily.. when the bus took off and we were fairly sure no one else was coming on, we went to the seats at teh back, which were basically 5 seat-beds in a row, but with no feet restrictions. everyone else though it was better but still damn uncomfortable, but i loved it! its was so cosy and it felt like a wicked little cubby! i thought it was also awesome that every bump we went over - and there were A LOT - we all got lifted two feet off the bed and then thrown back down. no one else thought this was fun... weird, i know.
the one thing that i didnt like along with everyone else was that the toilet was bolted shut, and the sign said 'to please make your journey pleasant, to not use the toilet for no smell' or something very similar.. this was going to be a VERY long 11 hours.. by about 2 hours in, everyone was about to wet their pants, and everyone asked to stop. the bus driver said we would in 10 minutes. three hours later, we stopped. i do not know how i held, every bump felt like someone punching my bladder. the toilet we stopped at was worse that my worst nightmare of a toilet, but i was so glad to see it i nearly cried. everyone got back on the bus looking very, very satisfied. Hoi An turned out to be really nice. very beautiful, and we tried to make the most of our short time there. we then got a short bus ride to Hue, which was a largish city, but not too crowded. we went to the citadel, which is an ancient imperial city that is basically a lot of ruins. we were able to walk through them, which was really cool. the next day we headed to hanoi by plane (which, thankfully, had a toilet) because we were running out of time fast!
we decided to escape the chaos of hanoi and headed out to halong bay for a day trip. you know those places that everyone talks about and says you have to go there and you think they're going to be overrated? well halong bay was so not overrated. it was absolutely amazing. we got an awesome lunch on the boat and all sat in silence as we passed the first islands. it was spectacular. we got to go kayaking and went into this grotto that the boat couldnt fit through, and there was only our kayak, gael and ross' kayak and one other in the bay. it was magic. we headed back to the boat for some more island sight seeing before heading to a cave. it might not have been as spectacular as some that we have in WA, but our caves certainly couldnt compete in the disco department. there were neon lights EVERYWHERE!! there were lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and giggles from the gaggle of japanese tourists in front of us.
i need to tell you about anges incident at the caves. basically, i was walking along, minding my own business, when i heard a slight "agh!" followed by a rumbling sound. the rumbling sound was ange falling very fast and very awkwardly towards me down a big flight of stairs (i found out after that she looked so awkward because she was trying to save the camera..) i went "ange!" and, of course, saved the day by catching her head right before it smashed into a rock. i dont want to brag or anything.. a medal would be enough..
it wasnt that bad. it was totally a controlled fall and i knew what i was doing. i would have been fine without the head catch. whatever.we headed back to hanoi and had a final dinner with ross before he left for the airport at six the next morning. we spent the day wandering around eating icecream and drinking coffee; we didnt want to do any more tours!
2 comments:
hi guys
sounds like lots of fun I have had a good laugh reading this blog. Ange I reckon Jess is right (of course I'm not biased) she did save you you would have looked very fu nny with no head at all so she obviously saved the day and the camera.
Went to Angove street festival yesterday sooo busy Lorena would have made a killing. They also had swing dancers not as good as you two but failry good.
having Kristian's b'day here and he wants takeaways as he is hanging out for flying taco go figure keep having fun tell gael not to miss ross too much love to all x x x
karen - i saved the camera. that is all. ange
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