Cu Chi Tunnels and Reunification Palace - 29th Jan

Today we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels 40km from Ho Chi Minh. Bonnie and Carolyn didn't come today so it was a private guided trip for me and Andy.

See the dog on the bike 

The tunnel network of Cu Chi became legendary during the 1960s for its role in facilitating the Viet Cong communists to control a large rural area kilometres away from Ho Chi Minh. When built there was 250km of tunnels over 3 levels where the Viet Cong would live, sleep, make weapons and fight from.

Demonstrating the size of the tunnels

Tunnel Entrance

The ingenuity of the Vietnamese was impressive. There were numerous nasty trap doors, booby traps with nails which were intended to injure rather than kill. Air vents to the tunnels were disguised as termite mounds and vents for cooking were dug a long distance from the actual kitchens and disguised under leaves. The tunnels were so thin that Americans couldn't squeeze through them and instead they had to bring in smaller Mexican soldiers to push through the tunnels. Any tunnels which were slightly larger led to underground traps. Sniffer dogs were used by the Americans to detect entrances but the Vietnamese would use pepper to make the dogs sneeze or they'd put American uniforms at the entrances so the dogs wouldn't detect any unusual smells.

Demonstrating the traps

Andy crawling through an enlarged tunnel

Andy and his guide through the tunnels - note how much smaller he is

As a result of the Americans being unable to find the tunnels the Cu Chi area became one of the most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated and generally devastated areas in the history of warfare. To this day vegetation in the area still doesn't grow well due to all the chemicals remaining in the ground.

On the way back we stopped at a field of gum trees which produce latex. Each day a small section of the bark is removed from the tree and the latex collected in a small pot. It was sad seeing the workers in the field with no protective hand gear or face masks handling this nasty chemical everyday.

Neer collecting latex

As always it was fun seeing all the different things people carried on their bikes

Spot the newly purchased fridge and freezer

Power cabling in the city

On the way back Neer offered to take us to the Reunification Palace where in April 1975 the republic of Vietnam ceased to exist. The Viet Cong tanks broke through the steel gates, unfurled the VC flag from the balcony of the palace and arrested General Minh (who'd only been head of State for 43 hours).

Reunification Palace

The palace is still preserved as it was then and we saw the upper floors with the presidential receiving room where the South Vietnamese president received foreign delegates. We also saw the Vice President's room and the basement which was used as the telecommunications centre and war rooms. There is also a secret tunnel which runs from the palace into the Chinese quarter of town but sadly it wasn't open to the public.

Afterwards Andy and I went to Quan An Ngon – a traditional Vietnamese restaurant which was recommended in the Lonely Planet. Fortunately we ordered the right thing as the couple next to us ordered a strange medley of dishes which they sent back for something else.

Lunch

After lunch we took a nice walk back through town to the hotel. It was a lovely sunny day and it was nice seeing all the preparations taking place for Chinese New Year. Back at the hotel we had a bit of a rest then Andy 'trigger' Chalmers decided to go off and take some 'more' photos. I stayed in the room as I was still pretty tired.

Anyone want a Pepsi?

Children had come to see the Chinese New Year decorations

In the evening we met up with Bonnie and Carolyn again and went to Huong Lai – another Lonely Planet recommended restaurant where the kitchen and waitstaff are disadvantaged or former street children who are given training, education and a place to live. The food was fantastic.

After dinner we went up to the bar at the top of the Rex Hotel in the centre of town. This wasn't Carolyn or Bonnie's scene and they decided to go for ice cream but Andy and I stayed enjoying a nice beer and good views.

Cheers

View from the bar

Halong Bay - 24th Jan

Today we were leaving Hanoi to travel to Halong Bay.This was a place I'd been particularly looking forward to as the boys on Top Gear had gone to Halong Bay as part of their Vietnamese road trip and it had looked amazing.

It was going to take us 4 hours to get there but it was great just people watching out of the minibus. Vietnam is so different to anywhere I've ever been to before. There are motorbikes everywhere, loads of little stalls and shops along the road and thin, tall houses because land tax is based on the size of land the house is on. The house fascias were all beautifully decorated but the sides and back were all plain concrete.

Travelling Gardening  Centre

Typical tall houses

After 2 hours driving we stopped for a toilet break at a designated rest stop, along with every other tourist bus on route to Halong Bay. The rest stop was at a centre which had been set up to support teenagers who'd been disabled through the hereditary effects of Agent Orange, a toxic herbicidewhich had been dropped by the Americans during the Vietnam war. When we walked in you could see all the teenagers sat at tables stitching tapestries. There was little interaction between themselves and not one of them looked at us. The centre was quite cold and they were all sat in coats. It was a strange place. As well as tapestries the centre sold clothes, ornaments, really expensive jewellery and some rather odd books. We were followed everywhere by a salesperson which got rather annoying.

New Zealanders - horse back carrying a surf board??

Two hours later we reached Halong Bay and were transferred onto a small boat to take us to the main boat which we'd be touring and stopping the night on. As soon as we got on board our companions complained that the main boat was too cold. Andy and I agreed it was cold but appreciated it was a cold day, we were on an old boat and Vietnam is not a rich country. The conversation between our companions and Dai got quite heated and so we went outside to take some pictures. In the end the boat had to phone head office to get special permission to have the heating on during the day but only in the cabins not in the main deck where the heater had been removed.

Our cabin

We were served a lavish lunch of 10 courses on board the boat. I particularly enjoyed being made to taste local dishes I wouldn't ordinarily have ordered and every course was delicious. We then spent some time cruising around some of the 3,000 islands on the way to some caves. Sadly the weather was quite overcast and so we didn't see Halong Bay for all it's glory but apparently clear days are very very rare and we were lucky it wasn't foggy.

Fishing Village

As we approached the caves there was a massive tanoy belting out a voice in Vietnamese telling the boats to look after the bay and not leave litter. Right by this was a small floating fishing village and I wondered how the residents coped living in the middle of nowhere yet having to listen to this same message being belted out over and over every day. I was however quite impressed with the ingenuity of the locals who rowed their small boats alongside ours offering drinks, food and souvenirs.

The caves were amazing – probably the biggest caves I've ever been to – but there were so many people there. We couldn't get over the number of tourists filing through the one way system of the caves and ended up taking more pictures of them than the cave itself. We were a little disappointed with Dai as we could see other tour leaders pointing out different features of the cave but Dai just told us what a stalactite and stalagmite were....and we'd already guessed that for ourselves.

After the cave we were taken to a beach which this time only had a small hand full of people on it. It was far too cold for a swim but Andy and I climbed a hill to get some great views of the bay.

Our boat

Dinner wasn't till 7pm so we enjoyed a beer on board and did some reading. Dinner was equally as good as lunch – 10 courses – all delicious. It was amazing to think the food had been prepared in such a tiny kitchen below deck.

After dinner there wasn't a great deal to do and it was a bit chilly on deck so we had an early night in our warm cabin.

Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) - 28th Jan

This morning we had an early start for our flight to Ho Chi Minh with the airport an hours drive away in Da Nang. Stupidly someone (me) got the flight time wrong and told everyone the flight was at 9.10am ...it was actually 9.40am so we had an extra 30 minutes to wait at the airport. Hey better to be early than late.

Instructions from the airport transfer bus

The flight took 1hr10mins. We landed, collected our bags and met our new guide 'Neer' who was a massive Chelsea fan and had even called his daughter Chelsea in support of his beloved club. We landed to brilliant sunshine and bright blue skies which made a really pleasing change.

We were pretty hungry by the time we boarded the mini bus and so first stop was lunch. We asked Neer for a local place to eat and he came up with the goods as we went to a great noodle cafe called Pho 2000.

Heading home for the weekend

Interflora

After lunch we headed to the War Remnants Museum dedicated to the Vietnam War. It included some quite graphical pictures depicting the brutality of war with pictures of villages on fire, Vietnamese being dragged behind American tanks, civilians running from their homes and pictures of people with deformities attributed to the American’s spraying of the herbicide Agent Orange. Outside there was a collection of American army tanks, planes and a Chinook.

Very dramatic imagery

After the museum we were taken on a guided walk past Notre Dame Cathedral. This was built between 1877 and 1883 by the French when they colonised Vietnam – you can see from the photo the similarity with Paris's very own Notre Dame.

Next to the cathedral was the French-style post office – the largest in Vietnam. Inside it had different phone booths which people could use to call through to specific countries with the name of the country listed on the door of the booth. The post office was architecturally impressive with a big glass dome and a large portrait of Ho Chi Minh.

Inside the Post Office

We were next taken to the Opera House and Ho Chi Minh square with a large statute of the man himself before heading to our hotel.

Ho Chi Minh Square

Our room in the hotel was a bit grotty and the door to the balcony didn't shut properly so we asked to be moved and were swapped from the 2^nd to the 10^th floor. We arranged to meet Carolyn and Bonnie for dinner at 6pm so had a bit of a rest before getting ready to go out.

Neer had given us a map with some recommended restaruants and we decided to head to the Barbeque Garden. All the tables had a gas barbecue in the middle and the idea was that you ordered and cooked your own food. Sadly we all got a bit muddled with what to order and whilst it was nicely marinated we didn't order enough to fill us up so after dinner we went to Fanny's ice-cream parlour for some really great ice cream.

On the way back to the hotel we spent ages just people watching. It was 10pm but the road outside our hotel was packed with people on bikes. It was amazing watching them all. For most people the motorbike is the main means of transport and we saw families of 4 sitting on the one bike, high chairs placed in front of the drivers and mothers carrying new born babies in a blanket on the back of the bikes. We were probably there for 10 mins just watching people.

Back in the hotel Carolyn and Bonnie headed to bed but we decided to have a final evening beer at the bar on the top of the hotel. It was nice sitting out, having a drink and looking out over Ho Chi Minh.

View from the hotel bar 

Ho Chi Minh was a complete contrast to the capital Hanoi. Not only was it warmer but it was much more modern with designer department stores, banks and sky scrapers and a lot more tourists. There was still however zillions of motorbikes and to cross the roads you step out, walk and hope for the best. We liked Ho Chi Minh a lot.

Hanoi - 23rd Jan

The guide had arranged to meet us this morning at 7.30am so it was an early start for breakfast. The view from the window of the breakfast room seemed rather bleak so we really weren't sure what to expect from Hanoi. We waited in the lobby for our guide Dai who finally turned up at 8.00am. We then met our other two companions for the trip – 2 Americans – Carolyn from Michigan and Bonnie from New York. Although a similar age they were travelling independently of each other and had only met the night before. It was a pretty chilly day and I had had to run upstairs for another layer before heading out.

View from the breakfast room

We jumped into the minibus and headed for our first stop Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. I have to confess that I hadn't properly read the itinerary before heading out for the day so when we were asked to stand in a queue I obliged not realising we were queueing to file past the embalmed corpse of Ho Chi Minh himself. He'd died in 1969 and they'd preserved his body for the last 40 years. Every year the mausoleum is closed for 3 months whilst his corpse is flown to Russia for maintenance. I'd never seen a dead body before and it was quite strange to see him. The guards were very strict and no bags were allowed, no shorts, hats had to be removed, no hands in pockets and no photos and no talking. Guards were placed 5 paces apart along the route to the room to ensure you properly conducted yourself as you filed past. The whole experience was over in a matter of a minute.

Next we were taken to the Presidential Palace and Ho Chi Minh's stilt house where he lived for 11 years until 1969. The rooms were all preserved as he'd have had them however the Guide Book questioned just how long he'd lived here as surely the place would have been bombed by the Americans if it had been his permanent residence. Regardless we dutifully filed past the room and past a peacock in a really tiny cage.

We then passed by the One Pillar Pagoda. This had been originally built in 1954 to resemble a lotus blossom which is considered the symbol of purity. The temple had been burnt down by the French in 1954 and has been rebuilt since.

Next was the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Dai left us to walk round ourselves but we struggled to get the purpose of the museum. The Vietnamese were intently reading articles but the translation for us wasn't great and to this day we're still not sure what the table of fruit was all about.

Next we filed back in the minibus and were taken to the Temple of Literature. This was the site of Vietnam's first university in 1076 to educate the sons of mandarins. The Temple has 82 stelae upon which the names, dates of birth and achievements of mandarins are listed who completed a doctrine between 1076 to 1484. They are all sitting on a tortoise which is considered a sacred animal symbolising longevity.

Dai had pre-booked a place for lunch. Bonnie and Carolyn had said they wanted local food and not a touristy place however when we got to the restaurant it was disappointing to see wine glasses and napkins. The food was good but we felt a bit ripped off as we'd have preferred to have gone to somewhere more simple where the Vietnamese ate. This was only further tempered when a bus load of Germans filed into the restaurant.

After lunch we were taken to the Hoa Lo Prison or 'Hanoi Hilton' as nicknamed by the US POW. The prison was first used by the French in 1896 to house Vietnamese revolutionists and then later to house American soldiers during the Vietnam war. John McCain was held here. The section dedicated to the French Revolution showed how cruel the French were to the Vietnamese prisoners who were kept shackled to a bed by one foot in a communal room so they couldn't stand up and walk about. Some were kept in solitary confinement and some were even beheaded. The section dedicated to the US POW was rife with propaganda. There were photos of prisoners smiling, playing snooker, volley ball, singing Christmas carols etc. The key message was all about how well they were treated by the Vietnamese however how much of this was true …..

Next on the itinerary was a cyclo ride around the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Bonnie was feeling unwell and Carolyn tired so they asked to be taken back to the hotel. Andy and I went on a cyclo each and wow what an experience. When Andy got in his cyclo the first question he was asked was what football team he supported. The driver was a Manchester United fan. In the cyclo I started laughing hysterically both through enjoyment and fear. The traffic in Hanoi was crazy with motorbikes everywhere. No one stops at junctions they just find a spot to file in onto the road and when I saw big dents in the side of the cyclo it just added to my hysteria. Dai our guide was somewhat more laid back as he fell asleep in his cyclo. On the cycle tour we spotted westerners walking around but they were few and far between.

In the afternoon we had a few hours free time and so we had a bit of a rest in the hotel before heading out for a walk around. There was a lot to taken in – many street stalls selling lanterns for the Chinese new year, no pavements with all the stands spreading out to the road, a lot of rubbish in the gutters, a mother holding her child over the gutter to poo into it, street stalls with people ordering pho (soup with rice noodles) – don't ask how they wash the dishes.

Crossing the road was an experience. There are zebra crossings but no one stops for you and the only way to cross is to step out into the road. You then don't stop but keep crossing – if you stop you confuse them.

Later that evening the itinerary included a Water Puppet Show. We sat there as the theatre filled up with all the other tours of westerners equally unsure about what to expect. The show included puppets in water who re-enacted 'vignettes' of different scenes or legends such as the harvest dance, and the coconut dance. You had to take it for what it was but I quite enjoyed it and the ability of the puppeteers was impressive.

After the show Dai dropped us off at a restaurant that Bonnie had been to before. It was very good and had a nice mix of Westerners but also Vietnamese. The food was tasty although I muddled the order and got a fish dish as well as the beef dish I wanted. After dinner we got a cab back to the hotel.

Overall being part of a tour was good. Logistically getting around Hanoi would be quite complicated without the minibus. We'd also packed a lot into the day and felt very safe at all times. The only frustrations were always being held to a time. In the Hanoi Hilton I felt a bit rushed and Dai didn't seem to want to share much information with us as he'd probably been there a 100 times before. Also outside the Water Puppet Show there was a lake which was beautifully lit up and it would have been nice to have taken a walk around it but the itinerary didn't allow for this if we wanted a lift to the restaurant.