Vietnam

Trying to work out what we need to update you on, funny stuff happens everyday around here!!

We left Nha Trang on the "definately comfortable / air conditioned" bus according to the bus company. The story is, we bought an open ticket from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi with about five stops in between. It is on the tourist trail but good value for backpackers. You don't have to confirm your ticket until 24 hours beforehand and so far we haven't had any trouble getting on the buses. . . .that is because they suck!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only aircon bus we have had was from HCMC to Mui Ni which honestly feels like 3 years ago. The last four buses have been filthy with no aircon even though each booking office swears the buses are air conditioned. It has turned into an obsession for both of us now and we want aircon even if it is minus 10 degrees outside and snowing. . We don't care, we'll rug up. . you said there would be aircon dammit. . .

The trip to Hoi An was ok (we have done worse) - no aircon, have we already mentioned that? They dropped us off at the tour company hotel which was lovely. One of the reps got on the bus and said they have rooms from $10 - 15 dollars available. We drag our crap off the bus and we are first at reception only to find out that there are no $10 rooms available. We get mad, leave and start strolling the streets at six in the morning, backpacks in tow looking for a place to stay. We were tired and pissed off!! We went into the place next door - he said the room was $10 with aircon. Great - Adam checked the room and the aircon (it worked!!) - all good. We lug our stuff up three flights of stairs - no aircon. Adam asks at reception and the bloke says that aircon costs $12. The whole thing was a trick and I bet 9 times out of 10 most people just stay there anyway. Not us, we are sick of it - we walk down three flights of stairs with our backpacks, dump the key at the desk, tell the other foreigners at reception not to stay there and walk out. We hit the streets again, we get dragged around to look at crappy rooms by random touts and then finally we find a great place in the centre of town for $9 AND THERE WAS AIRCON!!!

Hoi An is the place to get tailoring done but due to limited space we said, and I quote "We can't really buy anything. Even if it is cheap, we don't really have the room." One dress, one shirt, one pair of pants and two jackets later we are scratching our heads wondering how we are going to fit it all in. The town is very old and untouched by the Vietnam War. The buildings are beautiful and the town is quaint and uncrowded. The shopping was better than Chadstone and it nearly killed us not being able to buy paintings and other bits and pieces. We hired old bikes and rode down to the beach which was about 7kms away. The path wound its way through a small rural community with rice paddies and palms - just gorgeous, we loved it. We were very sad to say goodbye to Hoi An, probably our favourite place so far.

The next stop was Hue - no aircon just for the record. Hue is a relatively nice town and the last major town before North Vietnam proper. The usual thing happened - we get off the bus and people try and drag us into their hotel. We found a good place close to everything but for some reason we both felt quite uncomfortable. We wandered around the city, saw the citadel (which was severely damaged during the war) and then a fight in the streets involving about ten people. Nice one. The next day, we went on a half day tour to the DMZ and the Vinh Moc tunnels which was pretty cool. Of course, I fell off an incredibly huge step (would have been at least 3cm high) and rolled my ankle quite badly. Kind of funny except for the excruciating pain! Because we were only doing a half day tour, we get sent back to Hue in a local minivan thingamy. Of course they quite literally kick us out about 3kms from our hotel even though we were meant to be dropped off at the door. Normally it wouldn't be such an issue but by that stage I could hardly walk due to my previously mentioned spectacular stack. We caught a pedicab home angry at the world.

One of things that we find challenging and interesting is that no-one really knows about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam (or American as they call it over here) War. That era was a defining social and political moment in our country's history up until and including the election and subsequent dismissal of Gough Whitlam. It is hard for us to comprehend that other foreigners don't know this stuff (even though we both know it is unreasonable to expect them to know) - which makes me wonder about all of things we don't know (did that make any sense?). This is why we travel of course. . . . to find out stuff. And hey, Americans still think that we ride kangaroos to school so what can you expect???

We are both still having a lovely time in Vietnam. We have done a bit of travelling since the last email so we have a bit to catch up on . .

Well, New Year finished off quite huge in Ho Chi Minh City. We decided to head out into the throngs for the fireworks and so forth. There were so many not drunk people getting around that it felt very strange and not quite like New Year at all!! We found ourselves in a particularly crowded area to watch a laser show (that was from Pissweak World!!) It was very funny, everyone was clapping and cheering. Then the countdown came up and the whole show stalled - hilarious. The MC made some very funny jokes - we think - and then finally it got going again. After the countdown, there was fireworks - again clapping and cheering - and then the street started to empty rapidly. The traffic was hell and we were so tired, I am surprised that we didn't become casualties!! It was so crowded that we could just walk through the bikes on the road because they weren't moving anywhere. We got some good photos and even better video footage. . . .

We finally escaped Ho Chi Minh City on the 19th of Feb and headed to Mui Ni which is a beach town about 200 - 300km away. It was our opportunity to relax and lie around on the beach before heading north to the cooler climates. We found a room right on the beach and in a guesthouse where all of the locals stay. We soon found ourselves adopted by a group of friends from Ho Chi Minh City who were there on holidays. They were all very funny and couldn't really speak any English. So again, we were drinking shots (at 2pm no less) and celebrating New Year. . .again. (New Year for the Vietnamese is kind of like Peta's birthday month . . .) They were also cooking up fresh (ie. alive) prawns on their charcoal BBQ and giving us all of the good ones. . . . .and then they took us out to dinner and paid for the lot. . . .bless them. They wouldn't let us give them a cent. We finally dragged our not as drunk as they should have been bodies to bed only to be woken up by them knocking on our door at 7.30am yelling "Adam . . Meaghan . ." They wanted to feed us breakfast!! Anyway, we managed to avoid drinking until at least 12pm when they started cooking up fresh crabs on the BBQ and drinking beer and shots all over again. They weren't too bothered that one of them had to drive back to Ho Chi Minh City that afternoon. We gave them a bottle of Scotch and some Australia badges when they left - we thought they might actually cry!! It was a beautiful exchange and another example of fine Vietnamese hospitality.

After Mui Ni we headed up to Dalat which is a beautiful city in the mountains. It was much cooler up there and we had to step out in jeans and jumpers that night - a taste of things to come. . . . .bring on Siberia!! Our room was huge with three windows, a balcony and awesome views all around. We spent a whole day exploring the city and then renting a motorbike to explore the countryside. I had a go at riding the bike - all on video, quite hilarious. Adam only encouraged me to have a go for his own amusement although he swears that it isn't true. For the record, you cannot stop a motorbike by dragging your feet along the ground. Anyway, I improved a bit and am keen for some more riding action!!

After Dalat we heading to Nha Trang which is where we are at the momet, waiting for our overnight bus to Hoi An. We were meant to go yesterday, but I had a touch of dehydration and didn't feel great (may have been all the brandy shots from Mui Ni catching up with me!) so we decided to stay another day. Nha Trang is kind of cool. The beach is nice apart for the rubbish and there are plenty of cafes and restaurants.

We went to a mud bath / hot spring yesterday. It was so funny, we had no idea what we were meant to do because you HAVE to do everything in order . . . . . apparently.

We first rinsed off under hot spring water, then we had a mud bath (which was super cool), then you rinse off again, then you soak in a hot spring bath. We felt so clean after all of that. Hot showers have been hard to come by over here so it was quite nice. Speaking of clean - man we have collected some dirty washing!! It is so hard to get washing done if you are only in places for a couple of days. Bring on Hoi An for some much needed laundry (apparently the sightseeing is good too - but bring on the laundry!!). Can't wait for the overnight bus trip - it is going to be ace . . .NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another update, just to remind us what country we are in. Vietnam this week, it has been hilarious already. Love the food, the people, the madness. We both highly recommend it as a travel destination.

We had to go back to Phnom Penh in order to get to Vietnam. That was a relatively uneventful trip. We met another Australian couple who we thought might be good fun. . .this however went horribly wrong. They were the most annoying people I think I have ever met. They were both very young and you could not hold a conversation with them - could not get a word in, bless them. Adam and I showed immense amounts of patience (yes, I was patient - true story). Classic comment from Matt (I still remember their names which annoys me even more):

Annoying dude: "I wonder what Egypt is like?"
Me: "I lived there for six months last year - really interesting trip."
Annoying dude: "Really? I met a girl from Darwin last week who went to Egypt, she said it was blah. . .blah. . . .blah . . "

Then he proceeded to tell me all about Egypt and what is was like. I didn't say a word. All our conversations were exactly like that one. Anyway, enough of them, you take the good with the bad I guess. Adam faked an illness so he could leave dinner early, then I faked caring about him and left early as well. I love it when a plan comes together!!! (Actually, Adam really didn't feel well . . .)

We decided to catch a boat down the Mekong River to get to Vietnam. The border crossing was relatively easy and uneventful and the boat trip was fantastic. We ended up in a town called Chau Doc. It was a charming place and very scenic. We went to the markets and had dinner - people were staring at us like we were aliens but they were all so keen to look after us. We decided to join a tour group for two days to travel to Saigon. It was such good value - we couldn't have done it on our own any cheaper. It was good but incredibly annoying being told to get on and off buses etc etc. Anyway, the next overnight stop was Cantho - it has fantastic floating markets and is the capitol of the Mekong Delta area.

We arrived quite early and had the rest of the day to hang out and enjoy the town. Adam and I and an Irish girl we met along the way thought we would head into the markets for some food and to have a look around. We ended up stumbling upon a huge party (Chinese New Year), everyone was wasted and there was live music (bad live music) and crates of beer everywhere. Next thing we know, we have been invited and the locals are plying us with beer - it would have been rude to refuse. Everyone loved us, don't know why, but we were hits.

One of the male singers came up to Adam and said
"You are a very handsome man."
Adam said
"Um . . . thanks. . . .so are you . . . "

Hilarious and he wasn't even wearing his man bag (Adam bought a man bag, it is very pretty).
(It is not pretty, it is cool and very macho)

Needless to say there was much disappointment all round when they worked out we were married. So twenty beers later we were still there and we were invited by our host (we think his name was Phil - not very Vietnamese but that is what we called him) introduced Adam and Meaghan because it was our turn to have a sing. By this stage, a massive crowd had gathered and we were both a bit plastered. We sang a very heartfelt, stirring rendition of Waltzing Matilda to at least 200 people. They loved it. . . . .we are now artists with international acclaim. . . .bloody hell it was difficult extracting ourselves from the party. Got heaps of hilarious photos especially of Adam's boyfriend who was wearing an awesome outfit. Turns out he was actually a well known TV dude. Explains his outfit and the make up he had on I guess.

Anyway, we are now safe and sober in Ho Chi Minh City. What a great place - it is mad with Tet celebrations and we are stuck here until the 19th but that is ok. Cheap beer and food and we get a second New Year, awesome. Chuc Mung Na Moi (which is Happy New Year in Vietnamese).

We say it all the time, just rolls off the tongue and is a great way to distract dudes trying to sell us stuff. Not much else to report, Chuc Mung Na Moi celebrations hit fever pitch tonight with fireworks and complete madness everywhere. We are planning to drink beer and do fake countdowns in Vietnamese. Have met a few people that we will hook up with tonight. We are still traveling with our Irish friend - Catriona - who is lovely.