Vietnam Part 1 - Pre Cambodia Trip

I'm so excited to see Mum - she's flies over to visit for three weeks on her lonesome -she's some woman for one woman making the long trip over by herself. I spend a few days in Hanoi before she arrives so have a hotel etc. all sorted for when she finally gets here! Myself and Regina, my friend from college who is also doing some traveling, have a make-and-do evening with paper, straws and whatever we can find so have a big welcome banner made to greet Mum at arrivals! I take two motorbikes and a local bus to the airport to collect her and am so emotional when I see her!

For the first few days we just hang out in Hanoi, having some nice food, wandering around Hoan Kiem lake, taking in some of the sights, getting amazing hour-long foot massages (for about EUR 5) and doing lots of sleeping! This is mum's first trip to Asia and we spend quite a while just standing on street crossroads watching the madness of the roads - crazy traffic, scooter drivers carrying whole families and sometimes furniture and other outrageous items on their scooters, women with their fruit baskets hawking their wares and everything from frogs to dogs being dissected at the side of the road. I had forgotten how crazy Asia was! Regina heads off down the coast and sends some updates and recommendations for our trip - our guinea pig for the rest of the trip!

From Hanoi we head towards Sapa, a region to the north west of Vietnam which is famous for its hill tribes and lovely hikes. It's mum's idea to do a hike so when the hike becomes more like a dirt scramble, I don't feel a bit guilty! J It's actually a really lovely hike - beautiful countryside, rolling hills, luminous green paddy fields and corn fields. We visit some of the villages of the local hill tribes including the black h'mong tribe. We see their forges, hemp material production and indigo dying. The tour is quite interesting and there are some very cute kids wandering around barefoot, oblivious to the tourists traipsing through. We finish the trip at the Cat Cat waterfalls - beautiful! Our hotel in Sapa is surprisingly nice so we chill out for a bit on our first afternoon here and then take a wander in to the village to visit the markets, the Catholic church which was built by the French (and has its own WiFi network) and go for tea and cake in a local café! Really lovely evening. The hike on day 2 is supposed to be easy and all downhill but it involves lots of scrambling over edges of paddy fields and up and down dirt tracks! We have a well-deserved dinner and beer after the hike and spend time with a lovely Australian mum and daughter who we keep bumping in to at the start of the trip!

The stage of the trip is really lovely, a boat trip in Halong Bay - it's a much nicer boat than expected and there is a nice mix of ages and nationalities in our group. The trip basically involved sailing out to Halong Bay through beautiful bays full of limestone islets, making pit stops to go kayaking, visit the floating villages and the Sung Sot caves. The caves are really impressive with amazing stalactites and stalagmites in interesting shapes and beautiful colouring as the outside light hits the formations. The Disney-esque music that's blaring from speakers outside the cave is strange and unnerving. We spend a lovely evening hanging out on the top deck looking out over the moonlit islands and the stars.

It's back to Hanoi again for a day or so to get sorted for the rest of the trip south. We decide to brave the Hanoi rush hour and jump on the back of a scooter to get through the busy streets - its mum's first time on a motorcycle of any sort but I don't realise this until after the event. She's a little nervous but I'm pretty sure she secretly enjoyed the spin! It turns out not to be the last time she'll be on one on this trip either. After another wander about the lovely winding streets north of Hoan Kiem lake, a last dinner in one of Hanoi's fantastic local restaurants and another amazing foot massage, we set off along the east coast of Vietnam. For another backpacking experience we decide to travel by night-bus to Hue. I've been on many a night bus but this is a new one for me - two tiers of little plastic capsules that everyone slots in to, but which, surprisingly, provide a great sleep for the 14 hour journey! It's another mad experience for mum but she's brilliant - she'll give anything a try!

We arrive in Hue and are picked up by our hotel , the Orchid Hotel, perhaps one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. We are welcomed with a fruit platter and juice before being given a tour of our room. The room itself is lovely with a huge TV, DVD player (and scores of DVDs to choose from at reception), lovely bathroom bits (don't forget, I haven't been in a hotel for a long long time and am like a kid in a candy store with all the freebies in the bathroom), a fruit basket, animal shaped towels and chocolates on the pillows. Myself and mum do some hanging out before taking a boat trip along the Perfume River to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda and the Hon Chen temple. In Thien Mu there is a monastery and we see lines of trainee monks sitting on the floor with their heads down, engrossed in their books of worship. They all have strange Mowhawk-like haircuts. There is also a relic of an old car, beside which, the monk Thich Quang Duc burned himself alive in Saigon in 1963 in protest to the religious persecution they were suffering under the Sarit regime. Harrowing stuff! The boat trip on the Perfume River is lovely though -beautiful countryside and the banks are lined with really huge palm trees and small wooden houses . Mum reminisces on the stories told by her uncle, Fr. Sean, a religious missionary who worked in the Philippines for years - somehow the countryside, crafts and buildings here make her appreciate what he lived in. We pay a very early morning visit to the Imperial Citadel in Hue - a huge complex set up by the Nguyen Dynasty between 1805 and 1945. The complex is pretty dilapidated but you can see the remnants of some really beautiful buildings and water features.

Our next stop is Hoi An where we have arranged to stay at the Palm Garden Resort - a 5 star hotel right on the beach. The thing is, in SE Asia, you can afford to stay in these kinds of places for a few days, the prices are nothing like the prices of home. The hotel has a beautiful location right along a fabulous beach and is only a quick bus ride in to town. Hoi An is one of those places where you will want to (and actually probably will) spend longer than anticipated. The town is full of narrow cobble-stone streets which are lined with yellow-washed merchant houses with beautiful little shops, materials stores, cafes and restaurants. There are some temples and old merchant houses to visit but the town itself is so appealing that a wander through the streets, along the Thu Bồn river and through the markets, is sightseeing enough! Of course, Hoi An is also the place to get clothes made. Mum already has the 'drawings' for a winter coat and I'm considering a suit (although the thoughts of actually fitting it on it scary enough). We end up getting a beautiful black winter wool coat, some trousers for mum and a lovely silk and cashmere suit for me! Time in Hoi An is spent wandering the streets, shopping, eating amazing food (Mango Mango and Secret Garden being the highlights), lying on the beach and trying to get the most relaxation we can out of being in one place for 3 nights (which rarely happens on this trip). It's a beautiful place - wish we could have stayed longer.

After much debate we decide that it's time to hit for Ho Chi Minh City (otherwise known as Saigon) and make our way from there to the Mekong Delta and in to Cambodia. We end up meeting with Regina again in Saigon and have a lovely evening out with dinner and drinks! It's actually ends up being a late evening with all the chatting and we walk back to our accommodation through winding narrow streets passing people's tiny cramped houses. It's an early start for our trip to the Mekong Delta the next morning.

We have booked a trip which brings us from Saigon to the Mekong Delta, cruises along the Mekong taking in the floating markets, local villages and backwaters, with a stay in the Floating Hotel and a continued cruise along the Mekong to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Mekong is actually dirtier than one might imagine but it doesn't take from the madness of the experience. There are houses and shops lining the river which all look very make-shift (built with wooden lats and tyres) and there are numerous boats floating up and down the river either selling wares and housing large families. We stop at a type of interpretive centre where we get to see the production of rice paper and to sample some of the lovely toffee puffed-rice products that are so popular in Vietnam. We also visit some local villages where we get to hop on bikes and cycle along the backwaters as well as visit Chau Doc, a small village where the Cham people live! Apart from the mosque, most of the buildings here are built on stilts. We're lucky enough to see a wedding procession pass us by on boats floating past the stilted abodes - ladies in one and men in the other. The Floating Hotel is possibly one of the worst accommodations I've been in since I began my trip. The water from the tap is as brown as that in the Mekong and general facilities leave a lot to be desired. We're glad when morning comes and we can take off on the remainder of the trip. We take a trip to a local fish farm early on the morning - a little too much for some stomachs to handle but interesting nonetheless!

Its' now time to travel up the Mekong and in to Phnom Penh, Cambodia…

Vietnam Part 2 - Post Cambodia Trip

We arrive back in Saigon a little tired after our whirlwind tour of the Mekong Delta and Cambodia. IT was worth it but it's nice to be in one place for more than a couple of nights. In Saigon we check in to a lovely hotel on the outskirts of the city for our last few days of holiday together. We tour the city, taking in Notre Dame Cathedral, the beautiful post office (really!), Ben Tham markets, the War Remnants Museum and many more places. The museum details the horrors of the Vietnam War and is completely anti-American, with the Vietnamese taking little responsibility for their part in the war. Like what we learned about the Khmer Rouge on our visit to Cambodia, it's shocking to think that all this took place not so long ago! We spend quite a while looking at the photos and reading the accounts of the atrocities of the war. This is probably the most moving museum I've ever been to!

On a more positive note, we just chill out and relax in Saigon, eating well, sleeping, shopping for presents and watching endless runs of Australian Masterchef. I'm really sad that the trip with mum has come to an end. We travelled really well together and she took to Asia like a duck to water. The only arguments we had stemmed from situations which showed how alike we are - ironic! Had a ball and will really miss her…and Vietnam of course!