Shall I go do it?....hell yeah! Good Morning Vietnam!

Today was a bright and early start of seven am once we had docked in the port of Chan May in Vietnam. Luckily, the clocks also went back an hour last night so we did not suffer too much with the early start! After a nice refreshing sea day yesterday, we were bright and breezy and ready for our Vietnamese adventure.


Our first glance of Vietnam was from the balcony and it was truly breath taking. No sky scrapers or high rise buildings here, not one. Just unspoiled scenery everywhere you looked. Like many of the places we have visited, Chan May has many mountains and hills and is cove rd with lush green vegetation. An ominous sign was what looked like steam rising from some paddy fields we could see just in the distance. It was seven AM remember!


 
We had an all day tour booked which took us to the city of Hue (pronounced hway) on an hour and a half coach journey each way. It was always going to be worth this trip because the only other thing to see in Chan May was the beach and we really are not beach type people.

 

The journey took us through several small villages. People's houses, or shacks were built just along the road where we travel led. It was all stark contrast to cosmopolitan Hong Kong but just as fascinating. I knew I was going to love Vietnam the moment I saw the first village.  

Our coach driver skillfully negotiated the many cows and water buffalo who strolled in and out of the traffic as we made our way on the dusty track type roads. Again, anyone choosing to drive themselves in Vietnam is frankly taking a huge risk with their lives. The roads were poor, very poor and our coach sometimes struggled to get up the steep inclines. So everyone else over took us....motorbikes, mopeds....lorries. All on the wrong side of the road and into the oncoming mopeds, scooters and lorries. I lost count of the amount of times people on our coach squealed with shock as these dangerous maneuvered were being made.

On the downhill parts of our journey, the coach driver was overtaking slower moving vehicles in the same way. It was pretty scary stuff but it did seem that if you were a moped coming the other way, then you simply didn't count as traffic and you would be expected to move out of the way. No way would I ever consider riding a motor bike in this place but, like so many of the other places, they are the preferred mode of transport. forty MILLION motorbikes/mopeds in Vietnam.  

Most of those living outside the city are farmers, rice farmers specifically. The last of the rice has just been harvested and so, from now, until around January, the farmers have to find other work. Many will do brick laying or carpentry for the months outside of the rice farming season.

Outside some of the homes of the villagers, we could see what looked like decorative red or yellow mail boxes. They were mounted in front gardens, outside shack type shops and even some on the side of the road. Locals leave offerings in the boxes, they are more like tables with a roof, and the offerings are supposed to be for the homeless spirits. Quite interesting and very akin to Buddhism but not all those who have the boxes are Buddhists. 

The scenery changed only slightly as we moved closer to the city. More bikes was the most noticeable thing! Less homes too and more shops ...These are not shops like you would find in the really rich cities. These shops were run down looking, the goods ranging from what looked like used toys or clothes, to fruit all laid out on the road or hanging by hooks.  

I keep mentioning the temperature on this holiday but I need to do it yet again. It was 86 degrees at seven AM on the coast at Chan May. Where we went, the city of Hue, our guide said it was going to reach the mid nineties and we needed to drink plenty of water. He was not wrong. The humidity was somewhere between 88 and 92% he thought. The moment we stepped off the coach and to the market, our first stop, our skin glistened with sweat and you could feel rivers of it running down your back.  

 
It seemed that many of the locals did not feel the heat in the same way as us. You will notice some of the photos of those on the mopeds show them dressed in thick clothing from head to toe, even their mouths are covered. Like in China and other places, the preference for many is to have very pale, white skin. The more brown you look....the less wealthy you appear. The farmers and peasants are all very dark skinned. I don't think I could cope with what some of those guys were wearing today. Just madness.


 
The market was brilliant. It is open every day and is for locals but there are a few stalls with tourist type wares. To say it was packed is a massive understatement. It was hard to move between the stalls because so many people were crammed in. There was fruit, rice and other food which was laid out on tables, the floor or wherever it would fit. Other tables were lined with fine cloth and silk, even some with toys stacked from ceiling to floor or crockery precariously balanced on top of each other. Each seller seemed to have their own tactic for maximising the space they were allotted.  

We didn't stop too long at the market which was a shame because it was fun nudging your way between the crowds and batting off the women in their straw cone shaped hats as they tried to sell you fans, or water. (Smart ladies!) I did buy some tiger balm from one woman, it is a muscle rub I used to use in England but it is tough to get hold of. I got 3 pots for 2 dollars so that was a good buy! Oh yes, they accept USA dollars in Vietnam. Their currency, the dong, is ridiculous and we were advised not to change our dollars. To give you an idea, One US dollar is equal to Two THOUSAND Vietnamese dong.  

After the market we spent some time looking around the imperial citadel. This is set on vast grounds and was the home of the imperial family until the mid 1900's. It is similar in structures to many of the temples we have already seen but the grounds were gorgeous. By the time we arrived at the citadel, the heat was becoming unbearable....even for me! I had a pounding headache, clearly from dehydration, but I still felt ok to continue.

We travel led a short distance up the perfume river on a dragon boat. It was quite fun but the seating in the boat itself was basic plastic garden seats set out in rows. No change to go outside and the electric fans were not working! The perfume river is named such because of the fragrance of the water which comes from the upstream forests. I could not smell anything apart from the smokey fuel of the boat however....

Lunch was brilliant, yet again cannot fault the food on the tours we have taken. There was plenty to go around and it was all traditional Vietnamese fare. Dave found some noodles again and so was very happy!

We had a longer dragon boat ride after lunch and this was when I began to really feel unwell with the heat. T-shirt and shorts were just clinging to us by now and it was so oppressive with no escape. The worst thing was the headache but, thankfully, an old lady much better prepared than me, gave me some Tylenol which is a painkiller like paracetamol. Once that kicked in, I felt a lot better.

Loads of the older guys on our tour were really struggling by the time we came to King Ming Mange's tomb and many of them stayed on the coach rather than walking the rugged track to where the king lay.  

We had been warned about children begging just before the gates to the grounds of the tomb. (The beggars cannot go inside the gates). Our guide asked us not to give to the children, not to buy their bananas even if they cried. He also explained that one woman would have a disabled child and would lift him up begging for money for medicine for him. Again we were told not to give to her and assured that the child gets an allowance from the communist government of Vietnam.

True to the guide's words, no sooner had we walked around the corner from the coach, children aged around five or six were walking up to us clutching baskets of bananas.  

'you bay banaaaaana wan dalla!! madaaam you bay baaanaaa'

This sounds harsh but it wasn't very hard to ignore them. They are being exploited by their parents, or whoever has hired the children from their parents, and if we gave money to them then they would never have the opportunity to be free of the exploitation. Once the adults learn they won't get anything from tourists, they may go and do something more productive.

I then saw the lady clutching the disabled boy and he did look very severely handicapped. She held him up roughly, his head was lolling about and his thin arms and legs just hanging down. As our guide had said, she was asking for money but, at least from our group, she got nothing but harsh words. I hope the lad is well looked after when no tourists are around.  

The tomb was good, again set in acres of land with ponds and dusty paths leading to hidden areas. But the heat was just too much and our guide, very sensibly, called it a day at that point. One really fascinating thing I found about the places we visited was the noises of the sacera (not sure on spelling) they are like crickets and they live in the trees and grasses. They are so LOUD. I took some video which I will upload when we are home. Really though, the sound they made was just incredible.  

After returning to our coach most people tried to sleep for the hour and a half journey back to the ship. It was only halfway through that journey back that I began to feel a lot better and less sicky. I feel fine now! David and I jumped into the pool almost as soon as we were back on board. It was warm but still refreshing.

Now, we have a day at sea tomorrow and then...Ho Chi Ming city. It is further south still....gawd. Oh I am brown as a nut.
Little little was not in the slightest bit impressed with the humidity today and, when she heard about the children, she retreated to the coach and refused to get off.

O_o