25/10/09 Dalat to Siagon

We were collected at the hotel in a small jeep which we thought would be for the whole nine hour journey but thankfully we were driven to another bus, with the sleep seats we had paid extra for. The other passengers , all 7 of them, only paid the normal rate we had, so our theory of paying for the companies mistake seemed correct. Anyway we boarded the bus and started the long drive to Saigon through the Vietnamese countryside. We passed at least 30 wedding parties along the way all with exactly the same multicoloured awnings, loud music and half the town at them. The awnings seemed to be put wherever there was any space along the street, we even saw one erected on a garage forecourt....who needs a swanky hotel eh ???? We drove through some pretty rough road works with inches between the bus and rock falls. It reminded us of sections we had driven through in Peru but with a much comfier bus to sit on. We seemed to pick up any locals from the side of the road who needed a ride and none of them paid, we of course were paying extra for the luxorious tourist only coach...same same but different. They were all dropped off where they wanted too, not bad service at all. We stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese style services where we ordered roast pork and rice which we thought would be a safe bet and it was delicious so good choice. Along the way we saw many sights on motorbikes with people carrying all sorts of stuff from pigs to computers. Once we arrived in the outskirts of Saigon the pace went up considerably as there are 4 million bikes in the city so the roads are chaotic with weaving vehicles.Saigon is a large western city with tall office blocks and smart hotels as well as multicultural shops, resturants and services available. It has a very different feel to Hanoi and we weren't too taken with it to be honest. We prefer places that feel very different to the west. When we got into town the bus dropped us at the office for a change not his mates hotel and we made our way to our hotel which wasn't too far away. We checked in and as the hotel was full we were upgraded to a deluxe room. When we went into it, it had bigger floor space than our house in Pinkett Street plenty of room for us and all our luggage. We showered and changed and went to find somewhere to eat. We ended up having a very nice Mexican meal in one of Saigons many tourist resturants. It made a welcome change from rice and noodles. We went back to the hotel as Phil was really tired so he went to lie down while Liz re wrote the last few days of diary ( she left the last one in an internet cafe in Dalat !!! DOH!!) We both went to bed not too late.

26/10/09 Mekong Delta trip

We were picked up to go to the Mekong Delta for a boat trip and joined a big coach to drive out of Saigon to My Tho town where we caught a boat on the Mekong. The river looked really dirty and brown but the guide explained that this is normal for the river as it has alot of silt in it making it a good source of nutrients for crops. The river was apparently less brown than usual as the Chinese had built a damn and changed the course of the river. The less the brown the poorer the crop was going to be. It is a very wide and fast flowing river which we crossed and visited Unicorn Island where there was big honey production . We were shown the bee hives and tasted some honey tea. We sampled some nut brittle and other crystalised fruits and Phil spotted several large vats full of snakes!!! We walked across the island to a dining area where we sat and sampled some local tropical fruits which were delicious. There was a group of traditional singers and musicians playing some unusual looking instruments to entertain us while we sat. After that we walked through to a wooden jetty where we were herded onto little row boats for the fastest rowing tour ever round a small tributary of the river. There were houses along the waters edge but we went round so fast you didn't get a chance to really see how the people lived so it was a little disappointing. We were taken to the bigger boats and along the river to Tortoise island where we ate lunch of noodles and meat and veg which was very good. We sat with an Australian couple who had left Australia for the first time to meet the family of their sons internet bride !! She is moving to Hervey Bay to live once they are married...what a culture shock from things here. Next we travelled to Ben Tre island where the people hand make coconut candy which we were given a just cooked sample of as we got off the boat. After grinding up the coconut and squeezing the pulp the juice and oils are extracted to make the candy. The coconut is mixed with the rest of the ingredients and then heated over a coconut fired fire until it is ready to be cooled cut and wrapped for the markets, all by hand. It was delicious and almost everyone bought a few packs to take away. That was pretty much the end of the tour apart from a short ride back to the port to catch a bus back to Saigon. It had been a good day but not what we had expected when we booked it, we had hoped to see more of the traditional lives of the people living along the delta but nevermind. On the way back to town we made a brief stop at a formally laid garden which we had a quick look round then set off back to Saigon. It was quite late so we just went off to use the internet then went to town to get some dinner. We called into the Rainbow Tours place to book bus to Phnom Penh in a couple of days but they couldn't understand what we were asking which was weird as we'd had a really helpful girl the night before to book another tour to see Cu Chi tunnels. We left and booked the bus in another tour shop next door who could understand us. We found a curry house and had butter chicken which was really tasty but a bit spicy then went off to bed .

27/10/09 Saigon (Tuesday)

We got up and ate bakery breakfast. Phil had an Australian chicken and veg pie which he said was better than the pies in Australia! Lizzies stomach was a bit dodgy so she only had a croissant, is she pregnant ??. Opposite the bakery is the Mariammon Hindu Temple which we had a quick look at before we went for a stroll through Gong Vien Van Hoa park. We past through a sculpture garden where there were loads of sculptures carved from white stone then stopped to watch a group of lads playing a Vietnamese game. It is like volley ball but played with hands, heads and feet with a large shuttlecock. They flick their feet up behind them and somehow manage to accurately hit and aim the shuttlecock to each other..pretty impressive. We passed some small scale models of the My Son ruins and a Buddhist temple and enjoyed being out of the hustle of the city. It is almost impossible to cross the streets here as the motorbikes fill the whole road all the time even when the lights are on red. The drivers glare if you step into the road even if the green man is flashing. Cars seem to be a little more forgiving and some even stop for you to cross. We were heading to the War Remnants museum but when we arrived it was closed for lunch so we went to sit and have a drink and wait for it to reopen. We started to see people wandering around inside the museum so went in. Outside is a display of American war crafts and planes which all the male guests were getting very excited about. There were tanks, planes and artillery all seized or abandoned during the American war. While we were looking around outside but the heavens opened and everyone ran inside to escape the rain. Almost all of the displays inside were photographic and very graphic. The first display was showing war crimes , murder of innocent Vietnamese and the use of agent orange. The literature with the pictures was pretty biased against the USA understandably but most of it is quotes from the international community after the war. The Vietnamese are all of the opinion that you shouldn't live in the past but you don't forget it either so they have no problem with Americans here. The photographs were from war photographers who had recorded things as they happened including the holding of body parts as trophies by US soldiers, the rounding up of families and shooting them all, babies included, it was pretty upsetting to see. The next display showed the ongoing problems caused by the widespread use of agent orange. There are 2 million disabled people in Vietnam and most are attributed to agent orange, as well as the infertility of many young Vietnamese men (the intention was to wipe out the people) There were photos of people adults and young children with dreadful handicaps and deformity including ones born within the last ten years. Lastly on the ground floor was a display of photos showing the effects of landmines both in the war and recently and the use of napalm. There are thousands of unexploded ordanance around Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos left after the war which are still killing and maiming people across the country. There is no government help for these people and they are left to fend for themselves which usually ends up in begging. Americans were also affected by agent orange and mines but all have been richly compensated by the US government which will make lives a little easier. Unfortunately the Vietnamese government doesn't have quite the same resources. The napalm was used to destroy all the vegetation so the VC couldn't hide from the US but many people were killed and horribly burned by it. There was a picture of Phan Thi Kim Thuc the little girl running up the street naked burning from napalm in the iconic photo. There was a modern picture of her with her baby son looking badly scarred but very happy which was good to see. The second floor showed pictures from all the wars in Vietnams history with France, USA and itself. US documents mentioned the Zinc and Tungsten which is rich in Vietnam and its need to keep an interest there to control the assetts...unusual to get involved in another countries conflict because of an assett!!! The last display we went to see was about the tiger cages, notorious small cages political prisoners of Phu Qoc island jail were kept in . The prisoners there were tortured and often didn't survive their treatment there. It was a fascinating place to visit and we had a few hours looking round. After the museum visit we went to look at the Notre Dame cathedral built in the European style by the French. It was very familiar architecture but the mass was in Vietnamese which sounded really strange. The priest had exactly the same tone as a catholic priest from home would have though. Next we walked to see the Reunification Palace which was stormed by the tanks of the North Vietnamese Army in 1975 causing Saigon to surrender to the north. We didn't bother going in as it was nearly closing but we had a look at the tanks still there on display. We then went off to get lunch in a nearby cafe where Phil ate rice but Liz didn't feel like any still. We left the money for the bill and had a huge fight with the manager who said she wouldn't except a torn note from us . There were four of them surrounding Phil and one blocking Lizzies exit too. It could have got really hairy but Phil kept his cool and refused to change the note that he'd been given in Vietnam. She yelled at him "you foreigner, very bad habit"we weren't really sure what bad habit she was referring to but no doubt the next foriegn customer would get the note we'd left. We went off on our way half expecting a car load of thugs to grab us as we went along but thankfully we didn't need to worry on that score. After that Phil did some photos on the blog and Liz went off to bed early feeling rough.

28/10/09 Saigon HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM

We had bakery breakfast again and made our way to Rainbow tours where we were getting our tour to see the Cu Chi tunnels and a Cao Dai temple. We joined the full bus for the day trip out of Saigon and made our first stop at a center for handicapped handicraft. As suggested this is a training centre for Vietnamese handicapped to learn the handicrafts. Inside were people of all ages and varying degrees of disability who were beavering away making crafts. They were making really intricate pictures on plates and pots for sale. The pictures were made of a collage of broken egg shell or of hand carved sea shell. On the other side of the room people were finishing the products with clean water and varnishes put on with card not brushes. We chatted in a small bit of Vietnamese and a lot of sign language but everyone was happy to give us a smile and show us what they were making. We went into the huge shop and could only afford a small thing as they were very expensive. The proceeds go to each person involved in the making of the item. We got back on the bus and had a three hour drive out to see the CAo Dai temple. Cao Dai is an indigenous religion in Vietnam, a fusion of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. The followers attend prayers at the temple 4 times a day and we were going to see the noon prayers. Out of nowhere in Tay Ninh the headquarters of the religion a huge temple appeared. It was really beautiful and huge with white stone towers and decorated with lions. We were allowed to go inside and watch the prayers from a balcony area. there were hundreds of followers sitting on the floor of the temple in rows on steps which rose towards the front where the highest members of the religion sat. There were musicians and singers at the back of the temple filling it with really unusual sounds. The followers would bow in perfect unison when a large bell was banged. They all wore white robes except a few presumably more important members who were dressed in blue, red and yellow to represent the three religions combined. The temple was large and airy with fantastic decorations and was unlike anything we have seen anywhere else on our travels. We were really pleased to have experienced it (thanks Belinda and Adam for the recommendation) We stayed watching proceedings for about half an hour then got back on the bus for an hour and a half drive to see the Cu Chi tunnels. These famous tunnels are part of a 200 km network of tunnels across Vietnam which local villagers and VC used to hide from the US soldiers. The tunnels were built on three levels with tiny openings, ventilation shafts, booby traps, water holes, kitchens, family areas and outside river access. We watched a documentary about the CU Chi people and their fighting against the US troops. All the villagers were involved in some way, women and children included so it gave us a good insight into why so many women and children were killed by the US soldiers. No one was innocent it seemed but the people were never defeated because they knew their area and used the tunnels to great effect. They even collected unexploded US artillery and made their own weapons from it. They could literally disappear down tunnels in a matter of seconds and it was almost impossible to find the entrances and often they were booby trapped anyway. US trained mexicans who were small enough to go down the tunnels to see what was down them, they were called tunnel rats. Our guide stood in a clearing and asked us if we could see the entrance to the tunnels. We couldn't see anything, then he moved some leaves aside to reveal a tiny trap door. A soldier came along to demonstrate how to get down the hole and it was so tiny we didn't think he would fit but he did. Some of the others had a go but we resisted for fear of getting stuck !! We had a brief tour of the area showing bomb craters and models of how life was. Our guide showed us a series of traps used by the Cu Chi people to impale the enemy. They were made of sticks, bamboo and rope mostly but would injure the soldiers and slow the advance down...very clever for untrained civilians. The US never defeated the Cu Chi people during the war showing how effective their techniques were. We then stopped at a shooting range where you could fire a weapon used in the war. Phil shot an M16 and nearly deafened Lizzies ears. After that we were shown to a tunnel entrance where we could go inside to see how small it was. We had to crouch really low and we only just fit our shoulders through and that was after they have been widened slightly for the tourists. We crawled through about 50 meters and were running with sweat at the end...it must have been pretty grim at the time. We got back on the bus to Saigon and went straight out for dinner. Liz was still rough so only fancied chicken and chips then we went off to call Lizzies mum for her birthday today. Unfortunately she wasn't there so we just left a message hoping she would listen to it. We spent a good half an hour looking for an internet cafe which the LP says you can't swing a cat for in Saigon. Our driver in South America calls in the Lonely Liar and we are beginning to see why..it has been pretty wrong alot of the time. Phil fancied a beer so we went to a locals bar for "fresh beer" the local cheap beer. We stayed there for one then moved to another little bar where we had another drink. It stunk of horrid fried food from a street stall next door so we left and went off to bed.