For the sake of continuity, I'm going to pretend that we just left Hanoi. Work with me.
After a good couple of days in Hanoi, we reluctantly left for Hue and its graves and palace. The train ride was pretty good, though some 40 something Vietnamese ladies were on the top bunks, tried to swap bunks with us after entering, and - possibly out of spite for not letting them - rained down sunflower seed shells, some orange peels, and once "accidentally" spilled their popcorn, all while talking loudly. They got off after a couple of hours and let us sleep.
Once arrived, we found a decent hotel that included our first ride on motorbikes. We took the next day to rent bicycles and check out some of the tombs South of Hue. In Vietnamese history, Hanoi has been the traditional capital, but for 150 years the Nguyen Dynasty made it Hue. Because of that, Hue has a huge palace and the tombs of the six Nguyen rulers. We rode our bicycles almost two hours South of Hue to the tomb of the last emperor, Khai Dinh, getting horribly ripped off for lunch on the way. No one really liked Khai Dinh very much, but he had others make him one really good tomb. The outside was an imposing black and white, but inside his burial chambers it was a feast of colors. The Vietnamese at that time developed a style of art that used broken bits of pottery and glass combined with mortar to create dragons, tress, birds, whatever they wished. Seeing the "Nippon" written on the neck of an old Japanese beer bottle shard on a tree branch comprised solely of the broken beer bottles was really impressive. Similarly with everything: dragons made from broken pots, birds from bits of vases, flowers from shattered plates. We saw other examples fo this work elsewhere, but Khai Dinh"s tomb was the most inspiring.
After the tomb, we rode back home by a new route, found an abandonded temple, and as we wer about to leave saw our first elephants! A pair of beast and rider came down the mountain, passed the temple, then the road, and into a field to feed. It was great to finally see some elephants, especially as we weren't expecting to see any until Thailand.
The next day we saw the palace, which was huge and impressive. No particular part stands out, but it was worth the visit. They are doing a massive restoration job on it now, so we got to see some untouched ruins, work in progress, and the finished product all in the same place. Outside of the temple we found the best Banh My we have ever eaten. This family set up a stall outside of their house where they grilled pork, then took the hot prok and snadwhiched it bewteeen a small baugette. We were hungry and it looked so good, but we debated for a good three minutes when they held up three fingers for the price. Until this time all street food we found had been 20,000 Dong (a little over a dollar), so 30,000 was a but more than we wanted to pay (I know it sounds cheap to stall so much over fifty cents a pop, but we are on a strict budget). The Banh My looked so good, though, and the meat was freshly grilled. After five minutes of debating, the elder son held up the sum in bills. When we realized that they cost only 3,000 we both bought two on the spot and went back for seconds. I could still eat one now, they were that good. the family was really nice as well, sharing thier snack of hard mango and spicy sauce.
So with full bellies and impressed eyes, we traveled to Hoi An.
After a good couple of days in Hanoi, we reluctantly left for Hue and its graves and palace. The train ride was pretty good, though some 40 something Vietnamese ladies were on the top bunks, tried to swap bunks with us after entering, and - possibly out of spite for not letting them - rained down sunflower seed shells, some orange peels, and once "accidentally" spilled their popcorn, all while talking loudly. They got off after a couple of hours and let us sleep.
Once arrived, we found a decent hotel that included our first ride on motorbikes. We took the next day to rent bicycles and check out some of the tombs South of Hue. In Vietnamese history, Hanoi has been the traditional capital, but for 150 years the Nguyen Dynasty made it Hue. Because of that, Hue has a huge palace and the tombs of the six Nguyen rulers. We rode our bicycles almost two hours South of Hue to the tomb of the last emperor, Khai Dinh, getting horribly ripped off for lunch on the way. No one really liked Khai Dinh very much, but he had others make him one really good tomb. The outside was an imposing black and white, but inside his burial chambers it was a feast of colors. The Vietnamese at that time developed a style of art that used broken bits of pottery and glass combined with mortar to create dragons, tress, birds, whatever they wished. Seeing the "Nippon" written on the neck of an old Japanese beer bottle shard on a tree branch comprised solely of the broken beer bottles was really impressive. Similarly with everything: dragons made from broken pots, birds from bits of vases, flowers from shattered plates. We saw other examples fo this work elsewhere, but Khai Dinh"s tomb was the most inspiring.
After the tomb, we rode back home by a new route, found an abandonded temple, and as we wer about to leave saw our first elephants! A pair of beast and rider came down the mountain, passed the temple, then the road, and into a field to feed. It was great to finally see some elephants, especially as we weren't expecting to see any until Thailand.
The next day we saw the palace, which was huge and impressive. No particular part stands out, but it was worth the visit. They are doing a massive restoration job on it now, so we got to see some untouched ruins, work in progress, and the finished product all in the same place. Outside of the temple we found the best Banh My we have ever eaten. This family set up a stall outside of their house where they grilled pork, then took the hot prok and snadwhiched it bewteeen a small baugette. We were hungry and it looked so good, but we debated for a good three minutes when they held up three fingers for the price. Until this time all street food we found had been 20,000 Dong (a little over a dollar), so 30,000 was a but more than we wanted to pay (I know it sounds cheap to stall so much over fifty cents a pop, but we are on a strict budget). The Banh My looked so good, though, and the meat was freshly grilled. After five minutes of debating, the elder son held up the sum in bills. When we realized that they cost only 3,000 we both bought two on the spot and went back for seconds. I could still eat one now, they were that good. the family was really nice as well, sharing thier snack of hard mango and spicy sauce.
So with full bellies and impressed eyes, we traveled to Hoi An.
Hoi An is a city preserved by UNESCO due to it having kept an old-time feel to it. Form this excursion we learned one thing: cities protected by UNESCO for preserving their old-time feel tend to disappoint us. Pingyao was similar, though push come to shove, I prefer Pingyao. These cities can be picturesque, but it goes pretty much as far as the rooftops up. Once your vision gets to street level, the bombardment of shops selling t-shirts, hats, and various assorted crap kind of depletes the "step back in time" aspect that they and UNESCO try to protect. It is inevitable that it'll end up a tourist spot, though, becuase what else are they going to do in a place that see a contast, year-round supply of money, build brick plants? So it was all souvenier shops, hotels, and restuarants. It wasn't bad per se, but we have no plans to go back.
Our bus stop turned out to be a hotel on the edge of town (read: payoff), asking for USD $12 per night. Our burdget was $10 and we luckily talked them down to within budget, all with free bicycle rental to boot! The hotel was nothing to write home about (though that is exactly what I'm doing) but it had soft beds and bikes, so we were content.
Weather in Central Vietnam is exactly the opposite of North and South, so it rained every morning until 2 or 3 PM, then was clear for the rest of the night. That killed off our plans for My Son, sadly, for the more we look at pictures the more I wish that we had gone despite the rain. We both very much want to return to Vietnam some day (I need an injury from there) and My Son will have to be done there, though not through Hoi An.
Our bus stop turned out to be a hotel on the edge of town (read: payoff), asking for USD $12 per night. Our burdget was $10 and we luckily talked them down to within budget, all with free bicycle rental to boot! The hotel was nothing to write home about (though that is exactly what I'm doing) but it had soft beds and bikes, so we were content.
Weather in Central Vietnam is exactly the opposite of North and South, so it rained every morning until 2 or 3 PM, then was clear for the rest of the night. That killed off our plans for My Son, sadly, for the more we look at pictures the more I wish that we had gone despite the rain. We both very much want to return to Vietnam some day (I need an injury from there) and My Son will have to be done there, though not through Hoi An.
Hoi An did turn us on to Com, though. (Wow, that sounds bad) Com is basically a rice dish that you pick and choose toppings for. It varies in price, quality, and selection from place to place, but the good places are fantastic. We found a pretty good place in the morning market that served us great food with good service.
Com is everywhere in Vietnam, but Hoi An is famous for Cao Lau, so we hgad to track some down. After searching some reviews on the internet, we found a place to search for. We couldn't find and when we did actualyl find it later it was closed, so we settled on another place that had all the requirements of hungry people: it was open, cheap, and looked okay. The lady told us two for thirty, said okay to two for twnety, then presently forgot about our deal when we tried to pay, but she served up a wicked bowl of Cao Lau (or so we presume, we only ate it once).
Com is everywhere in Vietnam, but Hoi An is famous for Cao Lau, so we hgad to track some down. After searching some reviews on the internet, we found a place to search for. We couldn't find and when we did actualyl find it later it was closed, so we settled on another place that had all the requirements of hungry people: it was open, cheap, and looked okay. The lady told us two for thirty, said okay to two for twnety, then presently forgot about our deal when we tried to pay, but she served up a wicked bowl of Cao Lau (or so we presume, we only ate it once).
After Hoi An, we took a shuttle bus up to Danang to catch our train to Saigon. We had seven hours or so to kill, so we found a supermarket, and got some noodles on the street. On the way we found someone selling our favorite Vietnamese snack, deep-fried bananas and sweet potatoes. Believe me you, these things are good when done well and this lady's was the best we had. The banana paret was big, the sweet potatoes were but thin, there was lots of filling and just enough dough to be crunch and nto over-bearing. If you ever come to Vietnam - and you should - hunt this down. LIke so many other foods we ate, we forgot to ask the name in Vietnamese, but you'll know it when you see it.
Before boarding the train we needed some real food and found a great place that sold Com cheaply. Food in hand, we took a train that was bound to end up in Saigon at 5AM with a place to stay not sorted out yet, as is our habit.
Before boarding the train we needed some real food and found a great place that sold Com cheaply. Food in hand, we took a train that was bound to end up in Saigon at 5AM with a place to stay not sorted out yet, as is our habit.
After we arrived at Saigon station, we took some time to sort ourselves out, try to figure out which way the backpacker district was, and eventually hopped in a taxi with three US citizens going the same way. They gave us a great hostel recommendation which sadly was full, so we rested in the park for am hour watching forty-somethings do silly exercises to house music before walking around Ho Chi Minh for an hour before finding a place to stay. Luckily we strayed away from the backpacker district and found place that was clean, very friendly, safe, and right in the middle of so much city that we never could have seen had we stayed in the backpacker district. Hint for those going to Ho Chi Minh. When you look for a hotel, forgo the backpacker area, head one block South, then find lodging. Its much more worth it.
Pictured is the place where we had breakfast everyday for three days in Saigon. Yes, yes, hamburgers, but the sauvce was all Vietnam, two cost a dollar, and they were REALLY good.
On our first day, we walked around checking out the city. Saigon is very nice place. It has lots of parks, is pretty easy to get around despite how big it is, and a lot of places have prices listed! Plus, we found pistachio ice cream. I repeat: pistachio ice cream.
We walked around and saw the old post office and the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Pictured is the place where we had breakfast everyday for three days in Saigon. Yes, yes, hamburgers, but the sauvce was all Vietnam, two cost a dollar, and they were REALLY good.
On our first day, we walked around checking out the city. Saigon is very nice place. It has lots of parks, is pretty easy to get around despite how big it is, and a lot of places have prices listed! Plus, we found pistachio ice cream. I repeat: pistachio ice cream.
We walked around and saw the old post office and the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Next on our list was something that I at first thought was skipable and that Shizuka wanted to see because some Israeli guys told her was good (though it turns out that they were talking about something else) the War Remnants Museum, also called the American War Crimes Museum. The outside dsplayed military vehicles left over from the American/Vietnam War, some of which huge but all of which were impressive in their destructive capabilities. We and many others took pictures outside, but then we went inside and saw the exhibit for what it was.
The exhibit was laid out superbly and while not as biased as it could be, did not pull any punches. It firmly and resolutely blamed the USA for war crimes and breaking UN regulations (nothing new there) while calling for the USA to owe up to how it operated during the war. I had a very hard time seeing this exhibit, especially conerning the use of Agent Oragne. Due to water and soil contamination, many peaple suffering grotesque, unnatural deformations caused by this wretched chemical were born close to my birthyear. The last major conference for Agent Oragne victims was in Hanoi in 2004 (they still called on the USA to account for the consequences of its actions, by the by).
This exhibit set out to do what it intended, which was to be as brutal in its displying of information as the war was to the country and to inform visitors about what Vietnam suffered. It was a great exhibit, though very hard to view. I've never been a supporter of the US attack on Vietnam and in the day would like to believe that I would have protested it with all my might, but even so I left this museum feeling emotionally exhausted, discombobulated, and even more sorely disappointed in my governemnt than usual. Mostly becuase I see little change in it, while the Vietnamese people and government openly acepting Francha nd US citizens after 17 years of war and the Japanese accepting US citizens after two atomic bombs. I could only contrast this to the US govenrment, who are still weighing the virtues of opening up trade to Cuba because they agreed to place Russian missiles on their island in the sixties. I'm so glad that the majority of people on this Earth are able to distinguish the governments of the world from the people they supposedly represent.
The exhibit was laid out superbly and while not as biased as it could be, did not pull any punches. It firmly and resolutely blamed the USA for war crimes and breaking UN regulations (nothing new there) while calling for the USA to owe up to how it operated during the war. I had a very hard time seeing this exhibit, especially conerning the use of Agent Oragne. Due to water and soil contamination, many peaple suffering grotesque, unnatural deformations caused by this wretched chemical were born close to my birthyear. The last major conference for Agent Oragne victims was in Hanoi in 2004 (they still called on the USA to account for the consequences of its actions, by the by).
This exhibit set out to do what it intended, which was to be as brutal in its displying of information as the war was to the country and to inform visitors about what Vietnam suffered. It was a great exhibit, though very hard to view. I've never been a supporter of the US attack on Vietnam and in the day would like to believe that I would have protested it with all my might, but even so I left this museum feeling emotionally exhausted, discombobulated, and even more sorely disappointed in my governemnt than usual. Mostly becuase I see little change in it, while the Vietnamese people and government openly acepting Francha nd US citizens after 17 years of war and the Japanese accepting US citizens after two atomic bombs. I could only contrast this to the US govenrment, who are still weighing the virtues of opening up trade to Cuba because they agreed to place Russian missiles on their island in the sixties. I'm so glad that the majority of people on this Earth are able to distinguish the governments of the world from the people they supposedly represent.
Feeling very exhausted from little sleep, lots of walking, emotional strain, and not enough food, we stopped to get something to eat and rest in a park, then headed home for the night.
After some much needed rest, we walked what turned out to be quite far to the Cholon district to see some pagodas. the walk was pretty good, showing us a slightly more residential side of Saigon. The pagodas were pretty good and pictures really can't describe the effect of the combination of incense, layer upon layer of intricately carved woodwork surrounding statues, and people praying around you. They were all neat and interesting, though to some extent shrines, pagodas, and churches all start to look that ubiquitous phrase: "same, same, but different". The district itself encompasses Chinatown, so it was pretty neat to see the Chinese influence on buildings.
For example, this church was smack in the middle of Chinatown, serving the Christian population that lived in the area. They need their churches too, but it is a bit strange being in a Christian church in a Vietnamese Chinatown. The church followed the Vietnamese tradition of illumination on figures. In pagodas and temples, Buddha can bee seen with any or all of: to my eyes tacky lights around him, a rotating rainbow colored light disk behind his head, a cone of strung lights, or strings tiny Christmas-like lights around him. Jesus was no exception, as there was no Jesus that did not have a neon halo and most of his crosses were bordered in neon or tiny lights. I'm sure the Vietnamese find it very respectful, but that it well over Shiz and my collected heads.
We did find a great church behind the closed Church for Joan D'Arc (wanted to go very much), an outside church. There was a rock into which they carved a small cave for a Cross and Jesus, plus a smaller one to the side for the Virgin Mary. Complete with pews, this place was very interesting, especially as praying Vietnamese felt free to ride their scooters right through the door and up the aisle to park next to a pew and pray. No roof, no worries, obviously.
We did find a great church behind the closed Church for Joan D'Arc (wanted to go very much), an outside church. There was a rock into which they carved a small cave for a Cross and Jesus, plus a smaller one to the side for the Virgin Mary. Complete with pews, this place was very interesting, especially as praying Vietnamese felt free to ride their scooters right through the door and up the aisle to park next to a pew and pray. No roof, no worries, obviously.
With Cholon behind us, we had one more full day in Saigon before heading across into Cambodia. We spent it going to see the Womens' Museum, a decent three-floor museum showcasing the traditional roles of women in Vietnam, womens' efforts during the war years, and women of acclaim today. We saw a few more pagodas, ate at the best bakery in Vietnam, had a dinner of freshly grilled pork Com, and had a few beers at a street bar. All in all, pretty good. The next day, we were off to Cambodia!