Clothes, motos and the FA Cup, al fresco

Hoi An is best known among backpackers as the place to get great, cheap clothes tailor made. It has also got a really nice old town centre and a good beach. We decided to take advantage of all of these things. It turned out to be two of the most fun days of our trip so far.

We arrived in off the night train, shared a cab with a couple of guys we met and as soon as we had checked into our (very nice) hotel, we were straight to the tailors. We decided to go for the one recommended by the hotel. In the end, we got a very good deal, but I would definitely advise others, especially girls looking for dresses to shop around a bit with regards to styles and materials available in other shops. And given that practically every third shop is a tailor's, there is plenty of choice.

Unfortunately, due to the huge amount of competition for our business, our stroll through the old town later that day was kind of spoiled by all of the shop owners coming out and trying to coerce us into their shops. As soon as you looked slightly lost, someone would be over offering to help you and show you where you wanted to go but it was always just a lead up to "and now you come to my shop?"

The next day, after a fitting of the clothes we'd ordered, we decided to rent mopeds and head to the beach. Unfortunately, there were no mopeds for rent, so we had to go with motorbikes. I was more than a little apprehensive about this prospect, but swallowed my fear and was really pleased that I did. (I did insist on a helmet, however, even if I was the only one wearing one!)There was little traffic on the roads and we rarely went above 30mph, given that it's such a small town. It was just a great way to get out and about. We met up with the guys from the train at the beach and met Rob, a guy from Northern Ireland who we first met in Phnom Penh and shared part of that journey to Vietnam with, then again in Hanoi and the day before in Hoi An old centre! I think the dude was following us! ;)

After a really relaxed day on the beach, it was back on the motos, though not before more nice clothes caught our eye. Toby tried on a ready-made shirt that was slightly too short for his liking, but within 10 minutes they had it adjusted to perfection. We are definitely going to need another bag!

Given that it was FA Cup final night, we arranged to meet the lads again that evening in town. One last fitting of our clothes and we were all set. The match was great craic and not only for the great football that was played. There we were sitting in the middle of a small town in Vietnam, surrounded by Irish and English people all cheering on two teams thousands of miles away. Because of the time difference, the match only started at 9pm here. Then, because it ran over into extra time, last orders had already been called and the barmen were trying to kick us out. They ended up compromising and moved the TV out onto the street and let everyone take their beers and chairs with them. So then it was 30-40 people crowded around a TV standing on the street in the balmy evening, sitting on parked motos and generally enjoying the atmosphere. Until the bar owner turned off the TV, just at the start of the second half of ET!

Panic ensued briefly, until we looked behind and realised that there was a tiny shoe shop still open and with a TV on in the corner. So all 30+ of us legged it across the street and crowded around the entrance to this tiny shop. Needless to say, the Vietnamese owners were more than a little surprised at the unexpected visitors and calls to turn the TV around and the volume up. They were pretty good about it until boxes were moved to create more space and shoes started getting knocked over. We also saw our first sign of Vietnamese xenophobia as one drunk local man started shouting and banging on the bar door with a stick in protest at them showing sports and serving drinks to foreigners. The lady in the shoe shop must've been spooked by this, because as soon as extra-time ended, the TV was switched off. There was then a race to motos and the nearest hotels, as people calculated how long it took to set up penalties and how long to get to the hotel. In the end, ours was that little bit too far away and we missed the end. Quite the anti-climax to a very funny evening!

However, the fun was not over yet, as word spread of a party on the beach. Two moto drivers offered to take four of us there. Now, this meant fitting three of us on the moto, not an idea I relished. But again, I decided to just go with it and hopped on the back behind this diminutive Vietnamese, with Toby behind me. Off we went and it really was quite exhilarating, when I wasn't completely frightened for my life! The party was a bit subdued, so off we went again to another party, on another beach and back on the motos. This was enough for me and I stopped off at the hotel and let the others head on. Apparently, the other party wasn't much better, although there was a guitar, so Toby was pleased!

We're flying to Hanoi tomorrow, avoiding a 12 hour train journey and I have to say that I'll be more than a little sad to leave this great little town.

Nha Trang - beach resort

Arriving in Nha Trang off the night train was the most relaxed I've felt after any journey here. Ok, the train costs more than the bus, but it is definitely worth the money. We strolled down to the see front and found the hotel recommended by a friend of Toby's.

After a brief snooze in a very hot room (electricity was gone, so neither fan nor a/c was working) it was out to the beach, onto a sun lounger and out with our books. Ahh... This is the life. Whacking on lots of sun cream, we simply whiled the afternoon and evening away. Luckily the air con was back working when we returned that night.

We'd booked ourselves onto a scuba diving tour the first night, so the next morning were up at 8am and on a bus to the port. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, it couldn't have been more perfect. The company we went with, Octopus divers, were really professional. As we are not certified divers, we had a guide accompany us the whole time on our 30 minute dive, adjusting the buoyancy jackets and pointing out interesting fish or sea creatures. Apart from the numerous jelly fish closer to the surface, it was a really relaxing dive. After lunch, we went to another dive spot. We sunned ourselves on the boat on the way back in and then headed back to the beach for the afternoon.

We thought about taking a trip out on a boat today for our last day, Toby being particularly interested in going to see Monkey Island, but in the end we decided not to, as it just seemed like too much effort. Instead we had a lie in and then to the beach again. This isn't a very interesting post, I know, but I don't care! After all the travelling and sight-seeing we've been doing over the past 10days or so, it was ideal to sit around, read our books and drink beer and do little else. Moving onto Hoi An on the night train tonight, so hopefully the next post will be a little more interesting. But with the holiday mood that I'm in now, I can't promise anything!

Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai

Today we took a bus tour out to the Cu Chi Tunnels (built by the Viet Minh in the 30's and 40's and used in the war against the French and then later and more famously used by the Viet Cong against the Americans) and also saw the Holy See of the Cao Dai religion, a complex religion that takes in beliefs and elements of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism. Their saints and revered spirits include some westerners like Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc and William Shakespeare.

We were able to watch part of one of their daily ceremonies in the lavishly and colourfully decorated Great Temple before heading off again for lunch. On the way back we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels. We first watched a very biased propaganda video showing the Viet Cong soldiers and guerilla fighters as they bravely killed the enemy. We heard how they were awarded hero's medals for killing lots of Americans. We saw pictures of dead American soldiers accompanied insanely by happy clappy music.

After this bizarre start, we were told by our guide to stick together and not mix up with the other groups because he wouldn't be able to tell us apart then, given that we all look the same...Funny.

We were then brought into the woods and shown some of the original tunnels. How the Viet Cong managed to live in these tunnels for so long is beyond me. I'll put up some pics of how tiny these tunnels were. They were around 60cm in height and 80 in width. We were shown examples of the traps they used, where they lived and what they ate. Then came the firing range, where you could pay $1 a bullet to shoot an AK 47 or any other type of gun. Why anyone would want to pay to do this is beyond me, but it obviously appealed to Toby. I'm sure he'll give a vivid description of this on his blog.

The journey back to HCMC was as fun as all other minibus trips we've taken so far on this holiday, violently bumpy and extremely uncomfortable! For this reason, we plan to get trains as much as possible! Our next stop is Nha Trang, 450km from HCMC, on the night train this evening. Then we'll hit the beaches for a few days of r&r. Can't wait.

Ho Chi Minh City

We decided to take ourselves on a walking tour of Saigon today. After our journey from Cambodia yesterday, we also decided not to rouse ourselves too early. In the place we are staying, breakfast and dinner are included, so we popped downstairs around 12 for brekkie. After this we started off.

HCMC is massive. It has over 6million people in it and most of them drive a moto. It doesn't really have a central point - the Saigon river is there, but is used mainly for industry and not as a focal point for the city. Because of this, it it kind of hard to get your barings. Luckily we had our Lonely Planet to help us out! We went into a large covered market and were very soon accosted by sellers encouraging us into their stalls. Toby had said he was only going to the market because it was part of the walking tour, but in the end it was he who was buying stuff and me hanging around waiting. Was very strange, given his claim to hate shopping. The stall owners where Toby was buying a t-shirt were very interested in us, coming up and looking closely at my necklace and bag (Katie, they were very impressed with your Croatian handbag!). We were obviously the most interesting thing they'd seen that day. They were really lovely and as we were leaving, one of the girls hugged me from behind and asked me to stay (lovely as she was, I still kept an eye to make sure her hands were around my waist and not in my lovely bag!) . Toby made a vain attempt to sell me to them for a few thousand dong, but before you think he values me highly, note that there are 20,000 dong to the euro.

We spent the next few hours wandering around museums and drinking iced tea, now our favourite drink. The War Remenants Museum, once known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, was really interesting, showing the history of the Vietnamese War (or American War, as it is known over here) and all the horrors committed on the Vietnamese people. There was a very interesting section of photographs taken by photographers from around the world who were later killed in battle. Some show the very last picture taken by that photographer before he was killed and they are amazing pictures. There is a very graphic section on the war crimes committed by the Americans and tanks and helicopters captured during the war.

By the end of our walk, however, I was no more enamoured with the place than when we started. It doesn't have all that much to recommend it really. Am looking forward to getting out of here and experiencing a different side to Vietnam, as I can only hope that this is not all there is to it.

Journey to Vietnam, by bus, boat and bus.

The journey to Vietnam was the least fun we've had so far, although parts of it made the trip worthwhile. We started at 7am in Phnom Penh, taking a minibus with four other people. The driver proceeded to drive all over town, dropping one couple off to another bus (the lucky things) and then took some meandering route through rush hour traffic to eventually end up turning into a large garage. As it did not seem that we had even left the city yet, we presumed that this was not border control to Vietnam and did wonder if we were perhaps being kidnapped for a moment... but it turned out we just needed to change minibuses, no explaination why. So we all piled in and realised we'd even less leg-room than before.

Then followed two hours of possibly the most uncomfortable journey I've taken. The minibus was very old, with no suspension, and the roads in Cambodia (apart from the one to Siem Reap) are not the best by any stretch of the imagination. With no air conditioning and the driver stopping to pick up randomers along the way, it seemed like a lot more than two hours. And bear in mind that we'd had less than three hours sleep that night! Although with some minibuses passing with 10people sitting on top of their luggage, on top of the minibus, our situation seemed more reasonable.

We finally made it to the port and were shown to our boat. This was the part that made the journey worth while. Cruising along in a covered in boat, balmy breeze coming through the windows, nice benches to stretch out on, it's the life. We had a bit of snooze and soon enough we were at the Cambodian border. We had a lovely Vietnamese gentleman usher us through. He had obviously only learnt one swear word which was 'Goddammed', but he used it to great effect, many times. The boat into Vietnam was equally lovely and relaxed, floating through the Mekong Delta for two hours.

Arriving in Vietnam, we were told by a friendly local that the bus we were going for had left and were then herded to an office were we were asked to pay $10 each for the trip to HCMC. $10!! But there was nothing we could do but agree and be annoyed that we'd obviously been bamboozled. We were even more annoyed when we were brought to the bus station and saw loadsa busses - it would be hard to believe that none of them were going to HCMC. But at least we were to travel in a comfortable a/c'd minibus, crammed with people. And the bus was relatively comfortable - until we started driving that was. It turns out that the roads in Vietnam are little better than those in Cambodia. There was one stretch of road where we were bombing along, being bounced around ruthlessly, only to suddenly brake as it seemed the road had disappeared to be replaced by a load of rubble. The road in fact was still there, it had just curved sharply to the left and down a steep incline. Combine this with a puking child, no leg room and sticky seats, extend it for an hour or two longer than we were originally told, and you are beginning to get the idea.

When we finally arrived in HCMC at 10.30 pm, about 15 hours after we'd left PP, I wasn't feeling so enamoured with the place. But we found a nice hotel run by some really lovely people and began to feel a bit better. Exploring the city would have to wait until tomorrow, as we fell into bed for a very comfortable and long sleep.

Phnom Pehn...again

We were not so happy at having to travel back and spend another night in Phnom Penh. Having stayed there an extra day while awaiting our bags, we really wanted to move on to Vietnam. But we can only go when the buses take us, so we resigned ourselves to another night.

We only got into PP after 7 and had a tuk tuk driver take us around. I was amazed to find myself really pleased to be back! It's a great city, so busy and noisy and colourful. And travelling by tuk tuk is the only way to go. It turned out that the direct bus to Ho Chi Minh City was full for the next day so we had to work out a plan B. We checked into a guesthouse by the lake, imaginatively named #9 Guesthouse. The room was not spectacular, but at $3 a night, we couldn't really complain. We went out to sort ourselves out a ride to Vietnam. The most interesting way to get there is by boat. Takes a bit longer, but we decided it was worth it. That sorted, we decided we needed a drink. And at $0.75 for a double vodka and red bull, it would've been rude not to!

We then spent about 3 hours cotching in hammocks (Toby's makey-uppey word, not mine) and drinking beer on the deck of the guesthouse over looking and overhanging the lake. This was mainly because our $3 room was sweltering and there was no air con, only a crappy fan on the wall, but also 'cause they were hammocks and there was beer!!

We eventually rolled out of the hammocks at 3am and into bed surrounded by a mosquito net. After a fitfull 3 hours sleep we were back up and very soon on the road to Vietnam.

These are the roots of a massive tree that has grown over one of the temples in Angkor, Ta Promh. It gives an idea of how the jungle simple grew over and through everything. You can also see that I had that stage developed a nice, deep tan...not.

This is me, clinging on for dear life to some very steep, crumbling steps up the top of the main tower of Angkor Wat. Those are some monks you can see clambering up at the top. The steps were made this steep as apparently it is not meant to be easy to reach Heaven. They hadn't mentioned, however, how much harder it was to come down again!

This is Angkor Wat, at sunset. It was meant to have turned fabulous colours, as Toby described in his blog, but as you can see, well, it didn't...! But it's still cool!

Angkor Wat

I haven't been very attentive to the old blogging in the past few days, most of which have been spent on one bus or another and some of it on a boat. So my apologies to any of you who have been checking back for updates! ;)

Last time we were speaking, we were in Phnom Penh and our clothes had just arrived. We spent another day in Phnom Penh, visited the Tuol Sleng prison, an old school that the Khmer Rouge took over and turned into a secret prison and torture camp. Only 7 of the over 2000 people held there actually survived. The rest were brought to what are now known generally as the killing fields about 13km away and it has since been well documented what happened there (if the name hadn't given it away).

After that rather jolly morning, we took some time out to digest what we had seen. Later we strolled back to the riverside and had dinner out in the FCC, Foreign Correspondents' Club, overlooking the river and enjoyed our last night in Phnom Penh, for now.

The next day it was on to a bus and off to Siem Reap, most famous for it's ancient temples, 'rediscovered' in the late 1800's and now Cambodia's major tourist attraction. Angkor Wat, the most famous of the many temples, is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. Others were completely covered by the jungle and still have trees growing on and over and in them. I won't be able to describe these temples here, just don't have the words or the energy and it would never come across properly. (Though apparently Toby thinks himself up to the challenge, so go read his description at http://tobyontour.blogspot.com/ . If you've just come to my blog from his blog with a promise of descriptions 'without all the prevarication' you will be sorely disappointed!) Suffice to say that they were amazing! I'll try get some good pictures up so you can see for yourselves. Anyone who has seen Tomb Raider might be familiar as it was filmed here.

The town of Siem Reap is really great although you can see the effect having a UNESCO pretected building can have on a place. It is quite touristy, with masses of construction work going on on what look to be very large hotels and lots of them. This said, it still retains a lot of character and again the people are lovely. Our guesthouse this time lived up to and beyond my now reajusted expectations of accommodation in Cambodia. It was like a proper hotel, had a lovely open chillout area in a courtyard and really nicely kept rooms. It was more expensive than the last place, going from $10 a night to $15 (for the room), but you could see the difference $5 can make!! The town has a street now called 'Bar Street' on most maps, though the official name is probably Street 157 or something, but it is very lively and the centre of all backpacker nightlife, so someone was obviously inspired to give it a better, more descriptive name. Bar Street. Well done.

However, as much as I would've loved to have stayed an extra day or so in this place, we have a whole other country to visit. Off to Vietnam....via Phnom Penh...again.