Good Morning, Vietnam

The next part of our journey took us to Vietnam, where we flew from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on one of the budget flights we had booked way back in India.  It might sound strange to some people, but when we booked our flights we honestly didn't have any plan of what we wanted to see or do, so arranged flights in and out from various random destinations and we would join the dots up when we were actually in that country.  This meant our itinerary was very flexible and could be changed depending on how we felt at that time. We have found that travelling this way suits us down to the ground and up until now things have gone very smoothly (fingers crossed they stay this way).

We hadn't really done much research into Vietnam therefore our expectations were very low, another thing which we have found makes for the best time.
I must say that our first impressions as we drove through
HCMC was how clean it was for such a big city, how many people there were and the number of bikes buzzing around. Honestly it was total madness, we have never seen so many in our life.  We were told that HCMC has a population of 8 million people and 4 million of those own a bike!


In 1976 Saigon was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City, however the name Saigon is still used by the majority of Vietnamese people, so from now on I shall do the same.  We arrived at the Thien Thao Hotel (one of the best value hotels on our trip so far) which was in District 3 of Saigon, just out of the main tourist drag of District 1 .  This is where we got our first introduction to Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, you can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - it is lush. We had planned to spend 5 days in Saigon as we have found this is the perfect amount of time to get to know a place; anything less, we dont get a true feel of the place and anything more we start to get bored.  Unfortunately, somehow I had managed to catch a nasty 24 hour bug so had to spend a couple of days in bed recovering however by the 3rd day I was ready to meet Saigon.

                

We arranged a City tour through our hotel where we spent a full day enjoying what the city had to offer.  This involved visiting the War Museum, two Buddhist temples, a Handicraft centre (with goods that were created by disabled people, which I must say were brilliantly made), a Cathedral, a market and the Reunification Palace (it makes me tired just writing this - we were knackered by the end of the day).  We had such a good day and our tour guide, Son, was great.  He gave us the talk in the van (as we were driving) and then left us to our own devices at the actual place - our perfect tour guide.  Me and Andrew hate having to stand there and listen to someone waffling on at you, pretending to look interested (something we are both not very good at!).


One thing that we both really enjoyed, which I must add surprised me, was how interesting the War Museum was.  I am sorry to say that normally just hearing the word Museum makes me switch off as I immediately think BORING but it was very informative.  I was just thanking god that we weren't American as I think that I would have felt really embarrassed; there was some pretty incriminating evidence on show. What they did was just awful and the effects of Agent Orange are still around today which you got to see pictures of, it was very sad.  However, I realise that this was one sided story and I am sure that the Amercians have some equally horrifying stories to tell.


Here are a few shots of what we got up to on the city tour...

This is Andrew joining in at the Handicraft centre- here they are using crushed egg shells to decorate a tray, it was really time consuming and they must have lots of patience.  All the work is carried out by Handicapped people for a non profit organisation.

This is the Notre Dam Cathedral.

We went to a temple in Saigon where they had the largest incense we have seen, it was very pretty.  The smell was lovely but by the time we got out we were sneezing like mad as it really got up your nose.

The final part of the tour was to stop at the Reunification Palace - this was a bit disappointing to be honest as I had visions of grandeur from when the tour guide mentioned the word Palace. 

It was a rather ugly building (see picture) and we werent really sure what the purpose of the building was (we werent the only ones, we saw lots of people enter and walk out after 5 mins).  Me and Andrew did get lost in the basement of the Palace which was a bit scary as no one else was in there and we werent sure if we were allowed in.  Andrew sat in the President's Chair in the war room and answered the phone but other than that, not much to report.

For the next part of our trip were took a flight up to North Vietnam to Hanoi, the capital.  Surprisingly the flight took nearly 3 hours, you wouldnt think it would be so long as the country looks quite small on paper (I know that might sound stupid but I am sure you get my drift LOL). 

We arranged to stay in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Like Saigon, the streets were filled with cycles but this time a mix of the motorised and the peddling kind. The influence of the French in Vietnam is visable everywhere you go and even more so in Hanoi. The French have left a great legacy as apart from the buildings, the Vietnamese have an amazing range of fresh bread, coffee and pastries. You feel like you are wandering the back streets in Europe sometimes with all the cafes and bakeries.

Vietnam is a communist country where people are continually told how to act and what to think (do you know you can't access Facebook in Vietnam as it is banned) and Government instructions are given out over loud speakers in the street.  BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING ( I was waiting for Davina to pop out somewhere LOL) .  Invidiually, the Vietnamese are lovely people but surprisingly for a communist state, we noticed that in a group they have no idea how to take instruction from authority. For such a polite and reserved nation, they cause carnage in any queueing situation (one of my pet hates as you might know). We also found that it is pure chaos when trying to take a flight in Vietnam; I was particularly scared when the person behind me was talking on his phone as the plane was heading down the run way, despite the warnings from staff.

As we had enjoyed the city tour in Saigon so much, we thought that we would do one in Hanoi too.  The day involved spending time seeing Ho Chi Min's body (former President of Vietnam) and Palace, oldest temple in Hanoi, Ethicology Mueseum and a wander round the market.  We are sorry to stay that we gave the tour up by lunch time as the Hanoi heat had got to about 38 degrees and it was far too hot to be trapsing round.  Added to this was the fact that our guide had poor English which we couldnt understand but she wanted to talk us through everything, so we were very bored and wanted to escape back to our hotel for the A/C, I must say that when we got back the electricity was off for the next 3 hours so we had to spend the afternoon in hot, dark hotel room - not fun!

Despite cutting our tour short, we did manage to get a few shots around Hanoi....

This is just part of the queue to get in to see Ho Chi Min's body - we just didnt get what all the fuss was and couldn't be bothered queueing for a hour so we had a look around the grounds instead. It was the only time we saw a proper queue in Vietnam (purely due to the fact that the place was swarming with guards controlling the flow of visitors).  Our view of the place as we had a look round was that it was like going to Alton Towers on a very hot bank holiday but without the fun.

These are the workers at Ho Chi Min's Mausoleum keeping the grounds in tip top shape, I LOVE these hats!

One of mine and Andrews favourite past times (when we can get cable) is to watch Travel and Living Channel. We love to watch Bobby Chinn - a Vietnamese/Egyptian chef who lives in America.  Bobby goes round various countries learning about what food they eat, how they eat it and how to cook it. 

So we were very excited to find out that Bobby has his own restaurant in Hanoi and we decided to go along.  We had a great time and the food was lovely, especially the passion fruit mojoitos (our drinks bill was more than our food bill).  I was very sad to see that Bobby wasnt actually at the restaurant so I didnt get to see him but I managed to grab a photo of Andrew against Bobby's Wall of Fame which included various guest clients like Hilary Clinton!

While we were on the trail of famous chef's, a few days later we decided to seek out a place which Rick Stein visited on his tour of Vietnam and which featured on his programme.  Cha Ca Va Long, which was only a few minutes away from our hotel in the Old Quarter.  As you can see from the picture it only serves one dish so we figured thats what we would have - saves making any complex decisions at least!.

The fish was brought out to your table in a saucepan and cooked on hot coals with all the fresh herbs and butter which the Vietnamese love and heavily features in their cooking.

After eating it, we asked what type of fish it was as it was so nice.  We were advised that it was catfish (glad I didnt ask before hand as would have visions of seeing all the manky dead ones on the beaches back at home and not sure I could have ate it).... haha Andrew has just told me that I have got confused, I am thinking of dog fish... but going to leave it in anyway as I have written too much to just get rid.

Here are a few snap shots of our time in Saigon and Hanoi

One sight which has been prevalant across Asia is how relaxed the people are and how happy there are to sit around on the streets for hours - relaxing, eating and talking.  This was no different in Vietnam, apart from they wear the cool hats here.

Lady on a bike in Saigon - it is very scary to cross the road in Vietnam due to the volume of bikes on the road, you just have to play chicken and cross - they normally stop for you.  You see people of all ages on bikes from young kids about 12 to 80 years olds (I am not sure which one scares me more??)

This was the incense hanging from the ceiling of the temple in Saigon

Andrew in the Ethinology Muesum, this was the last thing we did before giving up on our tour of Hanoi.  It was so very very hot and humid.

Another form of Vietnamese transport and a good way to see a place, we didnt get round to taking one of these but I am sure we will before we leave.

That is about it for our time in Saigon and Hanoi and like always, we hope you enjoyed our blog.  We are really enjoying Vietnam, it  such a good country to travel - lots to see and do.  One thing that has surprised us that we have not seen 1 single beggar which is a first on our trip but guess thats the perks of a communist country. 

The next part of the journey will take us to Halong Bay and Hoi An, both of which we had heard really good things so we are very excited.  Andrew will be writing up our next part of the journey you will be pleased to know (I am sure you would have enough of my ramblings, I know I have).  Take care everyone.  Lots of love, Sarah & Andrew xxx

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