Vietnam, The Ending

History Abound,  Hue March 5, 6 2012

I spend my time in Hue touring a fair amount of historical sites.

1. Khai Dinh Tomb
2. Tu Duc Tomb
3. Conical hat making and Incense making Village
4. The Citadel
5. Thien Mu Pagoda

I'm not going to give you any history lessons here; just a couple pictures.

Guards

Dragon Boats

The American War, South of Hue March 7, 2012

A visit to Vietnam by an American would not be complete without visiting some relevant places from the Vietnam (or American War as they call it here) War.  In order to get out to these places I take a tour by bus.  Our guide is an older gentleman who lived in a small village as the war was going on.

As we ride the bus I take an active interest in learning about what happened.  I sit up front like a good student and ask a lot of questions.  Our guide has a pile of photocopied articles written by Chomsky and other prominent and respected people, mostly from America.  From place to place I read these articles while others make idle conversation.  They paint a pretty grim picture of the justification and reasons why the US went in in the first place.  I'm certainly no expert but it sounded like a huge disaster all the way around from beginning to end.  After walking through some of the terrain, I can't image how people fought a war in it.  It makes sense that the US burned down huge swaths of the forests because in the jungle you can't see 10 feet in front of you.

We rode along highway 1 and highway 9 and saw all of the sights: Dong Ha, the Hien Luong Bridge, Ben Hai River, the tunnels of Vinh Moc, the rockpile, Dakrong Bridge, Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the Khe Sanh base. Our guide tells us stories of hearing bombs and seeing the soldiers when he was a boy.

The tunnels were particularly interesting.  It was like one of those ant colonies you buy as a kid.  There are paths leading in many directions and rooms scattered throughout.  Various bedrooms, meeting rooms, even a hospital room is carved out of the dense clay/dirt.  The tunnels have a couple dozen openings and you couldn't pay me enough money to go down one of those things during a war.  It's pretty claustrophobic and as dark as a cave.

The old army base was also worth a look.  There is a makeshift museum on the site now along with some old US helicopters and a big US airplane.  There were a couple guys selling old dog tags, bullet casings,and other metals which he claimed were found in the area with a metal detector.  I hope they are fakes.  I pick up one of the dog tags 'Timothy Jones', Protestant.  All of tags have simply a name and a religion.  I try to imagine what must have been going on in the 60's.  I can see airplanes flying in and landing on the airstrip.  I can see soldiers walking around carrying guns.  I can see a difficult reality.  Now, there is only a couple older ladies tending to the fields which now occupy the old base.  I see the large US airplane in the background behind them.  Life goes on.        

On the way home we pass by a couple ethnic minority villages (Bru and Van Kieu).  It is good to see the way people live outside the cities.  It's like going back in time.

US Airbase

Entrance to Tunnels

More Ruins, More Pho,  Hoi Ann March 8, 9 2012

Depart at 8:30AM by bus. We travel about 50km from Hoi An to My Son sanctuary. It comprises many Champa temples, in a valley roughly two kilometers wide, surrounded by two mountain ranges. It was the site of religious ceremony of kings of the Champa dynasty, and was also a burial place of Champa royals and national heroes. The My Son temple complex is one of the foremost temple complexes of Hinduism in South East Asia and is the foremost heritage site of this nature in Vietnam. Though the complex has been destroyed over time, we still see many majestic ancient ruins of temples in the area.

Arrive in MY-SON at 9:30AM. Walk around for 2 hours to see the historic and cultural ruins of the 16th century. Then leave My Son for Cau Lau boat station. Take a motorized boat excursion at 12:30 PM to visit Kim Bong carpentry village, 3km west of Hoi An.  Tour finishes at Hoi An dock at 2:30 PM

Hoi Ann from above

Pho on the street

My Son Ruins

My Son Ruins

My Son Ruins

Beaches, Bears, Dogs, and a Couple Ostriches,  Nga Trang March 10, 11 2012
I take an island-hopping tour simply because it sounds over-the -top and ridiculous in the description: It doesn't disappoint. I get on a boat with about 55 Russians, 10 locals, and me. I'll give you some vingets:

-Our first island stop is an deer, ostrich, and dragon fruit farm. You can feed the ostriches and deer for a small fee. I realize that the ostrich is probably the most ridiculous animal in the world. I've never seen one of these things close up, but it seriously looks like some wizard conjured this thing up from a dream and brought it to life. It's got giant eyes, dinosaur legs, its neck is like a goose neck times 10, and it runs around like a vilosoraptor from Jurassic Park.

-They have a racetrack where you can ride an ostrich around. The attraction is the embodiment of torture with a strong animal cruelty vibe going on. Now, I'm no hippie, but this was a little too much for me. The Russians, however, seem to enjoy it thoroughly. The ostriches weren't that much larger than a big human. It would be like me riding a great dane; yes, it's possible but you probably shouldn't do it.

-There was an elephant who would lift you up with its trunk for a picture.

-There was a dog race with the fake rabbit and everything. I'm not sure, but I think people were betting money. It is entertaining for the 10 seconds while it lasted.

-There was an Asian bear and elephant show with Vietnamese techno music playing in the background. They had bears riding bicycles, walking around on two legs like a human, and one even rode a motorbike around the arena.

-There were a hundred monkeys on the island throughout all of this. People would feed them chips and cookies. Some would fight. I don't like monkeys.

Sunrise over the ocean

Pho and Vietnamese coffee, again

Crazy animal

Crazy animal, side view

Deer feeding

The beach

proof I was actually here...

A Breath Of Fresh Air in the Highlands,  Da Lat March 12, 13 2012
I take an organized tour in Da Lat which I have a particular affinity for some reason in Vietnam. I meet an orchid farmer from Auckland, New Zealand, a casino worker from Amsterdam, Netherlands, and a Vietnamese couple who is on their honeymoon. The combination make for an interesting day despite a fairly uninteresting tour. It's a nice place, there's simply not that much to see in the small town. We go to a place called The Valley of Love, which ironically we tour in a refurbished American jeep from the war. The honeymooners seem to enjoy it. There are naked statues, elephants, and other monuments to take pictures around.

In the evening I head down to the market for dinner. I have the one of the best desserts; warm homemade soy milk and some kind of fried donut-type things. I promise myself to figure out how to make soy milk when I return home. I've had it twice now (the first time at the Buddhist temple in Thailand) and it's a tradition worth bringing home.

Da Lat from above

Da Lat from above 

Surfing in the waterfall

Valley of Love

Coolest guy in Da Lat

Mission Impossible,  Saigon March 14 2012

I spend the entire bus ride for Da Lat to Saigon talking to an Italian girl; an astronomer, yoga-expert, kick-boxer.  We get off the bus and find a hostel.  Luckily there is a cheap place within walking distance, so we head over and get a couple beds in the dorm room.  We both only have one night in Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) before heading to Cambodia:  my visa expires, and she has had enough of Vietnam. We must make the best out of our single night out, so we do.

We hit the town by foot with a rough itinerary.  A couple notable observations at the outset:

-There are more motorbikes in this city than anywhere I've ever seen in the world. Traffic is certifiably crazy.  Trying to cross the street is a new skill which must be learned. If you wait for the 'all clear' you'll be waiting for days to cross. The way to do it is to slowly and steadily walk across: too slow and cars and trucks will run you over, too fast and motorbikes don't have enough time to maneuver around you.  The first couple times you do this it's frightening, then it's just business as usual.

- The city looks very modern and cosmopolitan compared to the rest of Vietnam, even Hanoi.  There are modern skyscrapers everywhere.  I learn that the city was bombed to the ground in the war, so it makes sense that all the buildings are new.

Museum

We first head past the central park.  There are guys playing 'hacky sack' with these dart looking things and women doing some mix of dance and aerobics to dance music playing from big speakers.  It was bizarre and funny to watch and we wondered if just anyone could walk up and get in on this.  Onward.
We pass by the opera house and a nice looking museum.  We then head to the central market for mission impossible #1: find the elusive Durian fruit and try it.  Neither one of us could find this thing anywhere in out travels so far.  If you are wondering what this thing is here are a couple descriptions:

"A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavor that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy."

"... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia."

   

To our great surprise we find it at the first fruit stall we come across.  We pick out some good looking pieces, the woman weighs them, and hands them over to us with a pair of plastic gloves.  We look at each other with a 'here goes nothing' look and dig in.  My first thought is that they are kind of good, but not something I would eat everyday.  Mission Impossible #1 complete.

We walk over to the river which runs through the city and see lot of boats which offer dinner cruises down the river.  There are all different styles from pirate ship to yacht.  We hang out by the river for awhile.  I look up to the skyline and point to the tallest building in sky and say "Wouldn't it be cool to see the city from up there."  Mission Impossible #2 begins.  I honestly didn't think there was any way in hell we would make it up there, but again, to my surprise, we walk over and pay about 5 dollars to get to the top.  It is some kind of financial building with a helipad jetting out the side.  The views from the top were fantastic.  The city looks like it is littered with Christmas lights...very colorful.  We officially feel like VIPs when we order drinks (mine a beer, hers a coffee) at the bar on the top floor.

City Center

River View

Top of Mission Impossible #2

We split and grab dinner at the market; a hotpot with shrimp and vegetables.  It was a delicious end to night filled with pleasant surprises.