A while since my last meanderings.Here is a trip to Vietnam in a nutshell.
Saigon/HCMC: Great museums,escorting old ladies across the crazy HCMC streets,bia hoi at 12,000 dong a glass(about 12p),learning about Cao Dai,eating the best Vietnamese food,Madam Cuc and her happy group of helpers,watching the river traffic from the top of the Majestic Hotel at sunset.
Mui Ne:Sitting by the sea eating grilled catfish after choosing my victim,wandering up the fairy stream and feeling as though a dinosaur woud appear round the corner any second,meeting Kev and Yvette for the first time(my kind of people),arriving at the white sand dunes and being amazed by the sheer enormity of them,sunset at the red dunes,discovering my own private beach and swimming naked(that's why it had to be private!)
Dalat:Travelling through some very sheer mountain cliffsides to get there with the driver assuming we were on a normal motorway,thinking I was in a Swiss resort,a blanket needed at night,pine trees in Vietnam,seeing roasted dog for the first time,setting off on a 4 day motorbike oddysey,coffee plantations,vegetable gardens,fields of flowers,seeing the biggest rat I've seen in my life(and I lived in NYC)
Central Highlands:Hiep a wonderful traveling companion,wondering what amazing view will appear around the corner,"Chicken village" home to the H'mong ethnic minority,visiting a family who made rice paper spring rolls the traditional way and fed me like a king,seeing hills where nothing grows still due to Agent Orange,real jungle,misty Lak Lake at 7 in the morning,falling asleep to the sound of very loud bullfrogs,views views and more views,elephants,pot bellied pigs and three of the most incredible waterfalls I have seen,one of which had two crazy guys fishing right on the edge and one of which I stood behind.
Nha Trang: Six foot waves that were a challenge,visiting the surrounding islands with the unique Mama Linh,floating bars,being forced to sing Yellow Submarine accompanied by a woman wearing a tin on her head and a drumkit that was made up of old waste buckets and a cymbal that looked like a nibbled on biscuit,falling asleep on the beach to be woken by a rather large German woman who told me in no uncertain terms that I was going RED!!!
Hoi An:Tailors,tailors and more tailors(oh and lanterns too),Cau Lao,White Rose(a local dish),more boat trips,walking the pristine streets of the old town(thinking how much my friend Jill would love it here),getting up at 4.30 a.m. to visit My Sun temple a very old Cham reigious site and feeling very small surrounded by an ethereal mist that shrouded the whole place at 6.30 in the morning,being held up leaving as the President of Laos passed us on his way to visit My Sun,having a pair of shoes made ridiculously cheaply and being told they were the biggest pair the cobbler(?) had ever made,standing idly by as a snake shot out of wall only to be torn to bits by the family's terrier!
Hue:The greatest train journey I have ever taken to get to Hue through jungle on one side and sea views on the other,ancient royal capital and an enormous citadel,pagodas of stunning beauty,cycling to the beach and a famous pagoda,cycling into the hills in rain(what's that?)and seeing women making incense sticks in a way that looked like it had been passed down over many years,eating in a reaturant by the river whilst the house band played a selection of western Christmas songs in the middle of March.
Hanoi: Mist,drizzle,narrow high streets in the Old Quarter,being told off by the police for trying to take a photo in a sensitive area,great old Communist billboards,seeing Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum(very small hands),huge groups of schoolchildren saying Hello to me as I say Xinh Chau back,acting the fool for said children and making them laugh,in Ho Chi Minh museum teaching the kids some English as they were meant to be watching a very poor quality film about the "American War",Ca Cha,bia hoi at 3,000 dong(about 10p),feeling at times as though I was in a scene from Blade Runner,water puppets,insane use of horns.
Halong Bay:Overwhelming,natural wonder,over 5,000 islands rising out of the sea,ME kayaking around the islands(although accompanied by a very patient Canadian guy from British Columbia who knew what he was doing,unlike me),sleeping on a very small boat and beconming slightly alarmed in the night when the wind got up together with huge crashing and scraping noises.......just 2 boats moored together banging against each other,being awoken on the second morning to the most incredible sunrise,caves that didn't look real but more like a film set.
To sum up:I've missed many things/experiences,but Vietnam proved to be a country of world class scenery and a country of contrasts.I saw desert,mountains,pine forests,seascapes that blew you away,waterfalls,caves and urban areas of massive interest.All I can say is.......GO!!
