Nha Trang - God Help Me If I Have To Eat Another Pringle Or Oreo Again!

To get from Hoi An to Dalat, Jenni and I took a 10 hour train that travelled during the day. Unfortunately there was no dining car that we were aware of and all we had to eat was Pringles and Oreos. These are the most common western foods you can find in Vietnam as pretty much every street seller stocks these in abundance. We would have loved to buy something else to eat, but after our little bout of Gastro in Sapa, we have not been game enough to try anything that we don't recognise. 


The train arrived around 9pm in Nha Trang and we jumped into a taxi to get to our hostel in the center of the beach area. Nha Trang has got the reputation of being a bit of a beach party town, very similar to Kuta in Bali, so Jenni and I had decided that we would forego staying at one of the nicer hotels and stay in a proper backpacker hostel so we could better experience the party life. Upon arrival, we discovered that one of the most popular night clubs / bars (the "Red Apple") is located on the first floor of our hostel, and to our delight the placing was JUMPING! The party had pretty much spilled from the bar onto the road, with tables all setup along the adjacent sidewalks, all packed with a crowd around the same age as us, drinking up a storm. One popular style of alcoholic beverage here in Vietnam, is the "bucket" which is basically a really large plastic jam jar or small bucket, measuring about 600ml that is filled with a combination of various liquors such as vodka and white rum, mixed with fruit juice or soda. Pretty much everyone at this place had one in their hand and there was plenty of empties on the tables. Having only Oreos and Pringles to eat for the entire day, we were ravenous, so we went to the restaurant at the back of the hostel for some food first, before cashing in our free drink upon arrival at the club. 


So far on our trip, we haven't been down to the beach for a swim, so the second day in Nha Trang was our first visit to the beach on our trip to do just that. Similar to Hoi An, the beaches in Nha Trang were nice, but not as nice and clean as the beaches in Australia. Unlike Hoi An, the beaches were a bit more crowded, so we didn't get pestered by too many people trying to sell us things. The water was a beautiful temperature and very refreshing. We spent most of the day lying on our deck chairs, under a straw umbrella while reading our books. That afternoon, we walked further along the beach to a beach-front restaurant and micro brewery called Louisianne. This place has a bakery, micro brewery, restaurant, pool and private beach area with deck chairs and straw umbrellas with security guards to shoo away the hawkers. To use all of their facilities, all you need to do is buy something small from the bakery or the bar. We purposefully did not bring much cash with us to the beach (in fear that the hawkers would pressure us into spending our money), so we didn't have too much to spend on lunch. We felt bad about mooching off the place while not spending too much money, so we only spent a short time there, but vowed to come back with more razoolie to make a day of it another day.


That evening we treated ourselves to a fancy barbecue seafood dinner. For about AUD $15 (that is VERY expensive for a meal in Vietnam), we were each served a plate about 1.5 foot in diameter. Filled with grilled squid, oysters, muscles, scallops, prawns and mini clams. Accompanying this enormous plate of barbecue seafood was a whole marinated fish each as well as a selection of dipping sauces, each sauce to be used with a specific seafood item on our plates. After dinner we decided to give the downstairs nightclub a miss as we were so full from dinner and we had already planned to get up early to go on a booze-filled island hopping tour the next day.


The island hopping tour that we booked had an itinerary that involved a lot of snorkeling, lounging on beaches drinking cocktails, visiting floating bars and generally drinking up a storm. We (along with the rest of the foreigners on our tour) were rather surprised to arrive at our tour boat to find it completely chokers with Vietnamese people of all ages. At first us and the other 8 foreigners were rather apprehensive as there were about 40 Vietnamese people on our boat, but as the day progressed, we all agreed that the day was a blast. Our guide was a rather interesting character, claiming at the start of the trip that he could sing songs from any country in the world. He wasted no time on the boat in treating the crowd to a hilarious rendition of Celine Dion's "My Heat Will Go On", re-enacting the famous scene from the movie "Titanic" while standing with his back to his audience at the front of the boat, arms held high and singing into his microphone with great passion.


Our first stop was Mieu island where we visited a walk through aquarium. Being spoilt by previously visiting fancy walk through aquariums such as AQWA in Perth and Ocean Park in Hong Kong, we weren't that impressed by the aquarium itself. However we were very impressed with the boat shaped structure that housed the aquarium. Later on, the boat anchored just off Mun island where we were invited to jump into the water and go "snorkelling on the extraordinary coral reefs which are covered with the multicoloured fishes" (taken right out of the itinerary - you've gotta love the bad English and incorrect spelling - although mine is probably not much better!). The coral reefs must have been really "extraordinary", as they must have somehow evolved to an evolutionary state where they can turn themselves completely invisible. The same goes for "the multicoloured fishes" because I could not see a damn thing anywhere! Jenni and I were amused to see that most of the Vietnamese people on our boat swam in the water while wearing life jackets. If you did that at Cottesloe beach and were not under th age of 4, I am pretty sure you would be the laughing stock of the beach. Disappointed with the snorkeling, the group of foreigners took the opportunity to float around in the water on inflatable tubes, while getting to know each other. In the group there was Shaun, an Aussie from central Queensland; Stella, Friederike, and Andy from Germany; Kim and Jill from Scotland; and Richard and Grace from England.

Now being on a first name basis, the rounds of Tiger beer started to get purchased and the alcohol consumption began. The boat anchored off the side of Mot island where all of the boat's bench seats had their backs folded down to create a large table. Here we were served a variety of dishes for lunch. While lunch was going on, two more boats filled with Vietnamese people anchored beside ours and the crewmen proceeded to rope all three boats together. All of us figured something funny was up when after the lunch dishes were cleared off the make-shift table, all of the people from the other boats pilled onto ours, with many people hanging off the sides to peer in. At this point, one of the crewmen of our boat emerged from his cabin to the top of the table and setup a homemade drum kit, constructed with a bamboo frame, plastic garbage bins of various sizes and a rusted tin garbage lid as a cymbal. He was joined on the "stage" by a fellow crewman who had an electric guitar as well as our guide and another crewman on the microphone. The crowd of about 80 people, all clapping, cheering and singing along was serenaded by this quartet to a couple of popular Vietnamese songs as well as one English song, "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.


Our guide's previous statements about being able to sing songs from any country in the world all made sense as soon as he finished singing "What's Up" and called for one of the Australians to join him on the stage. As the crowd all cheered and Jenni cowered in the corner, I reluctantly stood up to represent the Aussies. Not to leave a fellow countryman in need, Shaun bravely stood up as well and joined me on the stage. As we both stood side by side to our guide, the crowd had a good laugh as both Shaun and I towered over him by about a foot. After a quick introduction of our names, Shaun the quick thinker claiming he was "Croc (Mick) Dundee", we joined our guide and his band in giving our best rendition of "Waltzing Matilda" by Banjo Patterson to the crowd of cheering Vietnamese. When it got to the second verse, Shaun and I looked at each other dumbfounded as we couldn't remember all of the words, all the while our guide singing strong. We finished up the song on the second chorus and both Shaun and I were given a loud applause by our crowd. Following the Aussies, Richard was called up to represent the English in a rendition of The Beatles', "Yellow Submarine", Stella and Fredreika were called up to sing a German song and Kim and Jill were called up to shake their booty and sing along to "La Bumba" (the guide couldn't think of an appropriate Scottish song, so figured that this would do).


After the "concert", everyone on the boat was in a good mood and the "floating bar" opened in the water, off the side of the boat. In true Vietnamese style, all this encompassed was one of the crewmen, floating around in the water on an inflatable tube, handing out plastic cups, filled with looked and tasted like homemade red port to everyone that cared to jump into the water. It was great fun! After clambering back onto the boat from the floating bar, the boats all departed their separate ways. We anchored off Tranh island where we were invited to go onto the beach for a "fruit party". Our group didn't feel the need to pay the USD $1 entrance fee to the beach and elected to stay aboard the boat, drinking, playing cards and chatting. We arrived back in Nha Trang in the late afternoon and all agreed to meet up for a night out at Shaun's fancy pants Novatel hotel room that evening. 


The whole group rocked up to Shaun's Novatel room in the early evening, after having a quick break from the boozing and having a much desired shower and rest. We all had plenty of drinks, pizza and nibblies before taking to the streets to find a club / pub to settle at for the rest of the evening. Shaun, Fredreika and Stella suggested a place they had visited the previous night called The Sailing Club. The Sailing Club was on the beach, only a few hundred metres down from Louisanne were Jenni and I had visited the previous day. Upon arrival, the English manager recognized Shaun as "that rowdy Australian guy from the night before", but had a laugh about it and kindly escorted our group to one of the VIP reserved tables, located right beside the beach. The place was packed with people, with tables spanning from the bar all the way from the club onto the sand on the beach where a bon-fire was roaring. Glad to have an audience, the manger all told us about how he had started off as a backpacker passing through the area and had ended up working at The Sailing Club as a fire dancer and eventually the manager. He then joined us for a round of shots on the house. The rest of the night involved plenty of beer, cocktails, dancing and generally having a good time hanging around.


On our last day in Nha Trang, we awoke rather late in the morning to a roasting room (the air-con had switched off a few hours earlier as, like Hue and Hoi An, Nha Trang has to endure rolling blackouts on a regular basis). Fortunately, we were both sensible enough the previous night to drink plenty of water and pace our drinks at the club and managed to avoid a hangover. We spent the day at Loiusianne where we enjoyed a nice lunch, followed by drinks by the side of the pool (we actually brought a reasonable amount of money with us this time). Jenni had a massage while I had a swim in the pool. I tried a pint of the micro brewery's pilsner, but it tasted rubbish. If it wasn't so bad, I might have been inclined to try some of the other beers on offer, such as the passion fruit pale ale.  


That evening, Jenni and I met up with Richard and Grace for dinner, which we had organised the night before. The four of us had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and after went for a drink at the Why Not Bar. We all enjoyed cheap drinks until 11pm, were treated to a free round of shots upon arrival and all given another free drink an hour later. The owners of the bar were determined to get as much alcohol into us as possible, even to the point where the bar staff refused to allow Jenni to cash in her free vodka and lemonade, for a lemonade with no vodka. In the end, we just payed for a lemonade and Richard and I tipped half a glass each of the free lemonade and vodka into our Why Not Buckets. Over the course of the two nights out, we had all discovered that we shared a similar taste in music, Jenni and Richard were both Harry Potter mad and we all had plenty of stories to share about our previous travels. As the night drew to a close, Jenni and Richard quizzed each other on Harry Potter trivia and a random drunk guy felt the need to entertain his friends by rubbing his bare hairy arse cheeks up and down the window that we were all sitting beside. Aside from copping an eye-full, all in all it was a really good night out.


The following day Jenni and I checked out of our hotel and jumped onto a bus to take us to Dalat. Pretty much every traveller has some story about being on a bus that broke down halfway to its destination and this time it was our turn. Our bus stalled and wouldn't move while attempting to turn a tight corner in one of the small towns about halfway to Dalat. All of the guys had to jump out of the bus and push it backwards, out of the way of the intersection which it was blocking. Fortunately we were only stranded for about 20 minutes, before the driver managed to get it going again after having a tinker with the engine.


We have now arrived in Dalat, the place where we will be for the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I can't wait!


COMMON THE AUSSIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoi An - Tailored to Please

We are currently staying at the Phuoc An Hotel in Hoi An, which is about halfway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as everyone still calls it over here).

The hotel is very nice, although slightly pricey at a whopping $42 per night for a double room. However, the pool, freshly cooked omelets and banana pancakes and well appointed rooms with dark, lacquered furniture and gold silk pillows goes some way to justifying the price. The location is great, only a couple of blocks from the main restaurant strip. However, it is tempting to not even bother with the restaurant strip when you have Cafe 43 right next door.

Let me explain... Cafe 43 is a restaurant which has attracted something of a cult following here in Hoi An. It is not much to look at, when compared with the other places across the road, with it's folding tables and mis-matched chairs. We knew that we had to go in when we walked past and saw that it was packed, even though the other restaurants were completely deserted.

We soon found out why. The food is fantastic (especially the stuffed squid, white rose and coconut ice-cream), the service is friendly and the beer is very, very cheap. It is called "fresh beer" and is basically a home brew which costs roughly $0.25 for half a pint. It almost made me wish that I was a beer drinker... almost. It is so good that you see the same people coming back every day, sometimes more than once a day!

On our first day we shopped around to find a good tailor. This is what most people do here in Hoi An, a city which is famous for its cheap, tailor-made clothes. You can get a suit knocked up within 24 hours for as little as $50! However, you definitely get what you pay for, so if you want something spiffy in cashmere with silk lining you can pay anywhere up to around $400 (I'm not sure whether it would be real cashmere/silk but at least it is a good imitation).

I decided to get a suit with matching skirt and a knee-length winter coat with satin lining and a hood, in preparation for Scottish weather. Michael wanted to get a suit with 2 pairs of trousers and a fake leather jacket.

After shopping around for half the day we were pretty exhausted by the heat and went back to the hotel to chill in the air-conditioning. That evening we discovered Cafe 43 and had a fantastic multi-course dinner that cost about $10 for the both of us.

The next day we eventually decided to go back to the first place that we visited. It is called Nguyen Tailors and, having seen the finished product after three fittings, I think it was a good choice. We saw some return customers, so hopefully that means that their clothes don't disintegrate after the first wash. Also, the girl that we dealt with (Phu'ong) was very nice and had great English. She suggested alterations without us having to even ask for them and was happy to accommodate any request, no matter how trivial.

That evening we returned to Cafe 43 and also organised a trip to the ruins of My Son for the following day, where we saw the remains of a Hindu temple complex built by the ancient Cham empire.

The temple site was used between the 4th and 14th century AD, however most of the buildings still standing date from about the 10th century. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and is considered to be the most important site of its nature in Southeast Asia. It was abandoned around the 16th century and then rediscovered in 1898. Restoration began in 1937, however the Americans bombed the hell out of it in 1969, destroying many of the buildings. The craters are still visible as a lasting reminder of the atrocities of war. From what remains you can imagine how spectacular it must have looked before.  Nice work Nixon - destroying one of the most important archaeological sites of an extinct civilisation - thanks a lot. Apparently the surrounding area is still considered dangerous due to unexploded land-mines although we were not told this by our guide and only found out afterwards. Lucky that we did not decide to stray from the path!

While walking around the ruins we struck up conversation with a German backpacker called Daniel. He was really interesting and a veritable mine (pun not intended) of information, as he has already been to nearly all of the places that we are planning to go (southern Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). After seeing the ruins we said goodbye, as we were taking a boat back to Hoi An and he was staying on the bus. Turns out he was the only person not taking the boat, so he had the whole bus to himself! The boat ride was very pleasant, as it was a hot day and the cool breeze on the river was very refreshing.


That evening we had our first fitting and were very impressed with how the clothes turned out. My suit pants were a perfect fit first time, which is impressive since I am usually very fussy and find it hard to find trousers that fit. After that we returned to the hotel and Michael got a haircut. The hairdresser actually came into our room and cut his hair in the bathroom, as you can see from the picture opposite.

The next day we had a a fitting at the tailors in the afternoon and then another one in the evening. After seeing my coat in the afternoon, Michael was so jealous that he decided to get one as well. They said "no problem, come back in 6 hours". We were a bit sceptical, but sure enough, when we returned, there was Michael's coat, perfectly fitted and exactly as he asked for! There are so many people producing clothes in this town, that our tailor said that it actually only takes one and a half hours to make a suit! You might think that this would result in poor quality and I've heard that this is the case in some places, however we were very happy with our purchases. My suit is the same quality as my Portmans suit which I bought in Australia for $350 (and that was on sale!). However, my new suit fits perfectly and was less than half the price at only $130.

In between the fittings we did a bit of sightseeing around the old buildings in the main part of town. We borrowed a couple of bikes from the hotel, which is mostly how we have been getting around recently, as walking for any longer than 5 minutes in this heat is not fun. It is also a great way to get around the city because you get the breeze and also you get to see heaps more than walking. I think that it is also a better way to see the city than a motorbike, because there is more time to look around. I did feel a bit silly wearing my helmet though, since nobody over here wears them except when on motorbikes (and that is just because it is the law). A few people have given us funny looks, but it's a small price to pay for not being dead, so I try not to let it worry me too much.

Anyway, the route that we took was recommended in the Lonely Planet, although I think that some of the sites were not that impressive. We had to buy a ticket that admits you to five of one of the many old buildings, shrines and museums around town. Some of them were a waste of a ticket, such as the Japanese covered bridge. That was pretty unfair, since essentially you are having to pay to cross a bridge, even though the locals don't have to. It was not even that much to look at, and much prettier from the outside anyway.

The Chinese Assembly Halls were pretty cool though, we went to one which was built in the 17th century and is still in a great condition. The statues and carvings were very colourful and intricate and the hall itself was impressive with the incense spirals hanging down from the ceiling. People write their prayers and hang them from the spirals made of incense and then they are set alight to slowly burn and leave the whole place smelling amazing. I think it would be awesome to get mozzie coils made like this, so that you could hang them around the patio. It would be decorative and would definitely keep the mozzies away! If doing a tour of the Old Town I would recommend saving your tickets for three of the Chinese Assembly Halls (there are like 10 of them), plus a cultural performance and maybe one of the restored old French houses such as the Museum of Trading Ceramics.

Yesterday afternoon we went next door to have lunch at Cafe 43 but alas, we forgot that they have closed up shop until the 13th! We were devastated, but hopefully someday we will be back in Hoi An so that we can go back (One customer even went so far as to suggest kidnapping the chef, but decided against it as it would be difficult to explain to customs officials why you have a bound and gagged Vietnamese person in your suitcase). Instead we decided to get lunch near the tailor's, where we were headed to finalise our purchases and arrange for them to be shipped ahead of us to Scotland.

That cleaned out our wallets, so we went next door to take out some money from the ATM. It was then that the scariest thing occurred, probably the scariest experience of the whole trip... the ATM ate my debit card!!! I was frantic, since it was a Saturday and we were leaving on Monday morning. Luckily however, I managed to get hold of the guy who operates the bank branch/currency exchange office directly behind the ATM. I think he actually lives there because when I went inside there was a bed in the office. I am just lucky that I managed to catch him when he went outside. He organised for someone to come and unlock the ATM so that I could get my card back, for which I was extremely thankful, because if this had happened in Perth I would have had to wait until Monday! So it changed what could have been a catastrophe into a mild annoyance, since we had to wait around for nearly two hours.

This ruined our plans of taking the scooter, which we had hired for the day, down to the beach which is about 5 kilometres away. Instead we (when I say we I mean Michael with me hanging on at the back) just took it around town and then a bit out of town for a good view of the rice fields. It is great for me as I get to look around, but probably not so much for Michael since he has to keep his eyes on the road to watch out for bicycles, other scooters and motorbikes, cars, trucks, people burning rubbish and cows (not people burning cows, just cows in general).

Since Cafe 43 was closed we had to make do with one of the other places downstairs for dinner. Except that they weren't deserted last night! It was really funny to watch people walk up to Cafe 43, realise it was closed and walk reluctantly over to the other side of the road. One group of guys actually walked straight in and started greeting the family who runs the restaurant, not realising that it was closed. In fact, the first place that we passed was completely full and we had to go to the restaurant next door. It was one of the worst dinners that we have had so far and it was also more expensive than Cafe 43. In particular the fish was extremely hard and dry so we only had a couple of mouthfuls. I don't think that the lady believed our explanation that we just weren't that hungry, so she gave us a discount. I don't know what we are going to do for dinner tonight, but we definitely won't be going back there!

This morning we hired another scooter and finally made it to the beach. We are completely spoilt for beaches in WA, so we did not find this beach particularly impressive. It's actually the nicest beach that we've seen so far on the trip, with clear-ish water and sand that was fairly clean. Picture the worst beach that you've ever been to in WA... this beach was like that. It was still very enjoyable though to sit on deck chairs sipping our cocktails while reading our books. We also had some blue sky and a nice breeze, so we ended up staying until late afternoon.

Unfortunately our peace and quiet was slightly ruined by all of the people that kept coming up to us trying to sell us stuff. We ended up buying a couple of things, in the hope that they would leave us alone. This did not really work, because buying one thing is never enough and if you buy from one person then another will use that as leverage to make you feel guilty that you haven't bought anything from them. When they figure out that you really don't want anything they start with the whole guilt trip about how they are so poor and trying to support their family and send their children to school. It breaks your heart, but unfortunately if I started buying something from everyone who approaches me I'd go bankrupt. It's especially horrible when they send little children, because you know that you shouldn't buy anything, but how can you say no to a 6-year old who pleads with you that she doesn't have enough money for breakfast?? As soon as you buy something you know that it was the wrong thing to do, since you don't want to encourage the exploitation of children in this manner. I've read that they don't actually see any of the money from the sales and their future would be better if they were spending the time in school instead. We have slipped a couple of times though, but I know that we will have to get get used to it before we get to Cambodia, where things are much worse than a bit of tourist exploitation.

After we left the beach we went to a nice restaurant, right on the river, that we had spotted on the way in. The food was just ok, but the setting was very peaceful and there weren't any more people trying to rip us off. Now we are back at the hotel, trying to decide where to go for dinner on our last night in Hoi An.

Tomorrow we head to Nah Trang, which we are really looking forward to. The beaches are apparently really nice (we shall see!) and it seems to have something of a reputation for being a party town. Well, our hostel seems to have that reputation anyway...

Stay tuned for Nah Trang!

Hue Part 2 - A Bit of Vietnamese History

On our second day in Hue, we were picked up by a couple of motorbikes and driven to a tour boat that would take us down the river to see the major highlights of Hue. Being the capital city of Vietnam during the days of feudalism before it switched to communism in 1945, Hue has many historical sites in and surrounding the city. The boat first went by a set of houses built at the water level on a small island in the river. Due to frequent flooding, the families that usually live in these houses are forced to live in small boats that are moored by the side of the river while the Government builds them more suitable houses on the mainland.


Further down the river we disembarked and went to a martial arts dojo to watch a demonstration of traditional Vietnamese martial arts. The tour guide was eager to show us this demonstration to illustrate the war-torn history of Vietnam. This poor country hasn't had a moment's peace for the past 1000 years. China was constantly breathing down Vietnam's neck, especially in the North. We were told that the Chinese wanted to occupy Vietnam because it lies in the south where the weather is warmer. The word Vietnam is made up of two words, Viet meaning the Viet people and Nam meaning South. The traditional Vietnamese martial arts were not as complicated as the martial arts that originated from China such as Tai Chi and Shaolin. The idea behind this was that it was to be kept simple enough that the common man could utilize the fighting style so they could all fight for their country. The Vietnamese boasted being one of the few countries that were able to successfully ward off constant threats of occupation by China and Mongolia. The demonstrations involved utilization of many different types of weapons ranging from duel wielding swords, single wielded broad swords, bamboo staffs, flag poles, spears to even a set of cymbals and a flute. The fighters did solo performances to show their versatility with the various weapons. The fighters also dueled with each other, showing how quickly the fight could turn and performing amusing enactments of a warrior dying on the battlefield. The men looked quick and powerful, while the women looked quick and graceful. In the final two demonstrations, one man broke a stack of ceramic roof tiles with his fist and another bent a spear that was wedged between the ground and his neck.


We jumped back on the boat and went further down the river to Thien Mu Pagoda, a Buddhist temple of worship. Our guide told us that Buddhism in Vietnam was largely influenced by China. Buddhists believe in 3 lives; the human life, the animal life and the eternal life. They believe that you cycle between the 3 lives until you can eventually reach enlightenment while in the human life to become a Buddha yourself and be accepted into eternal life. The idea came from the first Buddha who was originally a prince who felt bad about the poverty of his people, so he renounced his throne and all his possessions and learnt to become humble as to become a Buddha himself. Throughout the complex we could see Buddhist monks going about their business, living simple lives within the grounds of the pagoda in an attempt to reach enlightenment. We even saw the car that was parked behind the monk that set himself on fire to protest the oppression of Buddhism in 1963.


After the pagoda, we went further down the river to visit Hon Chen Temple. Jenni and I, along with many others in the tour group elected to sit in the shade by the river side instead of visiting the temple as it was extremely hot that day. On the way to the next stop we had lunch on the boat.

We left the boat at a small dock and ventured to the grounds of Minh Mang Tomb. This tomb was built by a very famous king in Vietnam. He died three months into its construction, but it was completed by his 1st son who rose to power after his death. The exact location of where the king was buried within the grounds is a mystery as, when he was buried, the people kept his final resting place a secret in fear that his enemies may excavate his remains and destroy them. Minh Mang is very famous in Vietnam because, to this day, he holds 3 Vietnamese records. The first record was for the most number of children. In total he was father to 142 children! His very first son was his heir to the throne. The second record was for the most number of wives. Throughout his lifetime Minh Mang had over 500 wives and concubines! Now that its A LOT of mother in laws! At any one point in time he had a different woman for each day of the week, but took a rest on the weekend  from his floozies. The third record is the most number of children conceived in one night. In one night he slept with 6 different women, 5 of which conceived a child that night. Due to these accomplishments, a popular energy drink called Ming Mang is available here in Vietnam! The grounds of the tomb have been laid out in the shape of a body. To the south of the grounds lies the river from which we arrived by boat. At the river there is a fork, which represents the legs. There are buildings within the grounds that represent the heart, body, shoulders, neck and head. All of the buildings face to the south to harness better energy, also gaining the benefit of the cool (well it could have been cooler, it was still stinking hot!) southern wind.


We jumped on a bus (which to our delight had air-con) and set off to visit Khai Dinh Tomb. This tomb complex is rather unique because it was built more recently than the other tombs and temples that we have seen. Khai Dinh Tomb is the last tomb built for a Vietnamese king, before the king in 1945 renounced his throne to form a political party which formed the communist government in 1945. At the time of construction, Vietnam was pretty much being run by the French government and the Vietnamese royal family had no money. To build his own tomb, Khai Dinh had to ask the French government for money. He ended up being given the money and had his tomb built atop of a hill so when he returned from the afterlife, he could rule above the French. Even though the day was already very hot, the temperature at this tomb was noticeably hotter. Stone steps rise up the hill, with intricate carvings of dragons with jeweled eyes flanking the sides of the staircases. At the top of the stairs lies the building that houses the king's remains. The interior walls of the building are made of marble and beautiful coloured mosaics decorate all of the pillars. On the roof is a large painting of dragons flying amongst the clouds. At the front of the tomb is a photo of the king, showing off his rude-looking "Ray Martin" style haircut. Damn that guy really needed to use a different hair-dresser! During his life, the king was rumoured to be a homosexual because he only took 7 wives and for many years did not have any children. Later when his heir was born, the rumour was that the child was not sired by him, but sired by another man; a ruse to convince the people that he was a heterosexual.


After making a quick stop to see how incense sticks and the traditional conical hats are made, we soldiered on to the final stop of the day, Tu Duc Tomb. This tomb complex was set out in a similar fashion to the first tomb we visited that day. This tomb is also known as the "Tomb of Blood" because over 2000 workers were killed during its construction. In his early years, the king slept with many prostitutes and it is believed that he contracted a STD from one of them. After taking over 50 wives and being unsuccessful in attempting to conceive a child with each, he finally came to the conclusion that his bits and bobs were not working as they should and gave up. Tu Duc died at the relatively young age of 41 because he smoked large amounts of opium throughout his life. The buildings in this tomb complex did not appear to be laid out in any particular pattern, but instead were built around a lake that wound its way through the complex. The complex was frequented by the king before his death and included quarters for his concubines, a little villa overlooking the lake so he could write his poetry and a temple to perform his worship. The buildings were in a state of disrepair, but I felt that the crumbling buildings and the overgrown foliage around the grounds made the experience feel more authentic. The fact that the place was a lot cooler due to being well shaded by tall pine trees also helped!


On the way back to Hue, our guide shared some riddles with the tour group and told us the legend behind why humans have a life expectancy of 90 years. It is said that originally humans only lived for 20 years and during these 20 years, they lived a very happy and care-free life. During this time, buffalo had a life span of 100 years, but lead a miserable life due to the fact that they had to work hard everyday. The monkeys had a life span of 40 years, but were always grumpy because they had no friends or family to keep them company. Because they were unhappy, the buffalo and the monkeys went to the Gods and pleaded with them to half their lives so they would not have to endure such long unhappy lives. So the Gods took 50 years from the buffalo and 20 years from the monkeys. The humans then asked the Gods if they could increase their lives so they could enjoy their happiness for longer. The Gods took the spare 50 years of life of the buffalo and the spare 20 years of life of the monkeys and gave them to the humans to give them a total of 20 + 50 + 20 = 90 years of life. Therefore for the first 20 years of human life, humans spend it care-free and happy as children. For the next 50 years of their lives they are miserable as they are forced to work hard like the buffalo. For the final 20 years of their lives, humans can retire from working, but become short-tempered and grumpy like monkeys, which is caused by their loneliness when their children finally grow up and leave home.


On our final day in Hue, we went to see the citadel within Hue city. The citadel is very similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing as it was a small city that was walled off from the rest of Hue to provide a private home to the Vietnamese kings. It is really a shame that large parts of the palace complex were destroyed by bombs during the Vietnam war. Jenni and I believe that the lush green gardens surrounding the remaining buildings give this place the potential to be much more beautiful looking than the sandstone jungle that is the Forbidden City in Beijing. Unfortunately, walking through the palace complex is more like walking through a construction yard as many people are hard at work rebuilding and restoring the buildings. There are buildings that have already been reconstructed and there are other buildings that have undergone restoration, so it is difficult to tell what is original and what is not. The highlight of the day was meeting a friendly bloke from Montreal and having a chat with him while wandering around the complex, before having to part ways so he could rush off to catch a train.


With so many historical sites surrounding the city, it is not surprising to hear that the entire city of Hue is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. It has definitely been one of the most interesting places we have visited so far on our trip and definitely the hottest so far!

Hue Part 1 - I'm Pretty Sure I Ain't Going To Be Needing That Scarf Anytime Soon

After our Halong Bay trip, we arrived back in Hanoi with a couple if hours to kill. Jenni and I stepped off the bus looking like a couple of drowned rats as the heavens opened just as we stepped off. After picking up our passports which we had sent off for visa extensions, we killed a few hours while sipping cheap fruit cocktails at our favourite cafe and pub which we had been frequenting during our prolonged stay in Hanoi.


At about 10pm, we jumped in a taxi to take us to the train station so we could catch the 11pm overnight train to Hue, our next destination in Vietnam. Normally this car trip would only take about 10mins from the Old Quarter, but due to the fact that our taxi driver did not speak any English, the taxi trip took a bit longer than usual. We told him we wanted to go to the train station and pointed to it on the map. Even after being shown where we wanted to go on the map, he still looked rather confused, so we told him we wanted to go to Hue. At hearing this, he set off. I noticed that he was driving in the direction of the airport and told him "not airport. Train station. Train station to go to Ho Chi Minh." As we found out earlier that week, there are two train stations in Hanoi, one that goes to Lao Cai in the north and another that goes to the cities in the south and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). If you don't specify which one to the taxi driver, you may end up at the wrong one. Hearing Ho Chi Minh, he took us to Ho Chi Minh... literally! He drove us to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum! Seeing that time was a ticking I succumbed to playing a game of charades with him to communicate to him "the train station". Jenni was rather amused that my mimicking of a set of train wheels, by rotating hands and making a "chugga, chugga" noise, got the message across and we rocked up at the train station with about 15mins to spare.

Due to being exhausted from our Halong Bay trip, we both slept very well on the train to Hue. Stepping off the train, the heat was like a slap in the face. The weather further south in Vietnam is much hotter than that in the north. Although it doesn't seem as humid it is a much more searing heat like that in Australia. We later found out that the temperature on our first day in Hue was about 40 degrees Celsius. The local shopping mall saw some business from us as we made sure to purchase a couple more items of cooler clothing and threw out some of our warmer items like heavy jeans and scarfs which I don't think we will be missing in this heat.


Located in a dodgy little alleyway, the interior of the Waterland hotel, our AUD $35 per night room looked like a room out of a five star hotel. It was ENORMOUS. It had one king sized bed AND a queen sized bed, with stacks of room to spare. The hostel staff were really nice. Almost too nice! Every time we walked through the lobby, we were greeted by about 4 girls, all with big warm smiles and they wouldn't let you get past them without sitting down while they served you with a cool glass of water (even if you really need to go to the toilet you still need to scull a glass of water before being allowed to proceed to your room).  Every now and again, there would be a knock on our door from a girl offering us a complimentary platter of fresh fruit. Next year when they open up their new hotel on the main street, equipped with a swimming pool and an elevator (elevators in Vietnamese hotels are a rarity and a sign of prestige in the hotel business here), this hostel will be one of the best budget hotels in Vietnam.


For the rest of our first day in Hue, we hired a scooter and christened our newly purchased motor bike helmets. Pretty much all people in Vietnam riding motorbikes wear helmets, but the quality of the helmets is not exactly fantastic. The average helmet over here provides less protection that you would get by wearing a cooking pot on your head. People only wear the helmets to avoid getting fined under a new law introduced a few years ago due to the high death rate on the roads. Most young people wear thin helmets with no padding that look like baseball caps, have fancy tartan or denim patterns or fashionable branding like Nike, Adidas, Guchi or Burberry on them. With so many other vehicles on the road it really makes us wonder why people over here are so careless when it comes to their own safety while riding on the road. Just the other day on the way back from Halong Bay, we drove past a lot of commotion on the main road where I spotted the lifeless body of a poor man who had been struck down dead on the road. I did not see a helmet in the vicinity of the body.


Finding helmets that provide decent protection is actually quite a hard task. We managed to purchase some of the Vietnamese government approved Protech branded helmets. They are thicker than the standard helmets, have more padding on the inside and provide more protection around our faces and neck, but they pale in comparison to a real helmet that you would wear while riding a motorbike in a western country. 


We rode our scooter along the Perfume River for a while before stopping off for a drink at one of the local "cafes" by the riverside. All throughout Vietnam you can find little "cafes" and "restaurants" which consist of a set of small plastic tables and chairs setup on the sidewalk by the road. The "fridge" usually consists of an esky filled with ice, the "kitchen" usually consists of a couple of pots and pans setup on a portable gas stove and the "dishwasher" usually consists of the nearby hose on the side of the street! I'm not sure if they are a legitimate form of business, but they must require some form of license as we saw one in the Old Quarter in Hanoi "raided" by a group of army men, having their pots and pans all confiscated. The funny thing was that when this happened, all of the local retailers watching from afar, quickly grabbed all of their "knock off" goods and hid them at the back of their stores until the army men drove off. 30 minutes later the pots and pans were back and business at the little "cafe" was booming again!

Halong Bay - Johnny ain't no Jack Sparrow

We were very excited about our Halong Bay trip, as every other traveller raves about it constantly. We weren't sure which travel agent to use for our tour, since they are a dime a dozen in Hanoi and all seem pretty much the same. One of them was called 'Kangaroo Travel' and had an Aussie flag displayed inside, so we figured that was a good enough reason as any other. We were browsing brochures inside, when a fellow Aussie traveller came in to talk to the travel agent. She told us that the travel agent, Ms Nga, was very good and had organised a brilliant Halong Bay tour for her, where she got to stay aboard the "Black Pearl" in a deluxe room. This recommendation was enough for us, so we got Ms Nga to book the same for us.

It was a three and a half hour bus ride to Halong City, where we were taken to a small motor boat by our guide 'Johnny'. One of the Irish girls jokingly complained to Johnny that 'this isn't the Black Pearl!'. However, it did take us to the Black Pearl, which wasn't really the Black Pearl, just a traditional Vietnamese junk that said 'Black Pearl' on the front. When I say traditional, it only looked traditional. I'm sure that a traditional junk would have used sails instead of a motor engine and probably wouldn't have electricity or air conditioning in the rooms. Although, to be fair, the electricity only ran from 5pm to 6am and the air conditioning only kicked in at 9pm.

Our room was gorgeous, with dark wood panelling, satin drapes and magnificent views of the bay. The bay itself is amazing, with turquoise water dotted with hundreds of tiny islands and rock formations. It was slightly overcast but there was also a good amount of blue sky, which we have learnt not to take for granted. Below you can take a look at a photo Michael pieced together from individual photos taken in all directions. As you pan the photo from left to right, you can get an idea of what it looks like to turn your head 360 degrees within the bay. (There are higher quality versions of this photo on the flickr page. Click here to see a higher quality version of the photo or click here to see a really high quality version of the photo)

We started off with lunch on the boat, where we introduced ourselves to the rest of the people on-board. There were 9 of us in total, all around the same age. There were two Irish girls and one Irish guy, one Scottish girl, a Canadian bloke and a Singaporean couple. 

After lunch we left the boat for some kayaking and to visit the Cave of Surprises. The cave was very surprising because it was not at all what we expected. It was enormous and took us about half an hour to walk from one side to the other. It seemed as though the entire island was hollow inside!

Some of the stalactites and stalagmites formed some interesting shapes, and Johnny was quick to point out the more humorous ones. Other tour guides were pointing out dragons, snakes, Buddhas etc and telling their groups about the various legends surrounding the shapes, so one of the Irish girls complained to Johnny that he wasn't doing a very good job, who replied that the other tour guides were just making stuff up. She said that he should try making it up too, then pointed to a stalagmite and asked him to tell us what it was, to which he replied "it's a rock". 

After the cave we did some kayaking around the bay, then we went back to the junk for some swimming and relaxation. Unfortunately, it was not so relaxing for me, as I was convinced by the group to jump off the top level of the boat, which was a height of about two and a half storeys. Despite their assurances, I did not find the experience 'fun', and Michael ended up having to swim me back to the boat because I was so traumatised. I definitely wouldn't do it again, although I'm glad I did, since I would have been the only person on the boat who didn't. I didn't go back in the water after that, but retired to a deckchair with my book and a glass of wine, which was much more suited to my tastes.

Then we were treated to a delicious seafood dinner (this time we stayed away from the shrimp), followed by fresh fruit. After dinner we moved up to the top deck, where Michael and I were enjoying our pina coladas. We were disappointed that no-one else was joining us, most of them sticking to bottled water. Even so, the Irish girls were getting progressively harder to understand, so we were not surprised to find out that the clear liquid in the water bottle was not in fact water but vodka.

Things escalated until one of the Irish girls decided that jumping from the top deck into the pitch black sea sounded like a great idea. The Canadian bloke joined her and we were then joined by Johnny who gave us a sound telling off. Eventually we made our way back to our rooms, glad to find that the air-con had kicked in. 

The next morning we said goodbye to the rest of the group, except for the Singaporean couple, as they left to go to Cat Ba Island and we were headed back to the mainland. The rest of the morning was pretty boring to be honest, as we were stuck outside on the deck (we had to check out of our room) until the boat got back to the jetty at about noon.

Then we were taken to a restaurant for a very average lunch before being loaded onto the bus for the three and a half hour ride back to Hanoi. All in all it was a great experience, however I think that we were slightly let because everyone talks it up like it is the best thing since sliced bread. The trip was spoiled to some extent by the number of other boats, there were literally hundreds of other junks floating around the bay, and also by the lack of activities on the second day. However, the view was amazing and we really enjoyed the kayaking, the cave, the food and the company of the other people on our boat, although I must admit that I was disappointed that Jack Sparrow did not make an appearance.