Ana_Vietnam

Hue
Day 45 – Day 47 (March 1-3)
We're currently in Vietnam. Love the scenery, don't like the vendors. Specifically the motor-taxis. They drive me nuts. Today looking to rent a motorbike. We got so pissed off that didn't end up renting one. I know Tim was more pissed than me this time. We soon learned there was no renting place it was just you ask anywhere with a sign that said "Rent Motorcycles" and the call one of the annoying guys on the street and let you borrow their bike for the day. I thought it was scam. We did go to different places to ask. They all seem to work together and had a few guys follow us in their motorcycle. Finally Tim was pissed off big time. He looked like he was ready to punch someone. I was calmer. Believe it or not. Don't get me wrong the tiger was out but tamed. We decided to stay and catch up on our blog. Which I'm dreading big time. For some reason I hate going so far back in the trip with details. It doesn't come out the same. It feels like work. I'm trying my best to just go with the flow and write. I keep thinking it has to be a certain way. But I keep snapping out of it. After all is my blog and I can say whatever I want to. Plus I keep thinking in few years it would be fun to read some of the details I might have forgotten.

BTW the bus ride from Laos to here, Hue was a nightmare! First we didn't know if we had the right bus. When we bought the tickets we were told the bus was going straight to Hue. We got picked up late to begin with then taken to the bus station. This annoying driver was telling to get on the bus that had a big sign HANOI. Not our place. He kept assuring it was the right bus. Although next to it was the bus with the sign HUE. He said that bus wasn't leaving today. Another local passenger got involved and told us that at the border we would switch buses. I didn't trust one bit. But what can you do you're there and either go back to town and tried to figure out or hope for the best. So we did. Got on the bus, which were mainly backpackers. Finally around 7pm the bus took off with four people with no seats. It was a scandal. One of the girls was Israeli she was yelling to the driver trying to get a seat. No luck she had to sit in the aisle, lucky Tim, right next to him. The VIP bus had no AC. It was soooooo stuffy. Good thing I opened my window. We had our first break around 9pm. Good to stretch out. About 2am the bus stopped again. This time for five hours. No communication whatsoever. The driver just took a nap on his seat. It was so stuffy inside the bus that we ended up taking a nap outside on the back of semi-truck flat bed trailer. (Tim had to tell me the name of this truck). Anyway we snuggled up with one sleeping bag. I was able to fall asleep for a while. I woke up all scared thinking the bus had left. My arm was so numb from sleeping on one side. Finally we left to the border. Arrived around 7am. Not order. Waited in like a bunch of bees hovering the honeycomb. The locals were trying to squeeze in and push their way in. Finally we all made a barricade for them not to pass. A local in front of me pointed out to pass along the passport to the window. So we did collect our passport and just put them on the pile. Lucky us we were one of the first ones to get stamped out. Walked across to the Vietnam side. Had to pay for everything to get the stupid custom paper and get the entry stamp. The officer kept starring at Tim's passport for a while. But finally stamped us through. Good thing we were the first ones again. Asking around we found our bus and pretty much left soon after that. I felt relieved to know we were not stuck at the border. The bus was full of locals except another two really nice Japanese travelers. Long bus ride. Beautiful scenery along the way. I saw tons of ladies with the straw pointy hats working on the rice fields. It seemed something out of a movie. People seemed friendly and a bit more expressive than the Lao people. Got dropped off outside of town. I hate when that happens you get to a new town and you don't know where you are. You have a map of the town but have not idea where in the hell you are in relationship to the map. Right when we got off we got bombarded by the lovely motorcycle guys. We kept looking for a "tuk tuk" better since it can fit more people. I for sure don't like the idea of riding on the back of motorcycle with a big backpack. Plus it will be more expensive with two. I tried to ask at the nearby gas station. But no one would help the annoying motor guys kept hovering over trying to get our business. We decided to start walking and see what we could find along the way. We did get dropped off like 10 km away from downtown. The stupid guys kept following us. I told Tim there is no way I was getting on the bikes. The other two Japanese guys walked with us too. We did see a tuk tuk parked so we walk towards it. The 4 motor guys followed us and started insulting the driver. I couldn't believe it. I was boiling inside. How dare them to insult the poor guy just because they didn't get our business. We kept on walking. Finally a smaller local bus stopped. Now they were talking to the driver trying to get commission. I was furious. I looked at the driver and told him "NO COMISSION. WE PAY YOU NOT THEM." It looked like he was pulling money out to give them some. Tim and I screamed "NO." I was so mad. The tiger, lion, leopard, jaguar you name it in me came out. I can they expect to make business like that with threats and sleaziness. I know they need the money but that's not the way to go. The bus did drop us near town. Still had to walk like 15 minutes. Finally we found a nice hotel with AC and TV. The night was going to end on a good note.

Today we're still in Hue. We leave tomorrow for Hoi An. About 4 hours south from here. We plan to stay few days and possible get some clothes made. This place is known for that and is suppose to be good quality at a cheap price we'll see.



Hoian
Day 47 - Day 55 (March 4-10)
Had to wait for the 2pm bus instead of the 8am. Tim was pissed we had to wait. The story was it broke down after telling us for almost two hours of waiting the bus was coming in 2 minutes. I think the bus was full and since we were the last ones to get picked up tough luck. Good thing that the guy at the reception let us stayed in our room for free until it was time to go. He kept apologizing to us since we bought the tickets from him. But we made it to Hoian finally in the afternoon.

One of the main attractions in this city is you can get clothes made for cheap. Anything you want except bras. We plenty of things made. It so nice to have pants made and they're long and not "cruza charco" just short. It was hard to pick materials for stuff. But believe it or not it took us all these days to get everything made. The place we went with it really great. The cute owner, Thung is really nice and knows her stuff. You tell her what you want and she'll make it happen. Everything is made fast but good. We ordered something in the morning and at night we were back trying it on. I loved the fact she didn't mind making any alterations. I wanted it shorter, she'll make it shorter. I wanted it smaller she'll make smaller. I think she had fun with us as much as we enjoyed working with her. Tim will make jokes and she'll crack up. Her English is very good. We liked everything so much that we took notes how to measure for a suit specifically. In case we want to order more once we get home.

It has been a fun town. I loved the fact walking by the same places. Some of the locals are starting to recognize our faces that when we walk by they say "helloooo." We keep going back to the same restaurant and they already know what I want to drink. We keep buying water and ice cream from the same adorable lady. I keep noticing the locals’ everyday life. Like yesterday nearby our hotel they were having a birthday party for a little boy. They had a long table set up with like 15 kids around it and they were anxiously waiting for their bowl of noodles. They were excited to get the food. It's so funny back home the kids would eat things like pizza or hot dog at the birthday part. It was neat to see. How a different culture celebrates the same occasion.

Oh, one of the best lines I've heard in a while. This kid about 8 years old approached me on the streets asking for money saying politely but in a charming way "Madame, give me some money..." I responded "No Thank you sweety." And his slick response was "COME ON BABY, just give me some money." I wanted to die. It was the cutest thing I've heard so far. Another cute incident I was waiting for Tim outside a gallery and this little boy comes near me holds my hand and just kissed it. I did melt. He was about 3 years old. How adorable.

This town is the definitely a charmer. I loved watching the school girls riding the bicycles with their long white silky dresses blowing in the wind. The older ladies walking with the cone shape hats in their pajamas looking outfits and the crazy motorcycle drivers passing by without crashing with each other.

We finally leave on Sunday. We're flying to Saigon just an hour a way. Instead of taking the 24 hour train ride. I'm so glad we're living it up a little more this last part of the trip. The idea of a long train ride makes me clinch. We still have a few train/bus rides to go but not that far.

On the last day we finally made it down to the local beach only few miles a way from downtown. We rented bicycles. It was a nice ride. Loved seeing the many rice fields along the way. The architecture of the homes is pretty neat too. Very narrow at least three stories building. The style is very modern a bit deco I think and painted with bright or pastel colors. Loved the palm trees too. I’m tropical girl. I like the hot climates and palm trees is one of my favorite reminder of the hot weather. The beach was actually pretty nice. Nicer than I expected. No clear waters but still nice to sit and relax right before sunset. We sat for a little before getting tired of the vendors. They kept coming with a basket full of stuff from cigarettes to pineapples. One of the lines was “ONE PINEAPPLE A DAY, KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY.” I thought that was pretty funny. Another teenager approached me trying to sell a bracelet. He seemed really nice at first and spoke good English. I started a conversation. Bad idea! Wouldn’t go away. I finally had to ignore him since a friendly no thank you wasn’t enough. One of his many lines was “OPEN YOUR HEART, OPEN YOUR WALLET.” I asked him were his was from meaning the town and his response was “FROM MY MOM.” Sassy pants! It was nice chatting with him though.

Nice way to end our last day in Hoian. =)



Ho Chin Minh City/A.K.A Saigon
Day 55 – Day 60 (March 11–15)
Couldn’t believe it in one hour we were in Saigon. Just to get this out of the way. The city’s name changed to Ho Chi Minh in 1975 after the north won and took power in the south. But the originally name and what the locals still called is Saigon. So Saigon and Ho Chin Minh – same same. The flight itself was a little bumpy. I was glad to land safely. Tim pointed out the plane was a bit old and rusty. Not a good sign. But we made it.

Downtown area was nuts. More motorcycles than cars. One lane for cars and two or three for the motorcycles. Watching the motorcycles storm by and cross it each other was one of my favorite thins here. Crazy! They don’t look to their left or right they just go. They don’t care. To cross the streets it was the same thing. We had to just go. And don’t wait until traffic slows down. Because it never does. Good thing with too people we make a bigger wall so they have to go around us. It was like the game frogger.

We ended staying three full days. One day we went to the war museum. The photographs were amazing. I was left with how much war really SUCKS! The images displayed on the museum captured the feelings and just the humane part a war. Both sides suffer and it’s sad. I couldn’t look at all the photographs it was too gruesome. But I got the story just by seeing the images. Interesting! The next day we signed up for a tour around the Cu Chi tunnels. Gosh, talk about misery. I wasn’t able to get in the tunnels to narrow and claustrophobic. I panic but just looking at it. The tunnels were originally made to hide out from the French in the 50’s and later they added more tunnels during the Vietnam war/American war. Oh, that is another fact. In school I learned it as Vietnam War but here is the American war. Same same but different name! Sorry that saying is rubbing off. Not sure where it started, I think Thailand. The use that line a lot here in South East Asia – SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. Back to the tunnels – they were expanded to be more than 250 kilometers. They had different levels. But the first level was 3 meter deep. A total 16,000 people actually lived there during the time of the war. I don’t know how the American soldiers managed to squeezed in through there with all the gear on. The area that is open to the tourist and you can actually walk through is only 90 meters. Tim only did 30 meters he said it was so hot and stuffy and he got the idea. Plus our group was around 40. I waited for him at the end. No way in hell! I tried to get in and I was already freaking out. I don’t know how these people manage to live there. The breathing holes are tiny and it’s just so stuffy and damp down there. These places are sad to visit but good to get an idea what some people have to go through. It puts perspective on things. Oh, yeah I was forgetting. Tim got to shoot a M60, M16 and AK47. I know I sound like I know my guns. Part of the tour was the opportunity to shoot these three guns. And of course my hubby got to shot all three. Being around the shooting range FREAKED ME OUT. At first I wanted to shoot just once but being there I told Tim no way. I don’t know what it was but I was so disturb. Every time I would here the machine guns go off I would clinch and my heart beat was raising 200mph it seemed like. My knees were shaking and I felt I could collapse any minute. Mi Rambo had to do two rounds. He said he probably won’t have the opportunity again. He asked me to go down and take a photo. I tell you it took a lot of “huevos” to go down. I was so scared. Not so much of getting hurt since it was safe and well run. But I was just scared shittless of the gun shots. I was glad to be out of there.

Our last day in town was a cheesy tour around the Mekong delta in the south. Here is where the famous Mekong River actually goes out to the ocean. It’s a pretty big river. It starts in Tibet and goes through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was very touristy. But OK for a day. They took us around a boat for almost 3 hours, stopping at little islands for food, candy and the lovely entertainment Tim calls it “el gato mojado.” They can sing for crap. It was annoying screechy sound hurting my ears. We also got to wear the conical hats. Even Tim! He looked so cute with his hat and purple strap around the chin to hold the hat in place. I have pictures!

Overall I liked Saigon. The vendors weren’t as bad. A friendly NO THANK YOU actually worked here.


I liked Vietnam. Very touristy but easy to travel and amazing scenery. I never knew palm trees and pine trees can grow close to each other. =)