My great Arventure: Vietnam

Monday, May 23, 2005

Vietnam

I had two really big trips near the end of my exchange. The first was to Vietnam just before my exams. I went with Aruni, Kiran and Nathan :)

As most trips did this one started off at the NUS campus.

After getting to the airport we quickly established a few ground rules for the trip.

And had a quick drink to calm any nerves ;)

So our 5 day journey started off in Ho Chi Minh City (more commonly known as Saigon). Our first stop... the train staion :P We decided to actually leave HCMC later that night (around 11 at night) and so we decided to get our train tix before we did anything in the city. Was a bit of a wait though.

However, when we finally got the tix we had a few hours to eat and run around.

We got some wipes in one restaurant and would prove to be really our only chance to clean ourselves for more than 24hrs :P

HCMC at night.

This is city hall... at night. HCMC actually has some pretty slick architecture.

And apparently some over zealous tourists/gangsters as well :P

Just before we went back to the train station we stopped for some ice cream at a little cafe. Boy were we feeling very posh.

So after walking around a little more we caught our train. Boy were we excited!!!

Anyways it had been a long day so we decided to go to bed... and then wake up and eat :D

Of course some of us had enough difficulty waking up.

The train ride was actually so long that they even served us lunch!!! Although we didn't eat very much of it cuz it was kind of gross...

(I think they served us some form of Vietnamese spam :S)

Our destination was a beach town known as Hoi An. Unfort. our train was quite delayed. So we didn't arrive till late. This is us waiting for a taxi to the hotel.

Interesting story while we were wating: we saw a stabbing!!! Well at least a stabbing victim. While we were waiting there seemed to be alot of commotion about 25m away from us around the entry to an alley. And all the traffic had stopped to look at what was going on down the alley. Nathan and I were about to go check out what was going on when all of a sudden we see a man running out of the alley carrying another person who was covered in blood!!! The person jumped on a motorbike (driven by somebody else) and presumably went to the hospital. We assume it was a stabbing because we saw some kids who were making some stabbing motions. I sure hope that guy turned out ok. Anyways, that was probably the scariest moment of the trip, but everything else was pretty good. Moving along...

We finally got to our hotel where there were free cocktails :D Who am I to pass up free anything!!!

Because we arrived a little late everything was pretty much closed... well except for a couple of tailor shops down the road. So we decided to splurge.

We each got custom made suits for $20USD each!!! The amazing thing is they made all four suits for us in a matter of 8hrs!!! The pants are a little tight on me, but hey for that price I'm willing to loose my bubble butt :P

Next day we caught a bus to the city of Hue (pronounced who-ay). Along the way we made a couple of stops. The first was a quarry which had some nice statues on display.

This is me picking up a local girl :P

The drive was pretty nice because we got to drive along the coast. It was quite breathtaking actually.

At one point we stopped at a lookout point. And of course no trip would be complete without a GQ shot... thx to Aruni for snapping this one.

And of course what blog would be complete without random goat shots...

We finally arrived in Hue. The plan was to stay there for a few hours and head off to Hanoi afterwards. So after finding a guesthouse which was willing to take our luggage for a couple of hrs we found a "famous" backpackers cafe in Hue. It is called Thu's Cafe, named after its owner and operator Thu. It was a pretty cool place actually. Most backpackers that drop by usually end up leaving her a message.

Thu is a pretty nice person and actually let us play with her little nephew :D

Anyways, through Thu we arranged to have motorbike tours of the city and surrounding area for only about $4USD each. Well worth it. Mainly because we each got to ride on the back of a motorbike for a couple of hours...

The first stop was a pretty important pagoda. Here is why...

Pretty interesting. Next we went to the temple of a former King. It actually wasn't that interesting and wasn't really kept in good condition, mainly because it had just opened up within the past couple of years. However the king did, at one point, have over 120 concubines... but no children!!!

Next we were taken to a look out point over the Perfume River where there were a couple of concrete bunkers left over from the old french colonial days.

After that we went to a monestary to watch some monks while they were praying.

On a side note the orange robes means that the monks have been at the monastery for at least 10yrs.

Finally we had a nice drive through the rural side.

I think the drive through the rural side was my favourite part. Very quiet and very peaceful. It was nice to quickly observe Vietnamese life that wasn't completely based upon or catered towards tourism (if only for a few minutes).

Finally our last stop was a quick photo op outside the citadel which houses some temples and the old city.

So after a fun day of running around Hue we hoped on a night bus to Hanoi. When we arrived (at about 7 in the morning) we were all a little tired.

(Most tired brown man shot you will ever see)

I think the fatigue also made us a little crazy...

The main area in Hanoi is the Old Quarter, where alot of the of the old French Colonial buildings are. Anybody who ventures into Hanoi HAS to see this area. Really vibrant with alot of character. We decided that the best (and most fun) way to get around though would be on bicycles.

Now just imagine trying to ride bikes in crazy traffic like this.

But trust me it was fun :) Unfort Nathan and I got seperated from the girls for a couple of hours. No big deal though as the four of us just met up at our guest house later on. So after biking around for a few hours we had dinner went out for a couple of drinks then pretty much went to bed. Unfort. we were there in the middle of the week so we didn't really find or hear of any good clubs for the night.

The next day we ate a nice breakfast at a small cafe alongside the small lake by the Old Quarter.

I imagine Paris feels like that

Surprise, surprise guess who has his own statue in Vietnam

Anyways, so the the big intention for the day was to see Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. Apparently his body is still lying in state there. Unfort. the mausoleum closes at 10:30am and we got there at 10:31am!!! A little dissapointed but we still got to run around the museum dedicated to him.

The impression that I got was that Ho Chi Minh really loved his country and his country loved him back. I guess though when a country goes through all the terrible things they have you need a strong willed leader with great resolve to guide his people back to independance.

(Random shot on a rikshaw)

The day then ended with a water puppet show

It was actually kind of boring because we couldn't really tell if there was a story or not (which there wasn't) and it was more just 5 or 6 random acts of the puppet splashing around in the water. Nonetheless it was nice to do something a little diff't. After that we quickly grabbed our bags, caught a cab to the airport and hoped on the plane.

All in all Vietnam was a lot of fun. Very fast paced and constantly on the go. A watered down backpacking experience, but a backpacking experience nonetheless. And thanks to Nathan, Aruni and Kiran for making it alot of fun :)