Initially thinking we had a 4pm flight on our last partial day in Vietnam, we were planning a walking tour of the city. Turns out our flight was at 7:30pm, so we booked a half-day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Cu Chi is a region about 60km northwest of HCMC. The tunnels were originally built during the French occupation in the 1940s and 50s, and then expanded during the Vietnam War. In addition to military use, some of the Cu Chi people actually lived in the tunnels during the wars.

Many of the real tunnels collapsed over the years or were destroyed by carpet bombing. The tunnels on the tour were created/restored as an attraction and enlarged to accommodate visitors (or as Ryan says, meat eating Westerners). Only after the very broad muscular guys in our group lowered themselves down one of the tiny holes did Ryan and I follow.
     

Next up was a shooting range where you could pay $1 per bullet and shoot any number of weapons from AK47s to M16s and M60s. I was definitely not a fan of the very loud gunfire, and it appeared the 2-year old in the group agreed. Ryan thought it added to the ambience of the place. We then had the chance to crawl through some tunnels. I made it 40 meters before calling it quits. Ryan went the full 100m, basically doing lunges the entire way, with a guide following closely, coming out at the hospital tent replica. He continued to pay for his decision (his words) over the next few days — reminiscent of Gary’s lunge workouts. The crouched position was rather uncomfortable and created a lot of stress on the knees and quads.

Last on the tour was a Cu Chi tunnel history (propaganda) video. It was a little light on the history, science, engineering, and very heavy on the anti-American agenda. Interesting to hear a different perspective on the war, but definitely made us feel uncomfortable.

During the van ride back to HCMC, our tour guide told us that the anti-American sentiment is just history at this point. He said even older veterans from the war seem to be embracing the western culture and capitalistic ways, mostly because there’s a strong sense of government corruption and the belief that Communism isn’t working.

Since there was still time before our flight, we had the van drop us off at the War Remnants Museum on the way back into town. This was an interesting interpretation of the ‘American War’, as the Vietnamese call it. But as is said, the victors write the history books. Overall, the only word I can think of to describe the entire day is ‘interesting’. I learned more about the Vietnam War than I ever learned in school (no U.S. History 2?), mostly from doing a lot of online reading and fact checking before and after the tour. Honestly, I do not think I would recommend the Cu Chi Tunnels or the War Remnants Museum as must see sites for U.S. tourists in HCMC.

Other interesting pictures from the day:

Vietnam is the 3rd largest rubber producer in the world -> lots of rubber tree farms.

An entire kids sports team on scooters

Street we stayed on in HCMC – Check out the Vietnam telecom

(Written jointly with Ryan)

Similar to Hanoi, we only left ourselves 2 nights in Ho Chi Minh City — HCMC, or Saigon as most of the locals still refer to it. We booked a day trip to the Mekong Delta, allowing ourselves to be upsold $15 to the deluxe package, which guaranteed a max group size of 14 and a better lunch. This proved to be a big mistake, as the only difference in our 11 person group was the table they sat us at for lunch and a few so-so extra lunch dishes.

The tour was extremely “touristy” — a scripted march of tour groups between locations where locals are eager to extract dollars and dong from tourists. Looking past this aspect of the tour (it wasn’t expensive at all), the delta was a fascinating tropical area.

A 2 hour van ride to the delta town of My Tho ended at a marina where we loaded onto small boats to ride across the mighty Mekong river to some small village towns. At Unicorn Island, we were served local fruits, including pineapple, mango, papaya, dragon fruit, and longans, all while listening to some talented local folk music singers and musicians. We then boarded small 4-person canoes for a nice ride through low-hanging vegetation to our next stop: a honey and tea tasting. The honey came straight out of the honeycombs, and was mixed with tea, lemon, and pollen to make a wonderfully sweet and refreshing honey tea. Then, naturally, they brought out a python for (only brave) people to hold.

This was followed by a motorboat ride to Ben Tre, “coconut island”, where every part of the coconut tree gets used in products or the making of products (ie. coconut shells are burned to provide power). The specialty was coconut candies — very tasty! We also indulged in very our own chilled coconut (the water and the meat) –> quite refreshing. After making our way to the lunch place via horse-drawn carriage, we were separated from the main group for our “deluxe” lunch. Check out our elephant ear fish, from which fresh spring rolls were made (not worth the extra tour cost though). This photogenic water buffalo was busy bathing himself in the background during our lunch:

Near the end of our journey back to HCMC, the tour stopped at a handicapped handicrafts place. Most of the artists were affected by, or descendent from those affected by, Agent Orange. Using eggshells, seashells, paint, and laquer, they craft some very impressive works (if only we had a way to fit more stuff in our bags).

The morning after the flooding in Hoi An was beautiful. We rented bikes from our hotel and rode through the palm tree strewn streets to the Cau Dai beach and then north a little ways to the An Bang beach. The beaches were relatively quiet, with a few tourists lounging underneath umbrellas and some locals tempting them with food and drink at small beach front restaurants.

We took a walk up the coast a bit, laughing about romantic walks on the beach for our honeymoon, when Ryan said “This is your honeymoon. Congratulations on marrying me.” Ha ha, priceless! That is definitely a quote I will never forget. Right up there with “Thank you for [pause] other things.”

Feeling like we’d been a bit lethargic the past few days, we went for a long ride up the coast, on relatively uncomfortable single-speed bikes and under the strong sun. Back in China, we had finished all of our normal 70 SPF sunscreen and had to pick up some 30 SPF sunscreen in a pharmacy. Multiple sunscreen applications and 30 km of biking later, we were both burned to a crisp. And Ryan was a little, uh, uncomfortable from the inadequate bike seating position.

As we all now know, it wouldn’t be a wet season day in Vietnam without some rain. We got the bikes back to the hotel just before the heavens opened. Dinner was at a recommended restaurant in the Old Town, traditional cao lau, a broth with sliced pork, bean sprouts and herbs, for me and a banh mi sandwich, a baguette with seasoned beef, for Ryan.

Our last morning in Hoi An consisted of a walk to the central market, where, not surprisingly, we got caught in a crazy downpour. Even with our umbrellas and rain coats, we were totally soaked. The central market was very interesting though. Reminded us a bit of the market in Cusco, on a smaller scale; lots of veggies, fruits, pig parts, and other stalls with any spices or grains you could possibly want. There was also a big food hall with lots of traditional foods and counters for people to sit down and eat.

On a side note, Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a well-preserved ancient port town with a lot of historical temples and buildings, of which we saw very little.

Other than Halong Bay, we did not leave time for tourist activities in Hanoi so we set off the next day for Hoi An via Danang. Our flight was due to depart at 2pm, and they made sure to get us off on time because there was a shrinking window between the outer bands of wind and rain from Typhoon Nari, scheduled to make landfall in Danang around 2am. Vietnam gets hit by about five typhoons every year, so this was mostly business as usual for them. This particular typhoon was forecast to be the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane and had just left a path of destruction in the Philippines killing 13 people. Note: the detailed weather forecast in English was surprisingly hard to come by in the days preceding landfall — we did not have a good idea of what we were getting ourselves into.

Our Australian pilot informed us just before landing that he might have to take more than one pass and not to be alarmed if the plane pulled up. Turns out the first try was perfect — quite possibly the smoothest approach and landing we’ve experienced.

During our 15 second descent from the airplane door down the stairs to the terminal bus, we got absolutely soaked by driving rain. The airport was mostly empty. Our hotel’s driver met us and set off for the 30 minute drive south along the coast. The roads were eerily empty except for the few groups of Samaritans adding stakes to young trees in hopes that they could withstand the winds.

Arriving at our beautiful hotel Ha An (thanks to Jolley’s recommendation), we received some delicious tea and fresh fruit, and were instructed to be back at the hotel by 8pm due to the impending storm. I donned my bathing suit and flip flops, and we set off for a short walk around town in the rain to get our bearings. We walked along the river and over the Japanese covered bridge before heading back to the hotel for dinner.

The typhoon hit later that night, bringing with it lots of heavy wind and rain. Nicole didn’t sleep much, and was surfing the web for more updates on the storm. She found that over 180,000 Vietnamese were evacuated from the storm’s path, including many in the city of Hoi An.

We awoke to downed trees and debris everywhere in addition to continued rain and wind, but the worst of the storm was over. The morning was spent chilling in the hotel room, attempting to watch some of the bootleg DVDs supplied by our hotel: sound quality was too awful on J. Edgar to hear it, Skyfall kept getting stuck in the middle, Ghost Protocol started somewhere in the middle with a chase scene. We were getting ready to head out around noon to survey the damage when the phone rang. The river 1 block south was expected to flood to about waist height in the lobby, and our hotel was evacuating all guests to other hotels further inland from the river!

Our self preservation genes kicked in. We packed quickly thinking this was an emergency and ensuring we were some of the first guests to get transportation to safety. Turns out the flooding was not expected until late that night so we were safe. Our new digs were not nearly as spectacular as the Ha An, with signs of water damage in our room, and intermittent power and internet, but at least we were on higher ground.

Our walk around town later in the evening produced these images of the storm’s destruction. The locals were out in full force the entire time repairing metal roofs, cutting downed tree limbs, and repairing their own telecon connections. The entire community seemed to work together in good spirits making this a very warm and inviting place to be.

Turn around. Don’t drown.

Boat washed ashore on a street

And there were just funny photos:

Vietnamese Telecom

Vietnamese telecom

P.S.  Happy late b-days Robin and JJM!

[with contributions from Nicole]

Our stay in Hanoi was short, only 2 nights, and the one common piece of advice we were given about this area was to see Ha Long Bay (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). So we booked a private tour through the hotel. It turns out we’re not the biggest fans of private tours because there’s a lot of pressure and awkward silences. It was made even more awkward when halfway through our 4 hour drive to the Bay our driver pulled off for the advertised bathroom break and coffee at a ceramics/pottery factory that employs local disabled people. They had a local tour guide meet us, walk us around the premises, and then follow us around a large souvenir shop, hanging onto our every word about their goods. We weren’t going to buy anything because this was an unexpected part of our private tour of Ha Long Bay (that and we can’t really fit any more souvenirs in our bags). I think our (very friendly) tour guide eventually got the point because the rest of the trip he was extremely transparent and personable. We learned his views on communism (he’s fed up with it), North vs. South Vietnam, and the pervasive problem of government corruption.

We passed many rice farms and a few coal towns and power plants. When we arrived at the Bay, we were surprised to board a large vessel made for maybe 50-75 people. But it was just the 2 of us, a cook, our tour guide, and 2 other shipmates along with their captain. Our dollar goes a lot further in this country!

We enjoyed a cruise across the bay to a cove where we walked through 2 natural caves with amazing stalactites and stalagmites.  Afterwards, we were treated to a 10-course meal of local seafood on the boat as we cruised around the amazing karst mountain scenery. Along the way, we passed a water town where a small group of fishermen live on their boats, with their families year round.  They even had a floating school (sorry, no pictures.  We were too busy stuffing our faces with food).

We had one of the best meals of our trip that night in our hotel: Meatballs and beef in a tasty broth, shredded beef and onions in bamboo stalk, and a veggie soup that reminded us peach fruit cups. Very tasty!