We checked back into the Queen Ann Hotel and they gave us an upgraded room and for $25 extra are letting us keep the room until 6 pm tonight. We have to leave for the airport at 9 pm.
We walked back to the central market area to pick up Pam's blouse, but it wasn't ready yet. So we walked a few blocks over to a place I had read about in Travel and Leisure Magazine. They called it the "best street food in the world". They make a Bahn My sandwich, which is a French/Vietnamese creation. They barbeque little pieces of pork, take a heated french roll (crispy on the outside, warm and soft in the middle), cut it open and fill it with pork, some really fragrant veggies, and a yummy hot sauce. If you're ever in Saigon, it's at 37 Nguyen Trai Street. They are so good, we'll probably go there again today after our tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels.
When we went back to pick up the blouse, we saw that they had shut down the market, and instead had moved everything into the street. The streets were crowded, but they still let the motorcycles through.
A word about the motorcycles: I think Vietnam must buy up 90% of the world's motorcycles, and most of them are here in Saigon. Crossing the street on foot is like entering a game of pinball. You just have to step out and keep moving and hope the bikes will go around you. And you're not any safer on the sidewalk, because the riders will drive right up on it if the road is getting too crowded. But somehow it all works because we have not seen one accident yet.
We ended the evening last night with a walk around the surrounding area, trying to find the hotel where we stayed 11 years ago. We know it was near the Palace and the War Remnants Museum, but when we got to that area there were lots of high rise buildings that were not there before, so it made it hard to recognize anything. We tried to find the Continental Hotel, made famous in Graham Greene's The Quiet American, which was also near our hotel, but we couldn't find that either. When we got back to our hotel, we Googled the address, so maybe we'll have time to try again today.
We're now waiting for our driver to pick us up for our Chu Chi tour. I hope he shows up in a car and not a motorcycle!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Hung Home Stay - Day 2
First we had to board a very small boat with no seats to row across the river to the early morning farmer's market. Since the boat was wet, we all to squat in the bottom of the boat in the style of the Vietnamese. I'm glad it wasn't a far row, I don't think my knees would have straightened out again.
The farmer's market was small and fragrant. One lady had three live ducks for sale, another had a duck in a bag that was pitching a fit inside the bag and squaking away. There was lots of fruits and vegetables that were the most appetizing things there. Augie bought something that looked like a churro, but without the sugar. Hung bought a bag or rolls which would be part of our breakfast.
When we left the market, we boarded our regular motor boat and headed for the main part of the river. On the way, Hung served us our breakfast of the rolls, cheese, jam, coffee, tea, and bananas.
When we got the main part of the river, it was an amazing scene of hundreds of boats up and down the river, all filled with whatever they were selling. And what they were selling was hanging from the boat's rigging. There were boats filled with pineapples, sweet potatoes, watermellons, carrots, beans...just about any vegetable and fruit you can think of. Hung pointed out that you can tell where the boats are from by the numbers and letters on the sides of the boasts. Some had come from as far away as 120 kilometers.
After getting a gazillion pictures, we headed back to Hung's neck of the woods to see some of the local businesses. We saw how rice paper and rice noodles are made, how rice is processed and bagged for shipping, and we all took a walk on a local "monkey bridge". We were all very intrigued yesterday when we saw the bridges they had made over the river that are made of tree branches and bamboo. We told Hung we wanted to try walking over one, so he indulged us today. And no one fell in!
Finally, our tour was over and the boat dropped us and Hung off where the driver from the bus company would pick us all up to take us to the bus station. Hung bought us a bag of rice paper for a snack to eat on the bus. We all said our goodbyes. What a great adventure!
Hung Home Stay
This morning we were driven to the bus station by our hotel where we purchased our $5 tickets for the 3 hour ride to Can Tho, about 80 miles from Saigon, in the Mekong Delta. We didn't know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised to find the bus was very clean and new. The air conditioning worked great and they passed out cold towels and water to each passenger, plus a certificate for $1.00 off lunch at the rest stop. That may not sound like much, but it's actually more than half off the price of a lunch.
We arrived at the Can Tho station about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, so we asked one of the clerks to call Hung to let him know we had arrived. We were told he was on his way. He showed up a few minutes later on his motorcycle and gave us the choice of riding with him and a taxi motorcycle or hiring a cab. We decided to live dangerously, so I hopped on the back of Hung's bike and Augie got on with the taxi-cycle and off we went on the 8 kilometer ride to Hung's house. Luckily, Can Tho is not as big a city as Saigon, so it wasn't very scary at all.
When we arrived at Hung's place, he directed us to Cabin #5, across the street from the main house. There was one other couple there already, from Austria. After settling in and taking some pictures of our surroundings (the cabins sit right on a busy river) and greeting the local children who come around to check out the western visitors, Hung came to collect us in his boat to take us on a cruise up the river to visit some of the local craftspeople. First stop was to a shop where women were weaving the mats they sleep on. They can whip out 6 to 8 mats a day, depending on the quality.
Next we visited a knife maker. He hand made the handles from wood and the blades from spring steel. He was using the bottom of an artillary shell as an anvil.
The last stop was a family who makes rice wine (happy water). The family was celebrating the anniversary of the death of the grandfather. We were told they don't celebrate birthdays in Vietnam, but rather the death date of family members going back several generations. They were having a feast and kept handing us tangerines and glasses of beer and shots of rice wine. Good times!
About the time we arrived back at the cabins, another group had arrived. There were 2 Australians and some Dutch and Germans. We all went to our cabins and relaxed a bit, but Augie and I were invaded by a couple of imps from the neighborhood who came into our room and climbed all over Augie as he lay on our bed tinkering with his camera. They made him take their pictures, then they wanted to see the pictures. Then the boy wanted to learn how to operate the camera and he caught on pretty quickly. Soon he was scrolling through all of my pictures from the whole trip, ooohh-ing and ahhh-ing at what he saw.
At 6:45 we were all invited to the outside dining area where we were all instructed on how to roll egg rolls. We shared a table with the two Austrians and the two Australians. The egg rolls were fried up for our dinner and plate after plate of goodies were brought out for us to enjoy. First, they showed us how to take a slice of rice paper, load it with lettuce, green beans, and fish, roll it up like a burrito, dip it in some sauce and enjoy. It was delicious. There was also chicken, tofu, and rice. Later, Hung broke out the Happy Water. It was in a plastic bag, and he showed us how to puncture the bag with a chopstick and fill the shot glasses without spilling a drop. We all drank a toast to our host.
Hung asked us how we thought the locals were able to get clean clothes from the dirty water of the river. He brought out a pan of water from the river which, of course, was brown in color. Then he showed us a chunk of rock with looked like crystal. He said it was Alum, and he began to swirl it in the pan of water. Within a few minutes, the water began to clear. The Alum makes all the dirt particles clump together and sink to the bottom. Then you can skim off the clear water and use it to do your laundry. You still have to boil it to drink it, though.
Hung is a lot of fun and full of information. His English is excellent. We all turned in early because tomorrow he says we start our day at 5:50 am!
Saigon, Day 1
We arrived late on the 25th and checked into the Queen Ann Hotel in District 1 in Saigon. It's not as smoggy as Hanoi was, so we were happy about that. But the city is much bigger than it was back in 2000.
The next morning after breakfast we walked around the area of our hotel and found our way to the central market for a little more shopping. Just a few more baubles and one more blouse made for Pam. Augie was feeling a little puny, so he decided to go back to the hotel to rest. It was a perfect time for me to indulge in a little one hour foot massage. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
After an early dinner at a local restaurant, it's back to the hotel, we leave early tomorrow for our home stay.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Caves and Tunnels
Phong Nha Caves and Vinh Moc Tunnels
Our long day started with an 8 am pick up at our hotel, the Sun Spa Resort. It was a typical huge beach resort with several pools, a spa, and a golf course...which we had no time to enjoy. Not that we cared, that was not why we came. Well, I guess I did get a massage out of it.
An hour and a half drive along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which is now a nicely paved two lane road, and we arrived at the place where we boarded our boat for the trip down the river to the cave. Our boat was able to enter the first opening of the cave, but the second opening that would have taken us all the way in was too short for the boat to get through, due to the recent heavy rains. So we had to get out and walk into the cave.
The river continues underground for 10 kilometers, we are told that it is the longest underground river in the world. But the tourists can only go into the first 500 meters. Scientists have explored the first 2 kilometers, but no one has ventured any farther in. The danger of flash floods filling the cavern is too high.
After touring the cave and riding the boat back to our car, we decided to have a small bite to eat before beginning our 2 hour drive back to Hue and the Vinh Moc Tunnels. I had a bowl of beef pho, but Augie's stomach was still too distressed to have anything but water.
Augie and I both dozed much of the way to Hue. We finally arrived at the tunnels. We first went to the small museum where they had a map of the area and pictures depicting life in the tunnels and various other war propaganda.
The tunnels were built to house some 2000 people of the village of Vinh Moc to protect them from the American bombs. The Viet Cong helped them to build this complex labrynth in three levels, some sections as deep as 60 ft underground. They lived there from 1965 to 1967. There was a severely physically and mentally disabled man who lives in or around the tunnels and escorted us into the caves. He was sort of a Vietnamese equivalent of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He giggled along either in front of or in back of us, and he gave me a flashlight to help me in the dark. Our guide told us he was one of the 17 children born in the caves and is the last survivor. His birth defects were caused by Agent Orange. The rest of them all died from the war or from the affects of Agent Orange.
Augie and I had to walk with our heads down and our backs hunched in order to fit. There were square rooms where each family would live, a well, a wash room, and a big meeting room. There were several openings onto the cliffs above the sea to allow air circulation, and openings toward the land to offer protection. They were different from the Chu Chi Tunnels in Saigon in that the Chu Chi Tunnels were made for combat, these were made as shelters. It was very interesting to see, and a very sad reminder of what life in a war zone is like.
Finally, we drove the last 2 hours back into the center of Hue, where we had our dinner at a nice restaurant. Hue seems to be a nice city, it reminded us of Saigon when we were here 11 years ago. We hear that Saigon is now more crowded and more smoggy than even Hanoi. So we are worried about what we'll find when we get there.
We are now at the airport waiting for our late night flight to Saigon.
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