August 25, 2009
Saigon and Beyond
Hi,
Thai, our guide meets us at the airport and we go for lunch at our first Vietnamese restaurant. We really enjoy the pumpkin flowers stuffed and fried in batter. We have a quick tour of this very busy city of 8 million and then the next day it's a three hour drive to the Mekong Delta where we cruise down the river making several stops. We see how the people fish, make coconut candy, puffed rice and handicrafts. Lunch is in a botanical garden belonging to one of the richest people in the village whose house fortunately escaped from being bombed during the war. This very large home was built in 1883 and we wander through the buildings and extensive gardens. The delicious lunch includes the local speciality, elephant ear fish, which is scraped off the fish and added to pineapple, apple, lettuce and rolled in the rice paper. The beautifully dressed vietnamese lady shows us how to do the first one then we are on our own. For someone who usually avoids fish, I am beginning to take a liking to it. As a special treat, Thai brings us durian to try. It's the very stinky fruit which has a nice flavour. The waitress is amazed that we are willing to try it. Many hotels have a notice that durian cannnot be brought into the hotel. We also try other exotic fruits.
We continue on our journey to Can Tho, a small city of 300,000. From our hotel balcony, we watch the approaching thunderstorm, the sky turning black with lightning all around. We wait out the storm and venture out for dinner. Vietnamese food is delicious, especially anything cooked with coconut milk and pineapple.
Another early day to take a boat trip on the Mekong to visit the floating markets. local produce is brought by family boat to the market which is just a collection of boats in one area. They are arranged like department stores with all the pineapple sellers in one area etc. They advertise their wares by hanging the products on poles at the front of the boats. We see sweet potatoes, pineapples, watermelon, cabbage, dragon fruit and all kinds if other fruit and vegetables. A small boat approaches us with a dad and two very small boys selling water and soft drinks to the tourists. Thai finds out that this family has another two even smaller boys at home. The floating market is not like the ones you see in postcards where the beautifully dressed young Vietnamese women have small boats loaded with flowers and fruit. It's poor people dressed shabbily in their small old boats. They stay until everything is sold. People from the land markets come and buy to sell back at the local markets. We board a boat and Thai gets the lady to cut some pineapples for us. Delicious!We also get young coconuts which he cuts open for us to drink the sweet milk. Stopping at the local land market, we are amazed to see all sorts of live eels, fish, chickens, everything you can get from cows, and even more disturbing, skinned snakes, mice and frogs still hopping. I much prefer the fruit, veg and spices!!!!
I find out from Thai that his father was in the army and shot during the American War, so he was unable to work, so the family got to go to school for free. Even government school here costs money, so it is difficult for children to attend. There are a few scholarships, and parents will sell everything they can to send their children to school so they can have a better life. Our guide graduated with a teaching degree in English and he says when he marries he will take a teaching job, but for now he likes the guiding. He sleeps in the office when he is in the city or on the boat when he is on the river.
On our way back to Saigon, we encounter a lot of traffic, especially while waiting for the ferry and the driver tries to get us to the airport for our next flight. Unfortunately he gets a ticket for going through a red light. We make it to the airport in good time, so we can do a little shopping. We have found in this country that if they do not have exact change, they offer you candy or gum instead, even at the airport!
Nina
August 26, 2009
Last letter
Hi Everybody,
This will be the last email for our trip. I've got a bit of catching up, so it might be a bit long. These emails are also my trip journal, so I apologize for the wordiness.
We arrive in Cam Ranh airport which is a bit confusing since our destination is Nah Trang, but it becomes clear when our driver tells us that it is a 40 minutes drive to Nah Trang from the airport. There is white sand all around the airport and we drive through winding hills to the hotel which is directly across from the beach. We plan a total beach day for our first day.We rent cushioned beach recliner beds under a thatched umbrella, rent inner tubes and buy a ball for tossing around.It's sun, fun and waves all day!!! I take a long walk down to the deserted beach area and find a small plastic bag tied with an elastic, yep, it's money. Back at the umbrella, I count out 103,000 Dong- about $7.00.
We make friends with a young girl called Fong. She is selling cigarettes, lighters and postcards. I eventually buy some post cards and she and Jamie tease each other. She calls him a baby for the purple Minnie Mouse beach ball I bought him and so it goes. Fong goes off to her sales along the beach and every once in awhile comes back to tease Jamie and hang out with us. Fong is one of 21 children. Her dad had two wives.She goes to school during the week, but this is Saturday, so she is working. All sorts of vendors work the beach with snacks, fruit and souvenirs. These are actually illegal as we learn when our fruit lady leaves her basket by our chairs to go get us a pineapple. Fong covers up her basket with Jamie's towel and tells us it's to hide it from the police.
We check out a restaurant advertised in one of the many flyers we are handed, which also has a cooking school. The restaurant is good and we talk to the young girl chef about cooking school the next day. Her parents own the restaurant and she learned most of her cooking form her family. Bright and early the next day Jess and I head for the restaurant. we met up with the other students, three from Australia and two young girls from Toronto. We take cyclo rides to the local market to shop for our ingredients. We make and eat our great food. I even flambe the dessert and do not burn myself! This restaurant support a local orphanage and serves them all lunch in the restaurant once a month. I take Jamie a doggie bag lunch at the beach and Jess and I quickly suit up for the rest of our beach day. She takes a parasail ride over the water and I take lots of pictures. Our hotel has two wedding while we are staying there, guest tables are arranged all around the pool with lots of flowers and decorations. I get one bride to pose for a picture before everyone takes turns singing Kareoke.
We reluctantly leave our ocean paradise to take the plane to Hanoi, one of the world's oldest capital cities. They are celebrating the 1000th anniversary in 2010! Our hotel is in the old quarter, so there's lots of shops on the narrow crowed streets. Each street has its own speciality, so there's a shoe street, toy street, bamboo street, you get the picture. There's even a coffin and memorial street and we learn that it is expensive to cremate here. Bodies are put in coffins in concrete graves above the ground. We even see a funeral van decorated with flower wreaths. They drive around the streets with all the relatives inside drinking tea.
We visit the Confucious Temple which also houses the first school in Vietnam. The king established the school to educate his court advisors and government officials. He personally tested all the candidates to pick his students. There are stone tablets listing all the names of the students who passed their exams dating from the the 10th century.When a student passed his exams, he was given a parade to his home village to be honoured by the whole village before he went to work for the king. The city tour of Hanoi continues with the lakes, pagoda, Ho Chi Minh tomb and a cyclo ride through the town. We arrive at the Water Puppet theatre where we watch this ancient art of puppets on a big pool of water. At the end we see the puppeters who are behind a screen manipulating the puppets in scenes of countary life and legends.
In the country, the farmers wear the traditional straw hats and long loose clothing. School girls wear long white tunics over long white pants. School kids wear uniforms and carry wide back packs. in the city, only the street vendors wear the straw hats and either have their goods on bicycles or carry them on a pole with a basket at either end. In the city, most people wear western clothing but the ladies almost all wear masks on their faces and often long gloves to protect their skin from the sun.The masks also help with the polution from so many motorbikes all over the roads. It' surprising to see so many people up and about very early and then long into the night, little kids and whole families just sitting around sharing food and news.
Our next great adventure starts with a 3 hour drive to Ha Long Bay. We board our fabulous boat which is to be our home for the next two days. Jane knows what I mean. We feel very much like the rich and famous as we are treated to a wonderful 5 course lunch and given luxurious rooms complete with our own balconies and all the amenities. We cruise along, explore caves, swim, take part in Dragon boat racing, squid fishing, watch cooking demonstration and just feel very pampered for the whole trip. I even participate in early morning tai chi class. The water is emerald green and the local fishermen, as they row us for a little tour, use nets to pick up any floating debris they may see. The large stone karsts we pass are beautiful. it is an idylic way to come to the end of an amazing trip!
Back in Hanoi now, we are in our hotel until tonight when we leave for our way home. We are going to wander around on our own today and take a late plane tonight. We will spend one day in Soeul, Korea where we plan to take a city tour and then back to Winnipeg on Friday evening. If anyone want to stop by we are ordering pizza and having ourselves a welcome home celebration!
Nina