Final post...

Our little Vietnam adventure has been worthwhile in so many ways.

We really succeeded in our aim to push ourselves much harder than we did the last time we were over there, to take more risks (especially with food) and really soak in more of the culture and reality of how people live their day-to-day lives. It was well worth spending more time in less places – and more time just sitting and watching the people around you getting on with life in what is otherwise a very difficult place to live.

We got more involved in our surroundings than last time, engaged with the locals more, and tried more unusual and sometimes downright dodgy food than before. There were many times we have pulled a face as we force down a first mouthful of something new with the words “you can have the rest of that...”

We had a few moments of difficulty (the meltdown in that dark damp room on Phu Quoc), had some bad tummies (my pot-plant experience on the streets of Hoi An), was ripped off a little (the taxi drivers in Saigon), and made a few errors in judgement (choosing to ignore the taxi touts in that Phu Quoc heat) – but nothing has left us traumatised and not wanting to return.

Vietnam certainly has it all – the food, the friendly people, the cheap accommodation, the rawness and the culture shock.

We have more photos and stories not told in this blog – but what you have read here is a good summary of the highlights for us. We hope you enjoyed following it.

We will undoubtedly remember it forever.

(At least until the next adventure - if there is one)...

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page"

-- St. Augustine

Day 14 – Home again

Flight home was okay – except for the awful smells from the person with flatulence problems sitting in the aisle seat next to us. I just wanted to open the window! You’d think we’d be used to such smells after some of our ‘experiences’ in Vietnam – but nope – not when it’s assaulting you for a solid 9 hours...

Got home at about midnight and gave the kids cuddle after cuddle in their sleep - we kept going in to see them. Their cute little angelic sleeping faces were just exquisite after TWO WEEKS apart... Cuddling them was a bit of a highlight in some ways... We could have crawled into bed with them and never got up again!

Day 13 – Another Singapore tourist day...

Went to the Jurong Bird Park to get some pics of flamingos for Jemma (she asked for them before we left).





Had to laugh at this shop in a local mall – those are hundreds of remote controls lining the walls:



We then did a river tour of Singapore...



A bit different from our adventures in the mud and smells of Vietnam – nice to wind-down with some more traditional holiday activities before leaving for home tomorrow...

Day 12 - Farewell to Vietnam

We said farewell to Vietnam and departed for Singapore. It didn’t feel too soon, we were ready to leave – the time we had spent was full of adventure, exploring and trying out new things. But we were starting to miss the kids and still had a couple of days left to enjoy a more ‘western’ style holiday in Singapore.

On landing at Singapore airport, we both went to the toilet – as you do. But we came out with our mouths and eyes wide open in amazement at the extravagance of those things! Toilets that flush themselves (how does it know??), sparkling clean glass basins – each on a marble pedestal and each with fresh orchids in a beautiful vase, sculptures and leather lounge suits artfully placed around the place... We have seen some unbelievably grotty and dysfunctional loos over the last couple of weeks – the contrast in lavishness of these things gave us culture shock! Delwyn wanted to take photos – I put my foot down...

We went to the Night Safari that night – it was the 3rd time for me over the years and the 2nd for Delwyn. It had been a highlight for us in the past, with the huge variety of animals that are much more active at night. But this time it was so unbelievably crowded that it was a bit of a letdown – having that many people around made it more like a theme park than a zoo.

Day 11 - Back to Saigon

Our flights had been changed to get off the island a few days earlier - and it meant we had an extra day in Saigon (Ho Chi Ming City). We had already ‘done’ the city and it felt all too familiar already – so we read that another part of the city worth staying in was Cholon – which was “Chinatown” and was away from usual tourist trail full of touts, travel agencies, pick-pockets and more western style restaurants and bars.

It was truly in classic “Chinatown” style – with lots of Chinese writing and hotels that had lots of gold and marble in the foyers. It was difficult to find a good hotel – some of the ones we took a look at were depressingly dreary, smelly and damp. But we found one that suited our needs – apart from the karaoke bar across the road which thankfully didn’t keep us awake that night.

This was the view from our hotel...



We went exploring the streets and Del got some more great photos...





Came across a bakery and was fascinated by the wide selection of who-knows-what and the great prices. Ended up getting a wide selection of pastries and buns – just whatever caught our fancy... “This looks good, how about one of these?” – pointing at it, smiling and holding up one finger for the girl who was all shy as she tried to not laugh at our odd behaviour. I did a pretend fat walk for her (blown up cheeks, sway from side to side) which cracked her up. We were doing nothing to dispel any impressions that Westerners were a bunch of greedy fatties.

The order only came to about NZ$3 – yet it was easily enough for lunch for both of us (even after leaving a couple of things that had meat on the inside that was just too strange to finish). We ate our little feast on some steps while watching all the locals go about their business on a busy street – we were the only westerners there as we soaked up the atmosphere of the big city on our last day in Vietnam.

Day 10 - Exploring by motorbike

We nervously hired a motorbike to go exploring for the day, with me driving and Delwyn on the back. The island is 50km long and 25km wide, so there's plenty to see. We were a bit nervous about it because – apart from a few km’s of sealed road in the main town, the rest of the islands roads were a mixture of slippery, sloppy, deep mud – and potholes so big you could hardly see out of them.

This is a shot of an average stretch of road from the air - you can see how lush and wet the island is:


I remember the day before watching how even the experienced locals slowly drove their bikes with feet out to help keep the bike upright. It didn’t fill me with confidence – but the island just had to be explored – so off we went...

Unseen ruts under the surface of the mud would try to take the front wheel out from under us – so it was a constant fine balance between going fast enough to keep some sense of balance and momentum, yet slow enough to make sure any spill wasn’t going to take too much skin off. It was hard work!

I suspect Delwyn remembers the day from the back of the bike as one of beautiful remote beaches, winding roads through thick wet jungle, and lots of locals going about their business. However, my memories are 8 hours hellish concentration, trying to judge the safest route through the mud, judging the depth of the next water-filled pothole, constantly fighting the bike’s attempts to throw us off while occasionally losing control and muttering words that I am not normally known for saying... I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day!






But just like our cycling in Hoi An, getting out of the town – away from all other tourists and out into the open countryside, where the real people live - was just magic and we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Del got some great photos of day-to-day life...



We got a flat tyre and were forced to turn back to the last little settlement where there was thankfully someone who could fix the bike for us (only NZ$7 – a bargain given we were stranded without their help!). It was a great excuse to walk around a little settlement and subtly peer into homes that would otherwise never see tourists.



A lady was barbequing and selling little packages wrapped in banana leaf – they looked like food so we bought one off her to try our luck. Turned out to be a little parcel of sticky rice with some banana inside – came out all sweet and gooey and surprisingly nice. A great snack that we would never have found if we hadn't had that flat tire.

Requests for a toilet in this settlement were met with confusion – it was okay to point to the flat tire on the bike and know you are communicating a universal need, but how do you use hand-signals to say you need a toilet? The bushes 5 minutes up the road were an adequate compromise once the wheel was fixed and we were off again.

Got caught in several downpours – so out came the ponchos and we pressed on. The mixture of warm tropical rain, sun-screen and sweat would run down into our eyes and sting. I was surprised to find that the mud actually gets worse when it rains - you wouldn't have believed it!



We went across several of these motorbike only bridges and stopped for lots of great photos:







We were almost back at our resort when we found ourselves on the wrong side of the local market and having to drive through the middle of the overwhelming chaos of bikes, trucks and thousands of people all buying and selling with each other.

Maybe I was just tired after driving all day and just couldn’t care anymore, but for the first time I wasn’t phased by the normally overwhelming commotion of a local Vietnamese market – our bike was just one more of the hundreds of bikes dodging each other on that street.



It almost felt like we were locals and this was an everyday thing – it’s surprising just how such madness and disorder can become almost normal when you have been exposed to it for long enough. You almost start to fit in – it’s a strange feeling...



We got back to the hotel safe and sound - all limbs intact (thank you God!) after being on the road all day. Shoes were caked in mud (bio-security at Auckland airport were going to have a field day).

We paid NZ$5 each for an hour’s massage on the beach out the front of our bungalow – and the stress from the difficult roads melted away!

In so many ways - both good and bad - this was a day we will always remember...

Day 9 – Move to new resort

A quick check on the internet told us the weather wasn’t going to change for the next week – so our flights were going to have to. We had planned 4 full days in this place – and that seemed somehow bad in our sleep deprived state. So a taxi trip back to the airline office in town saw us exchanging them for an extra day in Ho Chi Ming City and two more in Singapore.

We then spent the morning exploring the town and realising there was nothing outside the resorts to cater for the tourists – this place was pretty raw, making for some fantastic photo opportunities.

We ordered lunch at a local “Pho” place (Pho is noodle soup – it’s what all the locals live on here). There was no menu – we just smiled at the lady and pointed to one of her seats and she nodded and away we went – apart from the noodles, we had no idea what we were eating – but it was tasty!



Back to the resort – the next priority was finding a more comfortable place to stay for the next 2 nights – which we did, and weren’t disappointed. This was our new place on the beach:





Put our feet up for the rest of the afternoon and even caught our first glimpse of Phu Quoc sun as it was setting:



Found a small beach-front bar that served food - so stayed for dinner. We were the only ones there so stayed on a while for a few games of pool – walking home to our new bunglow after dark in the rain along the beach.

Day 8 – To a tropical island

Today we were hoping to go from ‘adventure-tourist’ to ‘tropical island tourist’ mode – with flights from Danang in central Vietnam to Phu Quoc island off its southern tip. It's supposed to be one of the ‘hidden wonders’ of Vietnam.

Was almost sick again on the trip to the airport (maybe another bad meal the night before?), but managed to come right again before boarding (it was very touch and go for a while).

After a 3 hour stopover in Ho Chi Ming City, we made it to the island where I had heard that “if you were really keen” you could walk from the airport to the beach and then along the beach – sampling the resorts as you go. Sounded more exciting than using a taxi, a bit of an adventure – so we ignored all the taxi touts wanting to take us to their recommended resort and off we went on our own.

Well... our naive keenness just about killed us! It was stinking hot and after an hour or so of walking with our backpacks on and still not getting to the beach, we finally gave up and asked a taxi to take us to the nearest resort where we checked in without question – just as the rain started. It was a cheap bungalow and had a pool - nothing else really mattered by that stage.



There was a reason for the cheapness – with a dark, damp and smelly room and almost foot long geckos on the walls running to hide behind the bed when you entered the room. They supplied a mosquito net, as none of the doors or windows closed properly. There was one very very dim light – so you could hardly see anything once the sun was down. The bed had a broken spring that kept Delwyn awake, the air-con smelled like stagnant water, and the frogs outside were like jackhammers. It was raining and windy, everything was wet and slippery, and the beach was covered with rubbish – the waves were choppy and murky. The restaurant at the resort was the only food choice and was twice the price we had been used to paying – yet eating was about all there was to do in that weather.


Sufficed to say it wasn’t the tropical paradise we were expecting – and had the obligatory ‘home-sick-meltdown’ moment later that dark stormy night when the strange noises (probably the rats) outside (or maybe inside - we never did find out) the bungalow caused Delwyn to loose it...

You don’t know what a comfort zone really is – until it’s not there anymore...

Home now. Time to finish the rest of the posts...

We didn’t get the blog posts finished over there as internet time was few and far between. But have now arrived home and after a few days recovering from jetlag and getting back into the routines with the kids (not sure which was more of a shock to the system) – We have now found the time and energy to finish off the blog posts with the remaining days of our holiday.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the posts - will publish them over the next few days...

Day 7 - Some tours

We set the alarm for 4:45am for a 'sunrise' tour of “My Son” where there are many ancient monuments from the Champa Kingdom (dates from between the 5th century AD to the 17th century). There were lots of the usual Buddhist and Hindu carvings into stone and brick monuments/temples/alters/etc.



It was extra special to be the first ones on site. You get to walk around the dense jungle tracks by yourself and feel like you are discovering these monuments for the first time. They are very old and overgrown with grass and moss, so they look pretty special.



We got back to the hotel just as the morning was starting to get hot - so we climbed back into bed and had another hours sleep.


Later that day we went on a tour called "2 hours with farmer" which we spotted in some obscure little tour agency run by one man. There are all sorts of tours you can do here – diving, fishing, boat trips, monuments, etc – Hoi An really revolves around the tourism industry. But this little tour was different since the owner of that agency turned out to be an ex-rice farmer who had many relatives who still lived off the land who we could visit.

So we met him at his shop with our hired bikes, he yelled at the wife to take over the shop and hopped on his bicycle and off we went. Hundreds of motorbikes and trucks swerved around us, honking their horns, stirring up dust and belching exhaust fumes in our faces. He said how happy he was that we booked his tour as it was an excuse to get out of the shop and get some fresh air - the irony was totally lost on the poor chap!

We got out into the countryside to visit a market garden - with hundreds of little rows of all sorts of herbs and vegetables. He showed us some of the very manual methods for planting, watering and picking the crops and told us about the struggle between the growers - who want to own their own plots, and the government who want to pay the growers a salary - but then take all the profits made.



Then we went to a rice field that his friend owned and we saw some of the methods they use for growing rice. They still use water-buffalo for ploughing.



The highlight was the optional sit-down at the end of the tour with his friend and family for a few beers. This experience was worth the cost of the tour alone. It’s just what we came here to experience - some basic family life, with an English translator who could answer our questions about everyday life here. We learned about schooling (about US$20 per month per child - a huge amount of money for these people), weddings (lots of drinking), business (he shared a new tourism business idea with us and wanted our feedback), and humor (we asked for some examples of local humor - its pretty basic and the usual sexist and dirty jokes that you would hear back home over a few beers).

All round it was lots and lots of fun - and so much better than all those poor tourists sitting in bars down-town paying 'tourist' prices for their fancy drinks and talking rubbish.

The "2 hours with Farmer" was good, but the extra "2 hours drinking with Farmer" was much more fun!

Day 6 - A bad start

We were woken at 5am by a Vietnamese radio program being broadcast over loudspeakers from the rooftop of the local communist party headquarters next door to our hotel. Truly bazaar and totally inconsiderate behavior that reminded us of the jarring call-to-prayer 5am shock you get every morning when traveling in a Muslim country. Delwyn used the early start as an opportunity to get some great photo's of the HoiAn buildings before the rest of the tourists got up.

I (Rodney) then spent breakfast time throwing up into a pot plant at a fume-filled street cafe in 31+ degree 80% humidity heat - not the best start to the day I've had. Could have been any number of about 20 things I ate the day before - so no point in trying to guess which it was. A short nap back at the hotel and I was back to normal again by about midday (thank you God! I know it could have been much much worse!).

We spent another day exploring by bike and on foot - getting great photos and video, and buying lots of prezzys for the kids - my pack is now filling out quite nicely!

Day 5 - Exploring HoiAn

Today we hired a couple of bikes and spent the day cycling the back roads and rice-paddies of the area - getting well out of the tourist-centre and away from the desperate "you buy, you buy" of the local shopkeepers and touts. It was some of the most magical moments of the trip so far - just cycling randomly in one direction for an hour so we got totally lost, and then spend the next couple of hours finding our way back to the town.

Busy sealed roads would become quiet gravel roads as we randomly choose to turn left or right at each intersection, then turn into dirt tracks, then into narrow walkways and sometimes end up as a ridge separating a couple of ricefields. Occasionally a wrong turn might end up at someones front doorstep, someones boat or just a remote spot on the river-shore and we would have to turn back and try another route.

Sometimes we were forced to turn back because of a nasty sounding dog - other times the track looked a little too much like someones front yard - with fences, chickens, huts, hammocks and livestock in pens - so we would back-track to the last turnoff and try another route. There were cows on leashes, men working on their boats, women working in the fields, and lots of children running out from their homes waving like mad and yelling "Hello, hello, hello" with big grins.

We stopped and gave coconut candy (from the Mekong Delta) to a couple of kids not much older than Sam - and they jumped up and down laughing madly as they excitedly chewed it, probably a treat they were not used to (the father/uncle was there with them and smiled at us - which we presumed was all the permission we needed).

We came across a school of 5-6 year olds and were invited in by the teacher. The kids were watching Tom and Jerry on TV, so we didn't feel like we were interrupting anything. They went mad when we showed them photos and video of themselves - it was so noisy! We had almost forgotten how noisy (and excitable) kids could be! Lots of fun.

The greenery is so lush here - everything is overgrown - yet at the same time, all space is in use with something, either a building or a crop. There is no boundary between when the town finishes and the fields start - the town and fields are competing for the same space - so neither really starts or ends, the buildings are just plonked down randomly in the middle of the fields and rice paddies.

In this pic you can see the rain coming in from the hills - we just put on our ponchos and kept on cycling in the rain - very cool...

Our eating habits have been completely screwed up - snacking on local food we can buy for less than a dollar all through the day, then eating snack sized meals at lunch and dinner because we aren't hungry, then getting hungry between meals because we haven't been eating properly, so have yet another snack! We had crunchy rice paper at one stall, barbequed pork skewers at another, sugar-cane juice at another - the food here is just fantastic and we are being very brave with new flavors (had dragon fruit juice at dinner last night, even tried Duran in the markets in Saigon - thats the smelly fruit that is supposed to smell awful but taste sweet - just tasted AND smelled awful really).

The main "old-town" here is just magical. They don't allow cars and motorbikes on the main streets, and we weren't even allowed to walk our bikes on the waterfront in the evenings - they are very strict about keeping the feel of the place as mellow as possible. The old french colonial architecture is just beautiful - it has to be the most beautiful little town in all of Asia.

Everything is going well - feels like a real adventure. Are having a fantastic time...

Day 4 - Flight to Hoi An

A 1 hour morning flight north today brought us to the sleepy little town of Hoi An - about half way up the coast of Vietnam. It has the same feel as Arrowtown - very very full of tourists - but also very quaint and relaxing.

Our hotel has a large balcony so we can put our feet up and watch the rain on the old french-colonial rooftops. Its the first time we have actually been able to relax since getting to Vietnam - and that's why we have nothing else to say about today...

4 more days here...

Ahhhhh....

Day 3 - 2nd day on Mekong Delta trip

We started the day on the boat again - this time going down river to the largest floating market in the delta - was really amazing to see the amount of trade in fresh produce going on. Hundreds of boats, each with a family living on board (kids, dogs, chickens and all) who have traveled several days to get to the market to sell their produce before returning home again for another load.



We were going to go to another tourist spot to see rice-noodles being made, but the factory was closed so instead we went to a local street market beside the river. This was much more interesting as they were not used to seeing tourists there, so there was no "you buy, you buy" in-your-face sellers. We were free to wander around the markets and soak in the pungent atmosphere. What great luck the noodle factory was closed!



Then a 5 hour bus trip back to Ho Chi Ming City. This is a typical Vietnamese street scene from the bus...



Overall the Mekong trip was just amazing - it was 2 days of overwhelming culture-shock. It was quite exhausting also - even cruising up the river slowly for hours at a time, it sounds relaxing, but there was always an overwhelming of the senses with unfamiliar things to see reminding you you were a long way from home.

We are both staying healthy - despite eating at street stalls and back-street market stalls (and cafes serving local food) for most of our meals. Have eaten only local dishes so far - not needing western food yet (the local stuff is all sooooo tasty - and there is huge variety). Except breakfast - we have been enjoying a fresh baguette with soft cheese - a local breakfast option left over from the French colonial past - costs maybe NZ$4 for both of us. A dinner with two mains, a plate of spring-rolls and a couple of beers sets us back roughly NZ$10-11, such great value for money!

The heat isn't as bad as we expected, but it is overcast most of the time, and a light breeze keeps things nice and cool (maybe hot humid NZ summer temps). We can imagine a still sunny day would be pretty tough - but have avoid this so far. Have stayed in Air-con rooms so far and got very good sleeps at night.

Day 3 - Mekong trip starts

We had booked our 2 day Mekong trip for US$21 each (plus food and expected 'upgrades' enroute) on our first day - and ended up going with about 15-20 other Westerners which wasn't too bad.

We started the day with a 3 hour drive to 'Cai Be' a town in the middle of the Mekong Delta where we visited a floating market where growers were selling their produce in bulk from their boats:



Went to a few of the obligatory tourist things - coconut candy factory and rice paper factory which were mildly interesting, even if the tourists were being fed in one end and out the other like a meat grinder making sausages. Naturally we came out a few dollars poorer trying to pick the coconut candy out between our teeth.

We had lunch on An Binh island and then hopped on bikes and went exploring the tracks and bridges alongside and over all the little canals. The countryside is so lush (is raining season - so everything alive is growing like mad) and you never know whats around the next corner:



Then a 5 hour boat trip along the narrow canals got us to the city of Can Tho - it was such an amazing boat trip, looking into the houses of people who live on and over the water - as they wash, cook and work. This is a typical row of shacks - everything is so run down and poorly maintained:



The young kids in these places were so excited to see us - they would yell, jump up and down and run alongside the river banks waving until we all waved back - they made us feel like royalty.

It was a fantastic day - with too many highlights to meantion here.

Day 2 - Cooking course

We spent most of today doing a Vietnamese cooking class - starting with our professional chef and his English translator giving us a tour of the local market to point out all the ingredients used in local cooking. It surprised us how many of the fruit and veg we (Del) knew.

It was great fun - and extra special because while normally there is a whole class (of tourists like us) - we were luckily enough to be the only ones on that day. This meant the chef could spend more time one-on-one with us showing us things that made us feel like we were actually learning things - not just cooking the food put out for our class. We got a certificate at the end (after a test that comprised of a single question) along with a booklet with the recipes we cooked - and then ate the result - was very yummy.



We spent the rest of the day on foot around Ho Chi Ming City, visiting things like the 'Reinunification Palace' and other local sights. The most interesting thing was the traffic - and getting across one of the busiest streets (with hundreds of motorbikes, cars and trucks swerving around us) was an ordeal that leaves you a bit shaken.

Had a solid, exhausting day and now have a good feel for the city. Now time to get away from its overwhelming noise, fumes and chaos...