After spending a week in Hanoi we headed off to central Vietnam. We stopped at Da Nang which is famous for its huge stretch of beautiful coastline and for playing host to American soldiers who spent time surfing at China Beach during R&R.
The Vietnamese love Da Nang but comment it has changed 300% in the last ten years. There are now huge five star resorts all over the place and about five miles of non-descript hotels and guest houses running along the coast on the wrong side of a busy road. It seems a shame as the beach is golden, but we felt it has been spoiled by all the buildings. Unfortunately however, it is a major city and has a big hospital and with my back still in a state we needed its facilities! We spent five nights here and enjoyed only two days of sun with the weather in Vietnam really not being on our side. However, Beeds did manage one day of surfing.
At the shop where we hired the surf board we came across a very interesting lady who worked as a translator for the American army during the Vietnam war, aged just 14. It was fascinating as the museums throughout Vietnam very much portray the americans as an evil force during the Vietnam war with no mention of any destruction caused by the Vietcong. However, this particular lady was full of stories regarding the museums cover up of the Vietcong and the many atrocities they inflicted on their own people.
She told us about a time when she returned to her village near Da Nang and the Vietcong knew she was working for the Americans. They handed her a can of coke with a bomb in it and told her to give it to an American soldier. She didn't and instead told the soldier of the bomb, which they detonated in a river. Because of this she was told by the Americans she could never return to her village or she would be killed. For the next eight years she followed the American army working in their camps to stay alive and in her words 'only died once'. Following a convoy she was caught in a bomb, buried under rubble and saved by an American soldier who restarted her heart. She had so many fascinating stories and we sat for about two hours listening to them.
Her shop is full of pictures of the war and of American soldiers who have tracked her down in the last five years, after one ex soldier came across her by chance.
One of the American soldiers who tracked her down had two pictures of the lady as a child next to tanks and gave them to her three years ago.
Next we headed off to Hue. Hue is a beautiful town with an impressive citadel and somewhere were tourism hasn't overpowered it's authenticity. From Hue we visited the demilitarised zones including a 600 metre network of underground and very claustrophobic Cu Chi tunnels.
At the tunnels we had a guide for the day who's English was far from clear leading to some very funny translations. It took our group about two hours to realise that every time she said 'community shoulder', she was actually meaning 'communist soldier'. Being a key part of the history of the war it was very funny.
The below shows where a family of four/five would sleep. I could only get in crouched! Our guide told us up to 1000 people would be in the tunnels during attacks. There was one area for the women to toilet, one kitchen, and one maternity space were 17 babies were born during the war.
Beeds posing next on a U.S tank.
The tunnels exited onto this beautiful beach. Absolutely stunning and completely untouched by tourism!
Next we headed to Hoi An, the tailoring capital of South East Asia, to get some clothes made. With over 500 tailors in the beautiful little French like town, we finally decided on one and enjoyed three days of visits back and forth to get suits and jackets made. The staff were lovely and extremely helpful, however, we did need to be very forceful with what we wanted after they kept making Beeds trousers too tight. When we questioned their skill they claimed it was Beeds 'banana' which was causing the creases and this would change depending on where it was!
In Hoi An we got chatting to some locals and learned of the long hours and lack of holidays employees experience. A girl told us she worked as a waitress seven days a week from 8am-10pm, with one day off and earning just $100 a month. Her rent is $10 a month so it is proportionate, but what sort of life is that?! I can't even begin to imagine!
Our second last stop in Vietnam was two hours south of Saigon. At this point, we had spent nearly four and a half months in Asia and were really getting tired of travelling, the humidity, motor bikes and the crappy weather we were getting in Nam. It'd only be fair to admit there was a good number of daily exasperations of what we thought of the locals, the constant haggling and their CRAZY driving...Me 'it's a f***ing pavement not road' and Beeds, 'argh we just watched that Vietnamese lady pay 12,000 rupees for this salad and you are charging us 20,000 - you are basically stealing from us'! Anyway, thankfully our escape from the city to a beautiful luxury homestay on the bank of the Mekong, could not have been better.
We arrived to find a beautiful big modern house hidden in the countryside and with the staff having no idea we were coming. We love to travel independently and it hadn't occurred to us to phone ahead. Apparently in two years we are the first people to just turn up. Lucky for us the manager was there and quickly sorted us out with a room, telling us we were the only guests for two nights and invited us to join in with their staff party on both the Friday and Saturday night! We enjoyed the most incredible food of fresh water prawns caught next to the house, snails, pork, banana leaf salad and plenty other authentic Vietnamese food. We were also introduced to the Vietnamese drinking culture whereby every time someone wants to take a drink they say 'yo' and everyone must drink! Beeds went through five cans, whilst we were eating and in an hour! I had more sense and pretended mine was full when it was empty...four months of not really having alcohol has not done much for my tolerance levels! One of the staff is called Phook and everyone apart from him was very amused when we translated this into its similar sounding English word! We also learned that they have no qualms drink driving. One guy drove his motorbike into a canal the night before and the police constable enjoyed as many shots of rice wine as the next before driving himself and his 80 year old Dad home for the night!
Our final stop was a couple of days in the capital Saigon (Ho Chi Ming, they seem to call it both). We spent more time at the hospital, ate lots of street food and visited war museums learning about the devastating effects of Agent Orange which the Americans dropped during the war.
Saigon is fun, but crazy (4 million motorbikes) and when our time came to board our flight to Singapore I think it would be fair to say we were officially 'Asiad out'!
Our time in the developing Asia was incredible. A day literally did not pass were we where not awed, shocked or inspired by something or someone. It really is an unbelievable place and I think for both of us there will be plenty of lasting memories. For me personally it has really reinforced that it is just luck where you are born in this world and that I am so lucky to live in the UK with all the opportunities it offers.
Our final stop in Asia was four days Singapore with our very good friends Eavan and Murray. Singapore was great fun and a welcome jump back to Western living. Our time there was so much fun, with lots of sightseeing, a good gossip, cocktails at 57 stories high and a great night out. Oh and Beeds and I spent ten hours apart, the most we have in four and a half months!
Beeds and Muz enjoying a beer.
Where Eavan and I enjoyed our cocktails, 57 floors high!
And the view from the 57th floor! It was yummy, thanks Eavan!
My hair was a little wind swept on our bus tour!
Some more pics of Vietnam.
Just carrying a small load on the bike today...
It's raining, it's pouring!
A lady selling fresh fish from the Mekong.
We visited a coconut factory. They literally use every single part for oil, drinking, carpets, food, charcoal and building houses!
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