grotty but not dirty

The train in Vietnam was grotty -- but not dirty (unlike in China, where it kinda felt like staff assumed that bathrooms would eventually clean themselves with moving air drying everything -- including squatting toilets on a moving train!) and with few stops in the night, we slept very soundly in our own compartment. Awoke to beautiful jungle and rice fields passing by in the pouring rain and when we arrived in Hue, realized just how heavy the downpour was. We decided right then and there to skip Hue entirely (as the rain seemed to be settling in) and move on to Hoi An, the beautiful little town to the south, 4km from the beach. We had a couple of hours to wait out the downpour with all our stuff in the train station.

In the meantime, Andy met Mr. Pho, a driver/guide/ticket-broker from Hue. Over some noodles at his friend's outdoor cafe, he regaled Andy with some snapshots of Vietnam life. When asked about the feelings towards the police (and rumoured corruption) here, Mr. Pho said, "If I did something wrong, I'd be afraid of them." He then said that there was indeed a huge neighborhood watch-like network justice system here. If someone stole a moped, his description would be broadcast over enormous loudspeakers used for Communist messages and everyone would be on the lookout and talk about where they had seen them and where they were going. And if someone "from the Middle East leaves a bag in the railway station, people will talk to each other/the police and jump him and get rid of the bag." He believed that it was only a matter of time that terrorists would want to disrupt the tourist infrastructure there. He also said his father and four sisters were lost to a bomb near Hue during the American-Vietnam war. He wasn't sure if it was an American, South-Vietnamese or North-Vietnamese bomb, (and he did actually hear it explode but couldn't really talk about that part as he started to choke up) but when asked about his feelings toward America now and Americans coming to visit, he said that, he understood that at the time, the "Americans had to come" because of "the world politics" and to stop the "spread of communism." But now, "No one hate Americans. We try to look to the future and move forward." We would also hear many other travelers who spoke to locals say that they said the same thing, although some questioned if the sentiment was true and perhaps a well-organized propaganda effort. Our feeling was, if the sentiment wasn't true, the responses were certainly well-organized, because virtually all said the same thing.

The bus was an hour late from promised departure and two hours late from promised arrival. Nevertheless, we made it into Hoi An just after dark, and enjoyed the cuisine the town is famous for, having our best meals of the trip. There's also tailors all over the place that can make anything. And all four of us got clothes made in one form or another. Andy and Steve went fishing one day. But this was fishing in an overfished river, so the trip ended up being more for the view than for the fish. We also visited the ancient Cham remains at My Son (MEE-SON) and enjoyed the wavy beach 4km away.

A few days later, we decided to hard-core it with an overnight bus to Nha Trang, then another bus to Mui Ne beach, arriving around noon (of course this time taking promised times with a huge grain of salt). The bus turned out to be almost pleasant, making few stops and all of us getting descent rest. The ride from Nha Trang to Mui Ne was especially pretty as the route runs through lovely mountains and rice fields, then gives way to rolling red and white sand dunes after the main turnoff of Highway 1. !

In Mui Ne, we enjoyed the beach, mopeds and the giant reclining Buddha, as well as the fact that we narrowly missed a category 4 Typhoon that hit Hoi An the very day after we had left



They say you truly haven't experienced Vietnam until you've ridden a motor bike on Highway 1 (actually I'm not sure if they say it, but if they don't say it, they should). It was an experience that didn't disappoint. Sarah was on the back with Andy and Anne was on the back with Steve. After the initial 'shock and awe' of careening vehicles that seemed to obey few rules except perhaps 'Might makes right,' it was one of the most memorable of all our experiences. We did catch a huge downpour, got soaked and Andy ran out of gas, but we were soon in a cafe sipping on world-famous Vietnamese coffee as the rain passed over us. The next day we also rode to Vietnam's largest Buddah, the Giant Reclining Buddah in the mountain 30km away. The experience of riding sans helmet through the aroma of nuoc mam (fish sauce) fermenting in clay barrels and passing dragon fruit and trees stretching for miles was unforgettable.


We decided to check out Dalat before heading into our last days with Anne and Steve in Saigon. The bus ride there was impressive as Dalat is high in the mountains, but perhaps the most interesting thing about the town (aside from a few kitschy Niagra Falls-ish honeymoon places) was the cool relief it offered. We decided to head out for Saigon the next day which turned out to be a beautiful drive through coffee and tea trees in the mountains descending to house after house with religious statues and icons on each of the porches. It was mile after mile of Virgin Marys, Crucifixes, and Ark Angel Michaels before we arrived in Saigon.

Turns out, Saigon proved to be less of the theft-ridden, aggressive-tout-laden city the guidebooks built it up to be (that award goes to Hanoi) and was actually quite pleasant. We did some awesome walking tours, shopping and actually found the city generally quite charming. We were sad that it was our last couple of days with Anne and Steve but were thankful that they came such great distance to visit and that we had the chance to spend a Vietnam adventure together.

We said goodbyes at 4am in the morning, and for the next couple of days we toured more of the city (few different neighborhoods, got haircuts, the War Remnants Museum) then realized we only had three more days left on our visa. We had to get out of the country! We booked a bus/boat combination that took advantage of a small, less-traveled river route into Cambodia, our next destination. It would take two days to complete and, in theory, we should cross the border on the day the visa expired. Andy tried to confirm with the tour guy that this was okay, leaving on the day of expiration and not the day before. If not, there could be a hefty fine or worse. He said "Sure. No problem." Then again, he also promised our bus would take only four hours...