'on cue'

The bus of course took not 4, not 5, but 6 + hours. Two ferries and one nightfall later we were in the dumpy town of Chau Doc set to hightail it out by boat in the morning. We ended up taking a rickshaw to the docks where the guy with us from the hotel found a woman willing to row us by hand in her long boat. While boarding with our big packs on the unstable, narrow vessel, Sarah almost fell and we almost capsized, right there in the dock. A few moments later, we were off. The woman was rowing hard for a long way and we were passing right through the middle of a fascinating floating village complete with blaring TV's and children waving to us (almost 'on cue') then met up with our real boat, which only had about 10 others in it as we chugged up the mighty Mekong River and stopped at the border. As promised, formalities on the Vietnam side were not a problem. We had lunch, then got on another boat. A boy was pleading with Sarah to give him her pen. She gave it to him thinking, "Poor thing,he has nothing to write with. How will he ever learn, get ahead or have a descent chance at life without a measly pen?" She then looked on the other side of the boat and there appeared the same boy with the pen asking another guy filling out a customs form if he wanted to buy it!

The boat left and crossed the border into Cambodia. We then disembarked for formalities there, which was also painless. 

A couple of hours later, the cattle along the river changed from being velvet-y brown to white. They also seemed to grow in size and a few were even being bathed in the river by their meticulous Cambodian owners. Almost every group of children that saw us let out ecstatic screams of "Hello! Hello! Hello! Goodbye!"

We boarded a bus at our stop and were soon on our way to Phnom Penh, the capital, when we noticed another change. Now there were huge groups of people riding on the TOP of buses and minibuses. And we were iffy about our luggage being up there.

We arrived in Phom Penh and had a little trouble finding some place to stay as it seemed like everything was really booked. Once we did, we stayed there for a few days visiting the Palace, Silver Pagoda, S. 21, and the Killing Fields, witnessing firsthand the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime, and how they orchestrated the most bizarre, closed-off government and social experiment in recent memory. Supposedly, from 1975-78, they abolished the calendar and made everything start at year 0, sealed all borders and canceled all flights except one night flight to Beijing, suspended the entire postal service, and required every citizen, including all women, children, elderly and infirm, EVERYONE to go out into the fields to work every day in backbreaking conditions, abolished schools and were suspicious of anyone intellectual -- to the point of executing an estimated 2 million people. Apparently no one in the world had enough political currency at the time to intervene except the Vietnamese, whose border was being crossed and attacked by the Khmer -- a decision they perhaps regretted as the Vietnamese invaded the entire country and kicked the Khmer back into the hills. Andy spoke with a few people who said the Khmer were still around 'in the hundreds,' mostly in the mountains, but that most people, in their words, "No like."


We also went to the only hill in town and saw monkeys -- TONS of monkeys playing around the temple -- so many it was almost a little gross. Andy also tried a few of the popular local delicacies including spider, which the leg tasted like crispy pork skin, cricket or grashopper (not sure which one), which tasted the same, and silk worm, which was the toughest psychologically to get past just because of the squishy texture, but in the end, it actually tasted like a creamy brazil nut. All were fine, it was just getting past a huge mental roadblock.

Our next stop was to go south to the coast and Sihanoukville, the beachside 'resort' that was a favorite of the old King Sihanouk. There we'd rest up, catch up and maybe have a little side adventure. At 1pm, we were on the promised four hour bus ride. This time, the times turned out to be accurate!

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...

"He's a cheat"

When we got to the border town of Piaxing, we quickly realized we wouldn't be able to change anything to Vietnamese currency -- even at the Bank of China. Ahhh, the Bank of China. Also, the touts were getting more aggressive. Each had written down in English, "He's a cheat" to discourage business with the competition. Others we talked to later said all of the touts had it written in their books. One even gave us the 'I'm watching you' hand-signal as we left with his competition. So we're in our motorized rickshaw (or tuk-tuk) for the last 20km to the border, leave the Chinese side without a hitch, well before our Visa expired, and enter the Vietnamese side (Dong Dang) at the "Freindship Border." Again, they looked two or three or five times at Andy's distressed passport (and picture beneath the laminate), but finally stamped us through with no 'fees' except for a 30 cent each medical clearance where we weren't even sure the 'doctor' looked at us as he took it.

Little choices for transport awaited us on the other side. We found a cab to what we thought was Long Sang, however it was just a gas station and our Vietnamese driver insisted it was the 'bus station' in Long Sang. Conveniently, there was a minibus with "Hanoi" written on the front. We were pretty tired and Sarah had not had any food (again a reminder to avoid travel on an empty stomach), so we decided to go with it. We negotiated a deal with him, then realized as he took off on his motorbike that this was a just a random, private minibus that would make a million stops to pick up everything on the way to Hanoi. We of course then saw the real Long Sang bus pass by our window.

We did make it to Hanoi, but 2 hours later than promised, found out we had not only been lied to about the bus station but also that they lied about taking us to our hotel. We had had tough negotiators in China before but no one there had ever LIED to us before. They dropped us outside a random hotel they are getting commission from and refuse to go any further because of 'city regulations.' Changing coutries and languages, etc. is never a cake walk but to top off this harrowing entry, as we're walking on the street, we are constantly accosted by a new form of parasite: violence-threatening touts, Andy finally said "Enough" to one of them and he starts yelling back at Andy and saying that HE's the rude one and that this isn't China or America or anything else and they were about to come to blows right there on the street! Cooler heads prevailed, but Andy saw him later and said, 'Oh good, I'm glad you're here. Now you listen to me, I don't care where in the world you are: China, America, or Vietnam, you don't accost people you want to do business with, say, F--- you, etc.' The guy said he was sorry and didn't remember if he said that and Andy said, "I'm reminding you then, and after we check into this hotel, I'm going over to your hotel and tell whoever's behind the desk, your boss or whatever to fire you because you're costing him business. You remember it now?" That was kind of the end of it and we collapsed in our hotel room. In the end, settled into Vietnam nicely and really enjoyed our time there, but our first impression was anything but a paradise.

We were also excited because Sarah's parents, Anne and Steve, were going to fly to Hanoi and travel the country with us for the next three weeks. They came in on schedule and it was great being with family once again. We were looking forward to sharing a bit of 'overland adventure' together. And we did.

Over the next few days, we discovered a lot of Hanoi through sheer walking, saw the embalmed corpse (Sarah and Andy's 3rd) of Communist leader, Ho Chi Minh in his masoleum, the Military History Museum, checked out a water puppet preformance, and had lots 'Bia Hoi.'

Our first leg south and east was an ill-conceived plan by Andy to forgo the tour bus and have a taste of 'adventure,' but didn't turn out to be the painless experience the guidebook promised. We first went to the wrong bus station then took a little rattletrap with the Vietnamese version of Burns and Gracie blaring on over the speakers. Thinking the guide book was right in saying you could organize once you got there, we arrived to find not only that the entire harbor had moved, but that we were being told everything had left for the day at 12pm. Plus, in Vietnam, you can never get a straight answer from anyone because anyone you talk to has some kind of stake in either a car, boat, moto, hotel or restaurant and will always try to steer you to their operation rather than give you any objective answer. -- We would only find out where the real harbor was by boarding our pre-paid boat the next morning.

That said, Halong Bay turned out to be magical. Amid surreal limestone peaks jutting up from the water as far as you can see, we had lunch, visited the giant cave and even swam next to a fishing village. We ended up overnighting on Cat Ba island, which had a beautiful secluded little beach we went to, then took another bus-ferry-bus combination to Haiphong the next day.



Haiphong, Vietnam's third largest city, was simply kinda strange. It was somewhat of an industrial wasteland on the outskirts combined with our first friendly reception in Vietnam, where kids and young people are used to shouting out 'hello!' to tourists, but we never saw any other Westerners there! It was also our first sighting of dog meat, which none of us tried.

That night, we needed transportation to the ATM, but upon realizing it was an all-motobike town with no cabs, Andy actually asked a city bus if they were going there. They said yes, negotiated a price and then surprisingly, everyone got off the bus as it turned out this was their last stop and they agreed to it for maybe a dollar. So the four of us are now the only ones on this huge city bus. We then pull in to get gas! 15 minutes later, we're dropped off at the ATM. It wasn't the fastest cab we took but it certainly was the roomiest.

The next day we boarded a local bus to Ninh Binh, complete with a rag-tag collection of riders and driver sporting huge, retro-gold shades, scary long fingernail on his right pinkie and a bad-ass attitude. Everyone seemed to smoke. The attraction of Ninh Binh wasn't so much the city itself, but rather the outskirts including Tam Coc (famous caves and river) and the ancient capital of Hoa Lou. We ended up taking bikes through it all with magnificent scenery of limestone karsts rising above electric green rice patties the whole way. Nevermind that Andy got confusing local direction, quickly adding 15K to an already tiring run --- but everyone made it in fine fashion and we celebrated on the hotel's beautiful roof terrace.



We also took a long boat to the floating village (a somewhat dubious description) of Ken Ga. There was an interesting cave there, but perhaps most fascinating was stumbling on another small town where the Catholic church service was in full swing. This church contained neatly and brightly-clad women on the left and men on the right, both chanting peaceful, low key, rythmic religious exhortations. Anne and Sarah were pleasantly surprised to be invited inside by the other ladies to sit which they did, while Steve and Andy seemed to draw quite a stir outside with the men, young and old, examining their cameras. The Jesus at the front of the altar was bathed in the light of a neon cross, as many Catholic churches across the country incorporate neon into their statues of the Virgin Mary, Angels, baby Jesus, etc.

The next evening, we would begin the second leg of our journey through North and Central Vietnam to Hue and Hoi An. So far it had been sensory overload for Anne and Steve and for us as well, with a heady concoction of shifting cultures (and values!), vibrant new colors, Nuoc Mam (fish sauce), coffee and bia hoi. Now throw an overnight train into the mix and you've really got something.