Chào bạn!
If ever strapped for cash but still looking for a nice and cheap place to stay, head for Vietnam! We stayed in 3 different hotels throughout Vietnam and all of them were very nice and under $50! Now, that's our kind of bargain. The advantage of the American dollar extends throughout all areas of tourism and hospitality and boy did we make the most of it!
One of the things that will forever be burned into our memories is the traffic in Vietnam, composed of a STRONG majority of motorbikes. There are almost no traffic lights or speed limit signs and really it's just a free for all. You can drive on either side of the street as needed and if you happen to run into a one way street, just drive on the sidewalk in the opposite direction. The amount of scooters and other forms of two wheeled vehicles on the road is astounding. They park them on the sidewalks which makes walking down the sidewalk almost impossible. You feel like you are taking your life into your hands every time you walk out of the hotel for a stroll. We eventually got the hang of it but it did take a couple times crossing the street for us to realize that everyone just kind of moves around one another and somehow, to our surprise, it just works. It would certainly end differently if you just walked out onto 5th Avenue at rush hour and expected traffic to part for you...
 |
| A central intersection in Hanoi Old City |
Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon
In Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the famous Bin Thanh Market and were hassled by many Vietnamese ladies that did not want to take no for an answer. At one point a lady grabbed on to Wes's backpack and wouldn't let go. She REALLY wanted us to buy a T-Shirt. We physically had to remove her and quickly walk away.
We visited War Remnants Museum which was very interesting and definitely showed a different version of the war than US history books. At least the government finally changed the name from the "US War Crimes Museum" after some diplomatic healing a few years ago, but the exhibits and strong propaganda displayed still tell the same story. It was certainly interesting to see the way the war is illustrated through another perspective.
Since Wes was still feeling a bit under the weather and Christine wasn't feeling so hot either one afternoon, we actually caved in and ate lunch at a Pizza Hut. Yes, we know we haven't been to Pizza Hut in years but boy did a reminder of home taste great! Don't worry, we also ate our fair share of Vietnamese food like Bahn Mi (sandwiches on French baguettes), Chicken and Beef Pho (rice noodle soup), Vietnamese coffee (delish!), and other various noodle and rice dishes that we have no clue of the names but they were yummy! We also enjoyed drinks at the rooftop bar of the Grand Saigon Hotel (a French Colonial fixture of Saigon since 1930) while looking out at the city lights and enjoying the rare breeze.
We had our best massage to date at our hotel in HCMC. It was technically a foot massage but they covered the whole body, it was 75 minutes long, and cost us a total of $20 for two! We enjoyed hot tea and some Kenny G in the background all the while thinking "How are we so lucky?" By the way, every hotel in Southeast Asia loves Kenny G on repeat, or maybe some Michael Bolton and Whitney Houston thrown in. Strange.
 |
| HCMC Central Post Office |
 |
| A captured CH-47 Chinook helicopter at the war museum |
 |
| The Opera House built in 1837 and the newest office tower in town behind |
 |
| More steaming bowls of Pho! |
 |
| A Bahn Mi vendor making magic for $0.30! |
 |
| Ok, ok, we caved and ate some western chain food...once |
Hanoi
We took a short flight from HCMC up north to Hanoi where we had a day or two wondering what everyone loved so much about Vietnam. We eventually saw the lure of enjoying good cheap food, drinking coffee watching the traffic around you, and just relaxing while strolling the city. We left Hanoi for a night to cruise Halong Bay. This was honestly one of our main reasons for visiting Vietnam and it really made the entire trip totally worth it.
 |
| An odd selection of frozen fish, and snakes, available at the airport snack bar. Yes AFTER security, Frozen fish and snakes on a warm plane, think about it... Luckily we don't think anyone had any on our flight. |
Halong Bay
We took a long and bumpy four hour ride to the Gulf of Tonkin coast and boarded a Junk. This is an old fishing boat that has been remodeled to include cabins, a dining room, and lounge area. It was absolutely spectacular! We sailed to a private island and walked through a cave where local Vietnamese fishermen used to live for thousands of years. We kayaked around the bay for a bit and enjoyed amazing food on the Junk. We visited a local floating fishing village, a pearl farm, and a local school. This was quite eye opening to see how these people live on the water and seem quite happy with a minimalist life. We think we would probably go stir crazy!
We met a nice Scottish couple on the cruise and hung out with them most of the time. They have also done a lot of traveling and a couple years ago they came to NYC to see the Rockettes so they had lots of questions for Christine.
On the ride back we found out the cruise scheduled to go out that day was canceled due to stormy weather so we were thrilled that we were able to experience the bay and the amazing views it offers. We were also privy to a "water puppet" show by some local artisans which was about a half hour with puppets telling stories and moving about in water. You have to see it to understand, but we would never tell anyone to torture themselves in this way. It was pretty rough and quite a tourist trap!
 |
| Our home for a couple days |
 |
| Our cabin |
 |
| The water was as smooth as glass which made paddling around the small islands a breeze |
 |
| A village of homes and other buildings floating on pontoons |
 |
| Cultured pearls being opened after 4-5 years of growth |
Overview
The Vietnamese in general do not speak much English at all. We learned some good hand signals and made it work most times but we did have a couple funny things happen. One afternoon we took our clothes to be laundered. When we dropped them off the man motioned 3 and we thought he meant 3 hours. So 3 hours later we went back to pick up our clean clothes only to find them in the exact same spot we left them, and just a dirty. The guy looked at us like we were crazy to think they would be done already. We still don't know exactly what he meant...3 days, 3 o'clock tomorrow?? Lost in translation! We're just glad he was still there because we had to fly the next morning!
Wes learned almost immediately the scams that people run on the streets. No more than a few steps after walking out of the front of our hotel, some guy was pointing to Wes's shoes and saying something was wrong. Wes stopped and looked to see what he was looking at and the guy has quickly pulled out this super glue looking tube. Christine luckily saw what was happening and quickly grabbed Wes and off we scrambled. We later learned that this was probably actually glue dissolving solvent that they put on your shoes to create a problem and then tell you they can fix them for you. Of course, this will cost you. Our Scottish friends fell for this scam and they tried to charge them quite a hefty fee but luckily they were smart enough to walk away and say either take what we offer or you get nothing. Though the Scot was shoeless so I'm sure they would have paid pretty well if the local would have refused!
Vietnamese coffee is AWESOME! It is quite strong and a little thick but they put sweetened condensed milk in it which always makes things taste better! This stuff will get your day started quickly!
We talked about the motorbikes but we forgot to mention that entire families of 4 will ride on one bike. Yes you read right...one bike! It goes like this...kid, dad, kid, mom! We thought briefly that this would be a great way to save money when we have a family and then realized we would pay a lot of NYC tickets which would probably equal the cost of a car payment so we scraped the idea...
Back to Hanoi for a flight to the beach in Krabi, Thailand! Time to take a vacation from traveling...
No comments:
Post a Comment