Vietnam #5

Sunday 19th April

After an early breakfast (sadly, no more delicious carrot cake!), we took a car to Da Nong airport, and then a domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh City - formally known as Saigon. The flight itself was quite quick (10:50 - 12:30) but we were again exposed to numerous bouts of coughing and sneezing. I commented to R that it would be a miracle if we finished the holiday without catching anything. As stated previously, R succumbed shortly after we returned home. Amazingly, I managed to avoid contracting anything, and my immune system is feeling rather smug about that!

Our taxi to La Vela Saigon Hotel managed to drop us off at the wrong entrance and it took a couple of goes before we finally arrived at Reception. Here, it soon became abundantly clear why I prefer small hotels. This one was enormous, and the member of staff checking us in was uninterested and curt to the point of being rude. I suppose if you're that big, with a huge number of guests and business men, you don't have to try as hard. Even the welcome drink seemed uninspiring, or maybe the woman's attitude had just left a bad taste in my mouth.

We knew that we were an hour too early to expect our room to be ready, so asked if they could look after our cases whilst we went out for lunch. She nodded and told us to leave them near the door, along with a pile of other luggage. This seemed like a very bad plan - we hadn't been given a tag, and for all we knew the other cases could have been waiting to be loaded onto a group coach, inadvertently taking ours with them. We ignored her, walked to the other side of Reception and asked someone else. They were far more helpful, placing them safely behind the desk, attaching a label, and giving us a receipt. We thanked them and left, with R muttering loudly about people being incapable of doing their job properly.

It was much hotter in south Vietnam, and the 14 minute walk to Om Kitchen for lunch had us keeping to the shade as much as possible. The route took us via a narrow alleyway and I loved seeing where ordinary people lived, even if we had to keep dodging the motorbikes that appeared suddenly round every bend.

Motorbikes in Vietnam are used as taxis, and you have the option to choose a bike instead of a car on the Grab App. I recall L telling me that she had used them when travelling and I was horrified at the time. I was even more horrified having now seen them in practice, weaving in and out of the crazy amounts of traffic. A few days before our holiday a young girl, taking a gap year before uni, had been killed when she fell off the back of a motorbike. My heart went out to her parents who had to fly to Vietnam to collect her and organise organ donation.

Om Kitchen had a huge selection of food to choose from. After much deliberation, I chose Lion's Mane Pho with tofu balls, along with jasmine tea with mandarin. R opted for Abalone mushrooms with rice, and ginger tea. It was excellent. I had never tried Lion's mane mushrooms before but they were lovely, with a very meat-like texture. The restaurant itself was very pretty but incredibly hot, and we exchanged sympathetic looks with an Indian family who seemed to be struggling with the heat more than we were.

After lunch, we walked back to our hotel, passing by Tan Dinh Catholic Church on the way, and were given the keys to our room on the 15th floor. It was definitely the worst hotel of our trip, which was rather sad given that it was the last one that we stayed in. The room was overheated and we struggled to adjust the air conditioning, the mattress was lumpy, and the bathroom was separated from the bedroom by a glass wall necessitating fiddling with an automatic curtain to maintain modesty. I suppose the anonymity of a large hotel was nice but it just seemed as if it had no soul.

View from our room on the 15th floor:

After booking our flights pre-holiday and working out our itinerary, R decided that it would have been nice to have had a couple of extra days. An extra day in Hoi An would have been nice to explore the paddy fields and check out the local beach. In Ho Chi Minh City, we had a limited amount of time and had to choose between visiting the Cu Chi tunnels (the underground network used by Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War), 2 hours from the city centre, or seeing the sights and a show at the opera house within the city itself. Deciding that 4 hours in another car to see the tunnels was probably a little much after all the travelling we had already done, we opted to stay in the city. We consoled ourselves with the thought that we couldn't do everything, and that 2 weeks is usually my limit for being away from home. Tickets to the AO acrobatic show were booked for the following night and we had a little rest before heading out into the city again.

The pink jewel that is Tan Dinh Church. In 1874 a Catholic missionary group was established in the area under the leadership of Father Eveillard. He supervised the construction of the church in 1876, and set up an orphanage and boarding school next door. He also established a religious publishing house, where he trained disadvantaged children. He was beloved by the local community and is buried under the Nave.

3 buildings showcasing French architectural influence are conveniently grouped together. The Central Post Office, with its green painted wrought iron and barrel-vaulted hall, is still fully functional. As well as containing gift shops, it is a popular location for graduation photoshoots.

 Across the street from the post office lies the Notre Dame Cathedral. Unfortunately, it has been buried beneath scaffolding since 2017, with a renovation completion date set at 2027. It is loosely modelled on the Paris version of the same name. It would have been nice to look inside but, being Sunday, there was a mass taking place.

500m away, stands the Saigon Opera House. We had tickets for the AO show to be performed here the following evening. Part circus, part live music and cultural showcase, we were really looking forward to it.

A beloved tradition in the streets of Saigon is the 'Caphe bet' culture. Ca phe meaning coffee and bet to sit cross legged or squatting. Customers are provided with small plastic stools or just plastic mats to sit on whilst enjoying a cup of coffee with friends or strangers. Other drinks and snacks are also available. We decided to try it out, sitting on a small plastic mat (shoes removed) opposite the cathedral. There were plenty of young people about, chatting away. Despite the fact that there seemed to be little inter-mat conversation happening, I decided that it was a little samey just chatting to each other whilst sipping our iced tea, so struck up a conversation with 2 girls on an adjacent mat. One of them was luckily studying English at college, so the conversation flowed easily. The other, whose English was also very good, was reading business and administration. Feeling my age, I asked if the caphe bet was mostly for younger people. Smiling they explained that that was usually the case, with youngsters meeting up at the weekend to catch up with friends. They were too busy with their studies during the week. They were very polite and reassured us that our age wasn't a problem. Apparently, they liked our English accents!

Saying goodbye, we wandered off looking for somewhere to eat dinner. By happy chance we came across a street of book shops, many of the books being in English. Despite a thorough search, there was nothing that took our fancy but it was very lovely browsing. 

Happy Cow finally led us to a vegan restaurant. We passed another man on the street coughing copiously. So much so, that I felt it spray my arm as I passed! When we found the restaurant I immediately went to the loo and gave my arm a good scrub in the wash basin. With my arm less of a hotbed of pathology, we ordered some vegetable fried rice and steamed Vietnamese spinach. I had a drinky coconut and R some tamarind juice. It was all simple and delicious but we were again sprayed with pathogens when the waiter took our payment and coughed all over us! Giving up for the day, we returned to the hotel, had a bath and read in bed.

Monday 20th April

Breakfast was on the 25th floor and I became thoroughly over-excited when they handed me a plate containing a GF roll and 2 cakes. Sadly, excitement soon turned to disappointment when it turned out that you couldn't even cut them with a knife. I think they had been stored in the freezer for too long and had dried out completely. The rest of breakfast was a little underwhelming, but the view and numerous plants were lovely. Not so lovely was the tank of crabs with their claws tied up - we sat as far away from them as possible.

After breakfast, we went up to the roof to check out the infinity pool. I wasn't keen - apart from it triggering my vertigo, there were speakers situated by the poolside bar and wall to wall sunbeds, some already saved with towels.

First stop of the day was the War Remnants Museum. R enjoyed the tanks positioned outside and I was amazed at the sheer size of a Chinook helicopter. We see them in the sky at home occasionally, but I had never seen one close up before.

The museum was spread over several floors and, understandably, the version of events was a little one sided. An outside section held information on various torture methods employed. 'Tiger Cages' were a  type of cell constructed of barbed wire, used to confine prisoners in groups. They were stripped of their clothes, locked inside and left to starve for several days.

Inside, there were photos of the effects of Agent Orange and war crimes. Some visitors were taking photos of the photos on display. It seemed a tad tasteless. Outside there was a large Peace Gong made out of an old bomb. I gave it a ring and was extremely embarrassed when it turned out to be much louder than I had expected! As I said, the museum only gave one side of the Vietnam War story, and it would have been nice to read more about it before our visit in order to get a balanced view.

Leaving, we walked to a cafe for a mango smoothie (me) and a beer (R), before taking a Grab car to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Built in 1909 in honour of the supreme Taoist god (the Jade Emperor or King of Heaven), his statue presides over the main sanctuary. Other characters from Buddhist and Taoist lore are represented by papier-mache figures. A worship chamber off to one side contains a statue of the Goddess of fertility and protector of women. 12 midwives surrounding her are believed to care for the child from the time they are in utero until birth - each being responsible for a specific part of the child's body - feet, hands, eyes etc. Couples pray for a child, and pregnant women for an uneventful pregnancy and healthy birth. Another chamber allowed you to ring bells around the necks of horse statues for health and good luck. I rang them vigorously!

A creaking staircase leads up to the roof area. As we had removed our shoes, R managed to burn his foot on the hot tiles - maybe he should have rung the horse bells too! The roofing tiles were beautiful, as were the bonsai trees in pots.

We found a veggie restaurant for lunch and had fried tofu with lemongrass and braised seaweed rolls with vegetables. I had a lemongrass lemonade and R had sugarcane juice with chia seeds. It was all incredibly cheap but I had my doubts about the braised nori. Sure enough, I spent the rest of the day feeling as though I had been 'glutened'! Apart from the copious quantities of food on the cruise, this was the first time this holiday that my stomach had bothered me. I had been very lucky so far.

We returned to the hotel to cool down and check in for our return flight home the following day. R popped briefly up to the roof to check out the swimming pool but returned quite quickly - it being as loud and crowded as we had suspected earlier.

 Suitably cool, we returned to the Catholic Church in the hope of seeing inside. Sadly, it was closed, so we went back to the Central Post Office, where the clock showing London time succeeded in making me homesick. 2 weeks of travel and a glutened stomach meant I had had enough at this point. I was ready to come home.

Barrell-vaulted roof of the post office:

We walked to the Opera House and sat on the steps for a while, waiting for the show. Spotting some people emerging from a car looking very smart, I had a sudden thought that we were underdressed again. Fortunately, more people arrived and it became clear that we weren't the only scruffy ones!

A welcome drink of lemongrass and peach tea:

The show was excellent, with traditional music, acrobats twirling on bamboo coconut boats, and small baskets used as frisbees that the people jumped over in unison. 

Afterwards, we walked by the City Hall with a statue of Uncle Ho waving, and headed to a restaurant for supper. Our route managed to take us through the red light district (or Syphilis Street, as I named it), with bored looking young girls sitting outside touting for business.

With my stomach still playing up, I was happy to skip supper, but sat with R whilst he enjoyed a brown rice noodle bowl with spring rolls and some butterfly pea tea. The tea was apparently just like coloured water - not like the similar tea we had in Japan with its lovely subtle flavour. This was to be our last meal out of the holiday, so it was unfortunate that I wasn't well enough to enjoy it. I couldn't complain though - we had been more than lucky with the food whilst away.

I had been amazed throughout our holiday that, with the frenetic nature of the traffic, we hadn't seen any accidents. On our taxi ride back to the hotel, our Grab car managed to clip a motorbike driven by a young girl. I felt the bump and the driver wound down his window to check that she was okay. Luckily, it was only minor and she was fine. He apologised to us for his 'error' and we returned to the hotel to have a bath and go to bed.

Tuesday 21st April

Rising at 4:30, we packed and had an early breakfast before taking a car to Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The flight took off at 10.25am and lasted 13 hours and 10 minutes. R was sat next to a young man who must have taken something to help him sleep. Without any sort of neck support, he slept for the duration of the flight, his head nodding rhythmically. I finished my book, watched 3 films and did a bit more sock knitting, before we arrived at Heathrow at 10 to midnight Vietnam time or 5:50pm UK. We collected our luggage, drove home, had toast and tea and were in bed by 10pm. By 1:30am, we were wide awake again and it took most of a week to get back to our normal sleeping patterns. R came down with a rotten cold the day after our return, and still has a bit of a hacking cough.

So, that was our holiday in Vietnam, all set down here, purely for the benefit of my future self. Would I go back? Probably not, but only because we saw most of what we wanted to see. A couple more days would have been ideal, just to take in the rice fields, beach and Cu Chi tunnels. I don't think, however, that it's worth the 13 hour flight to go back just to see them. With the exception of the receptionist at our final hotel, the people were lovely. The food was divine and mostly suited to our annoying dietary requirements, the history and architecture were fascinating, and (even though there will be no more cruises in our future) the scenery was stunning. Whilst the roads, motorbikes and the bouts of coughing were more than a little scary, they were a small price to pay for seeing this beautiful country. If you haven't been and you get the chance, do go; you won't regret it. 

Toodle pip for now. x

Vietnam #4

Friday 17th April

After a gentler awakening and another nice breakfast, we checked out of the Indochine Hotel, waved goodbye to Hue, and took a Grab car to our next destination, Hoi An. The Little Riverside was to be my favourite hotel of the holiday. Quite small and backing onto the Thu Bon River, with incredibly friendly and helpful staff, it was perfect. Bikes were available to borrow on a first come, first served basis, but we were perfectly happy walking everywhere. Although the streets were better in terms of motorbikes than Hanoi, they were still quite crowded, especially in the old town, and walking seemed generally safer and less stressful.

Hotel entrance:

Our room:

View from our room overlooking the river:

View from our balcony, overlooking the outside restaurant area below:

Hoi An is a charming town, popular with tourists, and with over 800 preserved ancient buildings. It is also fond of a lantern or two! After enjoying our welcome drink and leaving our cases in the room, we walked along the river towpath, through the old town and to the central market.

The market was busy, but not as claustrophobic as the one in Hue. Getting a suit made in 24 hours seemed to be a popular thing to do. R wasn't in need of a new suit and, besides, our luggage was practically full at this point, so we gave it a miss. Looking for somewhere for lunch, we were stopped by 2 students on a motorbike. They were doing research for a college project about tourism and wanted to ask us a few questions. They were very friendly and we were glad to help. Continuing on our way, we arrived at Maazi, an Indian restaurant recommended on Happy Cow. The uttapam and masala dosa were delicious. R enjoyed a beer and I had a lemon and ginger drink. Both hit the spot nicely.

After a quick rest back at the hotel, we set off to do the recommended walk in the guide book. The best way to see the sights was to buy a tourist ticket. This allowed you to visit 5 places for a set fee. In reality, you actually get to visit far more as in many places no-one bothers to check the tickets. We saw the Pottery, Folk, and Traditional Medicine Museums.

Rickshaws waiting for customers:

     Numerous lanterns for sale:

Quan Cong Temple - A Chinese style Buddhist Temple, built by immigrants to the city in the late 19th Century. It is dedicated to Quan Gong, a highly esteemed Chinese general.

Beyond the red metal gate, the garden contains a pond and fountain:

 Assembly Hall of the Cantonese Chinese:

Here we teased one of the guards who was telling someone off for wearing a hat inside the shrine. Hat wearing was one of a long list of prohibited actions on display ....... as was smoking, although the guard himself seemed to have ignored that particular form of disrespect! He looked a little sheepish and grinned when we laughingly pointed at the sign.

Entrance to the Japanese Covered Bridge:

Built in the late 16th Century in the former Japanese Quarter, statues of dogs and monkeys guard either end of the bridge. The dog and monkey Gods are believed to control Namazu in Japanese folklore - a giant, mythical catfish that causes earthquakes and tsunamis by thrashing its tail.

Bridge seen at night:

People taking a lantern lit boat ride. It was pretty but a little crowded for our taste:

Whilst admiring some simple paintings done on rice paper at one of the night market stalls, we chatted with the stall holder who informed us that her father and brother were the artists. They were very cheap and, after prolonged browsing, we chose one to bring home. It was rolled up and placed in a plastic tube for safe keeping. It is now in the process of being framed - as it is to go by our south facing front door, it needs UV resistant glass to protect it from fading.

Happy Cow led us to the Lantern Cafe for dinner. I had their gluten free, plant nourish bowl, along with a turmeric latte, and R had noodles with vegetables and tofu ...... and a beer! :O) We also shared a scoop of chocolate ice-cream for dessert. Eavesdropping on our neighbours, R suddenly declared that the chap chattering away behind me was the spitting image of comedian Ricky Gervais. I surreptitiously sneaked a peak - he really was! He and his wife had apparently moved to Vietnam 2 years ago. He was holding forth on all their travelling adventures, barely pausing to draw breath for the duration of our meal. The poor couple on the receiving end had developed a slightly glazed expression!

Leaving 'Ricky' still going strong, we headed back to the hotel for a cup of tea, a bath and then reading in bed. 

Saturday April 18th

Breakfast by the river was wonderfully peaceful. We had been allowed to choose from a selection of vegan, gluten free options the day before, to add to any items on offer from the buffet. Along with our tofu and spring rolls, they had also made me a selection of cakes - the carrot cake was amazing, the chocolate chip muffin delicious, and the lemon slice only slightly worthy! I was very happy. As the river was quiet at that time in the morning, the fishermen were out in force. We looked on amazed as they actually got into the water to help pull the nets along, steering with one hand as the boat travelled backwards.

After breakfast, we walked along the river and through the market, looking with horror at the chickens squashed into tiny cages. The poor things watched as the others were killed one by one and plucked. Feeling slightly queasy, we gave them a wide berth. Apart from the chickens and fish, I loved the street market with its colourful selection of fruit and vegetables on display.

We bought some coffee from this lovely lady to bring home for R, the girls and our house-sitting neighbours:

Still having some life in our tourist ticket, our next port of call was Quang Trieu Assembly Hall:

Built in 1885, the Assembly Hall is dedicated to Cantonese immigrants. It has a temple dedicated to the Chinese God of War, Quan Cong.

Prayers are written on pieces of card and attached to the bottom of incense spirals. These burn for 30 days, after which the monks burn the cards and the prayers and wishes are supposed to come true:

The touch of interest at the necks of the lions is to celebrate the lunar new year:

Also included in our tourist ticket, was entrance to the Hoi An Traditional Performance House. We headed off, past the Japanese Covered Bridge again, for the 10.30 show.

The lady at the entrance checked our tickets and her little girl made us laugh by calling us grandfather and grandmother. Well, she made me laugh, R not so much! We were told to choose a wooden stick from a selection in a pot. This lucky dip was for a sort of bingo game at the end of the show. My 'Giay'  meant 'shoe', and R's 'bong' translated as cotton. We had to use Google Translate to discover this, our Vietnamese being limited to 'Xin chao' (hello) and 'Cam on' (thank you)!

The show was a mixture of traditional singing and dancing. We were slightly confused when, in mid song, one of the traditional opera singers decided to do what appeared to be a bit of breakdancing! What with that, and the fact that one of a line of dancers had an expression on her face like a bored fish, when the others were grinning manically, it was quite entertaining! Finally, during a musical version of bingo, a lady in the audience won a prize when a picture pulled out matched her wooden paddle. We emerged into the sunshine, slightly bemused by the whole thing.

Quan Thang Old House was an 18th century merchant's residence. A combination of architectural styles, it floods most years and a trap door is used to pull the furniture upstairs to keep it safe and dry. There was a bit of a hard sell for the embroidered napkins and clothing etc on display, which we politely declined. 

Trap door:

After pausing briefly at the Lantern Cafe for fries, mango smoothie and beer, we headed back along the river to a sign that we had noticed on the way into town that morning - 'The Lantern Lady, lantern making workshops on demand'!

After perusing a large selection of fabrics on display and deciding which shape and size of lantern we wanted to make, we sat at a table overlooking the river and set to. We had opted for matching, medium sized balloon lanterns, with a view to hanging them from the garden pergola that we haven't built yet!  The technique was decidedly fiddly, especially given that a strong breeze had picked up and the bits of fabric were flapping everywhere. The teacher had a very bad cough, which didn't help matters as we tried, in vain, to avoid the aerosol of viruses heading our way.

It turned out that I was much better at the fabric manipulation and gluing, and R came into his own when it came to trimming said fabric along the seams. Some of my edges looked as if they had been done with pinking shears! The finished products folded up for easy transport home. Given that Hoi An seemed to be the lantern capital of Vietnam, our bamboo and silk souvenirs are a lovely reminder. Or at least they will be, once we have built that pergola!

R being helped with the fabric gluing:

Our friendly lantern expert:

My finished lantern:

Both end products on display:

After the workshop, we decided to take a small trip on a traditional, circular coconut boat, made of bamboo. A larger boat took us from the bridge near the market, to a quiet inlet of the river about 10 minutes away:

Our captain:

Here we got into one of the circular boats like the ones in the photo below. Our guide then paddled us up the quiet inlet, using a circular, sculling motion. Pausing to weave us a couple of keepsakes from coconut palm leaves - I had a ring, and R a grasshopper - he then asked if we wanted to be whirled round in the boat. Standing up and making a rocking action, he spun the boat wildly in circles like a fairground ride. It was quite fun but I was relieved when he stopped! R had a go at paddling and with both of them sculling, we moved along quite quickly. I sat back like Katharine Hepburn in the African Queen, only slightly dismayed by the piles of rubbish along the river banks. After returning to the bigger boat, we were transported back to the bridge where we started, and then walked from there back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel, we popped up to the roof area to check out the swimming pool. I would have had another swim except it seemed to be full of women bobbing about chatting, and I would have been embarrassed ploughing up and down between them. That, and we were nearing the end of our holiday and my costume would probably have stayed wet for the duration.

We returned to our room where we had a cup of tea on our balcony. Then I knitted whilst R checked us in online for our domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh City the following day.

Dinner was back at the Lantern Cafe - my GF Plant nourish bowl was very nice but being the only vegan, gluten free option available, it was a bit samey. R had an aubergine and tofu curry with lemongrass and ginger. We shared the obligatory ice-cream for dessert and sat by the window, people watching. I played a game, trying to get as many babies and small children as I could to smile and wave at me as they passed.

On the way back to the hotel, we popped into a nice shop selling Vietnamese goods made from recycled materials. Here, we bought our neighbour a small, padded pouch for either her phone or her glasses/sunglasses. Then, it was back to our room to pack, ready for our early start the next day.

That's all for the moment. Vietnam Part 5 (the end is in sight!) will follow shortly.

Toodle pip for now. x