Postings from my recent travels in southeast Asia, Italy and England. As usual I found that travel reveals more about oneself than about ones destination.

Sunday, April 14, 2002

Wonderful Vietnam

Hello all - my fears about Vietnam turned out to be unfounded although it is easy to see why some people quickly become jaded by the aggressiveness of those involved in the tourist industry in Vietnam. After laid back Laos it is a bit daunting to be constantly bellowed at and sidled alongside (by cyclo drivers, motorcycle drivers and vendors of various items that you have absolutely no need for).

Still it has been (and will doubtless continue to be for the next week) a wonderful time though the heat is a bit much. Goodness knows how I will manage Cambodia which will make it feel positively icy here in comparison.

Hanoi - my point of entry - was absolutely lovely. The weather was wonderful - in the low to mid 20s (Celsius that is - don't know what it was in Fahrenheit) for my first few days and it is a charming city with several picturesque lakes and lots to see and do.

I did an overpriced (in my opinion) trip to Halong Bay and Cat-Ba Island which was still very enjoyable. For those of you that are interested here are some pictures of the very scenic Halong Bay. Then it was back to Hanoi for a few days then on to Hue by bus (12 hours when it was supposed to be 16 so that was a pleasant surprise). Hue was very interesting although again very hot and after a few days I moved on to Hoi An (only about 6 hours on the bus).

My time in Hoi An was somewhat overshadowed the first couple of days by an absolutely spectacular cold I somehow contracted. I was miserable - my head felt like it was stuffed with sand, my throat ached, I was sneezing and runny-nosed and just generally unpleasant. It is at times like this that I find myself simultaneously happy and despondent that I travel alone - at least no one else had to put up with me but it would have been nice to have someone give me some tea and sympathy.

Hoi An was very touristy although very interesting with its well preserved pagodas, assembly halls and merchant houses. I also went by motorbike with a receptionist from the hotel to DaNang to see the Cham Museum (which was very good) and to Marble Mountains which were very impressive. I also did a day trip to My Son which is about the only remaining Cham site in Vietnam (most of the other sites have been destroyed by either recent or historical warfare and any sculptures left were gathered up and put in the Cham museum at DaNang). My Son was in a very beautiful setting but is a bit sad since so little of it is left. I saw several birds and wonderful butterflies.

From Hoi An I came to Nha Trang - a rather nasty bus trip with a half-drunk (at least he smelled that way) Vietnamese man sitting next to me who kept encroaching on to my side of the seats. I know it sounds petty to complain about a couple of inches but when you are at least half a foot taller than someone and they insist on hogging more than their share of the seat AND you are supremely uncomfortable it is very unpleasant. For some reason he found it necessary to sit with his legs wide apart and then he fell asleep and started to snore. The trip was about 13 hours and I did manage to get some sleep by turning sideways in my seat and sticking my legs out into the aisle. I couldn't sit facing forward as my knees were jammed in against the seat in front of me and hitting a bump probably would have fractured both my kneecaps.

But it was all forgotten upon arrival in Nha Trang. What a fabulous place! Culturally it is pretty much a zero (which isn't really fair of me since I can't someone up the interest or energy to verify that claim) but relaxation wise it scores 20 out of 10. The beach is FANTASTIC! It is hot but tempered by an almost constant ocean breeze. My $7 room has an ocean view, is freshened by the abovementioned breeze and is bright, airy and spotless. Best of all it is only a couple of hundred meters down the road from the Louisiana Cafe that lets guests use its beach chairs, private beach (no vendors) and swimming pool for free for patronizing its bakery, bar or restaurant. Since it has a nice assortment of pastries this is not too difficult for me.

So my routine for the past couple of days has been breakfast at my hotel (two fried eggs - 5,000 dong, baguette - 1,000 dong, pineapple juice - 3,000 dong and fruit salad - 5,000 dong - so basically $1 US for brekkie) followed by a 'cake platter' (two mini lemon meringue tarts, a cream puff and a mini mocha eclair - 10,000 dong or just over $1 Canadian) at the Louisiana cafe. Then a dip or two in the ocean, a shower at their outside shower and a dip in the pool and then maybe a cup of tea.

After this exhausting morning it is off for lunch then back to the room for a nap. I like to have something to read but the book exchange guy has pissed me off today. I first bought High Fidelity from him for 55,000 dong, I took it back a day or two later when I was finished and he gave me 50,000 credit for it. I wanted then to take a book by PD James - quite a thick mystery. He wanted 95,000 for that so I gave him 45,000 more. I took it back today and wanted to very small books - one the second in the Bridget Jones Diary series and the other the Angkor Temples guide by Dawn Rooney. He told me he wanted 60,000 dong on top of returning the PD James book. When I said then I would just return the PD James book he told me he'd give me 55,000 for it. So I may just hang onto it until Saigon and try and exchange/sell it there. It's bullshit like this that ticks people off.

So maybe I'll just go back to my room and watch a little TV before my nap. Only problem is that finding anything english on is very unusual. There is star sports in what sounds like Japanese, Korean music videos and other eclectic choices. But no CNN (no matter how abhorrent it is at least somewhat understandable), no Star Movies and no English subtitled movies anywhere. Sigh - these are the problems of my complicated life.

Soon however laziness will conclude and I will bus off to Saigon on Monday evening. Last night bus for a while I hope - leave at 8 p.m. and hopefully get into Saigon at about 5 a.m. I have the name of a reasonably priced and supposedly good hotel with a good relationship with a travel agency to arrange my visa for Cambodia and my trip from Saigon to Phnom Penh via boat.

So next time you hear from me it will probably be from Cambodia. Bye for now. Hope you are all happy and healthy.