We began this part of our trip in HCM City with a long stopover before flying to Nha Trang, so decided to pay a driver and have a tour. He showed us a lot of significant sites, beautiful architecture, and we visited significant buildings such as the reunification palace, the old post office, Ho Chi Min's statue in the central city area, and we had a wander around the zoo. It was a great opportunity to take a flying tour around a city that interests us as a possible place to come and work in - and luckily, we left with good impressions.
We were taken to see the War Memorial Museum, which had a pretty graphic display of the Phuc Quoc prisoner of war camp - and the story of what happened there, as well as interviews with survivors on posters along a wall. A stark reminder of how recent the war was, and how it's impact is still felt keenly. There were several people here with terrible injuries and deformities, some in groups doing crafts or playing music, others trying to sell books etc. We read that every year there are up to 2000 people still being injured from land mines or other war remnants - the ongoing effects still being felt today. Very sobering.
Nha Trang has become a seaside holiday resorts for Russians with money - and their influence is shown in menus all over the strip beside the beach! No different to other areas in the world where this happens, but we were pleased we had changed our itinerary and only had 3 nights there instead of the planned 7. It was sunny and hot every day, and we both ended up quite sunburnt - me not intentionally, Mike fully intentionally. Strange, but true.
Impressions - great beach, a bit spoiled by tourism, quite a few hawkers who get tiresome, shopping not great, food ok. Nice weekend place, but not such a hit with us.
Hoi An was the next destination and it out-does Nha Trang in spades! We hired a car and driver to get here, which was expensive but easier by far, and after spending from 9am - 7pm in the car with only 2 stops we were very pleased to arrive.
We are staying in the most beautiful hotel I think I"ve ever stayed in, and in a luxurious villa beside the pool - yep, tis the life of Riley here! If you're from the 'west' your money goes a long way in Vietnam.
Hoi An is well known as a tourist spot for several reasons - it's charm, it's shopping and tailoring and it's architecture. (I'm debating over apostrophes as I write this. I'm thinking they are required due to the charm belonging to Hoi An!!) Hoi An is near where a lot of action took place in what is referred to here as 'The American War' but managed to escape relatively unscathed. The 'Old Town' is so beautiful, and has many interesting places to visit. At night it is lit up with lanterns and looks positively magical. We have been here 2 nights and have walked around many streets but have still missed a large portion of the area, so are happy to be here till the 11th to soak it all up! The weather here hasn't been quite as hot as Nha Trang, but it is humid, so having A/C is wonderful to come back to, not to mention how delightful it is to have a pool at the door.
We have had our first experience of having clothing tailored - and I am quite excited about picking all the goods up today. I have one dress already - kind of military looking, a 'shirt dress' in olive green which needs a wash to get the tailoring marks off! I also have a lady making me a copy of one of my favourite dresses that I'm going to pick up this morning. I'm hoping it turns out ok..! An exciting adventure. Photos will follow!
As we've traveled, we've usually found places that are businesses set up to help those on the bottom rungs of society to get a chance in life - I tend to find out before hand, either word of mouth, or via websites or lonely planet, so I was pleased when we strolled past a cafe called 'Streets' - to find out that it was similar to KOTO in Hanoi. Basically, kids off the streets are given an opportunity to train in the food industry - along with getting education in the business they also teach them English and other skills too. If you're interested check their website out : Streets There is also a business called Reaching Out here, this one is for people with disabilities, and enables them to learn art or crafts and then learn to run the business. Again, we just found this one as we were strolling about, but what a lucky find - there are beautiful crafts there, very impressive. They are a fair trade organisation too, and interesting to read about.
It has been really noticeable here that most of the Vietnamese have quite good English - more than any other place we have been to so far. Also making an impression is the transitional phase that the country seems to be in - it has definitely got third world areas still, and slums still exist alongside new areas of development. There are beggars at certain places, but more often you'll see people trying to sell something rather than putting their hand out - anything from drinks to fruits and veges to a lady yesterday swirling her two pieces of strong cotton and offering to remove any facial hairs that might be bothering me!!
Crossing the road can be quite an experience - I had read about this in lonely planet, whose advice was to look, then 'just walk'!! They will go around you...I have done this in areas where it's mostly bikes, and - it works!! They do go around - in fact, you're better off to keep walking, I think 'he who hesitates is lost' is applicable in this situation. While we were being driven up to Hoi An, we experienced some Vietnamese road ettiquette - cars come up behind buses, toot, pull out, flash their lights at oncoming traffic, and pass. They allow for a bit of distance - maybe 3 car lengths - but everyone just merges constantly. The thing is, that on the shoulder of the road where they merge out to, there often are people walking or on bikes, and of course - motorbikes. It was all a bit hairy at times, but - our driver seemed to know how to do it and we got here safe and sound!
'happy buddha?!!'
Today we are just hanging out - it's so nice to be able to do that - just read books, write the blog, etc...
I hope this blog finds you all well - my NZ friends and family - I hope you're keeping warm and snuggling up on the couch with a good book, or at least planning your skiing holiday!!
Isabel
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