Travel Blog

Last Sunday we left Phnom Penh in Cambodia for Saigon in Vietnam which would be the second last new country to visit on our trip. We boarded the bus with the usual baguettes and laughing cow cheeses and geared ourselves up for another painful border crossing. As it happens, we were pleasantly surprised. The buses were fine, the border crossing uneventful and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (alternative name for Saigon) pretty much on time. We got to Saigon in the middle of the afternoon which was kind of annoying as it was too late in the day to do anything really. So we took advantage of the opportunity to arse about and not do anything in particular. Life is tough! The big thing to do in Saigon is to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels about 70km outside the city. The tunnels are those actually used by the Vietcong in the American war. We decided to get this “over and done with” the next day. The first thing we realized about the tunnels when we pulled up in our coach was that it was overrun with tourists. While the temples Angkor were nice and peaceful, the Cu Chi Tunnels were just ridden with Japanese, English, Americans, Koreans – you name it. Also, they really pad the experience out with a crap dvd, a few waxwork models of Vietcong soldiers, a few souvenir stalls and a shooting range. The tunnels themselves were pretty interesting though. They were ludicrously low and tight and while I crawled through a section of them open to the public I was amazed at how the Vietcong spent weeks at time down there during the war. Also pretty interesting were all the barbaric traps that they set for the Americans.

As we were staying on the Saigon equivalent of the Khao Sahn road there was plenty of stuff happening near our lodging. We chose that night to sample all that it had to offer which meant that the next morning our options were restricted. We decided to go with a day at a nearby swimming pool. It was a nice way to spend the day except that despite the heat, it was quite cloudy so you get lots of heat and humidity and no body colour to show for it which seems a bit unfair. Feeling a lot better the next day we set out early enough to do the “obligatory seeing the city” day. We first headed to the Ben Tham market which we had heard was pretty mental. Mental is a sever understatement. We’ve had our fair share of markets on this trip but none as crazy as this. The second you step into the market, women are instantly pulling at you to come to their stalls and buy their clothes/food/useless tack. At one point I had four women pulling me in four different directions. I gave in and bought a t-shirt from one women but that was a mistake because she spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince me I wanted 3 more t-shirts. We wanted to walk around a bit more but it was far too stressful so we exited that area pretty sharpish.

Next on the agenda were the reunification palace which is where American tanks headed to on the day Saigon fell and the War Remnants museum. Unfortunately, neither opened until 1pm which was a good 2 hours away so we just headed back to our area. Finally after messing around for a few hours we headed back to the War Remnants museum but decided to leave out the reunification palace at this stage. The museum was actually pretty good. Well it depends what you mean by good. It was fairly biased to the side of the Vietnamese but I also wondered what such a museum would be like in America. It also contained some pretty horrific photos and one part of it actually held some fetuses in a jar that had been affected by Agent Orange. Pretty gruesome. As Fi’s birthday was the next day and the day after that we were due to catch an early bus, we felt that some celebratory drinks would be better enjoyed on this day. We went for some pool and ended up meeting a bunch of people – some friendly and interesting – some not so much. Still midnight came and we made a lot of noise. Realising it was somebody’s birthday, the staff asked me who the birthday person was. Soon after I told them, they came up with a free cocktail and with Happy Birthday playing on the sound system which was pretty nice.

The next morning we had a nice birthday lie-on followed by some birthday watching of the O.C. followed by present giving time. It was Fi’s birthday and we were going to act like it was so we headed out of Saigon to this kind of Kid’s park. It was totally cheesy and childish but we loved it and we went on bumper cars, water splash things, rollercoasters and a haunted house. Great craic! After that we went to see the Christina Noble foundation that is based in Saigon. The foundation helps homeless, parentless and sick kids and for those of you who don’t know, was set up by a woman from Dublin called Christina Noble. It was an entirely different experience to the orphanage we visited in Phnom Penh as it was a lot cleaner and better funded. We still got to have a bit of time playing with the kids though which was great fun as always. They were little terrors and wouldn’t stop climbing all over me. We wanted to celebrate Fi’s birthday gastronomically too so, courtesy of her mother, we went to a beautiful French Bistro in town. Unfortunately the French Onion Soup was off the menu but the deliciousness of everything else made up for that. We enjoyed a quality 3 course meal and for a pair who have been on the road on a budget for nearly 6 months it was pure heaven. We finished the night off with a cocktail in Q bar. A great birthday day.

The next morning we were off to Nha Trang, Vietnam’s best beach spot. This was well overdue as we hadn’t seen the beach properly since Rio De Janeiro. Thankfully the weather in Nha Trang was a lot less cloudy than Saigon and while it was still hot, it was also a lot less humid. As well as having Vietnam’s best beach it also had Vietnam’s best dive sites. We hadn’t dived since our Open Water Course in Cairns so we legged it straight out to book ourselves in for some diving for the next day. We found a great company called Vinadive which seemed to put as much of an emphasis on the hearty lunch as the actual diving. This is very important as diving makes you exceptionally hungry. We headed out the next day all excited and we weren’t disappointed. Although the visibility was only 10m at the best of times, there was some fascinating coral and fish to be seen. Everyone seems to strive to “find” nemo where as my favourite reef fish has to be the Moorish Idol. I also seemed to enjoy this diving a lot more than that on the Barrier Reed. I reckon it’s because on the barrier reef I was still learning and getting to grips with all the aspects of diving. Here I felt like I really knew what I was doing and was able to relax a lot more and enjoy everything around me. We enjoyed the diving so much that we decided to book in again for 2 days later. It’s a little naughty as it’s just outside our budget but diving is completely addictive and after coming back from our second day of diving in Nha Trang all I could think about is where and when I could do it again. The fact that we won’t be near the sea again until the Thai islands in a month is probably a good thing.

The other big thing we did in Nha Trang was a visit to the natural hot spring thermal mineral mud bath thingys. After paying in, you first head for one of the mud pits. These are basically like mini swimming pools but the pipes in them spurt out mud instead of water. As it was a Saturday, the place was chock full of Vietnamese. We found a pit and slipped in. The Vietnamese thought it completely hysterical that people of our size and colour would try to get in with them and they certainly didn’t attempt to hide this fact. We laughed and they laughed and we all poured mud over each other. We were best mates by the end of it! We stayed in the mud pit for about 15 minutes which is the recommended time and then we moved onto the hydrotherapy station. This was kind of like a car wash. You walk through between two walls which spray jets of hot natural mineral water at your body from every angle. It’s quite strong and forces all the dirt out of your pores. The next stop is simply the pool. The pool is a massive swimming pool but again full of natural hot mineral water at 48 degrees! It seems really hot at first but once you get in it’s extremely pleasant. The only problem is it makes you totally lethargic and by the time you get out you can’t imagine a time when you ever had a gram of energy. And so we left Nha Trang with a good mix of activity and relaxation. Next stop – Hoi An for cheap suits and shoes.