The family (7 of us) piled in a mini van to drive from Hue to Hoi An which is about 3 hours south along the coast. I think we were all in heaven as we arrived in Hoi An and passed about 200 different specialty tailored stores....First stop was the silk factory where we saw the process of silk making, exactly what we saw in Turkey, starting from the baby silk worms eating the leaves, then growing and becoming moths to create the silk. They use this fine silk for scarfs and embrodery. After our little tour of the production line we were set free to go find a tailor who would make all the clothes we ask in one night! We spent hours looking through catalogues and designing our own clothes. We chose the fabric paid a deposit and hoped for the best! Everyone got at least one piece of clothing made. I got a few work skirts and dresses and then some travel clothes for my journey. We will be picking these up this morning. After an exhausting afternoon of shopping we found a local cafe called Laugh Cafe which served the best specialty dish 'Cao Lau' in Hoi An. This was doughy flat noodles, mixed with croutons, beans and greens topped with Tofu! Again another amazing dish, probably the best I've tasted so far. Also there is a very popular coffee drink called cafe sur da - iced coffee that I've become addicted to and may have withdrawls from when I leave!
After filling ourselves with traditional food we headed towards the beach, Cua Dai Beach and sat on the mats that were laid out all that had candle lanterns and watched the full moon above. There was a full moon festival on so there were loads of people, kids, teens flooding the beach, with buskers and food stalls. A very pleasant way to spend the evening, listening to the crowds and waves, lying on the beach under the full moon with fantastic company :)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Photos - Vietnam
1. Lunch in Hue with Joe and his family trying the specialized dish Bun Bo Hue (Red Soup)
2. Hue- Imperial & Forbidden Purple City
3. Cu Chi Tunnels
4. Mekong Delta
5. Slow boat along the Bao Dinh Canal
6. Amy & I in rice hats
7. Bao Dinh Canal in the Mekong Delta
8. How women in Vietnam carry their fresh produce
9. Selling Lychee's
2. Hue- Imperial & Forbidden Purple City
3. Cu Chi Tunnels
4. Mekong Delta
5. Slow boat along the Bao Dinh Canal
6. Amy & I in rice hats
7. Bao Dinh Canal in the Mekong Delta
8. How women in Vietnam carry their fresh produce
9. Selling Lychee's
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Hue - Intellectual Cultural Spiritual
Now in Hue (pronounced Way) with Joe and is beautiful family. Mom, brother, sister, brother in law, Amy, Joe and I.
Hue is the intellectual, cultural and spiritual heart of Vietnam. Palaces and pagodas, tombs and temples, culture and cuisine, history and heartbreak - there's no shortage of poetic pairings to describe Hue...
Joe was so eager to try the special dish that is unique to Hue so as soon as we found a hotel we were out the door in search for our first meal. I can't pronounce this or even spell it so Amy and I call it red soup but the correct name is Bun Bo Hue. It has a red coloured broth with rice noodles, greens, shrimp pate, beef, pork and liver...it was REALLY yummy. So far just being with a Vietnamese family for the day has been very special, we find and experience more of what the locals do and for a locals price.
We visited the Citadel after breakfast which is one of Vietnam's decaying treasures. Though it was heavily bombed by the American's and much of it is now used for agriculture, it's scope and beauty still impress. Emperor Gia Long began construction of the moated Citadel in 1804 and was used until 1975, when it was destroyed by the American bombs. We wondered around the grounds observing and trying to picture what it would have been like 200 years ago, however in this humidity that followed us up the coast we stopped every few hundred metres to rest...ha
The reason I'm writing again is because our hotel has a computer in our room...go figure a backpacker could afford to have such luxuries, but Amy and I wore the white robes down to the pool for a swim, came back and watched the city from our balcony and I had a sleep while Amy enjoyed a massage! It must be that we are with a Vietnamese family and getting local prices :)
Joe is still amazed with this country, they all can't get over how cheap everything is. I keep forgetting that this is his first time here as well, I keep thinking he should be showing us around...I think Joe and his sister are more Canadian than I am. They are constantly saying 'EH', although they do speak fluent Vietnamese, Joe apparently gets laughed at by a few...must be his accent.
This evening we took a 3 hour river cruise down to Song Huong River (Perfume River) and saw the city light up around us. We stopped at Hue's speciality cakes place for dinner, Luu Ngoc was the name. We tried Beo Cake, Nam Cake, Loc Cake, Ram It Cake and Khoai Cake. These aren't like the typical sweet cakes we eat for birthdays they are rice cake with grilled pork & veg mixed with rice noodles and different fish sauces to add to them. SO good! It's great trying all these different dishes...Amy and I hope to fit a cooking class in while in Vietnam too.
Hue is the intellectual, cultural and spiritual heart of Vietnam. Palaces and pagodas, tombs and temples, culture and cuisine, history and heartbreak - there's no shortage of poetic pairings to describe Hue...
Joe was so eager to try the special dish that is unique to Hue so as soon as we found a hotel we were out the door in search for our first meal. I can't pronounce this or even spell it so Amy and I call it red soup but the correct name is Bun Bo Hue. It has a red coloured broth with rice noodles, greens, shrimp pate, beef, pork and liver...it was REALLY yummy. So far just being with a Vietnamese family for the day has been very special, we find and experience more of what the locals do and for a locals price.
We visited the Citadel after breakfast which is one of Vietnam's decaying treasures. Though it was heavily bombed by the American's and much of it is now used for agriculture, it's scope and beauty still impress. Emperor Gia Long began construction of the moated Citadel in 1804 and was used until 1975, when it was destroyed by the American bombs. We wondered around the grounds observing and trying to picture what it would have been like 200 years ago, however in this humidity that followed us up the coast we stopped every few hundred metres to rest...ha
The reason I'm writing again is because our hotel has a computer in our room...go figure a backpacker could afford to have such luxuries, but Amy and I wore the white robes down to the pool for a swim, came back and watched the city from our balcony and I had a sleep while Amy enjoyed a massage! It must be that we are with a Vietnamese family and getting local prices :)
Joe is still amazed with this country, they all can't get over how cheap everything is. I keep forgetting that this is his first time here as well, I keep thinking he should be showing us around...I think Joe and his sister are more Canadian than I am. They are constantly saying 'EH', although they do speak fluent Vietnamese, Joe apparently gets laughed at by a few...must be his accent.
This evening we took a 3 hour river cruise down to Song Huong River (Perfume River) and saw the city light up around us. We stopped at Hue's speciality cakes place for dinner, Luu Ngoc was the name. We tried Beo Cake, Nam Cake, Loc Cake, Ram It Cake and Khoai Cake. These aren't like the typical sweet cakes we eat for birthdays they are rice cake with grilled pork & veg mixed with rice noodles and different fish sauces to add to them. SO good! It's great trying all these different dishes...Amy and I hope to fit a cooking class in while in Vietnam too.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Ho Chi Minh Buzz
Ho Chi Minh City
I am finally landed in Vietnam after 4 months of waiting for my time to travel again. It felt incredible to walk off that plane and feel the blistering humidity of Vietnam in May :) Mom you would absolutely hate it. Good thing it's you not me :)
This city is incredible with the symphony of hornes and the buzz of a million motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic all day long.
The humidity is quite intense here but as soon as you forget the fact that you are constantly dripping and not near any water it is an amazing city to experience. I think just about every single person owns a motorbike and is on the road at the same time. You see the odd car but they are not common. My first experience crossing the road basically consisted of me stepping off the curb, walking particularly slow for crossing the street and holding your break in hopes that no bike will hit you before you reach the other side. Whoever is bigger and faster has the right of way.
Amy and I are staying in a nice hotel called Madam Cuc's in the heart of Ho Chi Minh the first day we got up reasonably early and decided to do a walking tour of the sights. We started with breakky at our hotel which serves us a fresh baguette with strawberry jam and bananas and oj. We drank heaps of water gathered our bags and ventured out into the degree humidity to start our exploration. First stop was Ben Than markets which are a big attraction here, found these to be similar to the Khan in Cairo but ALOT more clothing and material to be sold. We then carried on wondering to Notre Dam with a juice filled coconut to cool us down. This is where we ran into two motorbikes wanting to take us on a tour. We were a bit warry at first but eventually accepted after making a verbal deal on price. It was a great tour, we zoonmed around the street on the back of a motorbike for two hours just like one of the locals seeing the great city, Saigon River, China Town, Pagoda Temple, a special Sunday service at another temple, and more markets. They dropped us outside the War Remnant Museum as requested and then told us it would be million dong. Being the experienced travels Amy pulled out her itouch and we did the conversion to make sure all was good. After we figure out they had overcharged us by $50US we gave them what we knew and negiotiated. They were definitely not happy...used the tactic of no we will not accept your money and then one guy grabbed my arm and started to say ok police station, police station so I said YES police station....They were trying to fool two girls who were not there to be fooled!
That afternoon we sat in aircon grabbed some lunch and headed off to the museum. This was definitely an eye opener and something incredibly tragic to learn more about. The war in Vietnam was fromt 1963-1974, between North (communist) Vietnam and South (Republic Vietnam). When the American's became involved and used their weapons and toxins to destroy 3 million people in Viet cong (gureillas) and injur another 3 million and ultimately still affect peoples lives today, those exposed to the agent Orange chemicals dropped throughout South Vietnam. These events now are known as war crimes from the USA, violating human rights. This museum depict the war very well and didn't diguise any of the brutal photography or events shot throughout the times.
That evening we treated ourself to a massage and dinner out at Pho 24....best meal here yet, Pho Ban (Chicken soup for those westerners). Ended the evening with drinks at the Crazy Buffalo, very touristy but good to catch up with some of Amy's friends who are here teaching English :)
The second day we trekked out to the Mekong Delta which is the 'rice bowl' of Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is an idylillic landscape carpeted in a dizzying variety of greens. It is a waterworld where boats, houses and even markets float upon the endless rivers, canals and streams that flow life life-giving arteries through the region. The Mekong starts in Tibet and eventually reaches the sea at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, about 110km south east of the city. We took at 2hr boat ride from Ho Chi Minh to the Mekong Delta observing a lot of the cultural life along the way. Different housing built along the river and the different boats bringing produce and materials up the river. We got to My Tho which is the gateway to the Mekong and went to a bee farm to try some of the local honey and tea, I got to extract honey from a honeycomb with hundreds of bees on it with my finger! Dad I thought you may like that.
We were guided in long boats down a little river with bamboo shoots all around us until we reached Ben Tre which is famous for Keo Dua (coconut candy). We visited a Coconut candy assembly line and watched how they made this coconut candy from scratch and then tried the different types which they make (plain, peanut, chocolate for the American's) ha
We had a few hours free time in Ben Tre and cycled around to see the local markets and houses. Then relaxed and tried to cool down in the hammocks before falling asleep....such a hard life!
That evening Amy and I met up with Joe and his cousin for a few Saigon Beers! This is Joe's first time meeting a lot of his family and seeing his mother country...his mother hasn't been back here for 25 years, I can only imagine how crazy it must feel, I'm glad that I can be a part of that too!
Our third day in Ho Chi Minh we did another expedition out to the Cu Chi Tunnels which is an underground zig zag network of over 200km tunnels the Viet Cong dug, lived and fought in the tunnels when the American's were attacking. This is located 60km from Saigon and it was a fierce battle field during 1960-1972. It was about a 2 hour bus ride from the city and was a great history lesson to see this all first hand. We actually got to crawl in a 50metre tunnel which was used and has been preserved since the war. It reminds me of the underground homes and tunnels in Cappadocia, Turkey. Very same idea how the people lived underground, but these ones only had 3 levels that went 10metres underground, so not as extensive as the Turkish ones.
It has been a great few days but Amy, Joe and I are definitely ready to hit the beach! We fly to Hue tomorrow which is a cultural city north of Ho Chi Minh in the middle of the country, where most of the blood shed of the war took place, from there we will head south to see more of what this beautiful country has to offer!
The people are friendly, the food is amazing and the weather is hot! The only warning we get is people on the motorbikes driving bye and snatching your bag from around your body. We have heard of two people this has happened to since we've been here. So we are taking care of our bags and using money straps!
Until Hue.....xxx
I am finally landed in Vietnam after 4 months of waiting for my time to travel again. It felt incredible to walk off that plane and feel the blistering humidity of Vietnam in May :) Mom you would absolutely hate it. Good thing it's you not me :)
This city is incredible with the symphony of hornes and the buzz of a million motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic all day long.
The humidity is quite intense here but as soon as you forget the fact that you are constantly dripping and not near any water it is an amazing city to experience. I think just about every single person owns a motorbike and is on the road at the same time. You see the odd car but they are not common. My first experience crossing the road basically consisted of me stepping off the curb, walking particularly slow for crossing the street and holding your break in hopes that no bike will hit you before you reach the other side. Whoever is bigger and faster has the right of way.
Amy and I are staying in a nice hotel called Madam Cuc's in the heart of Ho Chi Minh the first day we got up reasonably early and decided to do a walking tour of the sights. We started with breakky at our hotel which serves us a fresh baguette with strawberry jam and bananas and oj. We drank heaps of water gathered our bags and ventured out into the degree humidity to start our exploration. First stop was Ben Than markets which are a big attraction here, found these to be similar to the Khan in Cairo but ALOT more clothing and material to be sold. We then carried on wondering to Notre Dam with a juice filled coconut to cool us down. This is where we ran into two motorbikes wanting to take us on a tour. We were a bit warry at first but eventually accepted after making a verbal deal on price. It was a great tour, we zoonmed around the street on the back of a motorbike for two hours just like one of the locals seeing the great city, Saigon River, China Town, Pagoda Temple, a special Sunday service at another temple, and more markets. They dropped us outside the War Remnant Museum as requested and then told us it would be million dong. Being the experienced travels Amy pulled out her itouch and we did the conversion to make sure all was good. After we figure out they had overcharged us by $50US we gave them what we knew and negiotiated. They were definitely not happy...used the tactic of no we will not accept your money and then one guy grabbed my arm and started to say ok police station, police station so I said YES police station....They were trying to fool two girls who were not there to be fooled!
That afternoon we sat in aircon grabbed some lunch and headed off to the museum. This was definitely an eye opener and something incredibly tragic to learn more about. The war in Vietnam was fromt 1963-1974, between North (communist) Vietnam and South (Republic Vietnam). When the American's became involved and used their weapons and toxins to destroy 3 million people in Viet cong (gureillas) and injur another 3 million and ultimately still affect peoples lives today, those exposed to the agent Orange chemicals dropped throughout South Vietnam. These events now are known as war crimes from the USA, violating human rights. This museum depict the war very well and didn't diguise any of the brutal photography or events shot throughout the times.
That evening we treated ourself to a massage and dinner out at Pho 24....best meal here yet, Pho Ban (Chicken soup for those westerners). Ended the evening with drinks at the Crazy Buffalo, very touristy but good to catch up with some of Amy's friends who are here teaching English :)
The second day we trekked out to the Mekong Delta which is the 'rice bowl' of Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is an idylillic landscape carpeted in a dizzying variety of greens. It is a waterworld where boats, houses and even markets float upon the endless rivers, canals and streams that flow life life-giving arteries through the region. The Mekong starts in Tibet and eventually reaches the sea at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, about 110km south east of the city. We took at 2hr boat ride from Ho Chi Minh to the Mekong Delta observing a lot of the cultural life along the way. Different housing built along the river and the different boats bringing produce and materials up the river. We got to My Tho which is the gateway to the Mekong and went to a bee farm to try some of the local honey and tea, I got to extract honey from a honeycomb with hundreds of bees on it with my finger! Dad I thought you may like that.
We were guided in long boats down a little river with bamboo shoots all around us until we reached Ben Tre which is famous for Keo Dua (coconut candy). We visited a Coconut candy assembly line and watched how they made this coconut candy from scratch and then tried the different types which they make (plain, peanut, chocolate for the American's) ha
We had a few hours free time in Ben Tre and cycled around to see the local markets and houses. Then relaxed and tried to cool down in the hammocks before falling asleep....such a hard life!
That evening Amy and I met up with Joe and his cousin for a few Saigon Beers! This is Joe's first time meeting a lot of his family and seeing his mother country...his mother hasn't been back here for 25 years, I can only imagine how crazy it must feel, I'm glad that I can be a part of that too!
Our third day in Ho Chi Minh we did another expedition out to the Cu Chi Tunnels which is an underground zig zag network of over 200km tunnels the Viet Cong dug, lived and fought in the tunnels when the American's were attacking. This is located 60km from Saigon and it was a fierce battle field during 1960-1972. It was about a 2 hour bus ride from the city and was a great history lesson to see this all first hand. We actually got to crawl in a 50metre tunnel which was used and has been preserved since the war. It reminds me of the underground homes and tunnels in Cappadocia, Turkey. Very same idea how the people lived underground, but these ones only had 3 levels that went 10metres underground, so not as extensive as the Turkish ones.
It has been a great few days but Amy, Joe and I are definitely ready to hit the beach! We fly to Hue tomorrow which is a cultural city north of Ho Chi Minh in the middle of the country, where most of the blood shed of the war took place, from there we will head south to see more of what this beautiful country has to offer!
The people are friendly, the food is amazing and the weather is hot! The only warning we get is people on the motorbikes driving bye and snatching your bag from around your body. We have heard of two people this has happened to since we've been here. So we are taking care of our bags and using money straps!
Until Hue.....xxx
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