Vietnam, part 1

11/25/02 - Flying  EVA Air's "Evergreen Deluxe" was comfortable.  Surprisingly, the 14 hour flight went pretty quickly.  Some food, movies, computing, sleep and meals, and we were in Taipei.

11/26/02 - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)  Our connection in Taipei was fine as was the 3 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City.  We arrived at noon.  Passport control was fast and easy, but baggage claim was an hour long free for all.  Pushing, shoving, bags falling off the belt - the savages wanted their stuff.  About half of the "bags" were cardboard boxes bound in impossible amounts of duct tape.  Once all these precious silver cubes were collected we found our duffle and were on our way.  We pressed through the throngs outside and quickly found a placard with our name on it.  We were driven 20 minutes to the center of town and to luxurious Grand Hotel.  We checked out the hotel, did a little Internetting and fell asleep at about 7pm.  In the middle of the night we got pizza and a sandwich from room service. 

11/27/02 - Ho Chi Minh City  We had a great breakfast at the hotel buffet and then lounged around watching CNN until 9:30 before heading out.  It was warm and humid.  Crossing the streets was our first challenge.  The flurry of motorbikes was overwhelming and there were few traffic lights.  Our airport driver had advised us to "walk slowly and not stop".  Like rushing water parting and flowing around you as you cross a river, the motor bikes avoided us as we slowly and confidently walked across (don't stop).  It actually worked pretty well and we quickly learned to cross with ease and little concern of bodily injury.  With our new skill we went to the shiny Citibank building, changed some money and then Internetted for 30 minutes at nearby office building.  Then we were off to the war museum, which we discovered was closed during lunch.  We therefore had our own lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant and returned to the museum once open.  It was packed with old weapons and photos from the "American War".  There was also a replica of the "tiger cages" in which prisoners were kept.  Of course, the photos and stories were gruesome.  There was a lot of communist propaganda and the sentiment of the place was strongly anti-American, although the local people there with us were clearly not.  Next was the Reunification Palace (formerly the Presidential and/or Independence Palace).  On April 30th, 1975 North Vietnamese tanks crashed through its gates, and the war was over.  This was the day the nearby American embassy was evacuated by helicopter.  The Palace was interesting, with large meeting rooms/halls and a basement/bunker with old communication equipment, war rooms, etc.  We viewed a propaganda film about the North's glorious victory before making our glorious departure.  On the way back to the hotel we passed the pleasant Notre Dame Cathedral and the beautiful central post office (which looked like a grand European rail station).  We watched a little CNN in our room until 6pm, when we met our guide in the lobby for a briefing on our bike trip.  We returned to our room and oddly discovered that we were both not hungry for dinner, but very tired.  To bed we went.

11/28/02 - Mekong Delta  We piled in our van at about 8pm and drove about 3 hours to the delta.  Rice fields, rows of shack-like stores and scooters, scooters, scooters.  We arrived at My Tho and boarded a small boat for a leisurely tour of some of the canals of the Mekong Delta.  Before boarding Leanne purchased one of those classic Vietnam hats to protect her from the bright sun.  We stopped on Orchard Island for a nature walk, a visit to a coconut candy "factory" and lunch.  Then it was back to the van and time to bike!  We got fitted on our bikes and headed off - it was fantastic.  We were an unusual site for the locals and the happy smiles and waves were nonstop.  The countryside was busier and more populated than I expected, but beautiful as can be.  Narrow busy streets, dirt (mud) paths and rice paddies everywhere.  Life here is basic.  The land is plowed by ox, food is chilled by ice and the few farm tractors we saw were ancient looking contraptions with exposed, belching engines from a Dr. Seuss book.  Our guide Gia (pronounced "Ya") led the way on his bike and our support van tailed us.  When we took dirt paths we met up with the van once we rejoined a road.  It had rained the night before so the paths were quite muddy.  By day's end so were we.  Our journey involved constant river and canal crossings on narrow, rickety bridges.  We also took several local ferries which were simple small wooden boats with an extended nose.  We were deep in local country, we never saw other foreigners.  Near the end of the day we took a larger steel ferry that transported 30 people, scooters and a few cars to the island where we would spend the night.  Before we boarded we got what we needed for the night from the van and put it our small day packs (we would not see the van again until the following morning).  A small crowd gathered at the back of the van to watch me, the crazy foreigner, fool with his expensive gear.  After the ferry we biked another 20 minutes and took one last ferry as the sun set before arriving at a guesthouse.  I immediately jumped in the shower - the water running off my legs looked like chocolate milk from all of the dirt and mud I had accumulated.  Our "room" was an elevated outdoor structure with cloth supported by wires for walls.  A scary fishy dinner was served in an adjacent "room".  The day's ride: 25 miles.

11/29/02 - Mekong Delta  Avid readers of these journals will recall previous comments about roosters and other morning disturbances we've encountered along the way.  Well, this morning was Noah's arc during roll call.  Cats, dogs, roosters in quadraphonic and I'm sure I don't know what else.  I'd have traded my secret stash of Pringles for a shotgun and a night scope.  We had some breakfast and then walked with Gia a 1/4 mile to the local town center.  It was as remote and primitive as I have ever seen.  We crossed a simple arched bridge over the river and walked into the morning market.  Meat was being hacked on an open table and live chickens and ducks were available at bargain prices.  Numerous creatures of the sea were available in various stages of life and death.  We got lots of stares and smiles.  We circled back to the guesthouse and we told Gia we wanted to take another 15 minutes to walk the loop again - this was a place to remember.  Then is was on the bikes and past the rice fields, tractors, crazy hats, brick kilns and smiling children.  We were constantly returning shouts of "hello".  About 10 miles before we ended our 50 miles of cycling we stopped at a shack of a store and got some cookies and water.  Our day ended at the swank Victoria Hotel in Can Tho.  Leanne had some grub by the pool, I had some room service in the room.

11/30/02 - Mekong Delta  We loaded our gear in the van and left the Victoria Hotel by boat (the hotel is on the river's edge).  It took about 1/2 hour to reach the Cai Rang floating market.  There were dozens of boats selling fruits, vegetables, beverages, whatever.  Several boats loaded with beverages excitedly came alongside us in the hopes of making a sale.  Local customers boat into the market, pull alongside the merchant boats and buy what they need.  After about 1/2 hour we left the floating market and met up with the van and saddled up.  We were less remote now and the roads began to include the occasional car or truck.  The horn honking was as constant as it was ineffective.  We biked about 3 hours before arriving at the stork sanctuary.  We were not to enthralled by the huge quantities of dirty squawking birds.  Outside the sanctuary we were assaulted by about a dozen kids who showered us with gifts made of plant leaves.  They conned us out of a bunch of cokes while our muddy bikes were washed in the river.  We rode until we had had enough (about 40 miles in total) and then hopped in the van for the ascent of Sam Mountain, overlooking the plains of Cambodia.  That night was another riverside Victoria Hotel, this time in Chau Doc.  Room service and bed ended our day.

12/1/02 - Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh City  This morning's boat ride was on a small wooden boat, ceaselessly powered by a woman and two oars.  We passed many stilted homes poised above the Delta and into an area full of catfish farms.  We stopped at a farm and watched them feed the zillions of fish being bred under the house.  We stopped in the Cham minority village, a Moslem area at the water's edge and visited a small home where they were hand looming cloth.  It was a very poor, muddy  area with children playing a shuffleboard-like game, using their sandals as pucks.  We boated back to the hotel and reluctantly rode the van the 5 hours out of the Delta and back into Ho Chi Minh City and the Grand Hotel. 

12/2/02 - Ho Chi Minh City   We drove about 2 1/2 hours to the Cao Dai Temples.  The main temple was an extremely colorful, Disney-esque place.  We watched the equally colorful monks conduct mass.  Next were the tunnels of Cu Chi, used by the Viet Cong during the war.  We watched a propaganda packed video about the Viet Cong's triumphant struggle against the Americans "devils" before heading off to see the tunnels themselves.  We were permitted to scramble through about 100 meters of tunnel.  They were small indeed.  The site also included various traps and weapons of the Viet Cong.  A variety of rifles were available for shooting at a range - I chose the American M16.  Given that the provided ear protection were Walkman headphones with the cord ripped out, I passed on the opportunity to try out the machine gun.  Back at Ho Chi Minh City Leanne found some swell silk shoes before an excellent dinner near our hotel.