Easyriders Day 7 - Goodbye EasyRiders and Hello HoiAn and Hanoi.

An early start was needed Tuesday morning to get all the way to the My Son temple and on to Hoi An. While I had sick stomach for the first time in many weeks, the bad roads didn't make me any worse and the trip down from the mountains was enjoyable also. We stopped off to see a cinnamon tree growing, and were shown that the cinnamon is extracted from the stem of this tree, joining the leave to the branch. Another stop on the road was to see a grave that is very famous in Vietnam, as a replica of it is in the main museum in the capital Hanoi.
As a short cut to My Son, the EasyRiders got a boat across a river, with the bikes. This was fairly mad, as the 'boat' was a very basic structure. How we got 3 bikes and 6 people on each boat, I don't know, but we were told to stay sitting, and so we did.

We got to My Son a lot earlier then I though we would, about 11.30am, so glad we got the early start. When we got there, Bean gave us a background on the temple and the history of Vietnam and how the country came into existence. The biggest thing we noticed when we arrived however, was that we saw fellow tourists again for the first time in a week It was indeed weird to see Westerners again,, as we'd being off the beaten track so long, we were now back in civilization. My Son is a listed UNESCO world heritage site, so it is one of the top sites in Vietnam, or so we thought. We had a look around for an hour, and it wasn't that special, probably as we were so spoilt with Angkor in Cambodia. We still had the craic for a while, and took a few pictures, however the best pics I got there were of a lizard in the grass, who was a bit of a poser!
There is a shuttle service for tourists from the main entrance to the beginning of the sight, and on our way out, we asked if we could instead be driven out in an army jeep that was parked in the yard, and to our surprise, they agreed, and piled us into the back of the jeep. This was the highlight of the trip to My Son, but at least we can say it was done.

Quiet hungry after a long morning, we got back on the bikes and headed towards Hoi An. Peter warned that we shouldn't get lunch around My Son as we'd be paying tourist prices, and took us off the beaten track one last time. Here we had a seafood lunch, wasn't the best we've had, but hit the spot regardless.
After lunch, I savoured up the last trip on the bike, that took us right into our hotel in Hoi An. Peter and Bean were staying the night in the hotel also to get some rest, while the 4 younger lads were getting back on the road asap to head back towards Dalat, for what would take them 2 days. After saying goodbye and thanks to Kim and the other 3 lads, and getting a pic of me on the bike, we checked into our hotel for a quick rest.
Hoi An is the number 1 place in SE Asia to get fitted for a suit, so we made our way to the tailors to see what they had. After a bit of bargaining and shopping around, I decided to get 2 suits, shirts and ties, for a decent price at that. Everything was custom made, and we would come back the next day to try them on and for any last minute alterations.
Ross also bumped into a lad he knows, Coleman, and hence we joined these lads for a night out. There seemed to be a lot of fellow backpackers around town and this was a novelty for lads like us down from the mountains. Good enough night, highlight was probably when I had to take one of the lads home on the back of a motorbike taxi before returning to head to the late night spot, King Kong.
Wednesday morning, we headed back to try on the suits and they were good fit. I asked for them to be posted to Ireland, by surface, so a little present for myself for the new year. They also kept my measurements in case I wish to have another suit sent in the future, they take orders online.
The days on our Vietnam visa were numbered, so we had to make a quick exit to get north Vietnam in also before Nov 16th. We got a taxi Wednesday evening to Denang, from where we got an overnight train to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. We said goodbye to Marie, as she wasn't getting the train, so the 5 lads that were left had our own sleeper carriage for the trip. As mentioned by the guidebook, the scenery from Denang to Hue was superb, and we were able to catch this before sunset. Even after sunset, the moon lit up the ocean, but I couldn't get a good picture to capture this but made an attempt!
While some of the lads opted for rice wine to help with the journey, I relaxed on the train catching up on my blog, and listening to music - glad there was a plug for the laptop.
Thursday morning, we woke about an hour before arrival to Hanoi, after a decent nights sleep. We were now in the capital of the socialist republic....with 4 days left on our visas.

Days 5 & 6 - Heading for the Mountains....The Ho Chi Minh Trail

Sunday morning, the heads weren't the best, especially Tadhg, but we hit the road regardless and our first stop was a tapioca processing place. This is the white powder type substance you'll see in the pictures, in case you think its something else ! We then went on to a rubber tree plantation, and we were told how the rubber is harvested from the sap of these trees. Interestingly, the rubber crop is now the most profitable for the highlands region, generation more income than coffee, cashew nuts, tea, etc.

After a brief stop at a small war memorial in the countryside, we stopped at a larger monument in a small town. As well as the war monument, there were also 2 army tanks from the war at this site. The tanks were from the North Vietnamese side of the war of course, but were actually given by Russia and China respectively. Not a big shock that the Russian tank was bigger, we were allowed to climb them for pictures, but advised not to go inside. We got used of Peter telling us stories about the war at this stage, and the stories became even more interesting.
After a brief stop in a dis-used war era landing strip, we headed up to the hills where in the distance we could see where the 3 countries meet, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This is known as the frontier area, and I think that people are suppose to have their passports to be in this area. Once we took a picture at the sign, we turned around and headed for lunch and a much needed coffee.
After lunch, we were officially on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This is basically a trail through the mountains in south Vietnam that was used to smuggle arms and supplies from north Vietnam to the rebel guerrillas in the south, that were fighting with the northern communists. There was one road along the coast, but this was easily bombed and would be impossible to carry anything on it, so the trail in the mountains was made for this reason.

It was a simple dirt track, that used the jungle cover to hide from enemy planes. In the last few years, a proper road has been built along this trail through the mountains and passes through some of the best scenery in Vietnam. At certain stages along the way, we could see where the original trail is slightly different. This is because the original trail could not have any bridges etc, and had to follow the curve of the mountains.
Along the way, we also stopped at another minority village, where there was pigs, hens etc around the place, and of course kids looking for sweets. We then stopped at a small bridge built by the local minorities. This is a very simple structure that was made from wire and wood, making it a little nervous when crossing!.
Finally, we arrived at our destination as it was getting dark, a small village in the hills. A quick stroll along both streets, we noticed that all shops and houses had the TV on and were glued to it, with the volume up full blast. There was some drama/soap that obviously gripped the entire town, if not country. At dinner that night, Peter mentioned that we could take an extra day on the tour, and instead of heading to Hoi An the next day, we could continue and see more of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and also take in the My Son temple outside Hoi An on the final day. After a brief consultation, we decided to go for it as we were enjoying it so far. After dinner, we finished off the night watching Blackburn V Chelsea live, 2-0 to Chelsea not a big shock. A good trend to see in Asia is that Saturday and Sunday nights could easily be spent watching back to back Premiership games live. Games start around 7pm and finish around 1.30am local time - very sociable hours!.

After a quick breakfast, we started day 6 on Monday morning with more mountain roads on the Ho Chi Minh trail. The mountains were very green, with trees everywhere, making the hills look like giant broccoli from the distance. The clouds surrounded the mountain in patches, not a complete cover, and were more white than grey which was pretty cool.
Our first stop that morning was a waterfall on the side of the road. Here, we had to go off the road slightly to the original trail and see how the waterfall passes under the trail - make some great pictures.
We then stopped at what appeared to be a truck dumped at the side of the road, but Bean give us some background to inform us that it was a multipurpose war vehicle. It was like a truck for off road purposes that was used to carry people, food or even weapons. When travelling on the road, there would be 2 people in the cabin, a driver and a 2nd man armed with a rifle for protection en route.
Out final stop before lunch was at a minority village and a school in the mountains. Here, it was lunchtime, and the lads got to meet the teachers in this school.
During the recess, there was a loud speaking broadcasting what I thought was the lunchtime news to the village. Bean informed me however that this was government propaganda, telling the people all the good work the government is doing for them etc etc.



Apparently this was common in the highland areas. After saying a quick hello to the village pet monkey, we hit the road again, and headed for lunch, another fine feed of buffalo.
After lunch, it was quiet wet, but the guides had raincoats and overalls for each of us, so there was no fear. We headed right up to the hills through windy roads, and here the scenery was at its best. We stopped at what appeared to be a random shed in the middle of nowhere, but it turned out to be a house of another minority family. Once invited in, we were again offered food, a local delicacy that they caught that morning. I think the picture says enough here - but not to be rude, we had a little nibble of the meat on offer.
We were very glad there was rice wine on offer to help get rid of the taste and smell, and especially the though of what we had just eat.....but needless to say, in the future, I'll certainly be able to smell a rat....
The scenery that evening was again beautiful with the road disappearing in places to reveal a dirt track, still no bother to the EasyRiders who I think could take the bikes through anything. We stopped briefly in another village that evening where there was a mother hen in the yard being very protective of her chicks, there was about 10 of them. It was amazing how she know one was missing, and attacked James and Tadgh when they tried to pick one of the chicks up. It wasn't Tadghs first issue with picking up chicks on this trip.
We rocked into the town where we were to be staying that night, and checked into a fairly decent hotel. On taking a stroll through this mountain village, we found that the younger easyrider lads were playing a game of soccer with some local kids. Now the pitch was very wet and dotted with the odd stone or rock in places, but it didn't deter us in joining in, barefoot,for half an hour before sunset. The locals Vs the out of towners (ourselves and our drivers), it was a tough game, especially on the wings which were very wet, making ball control impossible....for us. To local boys used this to their advantage and kept the play to where we couldn't tackle them. This was familiar....the Vietnamese using local conditions to outsmart the foreigners on their soil, and hence they secured victory, 3-2. I wasn't too happy with my performance in defence, but my driver, Kim, played a stormer in goal. The game was played to propaganda blaring in the background all over the village....we were truly in a rural area of a SE Asian communist country. . We wrapped up day 6 to a BBQ dinner, our last with the EasyRiders. All 12 of us had a great feed in our hotel, and a few beers to wash it down. That night, we were asked to write in 'the book'. Each easyrider asks its customers to give a review in their book, and they then use this as a sales pitch for future and potential customers. Of course, gave them a high recommendation, both in my driver Kim's book, and in Peter's on behalf of the group. We retired Monday night at a decent hour as we would need to get on the road at 7am on Tuesday morning to make it to the MySon temple, and on to Hoi An to conclude the trip....

Days 3 & 4 - Back on the Road........BMT to Pleku..and on to Kon Tum

Was fairly tired Friday morning after my late night transferring of photos, but we hit the road again after saying goodbye to Anh and Lucey. It was a fairly tough day on the road with a lot of mileage to cover. Our first stop was a war memorial, where Peter gave us an overview of the deaths, and how war victims are remembered. At this stage, we kinda felt we knew the lads a bit better, mainly from having lunch and dinner and a few beers with them, and hence we were more comfortable asking questions. While the day involved a lot of mileage, we still stopped fairly often, sometimes for walks with good views.

Before lunch, we stopped at a local market, and were told how the trading works and the busy times of the day. There was a wedding going on that day nearby, and we got the invite to attend, but were advised against it, as if we appeared, we'd be expected to drink rice wine with them for the day and there would be no more EasyRiders. When chatting with locals via our EasyRider translator - Derek was informed that he had an admirer amongst the local girls. Bean informed us that the giggling local girls thought we were 'handsome boys' - but Derek was the best. Well to keep with the craic, Derek got down on one knee, and I've never seen a girl with such a beaming smile. Indeed, the girl was gorgeous, and I'm sure Derek will be back in Vietnam very soon.....
After lunch, we spent a lot of time on the road, but regardless we still stopped to see peppers growing, and cashew nuts, all products of Vietnam. At one stage, we passed through a huge rubber tree plantation. As we approached Plekhu that evening, we stopped off at the top of the hill overlooking the city. It was a good view, and we saw what was a hill, but was flattened by the American army so they could use it as a vantage point. The field with the view was so peaceful, and just layed down on the grass and had a 10 min snooze with the others took pictures of the view. Back on the bikes, we rocked into Pleku and went to our hotel. Dinner that night wasn't anything great. The lads hit the town that evening, even though all were tired - but I choose to have a quiet beer with Bean and Frenchie. Bean dished the news on the minorities trying to get their independence, as he read he's book about famous scientists he bought that day. A great character who is always willing to have a chat over a beer, it was good to get the informal gossip. Back in the hotel early, caught up with the goings on in the world via BBC news, and was delighted to have an early night to be fresh for Day 4.
After a not so early rise Saturday morning and a great breakfast with the best local coffee, we headed to a Buddhist monastery in Pleku. It was quiet impressive, where we saw how the monks are making 500 budda statues, in an effort to make the Guinness book of records - watch out for the future. Here we were also given the background on Vietnamese language It always seem weird to me that they used the Roman alphabet for their language, and there was no sign of any other type of writing, which we had not seen in any other Asian country. It turns out, that pigeon English, putting the Roman alphabet to the Vietnamese sounds was common, to supplement their local character set which is very similar to Chinese script. When Vietnam got its independence, Ho Chi Min decided that the Roman text was now the official text, and that it would be used going forward. Hence, this is the norm across Vietnam, and very few can now read the traditional text, except the college learned. Some text at Buddhist monastery and the likes still had the old text.
Other stops that afternoon included a lake that was a water source for the local area and a holiday home for the last king of Vietnam. We then stopped at a tea plantation, and were able to walk amongst the bushes with tea leaves growing. We next stopped at what appeared to be a local scrapyard, but here the 'scrap' was actually shells from the war that were collected across the countryside. After the war, many of the locals would scout the land for bullets and bombs as they would be valuable for re-sale. This of course was dangerous and many died in the process. We were shown the remains of the various weapons collected. It was interesting to hear Peter talk about this, a first hand account. I was even able to hold a bullet in my hand - a bullet that was fired in the Vietnam war.
As the evening closed in, we were close to the area we would be staying for the night. Kon Tom. We stopped off at a bridge that was very narrow, and seemed to have a constant stream of local farmers carrying hay in a cart being pulled by buffalo. We were in an area where the Ban Na people lived, one of the largest minorities in Vietnam. When walking on the bridge, we saw 2 men pass us on the back of a bike with very wide smiles shouting "Hello hello". The guy on the back had a pink helmet, and the driver seemed very wavy on the bridge. Concluding that they must have been on the rice wine for the day, we watched to see how they would negotiate passing a truck coming across the bridge in the opposite direction. They headed straight for it, a novel approach, but stopped last minute, as I think that is when the driver saw it. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen, and poor Derek was in tears laughing, Its a good thing that nobody drives fast over here.
We stopped in an Ban Na village next, and Bean gave us an overview of this tribe from the village town hall. As a nomadic people, we heard about how they find a site to set up a village, from ensuring there are no other tribes in the area, to checking what food source is scarce in the area. Women were out the front of the village shaking down rice to ensure it was clean, and some were making baskets in the back. Again, there was no sign of the men doing any work around here.

As we rolled into town, our last stop of the day was at a Catholic church and orphanage. The church was similar to anything that could be seen at home - but mass times on a Sunday morning are much earlier, 5am and 7am. Can't see that working in Ireland. After checking out the church, we were taken to visit to adjoining orphanage. Based on the Lonely Planet, these orphanages welcome tourists to visit so it wasn't just an Easyriders thing. It seemed very well run and clean, and the kids appeared to be generally happy. Once we entered the room, they swarmed us, and begged us to lift them up and pointed out photos on the wall etc.
They were aged between 2 and 5, and one of the kids stole my sunglasses and insisted I take a picture of him wearing them ! They knew more about digital cameras then I did when I was that age....as after each picture, they wanted to see it on the screen, and pick themselves out of the pictures. After about 15mins with the kids, we left, and got a tour of the rest of the orphanage. We met one of the nuns that runs it, and sat and had a cup of tea with her, and of course Bean as the translator. There was pictures of the pope on the walls etc, just as you would see and expect at home. We also saw the classrooms that seem to be well equipped, according to my teacher travelling companions anyway.
We got to our hotel and checked in, and that evening, it was Bean that took us to dinner for a BBQ. It wasn't an outside traditional BBQ like we expected, but more like that there was a grill/fire in the middle of the table, on which we cooked our own meat For a BBQ, Bean suggested we should drink rice wine, and not beer, so we followed he's advise. Even with dinner, they drink this in shot form, throwing a small amount back from a shot glass. As dinner went on, the bottles kept flowing, and by the end of dinner, there was a sing song in the restaurant, and Bean was as guilty a party as any. I think poor Tadhg was a little worried that we was driving him the next day, but if you can't beat him, join him, as so Tadhg did! We headed back to the hotel as there wasn't much else going on that night, and got some much needed sleep. Needless to say, we didn't exactly set our alarms for 5am mass.....

EasyRiders Day 2 - I'm Going To Set you Free...

Woke early at Lak Lake Thursday morning and hit the road after breakfast. After seeing a place that was the summer home of the last king of Vietnam, we saw a member of one of the minority villages fishing in fairly unorthodox manner. They place a stagnant net in the late, and then take a boat on the lake hitting the water with a stick to scare the fish into swimming into the net. Don't think they've heard of that down in Cape yet.

Next stop was a second minority village where Bean gave us the grand tour. Vietnam, and indeed the rest of SE Asia, has many ethnic minorities that are not like the people of the country - but are a different race, and live a completely different way of life. They have their own native customs and language, and even speak little Vietnamese. Indeed there are some of these minorities that are seeking independence from Vietnam for which there was some trouble in recent times. In this village, the people made their own houses out of wood, and lived in an elevated structure at least 6 feet from the ground. This is so that animals can shelter under the house. In the village, there are many houses, with no real boundaries etc. The EasyRiders have a government permit to visit these villages and bring in tourists, and they have us sweets to give to the children which came flocking to us when they saw tourists arrive. In this particular village, there was some men cutting down trees to farm the wood to build a house. Being 5 able men, the 4 of us and Tadhg helped them carry one of the trees to the trailer nearby. They thought it was hilarious to see tourists do this, but we were loving it.

We got a tour of one of the houses and shown some musically instruments etc. I also noticed a Sacred Heart in the house, just like home - and was told that this tribe were Catholic since the era of French occupation.
As guest in the house, and as a thank you for lifting the log, the man of the house sat us down in he's main living room and poured shots of rice wine, the local drink which looks like vodka but tastes like whiskey. This was as authentic as it gets. Bean spoke to him in Vietnamese, the little this man had, and translated it to English for us. He also took out some fish that he had just cooked. These were small goldfish sized fish that looked like they were taken straight out of the river and put on the fire. Bean informed us that it would be rude to refuse, so we'd no choice but the break off the head, and eat the rest of the fish. I must admit, it was quiet nice, but still it was good that there was another shot of rice wine to wash it down. We were there nearly 20mins in total, which was a long time to be sitting on the ground in a bamboo house. The man of the house was 46 years old, and already a grandfather of 3 children as this tribe tend to marry young. The cat was around the place too looking very enviously at the plate of fish on the floor - but he wasn't left near it.

Fairly buzzed from the rice wine (and it was 10am in the morning!) we were back the bikes again - and today I had my ipod for the journey to keep me going. We stopped at a brick factory where we saw locals making bricks from clay, and the process was explained to us. We also saw locals at work in the Paddy Fields where we learned about the rice cycle and we saw a Catholic church that was burnt out in the war as it was a site of fairly intense fighting. We stopped then at a farm where mushrooms were grown, and one of the EasyRiders explained the growth of this industry, and industry in general since capitalism became a force in their economy. Now, at this farm, there was a pet python snake that we were allowed to hold and pet etc. I don't know was it my new found freedom, or maybe the rice wine - but I went for it, and had a very heavy python around my neck as I tried to control its head etc. I never thought I'd find myself doing this - but anyway - the video evidence is there !

After the snake and the mushrooms, we visited a coffee plantation, were we met with the coffee farmers that were having a break from the hot sun and welcomed us into the coffee field. We saw the beans and were able to pick some and see what they looked like etc.

After passing a wedding ceremony that appeared very festive, we rode up beside a lake, and at this opportune time, one of my favourite songs came on my ipod, "I'm Going To Set You Free" by John Spillane, and the words were so appropriate, I was in complete heaven. We stopped along the lake for a short walk and some fresh air. Back on the bikes, and we headed to lunch.....yes, all the above happened before lunch.

The main highlight of the afternoon was when we stopped off to do a mini-trek in the jungle for over an hour. This gave us a chance to get to know the younger drivers as it was mainly the older drivers that gave us the tour of the other sights so far. We stopped by a waterfall that was pretty cool, it was fairly wide, and the mist formed a rainbow with the sun which came out surprisingly well in pictures.

We crossed some funky bridges, that shook quiet easily - and also saw some cool wildlife - including a dragonfly type insect, and a caterpillar that looked like a masked superhero. Also, there was a plant that contracts when struck....all pretty cool jungle stuff that I'd not seen before.

We were fairly tired heading back on the bikes towards our destination for the night, Buon Ma Thuot, a city in the hills. Our hotel here was a lot nicer then previous, and still cheap at US$6 per person. It had a leisure center also and we all went for a swim and steam room after a tough day of exploring. Lucy and her driver Anh were heading back to Dalat the next day, as they would only be doing a 3 day trip, so after a fine dinner of buffalo, rabbit and Tiger beer that night, Anh took us to a karaoke type place where he sang a song for us! A great character with amazing war stories of he's conquests and the likes, he would be a loss for the rest of the trip. We were also saying goodbye to Lucey who brought color to the group as she would be heading back to Thailand. Now we were down to 6, the 4 of us, Tadhg and Marie.

After the karaoke, the younger EasyRiders took us to a karaoke bar, and they out to a disco in the city. Wasn't the greatest place so didn't stay too long, but it was good to have a few beers with the younger lads. Needed to clear some pics from my camera that night - so it was a little late, hit the hay very tired after a very eventful day - and a day of EasyRiders that I'll find hard to beat.

Dalat - Peter and the EZRiders.........

Thinking I was over the cold weather for a while, I was absolutely freeziing when I got off the bus in Dalat Wednesday morning.We were way up in the mountains and it was 5am. I had slept all the way and was glad to see a few lads with "EzRider" jackets outside to greet us.

EasyRiders are a group of Vietnamese motorbike drivers who offer tourists the chance to see the 'real,' Vietnam on the back of a motorbike. They original started as ex-war veterns who fought on the south Vietnamese/Americian side, who found it hard to get other jobs since they were on the 'wrong' side of the war. Now these lads are in their mid 50's, and are training in younger lads in their 20's to be EasyRiders. We opted for multi-day tour taking us from Dalat to Hoi An via the central highlands, a mountainous area in south Vietnam. The EasyRiders took us to cheap hotels en route, and to eat in local cheap places also. They tied the backpacks to the back of the bike, which made a very comfortable seat. Regardless, we were never on the bikes more then 20mins before there was a stop to see something of note, or in some cases, just a stop to walk a bit and stretch the legs.

After a few hours kip in Dalat, we hit the road for day 1 via Dalat Post Office to send off the Christmas presents. The motor bikes alone were a novelty at the start - and were just as exciting as the sights we saw. We would make it to Hoi An in stages staying in town and cities along the way. We had a lot of milage to cover on the first day but crammed a lot in regardless. First stop was the "CrazyHouse" - an Alice in Wonderland type place that is kinda, crazy. Its like a house thats in the shape of a tree and stuff - not the most impressive stop of the day.

We then headed into the countryside - and at each stop, one of the 7 EasyRiders would tell us the significance etc. We had 3 older guides and 4 younger ones, so we got the best of both worlds with the big group. We stopped off at a flower farm, where Peter explained how this industry is big in the highlands, and explained the country's transition from comunist to capitalism, and how if effected the farming industry. Other stops that day included bridges rebuilt after the war, curry plantations, an ethnic minority village but the highlight was visiting the silk worm factory. We saw everything that related to the creating of silk and the life cycle of the silk worm. It was really cool to learn and hear this. We even sampled the larva which are edible, and taste kinda nutty! We also stopped later at where the silk worms were feeding - thounsands of them crunching on leaves which made a very mellow backround hum. The mountain scenery en route was excellent and the journey was as enjoyable as the sights, even though I was a little tired. Dusk was beginning to to fall as we arrived on our base for the night, Lac Lak, a hotel on the edge of this lake that was very rural.

We lathered up on the bug spray and met the lads for dinner at 7.30pm in the resteraunt attached to the hotel. It was more of a community hall than a resteraunt but served good food and cool Saigon beer. It was Wednesday November 5th - and I enquired if there was any confirmation on who had won the US presidental election - but they said the news was at 8pm. While having dinner, Bean, one of the older drivers came over to me and said "Today - good day for world, we drink to Obama Americian President". He outlined that he felt this was good for Vietnam and Asia etc. I did get to see clips from the news, but in Vietnamese so didn't know what they were saying - will certainly remember that. Had an extra beer outside by the lake and hit the sack fairly early Wednesday night. Easyriders Day 1- so far so good...

Saigon/HCMC - and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Arrived in Vietnam Saturday evening and the bus left us off in the backpacking area where the cheap accommodation was. There was 4 others on the bus that we met that had nothing booked - so armed with the Lonely Planet - I lead a group of 8 through the streets to find a good deal, strength in numbers. Tadgh was a Dub travelling on he's own, and he's friend Lucy was an English girl from Devon who is living in Wales. Then there's Frenchie - Marie a lawyer from Brittany and Alexia, a German girl who has been living in Dublin for the last 6 years, and had a perfect Irish accent when she spoke English - she was practically Irish. A local woman on the street helped us get a hotel and I was suspicious but she claimed she wasn't working for anyone. Found out later that she must have been a nun, as they help tourists get hotels. Once checked in, we all got food together and a drink and the once the girls went home - the lads had a night on the town to settle in. Saigon is the capital of south Vietnam, or more like it was when the country was divided into north and south before the war. After if fell to the north Vietnamese, they renamed it Ho Chi Minh City - so that's the official name you see on maps and stuff. However, the locals still called it Saigon, and never HCMC. Its a fairly mad place, and has more motorbikes than I've ever seen before. Crossing the street is a dangerous affair, no matter where you do it. You practically need a police escort. Sunday was a slow day. Went for brunch with Alexa and Marie, and just sat chatting for a few hours in a French style diner. The French influence was evident in Saigon, and I saw this too later in other parts of Vietnam. That evening, booked a trip to see the Chi Chi tunnels for the following morning, and the extended group went out to dinner again that evening, sans Ross who had a hot date with a local girl. At dinner, I mentioned that we were considering getting a motorbike tour of south Vietnam with the EzRiders, as this was recommended by the Wicklow girls we met in China. 1,2,3 of our new friends were all interested and had no definite further plans. Alexa, the 4th was also interested but didn't have the time to join us. Now I was to ask for 7 people when I contact the EZRiders. After dinner and a few cocktails the 7 of us met up with Ross in Go2Bar, a big hot spot in Saigon. Unfortunately, this place stayed open until nearly 6am - making it a challenge to get up for the Chi Chi tunnels the next day. As tough as it was, we got up Monday morning and got on the bus to Chi Chi - which is at least an hour outside Saigon. This place is the number 1 thing to do in and around Saigon. It was really cool to see, a network of tunnels that locals used to remain in hiding and from which they found a guerrilla war against the Americans. Met a Canadian man who remarked that what we are seeing was exactly was was going on in Iraq at the moment, where the locals are using their environment to defeat the foreign Americian army. Since the war ended around 30years ago - it begs me to think will Iraq and Afghanistan be backpacker haunts in 30 years time ? There is also a shooting range on the site, and getting a tour of these tunnels and weapons in the jungle with gunfire in the backdrop was really cool - the sound of the guns added to the experience.We did a walk through one of the tunnels at the end, and I lasted the full stretch of about 100m - as most people bailed out after about 20m as it was so claustrophobic.

Got some much needed sleep on the bus back to Saigon and that evening - we planned the rest of our time in Vietnam. After taking a walk to see the market, and a look at the '"reunification palace" - we contacted Peter, from the Ez Riders, hoping to start that tour on Tuesday, but he was not an available until Wednesday, which gave us an extra day in Saigon. He advised we get an overnight bus to Dalat, a city in the hills from which the tour starts, and hence this would need to be overnight Tuesday night. After a quiet Monday night, spend most of Tuesday shopping as the markets in Saigon were pretty good, and I wanted to get the Christmas presents in the post asap. The hounding in the markets was crazy. Need to bargain for everything, and the sellers were hanging off me as I walked by, pulling and dragging that there was no need for. Got all I needed and got a box from the hotel which fitted everything I wanted to send home. Heading up to the post office was not so good however, as it was closed by 8pm even though it was suppose to be open until 9pm. At least we got to see Notre Dame cathedral - a large Catholic cathedral named after the famous one in Paris. Indeed, there is a large Catholic population in Vietnam, about 7% which is a lot for an Asian country. The box would have to be mailed from Dalat before the motorbike trip - so with that in hand, we boarding a bus at 10pm for the 7 hr trip to meet Peter. Then there was 7.....EasyRiders, here we come.

Phnom Penh - The Killing Fields and Halloween......

It was late Thursday when we got off the bus at Phnom Penh and I got exposed to the closest I've been to being on the trade floor of the NYSE in the middle of the biggest rally of all time. There was about 50 tuk tuk drivers being held back by police shouting and roaring offering their business. It was totally manic, they were crawling all over each other to get our custom, we could almost name what we wanted to pay. We picked one, almost like Eddie Murphy at the end of Trading Places, to many disappointed drivers who were clutching straws by asking if we wanted to get a tuk tuk each! The fare was $2!

After checking into our hotel too a stroll around the city to half to get orientated and half looking for food. We weren't too easily pleased on the food scene and we were walking around for an hour with hungry bellies but we did see the Royal Palace on the way, and the banks of the Mekong river etc. We also found out that the next day was the Kings Birthday - a national holiday. Swinging back by the hotel, we finally found Blue Dolphin with good food and a had our fill and retired early for the night. It was our first night staying in a hotel in the whole trip - as it was all hostels up to then - but it was a nice change from dorms.

Friday morning, 31st October, Halloween, and we were to do all to be done in the city, and also squeeze in the 2nd Ireland Australia game if we can get it. Hence, the day started with a hunt for a sports bar and we found that the Gym Bar would be showing the game at 5.30pm in the evening. Now to start the real touring, we got the city tour from our hotel, the Royal Guesthouse. It was the guesthouse owner that was giving the tour, and would take the 4 of us around to all the sights we wanted for $6 each - a bargain since it was what ever we wanted. We started by heading to a shooting range - we you can fire American and Russian guns of all types.

On the way out, I had a good chat with the guesthouse owner. He was asking about Ireland etc and I told him a little background etc. He's being operating the guest house for 10 yrs - and I tried to tie that into the recent history of Cambodia without asking too much. He seems like a fairly well to do man. He's daughter was off school due to the holiday, and came along with us for the drive. She mentioned that she was suppose to go to Thailand and had to cancel since Cambodia and Thailand are fighting. When we asked more - the father said that was not true, and we got the impression we shouldn't ask more. Check the Internet later to find that a week before we crossed the border, there was 3 soldiers shot dead, 2 on the Cambodia side and 1 Thai, when they exchanged fire at the border. They are both claiming a temple that is right on the border and that is the cause of the conflict. Glad we didn't know that when we were crossing the border !! Back to the shooting range - it was on a Cambodian army training base. Since it was a one off - myself and Derek shared 30 bullets of an AK-47 - and we were taken to a shed with a target and told how to shoot. It was fairly cool to shoot a few shots - and also to switch to automatic for a few rounds. My aim was fairly crap, so my enemies haven't much to worry about for a while!

After that, we proceeded to the Killing Fields - the main attraction in Cambodia. I remember watching the film in religion class in secondary school, and had read a little about the Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge regime but this did not prepare me for what I saw. Basically this was a site of mass execution of thousands of people between 1975 and '79. We got a tour from a guide who had many family members executed. There is a shire with hundreds of skulls, as a sort of memorial to them on the main site. We then took a 15 minute tour to see the mass graves. They still have many bodies buried there and also - they showed the cruel methods of execution they used to save bullets. Basically, it was all the educated that were executed - as Pol Pot didn't want to see any opposition and wanted to build a society from scratch. This explains how the country was taken back so much, and is only regaining its foothold now. The whole experience was fairly overwhelming - and I can only imagine its similar to visiting one of the holocaust camps in Europe. Once back in the jeep, we were fairly quiet and the guesthouse owner just said "Interesting, yes ?" and we answered "Yes" and said no more. Next it was on to S21 - a former prison under the Khmer Rouge era that was a high school before. This was more of a museum with exhibitions etc on the events of the time. Some of the rooms had a bed and a picture of someone who was found dead there. Others had photo exhibits and stories of the healing process that is still underway. What was a shock for me to learn was that it took to Vietnamese invasion in 1979 to stop the genocide - and even 10 years after that, the American, Thai and Chinese governments still supported the Khmer Rouge who committed the war crimes. There was much more the see here than the Killing fields and there is a program to bring local Cambodians to the museum to help in the healing process. It was late afternoon when we wrapped it up and headed back to the jeep and when asked 'Where Next?', we simply said "Gym Bar" - to watch the 2nd Ireland Australia test....priorities! The bar was fairly quiet and we'd a few refreshing pints of "Ankor" beer as we watched the Irish take the Cormac McAnallen trophy after a great game. It was so funny to hear Kieran Donaghy say he was heading for a few pints with Tadhg Kennelly - and I hearing this live from the capital of Cambodia. We headed back to Blue Dolphin for food that night as we knew it was good - and even played a few board games with the staff. Leaving, we realised that there was a few around town for Halloween, and after being sent on a Red Bull run on the back of a motorbike, it was off to Heart of Darkness.

Saturday morning, we were picked up at the guesthouse after breakfast to get transferred to the bus to Saigon, Vietnam. The bus was a very organized affair, that took us right into Saigon and helped us with all the border formalities etc. They even handed out immigration cards on the bus, and took our passports en mass as we had to get off the bus twice at the border crossing and take all our bags etc. Met a few fellow travellers en route and also caught up with some reading on the bus. Arrived into Saigon in the late evening.

Having spent just under a week in Cambodia, it came across as a very poor country still recovering from the problems of its recent past. The people remain cheerful, wearing a smile at all times and could go a long way if given the chance. Ankor Wat and the sunrise was of course the highlight - and I hope to find Khmer food back in New York or Killarney.