Mekong Delta Trip

On Friday we took a three hour bus tour to the Mekong Delta.  After arriving at the river we boarded a motor boat to take a tour of the river.  Many people live on the river in small boats. They live, eat and sleep on these small boats.  They also go up and down the river selling their fish, potatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, etc.  The river itself is pretty dirty.  They bath in the river and also use it as their toilet.  The landscape along the river was beautiful.

We came to our next stop where we were shown how they make coconut candy and rice paper. We were given samples that were delicious.  We were offered tastes of rice wine, but only the strong were daring enought to try it.  It is made with snake or scorpians and no one seemed to like it.  We also were shown how they pop rice to make rice cakes or rice cripies.  They heat a kettle with sand and when it gets very hot they add the rice, that then pops.  After this they transfer it to a strainer and any that are not popped they use again.  They then add sugar and malt and cook for 15 mins then spread it out on a table and cut it up.  It was pretty tasty.

After this tour we continued down the river to an island where we were treated to a real Vietnamese lunch, we had soup, pork, rice and spring rolls, that are so famous here.  For desert we were offered a series of different fruits.  After lunch we were serenaded by a group of workers that live on the island.  They also had two ladies sing stories which were quite beautiful.  

Another 15 minutes down the river and our trip concluded in a market place, much like the ones in Thailand, which sells, fruits, veggies, and the eels, snakes, frogs, etc.
It was a long day and hot but we stopped half way home at a beautiful rest area and restaurant which provided the ice cream to top our trip off.

Mekong Delta Trip

Cu Chi Tunnels

The Handicapped Store and the Cu Chi Tunnels

On Friday, we took our first bus tour to see the Cu Chi Tunnels.  On the way our first pit stop was a handicapped handicraft store.  It was a two hour bus trip to the tunnels and the tour company has their first bathroom stop here at this shop.  As you enter you are greeted by table upon table of handicapped people working on pictures and all sorts of lacquered ware products.  Many are made with egg shells or sea shells.  It was all done by hand and was absolutely beautiful.  I wanted to buy so many things but only had twenty minutes, so Mark promised me that when we get our own place we could go back and check them out again. 

The final stop was the Cu Chi Tunnels, an area near Ho Chi Minh City that during the war was famous for its underground tunnels.  The tunnel network became legendary during the 1960's for its role in facilitating the Viet Cong control of a large rural area.  The maze of tunnels was amazing. Most were destroyed by US bombings.  Some of the entrances to the tunnels are so small that the people had to hold their hands above their heads to descend into them.  See some of the pictures.  In these tunnels they had hospitals, eating areas and supply centers.  There were also many booby traps for the American Soldiers, that tried to enter them. According to the authors of the book The Tunnels of Cu Chi, it was the most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated and generally devastated area in the history of warfare.  Today they have replanted much of the foliage and crops but there is still a poor outcome of crops due to the chemicals used.   

 

Handicapped Handcrafts

Sights and Observations

Monday we had to head to the post office so we made it a time to see more sights.  It was about a 20 min walk from our hotel to the post office.  We had to go past a park around a traffic circle and then through the downtown district which includes many high rise financial buildings, dept stores and many, many hotels.  The area we are staying in is known as the back packer district, cheaper hotels and dorms for only $3.00 a night if you like,  but the downtown is where the wealthier visitors stay and a shoppers heaven.   We first passed the Independence Palace, this is where in 1975,  a tank belonging to the Northern Army broke throught the gate and began the fall of Saigon and the south.  The next stop was the Catholic Cathedral and then the post office which is the only one we could find in town, it has a map of Vietnam on the walls that was painted in 1938.  We had to take a picture of the Highlands Coffee Shop, they are a chain and are similar to our Starbucks.  The Saigon River was our last stop, they have a ferry to cross but that would have put us further away from our hotel.  

Whenever you go anywhere, there are many street vendors plus those who just carry there wears to sell, I have been offered so many books, sunglasses, wallets, zipo lighters even  in the resturants they just stand there waiting, hoping,  until you just turn away and continue your conversations.  Then, there are the cyclo drivers,  always asking,  where you from and where you going,  I take you there.  We had one cross a busy street just to escort us across, he risked his life twice for us so we paid him 5,000 dong, about 30 cents for his help.  Then there are the shoe shine people.  Even if you are wearing sandles they want to shine them. We sat down for ice cream,  Mark ordered a scoup of coconut, which turned out to be a scoup of chocolate in a coconut with a cone on top, and I kept telling the boy no shine my tennis shoes but he took out his toothbrush anyway and I kept insisting that because of the rain it would not help, finally I had to just get up and leave and then, of course he says,  Please I am hungary !!! 

More Sights in Vietnam

Caught in the Rain

On Friday, Mark and I decided to go Apt hunting. He had seem some on the internet and decided to check them out, of course, only having a street name did not help so we had lunch at a KFC and asked if they spoke English and could direct us to the street, four maps later we had a vague notion of where we were headed. Remember many of the street names have the same word in them so you may think you have the right street but don't. After walking for a mile or so the sky opened up and the wind started blowing so that my umbrella, my third on this trip, wanted to just blow away. Thank goodness that KFC is on every corner, we headed in for desert to wait out the storm. They usually only last ten minutes or so. This is where I took the pictures. Nothing stops these people, mainly because it rains alot and they can't afford to stop and wait it out. They just throw on a poncho and take off. Some, if they don't have them with them pull up to a street vendor and buy one. I bought one after that storm and boy they help, especially since Mark does not like to carry his umbrella, but they are hot.

Now back to my story, we ended up not finding the new apt building on that long, long street but took a taxi to another area that I like to call the Beverly Hills of Vietnam. Most of the people that live there are foreigner's whose companies are paying their expenses. We found a real estate office and the lady, who spoke English took us to look at several in a gated area. Not gated like we think of gated but a gate none the less. Three of the buildings did not have lift's or elevators so we ended up walking up four flights of stairs, twice, more like eight because there were two flights for each floor. We liked the apt but No way could I do those stairs alot, especially with groceries. My face was so red by the time we got up there that the poor lady was worried about me. I tried to tell her that my face always gets this way when I am hot. Most of those apts that we saw were out of our price range but the lady was so nice. Mark dropped his cell phone in the taxi on the way back and he called her and she actually called the cab company and the dispatcher put a call out and three hours later the taxi driver returned our cell phone and we gave him a nice reward. How rare is that?

We are now searching for a place to live closer to the airport and friends. Hopefully we find one soon, the suitcases have taken us over.

Another Rainy Day

Touring Day

We spent the day doing a walking tour of some of the sights of Vietnam.  We started at an indoor market, had lunch at what turned out to be a very loud disco type place but the pizza was good and ended up at the War Rememberance museum.  We spent several hours there, it was heart wrenching.  One thing I forgot to mention, is that everywhere a tourist goes in vietnam, you are followed by men driving what they call cyclo's, which are basically bicycles with a cart in front.  They want you to let them take you places, they usually ask where you are from.  They don't give up easily.  After we came out of the museum we heard Hey, Mr California, need a ride?  We had met this guy three hours before at the Independence Hall which happened to be closed and he suggested we go to the museum, we did and he say us come out. Persistence!!  We were on a walking tour but that made no difference to him.  After getting lost on the way back to our hotel I almost took him up on his offer.  We ended the day at the Highlands Coffee Shop down the street from our hotel with a great Lime Slushy type drink.  It was a very hot and humid day for a tour but we needed the walk after sitting so much.  There are so many places to see, next week we plan to see the caves that the people hide in during the war and also some beautiful beaches.

Touring

Sunday in the Park

A funny thing happened on the way to lunch. We were walking through a park to get to the restaurant and as we were watching a group of people racing remote control cars, another group of young people asked us if we would take their picture. After Mark did they asked us to be in a picture. We asked them why they were there and they said that they were looking for something good to do for someone. What a thought, they wanted to help poor people or do something for a group of blind people. We were able to share with them why we were in Vietnam and the girl in the yellow shirt who seemed to be the leader gave us a business card, it was her fathers and he has something to do with the film industry. We gave the card with email and phone numbers to the group we were meeting with and we will see what happens. Just another exciting day in Vietnam.

Students in Park

 

We Have Arrived

We arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday. We are told that Ho Chi Minh City has over 8 million people. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my life. There are not very many street lights and when there is one it looks like a race is getting ready to start. They do not have many cars in town, just taxi's. The motorbikes even go up the curbs if they don't want to wait. The front of the business's have people to direct you where to park you motorbike. It is truly amazing. We have spent the last several days exploring the city, of course we do this around 11 AM and I have decided that that is not a good time as the heat and humidity sends us back for a second shower, and a rest. I carry a washcloth, since Kleenex is not always available, I definitely need something to wipe my face and neck. I hate sweating. I have lost seven pounds since beginning this trip, probably just from sweating so much. We have come to love the rain, it usually just lasts a short time but cools things off. We get a great breakfast at our guest house, they serve us a French baguette, fresh fruit and coffee or tea. We also have found several places that have great bakery items. I will have to be careful with all of the delicious pastries.

Vietnam

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