G&J's Excellent Asian Adventure, part 5

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
Da Nang airport was well-appointed and modern but boarding the aircraft was still the disorganised scramble which we'd experienced at other local airports, and it would have been nice to board by air bridge given the heat and humidity.  Da Nang is a dual civilian and military airport and whilst boarding, two fighters took off with a colossal amount of noise.  The air force seems to be equipped with Russian fighters which are  highly regarded in terms of ruggedness and reliability, even if these (MiG 21's or Sukhoi) are a bit long in the tooth now.  Our flight was held on the taxiway whilst one of them landed, jettisoned its parachute and then taxied right in front of us. Picture taken from inside the plane, hence the blurring.

MiG or Sukhoi fighter

Arriving in Saigon just before lunchtime, we checked in to the hotel and then wandered out to find something to eat. This is where my dining experience turned into pure comedy, errr...for the others, that is!  Vietnamese food is invariably served with little bowls of dipping sauces and delicious, fairly mild chillies and so on.  Lunch this time was no exception and the selection of spring rolls we ordered came with an assortment of interesting little bowls. In one of them was the usual scarlet ringlets of chopped chilli, accompanied by what looked like the diced flesh from a cucumber.  It looked extremely inviting so I heaped a load on the end of my chopsticks and shovelled it in.  Next moment, my head exploded and I was in a world of pain.  How on earth can anyone eat anything that hot????    In spitting it out, some got onto my lips and it felt that I'd been smacked in the mouth by Mike Tyson.  Nose and eyes running, swigging beer like there was no tomorrow, I had to endure a certain amount of piss-taking by my fellow diners who then wisely avoided that little bowl.  I don't know what the white stuff was, but cucumber it wasn't.  My lips were still tingling slightly the next morning!

After lunch, it was time for a walk round Saigon city centre to see a few sights.  It's a clean, modern city although there are still a lot of old buildings from the days of French colonialism which are immaculately preserved.

The gorgeous opera house

 Opera house by night

Despite being in the centre of a modern city, pavement trade still flourished and added to the colour.  We found a shop which specialised in model replicas of old sailing vessels, some seriously large as the photo below shows.  Incredible in detail and like most other things in Vietnam, real value for money.  Whilst we were there, an employee was out on the pavement building a crate from scratch to house one of the model ships which had just been sold.

A seriously large model ship with amazing detail

Business enterprise  is everywhere and in the photo below, some guys are running a motorcycle and cycle service business from the pavement.  In the background, a bicycle is being serviced and in the foreground; the scooter is being overhauled.  Cables have been removed for lubrication and note the bowl of old engine oil on the kerb!  The scooter owner sits in the luxury customer reception chair whilst the work is performed. What a joy to see!

 Pavement motorcycle service business

That evening, we enjoyed cocktails in the famous Saigon Saigon bar at the Caravelle Hotel we were staying in.  Must say that the city views were lovely and the cocktails were value for money.  The Singapore Slings were far superior to those in Singapore and at about 1/3 of the price too!

Singapore Sling with accompanying Dragon Fruit decoration

Saigon Saigon Bar with Notre Dame cathedral in the distance

The following morning, we visited Notre Dame cathedral which was beautifully kept and an architectural delight, again reinforcing the religious and civil freedoms in the country.

Interior of Notre Dame cathedral

However, there was one building which transcended the cathedral in terms of architectural splendour and this was the French-inspired Central Post Office.  What a magic place!

CPO - what a wonderful, vibrant building!

 Beautiful telephone booths inside the CPO

With its decorative ceramic floor tiles, rich red wood and beautifully-painted walls, it was a building which simply made your head swivel and grin in pleasure. Hats off to someone who knew how to design "happy" buildings. The surprises of the CPO weren't weren't quite finished though as our guide Giau reverentially pointed out an elderly gentleman seated at a bench (below).  This gentleman, well into his 80's, started work at the post office when he was 16.  Long retired, he holds an emeritus post.  He's the last public letter writer in Vietnam.  This means that he's there to help people with writing difficulties to compose letters, or offer translations into to other dialects or languages.  And he comes in every day.  A genuine living treasure.

The last public letter writer - something immensely sad about that

Next stop was a lacquerware factory just down the road.  Lacquerware was right off my radar before this visit so it was an entirely new experience.  Vietnamese lacquerware normally uses rose, cherry or walnut as a base which is wet or steam-moulded to the desired shape as required.  It's then impregnated with a stabilising lacquer and often with a gauze skin to prevent cracking.  Coats of natural lacquer tinted with pigment are then applied, along with decorative mother of pearl, eggshell or other coloured paint.  Each coat is sanded back to provide a lustrous, smooth finish and to expose the decorative medium.  The 2 photos below show decorative material being applied and sanding back of one of the dozens of coats.  Pieces often take 4 months to complete because of the drying time between coats.  I fear the piece of plastic in the wallet is about to get another hiding!

Applying tiny pieces of mother of pearl

Sanding back to expose the image

Simple, elegantly finished platters

We stopped off at the Vietnamese War Museum for a couple of hours.  Going there perhaps seems at odds with a carefree and fun-filled holiday but how could you not go after all had been seen and heard about the conflict which filled our newspapers and TV for so long in decades past? What I write next is neither a condemnation nor tacit approval of the reasons behind the war, it's simply how I felt being at the museum.  The war happened at a time in history when opposing sides were terrified of each other's ideologies and it has to be seen in the context of predictable responses at that time.  The different rooms of the museum depicted various aspects of the war.  Two rooms had photos taken by western journalists covering Agent Orange and the brutalities perpetrated by both sides.  Normally, I'm a pretty controlled type but I stood there wiping the tears away whilst I was in those two rooms.  I wasn't the only one either.  Little wonder that veterans on all sides were changed people when it was all over. I think it was what happened to children which really tipped me over the edge. What also made it emotionally harder to shrug off  was that nowhere in the museum was there any left wing political rhetoric or blame for what happened - it was what it was.  This again shows the Vietnamese to be exceedingly special people.  NZ infantry and Special Forces plus our Aussie cousins fought alongside America and I asked Giau how her countrymen felt about our respective countries.  She replied that good people are good people everywhere and if anyone has to be singled out, it might be politicians everywhere who should hang their heads in shame. Wise, generous and humbling, especially from a 26 year old.  

I recently saw a quotation by Harry Emerson Fosdick, an American clergyman, which succinctly sums it up:   

"The tragedy of war is that it uses man's best to do man's worst".

To end this narrative on a lighter note, Kiwis, Aussies and tourists from the Americas seem to be well-liked by the Vietnamese as being down to earth and easy to get along with.  Overall, previous colonial masters the French are not regarded with quite the same level of affection!

US Fighter bomber - Northrop Freedom Fighter?

What big eyes you have, Grandma!

Skyraider - a BIG plane!

Gatling gun on a Huey helicopter

Having seen the museum, we then travelled in a reflective mood to the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Viet Cong in the Saigon area.  Large amounts of them still exist although they'd been tidied up a bit to let the "larger" western tourist experience some parts of them.

Giau explaining the extent of tunnelling

A well-concealed entrance

B-52 bomb crater still visible and still deep

Sharpened bamboo stake booby trap

After the above-ground part of the tour, we were asked whether anyone wished to go underground.  Jennie and Sue weren't keen but Gary and I were up for it.  Descending into the first level, the heat was diabolical and the confined space didn't help either.  The photos below were taken with flash but they were quite poorly lit in reality.

Large entrance way

Crouching and twisted sideways in over 40 C temperatures

It was a fascinating and appalling insight into the conditions which prevailed.  It would have been an absolute nightmare for both the Vietnamese and the Tunnel Rats who went in to clear the tunnels.  It certainly helped to understand a little more about the conflict which happened all that time ago but at the same time, seems like yesterday in some respects.

Jackfruit tree at Cu Chi. Delicious either fresh or dried 

Local workboat and floating water hyacinth - an invasive weed which apparently didn't exist in Vietnam 2 decades ago

Another innovative motorcycle conversion between Cu Chi and Saigon

We had come to the last evening of our stay in Vietnam and we all went with Giau for an evening cruise on a multi-decked Sampan on the Saigon River for yet another memorable meal, accompanied by a Philippine woman who sang beautifully with the backing of a synthesiser.  However, the musical highlight of the evening was when a member of the audience, a Vietnamese woman around 60 got up and backed by the synthesiser, sang House of the Rising Sun in French!  What a voice, what a standing ovation!!!

Dinner cruise on the Saigon river

Some reflections on Vietnam:

Loved the place with a passion.  Rich history and culture and wonderful scenery.  Heaps to see, do and buy at very competitive prices by western standards. The hotels we stayed in were close to flawless and the service was superb.  At the other end of the scale, our eldest son was impressed with backpacking arrangements and homestays when he visited a few short years ago. The further south you go, the warmer it gets and the people become increasingly laid back.

The food - divine!  Healthy, delicious and a huge range of options. Even local eateries seem to have high health standards.  Bottled water is recommended and is available everywhere and cheap.  Local beer is also delicious and cheap! 

The people.....  charming and good-humoured to a fault - loved 'em to bits. Giau, our guide was sheer magic.  On top of her game, a real wit - who could ask for more?

A small group tour was perfect for us as it could be personalised and the guide was able to take us to unexpected places on a whim using local knowledge.  Active Asia, who have branches in NZ and Vietnam organised a superb tour and we also got the right balance of time to ourselves.

Would we return? Darned right we would!  We still have the Mekong Delta and the north-western hill country to cover and we can combine it with travel plans elsewhere in Asia.

I'm sure that doesn't cover everything but you get the gist!

Next time, the final holiday destination - Singapore.

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G&J's Excellent Asian Adventure, part 2

Hanoi
Leaving Malaysia on Air Malaysia bound for Hanoi, we were full of anticipation following our eldest son's glowing account of his travels round Vietnam on the cheap a few years back.   Arriving at the capital's main airport, the signs weren't promising with a fairly substantial military/security presence and an arrival hall which was as dreary and plain as you might mentally expect in a socialist state.  Added to this was the fact that the luggage from 3 flights had been dumped on one carousel and a real free for all ensued. Tag team wrestling among Russians, Vietnamese, Chinese and at least 2 Kiwis would paint a fair picture!

However, things were about to change.  We'd booked a limited numbers tour with a Kiwi-based company called Active Asia with strong Vietnamese links.  This provided 5 star accommodation for only 4 of us complete with a guide at a very reasonable all-up price. The guide was waiting at the exit, holding a placard with our names on.  This is Giau (pronounced Zow):  (Click photos to enlarge).

Giau, aka Energiser Bunny explaining rice cropping

Giau is a southern Vietnamese 26 year old super-smart Geography graduate with excellent French plus good self-taught English. We fell in love with her almost immediately for her energy and enthusiasm (hence the Energiser Bunny tag subsequently bestowed by our fellow Kiwi couple). The fact that she was able to give as good as she got in the wicked humour and leg-pulling stakes quickly made her a great friend as opposed to just a very competent guide.

On the drive into Hanoi from the airport, Giau told us that there are around 7 million Hanoi residents owning 5 million motorcycles.  We believed it judging by the traffic!  Pushbikes mingling with motorbikes mingling with trucks and cars heading in all directions and leaning on their horns was a recipe for disaster to a western eye, but it all seemed seemed to work without major incident.  In fact, after a couple of weeks, it all made perfect sense and the main worry was me adopting similar measures on the return to NZ and becoming a road rage target!  On the way to the hotel, Giau pointed out number plates which signified state-owned vehicles and we were delighted to see that the Socialist Government drove such clearly socialist vehicles as late model Bentleys, Aston Martins and a few Mercs and Lexus' thrown in too.  Pragmatic socialism in action!

The tour wasn't due to start until the following afternoon when we were due to meet our fellow Kiwis Gary and Sue so Jennie and I traffic-watched from our hotel room (absolutely fascinating!) for a bit before heading out to find a restaurant that the locals ate in.

Non-rush hour traffic at an intersection

Advanced situational awareness is genetic here

Visiting a local open air restaurant at the edge of a lake was great fun.  With a mixture of pigeon English, French, pigeon Vietnamese and hand signals, we managed to order interesting local entrées and main courses whilst carefully avoiding the allegedly popular stuffed fish bladder they seemed keen to have us sick up on.  Naturally, chopsticks were the order of the day but no worries as we use them a fair bit at home.  Only one minor embarrassment (me of course) when I dropped a heavy spring roll from considerable altitude into the little sauce dish and the resultant bow wave added further decoration to the front of my already colourful shirt.  The local Hanoi beer was great, as were the regional beers sampled further south.

Entrées, mains and beers for two - US$12 equivalent

The food was superb with the local vegetables in particular having intense flavour and the more than favourable prices sent us to bed both full and happy.

Giau had told us how to negotiate the terrors of crossing the road in the face of vehicles apparently hell-bent on removing us from this life and our first crossing to visit a Pagoda restored in 1815 was a hair-raising experience.  Nonetheless, the practice of serenely walking out into the traffic, not making eye contact and maintaining a constant pace seemed to work just fine.  I noticed that Jennie always walked on the down-side of me but charitably assumed this had absolutely nothing to do with self-preservation and was simply blind coincidence.

The small pagoda was gorgeous and as an added bonus, a colourful religious ceremony was in full swing.  We were somewhat taken aback when some young children in the solemn procession broke into broad grins and in perfect English, said, "Hello, how are you?".  We could have been from France or Albania for example, but the Vietnamese undoubtedly have a nose for the French as I will explain in a later post.

Tran Quoc Pagoda

 Religious procession at the pagoda

 The afternoon was spent meeting up with Giau, Gary and Sue (who were great), then walking round the old quarter.  Many of the shops also doubled as manufacturing premises too, even spilling out onto the crowded pavements - wonderful stuff!  When I queried Giau about the makes of the  little motorbikes and scooters on the roads, she said that most of them were Japanese.  Considerably more expensive than the Chinese ones but ran for more than a few days without expiring on the roadside!   As per the previous post on Malaysia, the small bikes (virtually no big ones in Vietnam) are strictly work-horses, not for casual enjoyment.

 A modestly-loaded Honda Cub

 Tinware - you name it, we make it!

 OSH-approved city electrical supply
Noodle-inspired wiring

 Shops below, living quarters above

Pavement parking?  No worries!

 Ingenious local delivery vehicle with transverse Honda 90 engine

 Mobile fruit stall with back-up stock in the sack

 That evening, we all went to a local restaurant to get to know each other in a social setting.  It was here that another surprise lay in wait, at least for Jennie (barely-suppressed snigger).  We were all having what's known as a traditional hot pot where we all have pots of boiling flavoured broth in front of us. The idea is for the diners to dip raw vegetables and thinly-sliced meat or fish into the broth for a few minutes and cook them as you eat, dipping them into little bowls of various sauces.  The photo is a serving of veggies for one person - no chance of constipation with this diet! The long things are a type of mushroom and the triangular object in the foreground is a slice of Lotus root - wish we could get all of them readily in NZ.

Fragrant, tasty veggies (serving for one)

Now, here's where it gets interesting as Jennie ordered prawns and they came in a covered pot.  As soon as she lifted the lid, 6" long prawns came leaping out of the dish, hell-bent on not becoming part of the food chain.  I'm sure her scream didn't disturb the other diners too much as the hysterical laughter from our table would have diverted them rather nicely.  Jennie is made of stern stuff though and soon had them rounded up and into the pot!  Sue remarked on how lovely her sliced salmon was and Jennie sweetly asked whether that was due to it being dead already.  Fabulous meal and the "live entertainment" built on an already good relationship between us all.

Next day, we visited Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum which turned out to be a darned sight more interesting than you might think and the Temple of Literature, a seat of learning for wise men originally built in 1070.

Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum in background

Massive drum in the Temple of Literature

Couldn't resist taking the next photo.  There were some young women in the Temple of Knowledge grounds celebrating university graduation.  Dressed in traditional clothing, they looked both elegant and absolutely stunning.

 Sigh......

Lunch was at a restaurant largely staffed by ex-street kids who were learning cooking and catering skills.  You wouldn't have guessed by the impeccable standards.

Beautiful spring roll lunch

Even in the first couple of days, it was clear that Vietnamese socialism is applied with a very light hand indeed and there appear to be few restrictions on personal freedoms and religious choice.  Also, Vietnam was what you might describe as cultured at a time when most of the western countries were rather more barbaric by comparison.  A great start to our stay.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a 3 hour drive east of Hanoi and has World Heritage status.  Some 1500 sq km in area with nearly 2000 islands, it presents a breathtaking vista.  We were due to cruise part of the Bay in a modern version of a traditional junk / sampan with a visit to a floating fishing village and an overnight stay on the vessel.  It really is one of the World's "must see" places.  Just before we got there,  I managed to take the photo below, showing yet another test for the suspension and handling of a Honda Cub. 

Goldfish R Us.  Stop me and buy one

(Note approved safety footwear)

Our Sampan

Sampan dining area - rather luxurious

First stop was to a floating fishing village where they fished for ummm... fish and squid and harvested cultivated and natural pearls.  The village was floating in the centre of a number of small islands which provided shelter.  You really had to be there to experience the majesty of the setting.

Entrance to fishing village

Village and small water taxis to take us about

Backdrop of islands

Humiliating myself trying to make a spring roll

Woman in background horrified

The picture below is particularly interesting.  It's a tender which came out the next morning to refuel the sampan and I leaned over the side to see what was going on. You'll note some tarpaulins barely covering a tank in front of the cabin.  The liquid inside is diesel fuel - eek!  Good job it has a relatively high flashpoint but I still had visions of becoming part of a large-scale fireball if some careless bugger dropped a cigarette.  Somewhat relieved when it departed!

Floating incendiary device

Next day, we headed to shore and back to Hanoi to catch a flight to Hue.  However, we had time to drop into a couple of places and see some magnificent traditional craftwork.  The first was to a tiny factory which produced embroidered pictures.  Some of them were so realistic that they looked like photographs or very lifelike paintings.

 This is embroidery, not a photo!

Have a look at it in enlarged mode

 More beautiful embroidery

These pictures take between 2 and 4 months to complete depending on size and the price ready-framed is less than US$100 per item - incredible.

The next stop was at a sizeable pottery factory.  A lot of the bigger items were moulded rather than thrown on a wheel but every item was hand-painted as opposed to using transfers. Much of the output was for Vietnamese domestic use although the really large vases were exported too, drool, drool.  We settled for some delicate Chinese-style porcelain soup spoons to replace existing James household losses which were inevitably the fault of a certain clumsy person.  Oh ok, that would be me then.

Seriously large pots being moulded

Under 10 minutes to delicately hand-paint a pot before kiln firing

Rows of kilns being emptied after mass-firing

On to central Vietnam in the next travel blog.......

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