Vietnam Update

We’ve been in Vietnam for over a week, but we’ve mostly been away from the computer or, when we were in a hotel with internet access, too busy or too tired to bother logging on. So let me see if I can catch you up in a relatively brief post. (By the way, I’ll do a bunch more posts with photos when we’re back in the US–I just have no way to easily get photos from my camera to the computer until then).

OK, so after two days in Saigon, we left on Thurs, July 30 for a day long bus trip to Dalat, the mountain resort town developed by the French but also used as the site for Emperor Bao Dai’s summer palace, which might just be the least palatial palace I’ve ever been do. Art deco just does not read as palatial to me. Anyway, we spent part of the 10 hour bus ride sampling fruit from road side stands; so far, mangosteen (mang cut in Vietnamese), rambutan (chom chom), and another fruit called bon bon (not quite sure about the spelling on that one) are my favorites, but I also liked the custard apple (mang cau) and longon (nhan). For the record, I have eaten some durian (sau rieng); the taste is OK, but I can’t take the texture. The road up to Dalat is sometimes bumpy–lots of stretches of gravel roads strewn with potholes–but I enjoyed watching Saigon fade away as we headed into the cool mountains.

The next day, toured Dalat, first visiting the above-mentioned unpalatial summer palace. Remind me to post pictures of some of the garden art there–there was a very creepy rabbit there that must surely have been added in more recent years. Next we headed to the Truc Lam Thien Vien Pagoda, where we were met by a monk who is friends of Huckleberry’s parents. We were taken to meet with the abbot who founded the pagoda, as well as one in Hue, and toured the grounds of the pagoda, some of which is still being built. After that, we rode two person roller coasters (called “Coasterbobs”) down a hill to see a waterfall; for those of you who watch the Amazing Race, they were the same kind of coasters used in the Russia leg of the most recent season. I was less than pleased that we weren’t allowed to put our seat belts on for the ride up. Finally, we visited the Hang Nha Crazy House, a little taste of Gaudi in Vietnam, then lunch, then swung by the market to buy coffee and tea. Finally, in late afternoon, we left Dalat to head to Nha Trang. The drive out of Dalat took us past terraced hillsides with coffee, tea, and other crops growing in clay dirt as red as any you’d find in Georgia–gorgeous scenery. Huckleberry and I would have loved to have stayed longer in Dalat, but for this part of the trip we’re traveling with her family, so we’re not in charge of the itinerary.

We spent the next day and a half in Nha Trang visiting some sites from Huckberry’s life: the military hospital where she was born, the house where her family lived, the post office where she wandered off from her mother and walked home (stopping to sing to some soldiers on the beach along the way), and the spot on the beach from which her family launched their escape boats in 1976. We also lounged on the beach and swam, because that’s what one does in a beach town. On Saturday, we headed north about 45 minutes to a resort in Doclet, where we spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday. The beach there is much quieter and calmer, though there are millions of tiny jelly fish in the water than make swimming for too long unpleasant. Huckleberry wasn’t feeling well on Saturday–a combination of dehydration and motion sickness–but she rebounded on Sunday enough to enjoy a massage at the resort spa and to lounge around by the pool. The entire time we were there, there was a huge swarm of dragonflies hovering over the resort, which was pretty spectacular.

Sunday evening, we headed back to Nha Trang to catch our overnight sleeping bus to Hoi An. Now, I’ve done plenty of overnight buses in Mexico, but they’re nothing compared to this bus. The chairs lay all the way back–or sit up, if you like–and are stacked bunk-bed style. The driver yells at boarding passengers to remove their shoes–he even slapped one person in our group on the butt when she didn’t understand what he wanted–then yelled, smoked, and honked his way up Highway 1. Oh, and he also liked to turn the AC off. Luckily, we got a new driver after the midnight bathroom break, so the AC stayed on more consistently and the yelling and honking abated somewhat (though the smoking continued). The drivers picked up friends along the way, who then slept on the floor in between paying customers. I like the concept of sleeping buses–being able to recline more fully and stretch out my legs is definitely a plus–but I think I’ll head for the back of the bus next time. Even with all of the commotion, I slept fairly well, thanks in part to the 40 laps I swam at the hotel pool and the two benadryl I took when we boarded, and arrived in Hoi An relatively intact.

So far in Hoi An we’ve roamed the town a bit and most of us are now back at the hotel to cool off and wait for the heat to abate a little before heading back out. From what I’ve seen so far, Hoi An has wonderful architecture and history and is a charming city, but it’s also one giant tourist trap. Huckleberry speculated that the town survives largely off of tourists and all the shopping that they do here (Hoi An is known particularly for it’s fabrics, especially silk), so it’s impossible to wander the city without constantly having to shake off vendors hawking fruit, fans, or candies or shop owners trying to entice you into their stores to buy scarves, bags, or art.

We’ll be here through the night, then we spent tomorrow in Da Nang and then head to Hue for the next few days. After Hue, Huckleberry and I will head back to Saigon on our own while the rest of the group goes to Hanoi (we need to check in with the jeweler making our wedding rings). We’ll also do a two day tour of the Mekong Delta, and then the rest of the group rejoins us in Saigon and we all depart for a too-short visit to Cambodia. From there, we’ll fly to Hanoi and spend time there, as well as in Halong Bay, Sapa, and Haiphong. For now, it’s time to go check on Huckleberry, who’s napping in our air conditioned room, to see if she wants any lunch before we head back out into the heat.

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