As it looks like the
division of blog-writing labour has been split to Gordon commenting on the
social and political aspects of our time here in Cambodia while I tell you
about "stuff wot we've done", it would appear that it's my turn
again. And this time it's our trip to Vietnam.
We went to visit Gordon's
friend Annalise and her wife Nadine. Gordon used to work with Annalise in
London and it was her decision, approximately three or so years ago, to
volunteer that inspired Gordon to make the same decision. Many will now know
the story that, until Gordon mentioned to me that he'd like to do something
similar, he swears he had no idea that I had been saying (to anyone that asked.
For years!) that about the only thing career wise that I was sure I wanted to do
was volunteer with VSO.
My mum did VSO in the 70s
in Papua New Guinea. While it wasn’t something she spoke about a lot, it
definitely sparked something in me. Mostly itchy feet and a desire to see the
world, but also wanting to not just travel, but to live and work somewhere and
“make a difference”. So, after five years with Gordon seemingly having no clue about this (I still swear he must have known) I was very excited to
meet Annalise to thank her in person for his inspiration!
We hopped on the bus in
Phnom Penh at some early hour in the morning and, slightly surprisingly,
actually departed almost on time. We were in our favourite seats on the coach,
numbers 15 and 16, and looking forward to the six hour journey. And then the
air con kicked in.
While I appreciate the
cooling of the bus (we once had to
do three hours on a bus here with broken air con. The driver sat with the door
open as we sped our way down the road with me convinced something, or someone, was
going to fall out at any point. It didn’t make a lot of difference and we
arrived hot, sweaty and rather bedraggled anyway) this was chilling to the point of
ridiculousness. After putting on another t-shirt, and then borrowing yet
another of Gordon’s, and then wrapping my pashmina/scarf round my head to try
and stop the freezing air blasting it, I finally made some feeble “I’m cold”
gesture to our lovely conductor. He promptly swept the curtain from the window
and tucked it up into the overhead compartment, effectively blocking the cold
air from the ducts. Genius!
An added bonus to the
journey that we weren’t aware of came just outside Phnom Penh when we stopped
at the river. It took a few moments after getting off the bus to realise that we weren't standing on land, but had actually driven straight on to the ferry. It's a flat, drive on, drive off affair where there are no barriers to stop you falling off the front or the back. We did our best Kate and Leo impression and stood at the very front of the ferry as we made the short hop across, wind blowing in our hair.
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| our bus, on the boat |
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| Fried crickets for sale on the boat. No, we didn't partake. |
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| The ferry at the other side waiting to cross |
We got off the bus and, rather miraculously, managed to find Annalise in a cafe without getting lost (our Cambodian mobiles didn't work in Vietnam). A spot of lunch followed by a walk through Saigon, stopping to buy some impressive tarpaulin like ponchos when the rain started, and a short trip on the expat bus out to Annalise and Nadine's place was afternoon one.
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| Just like Cambodia - but with hats! And these hats were everywhere. |
That night we went out for bia hoi. Translated as "fresh beer" it's brewed daily and is super cheap. At 10,000 dong a litre, and with 22,000 dong to the dollar, it was certainly not breaking the bank! We had a great time there as an old soldier came over and chatted to us and then tried to set up Annalise with his, rather embarrassed, son.
Next day we went on a tour of Saigon, wandering through the market, looking at the Reunification Palace before swinging by Notre Dame to the Post Office.
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| food stalls at Ben Thanh market |
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| another stall |
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Coconut seller, with one of the great hats. Interesting fact, coconuts in Phnom Penh are sold from
wheelbarrow type carts and are not cut into the same shape as they are in Saigon. Ladies carrying two
baskets like these in PP are usually selling noodle soup. |
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| Reunification Palace |
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| street scene |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Gordon, Annalise and the Post Office |
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| personal grooming outside the Post Office |
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| How much would you love to phone home in one of these? Inside the Post Office |
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| Cannae beat a map! |
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The rather beautiful Post Office
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We went to the Ho Chi Minh museum in the afternoon. It was basically a LOT of photographs, mostly with captions in Vietnamese, so we didn't learn a huge amount. But it was raining, and it was indoors, so it was a winner!
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| the Saigon River, from the museum |
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| Crowds outside the Reunification Palace in 1975 |
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| Ho Chi Minh museum |
Next day was Monday and Nadine and Annalise had to work, so we set off ourselves (managing to get the local bus, for a grand total of about 35 pence each) into town to meet our tour bus to take us to the Cu Chi tunnels.
On the way we stopped off at a lacquer factory - captive tourists and all that! It was actually great to see them making all the lacquer pictures and to see the processes it goes through. And to learn that they use lots of crushed eggshell.
Our guide to the tunnels was a young guy (red t-shirt a few pics below) and he was great at explaining and showing everything. It was a really interesting trip. (I'm sure I would have found it even more interesting had I managed to stayed awake for his chat about the war on the minibus to the tunnels...)
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| Another guide shows where all the tunnels were round Saigon. |
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| Gordon slithering down one of the hatches. Claustrophobia ahoy! |
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| A hidden trap. The ground would go from under you and you'd land on the spikes underneath. |
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| Gordon with half a tank |
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Our guide helping sell the bullets for going to fire the guns . We decided not to pay to shoot any
but I did jump when I heard them go off. Guns are really loud! |
Part of the tour let us climb down into the tunnels and "walk" along a 100m stretch. Even although it was lit for us it was still pretty dark, and very hot. And really hard work. We both came out with thighs that felt like we'd climbed a mountain.
It's hard to believe people lived in the tunnels. There's too much to explain about what we learned here but it's a must do if you visit Saigon.
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| In the tunnels - that have been heightened and widened for foreigners... |
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| A model of the tunnels - they worked on three layers. A real feat of engineering. |
We got dropped off at the War Remnants Museum after the tunnels. It was a pretty grim reminder of the horrors of war. And another time that I was glad not to be an American. They're really not a fan of Americans in Vietnam, and they're not shy about showing it. Outside the museum is lots of old planes, tanks and helicopters and inside are hundreds and hundreds of photographs of the war and its aftermath, in particular showing the affects of Agent Orange.
All too soon it was our last day and Annalise and Nadine packed us back off to Phnom Penh complete with a suitcase full of swag from their house (they leave Saigon in August after two years there) - pillows, wine glasses, knives, a vase - you name it, we swiped it. Thanks guys!
We had a few hours in the city before our bus was due so we wandered round taking it all in a little more.
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| I think every park should have a sign banning teasing animals. |
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| See the tall building on the right with the bit sticking out of it? That bit is a helipad and it's on a hotel. It's never used, as only the military are allowed to fly helicopters. Most pointless 'bit' ever built? |
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| Ben Thanh market |
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| fruit seller |
And possibly my favourite photo from our trip - a fish boat beside a penguin bin.
