THE REST OF THE STORY

For the last two days we have been visiting numerous temples and I am DONE!! It is so tiring trying to fit everything into one visit to Siem Reap, even with being here before.

Angkor Wat is the next on my list… still as striking as ever. There have been many changes to the area around the temple such as banning the elephants, no cars close by and the ticket centre has been modernized. Inside the area, everything is as it was !!

SO MANY TEMPLES

Since Siem Reap used to be the capital of Cambodia the number of temples situated in this area is overwhelming! Yesterday we visited two, but I will only display Angkor Thom in this post. Striking and huge are two words to describe this structure!

BUGS

A stop at a local market had me in shock ….what a cultural difference. We were on the drive from Phnom Penh and decided to make this crazy stop. What a mistake considering we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant shortly after that. Fear of the unknown!

This area is one of the few that specializes in dried tarantulas and I wish I could undo what I saw! So gross… they told us the shinier the bugs were the fresher they were.

IT STARTED SMALL

This morning we were walking through the Royal Palace and a young student asked our names….obviously practising her English. I asked if I could take her picture with Fred and Mo. It started as a small group, but before we could blink we had the whole class wanting in on the pic! Alice and Jim can relate to this from China!

FUN ON THE CRUISE

We took a two night, three day cruise on the Mekong River on an old wooden boat called Mekong Eyes… with Alice and Jim we did the Dragon Eyes cruise (much nicer boat)! This is the last year for these wooden relics as the government has deemed them too dangerous and all cruise ships must be taken out of service to be replaced with steel ships. 

We did multiple excursions from the boat including the floating markets. 

We stopped at a larger floating market to check out the snake skin products from snake jerky to snake skin oil to python wine!

MORE HCM

We also visited the historic Post Office in Saigon where I can never resist buying chopsticks!! Nothing too special about the place other than nostalgia !

LAST FLIGHT

We left Hoi A for Da Nang via car for a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City. We didn’t plan on staying in HCM for more than two nights so we were on the move as soon as we arrived. 

Our first visit was to the Rex Hotel to see where the Five O’clock Follies took place between the war generals and the international reports who made this their headquarters for the duration of the war.

WATER ACTIVITIES

It seems like we have chosen to spend a lot of our time on the water this time around. The Vietnamese water vessels are not that easy to get in and out of so I have our passports

locked away at the hotel and my credit cards and phone safely stored in plastic…all because I am a bit of a clumsy boat enterer!  Is there such a word?  

The women (almost always women) have given me head shakes and smirks when I bounce into the boat. Fred and Mo have told me a few times that they didn’t think I was going to stay out of the water! But I continue to fool them all!!

Anyway, yesterday was another day on the water… in basket boats this time. 

We took time to catch a few small crab, which was fun until one escaped in our boat…my feet were up after that. 

MY APOLOGIES

The Blog site I have been using has been upgraded and has made it almost impossible for me to comment on your comments. I enjoy reading them but can not respond. But please keep them coming!

FARTHER SOUTH AGAIN

On Monday we left Hue and drove to Hoi An with a drive through Da Nang.  We have been to Da Bang before but this time we were shocked…it is completely different. Many high end hotels have been built on China Beach where the Americans landed during the war. So busy and so top of the line. 

Hoi An, on the other hand, was still Hoi An. No longer the quaint little city we stayed at before, but still with that “Hoi An Charm”!  The hotel we are staying at is right at the Old Quarter so everything we want to see is within easy walking distance. 

We had stopped along the way for a traditional lunch at an oyster farm… Fred warned me but I didn’t listen and as a result I was sick for the rest of the day. Darn allergies. Fred and Mo went out for the rest of the afternoon while I enjoyed my time in the hotel room!!

On Tuesday we visited a silk worm/silk factory…so interesting. 

The clothes and hand made pictures were incredible and not that expensive. Had we been travelling with our usual travelling partners I’m sure we would have lost Jim here for a few hours…. Shirts and suits ready the same day!

A FEW RANDOM PHOTOS

All taken by Hung, our guide. 

A CHANGE OF PACE

Today (Friday, 27th) we continued our exploration of the Ninh Binh area and visited the largest Pagoda in Vietnam… very impressive! Bai Dinh Pagoda Complex.  Some of the statues rivalled Tibet but didn’t have the history to follow. This complex is only twenty years old and was built to keep the Buddhist population in Vietnam rather than travelling to China to celebrate big events. Hung says it is working because on every Buddhist holiday Bai Dinh hosts millions of people…like I said, it is huge. Visitors have to use electric cars to get to the start of the complex 

It takes a few hours to complete the walk about and we were hot when finished….thank goodness for AC in the van. 

MOVING SOUTH

Today we drove to Ninh Binh to visit the area that is sometimes called the Dry Halong Bay. We have been to Halong Bay before and we came away quite frustrated. It was extremely touristy and very polluted….hopefully this has been addressed and Halong Bay is living up to its reputation as a World Heritage Site once again. 

We were quite pleased with the Ninh Binh area and it appears to be well worth the overnight stay. Today we visited smaller temples and tomorrow we will visit the largest temple in Vietnam…. Supposedly it takes two hours to walk it. 

We also took a three hour bamboo boat excursion through different caves and an up close visit to the limestone formations. 

Some setting on my blog isn’t allowing videos so I sent some to the Humeny Group. 

DAY TWO OF HIKING

Yesterday we hiked up hill for two hours and today it was down for four hours…give me the “up hike” any day. Today the rough and washed out trails were hard to manoeuvre, constantly watching so we didn’t fall or step in too much unknown water!

Yesterday we visited a White Hmong village and today it was strictly a Black Hmong day. The White Hmong are not nearly as touristy as the Black…. So many of the small village homes have been turned into Home Stays. 

The water buffalo are so docile and tame that you can pet them if you wish…. We couldn’t quite build up that courage. 

By the looks on our faces I suspect we did have a great hike….hard to tell at the time!

SHORT CUT

By the time today’s ten hour journey was over I decided never to listen to our driver again!  Hung told us it made sense to take the short cut to Sapa so we could stop at a little village and explore the Vietnamese country life. The destination was fabulous but the journey was hell. 

We drove from 20 metre elevation at Hanoi to 1600 metres at Sapa, almost all on a washed out, narrow and frightening (to me anyway…Mo loved it) trail. 

On the route we were pretty close to China, in fact just across the river. 

The village was full of exciting people and animals to observe….of course they all wanted to practise their English. Hung told us that learning English in schools in this area was illegal onto 1995. 

The villagers have some ingenious ideas for growing cucumbers and corn. There are no stores as the people are all completely self sufficient… vegetables, chickens, hemp for clothing and dogs, if need be.