Phu Quoc Vietnam

After a week in Hanoi and a week in Siagon we were looking for some sand and sun. We decided to venture south to Phu Quoc an island off the southern tip of Vietnam. We left our email address at a travel agent and the gods smiled on us. A couple from Denmark had booked rooms at two resorts for the same week and were unable to get a refund for the bookings so they were looking for somone to purchase one of the resrvations, which we did for less than half the price we would have normally paid.
We arrived at Mai Spa Resort to a lovely room with a large deck directly on the beach. Laid in bed that night and watched the sun set out our windows.

Sunset from our bedroom

Our cottage

We spent a few days exploring the island, visiting white sand beaches, quaint little fishing villages, pepper farms

Found a great deal on a fishing boat and the owner threw in a motor bike for free.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam

Our visit to Hanoi was like taking a step back in time and served as an introduction into Vietnam’s past, while our visit to Ho Chi Minh City was like a fast forward into the intensity of modern, industrious times. Ho Chi Minh City is the economic centre of Vietnam and often abbreviated as HCMC and the name commemorates the first leader of North Vietnam. It is also the largest city in Vietnam, with close to 9 million inhabitants. It was formerly known as Saigon and still referred to as Saigon, especially by the elder generation. Confusing to visitors for sure! We tended to gravitate to using the name Saigon, so it seemed only fitting to us to call this, our visit to Saigon.

Located on the Saigon River HCMC is a busy port and which is part of the Mekong River Delta waterways that lie immediately west of the city. River cruises include visits to the many floating markets and are popular day trips for tourists, however we elected for a short private tour of the Saigon River. It was no luxury speedboat or a dinner cruise just a small wooden craft at a slow intimate pace to see the varied lifestyles and skyscrapers.

It ‘s a working river with smells and floating garbage and not a tourist attraction, although flows so close to the financial centre with large modern skyscrapers.

Bitexco Financial Tower

One example of Saigon’s thriving areas that include export processing zones, industrial parks, software and hi-tech parks.

Definitely an appealing tourist area is the Paris square. Here buildings go back to the 19th Century Colonial French era.The Saigon Opera House, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Saigon Central Post Office are three iconic buildings within the square, surrounded by trees, parks and streetside cafes. The post office is famous for its neoclassical style, created by architect Gustave Eiffel. A bright yellow exterior with a huge clock and roman numerals while inside is the stunning vaulted interior, more like that of a train station with a giant portrait of Ho Chi Minh gracing the back wall. Elegant and unique as it is still a functioning post office that and sells postcards and stamps, so for the first time on our trip I decided to test out a postal service.The cards reached their destination in 12 days (Abbotsford). I just learned the building has been repainted as the yellow was a wrong choice!

Saigon Central Post Office

I always want to see pieces of art and to learn to more about a country’s history and that’s why my morning spent on Sophie’s private Art Tour was perfect. What an  unique way to take a journey in modern and contemporary history while viewing works of Vietnamese artists. She explained how under French colonial rule, art schools were established and classic European traditional styles were taught. The tour centered around a visit to a private collection, the art gallery and an art school. Of particular interest was the work of war artists, Combat Artist of Vietnam War who bravely sketched soldiers  in war zones, with meagre supplies and paper. Also it was interesting to see the visually effective messages of the Propaganda posters of both the American and Vietnamese. A different kind of art used to celebrate military action. Women, as subjects were portrayed in their roles as war participants. All this gave me a better sense of the convoluted history of Vietnam.

Motorbikes are everywhere in Vietnam especially clogging the streets of Saigon, They stream and weave around you as a pedestrian trying to be calm and while crossing the  street. The noise of horns and brakes, the smell of fumes and the hectic pace is all grating yet fascinating. Step out, step slow and steady and do not hesitate or make any sudden movements. Have faith, you will make it across the street!You see all kinds of drivers and passengers; children on stools in front of the driver, pregnant women, animals, etc. Helmets are supposedly now compulsory!

As we left Saigon preparations were visible for TET, the countdown to the Vietnamese New Year on March 19,2015. Bright yellow flowers adorned entranceways and bright red  paper decorations were everywhere. 2015 is the Year of the Goat. In Vietemese culture, people born in the year of the goat are hard-working, determined and never give up easily yet are peaceful. They are also humble and vulnerable to exploitation by others. Forecast is for a year of tranquility and cooperation. I sure hope so. These traits are those I have come to know and admire about the wonderful people in this country.

"Life is a struggle in which sorrow leads to defeat" Kim Thuy, Ru

Hanoi Vietnam

Hanoi or Han oi, is located in the northern region of Vietnam, within the bend of the Red River. Settlement dates back over a thousand years and as Vietnam’s capital for most of those thousand years, the city has endured invasions,occupations, restorations and of course name changes.The stately and grand French colonial buildings, like the Opera house of the Old French Quarter, are within walking distance to the narrow streets of the six hundred year Old Quarter. 

Hanoi Opera House

This area’s charm and timelessness soon captivate you.This is where we first arrived and stayed, oblivious to the surrounding and growing, modern metropolitan area with soaring skyscrapers that are barely mentioned in tourist guides.Hanoi has no rapid transit, which explains the many motorbikes that are everywhere, carrying anything imaginable.

The 36+ streets of the Old Quarter buzz with activity during the day of a commercial district with uniqueness, as each street specialises in a particular product. For example there’s Hang Tre, the bamboo street as “hang “means merchandise and the second word refers to the product. Visit Hang Buom St. for candies, Hang Non for musical instruments, Hang Huong for incense, Hang Khoai for kitchen utensils, Hang Ma for votive papers, lanterns, paper, tinsel, Hang Ruoi for artificial flowers, etc.

 Despite the challenge to manoeuvre, we loved walking around these fascinating streets as life is lived here! Toddlers to elders, live chickens to those steaming in stovepots, people slurping noodles, spitting sunflower seeds from their small plastic seats and horns tooting, all while you weave your way along between motorbikes clogging the street  and those parked on the sidewalk. When it all becomes to much, we walked over to the lovely Hoan Kiem Lake, in the heart of the city and strolled the boulevards for a sense of tranquillity and nature. The Den Ngoc Temple or Jade Mountain temple is just across the picturesque red wooden bridge, a scenic setting and quite the contrast to Old Quarter bee hive of activity.

We viewed the Hoa Lo Prison, built by the French in the 1890’s to house Vietnamese political prisoners. This tour was thought provoking and a sorrowful glimpse into lives of Vietnamese  revolutionaries. Here they were confined in overcrowded, dark and inhumane conditions and tortured and executed. You can still see a relic French guillotine.This same prison was later known as the “Hanoi Hilton” by the American prisoner of war pilots from the Vietnam War. The account of the imprisonment of the American pilots was a sanitized version, as the victors of a war embellished their fair treatment.

An excellent museum, well worth the visit was the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. Five floors of exhibits highlight the role of Vietnamese woman throughout history, focusing on traditional family life and the tasks such as growing food to their participation during wars. Memories and tales of wartime heroines was most poignant.

A woman in a conical hat, riding a bicycle is an iconic image of Vietnam and in Hanoi another such image are the woman street vendors who balance twin baskets “quang ganh” suspended on bamboo poles.These peasant peddlers  have been an integral part of Hanoi’s street life for centuries. From my visit to the Women’s Museum, where I viewed a video presentation of interviews with street vendors, I learned how hard life was for them. Arising early, riding daily into the city to work long hours for meagre pay, just to support their families and now the People’s Committee of Hanoi is attempting to ban mobile vendors.They are considered a menace while I found them so admirable and charming!

Halong Bay Vietnam

  One of the must do things while visiting Hanoi is to take a Halong Bay Boat Tour. Halong Bay is  UNESCO World Hertiage site, in the Gulf of Tonkin, it encompasses more than 2000 limestone islands. Karst topography creates a seascape of bizarrely shaped  outcrops, isolated caves and sandy coves. There are upwards of 100 cruise boats that ply this 580 square mile spectator archipelago of the north-east coast of Vietnam.
We choose a 3 day 2 night cruise, sleeping one night on the boat and one night at the "Monkey Island Resort. The day started early with a 3.5 hr bus ride to Halong City where we boarded our boat.

Our Boat

Upper deck, restaurant on the main and rooms below.

Cruised and ate for a few hours then visited the Hang Sung Sot caves on Bo Hon Island. the caves were interconnected and huge and of course filled with tourists from other cruises.

After the cave tour we found a relatively isolated anchorage and hopped in kayaks to paddle through another cave into a calm bay and watched monkeys on the shore line only a few feet away.

Yeah, we went through that cave

We anchored for the evening, had a good meal prepared on the boat, and got to know our fellow travellers (14 of us on a 24 person boat, lots of room). Had a few beers watched the night sky and retired to our cabin. Lots of boats around but not too close. 

Up early the next morning breakfast on the move, stopped at a small beach and climbed to the top of the island for a 360 degree view. Back on the boat and sailed to Cat Ba Island where we travelled overland stopping for a gruelling hike to a lookout at a National Park. Finished the hike enjoying some unnamed jungle fruit.

Hopped another boat at Ca Ba city for a short ride to our accommodation at Monkey Island Resort, and enjoyed our first sunset in a while.

Up early next morning for a boat ride back to Ca Ba city. Passed the floating village and innumerable boats and shacks that looked like they could hardly float. Hopped our bus back to Hanoi.

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap Cambodia

The ancient capital of the great Khumer Empire, Angkor is beyond doubt, one of the most magnificent wonders of the world. for nearly six centuries, between AD 802 and 1432 Angkor was the political and religous center of the great Khumer Empire, which once extended from the South China Sea almost to the Bay of Bengal. 

The remains of this metropolis now occupy 77 sq miles of northwestern Cambodia, and although its wooden houses and palaces decayed centuries ago, the stunning array of stone temples erected by a succession of self-styled god-kings still stands. Ankor today contains around 70 temples, tombs, and other ancient ruins. Today, after clearance of dense vegetation, restoration and conservation efforts continue.
Among them is the stunning Angkor Wat (temple), the world's single largest religious complex. Angkor What is within a moat and an outer wall 2.2 miles long with three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quinunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west: scholars are divided as to the signifiance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

Angkor Wat by Charles J Sharp

Causeway to Angkor Wat

Stairs to the top Angkor Wat (70% incline)

Sunset from the east side of Angkor Wat

Devada dancers

Ta Prohm Temple where Tomb Raider was filmed.

The Trees of Angkor

Bayon Temple, giant stone face, the Lord Buddha

Sandstone figures of the Terrace of Elephants

Phnon Bakheng (Take your sunset picture here)

Everyone takes pictures 

Temple of the Tour Buses