Holiday in Viet Nam

Yes, I know I am supposed to be working, but there is only so much you can do when you are only a trainee on a trip. So I have taken to being the one to go to the pub with the pax because Marlo isn't the pub type. It is a hard chore, but I am willing to accept it.


I can't remember where I was at last time and the blog won't open so I can't check. I will assume that I was still in Laos. We crossed into Viet Nam a few hours south of Hanoi and then travelled by bus to a non descript town in the middle of nowhere. I think the company refers to it as typical Vn life....yep, hick town that we need to stop at to give the bus driver a rest from long driving days.


Eventually we got the the World Heritage listed Halong Bay, absolutely beautiful. There is limestone rock formations just sticking up out of the water and it looks great. We happened to be there when it was a 4 day long weekend here, so every Vn person seemed to be there along with a million foreigners. The good thing is that we all get our own boat, so we sailed off into the haze to look at the rocks up close. We went into a cave, but it was dry so not that special, and very noisy, lots of kids who just wanted to play, not hear about the cave. The evening was spent on the boat, we slept on it and then I was up to watch sunrise, very nice.


We then headed to Hanoi to see the 'sleeping' Ho Chi Minh, he looks a bit like a wax model from Madame Tussauds, and some HCM history. An overnight train trip on the not so good first class train saw us in the ancient capital of Hue. Quite a good place, loads of history with a Citadel, (walled city) and the elaborate tombs that the kings built for themselves. They don't know where in the complex one king is buried as the people - 200 of them - involved in the burial were all murdered afterwards so they couldn't tell anyone where the jewels and stuff are that are buried with the king. Till today they still don't know, but some archeologist is sure to dig it up someday. I went swimming in the public pool in Hue. You pay for one hour and get whistled at when the time is up. They play music over the loud speakers, and only 3 of us westerners were doing laps. The men and boys stuck to their 2 lanes and the women and girls in the other 2. Very funny. The locals are not used to westerners so keep waving and saying hello when you are swimming a lap.

The whole group did a motorbike tour around the Hue countryside, it was excellent, saw some real local stuff and had lunch at a monastry.

Now, I am in Hoi An, famous for it's tailors. Yes, new shorts for me. The beach is also quite good here and as it is very hot, I think I need to head off there. I will put some photos on when I get to Bangkok about mid May.