Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City - Friday 25th April

Today is our last day in Vietnam. After a lay-in and a leisurely breakfast we packed up our cases and left them with reception so that we can have one last explore of the city before we head to the airport.

We decided to visit the Independence Palace, also known as Reunification Palace, which is a landmark of Ho Chi Minh City.

Independence Palace

It was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

View from the palace

One of the meeting rooms

Banqueting room

From the outside the palace looks like an office block but inside it is very sumptuous in a 1960's way!

We then went back to the hotel to get ready for our long flight back to the UK.

We have both really enjoyed our trip to Vietnam - each place has been very different and it has given us a good overview of the country. We found that the further south we went the more hot and humid it was!

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Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City - Thursday 24th April

After our late arrival last night, today was the first time we had the chance to look around Ho Chi Minh City, which is also known as Saigon, and is the largest city in Vietnam. In the morning we had a walk around the city taking in all the sights and sounds.

The Opera House

The Peoples Committee Building

Statue of Ho Chi Minh

Norte Dame cathedral

The traffic is crazy but as there are more cars in Ho Chi Minh City than in Hanoi it is harder to cross the roads - motorbikes will go round you but cars seem to aim right for you! We have also found that motorbikes drive on the pavement a lot so you are dodging them on the road AND on the paths!

As we had a big breakfast we skipped lunch and instead had a delicious icecream from a place called Fanny's!

Fanny's Icecream!

This afternoon we went to the War Remnants museum - It is one of the most popular in the city and one of the most sobering and thought provoking museums I have ever been too. It highlights the suffering of the Vietnamese people at the hands of the French and American forces up until 1975. Obviously it was very one sided but the photographs of the injured, disabled and dead were both very shocking and upsetting. Understandably I didn't take any photos at the museum but some people were which surprised me as some of the things we saw you really don't want to see again.

In the evening we went for drinks and dinner at the roof top bar at the Carvelle Hotel. We went just before sunset and enjoyed sitting out on the balcony overlooking the city as the darkness came over the city - a lovely evening for our final one in Vietnam. Peter managed to knock his knife over the edge - thankfully there was a safety barrier just below us that caught the knife otherwise someone could have ended up being stabbed in the head 10 floors down!

View of Saigon at dusk

On the balcony of the rooftop bar

Massive cocktail - hic!

 

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Vietnam: Hue - Wednesday 23rd April

We woke up this morning to find that the weather forecast was 93F with a 'real feel' of 103F..... Not the kind of weather you want to be walking around in and that is exactly what we had planned as we were visiting the Hue Citadel which is the city's main attraction.

It is a great sprawling complex of temples, pavilions, moats, walls, gates and gardens and we enjoyed walking around for a few hours and taking it all in. Although the Citadel is not that old, construction started in 1805 and completed in 1832, neglect and war has taken its toll. However, much of the citadel has been restored since the city was made a UNESCO site in 1993 and it gave you a good idea of how it was in the days of the emperors.

In the afternoon we travelled to Hue airport for a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Our original flight had already been pushed back from 4pm to 6pm, and when we arrived at the airport we found it was delayed to 7:40pm so we had 3 hours to wait! The lady that checked us in was telling us something about it being delayed and we couldn't understand her - after asking 3 times we gave up as it was getting embarrassing and just said OK so we don't know what we had agreed to!

At 7:10pm it said that the plane was boarding so we went to the gate and no one was there and the doors were locked. It came to 7:30pm and we were still waiting, and then we saw a plane come in to land, and it was our plane...... The monitor was saying departed by the time they made an announcement that the plane would now be departing at '20' meaning 8pm! When we finally boarded the flight Peter found he had Buddhist monk sitting next to him!

We finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh City Airport around 9:30pm, and by the time we had picked up our luggage, fought the crowds to get a taxi (it was bedlam!) and got driven to our hotel it was around 10:30 - glad to finally be here!

Our hotel seems very nice - I had booked one of the suite rooms so we have a little seating area as well as a bedroom - it has got Peter's seal of approval!

Our hotel room

Small seating area in our room

 

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Vietnam: Hue - Tuesday 22nd April

Today we hired a car and driver to take us around some of the royal tombs. The first one we visited was Emperor Ming Mang's tomb, who died in 1841. It was one of the largest complexes that we went to today, and was very picturesque with lakes, gardens and several buildings.

The next stop was the Tomb of Khai Dinh, who reigned from 1916-1925 and was the last of the emperors to be buried in a Royal Tomb in Hue.

He's behind you!

The building that holds the tomb

The view from the tomb

We were allowed to go in to the tomb, which had very elaborate tiling inside and it looked amazing (unfortunately we wasn't allowed to take photos inside) although it did smell a bit of wee which was off putting!

The last tomb of the day was Emperor Tu Duc, who reigned from 1848 - 1883. It was my least favourite out of the 3 and not as grand as the other 2.

Our final stop of the day was Thiên Mụ Pagoda which is a historic temple in Hue. The pagoda has seven storeys and is the tallest in Vietnam. Buddhist Monks live on the site and their homes and gardens are at the back of the site.

Thien Mu Pagoda

Don't jump!

Peter and his friend say "I don't think so girlfriend"

The view of the Perfume River from the pagoda

Dragon boats on the river

The scenery has been amazing today and we have seen a lot of the countryside and villages outside of Hue. It was very hot walking around so it was a relief to get in to the air conditioned car between places - I don't think the poor driver has ever seen such sweaty messes get in to the back of his car!

Poor Peter has come down with a cold - how he has got one in this heat I don't know but he is soldiering on - I hope I don't get it!

This evening we went to a local restaurant and probably had the worse meal of the trip - we ordered tuna in a claypot and sate beef and both were pretty bland. And to top it off, the waiter said to Peter 'your face is wet'.....and it really wasn't - I thought you should have seen him at the tombs earlier!

Our only bad meal of the trip so far!

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Vietnam: Travelling to Hue - Monday 21st April

Today we left Hoi An to travel to Hue via the Hai Van Pass. We had hired a car and driver to take us there with a few stops along the way. Our first stop of the day was Marble Mountain, which is a group of five marble and limestone hills. All of the mountains have cave entrances and several buddhist sanctuaries, pagodas and monuments. It was a long climb up to the many levels of the mountain/hill, and we were yet again sweaty messes by the end (this is now becoming a regular occurrence!) but it was definitely worth the effort.

One of the pagodas

Inside one of the caves

One of the temples at Marble Mountain

Our driver parked at one of the many marble gift shops and the ladies there said 'please come and look at our shop when you are finished'. As soon as we had left Marble Mountain one of the shop ladies was waiting for us and so we thought we would have a look round - something caught my eye and I asked how much - it was way too expensive so the haggling began......I knew how much I wanted to spend and I wouldn't budge from that and we tried to walk away a few times and in the end we got it at the price we wanted. Pleased with ourselves we left the shop, with the lady telling us where our driver had parked. When we got to the car a very stroppy lady came up to us and said, pointing at our purchase, I thought you were going to come to my shop - now we are pretty sure this is a scam as the lady we met earlier was the one we spoke to when we parked up and they try and guilt you in to making another purchase with this ruse but we just walked away. I was pretty annoyed that the driver had put us in that position in the first place but after a moan in the car we were over it!

We drove along the Hai Van Pass (which means "ocean cloud pass"), which is a 21 km long mountain pass with lots of twists and turns! I am sure the views are pretty amazing but unfortunately it was a hazy day and, by the time we got to the top, the cloud and mist meant we couldn't see anything! However we did get out and have a look around the bunkers left from the Vietnam war and the little market there.

The misty Hai Van pass!

Our last stop before our final destination was Lang Co Beach.

Lang Co Beach

5 hours after leaving Hoi An we finally arrived in Hue. Our hotel is down a small alleyway in the middle of Hue - it is by far our cheapest hotel at £24 a night and that includes breakfast - bargain!

Not bad for £24 a night!

We had a walk around Hue to get our bearings and, to be honest, it was a bit of a disappointment - after the character of Hanoi, and the quaintness of Hoi An, Hue seems to be quite a non descript city! However, hopefully things will improve as we have plans to view the citadel and 3 of the main tombs of the Nguyen emperors that reigned in Hue from 1802 until 1945 over the next two days. I know what you are thinking, visiting tombs sounds a bit morbid but the emperors actually used these places for relaxation and entertain guests when they were alive so they are more than just a tomb!

In the evening we went to a restaurant that is highly rated on trip advisor - it was down a dark alley which we would never of gone down if we hadn't been looking for it! We wanted to try the local specialities - we shared a starter of Bahn Beo which is small, circular rice flour crepes topped with minced shrimp, fried shallots and crispy pork crackling - they were ok but we wouldn't have them again. For our main meal we both had the local chicken curry which was delicious.

Bahn Beo - that is crackling in the middle!

Delicious curry!

 

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Vietnam: Hoi An - Sunday 20th April

This morning we were up early as we were going to My Son Sanctury, which is cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa. We left the hotel at 7:30am for the 45 min car journey - it is recommended to go early as it is in the middle of the jungle and we were warned it gets very hot there - have I mentioned it is Hot in Hoi An? :-)

The ruins were an amazing sight to see - and because we had got there early we had beat the crowds and there was only about 6 people there when we arrived.

We found the place fascinating, and with the searing heat and the sound of the birds and constant hum of the crickets we really did feel we were in the middle of the jungle.

We saw lots of butterflies flying around and we even came across a lizard who gave us the beady eye! We also saw lots of MASSIVE cobwebs but thankfully no massive spiders to go with them!

I am watching you!

We were there about 2 hours and were sweaty messes by the end of it - I don't think we had any fluid left in our bodies by the end as we had sweated it all out!

Once back in Hoi An, and after we had cooled down a bit, we went to one of the local family restaurants for lunch - we loved the wontons so much last night we had them again (it's a Hoi An speciality - it would be rude not too!).

Hmmm Wontons

Our view whilst eating lunch - it's a hard life!

Whilst walking back to our hotel for an afternoon of relaxing we came across this house which was drying chillies out on the street!

Anyone for a chilli pepper?

After lunch I had a long dip in the jacuzzi, which was lovely as it was so hot! And then I went for a massage. Now, after my earlier experience of a massage in Asia (see the Phuket posting on my blog for the full story!) I thought I would play it safe and just have a 1 hour foot massage - when I had one in Bangkok a few years ago I was sitting in a seat so was surprised that I had to lay on a massage bed, and even more surprised when she straddled me and started pummelling my back!! I thought 'oh no it is Phuket all over again' but I thought just wait before I yell for her to get off (I just want my feet rubbed!). All I can say is that, although it turned out to be more than a foot massage, the majority of it was very nice and I would say only 10% was borderline painful! My 'foot massage' consisted of reflexology on my feet, massaging my legs (she tucked my summer dress in to my knickers!), pulling my legs to stretch my muscles (watch it lady, I am not that flexible!) and massaging my shoulders, head and face (which was mostly enjoyable apart from when she was pulling my fringe - don't ask - and doing that chopping motion ON MY HEAD!). It was only £10 though!

This evening we went to a restaurant in the old town - it had a garden out back that you could sit in and have your meal. I had just finished my dessert when I saw something out of the corner of my eye - I thought it was a cat until I looked properly and it was a great big rat! I told Peter and it then scurried behind me in to some foliage. He kept looking which freaked me out as I thought it was behind me. I asked for the bill and they took so long that it came running out again and in to another part of the garden - everyone else was oblivious! Not a great end to our last night in Hoi An.

 

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