Due Vagabondi: March 2016

Transparency: This post is being written in 2020 as we did not have a blog in 2016. I am using stay at home time to flatten the curve of the global pandemic Covid-19 to organize photos from this trip into a post. Memories may not be exact.

Our first foray into this big, long country of Vietnam looks like this on the map. As you can see, distances are great so we become regulars of the inexpensive and comfortable night buses. Sleeping while the miles are put on saves on accommodation fees and road boredom. We could travel for about 12 hours for an approximate cost of CAD 12.

There is much discussion on the internet about the wisdom and safety of travelling by sleeper bus. Before going, you may want to check out the discussions and opinions. We are a fan.

Reclining seats; foot boxes for stuff; some have curtains at aisle to pull across; pillows; blankets

Paul is sitting middle seat at very back to get a photo of the bus. One of the least desirable seats, unless you're young and with a bunch of friends all lying across the back of the bus. You can see that there are two levels of 'sleepers' one over the other stacked and three rows. It's nice to be across from each other instead of above/below each other.

We found the lights were dimmed at night. The drivers did not play any loud music. We wished that bathroom and snack breaks were more frequent. In our experience, there were only a couple or even one stop on a long trip. We went on one newer bus that had a bathroom, hopefully, the wave of the future for sleepers. There often was no official bus station. You'd get picked up at your accommodation or have to get to a designated spot to catch the bus. Your ticket did have a guaranteed seat. You'd be dropped off on the side of a road or a gravel pit, pouring rain or sunshine. There would always be tuk-tuks waiting to whisk you to your destination. To my surprise, a small scooter can indeed accommodate the driver, passenger and huge backpack.

My problem is that we were often woken from a dead sleep with a driver yelling something like "OK we're here, Get off NOW". I'd be fuzzy-headed and leave some of my belongings behind (prescription glasses one time, a sun hat another time). Better organization on my part could fix that. It sometimes struck me as odd that we often arrived at our destination an hour or even two ahead of schedule which made me wonder how fast they were going as we slept. I was reassured that there seemed to be two drivers available. One would sleep in the aisle as the other drove, then at bathroom break, they would do a switch.

Ha Tien

The name of a guest house that we had carefully written on a piece of paper meant nothing to our tuk-tuk driver so he took us to a place with a similar sounding name in a good location. It was a great room for CAD 11.

Ha Tien is a friendly, peaceful and safe city of about 82,000 people in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. The Giang Tanh River that flows through it serves as the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. This has proved useful for trade between the countries, but in the time of unrest, the Khmer Rouge would conduct cross-border raids on Ha Tien.

The river here empties into the Gulf of Thailand. The river also slows down to form the Dong Ho Lake which is surrounded by mangrove forests. The striking limestone karst mountains that we admire so much are on two sides of Ha Tien, creating some stunning scenery. We go by scooter to an area that the locals call: "Mini Ha Long Bay" and it deserves the title.

They say that on a clear day from the Mui Nai Beach you can see the mountains of both Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam and Kampot in Cambodia.

We like to walk the promenade along the Mekong River, watch the boats, see what designs the kite seller has, then get off the main streets and walk through neighbourhoods to admire the architecture. As we pass schools, the children on recess call out to us waving and smiling. If we are walking to or from school they also approach us to ask where we are from.

Not the main river

Walking around the back streets we come upon several small temples. They are beautiful, peaceful and welcoming and we rarely see people in them.

Here's a collage of statuary from several temple grounds:

The four markets are all in one area of town in four huge buildings, so they are easy to find. They seem cleaner than many markets we've been to.

Evening and into the early night time are lovely here. There is a cooling breeze from the mountains, or the sea or the river. Photos are below are from the night market and night on the promenade.

All our guide books say to look for the Oasis Bar and its owner, long-time British ex-pat by the name of Andy as his beer is cold and reasonably priced, food is good and he is willing to share his wealth of information on Ha Tien as well as hook you up with a tour guide.

So we go to the address of the Oasis Bar ... and it's not there. Disappointed we continue our walk then come upon a little bar that looks welcoming. As soon as we hear the British accent we look up to see Oasis Bar. Andy has just moved locations and is right across from the river now. This is a great, friendly place to eat and drink and Andy sets us up with his English-speaking friend Mr. The as a tour guide. Mr. The and his son will take each of us on the back of their scooters tomorrow and it turns out to be a full day of exploring.

Here are some random places we went to. No particular order and cannot remember the names of some:

Below is the Tran Chau Cave. Outside the cave, we are looking at holes in the rock as American fighter jets sprayed the entrance with bullets during the Vietnam War. This cave served as a place of refuge at that time and as a hospital. There's water in the cave, so everything sat on rafts - a floating hospital if you will.

The beautiful and tranquil Tam Bao Pagoda Temple houses a community of Buddhist nuns.

There is a well-known cave near Ha Tien called Thach Dong that is a memorial to local people killed during the Pol Pot regime. We went into a temple in a cave that also is a memorial, but I don't believe it was Thach Dong. Outside the temple, we spoke with a woman who came to remember. From this temple, we could see out over the rice fields.

Walking through a park with statues depicting torture inflicted upon the people by the Khmer Rouge:

Then down into the ossuary to remember those who died:

We stop by to see the equipment and catch of local fish boats; stroll through a small fish market in the country and have lunch by the sea.

We spend some late afternoon time at Mui Nai Beach, said to be one of the most beautiful on the entire Gulf of Thailand. It's peaceful and reasonably quiet when we are here.

The Gala Tourist has a description of the legend associated with the beach and its amenities.

More of what we saw this day is in some of the random photos below. It was a great day. Our tour guide and his son took us by their home briefly to meet their wife/mother. They run a small shop, so we sat outside and had a drink while they talked.

They ask what we are doing tomorrow and we say that regretfully we have to leave. When we say that we don't yet have our bus tickets, we give the father money and for a very tiny fee, he delivers the tickets to our hotel for the early morning bus. To our surprise he is waiting outside in the morning, saying he just wanted to be sure that the bus came and that we got on it. How's that for service!

It may be that with all our walking and the heat, its here that we discover 'Revive' a drink that seems to be available only in Vietnam. I think its an energy drink that I don't normally like because of their sweetness, but this is simply refreshing. We look for it everywhere, along with all the fresh juices you can get.

We like this city very much and I could return here.

Random Photos: Ha Tien

Peppercorns drying in the sun

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)

A first impression of this huge city for a newbie traveller is what seems like the absolute chaos of thousands of motorbikes filling the roadways. The taxi drops us across from our accommodation and I can only imagine the horror on my face at having to cross the street. An elderly gentleman across the street sees it though and calmly cuts through the pandemonium to come to our side. He takes our arms and calmly leads us across with a big smile on his face. Thus we learn the survival tip:
step off the curb with intention - do not vary your pace and the scooters will swirl around you. I was never quite sure about the cars and trucks though!

Our guest house is perfectly located, actually, there are two Madame Cuc's one across the road from the other. We'd stay here again.

It's here that we meet the lovely Ginny and Nathan. He's from New Zealand and she's from Vietnam. They are here on business but invite us to call them when we are in Hoi An, and we do.

We seem to have very few pictures of our short time here. We wandered the streets and markets; stopped for a drink at a rooftop bar for a look from above. There was a nice park and there we were interviewed by students doing a school project. I enjoyed the interesting architecture and food. There was some kind of outdoor trade show going on so we wandered that.

We started to learn what scooters are capable of

Only four hours from Ho Chi Minh are the floating villages of the Mekong Delta. We had originally planned to have a night or two in a local homestay in the delta, but Paul was starting to experience the high fevers of Dengue Fever, so we quickly book a flight to the cooler mountain air of Da Lat in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Da Lat (AKA: "The City of Eternal Spring")

The Tien An small hotel is more like a guest house with its family atmosphere and friendly dog. The rooms are big and airy and the breakfast is huge with a big selection of food. We all sit around a table together and so we meet some folks that we head out with for dinner one evening.

Most of the half-million people in Da Lat do live in the city but it doesn't seem crazy busy, just a nice pace with lots to do.

Somehow Paul eats enough acetaminophen that he can get out and about during the day.

The Xuan Huong Lake is made for strolling around. There's interesting architecture, gorgeous gardens of all kinds that include bonsai and topiary as well as flowers (which Da Lat is also known for). The paddle boats are swans.

Flower Sellers

One day we rent a scooter from Easy Rider. They are well-known in Vietnam and do tours. We are served tea when we come to get a bike. It takes no time to get out of the city to be in the farmlands. Never have we seen such intense farming. It can get cold here in the wintertime. It seems that every square inch of soil has a greenhouse, even on the steepest of slopes. It's a major fruit and vegetable supplier for the country.

On the way back to the hotel we stumble on an interesting temple: Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do

Inside the temple

Near the end of our stay, we head to The Crazy House - what a place!

The woman architect who built this - actually it's still a work in progress, practices free-flowing, organic design. There's not a square corner, straight line or anything regular about it. It's pure fantasy that makes you feel like you're in the jungle as you go from structure to structure. You could get lost in the maze of stairs, walkways and passageways. You go up, down, over, through and under buildings with fantastical staircases.

The money of course is needed to continue this project, so an admission fee is charged to see it and it operates as a hotel. One can rent a room here. I would love to stay here because the rooms are cozy and charming and each one has a theme. Whimsical animals are often incorporated into the rooms and outside areas. Each room has a creative fireplace - see if you can pick them out.

This is a life's work - a masterpiece - a piece de resistance.
It may never be finished...just eternal growth.