Vietnam 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

VIETNAM 1...good morning Vietnnnnnnaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!...arrived Hanoi 5pm on 5th July after a mamoth journey from Hong Kong via China overland all the way....left HK 10am on 3rd arrived Gaungzhou China and spent a night at friends...left Gang.4pm on 4th by train to Nanning(1200km, 14 hours journey,arrived 6am on 5th...by the way we had seats instead of sleeper and so was tough! but few beers and I was ok for sleep!)...from Nanning another 4 hours train to Pingxing(border town with Vietnam)...2 hours for immigration formalities and we crossed in to Vietnam 12pm...then a bus journey for 4 hours to Hanoi...and yes its raining in Hanoi just like Hong Kong but who cares now that we are in Naam!

First impressions are its a third world nation no doubt similar to India in its makeup of roads full of pot holes ,lack of guttres,and very loud with horns beepping form all directions and no sense of taffic rules what so ever! But I tell you this... meeting and talking to Vietnamese people I came to some conclusions very quickly that these guys and girls are mentally very tough and take no shit from no one and are forceful with their views and attitude ....little wonder then that these guys and girls have beaten the crap out of the French,Amricans and the Chinese over the last century or so...one nation you do not mess with is VIETNAM!
Am looking forward to visiting some of the battle sites between Viet Cong and the Americans during Vietnam War...this the Vietnamese call American War...have read few books on this war and it is on of my interest(P thinks I am a bit psycho when it comes to war and battles and she thinks I need to see a shrink!)...at the moment am reading a book called...VIETNAM, THE DEFINITIVE ORAL HISTORY TOLD FROM ALL SIDES by Christian G. Appy (600 pages)...its brilliant.By the way while travelling in China , I was reading MAO biography(over 1000 pages) and it was awsome read(its officially banned in China)...again P thinks I actually admire MAO(who murdered over 40 millions Chinese) and calls me a closet Communist...I just like reading that kind of stuff...may be I do need help!!! help!!! anyone!!! please!!!...am going to read a book called YEAR ZERO,CAMBODIA while travelling in Cambodia...its about POL POT regime...compare to POL POT, MAO was a saint! POL POT almost killed EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in Cambodia! P read MEMOIRES OF A GEISHA while travelling in Japan...I read that one some 12 years ago...its magical!

VIETNAM 2
...Hanoi...not much too see apart from Ho Chi Min body in Mausoleum complex ...we did not see it...someone said its gone to Madam Tussauds for repair!...his last wish was to be cremated but no ... others decided to stuff him up with preservatives to pickle him and put him on show!...the city is too fast and furious with motor bikes..I have never seen nothing like it not even in India! (by the way we got super hotel deal from Whaif.com ...it was huge suite with balcony ,lounge and so on ...for 9 quid a night for 3 with 2 huge beds...we lived like celebrities! in Hanoi) ...motorbike is the king...rule number one ...the only rule...when you cross the road walk very very slowly ,do only look straight...let the bikers avoid hitting you ...if you try to avoid them ...well you re sure to get crumpled!...food is a problem for us vegis ...but then how come we have all put on some weight!...its very very cheap in Vietnam,cheaper than China and Camodia is even cheaper than both!...but people aint friendly compared to others like Thais because of their history of being screwed by every nation on earth and so they dont trust the foreigners ! and thats understandable.
There are lakes ,temples,museuma and so on...our hotel was in the Old Quarter(where all foreingers stays including diplomats etc)...this area has couple of thousand year old history and has all French type constructions and nice to look at if you like that sort things which P does!
It rained all day on our first day but since then its baking hot..just sweat sweat all day!
Also went to visit Hoa Lo Prison(nicknamed Hanoi Hilton by US prisoners of war during Vietnam war)...Pete Anderson was POW here(1964/1973) and in 1995 when USA re-establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam,he became the first US Ambasaador to Vietnan! I am a bit crazy about anyhing to do with Vietnam war and so I enjoyed this place very much.. as for P ...well she said If she has to visit anymore Vietnam war pilgrim site..hmmm....she is going to lock me up and throw away the key...with all the other names...now she calls me VIETNAM WAR RELIC SPOTTER!

VIETNAM 3
...arrived Hue after 16 hours overnite train from Hanoi...train was not bad,we had soft sleeper and were sharing the cabin with two Aussie Sheilas!..they were sisters,one lives in Bangkok and a cricket follower...Hue is 100km in to North Vietnam and same distance away from old DMZ(DEMILITARISED ZONE)...DMZ was 5km both sides of the North and South border and runs 50km from sea to Laos border...this area was the most bombed in the history of any war ever! most of the fighting took place in North Vietnam...3.14 millions Amricans served in Vietnam from 1963/1972, death toll,58,183 Americans,277,000 South Vietnamese soldiers,one million North vietnamese soldeirs and four million civilians from North and South.Still missing in action,2200 Americans and 330,000 Vietnamese.America lost 3689 fixed- wing aircraft,4800 helicopters.America used 15 million tonnes of ammunition and dropped 40 million tonnes of bombs and spent 300 billion pounds ie 1.2 trillion in todays money...America lost the war and left Vietnam in 1974 with millions of landmines all over Vietnam...since 1974 one Vietnamese is either killed or injured by the landmines every other day...landmine experts are finding some 10 landmines daily and it will take centuries to make Vietnam land safe to walk for its people...
...at the same time Americans also drop millions of tonnes of bombs on Cambodia and Laos...

VIETNAM 4
...I went on a tour for a day around DMZ to see some of the battle sites with a guide and kind of followed in the footsteps of soldiers where the story unfolded and echoes of the war rings loudly through the mountains that rises toward Laos and it was quite poignant pilgriimage for me ,there are rusty tanks ,spent bomb shells ,shot down helicopters and many other war relics all over the place...some of it is a lunar landscape of bunkers, bomb craters as far as you can see,bits of cloths,decaying military boots are strewn around the red earth...devastating....most of the areas are still considered too dangerous and will remain closed for many years....in my group we had a Vietnamese man age about 55 and he was visiting DMZ for first time as his father lost his life around DMZ fighting the Americans...it was heart warming to hear his thoughts on forgivness and getting on...
...while I was in the battle zone....my wife and daughter were cruising down a Perfume river
around Hue as P is not fond of wars and battles...and they had a wonderful day too...
VIETNAM 5
...by the way I said earlier when we arrived in Vietnam that I was a bit unhappy with Vietnamese people...well I have a change of mind...we spent 6 days in former North Vietnam and then we moved on to former South Vietnam and people in South are as friendly as those loving Thai people and we 3 are really enjoying our time in Vietnam since our first one or two days and loving every minute...Hue is decent town on Perfume river and during the war house to house fighting lasted here for 2 months between both sides with many deaths...
from Hue we caught a bus...4 hour ride to HOIAN...the ride was really beautiful as the road is along the coast and mountains are real close too and very beautiful...more on Hoian
next time...real Vietnam...by the way Center of Hue is yet another UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE...all I can add is its old and well ..rustic... and lots of kites in the sky and so we joined the locals and we tried to fly one of our own kite...and would it go up in the air....no it it DID NOT...P even blew a kiss at it and it still stayed on the ground!...got all sweaty and hot ...then caught a cyclo to the nearest bar and had a couple of cold ones...

VIETNAM 6
...Hoian is what Vietnam is all about...yet another UNESCO world heritage site(very old buildings that transports you back to 1700) and well deserved if I might say so...beautiful beach not too far,great food,lots of rivers and villages,lots of small boats,surrounded by rice fields,narrow street,real friendly people, lots of small hotels ,great varieties of food, and it is intimatley small,very colorful ,full of tailor shops to make you new wardrobes at throwaway price within a day!!!( 3 of us had complete new wardrobe made up for 125 US!!! and all made to measure...we have discarded all our old clothes) and everything in Hoian is within walking distance! we hired a motorbike and had great fun with all 3 of us managing to get on it...I had some trouble initially driving it but after couple of hours I was a pro...so says my wife! Riding the motorbike was real fun and great way to travel and P and V loved every minute of it!
Hoian is a classic hangout for backpackers and it is real Vietnam and it is very cheap.We had another great deal from Whaif for a hotel room and this one had a swimming pool! We were sad to leave Hoian but we were going to move to even a greater place...MUINE...we have a booked a bunglow right on the beach in Muine over looking South China Sea ...blue ocean full of small fishing boats!...From Hoian(central Vietnam) we caught a train ....16 hours overnite sleeper ...we arrived Muine beach(200km from Saigon)...WOW! WHAT A PLACE! and what accomodation...right on the beach and 18 US a night for 3...someone wake me up ...cause I must be dreaming!
..anyway we had good time in Muine...walk on the beach,swimmingand so on...we had a jeep for a day and it was fun as we drove around to see some sights...see pictures...Muine is 170km from Saigon and is having boom in building 5 star resorts and so many of them and it will be even more buzzing in 5 to 10 years...looks like another Thailand by the beach and cheaper too...
VIETNAM 7
...from Muine we went to Saigon...4 hours bus ride...stayed in a beautiful small hotel right in the center ...very westernise unlike Hanoi...its organised chaos more so than Hanoi but it is developing city with bright neon lights and posh hotels and cafe culture...people call it Saigon but authority call it Ho Chi Min City...
Of course Saigon lost the war against Hanoi and under re-unification in 1975 most well to do people from Saigon(in thousands) were stripped off their nationality cards and were sent to re-education centers for over 10 years in how to be a good Communist and these people(most of them well educated doctors,lawyers,and so on) now back in Saigon after being re-educated but without any paperworks and so they are the ones begging on the street and driving cyclos and doing poorly paid jobs on black market and it is a very sad to see a professor or a doctor selling postcards on the street to feed himself and his family just because he had a different political view to that of the authorities...madness as they are refuges in their own country...

VIETNAM 8...
from Saigon we went for 2 days in to MEKONG DELTA(tiny boats,small boats,large boats and even a ferry and all in 2 days!) and boy this was absolute real NAM as I had imagined...
it was fantastic...just like those NAM war movies and more...we saw real life on Mekong river and floating markets and boats of all sizes ...it has so many rivers ...we must have crossed some 30 rivers in 4 hours drive from Saigon to middle of Mekong Delta and all rivers were full to the bank with really clean but brown water with silt deposits...and there are thousands of canals... its a rice basket of Vietnam...one of the most remarkable thing in Vietnam for us is...there are no mosqitos anywere not even one ...not even in Mekong Delta even though we are taking anti-malaria tablets..its wonderful to be free of bites in South East Asia ...
As for three of us we have been lucky that none of us had any illness since we left home apart from bad tummy in Xian(China) for 24 hours (Vedanta and Dipak both same time!) and we hope it remains that way for a long long time...
Vedanta has become a real traveller and hardly moans about anything and just gets on with whether its food ,waking up early,walking and whatever and she is really enjoying the whole travelling ...thing!!!! she did put on weight earlier on but now we think she is back to her normal weight and she eats everything unlike at home!