The rest of our time in capitalist-communist Vietnam

A word about pictures:  we have a fixed amount of data transfer with our internet time right now, so we can’t keep our Picasa albums in sync with our posting, for those who are looking at our albums. We’ll let you know when they’re up!   

Picking up where we left off in Vietnam we started our journey south flying to Hue on Feb 2^nd. Thanks to some helpful advice (flying is basically as cheap as the train and not much more than the bus) and pre-planning we managed to avoid the New Year travel madness of the train and what I can only imagine is a horrible overnight bus.

Despite its setting along the Perfume River, Hue lacked the character and charm of Hanoi but offered a number of cool historical sites owing to its position as a former capital city. Our sightseeing included a visit to the Citadel, which was constructed in the early 1800s and housed the imperial city along and was home to the emperors of Nguyen dynasty. While much of it is in ruins or heavily renovated thanks to damage during the Vietnam War, you still get a good sense for the magnitude of the city and the grandeur of the emperor’s home (Forbidden Purple City).

Inside the old citadel in Hue

On our second day we took a boat/bus tour along the river to visit several of the emperors’ tombs and two pagodas. We particularly liked the Tomb of Khai Dinh which had a unique blend of European and Vietnamese architecture.

Khai Dinh tomb complex

Hue also provided a chance for some Asian fusion food, local style. The restaurant we particularly liked was run by a friendly woman who looked about twelve years old and had a great sign outside …always best to avoid the ‘cheap food’ and stick with the ‘price reasonable’.

As advertised, and good food too!

From Hue we took the train to Danang on our way to Hoi An. While the ride was fine, and provided a unique food cart experience (we didn’t sample, but the fragrance was hard to avoid) and some decent coast line views, it definitely made us even more thankful for our decision to fly from Hanoi.

This guy did not find his food as amusing as we did.

I'll have the pre-packaged sandwich & chips, please.

Our three days in Hoi An provided a different experience from Hanoi and Hue with a much more ‘tourist friendly’ feel.   On the day we arrived, we explored town and the temples hidden behind all the retail shops – mainly tailors (Hoi An is the custom-made clothing capital of Vietnam) and ladies enticing you into their stores by suggesting “Buy something!”, a sales pitch that turned out to not be very effective on us. 

The next day we rented some bikes and rode to the beach. While we didn’t go in the water ourselves, we made some friends with a couple of locals boys who found us funny – especially my picture taking - and we were fascinated by watching the locals go in the water in their everyday clothes.

Shoes or cameras? Same-same, but different.

Seems uncomfortable to me.

We spent a morning visiting the totally disappointing My Son Hindu temple ruins about a 90 minute bus ride from town… but at least we checked that off the UNESCO World Heritage list.  The highlight from our stay was a half day cooking class. After a market visit we took a boat to a small hotel/restaurant about 3 miles down the river. We learned about and got to practice making several different dishes including fresh spring rolls and rice paper from scratch, Vietnamese omelet, and a clay pot eggplant dish. We also did some food carving, which Jess seemed to have a better knack for than me (no photos of my efforts will be shown here; see album), but I largely blame on my inadequate knife.

Top Chef Jason

Master food stylist Jess

On the boat trip back to the center of town we were treated to an amazing sunset.

Our final stop in Vietnam was Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), a large bustling city that removes any doubt one might have that the Vietnamese have fully embraced capitalism. While we probably didn’t do the city justice by our choice of location for accommodation, in backpacker central, we didn’t find much in the way of charm or interest in the city itself. That said, a trip to the War Remnants Museum was a fascinating experience. While the displays painted a slightly different and more one-side picture of the Vietnam War from the one I knew, the photo exhibits left little doubt of the horrific nature of the fighting, tactics employed and the impact on Vietnam.

By the time we left on the 10^th on our 6am bus bound for Phnom Penh in Cambodia we were ready for something a little less in-your-face and hoping for a break from having to negotiate the price of everything and pushing back on the inflated “your [item or service] costs 50% more because of Tet Holiday [link]” pricing which lasted well past the length of the actually 3-day holiday. In that vein, though, we were feeling particularly smug after we refused to pay our Vietnam-Cambodia bus monitor man $25 each to take care of our Cambodian visas ($20 visa + $5 service charge:  “$2 stamp fee, $1 for the border guard, $2 for me”).  That last “$2 for me” was the final straw!  We decided to handle the visa ourselves, taking our chances that the bus might leave without us – but with our bags in the hold – if we took too long. Turns out it took no time at all, there was no stamp fee, we didn’t have to bribe the border guards, and we were back on the bus before all the locals made it through.  Vietnam might have hosed us a few times, but we left on a winning note!