It’s hardly a shock- we LOVED Phu Quoc!

And who could blame us? Golden sands, blue skies and the clearest ocean water I have seen in a long time. We cheated and flew here as the flight was a bargain, and we just couldn’t wait! We arrived on Thursday afternoon and found our little bungalow just off the beach (a bargain at £13 a night) and went for a long walk on the beach to feel the sand between our toes (and to find an ATM).

Oh and to take in a beautiful sunset- stunning hey? (Beware the floating Russians)

We also bumped into a German couple (Elizabeth and Felix) who we met on our overnight train from Hanoi, and decided to go for a little dinner together that night. The beach is lined with restaurants displaying their catch of the day, and we put or money down on a couple of rather large red snappers:

Here little fishy!

The nightlife here is pretty non existent and by 10pm everything is closing down and the lights start going out along the shoreline, so we were definitely going to get the rest that we wanted. We arose bright and early on Friday to get straight onto the beach and bask in the sun all day…

Kieran is as happy as a clam.

It’s midday- you know what that means. Beer o’clock! Apologies for the gratuitous bikini shot 😉

We also had a really lovely lunch of coconut shrimps (shrimps here it seems are enormous prawns)

As you can see, this blog is entirely based on pictures of us in the sun, and what we ate and drank. But the purpose of this 2 day break was to relax before we hit Cambodia so just bare with us a bit longer…. Kieran? Would you like to share some pictures of food and cocktails?

Indeed i would, as our plane came into land at Phu Quoc we were told it looked a little like Cuba, i dont know about that but having left the madness and noise and beeping of Saigon this place was such a welcome relief. We had wondered about just landing at the airport and kind of “looking around” for a place to stay but for piece of mind and in order to hit the sand as soon as physically possible we had decided to book ahead. We had a room made of solid concrete, flat screen telly, hot water. All the gifts you could need.

Becky failed to mention above that the red snapper we ordered came with a skewer of Beef , Garlic bread (sometimes spelt “Galic Bread”) and a Caipirinha cocktail. All for 199vng (just under £6)
Needless to say we went to this particular place two nights in a row, and yes, we did have the red snapper option each time….
It was very interesting to note the range of prices on offer regarding the fish, as we found in Goa the restaurants loved to display their wares out front for you to investigate but the same piece of fish might be £3 cheaper next door! We did sniff out a very funky looking place which had a happy hour from 7-8. Boy do we love a happy hour…

Mango Daiquiri anyone?

These were simply delish and we could easily get two into us before dinner.

Our last night came far too quickly and we both agreed another day would have been delightful, sure there were boat trips to “explore the island” but we were more than happy to sit, relax, listen to the sea and count our blessings.
On our final day we bumped into our German friends again and decided we would part ways in style. We headed out for a lovely meal and Felix decided to get a seafood hot pot cooked at the table. It looked a bit difficult but he seemed to enjoy it.

Bless.

So with a little colour on our skin and our batteries fully charged, it’s onwards to the next part of the adventure: Cambodia!

The Heat is still on in Saigon….

Ok so now it’s called Ho Chi Minh City, but for the purposes of our blog title the old name works better. Plus, i have been singing the opening number from the musical Miss Saigon since I got here, much to Kieran’s joy.

So when we arrived the heat was most definitely on- a kind of smoggy humidity that you only get in a sprawling city such as this. But hey, it wasn’t raining so it was fine by us! The first job on arrival, as always, was to find food so we hit the streets. It didn’t take too long for us to spot the usual tiny stools on the pavement and people tucking into a brothy concoction so we went for it. This time we had lucked upon a seafood noodle soup (don’t you just love how we sit down somewhere without having the slightest clue what we are about to eat?).

It was a bit pricier than your usual street fodder, about twice what we had been paying elsewhere in fact, but that’s what you get when you are in the capital I guess. And to be fair, there were huge chunks of fish and some massive prawns in there. We especially enjoyed it when the staff started rushing around and grabbing our lunch, and our table from under it, whilst shouting ‘police!’ and hustling us indoors. It seems maybe they didn’t have a license to trade, but we got to finish our broth in peace after this flurry of excitement thankfully. Never a dull moment.

On this first afternoon we decided to just have a general explore as most of the museums close at 4pm and 5pm, and to save our history lesson for tomorrow. Kieran had heard of an Adidas outlet store selling last season’s stuff dirt cheap so we trekked what felt like miles to find it. We finally arrived, only to discover the stuff wasn’t on sale at all! Very apologetic for dragging me out in such a fruitless mission, Kieran fed me a beer and all was well. At least we got to take in a few sights along the way…

That’s right, it’s gotten dark.

We went home for a very quick change before heading out to dinner at ‘Nha Hang Ngon’ which was recommended in the good old Lonely Planet guide and was placed inside a gorgeously lit leafy garden.

This wasn’t everything we ate, but they just bring stuff as soon as it’s ready so we only had a chance to take this one quick photo. As most of you know, once food is on the table Kieran and I can’t focus on anything else. We had an early night after dinner as we were up bright and early the next day to see the Cu Chi Tunnels!

Yes it was an early morning, and there was a long bus ride (50km worth of bus ride in nasty traffic), and my darling Kieran took this deeply unflattering photo of me asleep on his shoulder. (Also, Jackie Ostocke is that you photo bombing us?!)

So the Cu Chi tunnels are a network of underground tunnels developed by the Viet Cong in the 1960’s to help them defend the area of Cu Chi from American attacks during the Vietnamese War. The tunnels spread across a whopping 200km, reaching back to Saigon, and in another direction out to the Cambodian border.

A hidden tunnel entry point. Pretty tight wouldn’t you say? Our guide wanted a volunteer to squeeze themselves in and guess who stepped up?

Kieran did of course! Obviously it was pretty distressing for the Americans when the Vietnamese would just pop up out of nowhere then disappear into thin air again…

Where’d he go?!

Not one to be outdone, i stepped up for a little peek inside the entrance to another tunnel…

And peeking was all i would be doing here as the tunnel was just big enough for you to crawl through on your belly, and I wasn’t really up for that.

One of the tunnels had been widened and heightened so we fat Westerners could squeeze through and get the full experience. Even so, it was still a tight squeeze and a slow crawl!

There goes Kieran! As he was leading the way, I’ll pass you over so he can share his experience with you…
So, as you can see above they have laid out about 140 metres of tunnels for us to wade through and experience what the vietnamese did. The earth in this particular area was particularly good for tunnels as it had a high clay element which kept them solid. another reason they kept them small was that they would be less likely to collapse if the gaps were smaller. They had miles of tunnels reaching right over to the Cambodia border. The complex we visited was well laid out, we saw a film about the life in the tunnels then various traps and defences they used. The Vietnamese would take old bombs that had fallen and not exploded and recycle the materials in them against their enemy.
It was a very informative trip and well worth the time if you Visit Saigon.
On the ride home our guide offered us a lift to the War Remnants museum which came highly recommended in the Lonely Planet.

Within a few minutes of arriving I felt a bit overwhelmed to be honest. On the ground floor are a bunch of exhibits and photos from around the world showing the protests in other nations againstthe Vietnam war, there are accounts of US citizens who self immolated and also the two soldiers who intervened at the My Lai massacre.

On the 1st floor were images of torture and brutality which were pretty devastating. Of course there is an element of propaganda to it but it is so rare that we see the other side of this conflict.
Also on the 1st floor was a series of images about the devastation of Agent Orange, the chemicals used as defoliants during the War which continue to cause birth defects and horrible deformities even still. We had to step out after about a 1/3 of this exhibit. Needless to say we didnt take any photos.

Upstairs there was a photo exhibit called “Requiem” which was dedicated to the Photographers who have died in conflict covering the War. Some images by Larry Burrows in particular were incredible.

This image was of a young gunner who had seen his pilot and co-gunner killed in front of him.
Burrows himself died in Laos on a job, his images of Vietnam were used in Time and Newsweek and his use of colour brought home to Americans the human cost of the war.
We stepped outsdoe the museum into daylight, our heads were spinning and we were a bit numb.
In the courtyard outside are all kinds of US air combat vehicles.

In light of what we had just read and seen any feelings of awe were swallowed up by feelings of revulsion . It was that kind of an afternoon folks.

We quickly found a place to have a Pho and a Saigon Beer (apt).
We then retired back to our hotel to wash the day off our bodies and freshen up for dinner. We had such a good time in Bangkok at the Banyan tree rooftop bar that we were keen to repeat the experience here in Saigon. We skipped the recommendation of the book which was the Rex Hotel and instead hit the AB tower and the CHILL bar. Good choice.

Beautiful eh? (and saigon looks good too)

Some stunning views were had and we also made it in time for Happy Hour!
Anyway, having eaten our fair share of noodles and pho for the past few weeks we decided to have a change…Pizza!

Thin crispy cheesy and delicious ( the Pizza, not me)
We indulged and had a ball, it was a perfect way to end our time in this city.

And after a perfect night Becky had a little cornetto which matched her dress

And she also found a little slice of home

Bless, now we head to Phu Quoc Island… Lets chase that sun.

Consult the weather man, before you go to Hoi An

It’s January, it’s Vietnam. It’s meant to be sunny; or at least it’s meant to be DRY. It wasn’t. It still isn’t. Obviously, I dealt with this like an adult and I didn’t throw a diva strop about the fact that we had paid for a room in a guesthouse by the beach 6km out of town, because it hadn’t ever occured to us that it would bloody RAIN pretty much the whole time we were here. Oh wait no, I DID have a strop, for about an hour actually, until Kieran piled me into a cab to town and bought me a beer. Ah if only all of life’s problems were solved so easily…

My mood was further improved by the fact that we had a drink on a boat with a live musician and i ordered a glass of red as a treat. The glass was only half full, and as it seems there are no measures here I asked for a bit more wine, and the lad filled it up to the brim at no extra cost! I do love Vietman, even in the rain. To enhance my delight further, during the singer’s recess Kieran had a microphone thrust in his face quite out of nowhere and treated us toa delightful rendition of ‘House of the Rising Sun’, for which he received a beer on the house. Boom!

Note the creepy boy peering at us from the hatch at the back. Spooky.

But despite the crummy weather, Hoi An is very pretty at night all lit up.

The next morning the sun was mercifully shining so we grabbed the bicycles provided by our guesthouse and we went to see some stuff before the heavens opened again! Hoi An is a lovely town, with a river running through the middle and lots of little side streets lined with shops that is pedestrianised during the day.Unfortunately, due to the pituresque nature, it is also a bit of a tourist trap, and a lot of the shops and hawkers are shouting at you to come and look at all of their (very similar) tat. But hey, it’s still very pretty.

Big dragon

Me posing with a big fake horse in a temple

And Kieran with a warrior. As you do.

Kieran and I posing on the little bridge.

After seeing all we could, we retired for a little afternoon tipple and a snack, which was very well timed as the heavens shortly opened again.

2 for 1 margs… Seemed rude not to.

A local delicacy called ‘White Rose’- kind of a shrimp dumpling.
And Kieran was VERY impressed by the local happy hour arrangement:

Now those are Happy Hours I can get used to! People come to Hoi an to see the various temples, pagodas and old community halls but there is a pervading sense of dollar signs in the locals eyes. The restaurants by and large have laid on quite westernized menus which are a little more expensive then we were paying in Hanoi. But its been lovely to take in the sights even if its a bit of the Vietnamese Bruges (i.e. you can see most of it in a day).

We did enjoy these lovely pork skewers for 15 pence a go. Another thing which Hoi an, and Vietnam in general is famous for is its clothes shops and tailoring. They are as ubiquitous here as coffee houses and every one of them wants to bring you in for a fitting. I did notice quite a funky jacket yesterday in one place and remarkably Becky herself managed to find something she liked…

Not bad eh? Now i cant put on a single pound in weight if i wanna still fit into it…Genius Kieran.
Anyway, the damp weather has changed our plans somewhat, we were hoping to hit Nha trang and a few more spots on the east coast but the wet weather has shaken things up somewhat.
So tomorrow we are on a flight to Ho Chi Minh (aka Saigon) where we hope, to quote a famous tune “the heat is on…”

Thats all for now folks..

‘Halong, has this been goin’ on?’

Halong Bay. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lots of big pretty rocks coming out of the ocean. We spent quite a lot of time procrastinating about which company to go with for our trip to Halong Bay. We had many glossy brochures thrust in our faces with promises of luxury and excellence for ‘very good price’, but in my experience, you don’t usually get either of these for very good price, you just get disappointment and dirty sheets. Also, who trusts Travel Agents? No one. Especially not in Southeast Asia. And so we found ourselves at Ethnic Travel, recommended by our old friend Lonely Planet. We weren’t given a glossy brochure, just shown a few pictures on the computer and a promise to avoid the ‘touristic area’ (is touristic even a word?). The price was fair, the lady seemed nice (she gave us sweets) and so we took the plunge (hopefully only metaphorically).

Unfortunately any trip to Halong has to begin with a 3.5 hour bus trip on some of the worst roads in the world. Apparently they are under improvement works, which whilst is beneficial to those of you travelling in future years, only prolonged the agony for us. Very close to hurling into the paper bag provided in the seat pocket (the bus has SICK BAGS people. This should tell you everything you need to know), we finally arrived at the pier and thank the lord were led straight to our boat with no dilly dallying..

Kieran bought me an ice cream to settle my stomach. I am happy 🙂

There she blows! The good ship Ethnic Travel.

Upon boarding our new home for the next 24 hours, we were quickly shown to our cabins and sat down to lunch before setting sail:

Now one thing we will say about this trip, the food was delicious, and very plentiful, which made for very happy sailors indeed.
After lunch we went up to the top deck to enjoy the scenery roll by, and ok so it wasn’t exactly bikini weather but we are British/ Irish, and a little sea breeze won’t stop us from going alfresco.

Here’s a fella rowing a boat with his feet. Brilliant! Over to Kieran…

Yes indeed Becky, he was quite brilliant. So after lunch, around 3pm we made our way to a floating village,

Which we thought would be a bit pants to be honest, a Bit “for the tourists” fake village. Actually, it was very impressive. 600 people living in 160 dwellings in the shade of some very large Karsts (rock formations) on each side of them. They had chosen this site due to the shelter and calm waters and it meant that they had access to the fish in these waters over the locals all the way back at halong bay. Our guide had to buy a ticket for us to visit them and soon we were shuttled onto a dinky little row boat to visit “Waterworld” .

As you can see it was quite surreal to imagine a place where everything has to be shipped in and/or improvised. They have generators to power their tvs etc, they have dogs , they have a school!

Which had girls outside playing their version of cat’s cradle. Not a care in the world except that by 12 most of them would have to stay put on this floating community as the cost of secondary school on the mainland (transport,accomodation etc) is prohibitive for a simple fishing family.
We stepped aboard the village at one point to glance inside a “typical house” but in reality it was a bit of a shakedown. I mean, i respect you live on a boat and all, but dont ask me for money to support your choice.. Still, we were glad to have seen their way of life and once back on board we headed to the bay where we would spend the night.

After three hours, we arrived at a peaceful spot and dropped anchor. We were invited to swim if we wished but the presence of jellyfish put me off.Our spanish colleague Xavier did jump in though and told us it was “a bit cold”…no kidding!
We sank into our books as the sun came down and then it was time for dinner and an early night ahead of tomorrows 6am call for brekkie and kayaking.
Sadly, due to the fear of soakage we declined to bring our camera with us as we kayaked but believe us when we say we saw some amazing caves and got a fantastic workout on our upper arms as we paddled. A hot Shower followed and then It was harbour bound to the awaiting bus. We took in the beautiful sights around us for a final time and felt glad to witness nature in all its glory.

Bia Hoi in Hanoi

Ah Vietnam. A country where beer is cheaper than water- now that’s our kind of country!

But firstly, we must apologise for our recent absence. On Saturday night at the Chiang Mai market we ate some chicken that is seems was not entirely safe, since we both had a very unpleasant 24 hours following. I shan’t gross you out with the details, but let me just say that if you are travelling and like to brave the street food (or are stupid enough to eat suspicious chicken) then an ensuite toilet is a must. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter. Anyway! We still had to brave the overnight train on Sunday to Bangkok with our tattered insides, all 15 hours of it, but praise god we had a sleeper carriage so i crawled into my little bunk bed too sleep off the rest of the nasties. They bring round food and beer most of the night on the train and we sadly couldn’t enjoy either as we sipped on our water laced with Dioralyte and nibbled our dry biscuits. Joy.

By the time we arrived at Bangkok airport we were back on form and hungry as animals, so we strided our way through to the nearest Burger King (don’t judge us, we were needed a large calorie injection pronto), and just as we were getting close and I could almost taste my flamgrilled grilled Double Whopper, I heard a shout of ‘GOUGHER!’. Kieran’s school pal Simon Sheeran is only sitting in a cafe having a cup of tea and spotted us literally jogging through departures! It’s a small world isn’t it?

I’m sorry if i cut the reunion short Simmy, but i was about to eat you.

And so onwards to Hanoi. We arrived at our hotel at around 7pm exhausted after 26 hours of travelling, and after a quick shower stepped out to see what we could find to eat on the street… We didn’t have to go too far before spotting a little place doing pho (noodle soup) and whilst this is traditionally eaten for breakfast in Vietnam, I never was one to stick to tradition.

I had the chicken pho (no amount of food poisoning will ever put me off chicken. EVER!) and Kieran went for the beef. I was highly amused by the little stools- they really don’t make any allowances for Westerners here.

Bless him.

So Day 1 in Hanoi, and we were excited to check out this new city as we had heard such mixed reviews; that and we knew there was cheap beer to be had. We began with a stroll to the Hoan Kiem Lake, and I think the forst thing to note here about Hanoi is the bikes. The MILLIONS of bikes. Mopeds, Vespas, motorbikes- they park them all on the pavement so you are forced to walk in the road, which is an adventure all on it’s own.

They even have little ramps leading into each establishment so you can drive your bike INTO THE SHOPS. Madness.

Anyway, luckily we ducked and dived our way through the chaos to the lake, and had a lovely little stroll around it.

We spotted a bit of a temple yonder (The Ngoc Son Temple evidentally) and upon reading that there was a giant embalmed tortoise inside, knew we had to get a look at that bad boy.

You don’t want temple pictures do you? You want to see the big fella!

There he is! (I’m referring to the turtle of course 😉 )

We read that he used to live in the lake, apparently protecting a sword that some godlike entity had given him (uh huh…) and that his great grandfather now lives in the lake! Let turtlewatch commence:

Come on turtle…

Still no turtle.

Kieran eventually dragged me away because he wanted to go to see an old prison. Right, because that’s going to be better than a real life GIANT TURTLE. Whatever. Here’s Kieran to tell you about a prison whilst I dream of my giant turtle….

Yes indeed, turtles…Well folks what a place! With a climate similar to Europe we have chucked off the shorts for now and are doing a fine line in dodging taxis, buses, bicycles, mopeds vespas et al. Its a war zone folks (em, not a great choice of words Gougher..) Anyway, after checking out some Travel agents yesterday to try and sort a trip to Halong Bay we spotted one of the famous “Bia Hoi” spots, these are pretty much street corner bars, steps outside houses where folks serve you a glass of beer for pennies. Our friend yesterday charged us 7,000 dong a glass, about 20p. He pulled out his funnel and filled our glasses….

How dodgy does this look eh?
After a quick glass (ok 2) we had a lovely lunch of Bun cha which is fried pork served with a bowl of Vermicelli noodles. The noodles are cold but youre meant to dunk them in the sauce they get served with ( i think). Its a tasty dish and very filling!

We also had a portion of spring rolls which were simply delish and off we bounced The Hoa Lo Prison aka “The Hanoi Hilton”. Built by the French originally (and boy do they get a tough time here) it is now open to the public to demonstrate the lives of prisoners, the methods of imprisonment and torture used and also contains images and artefacts of the Americans who were kept here including Republican John McCain.

I couldnt get a word from these lads

A plan of the prison from above

Mc cains flight suit. The prison info on the walls was a touch on the propaganda side but who can blame them? It was a fascinating insight and one I was glad we saw.

We awoke this morning on a mission to see the Mausoleum housing Ho Chi Minh. The Father of present day Vietnam he is honoured everywhere and against even his own wishes to be cremated when he died he was embalmed and is now on display in here.

Its a hugely impressive building, befitting the mans status and we were led inside in groups of about 50 by soldiers in immaculate white uniforms. There is a pathway we follow which goes past his display case on three sides, on the back wall of this high ceilinged room are the Hammer and Sickle embossed on the wall, and there , inside this case, is his body. Eyes closed, wispy goatee still on and its like something from a film, very powerful. What was even more moving was the reaction of the Vietnamese when they got to face his body, bowing and nodding like you wouldnt believe. It was very interesting to see.

After a quick coffee we headed off to the famous Temple of Literature which was historically a seat of learning where Emperors passed oversaw teachings of Confuscius to the most gifted and able. It was a series of buildings and courtyards with some beautifully detailed structures. I think Becs was disappointed there werent more Ninjas a la “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

So far no Ninjas

Is Becky thinking of Confuscius or is she just Confused? (answers on a postcard)

I think this fella was in “big trouble in little china”
After leaving the Temple feeling very Enlightened we decided to throw caution to the wind and , wait for it, risk buying train tickets to Hoi An ourselves! This was quite the thing as you cant buy online though the national Vietnam rail and your alternative is to give a fee $20 to some middleman, not us! After some pointing and jabbering Becky soon got her point across and so there was only one way to celebrate…
A trip to Lenin Park!

Yes indeed folks, our poor feet were falling off us but we decided to push on and visit this green oasis. Imagine Hyde Park divided by 20 and full of some slightly rusty fairground rides and you get the idea. To be honest we were happy to sit, have a beer, watch the fishermen and enjoy a 20foot high statue of Lenin and Ho Chi Minh (i think). Somehow Ho Chi Minh is taller.
So, our last evening in this great city awaits us. We leave tomorrow for Halong Bay and will no doubt have pictures galore for our next Blog. For now keep reading and sharing.
One Love.