Vietnam - Hoi An - A walking tour

Today, after breakfast, we were met by the guide for this province of Vietnam, Hoi An. He also took us across the road to have our laundry done at a cheaper rate than that of the hotel! Today, will be a walking tour, taking in the culture and traditional style of Vietnamese county life.

the drive into the 'city' took all of 5 minutes, and we were dropped off at 'Blue - Mrs Tam Tam' handmade clothes. Here we were able to pick out clothes to have handmade for us, in as little as a couple of hours (for the first fitting)! We were to come back later in the day...

After a couple of hours walking around the city, visiting the museum and seeing the sights, we were then to have lunch at a local restaurant. Lunch here, even in the heat and humidity, was actually quite nice! However, after lunch, all I wanted was a swim, J a massage and M wanted to stay in town and shop! So when I got back, I closed the door, the handle came off, and I also managed to break the toilet roll holder! (earlier in the day, the safe did not want to work either, so all up, a couple of calls to maintenance was needed!).

The break, to be by ourselves was good, and when M and J returned, J and I went for a swim leaving M in the room to do what ever it was she was doing. The pool was delightful, cool and refreshing, just what was needed!!

When 6pm came around, it was time to collect the laundry, nicely pressed, and then get the shuttle bus into town at 7pm to have the first fitting. Everything was great, although J's shorts had a zip that wasn't expected, M had to have some finer tuning, whilst I requested a button fly and they had installed a zipper!

We crossed the river for dinner, as suggested by our guide, and afterwards, we (tried) to get some night shot of the lanterns that the city is famous for. Alas, some on the bridge finished at 9pm :(

Anyways, its late, again, and its an 8am start tomorrow!!! Happy Days!!!!

Hoo roo for now...

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Vietnam - Mekong Delta

Today, was a 'small' sleep in.... M wanted to get some shoes and thongs (flip flops) from the markets nearby, so off we went... We bargained, and bargained, and got them for a good price! When we got back to the hotel, our guide and driver were waiting for us, to take us down to the Mekong Delta!

The drive was about 2 hours, and the bikes only thinned out on the freeway! We stopped at a rest stop, which had some lovely gardens and Lotus.

When we arrived, we were shuffled onto a small junk/boat, for a trip across to the largest of the islands. It was an 'interesting' trip let me say! Upon arrival, we had tea, and I was soon discovering a python that the locals had! I HAD to have a hold!!!

We were soon heading to the next spot, and when we arrived, OMG, this little pony that had to carry us, was barely larger than a Shetland pony!! Lunch, was interesting, a fish made into rolls, and some other Vietnamese cuisine!

After lunch though, SMALL row boats back up to the small junk was in order, and it was a rather busy thoroughfare!!!

The drive back to Ho Chi Minh was uneventful, with a small bit of shut-eye along the way...

It was a long day, tiring day, and when we got off the flight from Ho Chi Minh into Da Nanag, we were tired. The hotel here, actually, Resort, is nice, and the internet is slow (non existent) for some websites like Facebook!!

Hoo roo for now...

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Vietnam - Cu Chi tunnels and Bitexco Skydeck

Todays adventure, included a drive to the Cu Chi tunnels, via a handicapped working facility that were making the infamous lacquer artwork. Here they made 'mother-of-pearl' inlays, 'duck-egg' inlays or simple painted lacquered works. I could appreciate the art, but its not my style either... (a thing that I had a strong dislike for, was that after the tour, there was an expectation to buy, and the sales lady was hovering, asking something for family... Something for friends... Please help the handicapped people... I told her that I did not like these works, I can appreciate the time/effort, but I was not buying today...)

Anyways, we drove for about 30-40 minutes and arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. It was already very hot, and humid, and there were quite a few tour groups here; mainly Japanese. We first stopped in a little movie theatre where we watched just how the Vietnamese fought, and it wasn't at all pretty. I had a Japanese man sitting behind me, who simply just would NOT shut up, so I turned and 'shhhh' him, so disrespectful of him to be talking to his mate on opposite side of room... We then started walking around, trying to fit into the access holes for tunnels, and failing, and then into a trench. We saw a US Army Tank that was destroyed, and saw many ventilation stacks that kept the tunnels 'cool'.

Soon enough, we arrived at the riffle shooting area, and the opportunity to have a shot, was too good to turn away, and we bought a round of 10 to share (4 & 4 & 2). Afterwards though, we 'splurged' and got 20 rounds for the machine gun, M60 Riffle, now THAT was fun!!

And finally, we arrived at the entrance to a tunnel, that had been slightly enlarged so as tourists could access, down, down, I started to go through 'squatting' and shuffling, but in the end, relented and crawled on my hands and knees... It was hot, cramped, and even though I have done a bit of caving, it was uncomfortable... But, I am SO glad that we did it...

We then headed back into Saigon for lunch, and a visit to the Reunification Palace, which was a bit of a let down, the Post Office, stunning building, before heading back to the hotel for a swim and a freshen up.

After a short cool down, the pool was nice, we headed for the Bitexco Financial tower, which has a skydeck on level 49. We arrived JUST on sunset, and we stayed until it was dark to get some additional photos...

It was a long day...

Hoo roo for now...

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