War, motorbikes, fresh seafood, and sparkling beaches.
Meg and I made an adventurous trek to Vietnam this past week. We visited Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Mui Ne, a beach town four hours away. On the day we left, she asked me if I needed a visa for Vietnam and I said no I didn't think so. Then I began wondering, uh oh, I don't know, do I? After searching online and then calling my British friend at work who has been to Vietnam, it turned out that yes, I did. I freaked out, internally. Of course it was my responsibility, but having discussed Vietnam with many people who had been there, I wondered why nobody mentioned that I needed a visa. I've been to Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea! No visa required. Vietnam, required. Luckily, the lady who does my mother's nails in Houston is Vietnamese and had previously put me in touch with her brother-in-law, Tue, who grew up in Austin but now lives in Ho Chi Minh. Normally, obtaining a visa for Vietnam takes 5-7 business days and costs $30. I called Tue, he contacted his travel agent, and somehow was able to secure me a visa upon arrival. After arriving to Ho Chi Minh, I went through customs and told them I should have a visa upon arrival, but the lady at customs said she saw nothing and to go to another office on the other end of the room, where there were a few scary looking guys with machine guns. As I walked to the other office, Meg saw a guy holding up a sign with my first, middle, and last name. He had my visa and it was $60. No problem. Sweeeeet.
We stayed at the Continental Hotel, which was recommended by a friend. My friend stayed in the top suite so it must have been nicer, our room was just ok. The hotel is an old French colonial building and kind of run down. The bathroom was the main disappointment, the water pressure in the shower was more along the lines of a light drizzle. We checked out some other rooms and hotels but in the end we decided to stay because the price wasn't so bad and we'd be there for only a few days. One major winning point was the coffee at breakfast.
Ho Chi Minh is a crazed ant colony of a city with scooters and motorbikes dashing around everywhere you turn. Just crossing the street is an adventure. And honking your horn just seems like something you do while driving, like pressing on the accelerator or on the brake. Ho Chi Minh sounds mostly like, "beep beep beep, meep meep, beep beep beep, hey mister you need ride? meep meep meep". There is rarely a break in traffic, you just need to pick the largest gap in the traffic and make your way. I was surprised we didn't see any traffic accidents while we were there. Tue later told me that he sees multiple accidents per week. One of the first things I noticed was that so many people spoke English, at least in Ho Chi Minh. And even more so than in Japan. There wasn't as much French spoken as I had expected. I learned the Vietnamese word for "thank you" but never had to use it. The food was excellent, if you enjoy fresh seafood and spicy soups and sauces, which both us do, so we had a field day. You can get a plate of huge crusted grouper starting around $5, depending on where you are and where you go. The prices are even less expensive once you get outside the city.
The first day, Meg intended to shop for a dress. You can just bring a picture of any dress from a magazine or whatever and take it to the multitude of tailoring shops and they'll make it for you in 1-2 days starting at a whopping $30. There are a ton of tailoring shops on Dong Khoi street, which was right next to our hotel. She picked out her favorite place, discussed the design with the ladies in the store, and picked out the color and fabric. By 3pm the next day, it was done. Meg's mother is somewhat of a clothing designer herself so she was able to tell that they did a really good job down to the details.
The second day we visited the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. The Reunification Palace, or Independence Palace, once was the headquarters for the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Of course, in Vietnam they refer to it as the American War. We took a tour of the palace rooms and the underground bunker. Now it's mostly a museum, but the government still uses the building for official engagements as well. The War Remnants Museum was interesting. It used to be called something like the Museum of Chinese and American Imperialist War Crimes Against Vietnamese People, no kidding, but they decided to change the name to not offend any tourists. The museum basically features a graveyard of US military equipment (tanks, choppers, guns, fighter jets), some gruesome photos from the war and post-war, and lots of communist propoganda.
The next day we went to De Tham street where there are lots of tour companies where you can hire a bus ride to destinations around Vietnam. A lot of backpackers stay in the same area at little Mom and Pop guesthouses. We woke up early in the morning and went to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels, about an hour and a half northwest of Ho Chi Minh (probably only 40 minutes without all the traffic). The town of Chu Chi started building underground tunnels after WWII and they continued through the Vietnam War. The entire network of tunnels cover 200km in total. Our guide told us that you can enter the tunnel and make it to the Saigon River, about one hour away. The VC forces used the tunnels extensively during the war and they were literally right outside Saigon. Around the whole area there are still 15 foot deep indentions in the ground from B52 bombs and stranded military equipment. They don't let you see much of the tunnels, themselves, mainly just a 30m area where you enter and hunch over through a little opening about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide and make your way to the end to get out. Because we were in a group and people were in line and couldn't really see well, it kind of freaked me out so I didn't even go more than 6m in before backing out. I waited for Meg on the other side but she didn't show up, turns out that she went farther than me but then the tunnel split into two ways and the people in front of her were already out so she didn't know which way to go, so she turned around and backed out, too. It's amazing that people could stay down there for so long. Our guide said people lived down there for years and babies were born, etc. Too much for me!
After all the time in the city and doing the war thing, we needed a break and took off to the beach area of Mui Ne, a four hour $6 bus ride. Our hotel was so much better than the one in Ho Chi Minh, so much so that we decided to stay 3 nights instead of 2. Our bungalow had an outdoor bathroom and shower, like bathing out in the jungle. The food was really good and inexpensive at the hotel restaurant. We ate there for all but two meals. There were hardly any English-speaking tourists in Mui Ne, which is odd because you usually see Australians and Europeans everywhere in Southeast Asia. Most of the tourists were Russian. Tue later told me that there is a little island off the coast of middle Vietnam that is known to be controlled by the Russian mafia. So maybe that's who we were vacationing with. Then again, maybe not. Meg's birthday was Wednesday and I contrived with the hotel to surprise her with a birthday cake. They came to the room to surprise her with a cake and then we went out for dinner. Our stay in Mui Ne was relaxing and uneventful until the last night when our room became infested with flying termites. They were suddenly everywhere, like hundreds of them, and I ran down to the front desk. They tried to convince me that the cleaning staff would go to the room and bomb it with Raid and that it would be ok after that. Yeah. Eventually, I convinced them to move us to a new room, so we moved to another nearby bungalow in the middle of the night. Luckily, it was fine and we were able to sleep with no insects trying to eat us alive. The next morning I went back to the room to get something I'd left and they were still cleaning up all the dead bugs into a huge pile and mopping the floor.
The last day we returned to Ho Chi Minh and met up with Tue at his office and then went to have dinner. I treated him for helping me get a visa at the last minute. Without his help the trip could well not have happened or at least would have started out badly. In all, we had a good time and I'd like to visit again to see more of the countryside and the north around Hanoi.
