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Don’t Be These Girls
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Ho Chi Minh’s Body
Today we went to see Vietnam’s most famed deceased person, Mr. Ho Chi Minh. Yes, deceased. Dead. Ho Chi Minh, more affectionately known as Uncle Ho, is the man who is famed for unifying Vietnam and fighting the Japanese, the French and then the Americans. And he’s dead. Since 1969 actually. Against his wishes, the Vietnamese government decided to embalm him so that he could be with the people forever. And it’s pretty cool. We got to the mausoleum around 9.30am – it’s only open from 8am to 11am, and despite the large crowd of people, the line moved swiftly and orderly. We got into a bit of a fight…
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Oh Vietnam – Being Ripped Off Nearly Everyday
It’s funny and mostly sad how often you will be ripped off in Vietnam. Not everyone will try but the majority will, especially in the touristy places. – the noodle soup place that we had been visiting everyday for the past week had been charging us 40,000 VND each. One day another man served us and charged us 30,000 VND. He also showed us on the menu that it said 30,000 before being told off in Vietnamese by his mother for telling us the correct price. The next day they tried to charge us 40,000 VND again! – the hotel demanding $37 USD for our visa extension even after we…
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Vietnamese Sleeper Coffin – Part II
After our last horrendous experience on a ‘sleeper bus’ (where a bus is converted into a room with top and bottom bunks) we swore we would never experience it again. But we were forced to take one up from Dong Hoi to Hanoi, and luckily we knew what to ask this time. First time from Ho Chi Minh, the lady at the travel agency said there were no seats/beds at the front available, so we agreed to the back seats on the condition there was no bathroom next to us. What she failed to disclose (even after I had asked her several times) was that the back beds are so…
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Broke
Not money broke yet, but I am broken and I currently feel like a leper. Every man, woman, child and stray dog looks at me weird with or without my bandages on my face. They even point and stare. We also discovered there’s a crack in our camera’s flash unit, caused by the motorbike accident. Luckily it works fine though I do wish I brought some gaffer tape with us. My kindle is also broken. Discovered this when I settled in on the beach in Dong Hoi, ready to read some trashy book. It’s currently half frozen with a weird, pale stain on the screen. I looked it up and…
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An Accident in Danang
Decided to ride a bike from Hoi An to Hue (132km) with Sara and Nicholas, a German couple we met in Siem Reap and then met again in Hoi An. We had arranged the bikes through a small family run company and they would take our bags up to Hue – so we didn’t need to carry them on the bikes, and they would pick up the bikes there. $20 USD for the bike for the day which was a good deal considering we didn’t have to return it back to Hoi An. I had ridden the semi-auto bike the day before to Marble Mountain with Lionel on the back.…
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Is It Worth It? It’s cheap but is it safe?
Just found out that the hotel we’re staying at in Hoi Ann, the Thien Trung Hotel, apparently has a nasty habit of people stealing things throughout the night. As you sleep! Lionel and I have just booby-trapped the door and bathroom by stacking chairs, a table, water bottles, and a teapot. We’ve also tied our bags to the bed post, hidden the camera under our pillow, and we may actually start sleeping in shifts. All this for a $12 room. Not worth it.
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Day 5 – Easy Rider – Ho Chi Minh Trail
We were both very excited about today. Xuan had told us that this is his favorite part of the ride between Dalat and Hoi An. We will be spending a fair amount of time on the new Ho Chi Minh road. Well, like many things so far, it delivered. The first stop was at a family owned taro factory. They dry and grind them into a powder to sell to others that then use the powder in combination with rice powder to make a batter. The batter is then used to make rice paper, like Emma has tried making. This area has a lot of Vietnam war history and it…
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Day 4 – Easy Rider – Deeper
We are pretty deep in Vietnam’s central highlands and easy riding has become a bit of a routine. After yet another incredibly tasty breakfast we set off on another day of riding. Our first stop was a tea plantation and to much of the women’s amusement we were able to spend some time with them on the field. Meanwhile a newly wedded couple were taking photos next to us. It seems traditional to take very elaborate wedding photos in Vietnam, which may be why you sometimes see a bride in her dress climbing over rocks near a waterfall to get that special photo. Later we pulled into a small shed…
