Phnom Penh

The trip from Can Tho to Phnom Penh was 6 hours on the Mekong in a relatively small, fast ferry. As is our wont we struck up conversations with a couple of Kiwis and a French med student taking a break before starting her residency. The trip involved 2 border crossings which were fairly painless, and very casual, though we we rather nervous about watching our passports being taken by motorbike to the immigration office by the ferry crew. 

Travelling by fast ferry was a great way to catch a glimpse of life happening on the banks and river as we went along, with lots of floating houses and businesses. We also saw a lot of evidence of sand mining operations, with most of the ships being on the Vietnam side of the border, mostly illegal. 

Phnom Penh immediately had a different feel to anywhere else we had visited to date. Development is probably a little behind somewhere like Vietnam, but there are a lot of new building still going up, and according to our new Kiwi friends it had changed a lot since they were last there, a few years previously. Although the approach to wiring up internet connections is still quite chaotic...

One thing that struck us was that there were far fewer tourists than we expected, which is a combination of the time of year (rainy season) and the border troubles with Thailand (we're so brave!). It did mean that the attractions we went to visit weren't crowded at all. 

We spent a morning at the National Museum, which is not that huge, but it was pretty spectacular. It is filled with statues from temple complexes across the country, including Angkor Wat. There was one room in particular that reminded us of both a Nock Bantock book - The Merchant's Wife (worth looking up if you don't know it). We got there only a little later than planned, but really should have given ourselves more time, it really is fascinating (I feel like that word keeps cropping up). Interestingly, they had a little piece on the illegal trade in artifacts, which had a huge impact on the country. During the worst of the war periods in the early 1970s there was a raging trade, a lot of it driven by one person, Douglas Latchford, who was (much) later prosecuted and convicted in the USA. We saw a donor plaque from 2009 that had his name on it - the cheek of him was astounding. Repatriation is an ongoing exercise in negotiation skills, by the sound of it.

We also visited the royal palace, which is spectacular. It is still "operational" so there are areas closed off, but it contains several significant temples, including one housing a jade buddha, carved out of a single piece of jade. It's a true national treasure - unfortunately photos are strictly forbidden. The detail and craftsmanship that goes into everything is quite breathtaking. We really knew we had changed countries when we got caught in the rain that came in in the afternoon. Spoiler alert, it has happened every day so far in Cambodia - this is why it's known as the rainy season. It became quickly clear that all planned activities had to factor this in. 

Phnom Penh is, of course, on the Mekong river, and has a huge island just adjacent which is entirely agricultural - Silk Island. No points for guessing what the main industry is there. With a need for something a little different (and with James having withdrawals), we went over to the island for a bike ride. There is a loop of sealed road that is about 20km long that goes around the perimeter, and we found it a very pleasant way to spend a few hours. We took a tuk-tuk to the ferry, which was a bit of an exciting journey in itself, and rented bikes and took off. It worked out significantly cheaper that the $200 tour that we looked at briefly... Apart from the clacking looms in nearly every house we went past, the notable feature was the number of temples on the island, servicing what seems to be a pretty small population. They all seemed very well appointed compared to the houses that we saw, and it was the day the monks were out collecting alms. Which made us wonder if there is any resentment towards the relative wealth of the temples. Not that we want to cast aspersions on religions exploiting less well off people...

Food was the other stand out of our entry into Cambodia. Gillian had looked up a couple of community run/co-op places, and we managed to get some spectacular traditional meals as a result. James had a frog curry he was particularly impressed with. We also hit the street markets to eat, which was somewhat less salubrious, and came complete with a view of rats ferreting through the garbage. We escaped with no ill effects. On the final evening in the city, there was a big market down by the river, with the local streets all closed off. We were both impressed with the upscale approach, which wouldn't be out of place on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Unfortunately, we had eaten a massive lunch and neither of us were tempted by the treats on offer. We also caught our first glimpse of deep fried spiders for sale. Even James decided that he wasn't game to go that far... 

The Mekong Delta

Our final activity in Vietnam was a tour of the Mekong Delta. We started in My Tho, where we visited the large Buddhist pagoda (temple) complex Vinh Trang, with a mix of Vietnamese, Khmer and European influences. There were a large number of massive statues of Buddha, including James' favourite, in repose, which he dubbed "the Buddha of the afternoon nap". There were again an array of lovely gardens, and the interior was spectacular. We were treated to the sound of the monks chanting as we went in, and they subsequently filed out for lunch in time for us to go into the main worship area. 

This was followed by a boat trip on the Tien river, visiting Phoenix and Unicorn islands which each have small permanent populations. The original means of making a living was solely agriculture but there is also clearly a large business in tourism, and we saw a lot of people from around the world doing much the same as us for the day. We visited a farm growing a range of tropical fruits and got a chance to taste a variety, while listening to traditional folk songs (and one distinctly non-traditional rendition of "If you're happy and you know it"). There were many products on sale and opportunities for tipping, and the whole thing felt somewhat tourist trappy. But it was definitely interesting to have a look around, and we followed up with a sampan ride through one of the canals. From there it was back on the boat to another island for lunch, which was a lot of fantastic food, including a whole grilled fish. 

A horse and cart ride took us to a crocodile farm and led to one of the most intriguing discoveries of the trip, as it was home to the "coconut religion", founded by a man who only ate coconuts and drank coconut water for 3 years (he lived into his 80s!). It blended Christianity and Buddhism (not unlike another religion we discovered that day, Caodaism - fascinating, look it up), and at its peak there were 4000 adherents, praying for the reunification of Vietnam. They were banned in 1975 by the communist government, despite their clear success... 

We finished up in Can Tho for the night, and the huge lunch meant that after strolling along the river and watching the locals and tourists promenade, we headed back to our hotel for the evening, dinner an unnecessary extravagance. Luckily there was a rooftop bar where we could perch with drinks in hand.

The tour continued the next (early) morning, with a visit to the Cai Rang floating market, which is about exactly what it sounds like. The Mekong has been a major trade route for a long time, and people would come from everywhere to sell their wares from boats on the river. This is ongoing, although it is now a much smaller operation as better infrastructure on the banks and roads has made the markets close to redundant. It looks a pretty tough way to make a living, and despite the number of tourists, it seems to be in a steady decline. The contrast with the market we visited on the banks of the river afterwards was a case in point. We had some discussion about whether this represents a loss of culture unique to the area, or a welcome transition to more modern (and more profitable) ways of doing business. We'll leave it to you to guess who was on either side! 

We visited a big traditional house on the way to lunch, which featured in a moderately famous French movie and had a fantastic collection of orchids in the gardens. Lunch found us at another crocodile farm, with much bigger crocs than previously. James was dismissive after his experiences in Kununurra, where he claims the crocs were much bigger still.

Probably the highlight of the whole trip was the final visit to a wildlife sanctuary, based around a forest and system of canals. Interestingly, many of the tress lining the canals are Australian melaleucas, which are used as a larger substitute for the local version. There is a huge array of birdlife in particular, and we were lucky to spot a kingfisher (and some other unidentified birds) amongst an astounding number of egrets and cuckoos. We climbed a viewing tower with some Khmer monks, had a boat ride through the canals birdspotting and walked on the longest bamboo bridge in Vietnam - 3km long (we didn't walk the entire length)! Exiting the park we passed extensive preparations for Vietnam's national day of reunification, which was a common theme for the last few days of our time there. Our final night in Vietnam was spent in Chau Doc, getting ready for the boat ride up the river to Phnom Penh. 

Ho Chi Minh City

We flew in to Ho Chi Minh City from Danang, in what turned out to be a case of perfect timing. It turns out that a day later there was a big typhoon which hit Vietnam between Danang and Hanoi, and shut down the top part of the country, with high winds and flooding all over the place. We were pretty glad to miss out on that experience.

Our hotel was pretty central in a quiet side alleyway, and we decided to go to a popular tourist street to hunt for dinner, the equivalent of "beer street" in Hanoi. This turned out to be a bit of a bust, it was not as much fun, or as lively as its counterpart in Hanoi, and had a pretty seedy feel to it, with girly bars up and down the street. The back alleyways weren't much better, and we decided to make our way back towards the hotel. Luckily we found a really good little restaurant serving a shrimp and squid soup with dry vermicelli noodles, which was super tasty, and pretty much made up for the earlier disappointment.

The main activity in Ho Chi Minh was wandering around the city, as is our want, and we visited the Independence Palace, which was the government centre in the south until reunification in 1975. It has now been set up as a celebration of Vietnamese unification and independence, and turns out to be massively popular with the locals, as well as tourists. The fact that the Vietnamese National Day was impending probably helped. The grounds were scattered with Vietnamese women (mostly), in traditional dress being photographed in various poses all over the place. There was also a smattering of (presumed) newlyweds doing something similar, with the grooms in full army regalia. The palace itself was impressive, with rooms for state functions, presenting ambassadors, diplomatic meetings, cabinet meetings and offices. Gillian was in her element, enjoying the comparison of the state function rooms with that of Australian Parliament House. The Grand Hall reminded both of us of the Great Hall at APH, although a little smaller.

There was also a bunker, built during the war, from which wartime operations were coordinated. We found time to visit a secondary building which had a exhibition detailing life in Saigon  in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the rule (and subsequent overthrow) of Ngo Dinh Diem (note: Ho Chi Minh city and Saigon are used interchangeably here). It was all very interesting, and we spent enough time there to be needing a late lunch. Stopping in one of the cafes on the grounds was a bust when we discovered that every dish contained snails, so we ventured outside instead!

We also managed to find the Jade Dragon Pagoda, which is one of the major temples in the city. It felt a little strange to be there when there were more adherents than tourists, and we were careful to stay out of the way and remain respectful. They had some great bonsai and orchids out the front too, keeping James happy... Along the way we got to explore some of the city, as well as see the Saigon Opera House, which is another clear example of the French influence in Vietnam. Just nearby was a big statue of Ho Chi Minh himself, outside the Headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. We had some amusement watching some Vietjet staff filming what we presume was a promo for the airline.  

The other area of the city we visited was District 11, which houses the temptingly named "Dumpling Street". Of course, this was our destination for lunch for the day, and we duly found it and sat down at one of the restaurants. They were very good about having non-Vietnamese speakers there, and even managed to dig up an English menu. Which you think would help... Gillian got her "soup dumplings" - dumplings in soup, but it was clear there was a mix up with James' order of dumplings with squid. The next menu item on the list was "dumplings with pigskin", which is what turned up to the table. And no, not crackling, but rather boiled pigskin in a soup with the dumplings. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. James was a brave soldier though, and managed to eat it all. 

Further exploring of District 11 showed us a more typical slice of life in Ho Chi Minh City, with a wide range of metal shops, some specialising in just springs, or bearings. It boggles the mind to think that so many small places selling the same thing could all make a viable living. We also spent some time exploring a (massive) local market, selling everything from fresh fish, meat and vegetables to shoes, hats and temple ornaments. There were some Chinese community halls/temples along the way as well, of course. It was very interesting across the course of our time in the country to see the influence of the Chinese migrant community on life in Vietnam, over a long period of time.

My Son and Hue

Danang is a great place to base yourself to explore some of the most significant sites in Vietnam. One of these is Hue, which houses a citadel from which the Nguyen empire ruled. It also has a spectacular train ride from Danang up the coast through the Hai Van Pass, which Gillian duly booked. We found ourselves on a tourist train, which came complete with an entertainment carriage, with live singing of Vietnamese folk songs. Seating was allocated, but the whole system was pretty loose, with many people parking themselves at the entertainment carriage or walking up and down looking for the best instaworthy shots. This was lucky, as our late decision to book meant that we had seats in separate carriages. Gillian spent about half her time enjoying the entertainment, while James had a more contemplative ride looking out the window. The downside of the train was that it stopped for every other train to go past, which led to some delays (top speed only reaching 46 kph). The arrival into Hue was over an hour late, which turned out to put a bit of pressure on our timetable for the rest of the day.

The fortress in Hue is built on the banks of the Perfume River (it doesn't actually smell that good...) and dominated the view from the opposite side as we walked over there from the station. It is a massive complex and contains its own Forbidden City, although it is not quite so well preserved as its more famous cousin in Beijing. That said, it is an incredibly impressive complex, which deserves more attention than it seems to get. 

A lot of work has gone in to preservation and restoration of the complex, and our jaws were on the floor half the time with the scale of the buildings and the complexity of the entire place. It was a fantastic place to visit, and came complete with a spectacular bonsai garden (for James), art display and a wealth of history about the functioning of the Nguyen empire up until the French took over. The only downside was that we could have kept going and going, and regretted not booking accommodation in Hue for the night to give us some extra time to explore the citadel and the rest of the city. 

The other place we visited in central Vietnam was the My Son sanctuary, yet another UNESCO listed site (as is the Hue citadel and Forbidden City). This was the main religious centre of the Champa kingdom, and was built in stages from the 4th to the 13th centuries. It is a temple complex akin to Angkor Wat, although nowhere near as big and extensively damaged from bombing during the American War. It has lots of architectural elements in common, but also incorporates European features (like stone columns) in some of the buildings, originating from the emergence of trade routes between East and West. The original bricks naturally inhibit algae/moss/lichen growth. They are also 25% lighter than modern bricks, while retaining the same strength. Apparently investigations to date cannot reproduce these features. 

Some of the original buildings still stand, and many more are in the process of being recreated across the site. There are many interesting features, including extensive use of linga-yoni stones, which represent the union of Shiva and Shakti. Our guide had a slightly different interpretation, with the two parts representing the male and female sex organs, and water poured over the top of the linga to collect in the yoni is collected then to enhance the fertility of crops - a kind of metaphysical fertiliser. The temples had a sole entrance and no windows, representing a return to the womb, and there were buildings for food preparation, storage and ritual bathing. The whole site was fascinating to explore, including being able to watch some of the archaeological and restoration work that is ongoing. 

Danang and Hoi An

A couple of days on the central coast of Vietnam provided a chance for a bit more exploration. We were based in Danang, which is a fun beachside city that we really enjoyed. It was helped by the fact the the hotel we were staying in was a complete contrast to Halong Bay. The floor didn't leak, it was in a lovely area with lots of restaurants, and the staff were just fantastic. This was the Vietnam we signed up for! The area also had more massage parlours than you could imagine, it felt like every second shopfront down the street of our hotel had someone out the front offering us massages. You really had to walk the gauntlet to get anywhere. 

The beachfront was pretty nice, pretty much all the things that Halong Bay wasn't. There were well attended bars and restaurants along the shoreline, even well into the night, along with with a variety of different activities like banana boating and parasailing. We were using Danang primarily as a jump off point to visit other places for the day, but really could have added a day just to explore the city itself and maybe get in some beach time. As it was, the best we did was nighttime strolls hand-in-hand along the beach watching the storms roll around the city, with a stop for a drink or two. We were also pleased to find a couple of great little restaurants close to the hotel with a range of local dishes and priced ridiculously cheaply. It's a place well worth visiting, and we wish we had allocated more time.

One of the places close to Danang that was on our list to visit was Hoi An. This is an old trading port, and was once the main point of contact for Western traders with Vietnam, particularly the Dutch. It is very popular with tourists, with a combination of history, food and shopping making it irresistible to most. We had a guided tour for a couple of hours, with the lovely Kimchug, showing us through the architecture of several famous houses, as well as Buddhist and Toaist temples established by the large Chinese-origin population. For the first time we saw incense spirals lit at these temples, which brun for up to two weeks, in service of carrying prayers to heaven. 

We stopped at one of the houses for a herbal tea tasting where we were also treated to slices of pomelo with the curator of the house museum. One of the more famous houses is still owned by the descendants of a Chinese merchant who was famous for his philanthropy, giving lots of money throughout his life to local people in need. They had an example of Confucius' cup (worth googling...) there, which was a tempting purchase, but the thought of having to carry it through half of Southeast Asia tempered any impulse buying. Another interesting feature was the markings showing the highest flood levels - the town floods on a pretty regular basis. 1964 saw waters rise to the bottom of the second story - and the ceilings are high. It is a bit of a frightening prospect.

The buildings and layout of the city are a real mix of East and West, and it is not hard to imagine it as a bustling trading post several hundred years ago. In that way, it reminded us both of Nagasaki, which held a similar place in Japanese history. There is also a famous "Japanese bridge" built by traders to link two separate areas within the city and now an attraction in its own right. We also visited a silk specialty store, which had silkworms at various life stages and a demonstration of silk spinning which was quite fascinating. The had magnificent embroideries (they looked like photos) as well as a range of different options for clothing that could be personally tailored for you overnight. We were glad of the fact that light packing limited the amount of temptation!  We finished our day there wandering around the streets, inspecting the many shops (silk/tailoring, souvenirs and stonework seemed to be the main themes), before catching our ride back to Danang. 

Halong Bay

Halong Bay was an exercise in contrasts. We had booked a hotel that looked pretty nice online, and was surprisingly cheap. It was located in the "Sunland" area of the city, and when we got there we discovered some interesting things about the place. It seems that the development was part of a real estate boom pre-COVID, where unscrupulous developers built frantically for investors who then got caught out with a bunch of (mostly) useless properties. The development we found ourselves in was like a weird ghost town. It was allegedly modelled on Vienna (complete with statues of famous composers at street intersections), and was full of empty hotel receptions, closed restaurants and empty street level shop windows. A stroll down to the beach revealed more of the same, with lots of beach bars and deck chairs, but no people. The creepy factor had definitely started to set in - it felt like we were on the set at the start of a horror movie. Wandering around, there were very few people anywhere, apart from some confused looking tourists looking for somewhere that might be open for dinner (or breakfast). That said, we finally found a lively little local bar that had some great seafood dishes for dinner on our first night - the local specialty was squid cakes. 

Our hotel was superficially nice, but there were some serious issues. After inspection, we decided that no time would be spent in the pool for fear of what we might catch. There were some serious drainage issues in the bathroom, which led to some minor olefactory distress each time we walked in. And it took a little while to realise that the wet floors weren't because we had been wandering out in the rain, but were, rather, from water coming up from under the floorboards as we walked around. In the end, the room (which was big and cheap, with a decent bed at least) did the job, but we were pretty glad it was only two nights. One more would definitely have been a bridge too far.

Of course, we were there for a cruise around the bay, which is the (world Heritage listed) star attraction. We had booked a half-day tour, and had decided to pay about 50% extra to switch from a maximum of 49 people, to a private tour for two. Concerns about the weather meant we got an early morning message saying the tour couldn't go ahead, but by lunchtime the weather was deemed satisfactory and we were able to reschedule for the afternoon. The tour made up for all hotel- and location-related disappointments. 

We got to the main tour port and met our guide, the very personable Hieu, who took us to the boat. It was a big boat, for one of the 50 people tours, but just for the two of us. There were twice as many staff as passengers... 

The water was calm and a tasty lunch provided as we set out into the bay. It was actually a glorious day for it in the end, incredibly calm on the water and with few other boats around as well. Mostly, people come up for a day trip from Hanoi, and we think that the bad morning weather (combined with the fact that is was a Tuesday), meant that very few trips went ahead. The bay is a bunch of karst formations sticking up out of the water, and it was immediately apparent as to why it is such a big attraction. We went for a ride around some of the islands, and past the famous (apparently) "kissing rock", before pulling up at a floating fisherman's village. 

Fishing families have lived on the bay for a very long time, and continue to do so, now supplementing their income with tourist money. In this particular case, it took the form of kayak rentals and boat rides, through the cave formations in the islands. We grabbed a kayak and some instructions ("go over there - it's a private tour so there is no schedule, take as much time as you want"), and we were off. Small numbers meant that we went through the first cave formation into a lagoon located in the centre of an island, which was beautiful, spectacular and mind-blowing. Especially because we got there just as another group was leaving and found ourselves completely on our own in the "hidden" lagoon for about 15 minutes - and experience that few tourists ever get and born from the combined circumstances of the day and dumb luck. We left as another group arrived and went on through another cave into a small bay which we again had to ourselves. The gods were definitely smiling on us. 

By the time we made it back to the boat, it was on to see some big limestone caves on another island, and we were again lucky enough to have one of them all to ourselves. Hieu was a fantastic guide, full of plenty of interesting stories and facts, and we felt incredibly lucky to have picked just the right trip and just the right time to do it. We didn't even mind so much that we had to be careful where we trod on our hotel floor when we got back for the night!

Mai Chau - people and lifestyle

The people around Mai Chau come from a variety of the 54 cultural groups identified in Vietnam. There are White Thai, Blue Hmong, Flower Hmong, Muong, Day and Viet people. Our guide, Hyunh, is White Thai, and explained lots of the differences in terms of cultural dress as well as the regions they live in and types of crops that people grow. We couldn't really keep it all straight... However, up in the mountains people grow nearly everything they need for themselves, with a huge variety of fruit trees, vegetable gardens that include corn, sugar cane, cassava, eggplants and many varieties of melons/gourds/pumpkins etc. There are also chickens everywhere, pigs, water buffalo and a lot of personal fish farms. There's also more commercial operations, like the one we visited on our boat tour/drinking session. As a result, it is almost a completely self sustaining system, with surplus sold at markets and most waste being consumed in a way that results in the production of more food. Plants are fed to fish and other animals, fish ponds are drained into rice paddies, other waste is used as fertiliser, chickens, buffalo (and some goats) roam around eating the vegetation on the sides of the roads and through the surrounding forest/jungle. Snails are harvested from the rice paddies (a bridge too far for us), as well as mice and rats (yes, to eat). There is also an abundance of fruit, with papaya, lingon, jackfruit, durian (gross!!!), pineapple, pomelos, figs and bananas. It's an impressive approach to food production, although it is worth remembering that it's also a lot of hard work, despite the idyllic setting. 

We also got to see an up close visit of a chopstick factory, of which there are many scattered throughout towns in the region. People harvest the bamboo from the jungle and take it down to the factories. We constantly saw this in action, with a variety of methods to bring the bamboo into town, including being towed on trailers behind motor scooters. The factories are impressive operations in their own right, although the approach to WHS is from another time. They're very noisy, and there is a lot of moving, chopping machinery. The process uses a good fraction of the bamboo to make a range of different chopsticks, from the familiar "break apart" disposable versions to fancier round chopsticks for restaurants. Waste material is collected and sent by truck to the local paper factory. It's a very sustainable type of industry, with no noticeable impact on the amount of bamboo growing everywhere, and little in the way of real waste - at least that we saw.  

Tourism has had a huge impact in the area, with a vast number of homestays and resorts for people coming from all over the world, as well as large numbers of Vietnamese people - in particular coming up from Hanoi for a couple days. This has clearly driven a lot of development and lifted the standard of living in the local area, with a huge number of jobs created for local people and new economic opportunities for people working as cooks, cleaners and staff for the resorts, as well as tour guides and drivers, and lots of homestays with little restaurants, coffee shops and local souvenirs. We also got to experience a couple of cultural shows at our resort, with a dance performance from local White Thai people, including one where you had to jump through the clapping bamboo sticks. We declined to participate... 

Overall, it was definitely an interesting experience to get amongst the local villages and see it for ourselves, and we could at least feel like we were having a net positive impact while we were there.