Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) / Saigon
HCMC was our arrival city. It was how I expected big cities in China to be. The motorcycle traffic was insane! To cross the street was like playing Frogger! Our general impression of the city, which was probably created by watching movies from the era of French occupation, was disappointing. We did not see cafe-lined boulevards with nice trees and flowers. We saw a big, crowded city! We stayed in an area that is popular with tourists because it is full of travel agencies that help you plan your time in Vietnam. HCMC seems to be a good place to do day trips from, but not a great place to spend a lot of time in (unless you want to find a Vietnamese girlfriend).

So, our first day trip was to Cu Chi. It is 10km from Cambodia and is home to a famous series of underground tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war (of course, in Vietnam, they call it the American war). Our tour guide, Mr. Binh (pronounced like Mr. Bean) was very animated. He claimed to be American, born in NYC. This seemed unlikely, given the quality of his English. He prefers to live in Vietnam because he hates American food. Mr. Binh said that he was an officer and a nurse with the US Navy during the war, fighting alongside the South Vietnamese. However, he was very proud of the tunnels used by the opposite side during the war. He showed us the tunnel networks and booby traps used, and we got to go inside them too. I went into a booby trap that he said the day prior, an American lady with a big a$$ (his word, not mine) got stuck in. He commented many times that westerners have big fat a$$es and it is largely due to us using Western toilets, not squatters. He chattered non-stop for over 5 hours! I was impressed. Even though he insulted us and surely all of his stories were grossly exaggerated, we found ourselves really liking Mr. Binh. It is really nice when guides are actually interested in what they are doing, not just doing it for the paycheck!

Mui Ne
We decided we'd had enough of big cities, and fled for the coast. I love the water, and for me to have been away for over 2 months inland was almost unbelievable (I'm not counting our 30 second dip in Lake Baikal as a beach holiday!).

Mui Ne is about 200km from HCMC and we'd heard great things about it. And, we were back in the land of $10 accommodation. We found a place with little individual bungalows right on the beach. True it had fans and mosquito nets, no AC, but it was great! Can't beat the price or location. Plus, everyone staying there was really nice. Only 7 rooms and we met most of the people there. Within walking distance down the beach were many good bars and restaurants. I ate shrimp at every meal (Vietnam is a big shrimp exporter) and we found a place with mango shakes for 5,000 dong - about $0.3. Wonderful!

Two Belgians from our hotel had rented a motorbike (see footnote) for the day and shared it with us. We took it through town and out past red sand dunes and further to white sand dunes. We felt like we were in the Sahara, not lush Vietnam. Unfortunately, we didn't expect to be gone so long, and both of us now have strange sunburns from where our sunscreen and/or clothes didn't offer enough protection. It is so hot and sunny here!

Anyway, we had a great time at the beach. We were ready to relax after the non-stop hustle-bustle of Hong Kong-Tokyo-NYC-Tokyo-HCMC. Too much! The water was warm (about 24C/80F) and clear and the sand was fine and white. It was a perfect break!

Footnote - Traffic on the roads here is primarily small motorcycles, usually with at least two riders. We've seen up to four. Other than that, you see some bicycles and some mass transit buses, either small 14-seaters or big inter-city types. Almost no cars. Riding the motorcycle with Paul, even in a small town like Mui Ne, was a bit scary. There is an established hierarchy: if you are small - look out; if you are big - do what you want.