Category Archives: Vietnam

Moto Vietnam: Day 2 – Mui Ne to Nha Trang

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Cute pedestrians

Cute pedestrians

We got up at 8am and the first thing we did after checking out was to hit the shops. I needed sun lotion, mainly as my face resembled that of a red superhero wearing a white Zorro mask. Not flattering, but at least I knew my sunglasses were working.

Our route took us back onto the road running past the orange sand dune and on towards greener land. The lush green plant life contrasted strongly with the orange sand it seemed to be growing out of.

The rest stop was to be Trap Cham, about four hours up the road. Just outside the town is the Po Klong Garai, a collection of three Cham buildings up on a hill. The cost of visiting these has recently risen to 10,000d – double that listed in the current Lonely Planet. One of the buildings is currently used and we had to ask someone to unlock it so we could see inside.

Commuters

Commuters

The heat was incredible so we had a quick siesta before remounting the bike and starting the last leg towards Nha Trang about 100km away. On the way we stopped for an hour for an email check at a very swish cybercafe. Big comfy armchairs, LCD screens, working keyboards, aircon and only 4500d per hour. Well cheap.

We’d traveled maybe 20km north of our pit stop when – would you believe it – the back tyre went flat again. Fortunately we’d once again come a cropper right by somewhere we could have it fixed. This time the fault was diagnosed as being the inside of the tyre itself. Some wear on it was rubbing on the inner tube and creating a hole in it. Solution: new tyre. Cost: 250,000d. Ah, well.

Cham tower

Cham tower

While we were waiting, I was invited to sit with about a dozen men who were sat – topless – eating and supping on rice wine. As usual, I was offered a shot glass full of wine. As usual, I necked it in one – to a cheer and cries of “very good!” Conversation was limited due to my complete lack of Vietnamese, but it was – as ever – humbling to experience such a welcome and generosity.

Thankfully that was our last stop until we reached Nha Trang. We picked a guest house a little way from the tourist bustle and settled in. which is where I wrote the draft for this post. Next stop would be somewhere selling food. After a long day biking I was starving!

We went to the Texas Steak place down the road (26a Tran Quang Khai St – no web page!). A bit pricey at first glance, but great quality and generous portions. The owner is a genuine American who’s been in Vietnam for 2½ years. Nice guy.

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Moto Vietnam: Day 1 – HCM to Mui Ne

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Puncture number 1

Puncture number 1

We set off at around 11:30 after going to Thao’s to repack our things into small bags. Thao had had a friend check out her motorbike and he deemed it satisfactory for our journey – no need to rent others so a huge money-saver!

Aiming for the 1A main road, we zoomed east for about an hour until the bike started to wobble. Badly. The back tyre had punctured. A great start! Fortunately, we were a stones-throw from a repair shop, and even closer to a guy who was sat under a tree with some spare parts. He sorted everything out for us, including getting is a new inner tube and charged us around 65,000d (about £2) for the privilege. At least breaking down isn’t expensive here.

Two on a bike

Two on a bike

After a lot of driving and swapping roles (front seat is far nicer on your bum than the back), we got to Phan Thiet at 3pm where we visited s small temple that houses a complete whale skeleton – apparently the largest on display in Vietnam. They also have the largest publicly viewable collection of whale bones in the country, a fact attested to by a trophy and certificate from the Vietnam Book of Records!

Despite the bonkers signposting (or lack of it), we reached the outskirts of Mui Ne about an hour later. We ignored the junction to head along the lovely new (and very empty) bypass and check out the orange sand dunes for which the area is famous. The skies were just starting to darken which allowed a wonderful contrast between the deep orange sand and the deepening blue sky.

Whale-y big!

Whale-y big!

We doubled back and checked out some guest houses before settling on a nice one run by a lovely little old lady who was fascinated by my passport. I think she generally only hosts Vietnamese holidaymakers and had never seen a Vietnamese tourist visa before!

Dinner was at the Wax Bar further along the road where a young girl stood taking sneaky photos of me. I talked to her very briefly and found out she was from Belgium, but she didn’t speak French or very much English. Instead she showed me all the photos she’d taken. Cute kid.

Mui Ne orange dunes

Mui Ne orange dunes

Her (I think) cousin appeared and we sat talking to her and her boyfriend for a while. We had a great chat and a lousy game of pool. Seriously I don’t think I’ve ever played to bad in my life!

The guest house had a TV in the room so I got to watch a fair bit of the Liverpool v Spurs game before I slept. Very soundly. Sitting on a bike all day is a lot more strenuous than you may think.

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After the engagement

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How to relax in Ho Chi Minh City

How to relax in Ho Chi Minh City

In the afternoon, we headed back to our resective homes (Thao her place, myself to the hotel) to get changed into something more comfortable. Well, for me that was just another shirt as I was all out of trousers havign ripped the crotch of one pair wide open getting onto her bike the night before.

As such, our first stop of the afternoon was a supermarket where I picked up two pairs of rather decent shorts (XL size, naturally) for a little over £3 each. Bargain.

Now I wrote in an earlier blog post that crossing the road in Vietnam is like dropping a pebble into a bowl full of fish. The fish simply part and swim round you as you continue on your way. Today I was one of the fish.

We drove north east out of the city centre towards the Binh Quoi Tourist Village. This is mainly for “local” tourists rather than foreigners but it’s a beautiful spot to spend an afternoon. The most common usage locally is for wedding photographs and we saw many couples being dragged around by teams of people and bent into shape as they had their pictures taken.

Wedding Photo Central

Wedding Photo Central

The whole place is pretty artificial, with “old” walls in the middle of fields, bridges, waterwheels, unused fishing nets and the like. It’s still tranquil and beautiful and is a great place to go for dinner. There’s a 100,000d eat-all-you-can buffet from around 5pm with a huge variety of dishes from all over Vietnam available to try. Be aware, though, that very little English is spoken and you’ll be taking pot luck with a lot of the food!

Thao realised that she had a class that evening which she’s forgotten about, so we bolted the food and hopped back on the bike. Somehow I managed to get her to college just on time without killing us both despite the amazingly busy traffic in the city centre. She told me to go out and see the area while she was in class. Using her bike. On my own.

I wussed and sat and read a book for a bit until she came out during a break and chastised me. I mounted up and wobbled into the traffic.

Obviously things went OK or I’d not be typing this up now. In fairness, the locals treated me like some kind of backwards cousin who didn’t know what the hell he ws doing and I’m sure they gave me more leeway as a result. For this I am grateful as it allowed me to ease into the whole experience of being on my lonesome in a very confusing city.

I'll have a leg, please

I'll have a leg, please

I managed to find a garage and filled up, and a corner store round near the backpacker area to grab some munchies. Then I returned to the college where Thao was later coming out – but I sat at a cafe opposite and watched the footie with the staff instead. As ever, being sat in a generally non-touristy area, I had someone approach me and chat about the football for a while.

Eventually Thao appeared and I drove us to the hotel where she regained control of her motorbike and headed home. The fast, free wi-fi in my room meant I got to watch us crush Reading 3-0 on a dodgy streaming site. A good end to a good day.

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This ain’t no wedding!

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Spot the odd one out

Spot the odd one out

My first morning after arriving in Vietnam was to be spent at the wedding of a friend of Thao, my kind guide. Only I discovered the night before that it wasn’t a wedding at all but an engagement ceremony / party. It seems here that more emphasis is put on the engagement than on the wedding which follows. In a way, this does make sense. After all, the engagement is where the initial promises are made – getting married is only a confirmation of those promises.

Either way, it was wonderful to have the invitation and I dressed as well as I could for the occasion. Which was not very well, I admit. My only long trousers (which needed to go in the laundry but seeing as I ripped the crotch out of my only other pair the night before, this hadn’t been possible) and my ProDive Bali polo shirt, as it’s the only thing I have with a collar on. Not exactly classy, but thankfully nobody seemed to mind.

We come bearing gifts...

We come bearing gifts...

Thao looked far better in a traditional white ao dai. I don’t think I quite have the figure for one, but it would still have looked better on me than the clothes I picked.

It took us an hour to get there with me driving and Thao guiding. Or trying to. We managed to get completely befuddled by a one-way system, something that Thao says has never happened to her before. Fortunately, one of her friends met us at a petrol station and was very easy to follow in the crowded traffic, being that she was wearing a striking pink outfit.

I was made to feel very welcome by everyone when we got there, and was the only obvious westerner. I did talk to one chap from the US and a young boy from Canada both of whom were obviously of Vietnamese heritage. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people spoke English of varying levels and was more than happy to sit and chat with as many as possible.

Thao in ao dai

Thao in ao dai

Soon enough, though, the “bride” arrived and the ceremony began. It was very simple and I couldn’t follow a lot but what I did see and picked up from Thao follows.

A selection of large round boxes are handed to the bride’s side of the family by the groom’s – men pass them to women, one of whom was Thao. These are filled with small gifts such as fruits and placed in a table.

In front of this table, the fathers of the bride and groom introduce their families to each other – it all seemed very informal and there was a lot of laughing. Half of the contents of the boxes are taken by the bride’s family and half left alone.

And the ring goes on

And the ring goes on

The bride and groom then take centre stage and the engagement ring is slipped onto the bride’s finger – formalising the engagement. Much applause and smiles all around! The bride then takes some tea and offers it cup by cup to all the members of the families.

After this, they all disappeared upstairs. Virtually all Vietnamese households have a shrine to their ancestors and this house was no different. I didn’t see this part, but a ceremony took place whereby the engagement is “shown” to these ancestors so that they can approve of their descendents’ actions.

Then we ate.

Lots.

And I thank the families for their generosity! The food was excellent and the conversation both enlightening and enjoyable. I only had about a pint of beer, but Thao decided I was “drunk” so she drove me back to the hotel.

Before this, though, one more part if the ceremony had to be observed. The half-empty boxes brought in at the start were officially handed back by the bride’s side to the groom’s. The bride and groom also very kindly let me have a snap with them.

Again, thank you so much, people. Hopefully everything here is correct – by all means if I’ve cocked up any details, do let me know and I’ll update it.

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Good evening, Vietnam! Again…

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Visit number five to Vietnam and number three to Ho Chi Minh City. This time was to be my first with a “local” guide in the form of Thao who I’ve been chatting to online for almost two years now, I think. She originally spotted my blog post about climbing Fansipan, which she was planning on doing, and we’ve been in touch ever since.

The flight was on time and otherwise uneventful. What was different was Tan Son Nhat airport. There has been a lot of work done on it since the last time I used it (only a year ago) to the point that I thought I was in a new airport. Some things don’t change, though, and you still have the thieving taxi drivers trying to charge you double what they should for the short ride into the city centre.

Cheapest option is still the public bus at 3000d per ticket, but Thao had given me prices to ask for if I could find a xe om. Unfortunately you simply won’t get a motorcycle around the international terminal. I found a taxi firm that charged me a dollar (well, 20000d which is more than a dollar but they wouldn’t take the $1 bill I had as it was too dirty) to call Thao who very kindly said she’d come and pick me up.

I walked to the domestic terminal to wait for her. While I was there, about three men asked me if I wanted a motorcycle. They did this very subtly, like the morons on the street in Mumbai trying to sell you drugs. The reason for this is that they have no license to pick people up from the airport and are just parked in the public car park. However, I reckon they’ll be a cheap way to get into the town if you don’t want to handle the buses. Thao quoted me around 20000d as a fair fare for one of these chaps. Note that she’s Vietnamese so doubtless gets it cheaper than a foreigner!

However, Thao wasn’t too long and it was lovely to finally meet her. It took me half an hour to find out what she looked like as she wore a typical Vietnamese face-covering while she motorbiked. We got to the hotel quickly enough and she helped me check in as we were in a very non-foreigner part of town.

After a shower (oh, I so needed that) and a change of clothes (I ripped the groin out of the pair I was wearing getting onto her bike – whoops) Thao took me to a restaurant a couple of doors along for a very nice dinner. The chap serving us spoke a very small amount of English and took delight in striking up a conversation with me to practise. Always glad to help!

By now we were both running on empty so I retired to my room with plans for Thao to collect me in the morning to head up to a wedding party where she was one of the bridesmaids. Exciting!

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