The New Year celebration that lasts weeks

Monday 31 January

The bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City was pretty much empty so we helped ourselves to two seats each. After the series of bad bus trips this felt like luxury. We experienced excellent Cambodian food at the border crossing – noodles, fresh veges, fermented fish sauce (tastes much better than is sounds). HCMC needed to really impress us after the first meeting. We arrived at the bus station and got in a taxi who look us for a complete ride. Our hotel was 150m down the road and he drove around the block a couple of times and charged us about US$8. We met Carol’s friend Helen who was doing the two weeks in Vietnam with us at My My Arthouse, our home for the next two nights and went to a nice restaurant and had our first Vietnamese meal – pho bo, fresh noodles and beef and Vietnamese pancake. After we’d done the house keeping for the next few days (bus and accommodation booking) we set off to the night markets with a girl we met at the hotel. We often stay at family owned hotels which are hilarious. Their bathroom is your bathroom and then use the common area as their lounge and have their friends over for drinks! 

Flower market especially for Tet

First meal in HCMC and it was fantastic

In Cambodia we found out we’d be hitting HCMC during Tet (Vietnamese New Year) – it was absolutely crazy. All the locals travel to their family like we do for Christmas and many take one to two weeks off. So there was a contrast of scooter, beeping madness and many shops and restaurants being closed. To cross roads we adopted Hamish and Andy’s shadowing technique. We’d wait for a local or two (preferably three) and and stand very close to them. Once we figured out their approach we mastered it on our own. You just walk slowly and keep the same pace so the madness can pass around you. Soon we were looking for the busiest intersections to cross – quite exhilarating! An area between the two main streets was decked out with a special market for Tet selling flowers and lots of tree ensembles that is like their version of the Christmas tree. Children stay up late with their parents and play with bubble-making toys and things that light up and spiral into the air. People crowd the streets. It was so completely different to the HCMC we saw on our way to Cambodia. Everyone was so happy, it really lifted our spirits and gave us a new feeling about the place.

Fruit stall at the night markets 

All sorts of nuts and unidentifiable things in bags

Woman cooking up a storm of shell fish and snails at the night markets

Tuesday 1 February

We only had two days here so to get a feel for the area we took a day tour of the Mekong Delta area visiting four islands. To give you an idea of the traffic, it took three hours to travel 75km. We were picked up in a minibus and driven around the block to the tourism office. Then we drove around the block again and picked up other people. This is typical of how things roll here – nothing makes sense and nothing is what you expect. Spending hours picking up people within a two-block radius is pretty normal. Picking up random locals for short distances is also normal. We boarded a boat with about 20 other tourists and cruised the Mekong River before arriving at an island. On four-person long boats we traipsed through beautiful canals. The islands are inhabited with locals and for a lot of them these tours is how they make a living. We saw how Vietnam’s favourite sweet, coconut candy is produced and got samples. It was then time for the fruit party! It was a sampling of local fruits and a lovely music performance by several women accompanied by a small band. It was great to get a glimpse of life in the Mekong (where a large percentage of Vietnam’s population lives), but the tour wasn’t the best. But for US$9 what did we expect? 

Acting casual in our authentic conical hats

Long boats in a canal on the Mekong tour 

So much panda confectionary. This combines my love of pandas and ice-cream!

That night we walked through the city after being recommended a place to eat by our hotelier. Unfortunately it was closed because it was family run and they were shut down for Tet. We were really disappointed because it was a place were lots of locals go and we didn’t want to eat somewhere touristy again. After walking for what felt like hours we found somewhere to eat on the street. All they did was pho bo and they did it well. We were told that most street vendors specialise in one dish and there’s no menu. It was excellent. We had an endless supply of Vietnamese mint and fresh limes provided by a lovely old man who probably owned the joint. It’s often the older men who do this and the younger woman who cook and wait the tables. He just sat at the back and made sure everything went smoothly. This would have been US$1 for locals but we were charged triple. Goes with having a large nose apparently! On our way home we tried some coloured rice with sugar and a salty sauce and some delicious frozen natural yoghurt in a small triangular plastic tube.

Carol and I in front of the amazing Happy New Year sign

Best pho bo to date

Scooters as far as the eye can see

Delicious rice dessert

Carol and Helen at a bar all decorated for New Year

Wednesday 2 February

In the afternoon we were going to Mui Ne, a beach town, but before boarding the bus we visited the War Remnants Museum. The Museum hopes that through its exhibitions the public will leave saying no to war and yes to world peace. The Museum is some four storeys high and separated into eight galleries exploring themes like historical truths, imprisonment conditions during the war, and aggressive war crimes. The most memorable space for me was the collection of documentary photos from Japanese photographers Bunyo Ishikawa and Nakamura Goro. Photos, magazine covers and articles were displayed from the time of the Vietnam War. Because it was the first war to be so comprehensively photographed and in colour, the photos were harrowing and the stories of the photojournalists, some who died, equally as upsetting. On the third floor a colourful room called Dove is used for education groups and for children to play in while being supervised. The last gallery is called ‘The World People in support of Vietnam’s resistance’ and documents photographs and quotes from world leaders in support of anti-war.

War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City

The audio visual room looks like a magician is about to take the stage 

One of the galleries

After the museum visit we managed to scoff a bowl of pho bo before getting on the bus to Mui Ne. The bus was hot and I kept sticking to the vinyl seats and the air conditioning wasn’t very gutsy. After a stop and some fresh air we all felt much better and like we could stand the next couple of hours. Mui Ne is a resort town lining a gorgeous white sand beach. It seemed to take forever to get to our resort (that’s right, resort!). Because of Vietnamese New Year and our habit of booking late the few places I called were full or rooms were more expensive. Even though our accommodation was a fear way from the main part of town it was worth it for some serious beach/pool action and some R & R after the chaos that is Ho Chi Minh City.

Thursday 3 February 

We spent a glorious full day at the resort and beach. I managed to get a bit sun burnt and also had to start on the good old Imodium. Helen and I both got massages on the beach and they were terrible. Thankd God I only had half an hour. We experienced terrible meal after terrible meal. They think because we’re tourists we don’t want to taste good Vietnamese food – it’s actually half the reason we’re here. Finally we found a place that looked pretty busy and had fresh seafood and a BBQ out the front. That and the smell was enough to entice us in.  It would have been rude not to dig in to some seafood so we had crab which was lacking in meat but tender and delicious. To fill up we stopped at a dessert place and had some delicious pancakes and a game of checkers.  

A concoction of rice goodness and pickled vegetables eaten on the first morning of the New Year

Mmmm

Double the fun - trying out a new Vietnamese beer

Beach outside the resort at Mui Ne

Friday 4 February

Today Carol and I hired a scooter from the resort and headed for the sand dunes that Mui Ne is most known for. We cruised up the coast and it felt like we could have been anywhere in the world. Pine trees lined the coast and apart from a few fishing boats there wasn’t much else in sight. When we arrived at the sand dunes there were several people yelling and waving us into their shops. We went into the first one because we had no idea what they were doing and thought we couldn’t go any further. Turns out they’re at many tourist attractions. They look after your scooter or bike for a fee and then they try to get you to buy souvenirs, water or food. We hired plastic mats for sliding down the dunes and started our ascent to the top. Well, we certainly felt the burn – from the sun and in our legs after almost three weeks without much exercise. At first we couldn’t get the technique right and an Australian guy came over and told us he’d filmed us – rather embarrassing! 

Performance for New Year outside a restaurant in Mui Ne

Carol happy to be at the top of the dunes

Scooter action!

There were lots of woman wearing hats and masks all over the dunes hiring mats. We asked one of them to show us how it was done knowing we’d have to pay her because nothing here is for free. She piled some sand onto the mat and then sprinkled it down the dune on the path we’d slide down. It worked well and we had a few good runs. I gave the woman a tip for helping (US$1) and then she pulled out a random mat and accused me of bending it even though we used our own ones we’d hired previously. She wanted more money to replace the mat. Either she pretended we used one of hers to get more money or she set a slide up for me with her mat not mine. Either way it was sneaky and typical of the scams here. In the end there’s no point arguing about a dollar and you’re more aware next time. That afternoon we headed to Nga Trang – the main beach destination in Vietnam. 

Sleeper bus to Nha Trang