After much apprehension about entering a Communist country, we arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City uneventfully. And, after the dirty and chaotic streets of Phnom Penh, Saigon was a much welcomed improvement. It is cleaner, more modern, prettier...all in all a place that I wished we had more time in.
Our major tourist trip was to Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour's drive NW of the city. The Vietnamese lived in this elaborate tunnel structure during the war. The tunnels were 3 stories deep and built with a variety of fail-safe measures to keep them protected (including the smoke from the kitchen being diverted 10-20 feet away so that the actual kitchen location wouldn't be detected. The tunnels are built to be tight for Vietnamese, so we had a tough time fitting to say the least. I jumped down into one of the holes. We also walked through a 30 m stretch of the tunnel, which was filled with hot, stale air and we were all glad to be out.
We returned to Saigon after our driver ran a moto off the road and into a water-filled ditch (the driving here is as crazy as I've seen; they actually hire traffic guards to help tourists cross the street in Saigon b/c otherwise we'd never make it). We had a train in a few hours, which I think we were all looking forward to though the experience was way worse than anticipated. Our car had some rotten garbage in it, and I (having the lowest bunk in the sleeper) had to obey some sort of cultural norm that anyone could sit or rest his/her feet on my bunk. At one point, a man sat on my leg and didn't move until I moved my leg. The train ride was about 9 hours long to Nha Trang, and we were relived to be done.
Nha Trang is a great little seaside town. Nick and
I went diving, and saw amazing coral, fish, eels, urchins, etc (my favorite were giant purple starfish, though the rose/silver coral with the matching fish is a close second). The coral was apparently decimated until 3 years ago, but has grown back surprisingly quickly (we were in a marine protected area). We did two dives and I was down about 50 minutes each dive. That night we had an incredible Vietnamese barbeque dinner. We grilled fish, eel, and beef at the table, supplemented with a crab and spring rolls. Easily the best and most unique meal I've had here.
We're now in Hoi An, another seaside town known for its
Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage site), 200 custom tailors, and a white sand beach about 5 k up the road where we spent yesterday.
Our major tourist trip was to Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour's drive NW of the city. The Vietnamese lived in this elaborate tunnel structure during the war. The tunnels were 3 stories deep and built with a variety of fail-safe measures to keep them protected (including the smoke from the kitchen being diverted 10-20 feet away so that the actual kitchen location wouldn't be detected. The tunnels are built to be tight for Vietnamese, so we had a tough time fitting to say the least. I jumped down into one of the holes. We also walked through a 30 m stretch of the tunnel, which was filled with hot, stale air and we were all glad to be out.
We returned to Saigon after our driver ran a moto off the road and into a water-filled ditch (the driving here is as crazy as I've seen; they actually hire traffic guards to help tourists cross the street in Saigon b/c otherwise we'd never make it). We had a train in a few hours, which I think we were all looking forward to though the experience was way worse than anticipated. Our car had some rotten garbage in it, and I (having the lowest bunk in the sleeper) had to obey some sort of cultural norm that anyone could sit or rest his/her feet on my bunk. At one point, a man sat on my leg and didn't move until I moved my leg. The train ride was about 9 hours long to Nha Trang, and we were relived to be done.
Nha Trang is a great little seaside town. Nick and
I went diving, and saw amazing coral, fish, eels, urchins, etc (my favorite were giant purple starfish, though the rose/silver coral with the matching fish is a close second). The coral was apparently decimated until 3 years ago, but has grown back surprisingly quickly (we were in a marine protected area). We did two dives and I was down about 50 minutes each dive. That night we had an incredible Vietnamese barbeque dinner. We grilled fish, eel, and beef at the table, supplemented with a crab and spring rolls. Easily the best and most unique meal I've had here.We're now in Hoi An, another seaside town known for its
Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage site), 200 custom tailors, and a white sand beach about 5 k up the road where we spent yesterday.
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