PATravel: October 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

Danang & Hoi An…

Sipping “jaag-op, reg-op” Vietnamese coffee sweetened with condensed milk while we wait for our next bus north to Hue (pronounced “hoi” which is pretty much what all the hawking and spitting sounds like by the locals!). Yesterday, after an early morning swim on a beach that could have been plucked right out of SA, we decided we hadn’t quite had enough of Hoi An just yet and decided to stay another night.

Cau Dai Beach

Our first day in this genteel, French and Chinese influenced town was an incredible mix of roaming the narrow streets of Old Town (a Unesco World Heritage Site complete with ancient teak stained houses), watching old fisherman and woman in pyjama-like outfits and conical hats float down the Thu Bon River, and viewing all the local craft: silk lanterns, paintings, marble beads and, of course, tailors. Hoi An is the best place in Vietnam to get affordable custom made clothing, an option we did our best to resist until we met Mamma Emma…

Chinese teak temple doors..."happy long life!"

Japanese covered bridge

Walking down the street, on the way to the river, we were cheerfully stopped by a short little lady with a smile as wide as her hat. After a small purchase of some Vietnamese coffee and a hat of our own, she pulled out her tailors’ recommendation book along with pictures of previous outfits. Before we knew it, we were in her family’s shop picking material with 5 other family members, most of them Mamma Emma’s daughters-in-law. (And this in spite of warnings about the tape measure “wondering” into some rather privates places!) All said and done we left the shop with one suit and one dress ordered and strict instructions to be back for a final fitting at 5pm. This was around 1pm!! Not possible you say? I kid you not, we walked out of that shop in just over 4 hours with a perfectly tailored suit and silk dress that fitted better than any item we could have bought in a shop. Amazing!!

Added to this purchase was the personal experience of meeting Emma’s family and little grandchildren, one of them with Cerebral Palsy. It was fascinating to see a different culture’s attitude toward this difficult life-long disability as well as hear about the family’s access to specialized health care, like physiotherapy. If our money had to go anywhere, I’m glad it went here.

We spent the rest of the day wondering around town with ladies chasing us down the street to sell us things and Pete bargaining until they dropped to a 5^th of the original price (I swear the man was born to do this!). After a delicious meal in a riverside café we caught a small boat trip up the river and set two water lanterns free. Watching the twinkling lights reflect off the water and listening to our squatting boatman paddle us upstream will be one of the highlights of this entire trip.

Drinking a beer watching the world float by

Floating lanterns

Locally made silk lanterns by night

Early the next day found us at the beach for the swim that convinced us to stay a 3rd night. Following this Pete decided to have a “Bar Ber Clean Ear” experience. Let’s just say that he got what it said on the label…and then some!! I’m still not quite sure what they did to him, but by the instruments of torture on display I can only imagine it wasn’t very pleasant. Squeaky clean, we spent the rest of the day reading and swimming on the beach while fending off vendors plying their wares on the sand.

Vietnam's very own Sweeney Todd!

Our 3^rd and last day brings us to now. Another early morning swim beginning the last day of our 1^st full month on the road! The experiences remain amazing, but we’re starting to look forward to unpacking our suitcases for longer than a few days now. Just a few more stops before we do… J

Lots of love to all and see you soon!

Easy riders...the best way to get around Vietnam

Museum of Cham Sculpture in Danang

Emperor Who?

Another ele

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Goooood morning, Vietnam!

Sitting on a night train from Saigon to Danang, half way up the Vietnamese coast. A massive leg-eating cockroach has just run past Pete’s foot leading us to recall a few odd things that have happened in the last few days. Things we never thought we would do, see, hear or say….

1. Hear no evil

- Our grumpy tour guide on a day trip through the Mekong Delta: “We go sticky together. I no lose you!”

- Same guy: “Pleeees keepa jor hands insida da boat for da rocodi.” (We presume he meant crocodile, but can’t be sure.)

- Heard of, but yet to be seen: Fertilized duck eggs. A lucky dip of a snack as you don’t know what stage of development the duck embryo might be in before you get it. Apparently it adds just the right amount of crunch! Yum yum!!

- The Easy Rider motorbike taxi driver who heard we were from SA: “Ahhhh, you have wuwuzela in Soud Aaaafriga!”

- Waiter at a restaurant in Hoi An: “How are you? I’m fi, I’m six, I’m sewen…”???

- The blaring sound of Saigon’s second language…hooters!!!

Easyrider on our way to Hoi An!

“Pleeees keepa jor hands insida da boat for da rocodi.”

2. See no evil

- The INSANE traffic in Saigon/Hoh Chi Minh City where walking fast across the road will definitely get you killed. The slower you go the better chance you have of the moped hordes seeing and missing you. At one point today we were stuck in the middle of the road surrounded on all four sides by screaming motorbikes. Pete says he prefers being surrounded by barracuda. I’d have to agree.

- Cobras and scorpions preserved in rice wine for sale.

- Heaps of fried tomato and onion crickets.

- Tarantulas….Yup. Big, hairy, 8 legged buggers deep fried to a crisp!

- Deep fried baby chickens, head, legs an’ all! Also deep fried and a rather suspicious shade of orange.

- The 'boobi traps' which awaited American soldiers...they were not expecting a war like this!

- 'China Beach' - where the American GI's landed during the war, a 30km stretch of beach.

Anyone for a drink???

China Beach!

A camouflaged swing door trap...a soldier's nightmare!

3. Speak no evil

- “Oh, balls!” Pete’s exclamation after being bombarded by the band West Life “once again my friend…” AGAIN!

- Pete after an exceptional meal that included more than one local delicacy: “I have steamed catfish stuck in my teeth!”

Mmmm...catfish!

4. Do no evil

- Finding and climbing through the underground Cu Chi Tunnels used by the Viet Cong guerrillas in the Vietnam war.

- Being unceremoniously shoved from our pavement dinner table by the restaurant hostess as beer is illegal past an imaginary white line that is strictly enforced by police. We were allowed to return after they had walked by so that’s good.

- Tasting coconut candy toffees and honey tea made by the locals living on the islands in the Mekong delta.

- Watching Pete help a lady unpack an entire restaurant from a small square trailer on the banks of a river while drinking the local brew, “Biere Larue”

Helllooo Cu chi!

Everything from a restaurant to a kitchen sink from this one trolley!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The harsh history of Cambodia!

I went to the 'Killing fields' and the Khmer Rouge prison in the capital Phnom Penh today, Amanda decided to sit this one out. Probably a good idea, it proved to be as brutal and shocking as imagined. The fact that people can commit such heinous crimes against their own kind is beyond forgiveness.

The Cheong Ek Genocidal centre (Killing fields) was made up of several deep indentations in the ground which were once filled with dead bodies. 20,000 people were transported to this specific location and brutally executed in the most horrific manner. Every rainy season they continue to gather up bone fragments and clothing as it makes its way to the surface. A memorial towers above the trees in the centre of the field, in it are the remains of those victims that have been excavated, a harsh reminder in the hope to avoid another such time.

You can't help but feel deep sadness for the souls that were left in this place and immense anger at those that were directly and indirectly responsible for these atrocities against humanity.

Before the prisoners were sent to their deaths, they were held at the Toul Sleng prison (S21). This was my next stop. Here prisoners were the victims of awful treatment by the Khmer Rouge cadres. Often prisoners were left unaware of their crimes and forced to admit to ridiculous accusations after days of pain. Victims included men, women and children. Only a few survivors have lived to tell of their time in the prisons.

In 1975, Cambodia was made up of 8 million people. In 1979, only 5 million remained!

Our time in Cambodia has presented us with historical beauty, cultural intrigue and deep sadness.

May the sadness and fear never be repeated.

Angkor Wat???

There are few words that will be able to capture the magnitude and beauty of Angkor and I don't think I have them. So here are a few pics that hopefully give a view of this incredible place...