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!