Day 1: we travelled from Phnom Penh to HCHC by our new favourite bus company, Giant Ibis. The first thing the bus attendant asked was to see everyone's passports and Vietnam Visa's. You have to pre-apply for a visa before going to Vietnam so that you have it when you get there. We were fine because we had received ours in the mail before we left Canada. There was a little bit of a kerfuffle at the front of the bus, and two people ended up having to leave. They had flown into Vietnam and then went to Cambodia. Not realizing that the visa was only good for one entry, they had not gotten a new visa to reenter. Poor guys. The journey there was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that on these journeys they keep saying they need your passport and don't tell you why! As you can imagine, this is extremely irritating and nerve-wracking. The first time they took them, they filled out stuff on the exit slips for Cambodia. This was very helpful, but when you're just told, "Passport please, don't worry!" when you ask why they are taking it, it doesn't help. The second time they took it, they put our passports through passport control for us so we didn't have to wait at the border. This was also extremely helpful! Regardless, we were still stressed because they didn't tell us what the hell they were doing with our passports. Whatever.
The night we arrived in HCMC, we went to see the Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral. The architecture in Vietnam is very interesting because it was colonized by the French for 100 or so years, so these two buildings are in French Colonial style.
We then wandered and found the backpackers' district to have a few beer before going to bed.
Day 2:
We went to the War Remnants Museum first thing in the morning since it was dumping buckets outside (it's rainy season here, so about once a day it pours for an hour or two. We just call it beer-o-clock most of the time). This museum talks about the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective. What we essentially derived from our readings is that essentially the war was started because the Americans wanted some of the resources in Vietnam. There was an Accord signed in Geneva (Geneva is where the United Nations' conferences are held if you're a little n00b) in the mid-1900s that basically said what the French are doing colonizing the nation of Vietnam when they want to be independent is unacceptable. An independence document was signed, and the French left. At this point, Northern Vietnam was communist and Southern Vietnam was capitalist. Since the French left (who were aided by the Americans), the Americans were worried about losing control of the tungsten and other metal resources that reside in Vietnam. They paid a leader to take over Southern Vietnam, and control the people there. He passed a law that said if anyone goes against the government, they die. Northern Vietnam did not take this lightly, and the war began. It was a pretty nasty war, and we learnt about the effects of Agent Orange and other now-banned substances. You couldn't help but feel as though the Americans started a war that could have been prevented entirely. There was even a list of American university professors that stated this war was a bad idea when it began.
Eventually, north Vietnam stormed through the now Reunification Palace (used to be SV's government house) and won the war. The US had too many casualties and they left. This unified the country, and now the whole place is Communist. Very interesting.
We then toured the Reunification Palace, which was way more impressive than Brad and I could have hoped for. It was clearly a building frozen in the 1970's. It was such a neat walk through. We got to explore all parts of the building, including the bunker where everyone would hide when there was a threat. We even got to go on the roof, where the two bombs' placements were marked that were dropped by NV.
At this point we wandered the streets, ate dinner, and walked to many pubs for beverages. Great day!
Day 3:
Phew. Hopefully by the time I'm done this blog we'll be in Nha Trang (haha.... Doubtful! I don't even know if we'll be able to tell when we're there because we can't understand anything in Vietnamese).
Yesterday was probably one of the coolest days we have had so far on our trip. The day before we booked a private tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. Don't know what these are? Well, get ready.
Our private guide and driver came and picked us up at 7:30am, and we drove for about an hour and a half until we reached the city of Cu Chi. During the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese dug tunnels in the jungle underground. These tunnels were in 3 levels, and very small. Only a small Asian person could get through, purposely done so that American men could not go through. They used these tunnels to hide when in war. There were kitchens, sewing rooms, hospitals, and weaponry rooms. There are 250km worth of these tunnels in Cu Chi. The have enlarged a 60m section of the tunnels for tourists. By "enlarged" I mean you still have to crouch down and shuffle in a ball the entire way. It was very hot and stuffy down in the tunnels, and I couldn't imagine spending more than 3 minutes in them. That was enough for me!
We also got to see all the booby traps that the Vietnamese set for the soldiers. I'm not going to list them all, but they all involve a hidden hole covered by jungle plants with very long iron nails. Pretty nasty shit, but then again there were huge bomb craters everywhere from the Americans. War is ugly.
After we finished at Cu Chi, we drove another hour or so until we reached the Mekong Delta.
We stopped for a pre-arranged meal by our guide, which ended up being an 8-course meal. It was delicious, but enormous!!! It was the amount of food for 4-5 people!
Now, the Mekong River begins in China and reaches the ocean in Vietnam. It's a massive river, about 3km wide (makes the South Saskatchewan look like a creek). Right before it reaches the ocean, it splits into 9 main mini-rivers, and the land formed around these is the Mekong Delta. These areas are extremely lush and plentiful with foods like fish and fruit. We took a boat across the main river to the delta. We first got to visit a honey farm, where we stuck our fingers in the honeycombs of a beehive (with bees everywhere!!!) to taste the honey right off our fingers. We then sat down, had honey tea, and got to try royal jelly. Royal jelly is the nutrient-rich substance the queen bee eats. To be honest, it tasted almost gross. It was bitter and had a really weird texture. No thanks. **bonus: there was a 6-8ft python there, so Brad and I took turns holding it. Holy crap are they ever heavy and entirely made of muscle. We could both feel the impressive strength of the animal as it writhed around our shoulders.
We went to a little cafe where we got to try a bunch of weird tropical fruits we had never seen or tasted before. Some ladies sang some traditional songs for us. It was a pretty cool experience.
Last but not least, we hopped into a little wooden canoe paddled by an ancient couple through the Mekong Delta. About 10m across, it was a peaceful and serene moment completely engulfed by nature. We passed many locals paddling through as they carried on with their daily lives. Amazing.
We then drove two hours back to HCMC, and ended our night with dinner and drinks.
Nha Trang is our next destination, a beach city by the ocean. We are both quite excited, both to be there and to get off this train. It has been extremely noisy, with much of the ride consisting of blaring Asian pop music and screaming children!
****protip: our pharmacist gave us azithromycin for traveller's diarrhea. Since we were still ill, I suggested we take it. That day it was gone. We are feeling back to normal and it's great not
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