And now for something completely different. Leaving India behind, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Warmth and humidity greeted us there. Some of the things we did there were:
Food Tour
Food tour on the backs of moto scooters that is. This was a private tour with just the two of us (well, four including our drivers/guides). We visted several local food places, zipping between locations on the back of the scooters. We had Bun Bo Hue, a central Vietnamese noodle soup that is a relative of Pho, a Vietnamese pizza (bánh tráng nướng) which is an egg and some other garnishes on a round rice paper base, cooked on a grill., topped with various sauces, like siracha, hoisin etc. There was a nice desert ( CHUOI NEP NUONG) which is a banana embedded in a brick of sticky rice, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. Then it’s cut open and into pieces and covered with coconut sauce. Yum.
Of course we had Bahn Mi, the marriage between a french baugette and Vietnamese filling. We had an “original” version, which turned out to include pork liver paste, so not our favorite version. Our final stop was for dessert: flan (European addition to Vietnamese cuisine) and a gelatinous coconut and syrup thing that was uh OK. Not something I plan on ordering again.
Vietnamese traffic has its own flow. The predominant transport is a motorcycle or moto scooter. They flow through car traffic like water past rocks.
Motos flow around pedestrian as well. Just walk slowly, watch the upstream traffic and be predictable. Similar in some ways to traffic in Phnom Penh. Here’s a short video showing how to walk through traffic, after making it to the center of the road.
Củ Chi tunnels
The Viet Cong built a vast network of tunnels connecting underground bunkers, sniper positions, kitchens, barracks, hiding places etc. This started under French occupation and continued when fighting the Americans. Part of that tunnel system is now an outdoor museum.
There were hidden entrances, some enlarged sections of the tunnel we could crawl through and some underground rooms to visit. This includes a recreated workshop where unexploded US ordinance was converted into weapons used by the VC. At the end of the tour there was a shooting range where (for a price) you could shoot an AK-47 or M-16. I just watched others shoot, but man those guns are loud! There was also a display of various traps that the Viet Cong constructed and hid, designed to injure and kill American soldiers. Inventive, ingenious, but very sobering.
Here is a sequence showing how to enter, close and conceal a tunnel entrance.
War Remnants Museum
History is written by the victors, and this is pretty evident in this one-sided depiction of the atrocities committed by US forces during the Vietnam War. Worth visiting, but recognize that it is roots are in propaganda. Still, it was sobering being reminded of the horrors committed in wartime. Much of the information presented in the Museum came from the Western free press, expressing dissent about the war. Ironically these freedoms are not available for Vietnamese citizens. Communism.
And some random shots of street scenes:
We flew from Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc to have some tropical beach time. This is an island in the Gulf of Thailand jut off the south-eastern edge of Cambodia, but belongs to Vietnam. It is very close to Cambodian islands and mainland locations we visited a few years ago while living in Cambodia. This island is much more developed than the Cambodian counterparts. There are a lot of resorts on the western coast.
The resort (Sol by Melia) had good restaurants, beautiful grounds, a pristine beach and a huge swimming pool. We had great views from our 6th story balcony overlooking the grounds and out to the ocean. We spent quite a bit of time just looking at this view while planning the rest of this current trip and figuring out a general plan for the first part of 2023.
I’m sure there are lots of great things to see and do on the island, but we didn’t see or do them. Check out somebody else’s blog on what to do there. We never left the resort because sometimes we just need some down time. A massage or two may also have occurred. So all I can offer is pictures taken from our balcony of different weather conditions over the five days we were there. We had some great thunderstorms and awesome sunsets. The night shot includes lots of green lights on fishing boats. I assume green light help attract fish?
Next stop:
We travel half way up the coast of Vietnam to visit the town of Hoi An. It is a famous resort city situated where a river meets the ocean.
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