the end is nigh

This is my final post from Vietnam. I hop on the back of a motorbike in 15 minutes to head to the airport, then 28 hours on airplanes and in airports later I will be home. I loved Vietnam, and have lots of photos to share. I would definately come back.

Trifecta

I've completed my Vietnamese culinary hat trick: cobra heart, dog, durian. If I had ever seen insects I would have eaten them too, but they never showed up. If I had seen monkey brain I would not have eaten it, because it is my understanding that those monkeys are endangered, or threatened or something like that, and are being killed just for dumb tourists to eat their brain (and increase male potency). I don't want to encourage that.

Of the three, I would say the cobra heart was the worst, because it just didn't taste like anything. Just moonshine. The dog and durian were quite good. The durian didn't even stink that bad. Sure, it had a slightly unpleasant odor, but it was really subtle. I think my shoes smell a lot worse. The flavor of the fruit is really nice, and I forgot about the smell as soon as I started eating. An Australian man walking by said it was better if you put it in the fridge first. Apparently that masks some of the smell. Tomorrow I go for a motorbike ride around the countryside surrounding Saigon with the same driver who gave me the Saigon city tour. I talked with him today about durians, and he said that a really nice treat is to mix the durian flesh with vietnamese coffee (basically espresso) - not the kind with condensed milk, just black. I'll try to get a durian tomorrow and try that out before I leave, because durians aren't available in the states.

massage?

So in Hanoi I was approached by hookers on motorbike. Here in Saigon, all the hookers are kept hidden from view, but all the motorbike drivers try to sell their services. The normal escalation of selling things is "Where you go? One hour! Massage? Marijuana?" When they ask if you want a massage, I assume they always mean from some pretty girl, not from a nasty motorbike driver. Some of them pull out a business card to show you that there really is a girl, not them giving the massage. So today I am sitting in a park eating lunch, just killing time until I can check into my hotel. A cyclo driver pulls up and tries to sell me a ride in his cyclo for the day. I've already seen everything he wants to show me, and I tell him so. Then he tells me how some days he is unlucky and has no rides because there are so many motorbikes. I politely tell him that is too bad but I'm not interested. Then he escalates and asks if I want a massage. I say no. He clarifies and says a girl massage and pulls out her business card. Here's the kicker. Written right on the card in big letters is "BLOW JOBS". It was the most blatant sex sale yet. I wanted to ask if I could keep the card.

And no, I didn't get a massage (or a blow job).

Surf's not up

I'm in beautiful Mui Ne now. It is picturesque beaches and palm trees and emerald blue water. That said, it just doesn't seem like Vietnam. There are a lot of luxury beach resorts that have been built to cater to tourists that don't want to experience Vietnam, nor see what the people and country are really like. The beach in front of the resorts is full of European men in speedos and women in bikinis, who probably won't leave the beach their entire trip. This is the kind of place my brother would want to stay if he were to ever come to Vietnam. Mui Ne is supposed to be a surf spot, but I haven't seen any surfers, and the waves aren't big. They are probably smaller than San Diego, and it is very windy to boot. There are a lot of kite surfers though. The weather is great for that. I rented a motorbike and drove to a big sand dune today, went sledding down the dunes, it was fun. Just driving around on the motorbike is a lot of fun.

At 1:30 am tonight I get on a bus back to Saigon. I don't think I'll miss the stop this time.

Not where I wanted to be

Apparently when you are asleep on a bus, they don't bother to wake you up and tell you that you are at the stop. There was some miscommunication between me and the lady selling me the bus ticket. I asked how long the ride took and she indicated 12, so I thought she meant 12 hours. It turns out she meant the bus arrives at 12, so a 4 hour ride. I took the overnighter to save time, and slept. We went right past Mui Ne, and now I am in Nha Trang and have to take a 6 hour bus back to Mui Ne, and I'll have to take a 2am bus leaving Mui Ne in order to get back to HCMC in time to pick up my plane tickets. Damnit!

going to the beach!

A few days ago, Wayne and I decided to mail some stuff home (souvenirs, cool weather clothes, etc) before heading to Saigon. The process was rushed because our taxi left soon and the hotel called these ladies to come with boxes and pack our stuff. It was frantic. So it looks like I accidentally mailed my return tickets home in the package. Here is Saigon I called China Airlines and they didn't understand my problem, so I went to their office and they will reissue the tickets for $100 charge. Not a problem, and I've learnt a lesson. Unfortunately I have to come back to Saigon on the 23rd to get the tickets, which only leaves a couple days to do either Dalat (mountainous countryside) or Mui Ne (dune beach). I decided to go to the beach. Yes, I flew half way around the world to go to a beach. I expect the water to be much warmer than SD beaches and I could use some R&R.

Yesterday, I hired a motorbike to drive me around the city all day and show me some sights. I saw the war remembrance museum which was very touching. The motorbike driver said most of it was fake, but I'm not sure what to believe. He was a veteran from the South Vietnamese army and really hated the government. He spoke good english and talked openly about his war experience and his dislike of the government. He took me to a great restaurant for lunch and showed me where I could get dog for dinner. If you're ever in HCMC, you should call Mr Dat. Shit, I can't find his number. I'll add it later.

edit:
Here's his phone number 0907380713
Don't prank call him, Mr. Dat's a nice guy.

Last night I went to the dog serving place and it was quite good. I got to talking with some locals who thought it was great that I was eating there and they shared their food with me and got me drunk on their rice wine. I stumbled to my hotel quite happy.

Tonight is an overnight bus ride, then beaches!

Miss Saigon

Today we flew to Saigon after seeing so Cham temples near Hoi An. Saigon is so different than Hanoi and the North! The city is a lot larger for one thing. There is a lot more traffic, and it looks a lot like how I imagine Tokyo to look. There are huge neon signs and big buildings and more huge neon signs ... Crossing the street here is a little harrowing. Just move slowly and keep your eye on traffic.

I've decided not to go to Angkor Wat with Wayne. It was becoming a big hassle to plan it out and I was unnecessarily stressing myself out. Not going will just make my holiday more enjoyable. I'll go some other time. Instead I will spend my last 9 days in south Vietnam. Tomorrow we're going to the Cu Chi tunnels and Cao Dai temple. After that I'm not real sure what the plan is. Wayne might fly to Cambodia or we might do a couple day tour of the Mekong Delta. I'm thinking of backtracking a little and going to the beaches at Mui Ne (sand dunes). I would like some R&R at a nice beach. Or I might go to the hill town of Dalat, also R&R.

Oh the shopping

We're in Hoi An now, shopping heaven apparently. This is the place to go to have clothes tailored. I am having a nice suit made and a traditional Vietnamese suit called an Ao Dai. It is mostly worn by women now, but the men's version is about the equivalent of a tux. When I told the tailor that I was there for an Ao Dai for myself she thought it was very funny, and chatted with the other tailors in the shop. I know she was talking about me because she kept saying Ao Dai and giggling. I guess it isn't common for men to buy one, especially not foriegnors. When I picked out the color, she suggested blue, but I'm no rube! I know that blue Ao Dai's are reserved for weddings. So I got a black one. It will be great for standing in front of the mirror and pretending to be Jet Li.

I think in my last post I was in Hue. I went to the Vinh Moc tunnels, which were non-combat tunnels dug by the village of Vinh Moc near the DMZ. It was really incredible how big and complete the tunnels are. They even had a maternity ward. Then I went to the DMZ, which is nothing spectacular. We went to Khe Sahn air base, site of a major siege of US marines. I saw the first Chinook and photos of Chinooks in Vietnam, which is significant because those were the choppers my Dad flew here (big, dual rotor helicopter). It's also the helicopter that my uncle flew here and was shot down in (MIA). I never met him, but it still struck close to home.

Yesterday we rode around on minibikes around the Hue country side, and that was really nice.

Tomorrow I take a cooking class and probably more shopping. I get a final fitting for my suit and Ao Dai so they will be perfectly tailored. Next day it looks like we'll see some Cham ruins and then fly to Dalat for some french food.

The internet here has big problems with blogger, so that is why my posts are so sporadic. I'm not even able to view my blog, so I can't read any comments. Feel free to be asses.

Bored in Hue

I arrived in Hue today and I'm rather bored. It might be because this is the first time it's been raining and I'm tired from the overnight train, so I am a little grumpy and not in the mood to do anything. I'll get over it.

Halong Bay was very nice. It was billed as "romantic" and I imagine if I were there with a lady friend it would be, but being there with Wayne, I thought it was a very platonic voyage. We spent 1 night/2 days and again, with a woman the 2 night/3 day package might make sense.

At the hostel we met some very young australian girls who were on their way to Thailand for a few weeks of partying. I think they were 20, but acted like 16. They had some funny ideas about Vietnam, and why they were there at all. I think one said she didn't feel right partying for 6 weeks, so she's spending some time in other southeast asian countries before returning to thailand for 3 weeks of partying.

I haven't eaten anything else weird, I'll let you know when I do.

mmmm

I just got back from dinner, and I had Cobra heart, venom and blood! Mmm!

They killed the Cobra in front of us, drained it's blood into a bottle that had some moonshine in it, then cut out the heart and dropped it into a shot glass. Next they cut out the venom sack and poor it into another bottle of moonshine. We went upstairs to a table where they poured some venom into the heart shot glass and I downed that one, while Wayne had a glass of blood. They took the rest of the snake to the kitchen and cooked it up several ways. I also had a glass of blood and we both had a shot of intestine-moonshine. All of these only tasted like moonshine. The first snake dish was the meat cooked with some mushrooms and vegetables. It tasted something like crawdish. The second dish was tail tail meat, fried. Next was the spine chopped up and served on a rice cracker. That was the best dish. Next was mini-snake spring rolls, which were ok. They also gave us a soup that wasn't very good, but I don't think it had any snake in it. I have a biz card for anyone who goes to Hanoi and wants to try cobra.

gone fishin'

Here's a photo of a fisherman in Hanoi.

http://flickr.com/photos/wardialer/347443288/

You no buy, you no good

I just got back from a three day trip to NW Viet Nam, the town of Sapa. It is one of the picturesque villages, with steep valleys enshrouded in fog and terraced rice patties. The first day apparently we got lucky and it was beautiful. The fog cleared away enough at times to let the sun shine bright over the entire valley, and it got rather warm. The view from the hotel was amazing, especially considering the room only cost $7.50 total. The second day, we went on a trek to minority villages and stayed in a "homestay", which meant we stayed with a minority village family. We sat around the cookfire while they cooked our meal, and the grandfather even shared his tobacco bong with me. I've only smoked a cigarette once, and a hookah several times, but the hit from this bamboo bong was really strong. At first I didn't think it was just tobacco, but they assured me it was. We ate with the whole family too. That meal was the best meal so far, and afterwards we all got drunk on rice wine. I was talking with a woman I've met on the trip about trying cold duck blood soup while I was in Viet Nam, and she asked the family where I could try it (she speaks vietnamese). The family said if I bought the duck, they would make the soup for me, and then we could have duck the next morning too. I said yes, of course, so I had cold duck blood soup for dinner. It was really very good.

The trek to the village was rather treacherous at times. We were walking on the narrow strips of mud between rice paddies, and up and down mud covered slopes. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. The second day, the rice paddies and hills were even muddier and harder, still a lot of fun, maybe more fun.

Today is a day of rest for me, I think I'll get a massage, maybe buy another paid of pants. Tonight we are going to try to go to the snake village and try the cobra meal (drink snake venom, eat beating snake heart, snake meat cooked many ways).