thefouramigosblog

We took a leisurely trip back from Halong Bay. We first stopped at a little farm on the side of the road. They were growing green onions, basil, beans and a variety of other herbs that I did not know but have recently tasted.

Our next stop was a huge shop with very clean happy rooms. We have been in the habit of calling restrooms happy rooms ever since our tour guide, Quang, coined them happy rooms at the Saigon Reverie. The shop had some great sculptures outside. They were even available for shipping.

Once we arrived at Intercontinental Lakeview Hotel we said our goodbyes to Ang. We had a room with a lovely view again.

We sat by the pool for a little while and had some coffee and cake at the hotel. For dinner we went into Hanoi and ate in the same building we ate at last time, just a different restaurant.

After dinner we wandered through the streets, feeling free from the restraints of a tour guide.

It was a nice last night spending it with Terri and Keith. They are off to home and we are onto our next adventure in Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia.

When I was planning this trip to Vietnam, I knew I wanted to go to Halong Bay. I found the riverboat cruise company that offered a two day package out on the bay and we were set. Many of you have seen the iconic shots of pillars of rocks shooting out of the water surrounded by pristine aquamarine water. Well this is the place. Not Phuket, Thailand although they too have these amazing boulders but on a smaller scale or so our guide has told us.

Before we reached Halong Bay we made a stop at a Pearl processing center and learned a little about pearls and their shells.

It was interesting but we didn’t want to purchase a pearl necklace.

When we finally arrived at our ship, the Paradise Elegance, we found it befitting it’s name. Classic design with dark woods and glass. It reminded us of an Agatha Christie novel. I almost felt I should be wearing evening gowns to dinner at night especially when they served water in cobalt blue glasses.

Lunch was awaiting us in the dining room. It was a mixture of salads, sushi and Vietnamese cuisine. It was all very good and served buffet style.

After lunch we headed out for a hike in one of the large caves. We transferred to little boats to get there.

The climb into the cave was about 900 steps with stops to look at the view. They told us upfront that if you didn’t think you could do it, don’t go. There is no turning around.

When we reached the top the view was magnificent! I was awestruck.

One of the cave formations looked like two legs dangling off the side of the cliff.

Entering the cave itself brought tears to my eyes. I’m not sure why. I’ve been to Luray Caverns in Virginia and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico but something about these caverns provoked an intense feeling of wonderment in me.

One of the formations looked like a turtle and turtles are sacred. People left money by the turtle and you could rub its head for luck. Of course we all stopped for a quick rub!

After the cave we went kayaking. We were in two man kayaks but they didn’t have backs. Ouch!

I think our tour guide, Ang, really liked this gig. Beats working in a factory!

On the second day I wasn’t feeling too well so Bruce and I stayed on board while Terri and Keith did some kayaking. I spent most of the day photographing.

Wherever we stopped boat girls rowed out with beer, booze and pearls peddling their wares.

We stayed on deck trying to capture a sunset. In fact, I ran around the ship but to no avail. However, I did get some interesting photos.

We had a wonderful last dinner on board.

In the morning, we had breakfast and then headed back to Hanoi for our last night in Vietnam.

We arrived in Hanoi in the early evening and greeted by our new tour guide Ang. As we drove to our hotel he pointed out various sites including the neon lighted bridge.

It changed colors as we drove over it giving a feel of Las Vegas rather than Hanoi. He also told us that Hanoi is the oldest city in Vietnam, dating from 1010.

We arrived at our hotel, the Intercontinental Westlake, which was very nice but a bit of a letdown after the Reverie in Saigon. However we did have a wonderful view from our balcony.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed out for some sightseeing. We rode through the streets in an electric cart, similar to a large golf cart. We rode through the ancient streets as Vietnamese families enjoyed Sunday breakfast at many of the local eateries.

The smells of exotic dishes as well as the spices emanating from the local apothecary filled the air. Unfortunately, we were on a schedule and didn’t have time to stop and explore these little shops. The idea of being on a tour by this time is wearing thin for me. I miss the ability to stop when I want and go where I want to go. Hmmm! I will have to see how we fare on the next segment of our World Tour.

After the electric car, we headed to the infamous Hanoi Hilton, with its dark history dating back to when the French controlled Vietnam. There was a lot about the I humane treatment of the Vietnamese people under their rule.

In the section on how they handled our soldiers as POWs, they still paint a pretty picture.

At least relations are healed and there is peace but it is always interesting to see the other sides perspective.

We had planned to go to Ho Chi Min’s mausoleum but there was a very long wait. We made a group decision to skip this.

Instead, we walked along the avenue where they have done mosaic tiling for over 4 kilometers. According to our guide, they have used over 30 artists and many laborers to do the work. Different companies sponsor different sections.

We had lunch at Koto, a non-profit that trains children in restaurant skills.

After lunch we visited a Temple.

The pagoda was very beautiful and there were many bonsai.

Our last stop was the Temple of Literature which is over 900 years old.

The temple is part of the Imperial Academy. The statue is the first president of the university in 1070.

Bruce and I were getting some good luck.

We relaxed by the pool late in the afternoon. I think Keith had a snooze.

Then Ang picked us up for the water puppet show.

We walked around in the area. It was alive with activity on Sunday night.

We had dinner at a restaurant with a view.

And again way too much food!

I’m so glad we made it to Hanoi. It is a lovely city. Tomorrow we are off to Halong Bay.

Out the window of our cabin, we could see the gathering of the ox carts for our morning excursion.

The ox carts were set up for two people and they put a pad across the wooden bottom to make it more comfortable for us.

It was a lot of fun but it would have been pretty difficult to go for an hour in one of these without any padding. As it was, we traveled about 20 minutes with the padded floorboard and it was quite bumpy. Some of our fellow travelers opted for a tuk tuk but Jan and Les went with the ox cart.

Along the way we saw many homes – some appeared to be for the well to do and some for the not so well off.

The countryside was lovely – lush and green.

Children waved at us from the sides of the road.

Our destination was to a local farm where we were going to be privy to their daily life. The mother was a gracious host and brought us around her home.

Their cow had a calf born the day before and the farmer also owned the bull.

Her grandchildren were playing in her kitchen, where the stove is and the pots and pans.

Cambodians’ kitchens are outside as well as their bathing and toilets. Their sleeping area is inside the dwelling. They spend most of their time outside.

This home as I believe most have little shrines inside the dwellings.

In Konpong Louang we walked through the town as children were leaving school for the day.

We visited a silversmith and learned about silver and silver plate.

The rest of the day we enjoyed cruising on the river where we saw a Mosque.

Life on the river for the fishermen.

Houses built on stilts to prevent flooding and to keep them cooler.

And wonderful sights and sounds all around.

In the evening, we had our last night on board the Avalon Saigon and had some fun and dancing with the Captain and crew.

What a wonderful 7 days on board ship!

Our morning excursion began with a bus ride up the mountain to Wat Hanchey, a hilltop temple overlooking the river.

Some of our fellow travelers chose to hike up but Bruce and I decided to take a nice air-conditioned bus. We feel at our age we don’t have anything to prove and I know we both could do the hike, but just didn’t want to. Plus it was a nice view on the way up.

On the way up we saw houses on stilts and other signs of rural life. Many of the village children play up at the temple.

The buildings were very colorful and ornate. It reminded me of Disney’s It’s a Small World.

We entered the temple for our water blessing. Quang, our guide said it was the longest blessing he has experienced. We sat cross-legged on the floor listening to chanting for quite some time.

After the blessing we could take pictures. Bruce loves to say he is a Buddhist.

We also were given Buddhist blessing bracelets.

The young Buddhist Monk in training who is 13 years old showed us how he wraps his garment.

We continued our tour through their group eating area.

Many children were following our group hoping we would buy something. Our guide told us not to give money because they don’t want the children to become beggars.

On our way out we saw two gibbons in a tree.

Some of our fellow travelers took the stairs to the ship. Bruce and I bussed it.

After lunch, we did a walking tour through the rural town of Angkor Ban. We pulled up to some arches where some young children were waiting for us.

Through the arches were the year of the animals similar to the Chinese culture. I think I am a rat.

But I really like monkeys. Again this was another colorful town.

We walked through the back roads and visited a traditional home.

Some beautiful children were playing and appearing very happy.

One beautiful young woman was working with bricks.

They dress with turtlenecks and long pants even though the heat to us Westerners is oppressive. Life is busy in this small village.

The weather started to look ominous. Dark clouds were rolling in.

We walked to a school where the children were learning English. We had the opportunity to interact with them. Bruce, ever the teacher, went to the whiteboard first.

I read a lesson with an 11-year-old girl.

While we were there the rains came. We had ponchos to brave the weather but they weren’t needed because it stopped just as we left the school.

We made it back to the ship without anyone slipping in the mud.

The fishermen were out working.

And we had a beautiful moon from our cabin that night.

Onto more Cambodian countryside tomorrow!

As was the day we visited the Vietnam War Museum in Ho Ch Min City, this too was a somber day looking back on the genocide that took place in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The Pol pot reign of terror began when the people thought he would bring Cambodia into an enlightened age. Instead he tortured and murdered millions of people. During this time 3 million people disappeared, some fled the country, others died from starvation but many ended up in camps such as the one we visited – now the Tuol Sieng Genocide Museum.

As we walked the grounds a Memorial Day celebration was taking place where several of the survivors were present. Actually only 7 people survived this camp because they had a skill valuable to the Khmer Rouge.

One barrack housed higher ranking people and they were tortured and killed in these rooms. We were not allowed to photograph the rooms but the floor tiles and walls were still darkened by the blood of these prisoners. The beds they were chained to were also in the room as well as a photograph of the deceased prisoner.

Another barrack had brick cells on the first floor and wooden cells on the second. The prisoners were taken out of the building to be tortured.

Barbed wire was placed in front of the buildings because one female prisoner committed suicide by jumping. They did not want anyone to commit suicide. They would let you know when it was your turn to die.

Pictures of prisoners both alive and deceased were displayed. It was heart wrenching and I think difficult for most of us to see.

After our tour of the genocide museum, we traveled to one of the killing fields. It was very moving to walk among the mass graves listening to the history of the place. The To avoid disruption of the grave sites during rainy season, a boardwalk was installed over the fields.

As we entered, there were placards describing what happened to the prisoners once they arrived at the killing fields.

They were blindfolded and brought off a truck and gave their names to a soldier. Then they proceeded to a holding room and one at a time executed by hitting them in the back of the neck. Sometimes they didn’t die and were buried alive.

Our guide said she was born in 1980, a year after the reign of Pol Pot.

As we walked over the killing fields, the reverent and solemn moment flowed through us touching all our hearts. When our guide spoke of the women raped and killed after seeing their babies murdered, I could not help my tears from escaping.

For many the graves have not been disturbed but are mounds throughout this field.

And a memorial housing many of the skulls and bones was erected at the site.

It is hard to phantom the inhumanity that human beings can inflict on other human beings. Seeing this is a reminder to be kinder, more tolerant, and to be aware.

Our afternoon was aboard ship. We had some lovely sites of river life.

And our chef did a vegetable carving demonstration.

There was a lovely sunset this evening

In the evening it was Terri’s birthday and she was surprised with a birthday cake from our cruise director.

Vietnam was the land of conical hats and vibrant colored clothing with small Sampan boats floating along the Mekong. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Cambodia but I wasn’t disappointed. Although the garb wasn’t quite as colorful as Vietnam, the buildings and Temples more than made up for it. We made our entrance in to Phnom Penh just after dawn while doing Tai Chi on the deck.

Along the waterway we could see Temples rising in the sky flashing sparkling gold over the waterways.

We pulled into the Titanic Pier which was relatively close to everything. There was a large boat like structure, obviously a restaurant at the pier.

For our first excursion we each rode our own private cyclo through the bustling city streets.

My driver thought he was in a race. I started out with Bruce near the back of the pack and ended up in fourth place.

Here’s a few of our shipboard friends getting ready to enjoy the ride.

The traffic was a bit dodgy, people driving every which way.

We drove past Temples, parks, street vendors and Buddhist Monks.

The Royal Palace was made up of several buildings, all very ornate with gold trimmings and carvings.

Inside one of the buildings bridal dresses were displayed. The colors of the dresses reflected the day of the week. If a bride was married on a Tuesday she would wear the Tuesday color. These dresses are very expensive and are one of the garments worn by the bride. A Cambodian wedding spans three days.

Bruce loves taking pictures of the little children. This little girl was so precious.

Inside the Royal Palace was a banyan tree also called a cannonball tree. Our guide told us that the juice in the cannonball is used to make birthing easier.

We also entered the silver pagoda where the floors were made of silver. There were many Buddha statues in the pagoda but photography was not allowed.

The tall gray pagoda is the urn for kings. Each king had his own pagoda.

After spending some time at the Royal Palace we rode the cycles to the National Museum. There we saw the statues and antiquities which seemed to be mostly from Angkor Wat.

After lunch Keith, Terri, Bruce and I took a tuk tuk tour of Phnom Penh. The streets have that pungent smell, a mixture of foods, exhaust and humans that is prevalent in most cities. The traffic is heavy but people seem polite. I never noticed anyone yelling at another motorist or being openly hostile.

We drove past many government buildings. The Cambodian flag stands tall with a picture of Angkor Wat in the Center. We also saw more Temples.

There was a tree that had what seemed like a thousand bats hanging from it. Our tuk tuk driver said they fly at night.

We ended our ride at a market and then walked back to the ship, stopping for refreshments on the way.

In the evening they had some young people from a local orphanage come and perform traditional Cambodian dance.

It was a wonderful evening of entertainment.

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We left our beautiful hotel at the Reverie Saigon and boarded our home away from home for the next 7 days, the Avalon Saigon.

Our cabin is lovely with floor to ceiling windows that open to let in air if we don’t want to have the a/c on.

Our cabin also had a beautiful live orchid.

Our day was spent cruising to Vinh Long. There were so many colorful boats on the river.

It’s quite crowded at points and at one stretch I thought we might run into a boat or two.

Breakfast and lunch on the Avalon Saigon is a buffet and dinner is seated dining. For dinner I had a shrimp dish.

Bruce had some sort of Vietnamese soup.

The sunset was beautiful but I missed it at its peak.

But I did manage to get a good shot of the full moon.

On our first full day aboard ship, we woke at 6:30 and I convinced Bruce to do a Tai Chi class. No one was an expert so it was a lot of fun.

We ate a small breakfast than headed out for our first shore excursion on a sampan where we were up close and personal with the river.

We visited a family owned business where they make rice paper, rice wine, and coconut candies. We were first shown the process of making rice paper.

They also make a snake wine which our fellow travelers said tasted like brandy. The snakes are put in the jug already dead.

They also made something that tasted like Rice Krispie treats. They used a very hot wok to cook the rice and then separate it.

The last but my favorite was coconut candy.

Than back in the Sampan and to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon we went to a village to see a boat builder.

The bridges in this community are called monkey bridge because the people had to climb like a monkey across the bridge to get to the other side.

We had a lovely guide but she did not speak any English.

The children were all so cute and happy to see us.

We rode in these carts pulled by motorbikes.

It was a fun ride and we stopped at a workshop where they made non-la hats or Vietnamese coned hats.

We drove on this little island called Cu Lao Gieng.

Our final stop was at Vietnam’s oldest Catholic Church.

Afterwards we headed back to our boat for dinner and a good nights rest.

A little girl contemplating life at the hat workshop.

Our sampan driver.

The Vietnamese think of their boats as living things so they should have eyes. That’s why so many of the boats appear to have eyes in the front.

And here are the four of us going out on the sampan.

And of course our tour guide Chung.

He was very knowledgeable about all that was Vietnamese.

Riding the carts through the jungle foliage. And of course one of the cart drivers.

The Cu Chi Tunnels always sounded so forbidding. Strangely linked tunnels carved mostly by hand networking underground where US military were constantly at risk of Vietcong rising out of them to make a quick attack and then disappear as rapidly as they appeared. I wasn’t sure what to expect on this trip to the infamous Tunnels.

We drove approximately 40 kilometers from Saigon, taking nearly two hours to arrive in the countryside. A US base once was located near here, but our guide, Quang, said that it’s still a military base and it is off limits. So our only visit was to the tourist part of the Cu Chi Tunnels. We walked through the jungle and there was evidence of bomb droppings.

The above mound was a ventilation shaft for the Tunnels. They were everywhere. In order for tourists to understand the complexity of the Tunnels, they excavated certain areas and put canopies over so we could get a glimpse inside.

This was a dining area although no one ate together in case a bomb fell on the site.

The guide showed us how they climbed in a tunnel.

They would go down in one area and pop up in another. Terri climbed in a tunnel to demonstrate.

We went through a tunnel that they had enlarged the entrance to make it easier for the tourists. The Vietcong were very small in stature and most of us would not have fit in the original hole.

That’s me coming up from the tunnel. They had mannequins dressed in Vietcong garb.

A soldier was busy making traditional sandals.

The Cu Chi Tunnels go three layers down but of course we were only allowed to explore one small section.

On our return to Saigon for our last afternoon, we walked the streets and alley ways.

Now we are off on the Avalon Saigon for a week on the Mekong River.

It’s a grueling journey to Southeast Asia but I have to admit, flying premium economy on EVA Airlines was a real joy.  The leg space was as much as we had on first class on Delta going to California.  A bottle of water, a pillow and a furry blanket were waiting for us in our seats.  EVA also gives you a cosmetic case with an eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, and other incidentals.

We arrived in Ho Chi Min City on time as scheduled.  We found a cab that took us to our hotel, the Reverie Saigon.  It is probably the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in.  The lobby was colorful and orchids were everywhere.

And our room was a suite with a beautiful tub with tv and a heated toilet with a built in bidet.

We were on the 27th floor and had a beautiful view of the river.

After we settled in, we went for a walk down by the river where we had some refreshments and watched the boats go by.

We even went for a dip in the hot tub before going to dinner.

We met for a delicious breakfast in the hotel early the first morning.  They served many different types of fruit plus eggs, omelets and pancakes to order.

We had a briefing with our tour directorvthan met in the lobby for a walking tour of the city.  There were some very interesting buildings.  We walked past the opera house.

 

The traffic is horrific in Saigon.  By the way, many people still call the city Saigon even though it was changed to Ho Chi Min City but on official documents it is always Ho Chi Min City.  We also went by the post office.

This building is where the helicopters flew the last Americans out of Saigon in April 1975.

And we had some beverages at the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel which once was referred to the place where they held the 5:00 follies which was the military briefings during the Vietnam conflict.

We visited the Vietnam War Museum which definitely had a different slant on the war than we had.

It was difficult to go through this museum and realize the effects our actions had on the Vietnamese people.  Although they portrayed this with a definite bias, I did not see any ill will towards Americans.

We attended a Vietnamese cooking school where we learned how to make summer rolls and another few tempting choices.

Keith ended up winning a prize for best summer roll and he let it go to his head.  Now we have to call him Chef Keith.

In the evening the group went to dinner at the Ly Club.  It was a lovely time although we had been quite full from lunch.

Saigon is a city steeped in history, not only theirs, but ours.  Fascinating.