Southern Vietnam

We left Hoi An on the "sleeper bus" - one of those experiences you can tick off and say you've done but don't want to repeat in the near future! We were assigned cotlike affairs with reclined backrests which were built for Vietnamese-sized people. The trip to Nha Trang took 12 hours and we had 3 stops (the third one was just 15 mins. from our destination - apparently he'd been driving too fast?). However, after finding a friendly hotel owner that let us shower and leave our bags, we headed for the beach. Nha Trang is one of Vietnam's big holiday spots and has a stunning beach. It was a sunny day, the first they'd had for a while as they are now heading into their rainy season. We spent a pleasant morning wandering along the front and in the market, before heading to the station to catch the afternoon train to Saigon. Time is beginning to run out and we have to get to Bangkok by the 19th of December.

The train journey was interesting as we got to see more of the countryside than when travelling by road. Vietnam is very built up along the roads. We were the only westerners in our carriage which also made a change from the tourist buses. We arrived in Saigon late in the evening both ready for a good night's sleep.

Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City) is Vietnam's commercial centre. It was the capital of the French colony and built up a lot of commercial contacts during the Vietnam war. It seems a more gracious city than Hanoi in many ways and despite there being about 6 million motorbikes on the roads here, the traffic is less overwhelming. There are lots of buildings from the French colonial period which have been restored, among others the main post office and the former "Hotel de Ville" which is now the headquarters of the Communist Party. And as in Hanoi and the other towns in Vietnam, life is lived on the street - people cooking, eating, meeting friends, playing games or doing business along every pavement.

I spent the next couple of days exploring some of the city on foot or by cyclo while Kevin struggled with a stomach upset. The Reunification palace built by the South Vietnamese government is pure 1960s architecture. They didn't get to use it much apart from when they surrendered power to the Vietcong. After that I went to the Museum Of HCMC, a gracious old colonial building which in addition to being an interesting little museum also appeared to be a favorite spot for couples to take their bridal pictures. I also visited the Emperor Jade Pagoda, where the chinese community in Saigon worship. It was very beautifully decorated, at least what could be seen through the clouds of incense. The main streets and shops in Saigon were busy getting their displays ready for Christmas - polystyrene snowmen, tinsel Christmas trees and "Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer" in Vietnamese!

From Saigon we took a bus to the Mekong river delta. It's an area that is heavily populated with lots of small towns and villages, some of which are actually floating on the river. The river divides into 9 tributaries and pretty much everything that's going on happens either on or around the river. We visited one small village by boat where they made coconut candy and rice paper and another which had a fish farm. We spent the night in Chau Doc near the Cambodian border.

It was an early start the next day to be paddled round one of the floating villages before setting off on the slow boat for Cambodia; a 10 hour trip in the sun - very pleasant watching all the activities being carried on along the river, although not exactly a comfortable journey. Much of the area along the river still bears scars from the war when much of the jungle was defoliated and then cleared with Napalm bombs to smoke out the Vietcong. The only large trees are fast-growing and hardy eucalyptus trees donated by the Australian government. We had one stop along the way to eat lunch before carrying our bags across the border, getting more stamps in our passports and continuing on to Phnom Penh.



We now have a week in Cambodia before we meet up with Kirsty and Rory in Bangkok and spend the last week of our trip on Koh Chang island in Thailand. I'll write the Cambodian instalment, but I expect most of the people reading this will probably be too busy with Christmas preprations to have time to read it. So thanks for all the comments and mails we've received - we've been amazed at all the interest. We don't have access to everyone's email addresses, so we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas and we look forward to catching up with you in the New Year!

Takk til alle venner og kollegaer som har vist interesse for reisen vaar. Vi oensker dere alle en hyggelig og fredelig jul med bra skifoere og masse familiekos. Naa gleder vi oss til norsk grovbroed med norvegia og selvfoelgelig til aa se dere alle igjen! GOD JUL!