Sometimes we booked tours but stayed happier making our way on our own schedule. Everyone is different and will discover their own travelling style. We booked this three day trip with Handspan Travel and were glad of it. Our guide AJ was pleasant, had really understandable English skills and we had very unique experiences. At the end of it, we made this smooth transition into Cambodia once again on the Mekong River.

It is important to see some of the tourist destinations and balance it spending time with the regular types of things the locals do. That always gives me the most pleasure and the best feel for a country. I love to go to markets where the locals shop and see how they spend a day. You could call it normal everyday living.

These pictures were taken from the speed boat. Our six hour journey on the river between the border town of Chau Doc and the capital of Camdodia, Phnom Penh was a fascinating time. To see all the different ways people rely on the river for all aspects of their life: to travel, water their gardens, bathe their cattle and on and on.  I enjoy seeing it all.

The border crossing where we got our visa for the Kingdom of Cambodia was a stop of about half an hour to process all the passports of the passengers on our boat. The trip was so smooth from start to finish where we met Any, our new Cambodian friend and tuk tuk driver…

In North America, dogs and cats are usually pets. It is simply a different mindset. Dogs and cats in Asia are treated just like cows, chickens and pigs in North America, which we have no difficulty having on our plates. Once in a while someone has a dog on a leash as a pet but not usually.

The beauty of the the Mekong is wonderful to explore by boat. The locals refer to it as the Nine Dragons as the river splits into nine tributaries to form the delta. Rich silt from it’s 3000 mile journey starting in Tibet, through China, Laos, Cambodia is deposited here. This gives it the huge growing potential to supply food and makes it muddy looking.

Riding bicycles is a great way to see local life. It was also the weekend so they were kicking back to relax and play pool. We enjoy seeing life being lived in a normal way. They invited us to stop and join in for a glass or two of rice wine but it’s too potent for us!!

We both love snakes so it was very exciting to have a python draped across my back. It was heavier than I imagined and to feel it wrapping and squeezing me was honestly a bit creepy. I grabbed the camera to take a short video of Carl’s experience with the python – see below.

They also raise bees and sell delicious honey. Because the bees were in a super laid back state, we were able to see the tray where honey is collected and even hold it. Carl and I were the only ones on the tour who decided to partake.

We were served tasty honey green tea in the cafe. There were many cottage industries to choose from, like face cream made from royal jelly, coconut candy and rice wine in several flavors. We had a tiny sip of coconut flavor rice wine which was so strong.

We requested a home stay the first night cause we really like to put our money in the hands of the locals. The owners set up a cooking class for us to make our own supper. The spring rolls were among the most delicious during our whole trip and the crepes with veggies were good too. Although the owner was Vietnamese, she was fluent in French. It was interesting to see us dig deeply to find the words to make ourselves understood. We both had more words in our dusty French files than we even knew, once we cleaned the cobwebs off!!

The home stay was great. The rooms were basic and rather like staying in a camp with the rooms together and an area for bathrooms and showers. The surrounding grounds were very lovely and quiet with a beautiful starry sky. We appreciated their special hospitality, a similar factor in all the home stays on our travels.

Our journey continued the next morning where we visited the floating markets on the river and the locals market on the dock. The floating markets are wholesale. It is so interesting to see loads of potatoes, squash, watermelons and so many other types of food. The locals market had things we never see in the western world. I was in awe of it all and could have spent much more time there, taking it all in.

Then we parted ways and the rest of the group went back to Saigon. Carl and I continued east to Long Xuyen Crocodile Farm where we met such a surprising young man, Andy Phung Nguyen. His English was quite good and he shared insights and visions for his future, inspired by books like “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Steven Covey. So interesting!! We were captivated by the crocodiles and inspired by Andy and soon our driver came to fetch us. Time to go!! We spent the night in Chau Doc, on the Cambodian border.

We exchanged email and became friends on Facebook and Google with Andy and many of the locals as well as fellow travelers. That factor added a depth of richness to our whole trip. It is one of the blessings of modern technology that we can stay connected anywhere in the world.

The third morning our five minute tuk tuk ride to the boat dock soon had us speeding along on a  boat headed to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, for the final week of our 100 day journey…

Carl and the python:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WflzkPr_QbA

Trip on the sampan boat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io_jp7_jbyo

Crocodile Farm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmfZo7Wq8Q

Cu Chi is 1.5 hours from Saigon, northeast towards Cambodia. We generally do not enjoy tours much as we find them too fast, too full of needless information. We like to see what we see at our own pace but Quyen helped us find a tour and then decided to join us. She had visited the area as a child and thought she would like to see it again.

Carl really decided to get his money’s worth. He went down a hole the Viet Cong used to hide in and access the tunnels, crawled through hot, dark tunnels made large enough for tourists and shot an AK47. Too claustrophobic for me!!

The tour started with a video explaining the site and went on to show a large variety of booby traps the Vietnamese used to get the US to finally realize they were never going to win, give up and go home. Their tenacity, resourcefulness, incredible perseverance, determination and fortitude shines through. It was quite something to be seeing the site with a local woman. A very special experience.

Carl down the small, creepy hole:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUGylR9Lrdc

Ho Chi Min City is the new name but most people still refer to the capital of Vietnam as Saigon.  The locals even call themselves Saigonese instead of Vietnamese. I like the name Saigon and it felt right to use it instead, once we landed there.

Carl has enjoyed a movie about Saigon called, “The Quiet American” during which the lead actor has his coffee and reads the morning paper in the Continental Hotel every day. How much fun to make a plan to do that too. In the end we made the great decision to stay there for our two nights in the city. It has such lovely classic French style, built in 1880 and survived all the turmoil that Vietnam went through since then.  It escaped being bombed. We enjoyed it immensely.

Quyen, our new friend we met in Hoi An, came to the hotel and took us out walking to her favorite park to sit and have a coffee and then out for street food. The locals call it Vietnamese pizza but it is more like a crepe with green onions, meat, dried fish, dried shrimp, quail eggs and some hot sauce. The whole thing is then cooked over a hot grill and voila! I admit I have avoided most street food on our whole trip and as I bit in, I wondered if I would survive. Two weeks later, I am still alive and well and it honestly was quite tasty.

Quyen had not been to the Cu Chi Tunnels since she was a child so she agreed to come with us on the tour we booked. We also went to her storefront where she sells many health products like birds nest drinks and premium green tea.

We only allowed two nights in Saigon as once again we were told it was a busy, noisy congested place. Maybe it is, but we liked it a lot and once again wished we had more time to explore there. We enjoyed walking around at night, looking at the lovely buildings in the square. But the morning of the third day, we were off to the Mekong Delta or the Nine Dragons as the locals call it, and onward to Cambodia. But first, come with us to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Hen Gap Lai – See you later!!

Vietnamese Pizza:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zt-6-LS7Zs

Saigon Traffic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p13_k_xs-4

We rented a studio apartment that was so wonderful, inexpensive and just a few minutes walk to the beach in the south part of the city. We only had four days but we made the most of them.

We found Fun Divers and decided to go on a two dive “introduction to Scuba” package. Carl dived in cold water in Canada in his younger years and I have enjoyed a few intros on warm holidays where we just dived in our swim suits and it was totally warm enough, although not for 20 years.

Fun Divers used wet suits and really great equipment but the dive was complicated for me as I do not like the feeling of super tight heavy spandex and I felt some old claustrophobia re-activated when we went down to sit on the ocean floor about 10 feet down to practice breathing, clearing the hoses, dropping the breathing hoses and getting them back again and clearing our masks that can fill with water.

Carl took to it like a duck to water and I was satisfied with just one dive. We did go down between 20 and 30 feet and saw lots of coral, interesting fish and lots of crazy spiky things that one does not want to touch. I was able to document the second dive and just enjoyed lazing on the boat on such a lovely day.

Our last day we went to the beach in the morning, rented chairs under a palapa and ended up staying the whole day. We seriously considered changing our tickets to fly home a month later. Could we live the life of a couple of beach bums??? We played around with the idea for a few hours and in the end decided it is not the right time now so we returned to pack up and catch our overnight train to Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Min City.

As we opened the berth in the dark, with our luggage, Carl made a surprising comment. “Remind me not to book any more trains.” After five long ones in India and three in Vietnam taking us nearly the full length of the country, I was feeling the same so the timing was perfect and it was our last one anyway.

Clickety Clack – see you in Saigon!

Going Scuba Diving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGIpJYq3zYQ

We shared a berth that night with a lovely Italian couple travelling with their 5 year old daughter. Marco is a professional photographer who shared a slideshow of his photos of Cuba set to island music which we watched on our computer. The love we all have for Cuba was re-ignited for me with his amazing creativity. The music played and the beat warmed me all night.

Little did we know that Hoi An would capture us. Northern Vietnam was overcast and a bit drizzly for most of our visit but now the skies opened up and the sun blazed down.  We had booked a home stay for four nights which turned into nine once the sun came out and we saw the lovely beaches. Our new friend Akbar just happened to be there too, so we met at the beach and spent the evening eating, strolling and visiting with him.

Hoi An has: interesting markets; a beautiful ancient city that escaped damage from bombs; pristine countryside; several stunning beaches including the one in Danang (formerly called China Beach); a wonderful Home Stay called Loc Phat and very friendly people. We rented bicycles to tour around and found a neat little restaurant called Sea Sand. Hong’s family, who started it four months ago had chairs and umbrellas on the beach and served cold drinks and snacks to us there. We soon made friends with them and we ate there many times as the food really was delicious.

We also rented a motorbike to tour the countryside and go a bit farther afield. It was so interesting to go across the ferry with the locals and see rice being harvested and life happening at it’s best. The rice was spread out to dry in yards, streets and even shoulders on the highways. That little (125cc) motorbike just groaned taking off with the two of us on board as we are like about four locals!! It served us well though, as we explored farther afield.

As well as Linh and her dedicated staff we met so many interesting people there: Andrew – an older gent from Australia, volunteering for two months there helping locals; Marc and Mila – doctors from the Netherlands on the last part of a three month tour of IndoChina; Elise and Hayley – a mother and daughter from England. Linh invited the group of us for dinner one of our last nights there.

We were also invited to dinner with Hong and her whole family the night before we left on the southbound train. At the home stay we also met Quyen, a woman from Saigon, and she invited us to call her for coffee when we got to her city. We are so blessed!!

Alas, even nine nights was not enough and we left on the train once more, for Nha Trang. This day train allowed us to see the countryside of Vietnam at it’s most natural best…

Rice Harvesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1eQLBjbfdI

Fishing for tiny lobsters: ( I thought they were shrimp at first, due to communication challenges)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgarPelYiLA

We booked a trip sailing for three days and two nights on board this  Junk Boat, including snorkelling, swimming and kayaking through caves. By the way Junk does not mean it is junky. It is the name for this style of the boat, used by the Chinese. The captain moored the boat in a quiet harbour each night where we both slept like babies.

Life on the water in the bay is so interesting. Fishing is the big occupation and boats of every description can be seen. Of course tourism is a different and non traditional way of life. Now, many people also live right on the water “raising fish in captivity” in fish farms. There are general stores right on the water for the locals to shop for necessities.

Kayaking was definitely a highlight for both of us. The caves we went through were so cool. One was 100 metres and completely dark. Another was much shorter but is home to bats. Unfortunately it was not yet warm enough as the bats go somewhere warmer for the winter (smart bats) so we did not see any.

It was warm, to us, but overcast and drizzling a bit at night so we decided to cut our visit short and go south ourselves. Can’t let the bats be that much smarter!! We had planned to stay a few more days if it was warmer. We wanted to swim and snorkel and heat is always nicer for that.

We also visited a small village by bicycle. It was a neat ride out through the beautiful scenery and see simple village life. I love banana trees and have many pictures of them in cities and backyards and now these in the village.

The Vietnamese are amazing farmers and all through the country the gardens and green crops are so lovely to see. They eat so well and so fresh because they make the most of every piece of land. Quite inspiring really.

When we arrived back in Hanoi, tired from the long afternoon travelling by bus and bike and boat, we were welcomed back to the Topaz Hotel like it was our home. The squeals of delight when they saw us coming and big hugs lifted our weary spirits and we fell in love with Hanoi once again.

Vietnam is proving very dangerous… to our hearts.

Kayaking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGGrux2ZiUQ

Hanoi is busy, chaotic, with few sidewalks. Sidewalks have become motorcycle/scooter parking areas. In a city of 8 million people, there are estimated to be 5 million scooters. It feels like you just take your chances on the street as vehicles come from every direction. But finally a flow emerges, however discordant it may feel to a non resident.

We spent a lot of time near Hoan Kiem lake which is a very peaceful and beautiful place. There, large walkways abound and it proved to be a favorite spot for wedding photos as there were at least a dozen couples in many different poses the day we first went there. We got so lost the first day as the streets are very European and difficult to follow as they change names and branch off in many different directions.

We decided to take a one day Hanoi Tour. The best thing about the tour was meeting Akbar, a new friend from Bangladesh who was raised and lived most of his life in London. He has a lovely British accent and we had many meals and hearty laughs together. We all found the tour overwhelming and found a place to have coffee and take a break from the overload of information.  He will be in Bangkok our last night before our flight home, so we plan to meet him there.

The Water Puppets are a highly rated Vietnamese historical journey with live music and authentic costumes. See you tube video below. We attended an evening performance and enjoyed it.

We were in Hanoi a total of 5 days before we hopped on the overnight sleeper train to Danang with a final destination of Hoi An, a small city half way down the length of Vietnam.

Hoan Kiem Lake by night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpUB4M-PWDE

Water Puppets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGD77ngRgks

Life on the Mekong panning for gold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhGbZdsZrBk

Monks in Luang Prabang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVm5CUtmm8M

Kouang Si Waterfall near Luang Prabang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDKqcFTeyUc

I heard about the monks walking in long lines down the streets every morning after 6:00. From the very first morning I woke up and hopped out of bed to investigate. It became quite a fascination for me and many other travellers. Some people get so caught up in wanting to capture it that they lose sight of the fact that this is a meditation and a sacred walk so flash cameras all around become invasive and distracting. Since there are over 400 monks in the city it is quite the sight. One morning it was raining so I went to see what happens then. They go every morning but take their umbrella, if they have one. They also use umbrellas to protect from the sun.

I was able to keep a respectful distance because of our great camera. The final day, I was able to give alms to the monks who passed by me. Alms is mainly sticky rice and there can also be bananas, crackers or other little snacks in packages. The rice is broken apart (in it’s stickiness) in tennis or golf ball sizes and one is put into each of the monks pots as they walk by. This sounds much easier than it is because they walk fast and everything sticks. I was very bad at it.

In Laos, it is tradition for all Buddhist families to send their boys from age 7 and up to live as a monk. They make a commitment from at least 3 months up to 6 years and of course some stay for their life. Hardships are created for families to have their sons away BUT it is also an honor. To me, shaping a boy’s values with such time  in buddhist principles has a big part in shaping the peaceful environment. In other places young men have been required to fight and train for war which has given us all “more war.”

Travelling together 24/7 for 2.5 months has been very challenging at times. Issues not dealt with can surface in such a time frame which requires a lot of patience in working things through. Communication and humor is key. In Luang Prabang we hit a pacing stride and have learned to laugh at ourselves and challenges again.

Kouang Si falls is a bit of a drive out of the city but we decided to rent a scooter to make the trip. Carl liked it so much, he went two days in a row. The Bear Rescue Center also located on the property is a place where bears that have been tortured to collect their bile to be used in Chinese medicine are brought to recover. There is a strong movement to make people more aware so this inhumane treatment of the beautiful black bears will stop. They are currently endangered.

Huang our new friend and student/ breakfast server told us so much about the local situation. He is from a very remote village near the Golden Triangle. He had no exposure to English when he moved here. It took him a year of English study before he could begin University. He told us about Big Brother Mouse, an organization started by a female Elder from France.

They get books to remote villages as well as have twice daily English practice sessions for locals with English speaking travellers. Students, monks, anyone who wants to practice English can attend. We really missed the boat but did not hear about it until the day we were leaving for Hanoi. We would have LOVED to go. Huang said it was instrumental in helping him with English. He could not have done it without Big Brother Mouse. He kept saying, “Thank you Big Brother Mouse.” Check out their website if you want to know more. This may be an area where we are inspired to put some focus when we return to Canada.