2008-10-05 - Vietnam 3 - Hue

The train boarded at 11pm, so it was straight to bed. You can get either a “soft sleeper”, which has 4 berths per cabin, or the “hard sleeper”, with 6 beds / cabin. Hard features mattresses that are literally 2cm thick, and older carriages (= grottier carriages). The A/C was set to stun as well, so it was a chilly night. Rather than spend most of the next day sitting on the bunk and head-butting the one above, a trip to the dining car was attempted, but the train staff use it as a rec room, trying to smoke so much that you can’t see the no smoking signs.

The train does pass through some spectacular countryside, up and down the hills in the middle of Vietnam, with great views of the ocean

Hard sleeper

Countryside

At the station, re-filling the train water tanks

Hills and the sea approacing Hue

Widneing the tunnel ahead

Ocean

More great scenery, pity about the power lines

Scenery - foreground is a vine that gows over everything else (including full-sized trees)

Got off the train in Hue, just north of the middle of the country, in the afternoon – to a great hotel and a good night’s sleep. Next day was a city tour – Hue was the capital for a while about 1000 years ago, so there are mausoleums from various emperors near the city, some expansive and some very glamorous. The singing tour guide was different too. Hue also has a forbidden city, same design as that in Beijing, but mostly gone thanks to fires, typhoons and wars. They are re-building it at the moment – will be quite impressive when complete. Hue is generally a fairly nice city, lots of trees and a relaxed feel.

Rear of the statue of a mandarin at an emperor's mausoleum - each mausoleum forecourt has statues of what the emperor will need in the next life - military and administrative mandarins, horses and elephants.

A gutter and a half

Temple in the grounds of a mansoleum

Another temple

Flowering bonsai plant - these are everywhere

Obelisk

Entry to another mausoleum (raining)

Poor photo of more statues in the forecourt

Nearly there

Inside the first hall - not the tomb itself

Looking back down the hill

Statue of the buried emperor - grave proper is under the statue

Some of the detail on the walls - 3D images made from mosaic and imported stones and marble

Lakeside building, another mausoleum

Steele with the emperor's self-written autobiography - apparently this emperor was sad, as he had mumps as a child and thus couldn't have any children (despite 100+ wives) - "shooting blanks" as the Vietnamese guide said.

Steele close-up, with short guide

Another mausoleum, another tombCourtyard

Citadel in Hue

And again

The carp can spot a tourist a mile off

Chow time

Forbidden city forecourt - the small steele mark which ranks of mandarins can stand where while being addressed by the emperor.

Forbidden city

Forbidden city ruins

Ruins and reconstruction

Bell in the wat / temple in Hue

The wat

Forbidden city again - old library, only surviving and un-restored building

Water feature and a half - origins from feng shui (or however you spell it) - it is good to be surrounded by mountains and plants, or something like that

Grille in a wall - chinese character for longevity

After the tour and a bit of souvenir hoarding, at 7pm it was time to get back on the train, this time soft sleeper, for another overnight to Hanoi.

2008-10-05 - Vietnam 2 - More Tour

On day 2 of the tour it was back into the boat and off to see local silk-weaving and fish-farming. The former is the domain of the minority Cham Muslim population, who live at the end of very narrow and rickety timber bridges, while the latter involves having a floating house, about 2 million fish under it, and a square hatch in the floor to feed them through. After that it was on a bus to Can Tho, a city of a bit under 2 million.

Floating sawmill - the big blue thing is a horizontal bandsaw

Fishing on the flooded plains

Stilt house

Clumps of this water plant floating around in the water - this stuff is everywhere

Feeding frenzy at the fish farm

Another form of transport - cyclo, Vietnam style

French-style houses in Can Tho (I think)

Restaurant boat

Street scene

A visit to the local museum was an interesting look at the government’s view on life under communism – everything from export success stories to the overthrow of the puppet government (in the south) by the communist north.

Day 3 saw a trip to Can Tho’s floating markets in the morning, and also a visit to a coconut candy factory, a rice-paper factory and a tropical fruit orchard. After that, back on the bus and off to My Tho, which is near Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City.

River that runs through Can Tho

Meow

Starfruit tree

Dragon fruit "tree" - it's actually the fruit of a cactus

In a pagoda

Out the back where the monks hang out

New suspension bridge being built over the river - lots of new bridges recently, replacing ferries

My Tho has 4 islands in the middle of the river, with various activities on each, such as a rice mill and more orchards, and they also take you for a row through the canals on the island. Also visible on these islands where a strange little fish that lives in holes in the mud on the riverbanks. It has flippers on the front, and walks across the mud with them. It also eats rice.

While wandering around My Tho, also found the hospital. There is a sign board out the front, with graphic photos of mutilated people, presumably from traffic and industrial accidents. Typically, there was a food stall set up directly behind the sign.

Ice delivery

Canals on the island in My Tho

The crazy walking fish eating the tourist's rice

Floating markets - you hang off your bamboo pole what you are selling - pumpkins here

Waterway signs

Making rice paper - putting "cooked" paper onto the drying rack

Picking up cooked rice paper with a big round banboo thingo

Bird flu express - the yellow bag contains chickens, the green ones ducks, all live

After My Tho, it was off to Saigon and the end of that tour. Plan was to try to organise a hotel etc on the fly, but instead I just followed the tour operator for the last part of the tour (Happy Tour) back to their office. They sorted the arrangements for the rest of the trip, and then had me along to their relocation party. It does cost more than booking everything yourself, but much easier and more co-ordinated. It also meant that I could get on the train to Hue and then Hanoi that very night, at 11pm.

2008-01-05 - Vietnam 1 - Tour

The trip starts getting on the boat a bit outside Phnom Penh – you have to stay on your allocated side, or else the boat will lean too much. It all looks quite serene, but the boat is powered by an engine that sounds like a diesel-powered lawnmower.

River scenes were other water traffic, the houses and people on the banks, and animals various.

On the boat

Dredging sand - used to raise the land in low-lying areas

Boat motor - engine, long shaft, prop

The border - Cambodian side

Water buffalo

The other side

Houses on the bank

The smaller boats are traditional wooden boats, now mechanised via something between the good old Honda 5.5hp red motor to an old truck motor. There is then a long shaft with a propeller at the end – you lift it up when coasting, or start the engine and stick the prop in to go.

After crossing the border with tour guide guidance and border official disdain, it was lunch and then more river-boating, with time off the main river and onto the back channels. Here you can really see daily life – it’s amazing what is based around the water.

The day ended in border town Chau Doc, a medium-sized river town which sees very few westerners and is thus 100% Vietnamese in terms of signs, menus and language spoken. The tour hotel felt like the only one in town, which is probably how they justified the size of the tiny rooms and the mattress springs sticking into your back.

2008-10-05 - Mass Transit

Family car

Road we tried to drive the bus down - attempt aborted

On Saturday the 27th of September, it was off for a tour of Vietnam for a week, while Cambodia closes down for Pchum Ben, where everyone goes home to visit the family and ancestors and local monks. The amusement started in the bus on the way to the boat dock – the roads were packed with people heading out of town, and doing it in any way available.

Transport mode 1 is some large vans that are everywhere here – they pick up passengers until they are full, and then off they go. Legally there should be nobody on the roof, but in Cambodia where there’s a law, there’s a bribe to circumvent it.

Come aboard - plenty of room!

This is more traditional - luggage in the back, people on the roof.

Mode 2 is the ultimate in motorcycle-based transport for the masses – if fitting 1-4 people on the moto or 1-8 people in your tuktuk isn’t enough, there are long trailers that attach to motos in the same way as tuktuks – effectively a 6x4 box trailer, but about 18x4, and with tractor wheels. Put some planks across the top and you’ve got plenty of seating. Some models even have onboard TV…..

The moto-bus

Now with onboard movies!

Look closely at the cargo.....