25 to 28 August - Mui Ang to and at Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and to Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

Hearing ‘get off’ by the man on the bus as we were ready to leave Mui Ang made me wonder if this was going to be another of the bus rides again! The shout was not directed at us but to a couple down the front of the bus who eventually had to get off the bus for some reason. At least someone from the bus company spoke reasonable English this time and this was the only ‘confrontation’ for the ride to Ho Chi Minh City and with a different bus company again. After about a five hour journey on the bus and then another hour in a taxi we arrived at the Han Phuong Long Hotel, not too bad in itself but about an hours bus ride from the centre of the city. There was not much around the area except the bus terminal for the bus to Cambodia which is next door, and the airport which is not too far away. The owners wife will cook anything we buy so I have been getting fresh fish and prawns from the wet market round the corner for dinner in the evenings.

Yesterday I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels which were about 65 kilometres from here and was somewhat disappointed with them and glad I had previously gone to the Vinh Moc tunnels outside of Hue. There are differences in the tunnels, Cu Chi are smaller and longer (121 Kilometres) than the ones at Vinh Moc and difficult to access even though I did manage to crawl into some of them. It has been said that some of the tunnels here have been specially made for tourists. Examples of the meeting room and kitchen are shown above ground and detracts from what the original would show. The smoke from the kitchen was directed away from the area so as not to be seen from the air. People living in these particular tunnels were riddled with malaria and dysentery while there was a high mortality rate for babies and children.

Various types of traps used by the Vietcong

Window trap

Swinging trap

Punji stick trap with pointed sticks in the bottom of the hole

Parts from actual traps

Defusing a bomb to use the explosives

Spare bombs

An old American tank

How rice would be ground by hand underground 

Underground kitchen

Access hole

Our guide

A tunnel

                                Me in one of the tunnels

The city itself was a very busy place with scooters being the main means of transport for a lot of the people. There were no electric scooters here as far as I could see. Almost all the riders wore helmets and because it is a very dangerous place to drive in some of the lanes on the roads were restricted to scooters and motorbikes to try and reduce accidents. I did ask why a lot of the women wore face masks, which sometimes covered the face and neck, and was told it was to do with pollution and also because they do not want to be sunburnt but stay pale. Some even wore gloves that covered hands and arms. In the rush hour the scooters use the pavements to get past a blockage and driving the wrong way on the road or anywhere was quite common. Pedestrian crossings, even with a green man indicating, did not mean that anyone could cross the road safely as no-one took any notice of these. One time I had stopped at the side of the road to check when there was a gap coming up when a man took me by the arm, and waving a placard he was carrying, escorted me across the road. I just laughed!

 

Scooters in the street

A city hotel

  

The Catholic Cathedral

 

War Remnants Museum

We left Ho Chi Minh City (Vietman) at 0640 hours and arrived at Phnom Penh (Cambodia) six hours later. The border crossings were easy as the bus company had put an English speaking person on the bus and he filled out all the customs an immigration forms so that we only had to fill in the normal departure and arrival forms. We crossed the borders at Bai, Vietnam and Bavet, Cambodia and it was noticeable that on the Cambodian side of the border there were at least nine casinos to be seen, some being quite large. On to the Nomads Hostel and the less written the better as it was a 'something' place, the word I have yet to formalise to explain the so-called hostel.

                                  

22 to 25 August - Nha Trang to and at Mui Ang (Vietnam)

Excitement reigns again! When leaving Nha Trang the bus driver lost his cool when a small truck tried to cut him off. With a bus full of shouting passengers the bus was driven all over the road as the driver tried to force the truck off the road. To end it all, when the truck stopped to turn off the road, the bus driver jumped out and picked up a weapon to go and fight the driver of the truck. Before anything more could happen the truck drove off. Did anyone do anything, was anything reported? Not as far as I know. Perhaps this is the result of using the cheapest transport available. We have more bus journeys ahead during the last two months of this trip so I can only hope we have no more adventures like this. There are better bus companies available but if course they would cost more money, an anathema to Madventure/UKTOOZ. The safety of their clients does not seem to be important to them.

Since coming too Mui Ang I, and others, have wondered why we have been brought here as it is the undisputed sex capital of Vietnam (in one respect definitely). There are more ‘massage and spa’ parlours here than hotels or so it would seem, and all reputedly owned by Russians. There are certainly plenty of Russians about and just about every restaurant has signs and menus in Russian. The place consists of one street in the middle of no-where with both sides covered with resorts, hotels, restaurants and expensive shops, most with the word ‘spa’ in their name. Some even advertise wifi but why someone would want wifi in a spa really beats me!! The place meanders along the coast, which in itself is pretty enough, but definitely not pretty or interesting enough to stay here for nearly three days, or stay at all as far as I am concerned.

The main road (the only road)

Our hotel, the Dragonfly.

The coast at its best

  

About 16 kilometres away is the town of Phan Thiết where local people regularly pray to a whale god, which is believed to give good luck in nautical pursuits as there is a large fishing community here. The Van Thuy Tu Temple, built in 1762, is the final resting place of more than 100 whales, whose skeletons are on display, the largest being 22 meters long. Whales were believed by local fishermen to be helpful and benevolent animals, and whenever one became stranded on the beach, its body was taken to the temple for keeping.
                                     

  

Whale and swordfish bones

The skeleton of a Fin Whale

              
The Fishing Area

A sinking boat

Derrick and Gabriel in their ferry

Local transport

It is safe really

Mending nets

Drying fish in the sun

The river

An ice shaving machine

Unloading fish

Fish everywhere

Coracles on the boat

Sorting out shell fish and things

Making a coracle
It takes a week to make one of these with the smaller one costing about £90 and the larger one £45. They will export one to the UK if wanted.

       

Town views

A very old Honda engine

Wooden coffins

Vietnam War Monument 

Binh Quang Ni Pagoda (Convent)