Vietnam

jason@willock.org (Jason Willock) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:02:34 -0500

Well Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2008 was good to you, and that 2009 is a prosperous year!

Tan and I spent Christmas & New Year's in Vietnam, this was the first time I was away from my family for the holiday season, it was a bit sad, but at least I was able to give them a call.

We only had a 11 days to do Vietnam, so we decided to just stay in the South, so we started in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), the traffic there is crazy, I have never seen so many mopeds, crossing the street is like playing an extreme version of Frogger. However we did rent a moped, and I managed to safely drive us around, it was actually kind of fun. Maybe getting a moped here in Singapore would be handy. Christmas eve I was fighting the flu, so went to bed early, which was a shame since it sounded like it was quite a party night, not sure if it was because it was Christmas Eve or because Vietnam beat Thailand in an important Soccer match. They love there Soccer! It rained everyday we were in Saigon, not all day, but a good portion of it. There isn't a whole lot to see there, so we just did a little shopping, and ate Pho, and fresh Spring Rolls, and went for a nice seafood dinner on Christmas day. Surprisingly they make a pretty decent wine, both red and white, from Dalat, a mountain area in the central part of Vietnam. We also bought a couple paintings for the condo in Singapore, nice and colorful, not to mention cheap!

We then booked a 2 night 3 day tour of the Mekong, which involved a smelly boat ride down part of the Mekong, but once we got out of the main part of the city it was not so bad. The tour agent that sold us the tour said it was supposed to be a nice relaxing tour. I guess if spending long hours on a bus is relaxing then yes it would have been relaxing. All in all it was an ok tour, didn't see anything that made me say 'wow' but did get to see a good portion of the country side, and see how various local communities live, certainly a hard life, but I can imagine in another 10 years or so, it will be a pretty modern place, as there is construction everywhere! Considering there was a huge war only 30 some years ago, it's amazing they have bounced back so quickly. It didn't really have a communist feel to it, other than all the Hammer & Sickle flags all over the place. It seemed like a true market economy, with people trying to sell you stuff every turn.

After the tour was over, we had a long day of travel ahead of us, a 7 hour boat ride, which was nice and relaxing, got a bit sun burnt, it was probably a good thing it started pouring rain halfway through the ride, otherwise I would have been really red! Then we had a 3 hour bus ride back to Saigon, where we caught a 7 hour sleeper train to Nha Trang, where we were going to relax on the beach for a while. We arrived at the hotel quite early (6:30am), and were smelly and tired from the long day of travel, we had to be rather bitchy to get a room early, but fortunately we were able to get in early, since we couldn't do anything outside since it was raining. The beach didn't look anything like the pictures we saw on the internet, the ocean was brown from all the sand, and the beach wasn't very nice, apparently it was from all the bad weather they had been having, which was unusual. It rained every day we were there, so there was no lounging on the beach. However we did still have fun, ate lots. I really enjoyed the food there, it's very fresh, and light, not oily which is nice. On New Years Eve, we had a nice seafood dinner with a tasty lobster, and then did a little partying in the various little bars around town, it was a fun night all in all, and it was capped off by having some Pho with some Vietnamese guys at 3 in the morning.

While the weather wasn't great, we still had a nice trip, and I am looking forward to visiting the north part of Vietnam sometime soon, apparently it has a much different vibe, a more communist feel, so it will be interesting to see.

Now I am back, and have started the job search, and getting ready for my friend Mike's visit in a little more than a weeks time, should be fun!

Jason's Trip Around The World, and now life in Singapore - Vietnam

Vietnam