Hello from Vietnam.We have now been travelling here for just on two weeks and are currently spending time at the tailoring capital of the country Hoi An. We haven't updated the blog until now as this has been the 1st time we have been able to access it here since we arrived. The PC's they have here are pretty old (all pretty much still use floppy disks !!) and they do not seem to have the memory to handle the blog or updating photos.
Anyway back to the travel. In terms of a country we really are enjoying our time in Vietnam. It definitely seems to have more character and uniqueness than anywhere else that we have been in Asia. While being pretty developed they have also resisted allowing big brands like McDonalds, 7 Eleven and Starbucks etc in to the country which is pretty rare these days. All the shops are locally run and while you can get pretty much all the goods etc that you are after you may have to visit 4 or 5 places to find exactly what you want and pricing is always a lottery !! While the people you meet here are always out to make a sale we have also found them alot more friendly than on the rest of our travels (with Laos a possible exception). Only negative is the national obsession with nose picking and spitting which has meant a general boycott of all road side food vendors !!
Our first stop was in Hanoi where we spent 5 days which also included an overnight trip to Halong Bay. The city is pretty busy and goes 24 hrs a day but apart from needing to be constantly aware of motorbikes flying towards you it is very easy to get around. Around the city we did a full day tour that emcompassed Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, a number of significant Pagodas, Vietnamese water puppets and the Temple of Literature.
The mausoleum was exactly the same as what we saw in Moscow with Lenin's Tomb. You are filed past in single file to look at the body in complete silence while about a dozen guards stand at attention ensuring no one speaks or tries to take pictures. Apparently he is only visable 9 months of the year as spends 3 months a year being touched up in Moscow. Like Lenin there are numerous rumours floating around that this is no longer than the original body and that it is in fact a Madam Tussauds wax work, but who knows. It is definitely a scared place for the Vietnamese though which you have to respect.
Michelle also really like the water puppets but after being recommended these by one of my good friends I am wondering whether he was just looking for payback for england not making the cricket semi-finals. I found 45 mins sitting in a theatre with my knees jammed into my chin (if above 4ft would recommend giving this a miss) listening to terrible music amd watching a puppet show themed on major events like 'milking a cow' a bit tough. I have been told by Michelle that I lack culture however to me that is purgatory. It probably didn't help that one of my contacts fell out half way though and was watching it out of one eye only but there you go.
Other highlights in Hanoi included taking a cyclo around the city which takes you through some of the 50+ narrow backstreets in the old quarter. It also allows you the opportunity to have a truck fly towards you at about 50km hour before swerving away once they get within a couple of metres !!
Hanoi was also the jumping off point for our tour to Halong Bay which is about a 3 hour drive away. You coach up to Halong City and then get onto a junk boat which takes you out to Halong Bay which is a 1500 sq km bay that contains 1,969 limestone islands. You spend about 24 hours on the boat zig-zagging around the place which is pretty relaxing and picturesque. The down side is that about 50 other boats are doing the same thing so in many of the places they take you the water is starting to look pretty polluted. If its not diesel fuel floating in the water it is Pringles packets which us Westerners appear never to be able to live without. You even have locals who have turned their rowboats into floating shops to ensure we can get out fix of Oreos, Coke and Chips !! They come out to your junk whenever it is stopped and will remain until they have questioned all 20 people on board as to their purchasing intentions. One 'no' is normally not enough and often disappearing from view is required before they will move on.
From Hanoi we decided against the overnight train (All preconceptions of being backpackers has now been deserted) and flew down to Hue which is about 500km south and very close to the old border between North and South Vietnam. We decided to do a guided tour again here which emcompassed the Citadel (the Royal Family's palace), emperor's burial tombs and a number of the obligatory temples and pagodas.
We also had a couple of firsts while in Hue. We actually had our first day rained out since we got here and I also got the first case of food posioning either of us has suffered. Thankfully it wasn't too bad but I do not recommend the rice noodle soups you get free for breakfast in Vietnamese hotels. While they taste good there is a good chance they are made outside the hotel with local water and in my case lead to me leaving Michelle sitting at the resturant that night on her own so I could head outside to throw up. A delelous stagger back to the hotel to pass out rounded out a pretty crap evening !!
From Hue we moved to our current location at Hoi An. We absolutely love the place and will be here for about 9 days in total which means we will not be travelling down to the beaches of Nah Trang as originally planned. Like everyone else we have come here to get tailor made suits although we are implementing different strategies. I got a recommendation for one place and did all my shopping there in one 2 hour period. Michelle has drip feed her orders to about 10 different shops (half of which she can't find again) and then spends 12 hours comparing the finished articles to work out whether she got good value or not. The jury is still out on a couple of things but all in all we are pretty happy with our haul. To give an idea of value I have had two suits with extra trousers, 9 shirts and a pair of leather shoes made for $500 USD ($750 NZD). If I wasn't so lazy could probably have done better than that but to get all that for less than what one suit in NZ would cost is pretty good to me. Michelles current tally is 3 suits, 6 shirts, 1 casual top, 1 skirt and 2 pairs of pyjamas - the fitting of which at least seems to give everyone in the store a bit of a laugh. Obviously these are not generally a custom made item however when you take your sleeping as seriously as Michelle does these are considered more of a priority than the work clothes !!
I think the fitting's are the best bit of the tailor made clothes process. I have had about 5 and they never failed to keep me entertained. Firstly you feel like Gulliver as once you have the suit on there are about 6 Vietnamese tailors, none of which are taller than my stomach circling around you with measuring tapes, bits of string and chalk. Privacy is considered non essential and changing room curatins are sent flying every 30 seconds exposing everyone to public viewing. One thing you also learn is how truely terrible some peoples taste are when they can tailor make whatever they like. One standout was an english guy who went for the lime green shirt, and white linen trousers combination aka 1980's Miami Vice. Apart from the colours he was also oblivious that his investment banker belly was straining the buttons and that the trousers were about 2 inches too short. Despite the obvious protests of his girlfriend at his attaire he told me that he thought it was an outfit Elvis would be proud of !! The fact that he complemented me on my suit before displaying this lack of personal style could be viewed as a concern however its too late for me now as I am due to pick my stuff up this evening.
We are now here until Thursday when we will fly down to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to complete our travels in Vietnam. From there we are back to Bangkok for 2 days before we fly to the UK on the 25th May. Once in the UK we are meeting up with Michelle's mum and heading to Budapest and then on to Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia. The challenge over the next week or so is how to get all our additional items packed up and still remain under our baggage allowances. The clothes should be OK but we have ablt 10kg of pottery at a friends place in Bangkok that we still need to get through as well so at this rate we could be boarding our flight in Bangkok wearing two suits each !!
We will probably have one more Asia update when we are back in Bangkok for the final time. So goodbye and keep in touch especially for those we haven't heard from in a while. We are very bored of each others company and any new news to assist with dinner conversations would be appreciated !!
Take Care
Matt & Michelle
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