Vietnam – Page 2 – Ian Louis Harris

Vietnam Holiday Day Three: Saigon To Can Tho, 12 February 2012

Left Ho Chi Minh City for Can Tho by car after splendid breakfast of soup noodles (chicken) and bacon on the side.
Civilised hour of departure (11 o’clock) and arrive [at the Victoria Can Tho] shortly after 1400.
Enjoyed foot massage (extended in Daisy’s case)…

… On returning from a foot massage, Ged got into the lift with an elderly German couple and asked "where are you from"?  "Germany" came the reply. "Which part of Germany"? asked Ged, at which point the woman lectured Ged on the fact that there is only one part of Germany now, that they haven't been "two Germanys" for over 20 years and that North, South, East and West is all "Germany".  Ged replied by saying that he was enquiring which town.  "Münster", came the reply, at which point this couple became The Munsters in Ged's mind – especially the gentleman: "Herman the German" Munster.  Later of course, Ged & Daisy kept bumping in to those two all around the resort, with the German couple being overbearingly jovial and friendly – presumably to make up for the unwarranted tetchiness on first meeting. We even saw them on the floating market the next day, where the German couple looked none too happy on their [unfeasibly] little boat.…

…then Daisy hammered Ged at tennis.

Washed and then enjoyed excellent meal at the hotel – starter of Bon Bon salad, pork with O Mon noodles and roast duck Vietnamese style (whatever that might be!). A sort of coffee ice cream dessert to finish – very enjoyable.

Click above to read more about the Bon Bon salad at the Victoria Can Tho Hotel – photo from that hotel’s website

There is a placeholder with links to all of the photos, itineraries etc. for this Vietnam holiday – here.

Vietnam Holiday Day Two: Saigon, Then Dinner With Ky & Family 11 February 2012

Early start. Ged’s 4:30 attempt at making Vietnamese coffee didn’t go so well this morning – half the coffee ended up outside the cup. Perhaps it was the teacups Daisy put out with the coffee device that wrong footed Ged. Ged’s Vietnamese coffee improved as the days went on!

5:30 met by Binh who is to be our southern guide.
We go to Tao Dan Park and try some aerobics with the girls and walk around watching people play badminton, shuttlecock with feet & doing Tai Chi etc.

We take a coffee at the bird club (Daisy doesn’t like the caged birds) and then stroll some more.
Then we take beef noodle soup at Pho 2000 and a quick whizz round Ben Thanh market – little changed since last time.
Back to hotel for coffee, rest, swimming, R&R and then out to dinner with Ky, his delightful wife Tui and children Ken and Andy.

I explained the story behind this in my Day One piece – Ky was our guide in Central Vietnam when we visited in 1996. I discovered that, coincidentally, our 2012 holiday was arranged through the local agency, Vidotour, as our 1996 holiday had been and that Ky – a newbie guide in 1996 is now National Director of Marketing for company.

It was lovely to see Ky again and meet his family. It was also heart-warming to learn from him that he had remembered us fondly because my letter of praise for his services had helped him progress his career.

We went to Nha Hang Ngon restaurant – mostly local people, tried many starters (fried spring rolls, soft spring rolls, salads et cetera with fish and crab noodle to follow). Very enjoyable evening (see email exchange)

Here is a link to that e-mail exchange/correspondence.

It really was a special and very memorable evening.

There is a placeholder with links to all of the photos, itineraries etc. for this Vietnam holiday – here.

Vietnam Holiday Days Zero & One: London To Saigon Via Bangkok, 9 & 10 February 2012

There is a placeholder with links to all of the photos, itineraries etc. for this Vietnam holiday – here.

Incident free journey from Daisy’s house to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Saigon via Heathrow in Bangkok.
The only remarkable thing about the journey was the lack of remarkable things.
The food on Thai Air was excellent. We set the scene for South East Asian food with green chicken curry as a main and some noodle soup as our breakfast and some chicken and pineapple rice as a second breakfast on the Bangkok to Saigon hop. Good wines and more sleep than usual – still not all that much!
Met by beaming rep (Thien?) who reminded us a bit of Ky!

I need to explain. Ky had been our wonderful guide in Central Vietnam when we first visited the country in 1996.

Me, Ky & A Luverly Bunch Of Coconuts, Outskirts Of Hue, 1996

Quite by chance, it transpired that Ultimate Travel – which we used for this 2012 trip – used the same local agents, Vidotour, as Asia World – which we had used in 1996. I sent the Ultimate agent some of my images of our guides from 1996 and it transpired that Ky, who had been a young guide starting out in 1996, was now Group Director of Marketing for the local agent. He was keen to meet us and for us to have dinner with his family. More on that story anon.

Our room was made available to us immediately, for which we were grateful. We slept a while and Daisy enjoyed a swim.
Then later in the afternoon we ventured round the block to a couple of big malls full of posh shops and eateries but not too well endowed with customers. First Vincom, then Parkson.
Then a relatively early dinner at Square One, the Vietnamese and Western restaurant at the Park Hyatt. We tried pork spring roll wrapped in mustard leaf, river prawn in beans sauce and slow cooked short rib of beef (like my Guangzhou brisket dish). Amazing medley of chocolate puddings and chat with Aussie chef afterwards.

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Thirteen: A Day In Ho Chi Minh City, 25 March 1996

Early start to presidential (reunification) Palace.

Reunification Palace – headline picture, above and the rooftop helicopter pad below

Ged fancies himself as bunker command (above), Daisy seeks solace in a wok below

Then on to history museum…

…and then to Chinatown (Cocholon) to Than Thienh Pagoda…

…followed by lunch at Vy (duck!).

You’re going to eat that and then crawl through tunnels?

Then out to Cuchi– Got to see the place at agonisingly close quarters!

You think that’s back breaking? Try these tunnels.

Ah, once we’d crawled a bit I was back in command in Cuchi.

Then back to The Floating Hotel…

…and out to Blue Ginger (Saigon Times Club) for dinner – another promenade and Home

Fashionable folk promenade and bike around

All the photos from the part of the journey that featured Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam & then Thai resorts can be found through the Flickr link here or below.

=34 Another boat trip - to Chicken Island and Poda Island 150

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Twelve: A Day In Huế Before Flying To Ho Chi Minh City, 24 March 1996

Rose early – went on a boat trip along perfume river…

…stopping off at Thien Mu Pagoda (Buddhist haunt)…

and then Minh Mang’s Tomb (old and very impressive) followed by short boat ride to other side and tomb of Khai Dinh…

Above – Minh Mang’s Tomb. Below – the main man with the Minh Manh mandarins

Khai Dinh’s Tomb outside (above) and inside (below)

Khai Dinh himself (above) and a more modern symbolic message (below)

…then on to good lunch and cyclo ride around Huế for best part of two hours before setting off for airport.

We loved this marathon cyclo ride -it was an unexpected highlight

Arrived in Saigon [Ho Chi Minh City] quite late – dinner at hotel (Floating!) and Sunday night promenade and then to bed.

All the photos from that Central Vietnam part of our journey can be found through the Flickr link here or below.

=29 Tu Doc Tomb, near Hue (Tu Doc lived here before death as well as after) 087

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Eleven: From Da Nang To Huế, 23 March 1996

Drove from Da Nang to Huế – beautiful drive including Hai Van Pass and Lang Co Island.

Arrived in Huế – unloaded/rested then good lunch followed by tour of citadel, Thai Hoa Palace, mandarin halls, dynastic urns etc.

Then on to Tu Duc Tomb – (1864-1867). Excellent home/tomb with ponds etc.

A tomb with both a view (above) and a theatre (below)

Spent the late afternoon by the pool etc. – evening meal in restaurant

I think we stayed at the Century Riverside and we probably ate in the restaurant there…actually, on reflection I think we ate in Lac Thanh, following the strong recommendation of the guide book.

All the photos from that Central Vietnam part of our journey can be found through the Flickr link here or below.

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Ten: Da Nang & Hội An, 22 March 1996

Card players in Hội An market (above)

Rose very early [in Hanoi]. Flew to Da Nang. Met by Ky. Saw Cham Museum, marble mountains/caves and China Beach

Marble Mountain (above) and Buddhist Temple thereupon (below)

Ky was a terrific guide. Very young, as were all the guides in Vietnam during what was, after all, a “young tourist industry” phase for that country in 1996. But we could tell straight away that Ky was a “Mr Fixit” who would work well with and for us. I wrote him a commendation after the holiday, as I was (am) wont to do when we get exceptional service. As chance would have it, when we arranged to go back to Vietnam 16 years later our (different) UK agent was using Vidotour, the same local agency as Asia World had used in 1996. It transpired that Ky was, by then, Director of Marketing for the whole company. We had a really enjoyable reunion with him, getting to meet his family as he insisted on taking us out for dinner. He told me that my commendation had really helped him at that very early stage of his career, as we were amongst his first guests and glowing commendations of that kind were highly valued.

Vietnam Holiday Day Two: Saigon, Then Dinner With Ky & Family 11 February 2012

Then on to Hội An for good lunch then walk town and early return to Da Nang. Lazy afternoon and evening at hotel.

I got ever so excited when I spotted the above door, because I could see that it was the very door depicted on the cover of my Lonely Planet Guide (Vietnam 3rd edition 1995). The woman of the house got ever so excited too, as she had no idea that her house was on the front cover of a guide book, although surely hundreds if not thousands of tourists must have walked past her house with that book in hand by 1996.

My copy is more dog-eared now than it was in 1996

Then down to the waterfront befor heading back to Da Nang.

All the photos from that Central Vietnam part of our journey can be found through the Flickr link here or below.

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Nine: A Day Around Hạ Long Bay Then Back To Hanoi, 21 March 1996

We’ve visited a fair few beautiful places in the world. Hạ Long Bay is well up there with the most stunning.

This is another of those days when the words in my log are few, the photographs many and really you don’t need many words:

Stunning scenes on Hạ Long Bay, headline picture, above and below.

Health & Safety had not got started, let alone gone mad at that grotto

Inside (above) and outside (below) the grotto

Went on a cruise at Hạ Long Bay on “Yellow Dragon” boat – misty but pleasant – went to “new grotto” [i.e. newly discovered in 1996] – very slippery climb due to mist– went into grotto etc. Super lunch on boat – then long drive back to Hanoi. Overnight in Royal Hotel

Lunch on the boat, me & Thung (above), then return journey to Hanoi pictures (below)

We took more pictures that that! All the pictures from the North Vietnam segment of our trip can be seen on this Flickr album – click here or below.

=01 18 March 1996 - Hanoi Vietnam - old quarter, city gate NTV_G2 (18)

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Eight A: One Night In Hạ Long, 20 to 21 March 1996

Our two day/one night trip to Hạ Long Bay was incredibly picturesque, with the possible exception of our short stay in Hạ Long itself.

The agency and the guide book had warned us that, at that time, Hạ Long was not well served with Western-standard accommodation.

We chose to stay at the best available at the time, the Hạ Long Hotel, which is depicted above. That picture was the best possible angle one could find of the place.

The hotel, which had probably seen better days even in the early post-war period, had been a favoured haunt of Soviet tourists. The signage and information in all of the rooms was in Vietnamese, French and Russian only. I derived what little instruction we needed from the French versions. Honi soit qui mal y pense.

It’s a shame I didn’t photograph the room, which had a rudimentary look to it. But the biggest shame of all is that I didn’t photograph the refectory-style dining room, with long tables and benches. It reminded me of an austere English public school refectory; or perhaps a well-appointed prison dining hall.

The place was almost completely deserted when we were there in March 1996, giving the “refectory” an especially eerie feel. Had the place been fully occupied, dinner time might have looked more like this:

On looking up our Hạ Long Hotel in the old 1990s guide book and then Googling the address, I am pretty sure that the site is now the rather stunning-looking and very well-reviewed Ha Long Plaza Hotel. It must have had a comprehensive makeover since our visit, for some obscure reason. So I’m guessing that the old dining hall is now lost for ever in the mists of time.

But let us now put all of that to one side and return to the stunningly beautiful journey that was our two day/overnight visit to Hạ Long Bay.

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Eight: From Hanoi To Hạ Long Via Haiphong, 20 March 1996

This was one of those picturesque travelling days, for which I wrote few words but for which the pictures can say far more than words ever could.

Breakfast then off to Highway Five towards Haiphong – stopped in Tongs [Hải Dương?] Province for tea and green bean cake – then on to Haiphong for lunch and then looked at communal house (Hang Kenh) and on to Hạ Long Bay via ferries etc.