November 27 - Ho Chi Minh City & Dalat

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Good morning Vietnam! Our senses became instantly alert as we introduced ourselves to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. A sprawling city for about 10 million, it is pulsing and seemingly has more motorbikes than anywhere else in the world. We stood and watched traffic lights for an unimaginable length of time. All the motor bikes make their way to the front of the line at a red light, creating an absolute sea of helmets and bikes as far as the eye can see and spilling up on to the sidewalks. The evenings were even more alive; the lights illuminating a brilliant dazzle and the streets even more crowded with motorbikes, pedestrians and vehicles. Venturing across the street demanded a slow but steady pace through the traffic with unwavering confidence the drivers will not run you over. A pause or last minute change of direction is the kiss of death.

We stayed at the Blue River #2. Not especially Vietnamese sounding but it a locally run boutique hotel (meaning a step up from backpacker but not a large cold hotel). There is a #1 which we had originally aimed to book, but ended up in #2 because it has a family room. The #2 is about a 10 minute walk into the famed Pham Ngu Lao Area where the bulk of the backpacker hotels and funky restaurants are. The walk is an absolutely fair trade off for some peace and quiet both late at night and first thing in the morning. We found different routes to make our 10 minute walk shorter and shorter as we liked to eat at the plethora of eateries in Pham Ngu. Janet went down for the count with a head cold so she hit the pillow and left most of the exploring up to the rest.

With only a day, we had to be ruthless choosing what to do. We signed up for a trip out to see the Cu Chi Tunnels, the unofficial symbol of the incredible tenacious Vietnamese spirit. Cu Chi is a district just outside of Ho Chi Minh which became a centre for Viet Cong control of this large rural area during the American War. Cu Chi suffered such intense bombing and destruction and in turn, the Viet Cong developed their spirit and an amazing system of defense using simple methods and an intricate tunnel system below ground (more than 250km and several stories deep). Tunnel construction began during the French war in the 40’s and eventually became so strong (the red earth was perfect for construction) the Viet Cong were able to facilitate steadfast offence, defense and communication (provided routes from village to village) for more than 30 years. By the time they were fighting the Americans, bombs devastated the area above ground but he tunnels for the most part remained intact.

The soldiers lived below ground during the day and came above ground only at night. As tourists we were able to experience the tunnels by climbing below ground and following a 150m portion of a tunnel one story down. Wow. The entrances and the tunnels themselves are TINY. Fortunately they provide a couple of exit routes for those feeling uncomfortable down there. Ron & Anna made it to the end, coming above ground with wide eyes, a full sweat and burning thighs. Strangely enough they also have on site a rifle range where eager tourists can pay extra and try shooting. Unfortunately it is right beside the rest area so we took a break while flinching to unbearably loud gun shots.

Our tour guide was a bit of a crazy man. He sang to us on the bus, provided some forced shopping opportunities en route and called the Viet Kong “American War killer heroes” but he was also a fountain of knowledge. Ron stopped at the Saigon War Museum downtown on the way home but the girls skipped it with Janet choosing instead to sit in hotel air con (Janet was still feeling pretty poor) to read, do math and sleep. Of course the museum depicts the story mostly through incredibly graphic photography. Definitely a necessary part of any trip to Vietnam, but it is probably better the girls didn’t have to see it and try to sort out what they saw. Being in Vietnam and visiting the tunnels though did allow us to talk about the Vietnam War with Sadie & Anna, kind of a 3D history lesson. Check, another point for the plus side of why we went on this trip.

Dalat, Vietnam

Having barely two weeks in Vietnam meant we also had to be ruthless choosing our route destinations. We veered away from the coast and headed up into the hills to check out Dalat. Now I’m still not sure if our impression of Dalat was the first sign of us becoming travel weary…but we definitely had trouble falling in love with, or even in “like” with Dalat. The small city lacks character for sure, perhaps best summed up by a quick visit to the mini Eifel Tower in the centre of town. Even the local market lacked any special feeling or draw. My niece Charlotte was there before us and went “canyoning” which made her visit very worthwhile. We’ve also heard taking an “Easy Rider” tour on motorbikes is incredible. But for us, neither option was in the cards this time. Ron & I did rent a motorbike for an afternoon and did a mini speed tour of all the sights but nothing (except driving on a motorbike) seemed to really get us very excited.

The one tourist attraction we did take in was The Crazy House, a house or rather a “creation” by a local architect who has been channeling her artistic energy in to the design and building process since 1990. Her message is clear, everyone should return back to nature. It is kind of like The Hobbit House gone wild. Every room is named after a different creature (one room had a huge kangaroo with glowing red lights for eyes…creepy) and all rooms are connected by winding little staircases, outside bridges and little tunnels. You can get lost in it for hours, which we did. As luck would have it, Mrs. Dang Viet Nga (the architect) herself was there filming an interview while we were there. We stopped to listen to her while she pointed at the various family portraits and explained the history. She comes from a very political family, her father was Ho Chi Minh’s successor. She must be close to 80 by now but looks rather (ahem) well preserved perhaps from a few surgeries and her train of thought is rather eccentric. But nothing short of extremely eccentric could have ever created this house. We heard you can also stay overnight at the Crazy House but we declined the temptation, Janet was worried we’d get the kangaroo room!

The icing on the cake was being unable to find any decent meals, except for one. Our one good meal was a local Vietnamese eatery (no fuss, plastic chairs and great food) recommended by our hotel…our hotel was actually the best part of our stay. We stayed at a place called The Pink House, hosted by a guy named Rot (yes really) and Nam. We had our little list of places to check out once we got off the bus and ended up going with the guy waiting outside the bus trying to steer us towards his hotel. Going with these guys is kind of the last thing you want to do in general but he wore us down. And it turned out this time to be worthwhile. A bunch of guys went out on an easy rider day with Rot and had an amazing time checking out the area and the small village where Rot was born. I would recommend to anyone going to Dalat to stay at The Pink House and take a day on motorbikes with Rot and his brother.

We left wondering if perhaps we didn’t put the energy in required to discover the charms of Dalat but hey, you just can’t love every place you go.