Time to go home. Any preconceived ideas and warnings about Vietnam have gone. I have only met indifference at worst and at best an open enthusiastic welcome from everyone I have met. Friendly persuasion to buy obviously but never any hassle or aggression.

The traffic seemed impossible at first but somehow (God knows how) it all works out. I managed to master  the Grab app and explored the city on the back of a motorbike at low cost, absolutely recommended.

My group cycle tour must be the best way to see the real Vietnam and the mixed group were great company.

I mentioned to the girl that I booked a tour with that I had never heard anyone use the official name Ho Chi Min City. She told me Sai Gon came from the name of the cotton plants in the area and would always be known as Saigon, the official HCMC being mostly used by North Vietnamese.

I stayed at the Lotus Boutique Hotel in Saigon and would recommend it to everyone. It’s close enough to the markets and nightlife but far away enough to be quiet at night. Immaculately clean room, great breakfast and a small rooftop pool to cool off in.

The hotel staff are used to seeing me around now and they struck a pose for me. The girl in the centre, ‘Cam Tu’ is so sweet and always deferential to me.

 

Goodbye Vietnam, I hope to visit again.

I had been lulled into thinking I was here forever forgetting about the short month so today is my last full day.

I loved this sequence of a family getting ready to go. Nose clean, happy to go, here comes the mask, mask on, seat belt, kind of attached. Parents helmets on . Lets go!

 

 

 

I went to the fine arts museum today. The main building was constructed by a French architect Rivera between 1929 and 1934 as a villa for the Hua family. There are modern and traditional paintings spread out along cool corridors.

My pick of the modern was this, named ‘Trying to collect memories’

Two more modern conventional pictures caught my eye.

 

Of the classics this masterpiece of lacquer on wood was astounding in its accomplishment.

My evening finished with a final real ale search. I never expected Vietnam to have a thriving Craft Ale industry but it exceeded anything I have experienced outside the UK. The drink of choice here has always been beer (Bia ) rarely wine but I never expected so much variety.

The lagers are fine with Saigon special being the best of the bunch for my taste. My favourite craft ale was Roosters 5.5 % Blonde which was remarkably similar to the Yorkshire Brewery ‘Yankee’ I think they must use the same American Cascade hops as the brew is so floral.

They have to take the prize for best beer mat!

I booked a tour to the Mekong Delta today and made an early start to get to the pick up point. I started to get anxious when the pick up time passed and then a motor scooter pulled up. The driver took my receipt and motioned for me to get on the back of the scooter. Before I could protest that I was going on a bus and I didn’t have a helmet anyway he was off. We joined the rush hour traffic and when the road was gridlocked  he mounted the pavement. Here the pavements are for street food seating and parking scooters, pedestrians often have to use the side of the road. When the pavements were blocked he darted down alleyways where the backpacker hostels are. I have to admit to breathing a sigh of relief when he dropped me off and the tour bus pulled up.

The Mekong Delta (Nine Dragon river delta) is a whole maze of river distributaries in South Western Vietnam between Saigon and Cambodia. The Mekong river starts in Tibet and runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia before it reaches Vietnam. The area was once Cambodia but when Vietnamese were allowed to settle here they overwhelmed and took over the area. In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge attacked to reclaim the area. The Vietnamese counter attacked Cambodia which brought about the downfall of the Khmer Rouge.

The area is very productive for crops making it only second to Thailand for rice exports. It is also a bio – diverse place with new species being discovered even in recent years. Everything seems to revolve around the water with thriving floating markets. Climate change is causing a rise in water levels and parts are expected to be flooded by 2030.

We crossed the Mekong river to one of the small islands (Unicorn Island) We visited the bee farm and got samples of royal jelly and honey served with Jasmine tea. Singers performed some folk songs and we had a demo of a single string instrument. If we tried it would only make one note. The musician demonstrated a whole range of sounds which changed the mood by varying the plucking technique.

There were plants of all the tropical fruits I had snacked on during our cycle tour with the exception of Dragon fruit. An African tourist from a former French colony told me that the Dragon Fruit  is native to Mexico and brought to Vietnam by the French. The bees pollinate all the flowers but particularly favour the fruit of the Logan, the small brown fruited tree. The flower of the Pomelo (Grapefruit) has an exquisite scent.

 

 

I was puzzling over a tree at the waters edge as it was partially submerged. I wondered how the roots got oxygen and the guide told me that the spikes were actually oxygen carrier roots while the other roots went down to anchor the tree and provide nutrients. Interesting how plants can adapt to most conditions.

We had the opportunity to handle a python. This one was young and kept as a pet. They can grow to over 5 metres long!

One highlight was a boat trip along one of the many waterways shaded by palms at the waters edge.

We saw the production of coconut sweets on the island. A simple mix of coconut milk with rice based malt to thicken which was then heated and stirred. No sugar is used and it can be natural or flavoured with fruit. The ladies working there were very dexterous as each sweet had to be wrapped in edible rice paper to stop it sticking and then wrapped again in outer paper.

For lunch we were served a Mekong delta specialty of ‘Elephant -Ear Fish’, a giant gourami. It is deep fried with scales and fins intact. The crispy fish was wrapped into rice paper pancakes with salad and herbs and then dipped into sweet, sour or hot fish sauce to taste.

After lunch we had the chance to take a free bicycle to look around or lay in a hammock. Probably for the first time ever I decided against the bike and relaxed in the hammock under a shaded palm. I watched a few others try, and fail to ride tandems.

 

Our day ended with the inevitable ‘happy water’ This one loaded with snakes and scorpions. I read a rare case when a hibernating snake emerged after three months in the alcohol to bite a woman. I decided to give it a miss!

I went to visit the Notre Dame cathedral in Saigon today. I can’t believe I have lived my life without realising Notre Dame means ‘Our Lady’ in French referring to the Virgin Mary. Lacking culture I always think of the hunchback! The cathedral was built between 1863 and 1880 by the French colonialists.

As impressive as it was the adjacent Post Office held my attention as a lovely building with its expansive open ceiling.

 

I walked back through a rare,pedestrians only, sun protected street to the Majestic Hotel. It is an old (1920) colonial style hotel with a small but shaded courtyard swimming pool and I spent the afternoon relaxing there.

I had a really interesting meal tonight. The starter was crab spring rolls and the main course was frogs. There were various options so I asked the waiter for a recommendation. He told me if I liked crispy skin go for the frogs in oyster sauce. Not sure I was prepared for frogs hacked into quarters with the rib-cage showing on one side and charred mottled skin on the other but I have to say after I pushed that to the back of my mind I found it it delicious.

Today is my visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Its on the tourist ‘must do’ list.

I organised  a tour and was surprised when a motor scooter rider picked me up. While protesting that I was joining a tour bus and asking for a helmet  he was already away weaving through the streets with me hanging on the back. When there was no road space we mounted the pavement and when that run out we darted through the alleys.

He finally dropped me off to wait for the tour bus. I found out the bus journey was two hours to Cu Chi mainly because of the insane traffic. Fortunately the lady who sat next to me chatted all the way which passed the time. She was a Canadian citizen from Toronto, born in the Philippines.

We learnt that the tunnels were started in the late 1940’s. The Viet Minh built the first dugouts and tunnels during the war against the French. The excavations were used mostly for communication between villages and to evade French army patrols of the area. When the VC’s National Liberation Front (NLF) insurgency began around 1960, the old Viet Minh tunnels were repaired and new extensions were excavated. Within a few years most of Cu Chi district and the nearby area came under VC control. In addition Cu Chi was used as a base for infiltrating intelligence agents and sabotage teams into Saigon. The attacks in the South Vietnamese capital during the 1968 Tet Offensive were planned and launched from Cu Chi.

We experienced one entry trapdoor that was original. I couldn’t enter with my hands by my side, they had to be above my head.

When the trap door was replaced as they used to do above their heads the leaf covering made it impossible for the enemy to detect.

The ventilation for the tunnels was cleverly concealed by fake termite mounds as there are many real ones in the area.

The tunnels at their peak covered 250 km some at several levels, they extended into Cambodia. They had kitchens, community areas and workshops in the tunnel complex.

The Americans were camped above the tunnels but couldn’t find them. They tried a bombing campaign, then napalm and then a defoliant but the Vietcong guerrillas just stayed put underground. They set all sorts of previously used animal traps to catch the American troops unawares. Most involved landing on barbed spikes laced with poison.

We were shown the sandals that the VC used which were made from car tyres for the sole and inner tubes for the straps. They had straps on both sides of the sandal so they could set a trap and then walk away making the footprints look they were walking towards the trap. Fiendishly clever I thought.

When the Americans failed to find the tunnels they took in German Shepherd dogs to sniff out the VC. They responded by using American soap to wash with and leaving captured American soldier uniforms above the ground to throw the dogs of the scent. When dogs started to be victims of the booby traps the handlers refused to send them in and slightly built American ‘tunnel rats’ took over with many casualties incurred.

We went into a 100 metre section of tunnel that had been enlarged for tourists. It was still confined, dimly lit, oppressively hot and airless. After stooping and sometimes crawling for 60 metres I had to take the early exit to surface.

After we surfaced we were offered Cassava . A plant like sweet potato that tapioca is derived from. It was a staple of the VC while they were underground and the guide was demonstrating the hardship they went through eating this. I think I disappointed him by enjoying it and asking for more.

The final part of the experience which I declined was firing a AK47 or M16 with live ammunition into a firing range. I had heard the shots in the distance and it felt like the war was still going on.

I decided that today being Sunday would be a day of rest. I had a leisurely breakfast and then went to find the ‘Funny Laundry’. I got a huge bag of 3 kg all washed and dried for the equivalent of £3.

On the way there I had three encounters which made me wary and clutch on to my camera. The first was a motorcyclist who just wanted to warn me my back pack was open. He asked me where I was from and told me to enjoy Saigon. The next one was a lady who tapped me on the shoulder to say hello and show off her baby son. Again, she was just being friendly.

The last one I was very wary of but they turned out to be two University students wanting to practice their English. I sat with them and told them about my tour of Vietnam. We did all the classic exchanges like ‘what is your name and where are you from’  They asked me where I was staying and it reminded me of the ‘Hunger Games’        I told them ‘District One’ (Luxury) . They told me they were from ‘District 9’ (Grain)

The girl is 24 years old and when I said I was 65 she said I was the same age as her Mother. Had to do the ‘thumbs up’ a bit like the ‘V’ pose in Hong Kong.

 

 

After our ‘last supper’ together as a group we had a taxi back to our hotel. All the younger ones in our group said they were going to check out the nightlife and asked me if I was up for it. My head was saying no but I heard myself saying “Sure, lets go”

We made our way to the top of the 360 Sky Tower and had cocktails in the rooftop bar. Moving on from there we got dragged into the ‘Crazy Buffalo’ bar with dance music pounding out. We asked for a tower of beer and then got drawn in by the buy two get one free. As the beer was flowing they put a shisha pipe on the table and brought nitrous oxide balloons to the table. That was a step to far for me but a few of the others were up for it. When we left it was early morning so its in today’s diary!

 

After a sluggish start in the morning I took a walk past the ‘Presidents Palace’ now known as the Independence or Reunification Palace’ It was here that the first communist tank crashed through the wrought iron gates on April 30th 1975. A soldier ran up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the balcony marking the fall of Saigon. I liked the quote that I read. The South Vietnamese general said to the VC officer that entered the room ‘I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you’ The officer replied ‘There is no question of you transferring power. You cannot give up what you do not have’

In the afternoon I went to the war remnants museum. All the American hardware was on display out side but the inside told the whole story.

 

The story inside was very graphic and harrowing. Because the war was covered by so many journalists and photographers.

Some of the the images of torture, napalm, phosphorus,  and agent orange induced deformities were to awful to record for me.

This little girl was born to an American that had been exposed to ‘Agent Orange’ that caused the deformity. The Father couldn’t cope with the post traumatic stress disorder and shot himself when the girl was 14 years old.

I copied one picture when the Americans were searching and interrogating everyone including women and children.

I preferred to dwell on the last two pictures showing North / South reunion and Mother and Son reunion after the war.

The message from Ho Chi Minh demonstrated to me that he was a clever statesman.

 

Our last cycling day today leaving Phan Thiet towards our final destination, Saigon. We rode out from our new resort hotel on a four lane highway with no other traffic. I was wondering about the millions of people here becoming more affluent. No doubt they will buy cars that are out of their reach at the moment. With Chinese and Russian investment coming in I think the place will change very quickly.

We cruised along today past miles of white sand beaches. All the villas had their boundaries decked with bougainvillea.

We ended our ride outside Saigon with a snack of Jack fruit, something I have never eaten fresh before, only canned. Its a really dense fibrous fruit that often appears on Vegan menus here. Our guide said it goes really well with chicken and that was his favourite meal. We also had a surprisingly refreshing sugar cane drink.

The end of our ride mapped out on our guides shirt. We didn’t cycle all of it but it felt like we experienced the real Vietnam.

Our ‘last supper’ was at the KOTO restaurant which stands for ‘know one, teach one’ it was started by an Australian – Vietnamese as a training restaurant for disadvantaged children. We had a set menu which included a duck curry which was a first for us.

We cycled out from Dalat today. Its 1500 m elevation gives it a cooler temperate climate and is known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’ The French developed the resort in the early 1900s to escape from the oppressive summer in Saigon. Some parts have French style palatial villas and wide tree lined avenues so much so that you could forget you were in Vietnam.

Our first stop was at a small holding where they made large quantities of ‘Happy Water’ A lot of houses have a small production for their own use.

Rice is cooked and mashed and then water and yeast added and the mix left to ferment. It is then distilled to make a 50% alcohol drink. Our guide poured some on the wall and ignited it to demonstrate the potency. He had showed us the drinking etiquette one night  as we each took a small glass and joined the chant , Mot! Hai! Ba! Do!                               (One! Two! Three! Drink!)

As it was early morning we didn’t sample the ‘happy water’ but were offered weasel coffee. I ordered one and when I tasted it couldn’t discern any difference from the usual Vietnamese coffee.

When I finished my coffee I saw the ‘weasels’ which are actually cat – like civets. They looked forlorn at best and at worst, stressed in their caged environment. I felt guilty that I had contributed to the production of this overrated, overpriced product. It seemed that their food supplied was just coffee berries.

The owners pet cat came off better, as cats usually do and loved my attention as she arched her head back for me to stroke her neck. As we went to leave she curved her paw to pull me back for more attention.

We kept descending from the coffee plantation area  until we came upon a hillside of lush green shrubs that looked like they had been dusted with icing sugar. As we got closer the white blooms became more apparent and then the gorgeous, unmistakable scent of Jasmine hit my nose. As we continued down into the valley we saw areas planted with Gladioli for cut flowers. Continuing into the valley I saw the Dragon Fruit plant for the first time. It was a weeping succulent plant with the red Dragon Fruit weighing down the stems.

The lady in the next picture was seen yesterday with her husband. She is 80 years old and was cycling with her husband to worship at the temple we visited. She took my hand in hers and then waved as she headed back to her village, bless her.

We cycled 90 km today, most of it downhill. Unfortunately we had our first casualty today when Fiona, the Australian girl came off on a gravelly descent. She had a deep cut on her eyebrow which was dripping blood profusely and gravel rash on her forearm shoulder and thigh. In our group we have two GPs, as well as a physiotherapist, two nutritionists and a medical advisor. Good company on a cycling holiday.  The GPs patched Fiona up with tape stitches over her eye.

We continued cycling through the forest area Gia Bac Pass and continued through Malam to arrive at our overnight destination Phan Thiet where we had a relaxing swim in the hotel  pool.

We left Nha Trang today for the cooler climate of Dalat in the south central highlands. Its  a very scenic climb up through the Bidoup-Nui-Ba Pass. This is where the finest coffee plantations are in Vietnam. They also produce ‘weasel coffee’ Although the weasel is a carnivore it is partial to the ripest, sweetest coffee beans. Some enzyme in their stomachs reacts with the coffee and once excreted becomes the most expensive coffee product in the world. So much so that the Japanese have invested heavily here.

Approaching Dalat we visited the Kings  palace. It was built from 1933 to 1937 under the dynasty of King Bao Dai, the last king of Vietnam feudal court. The palace was designed in the art deco style. The whole area is very influenced by the French colonials.

Dalat is famous for the Hang Nga guesthouse ‘Crazy House’ It was originally built as a personal project by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga, and opened to the public in 1990. Nga, is the daughter of Truong Chinh, who received a PhD in architecture from the University of Moscow. The guesthouse is open to domestic and foreign visitors to try to repay the huge debt required to build it.

The house was designed with paintings rather than plans and built by non professional workers. There was a lot of local opposition to the house but it has now become a famous landmark.I noticed it was still being worked on and evolving. It looked like a giant Disney playground to me.