Good night Saigon

Well this week has been without a doubt the highlight of our trip so far. After arriving in Dalat, a strange place in terms of its Alpine similarities, we were lucky enough to meet two really cool Ozzies Tim and Ben. Having spent a couple of nights supping the local brew Saigon, and playing cards till the early hours, we were then to set off with our guides, The Easy Riders. We were able to each get a 125cc motor bike accompanied with a driver/guide Mr Quan and Mr Tan, Guess which one Caz went with???
We set off early morning with our rucksacks strapped to the back of our bikes and hit the road. These guys took us on a tailor made trip, and promised us they would show us the real Viet Nam, and thats exactly what we got!! After being surprised that Vietnam is the worlds 2nd biggest producer of coffee, they took us to the mass plantations where they showed us the beans in their harvest period. From there we went on to numerous waterfalls whilst driving on beautiful peaceful roads through the Central highlands. Throughout our trip we were taken to numerous ethnic minority villages includin the M'ho and M'nom . They were all very primitive and interesting in their own unique way. The M'homs live in long houses, so called because everytime they have a kid they elongate their homes. It is normal in Viet Nam that when a man gets married, his wife has to move in with his parents. This is like a strange form of welfare system so that the Grand parents can look after the Grand children whilst the parents can work.
It certainly seems to work, and still in its economic infancy it's probably the only system that could work!
All along our trip, our guides were very conscious of the effects of tourism, therefore they never liked to visit the same families over and over again. Quan bought some candy for the local kids and introduced us to many families. This was for me anyway the best part of the trip. Communicating only through guesture we first entered a home whom only in the last two years had electricity for the first time. Sitting on an old cupboard was an even older Toshiba TV. The father told us how for two weeks the kids were petrified of this machine, but when we enterd they were all glued to it watching some God awfull Vietnamese martial arts movie.
Through out our time riding through the highlands we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of everybody. We couldn't cycle past one kid without them shouting hello and waving to us. For many of them they had never seen a westerner before, and even the elderlys were very curious.
We ended our first day being taken to Dak Lak, an area devastated by Napalm and carpet bombing, it was quite surreal to see the landscape still scarred forty years on.
Our guides themselves were first hand victims of the war. Both being South Vietnamese they told us countless stories of how families were bieng torn apart. One brother being drafted by the South vietnamese army having to fight his own brother who had been forced to fight for the NVA. Stories of friends who cut off eachothers trigger fingers so that they couldn't fight and how after 1975 they were both so hungry for 16 years that they could hardly sleep. It was hard to hear it all, but our guides weren't reluctant to give us an insight to their recent history.
From there on we were shown silk farms, mushroom farms, even had a 20 kilo Python put round our necks, then being shown the cutest little bunny rabbits that fed that fella.
On our last couple of days, more was elllaborated about the Ho Chi Mhin trail and it importance to the NVA. This area was truely ablitorated, and we got to see first hand the effects of agent orange after meeting a farmer who had fought with the SVA. His Son was about eight years old and lives in a tiny hut traditional to his ethnic monority, along with 4 other family members. His father was keen to inform us that when he was fighting he had drunk Dioxin contaminated water and explained how this had caused his Sons severe handicaps, both physically and mentally.He was keen for us to take a photo of him, something i didn't dare asking. But for him it was important for others to see the results of this American defoliant. The Americans flatly refuse to pay any compensation to its victims, and is an ongoing struggle for these poor people. On our last day whilst we having our breakfast in a side road cafe we watched a large dog being first stuffed into a tight metal cage , then into a tight plastic bag. The owners of this pet had decided to send him to market. His meat was popular to this area of Viet Nam, but it was hard to watch.
By the end of our trip we arrived in Mui Ne, a tourist resort. It was a big come down after our experience on the road.

Spam from the Nam

Hello one and all.

Well we are no in to our second week of Viet Nam and oh my god its a tonic to the senses. We have just left our friends Jenni and Dan after spending a week with them on an island off the southern tip of Vietnam bordering Cambodia called Phu Quoc. We arrived at a guest complex which can only be described as an acid trip. Lining the entrance path was 12 foot sculptures of rats, monkeys and a heard of deformed horses. This place was as kitch as Vera Duckworths living room and the locals seemed to love it! It seems quite paradoxical that this Communist country has adopted so many cheesy western elements, and only yesterday I saw a local girl wearing a t shirt saying I love USA. All quite odd after having been to the war rememberence museum and seeing the horrors those Yankers inflicted on this beautiful country, and for the first time in my life I wish I was wearing a Union jack flag. Well for me any way the highlight of Phu Quoc was the markets. We have braved (finally) the local street foods, and they are surprisingly delicious. It seems we are trying out at least one new fruit or vegetable every day. We had a really lovely time with Jenni and Dan, it was really relazing and so nice to catch up with them and sap them of all their SE Asia knowledge! The beaches were stunning and we v much enjoyed sharing lots of beers and card games with them!

We returned to Saigon after Phu quoc. Its one kicking City which makes London look like a wet day in Hightown. Never have I ever had to question green cross code skills till I came to this place. Traffic lights here are merely a gesture and in reality mean you must honk your horn. Whilst first arriving here it took us ten minutes to bottle up the courage to cross the road to our hotel. The trick is to eye ball every motorist heading straight for you and they will swerve around you, but the golden rule is NEVER STOP! After Saigon we boarded a bus for a 8 hour journey to Da Lat in the central highlands. Dalat is so beautiful, it has a vvery french feel to it and it could easily be mistaken for the Alps (mius the snow). It is very high up and surrounded in pine trees with toblerone shaped houese everywhere. It is also a lot cooler here which is actually really nice as it has been so hot for the past few weeks! We met 2 really cool Ozzy paramedics Whom we shared a few shandys with and then had a little meeting with the local motor biking tour group called the Easy Riders. Tomorrow we head off with these very well educated guides into the mountains. Both Caz and I get a guide each and sit on the back of their motorbikes with our rucksacks strapped to the back of them. Its the closest thing we can get to being Ewan McGregor wannabees and we will be taken away from all the tourist spots and into real Viet namese culture. The roads we will be venturing are nice and quiet and we cant wait to hit the road for our four day adventure.

We will update again v soon, we have also put up lots of pics so check them out.

Love to everyone, Joel and Caz xxx

Sitting in Bangkok airport waiting for flight to Vietnam

Hello!

We are almost 3 weeks in to our travels and absolutely loving it, we have definately got used to the nomadic lifestyle!

After leaving Haad Yuan in Koh Phagnan we headed for Koh Tao. We had been there before 4 years ago but it was so much prettier than we'd remembered. We found a gorgeous beach called Ban Chalok ( i think!) which had the whitest sands and the clearest turquoise sea. We were so happy to have found it, a little piece of paradise!

Koh Tao is one of the best places in Thailand for diving and snorkelling so we embarked on a 3 day scuba diver course. It was absolutely incredible, one of the bese experiences of my life. I was a bit nervous before hand but once i was in the water all my fears seemed to vanish! It was quite an intense course, we were out from 9 am until 6 om every day and we had to study for an exam too. We dived to 20 metres on our last dive which was amazing. The sea life around there is wonderful, we saw the most colourful fish, a sea snake, barracudas, trigger fish etc etc. We now have our PADI license which means we can dive any where around the world so we are thinking we will dive in Vietnam, Malaysia and Oz, we are hooked now!! I would definately recommend it!

So after a wonderful time in Koh Tao we headed back to Bangkok for one night and met up with our friend Sophia. We had a great night out, went to a fab restaurant and then had a few too many drinks until the wee early hours, hence we are feeling rather fragile whilst waiting for our flight to Hoh Chi Minh City!

We are staying in Ho Chi Minh tonight and then we head to an island just south of Vietnam called Phu Quoc, we are very excited as it is described in the guide books as a little piece of paradise! We are meeting up with Jenni and Dan there and having a little holiday with them before they head back to the UK, we can't wait to see them.

After 5 days in Phu Quoc the roughing it will really start and we will travel up through Vietnam , across to Laos and then through to Cambodia.

Anyways, best run to catch our flight, we will update again soon and upload pics when we can.

Lots of love Caroline and Joel xxxxx