Jo Day's 2013 Career Break Blog: Star gazing from the sea

On Wednesday 4^th September we entered Vietnam at the border crossing Nam Phao to Cau Treo. It only took an hour through the border. All going well until 1 minute into Vietnam someone realized Al & Fi were not on the coach! It had finally happened. We had left people behind.

Drying rice on the road

Lovely beaches

The scenery was good. We began travelling along the Vietnamese coastline. This is the first ocean we had seen since leaving the Black Sea in Georgia. The coastline scenery, beaches & water looked fabulous. Many of us wanted to hop off the coach & go for a swim. However, the day got longer & longer. This day turned out to be our longest drive day so far. 15 hours after leaving the lovely wooden chalet called Sala Konglor guesthouse in the Laos jungle next to the river we arrived in Hue.

At 11pm we arrived at our hotel in Hue. I discovered Hue was situated about a 2 hour drive south of the 17^th parallel which divided north & south Vietnam in the 1960’s & 70’s. Either side of this parallel the US created the Vietnam War DMZ. Many infamous incidents of the war occurred within the DMZ. Hue was the most northern large town controlled by the US & South Vietnamese during the war.

There were posters in the hotel advertising 12 hour DMZ tours starting at 6am. Most of us were too knackered to sit in a mini bus for 12 hours, only 7 hours after getting off a 15 hour coach journey. The War shaped/is a significant part of Vietnam, SE Asia & the Western world’s modern history. I was annoyed to be missing out. Luckily, a tour company offered to do a shorter version by only stopping at a few infamous sights in the DMZ.

On Thur 5^th Sept some of us did a fast paced tour of the DMZ. We went into the Vinh Moc Tunnels, stood on the 17^th parallel now marked by the unifying Vietnamese flag, crossed Hen Luong Bridge, saw The Rock pile & wandered around Khe Sanh combat base.

It actually states it's a US bomb

The Rock pile

Yvonne, Dave, Becks & Lou looking bemused under a Us B52 bomber left on the airfield

For me the most significant part of the day was travelling along the road called Highway 9 near the town of Cam Lo. It is along this stretch of road where the infamous photo was taken of a young girl & boys running along the road after a napalm attack.

Friday 6^th Sept was a 6h drive to Hoi An. This is famous for its tailors. Quite a few people had suits, shirts, dresses & shoes made to measure. I got someone in the market to fix my fake Teva sandals bought in Lhasa Tibet (fixed for a 2^nd time as I also got them fixed in Bodhgaya India) & create an Odyssey Overland 2013 cotton badge to sew on my rucksack.

Hoi An was the first chance we had to swim in the sea. The town was sacrificed by some to spend the time we had at the beach.

An old Chinese bridge in the town which is a national monument & on one of the bank notes

Room for any more mopeds?

I managed to paddle in the sea whilst on a street food tasting tour. The sea water was hot; the fine white sand & beach palm trees were gorgeous. The food was not.

www.hoianfoodtour.com was a laugh. I did it with Teresa on Sun 8^th Sept. We were taken to various street food vendors on the back of mopeds by 2 university students. Mopeds are the main mode of transport in Vietnam & SE Asia. We went to 7 food vendors & 1 sea food restaurant. None of the places we ate at contained westerners. It was a real taste of proper Vietnam. The vendors only serve up one type of food so menus don’t exist. Apparently, this is the norm for street vendors. They were all very popular with the locals. I tried all but 1 dish. I was not keen on any of it except the massive seafood clams in the restaurant. I ate Ba Phuong Bread = various spicy meats in a baguette (Vietnam was once a French colony). Cao Lau = local noodle soup with various stuff in the mix. Banh Khot = turmeric, coconut milk, fried quail egg & fried pig skin covered in fish sauce. Banh Beo = cake (not a dessert) made up of shrimp paste, fried onion, fish sauce. Banh It = sticky rice cake wrapped in a banana leaf. Che thung = a dessert in a glass consisting of ice, peanut, dried red jujube, judae fungus (whatever they are), seaweed & other things.

Teresa holding on

Teresa trying rice cake at the market

Teresa stuffing her face again!

And again. Quail eggs this time.

The dish I refused to try was called Balut Egg – a Vietnamese delicacy. No thanks. It’s a duck egg where the embryo has formed & you eat it. There’s no yellow or white in this egg. Just a brown gooey mess that looks like a well rotten egg. It looked revolting. Teresa was brave & gave it a go. I think she said it was disgusting. It was certainly far from appetizing. At least we were not given the option of skinned frogs, fried cat or dog! Yes, they eat pets. Some of us had market photos to prove it. I can honestly say the best Vietnamese food I’ve eaten is in London.

Not quite a duck yet

Brave T

The 2 guides tucking into mine

Mon 9^th Sept was a 13h drive (inc 1h20m coach breakdown), to www.junglebeachvietnam.com This was a basic resort where you stay in beach huts made from bamboo & palm trees. The food was lovely. The sand was fine. The sea as warm as bath water with waves just perfect to enjoy. I had one of my most memorable moments on this 6 month journey here. On Tue 10^th Sept some of us went night swimming. It was weird to swim with fluorescent green phosphorous illuminating with my movement in the water. The sky was clear. I remember floating on my back watching the stars & the moon. This was a brilliant experience I knew I’d rarely get to do again. Topped off with a beach bonfire & beers.

More revolting food at a roadside restaurant. Pickled snake anyone?

Health & safety during a breakdown - just use leaves as a hazard warning triangle & watch out if you want to get off the coach as those pesky mopeds still undertake!

Thur 12^th Sept was back to city life with a 12h journey to Ho Chi Minh City formerly Saigon. I have never seen so many mopeds. It was a leap of faith crossing the roads here. There was never going to be a gap in the traffic to step out & cross. You just had to slowly step out & have faith the moped riders would drive around you as you slowly walked across the road. The art was to keep walking at the same pace so the riders could predict your movements. Sudden movement or change of direction on a pedestrians part = accident!

It was back to war history here. I visited the Cu Chi tunnels, the harrowing War Remnants Museum & Reunification Palace. I learnt about the war from the Vietnamese perspective. “Americans came like devils even shooting chickens at the side of the road” according to a video at the Cu Chi tunnels.

The War Remnants museum contained many photos. One of which was the photo I referred to earlier. The original had been donated to the museum only this year by the photographer.

There were photos of Agent Orange victims & the legacy of it today on people’s health & new born babies.

The most striking photo for me was of an American soldier holding what looked like rags in his hand. The rag actually turned out to be the head still attached to the back & one arm of a person just blown up by munitions of some kind. I had never imagined that could actually happen to a human body. The picture was horrific. There were plenty of photos like that, & plenty of stories like that. These photos & stories were educating. I realized there are plenty of losers from war & not many winners.

We all needed a drink at the end of the day & there are many of street bars to do so.