Night Life Outside Our Hotel

We happened to book a room in a hotel called Saigon Mini 6.  It is in District 1, and the street it is on is very busy at night.  People, of all sorts, sit on chairs, that are lined up on either side of the street, having a beer and enjoy watching all the comings and goings of all the passerbys.

Dinner With Friends

Tonight, we had a lovely dinner with some new friends.  They drove us to the restaurant, on motorbikes.  So, we got to experience the crazy, wild, busy, streets of Saigon.

Our dinner was absolutely delicious!!  We had a variety of Vietnamese appetizers, then hot pot.  Thank you so much, Arend for the invite, and Tuyen for knowing what to order!!

                                      

War Remnants Museum

Many of the atrocities documented here were well publicized but Westerners rarely have the opportunity to hear the victims of US military action tell their own stories.  While the displays are one sided and could be considered a bit propagandist, it was worth seeing the most disturbing photographs that illustrate US atrocities and are from US sources.

US armored vehicles, artillery pieces, bombs, and infantry weapons are on display outside.  One corner of the grounds is devoted to the notorious French and South Vietnamese prisons on Phu Quoc and Con Son Islands.  Artifacts include the guillotine, and tiger cages used to house VC prisoners.

The ground floor consists of a collection of posters and photographs showing support for the antiwar movement throughout the world.  Upstairs, showed us the horrors of war, using photographs of severely deformed and handicapped people, resulting from the use of agent orange, who were born after the war.  One type of weapon, the flechette, was an artillery shell filled with thousands of tiny darts, which was a military secret, and used as an experimental weapon.  The stories of many war correspondents were depicted through their photographs, many of which were killed or never found.  Many aerial pictures showed the pummeled, cratered ground of US bombing, and the extreme defoliation of the chemicals used on the land and people of Vietnam.

Many of the pictures in the museum were so horrifying that it was impossible for me to take photos.  Your imagination will have to take its place!!

The museum drove home the point that war is horribly brutal and that many of its victims are civilians.

Onward to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City

We flew back to Saigon, cabbed it to our hotel that is located in District 1, settled in, and took off down the busy streets to see the sights!!  Saigon is busy, noisy, hot and humid!!  We find it more progressive and modern that Hanoi.  There are many beautiful parks.

                                          A beautiful banyan tree.

                                          A crazy game!  My interpretation would be hacky sack
                                         badminton.  These guys were awesome!!
                                         

                                         Once again insane traffic!!

                                         Narrow lanes filled with small shops and eateries!

Final Day at Phu Quoc Island

We spent our last day on this beautiful island motorbiking around and seeing the sights.  We took in Coconut Prison, a final visit to Sao Beach, our last sunset, and a final dinner with friends we met along the way.

Coconut Prison on Phu Quoc Island

Being a fairly remote and forested island, Phu Quoc was useful to the French Colonial administration as a prison.  The Americans, or so we were told, (could have been south Vietnamese) took it over where the French left off and housed 40,000 or so Viet Cong prisoners.  Displays of every day life and torture are depicted in this museum.

                                          Thick fence that surrounds prison.

                                         Buildings that housed prisoners.

                                          Tiger cages used to torture prisoners.  There was no
                                           protection from the elements.

                                         Another form of torture.  Reminds me of what is
                                         done to women in the Middle East.

                                          A kitchen.
                                        

                                          The next few pictures are different forms of torture.

Duong Dong Sights

After coffee, breakfast, a swim, and reading, we decided to rent the motorbikes.  We hopped on and took a dig into town.  After several attempts, we finally found the fish sauce factory.  There was not too much too see, but we did get to look at the huge vats used to make the sauce.

                                         Fish sauce factory store.

                                          Higher end houses in Duong Dong.

                                         Having delicious Vietnamese iced coffee.

We chilled out at a small coffee shop, and had a delicious Vietnamese iced coffee.  We usually have one a day!!  After a brief rest, we headed down the street to take in a few small shops.  I bought a bathing suit, and we also got to witness a rooster getting quite a vigorous bath.  He is used in cock fights, and  quite a beauty he is!!

Another Boat and Snorkeling Trip

We found a super little restaurant, among the many great restaurants that are here in Phu Quoc.  Through this restaurant we discovered a tour guide named Jerry, A New Zealander, who now lives in Vietnam.  He runs tours that the client can self design.  He keeps the numbers and prices low and will take you to places other tours won't.  He was in the process of getting a few people together for a snorkeling tour so we signed up.

The next morning Jerry collected us at our hotel, and with nine other people, we made our way down the same red, road we took to Sao Beach, stopping along the way to collect tape for broken sunglasses and sandals, for a couple of people who were with us, buy beer, pop, ice, limes, and bathroom breaks, so eventually we got to the harbour, found our boat, hopped on, pulled up anchor, and we were on our way.  The wind was up so the ocean was pretty rough, and a couple of people were not feeling too well because of this.  I find the motion of the boat very relaxing!  Jerry took us to an archipelago that consisted of  deserted islands with fishermen selling there wares on the water.  We stopped at one floating raft to pick up some sea urchins that we could eat for a snack later on in the day.  We continued on and found a beautiful little beach.  We dropped anchor and swam in.  The sand soft and white, the sun bright and warm.  We hung out here for an hour or more, talking with the nine other people on the boat with us, and Jerry of course, exchanging brief histories of each others' lives, having a beer or two, collecting shells, sunning, and cooling off in the gentle, clear, warm, waters of this sheltered bay.

Jerry then hustled us back to the boat, and we continued on to another spot, anchored, and were treated to sea urchin, cooked and raw.  It was really quite good, and I am not an adventurous eater, but I did try a taste or two.  A delicious lunch was served, and after the meal settled, we strapped on the snorkel gear and stride jumped off the boat. 

The snorkeling here is not world class, but it was much better than I thought it would be.  I was lucky enough to spot a couple of angel fish.  They are very colourful, with bright yellow bodies, orange gills, lime green fins and a blue tail.  They remind me of the song by Dolly Parton, My Coat of Many Colours.  There were many fish and the coral had some bright colours, and no dead spots, which is a plus!!

After snorkeling, we climbed back onto the boat and found a lounger on the top deck and sunned the rest of the way home.  The captain did stop once on the way back and got people to fish.  Many fish were caught and the motor started up again, and delivered us back to the harbour, serving us a treat of fresh fruit along the way! 

We loaded the van and retraced our journey from this morning, and were dropped off from where we picked up.  The ten hour trip cost us $19.00 each.

                                         Jerry, our tour guide.

                                         Raft from which we bought our urchins.

                                        

                                         The beautiful beach we were lucky enough to spend
                                         some time at.

                                         Fellow Canadians, Terry and Sandra, who we have been
                                         hanging out with.

                                         The captain and his crew cleaning sea urchins for our snack.

                                         A plateful of cooked sea urchin.  You don't eat any
                                         meat, you eat the roe.

Snake Blood and Men's Virility

After a day of walking the beach, meeting and talking to a variety of people, having a drink here and there, we decided to go to the night market for supper.  We walked the distance to Duong Dong, the city that is closest to our resort, maybe a half hour walk, and found the night market.  It was bustling with tourists and locals.  Vietnamese do not cook and eat the supper at home like Westerners do, they all go out for their supper, or get take out, and eat at home.  They work very long hours and the food they eat is very cheap, the food vendors sock it to the tourists when it comes to prices. 

We strolled up and down the lane looking at all the displays of seafood that were on sale for the evening's feast.  Every vendor trying his or her best to lure you in with their selection and variety of food.  We finally decided what we wanted to eat, placed our order, sat down, had a beer and waited for our meal.  It came shortly, and we enjoyed a plate of gigantic prawns, greens, and rice.  Just as we were finishing up our meal, we noticed a young Vietnamese man wielding a small foot long snake, that was the thickness of your thumb.  Me, being adverse to snakes, could hardly look, and what he did next with this snake almost made me unload my supper!!  He found a willing participant in a young, Western guy.  He then proceeded to cut the head off the snake, and squeezed the blood and heart from the headless serpent.  The young Western man then drank the snake's blood and ate it's heart!!  OMG!!!  The young Vietnamese said that is how boys become men in Vietnam.  I am sure!!  It is just  a show for everyone who is there and I'm sure he was also paid by the Westerner!!  Anyways, no picture was taken because I forgot the camera at home!  Hoss would have had to be the photographer, I just couldn't watch!!

Coffee on the Beach!

Every morning our routine is to go down to the beach restaurant, drink our coffee and get caught up on computer work.  The weather always begins with clouds but the air is very warm, no chill to it at all.  By later morning the clouds have burnt off and the blazing Vietnam sun sets in.  The weather here isn't scorching hot as it is in Panama, or Costa Rica, but it is deliciously warm enough that you need to seek refuge occasionally from the sun through shade or ocean.

No Facebook

I have not been able to connect with facebook since we came to Phu Quoc.  Emails are working.

Motorbiking Around the Island

After a couple of days of lazying around the beach, we thought it was time to spread our wings and really see this island, so we rented a couple of small motorbikes.

The first day we went south.  We got off the highway, and onto a dirt road.  Their soil is full of iron, so the road is a rich red colour.  We found a secluded beach, parked the bikes and went for a swim.  There are a lot of pearl farms in this area, and you could see them from this beach.  Back on the bikes, and we headed off to Sao Beach, which is located on the Pacific side(our hotel is on the Gulf of Thailand).

Sao Beach is beautiful.  The sand is whiter, finer, softer.  There is a bit more of a surf there, but the water is very shallow for quite a ways out.  It is a quiet beach with only a few accommodations, and restaurants.
As we were leaving, we met a young Swiss guy, who also rented a bike, so we traveled back to Long Beach with him.  We met his friends who were back at their bungalows and had a couple of beer with him at the beach.

The next day, we headed north.  This time we needed to go through the city of Duong Dong.  Driving a vehicle, or riding a motorbike in Vietnam has the same philosophy as downhill skiing.  You don't worry about whose behind you, you only worry about whose in front of you.  Anyways, I got through the market and the city without wiping anyone out.

Back on the highway, heading out of the city, we found the same familiar red roads of the south.  We rode through small fishing villages, beautiful beaches, stopped occasionally to swim, eat, drink, take pictures, and watch villagers go through their daily routines.

We ended up taking a wrong turn, and had to work our way through some nasty road construction projects, that I found challenging with the bike.  After two spills with the motorbike, both times trying to get through heavy sand...no injury resulted due to to deep, fine red sand that was super soft to land in and the turtle pace I was going(just couldn't muscle my way through), I over steered, got off the tiny path and into the heavy sand.  Buff!!  Down I went!  Then a makeshift bridge that consisted of two wobbly boards that I said no to.  So, Hoss had to manage his bike, and my bike, to get to the other side.  I walked!!  These three episodes left me filthy dirty. Red hands, red arms, red legs, it was quite comical!!  And, to top it off I broke my sandal.  Now, I had to ride with bare feet!!  But the road improved and we looked for a beach to wash off and get refreshed!

Back through the city we went, and through the market.  Unfortunately it's the only way to go to get back to our place.  Super busy aisle ways, that are jam packed with people walking, kids on bicycles, adults on motorbikes, and me with my bare feet, managing the clutch, brakes, and praying I don't knock anyone down!!  But, we made it through without incident!  Success!!

It was a great two days exploring with the bikes.  We returned them and plan to rent them again in a couple of days and return to Sao Beach. 

 Day 1 with the bikes. 

                                         Parked the bikes at a deserted beach, went for a swim.

                                         Secluded beach by the pearl farms.

                                         Stopped at a small village, to buy a drink.

                                          Beautiful Sao Beach.


                                               Day 2 with the bikes.

                                          Small fishing village.

                                         This village used to have a bridge, but half of it s destroyed.
                                         So, this man is ferrying across.

                                          We crossed a couple of these types of bridges.

                                        

                                         Villagers cooking small fish......

                                         then they lay them out to dry.

                                         A photo of a high end hotel.  These bungalows run at around
                                         $200.00 a night.  They looked pretty cool!

                                           Stopped for a Vietnamese iced coffee and fresh spring
                                           rolls!