Asian Adventure (Part IX)

OK, I'm sick of writing these posts and you're probably sick of (not) reading them, so I'm going to photo-dump the pictures I took in the rest of our trip and leave it at that.
First up, Hanoi:

Possibly the best door ever? 

Asian Adventure (Part VIII)

After Ho Chi Minh we flew North to Hoi An, a town (debatably) made famous by the Top Gear Team in their Vietnam special. This was the place where Clarkson and Co. had suits tailor made before they continued on their moped voyage the length of Vietnam.
Hoi An was to be our beach destination for the month, but before we headed out to the coast, Max and I seized the opportunity to get ourselves some bespoke threads. We had a quick look at a few of the places mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide and soon came to the conclusion they were overpriced and oversold. So we trusted fate and walked in to a random tailor (of the 200 or so in Hoi An), we were rewarded with personal service, recommendations from customers coming in to pick up their goods, and reasonable prices. Having been measured up (sadly no "Does sir dress to the right or left?" but I guess on some gentlemen that's evident...) I placed an order for a suit and two shirts for a mere $120!
The rest of the day was spent on the gloriously peaceful sandy beaches, a little way out of town. To be honest it was just what we were all ready for: a truly relaxing day on the coast! Swimming in the bathwater sea went down well as did Wis singing Spice Girls in her sleep! The next day was mostly spent  exploring the town and trying to stay out of the oppressive heat.
Anyhow, pictures:

Say what now?!

Max suffering with his Red DongDo

Fred enjoying his Happy DongDo

Asian Adventure (Part VII)

The first day in Ho Chi Minh City we set off on Lonely Planet's suggested walking tour, it quoted 6 hours, just right to see the city's sights and easily achievable by us young types in a day. The map led us to the bein tanh market, a warren of delights such as weasel coffee interspersed with stomach churning smells from fish and meat stalls (I'm still unsure how most natives aren't extinguished at a young age by a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning, if some of the examples of why passes for food hygiene I've seen are anything to go by...).

Continuing on we headed for lunch despite the best efforts of Lonely Planet's cartographers (marking it in different but equally inaccurate positions on two separate maps) we eventually found Quon An Ngon restaurant. The brainchild of a Vietnamese entrepreneur and gastronome, this restaurant takes the best street food vendors and arranges them around a beautifully decorated restaurant but still charges near street prices.

Afterwards we headed onwards with the tour to the War Remnants museum - a 'must see' of HCMC. The courtyard in front of the museum proudly displays various captured American aircraft and armoured vehicles. A brief but shocking exhibit talked of the shocking conditions North Vietnamese 'Patriot' prisoners were kept in by the Americans and the Southern 'lackeys' (no mention of how the north treated their prisoners but I'm guessing not 5 star luxury suites...). We then continued to the 'Historical Truths' exhibit to get a grounding on the war's history - again this was tainted by a most unsubtle 'history is written by the victor' syndrome. Even the boards around the American produced exhibition celebrating and commemorating the War's press photographers were infected it seems the North Vietnamese had 'martyr photographer comrades' while the rest of the world merely had journalists who were killed... Despite that, the photography exhibit really was stunning. It brought home the realities of the war and giving some insight into the lives of those who covered it.

Before we knew it, it was 5pm and the museum was closing. Though we had been out all day, we had barely completed a third of the walking tour. We decided to leave the independence palace until the next day. Instead we headed for a quick look at the catholic cathedral and pick up some stamps in the post office. An impressive building, vast maps of Vietnam and the Mekong Delta adorned the wall and beautiful telephone booths (some converted for ATMs) lined the lobby. Afterwards we went for a (rather expensive) cocktail on the 24th floor of the Sheraton hotel with a friend of Fred's who we had met, by chance, at the war remnants museum.

That evening we went out to take advantage of Vietnam's famously cheap beers- bottles starting at 10000 VND ($0.5 or ~30p). The next day we were up at the crack for a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels a short way outside HCMC. We really got lucky with our tour guide, he was a Vietnamese officer in the US Navy, and gave us an as near to balanced account as can be hoped for. Indeed he stood and told us how the North Vietnamese Soldiers were superior to his American comrades at jungle fighting and explained why the American tactics were inferior. The tour was great, weaving through the jungle, scrambling on tanks, squeezing into sniper holes and crawling through tunnels. Fred even took the opportunity to pay to shoot a M1 Carbine.

Asian Adventure (Part VI)

Meeting Fred and Susie lounging outside Hak's House as we got back from the capital was a welcome sight. Hak had been marvellously cooperative as ever in arranging rooms and pick ups for us upon our return. We spent the rest of that day relaxing swapping stories of our times apart before heading out for a falafel dinner, the night market and cocktails ($1.5 margaritas!).

The reason for our return to Siem Reap was to visit the marvellous world famous temples of Angkor! Hideb in the jungle for over a thousand years they were 'discovered' by the French around 1900. Max and Wis had spent the last few days in Angkor so were well equipped to show us round.

We set off on bikes, hired from a hotel for the start of a long, hot but awe inspiring day doing the 'short tour' encompassing the centre piece of Angkor Wat and numerous 'lesser' temples. The next day Max and Wis left for Phnom Penh to be reunited with us in Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam . Fred, Susie, Louisa and I hired a tuktuk and driver for the day and got up to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. This turned out to be somewhat of a damp squib but the tuktuk made getting round the remaining temples on the 'big' tour including the mammoth Angkor Thom a doddle, especially for those of us feeling saddle sore after the previous days exploits. One of the many highlights from our time in Angkor was seeing the sites of the location shoots from the first Tombraider movie (the scene where the baddies pull down the wall to enter the temple and the one where Lara Croft bends to pick an Orchard from a tree in the ruins and falls into the temple).
Anyway I shall leave the story there for now and let the photos do the talking. All that remains to be said is that everyone should go see the temples of Angkor at some point, get some flights to Bangkok then on to Siem Reap, stay at Hak's and you could easily pass a week if not a lifetime in that land.