(We will not) Miss Saigon

From the Mekong Delta we return to Saigon for a further night back in the extreme traffic and chaos.

Firstly a quick lunch of Pho before we head to the Vietnam war museum. This place is extremely confronting. There are so many of the atrocities that have not been well publicised outside of this country. The impact of the U.S. Army's spraying of Agent Orange still shows its affect even today. Birth defects are still common. We had learned that the veterans of the North Vietnam army (communist Vietcong) are still supported by the government but those who fought for the South are neglected and have to be supported by family. The injuries and deaths were horrific with women and children slaughtered. 

Tracey had never really understood what her father may have witnessed when he was sent to war as a young man. This museum may give a small amount of insight but we're sure only those who experienced this first hand will ever fully grasp how horrendous it would have been.

We had some indication of the tactics of the Vietcong during our visit to the Cu Chi tunnels. There are over 200km of tunnels.  The network provided access and strategic control over the large rural areas surrounding Saigon. They commenced building these in around 1950 during the French invasion and over the following two decades the tunnels became a complex underground city including medical facilities, military, kitchens and living quarters. This meant despite all the bombings in the area many of the local people continued to live underground. The Cu Chi Tunnels stretched from Saigon all the way to the Cambodian border to the west, and in places was dug to 3 stories deep. They developed ways to disappear quickly through small trapdoor entrances well hidden from their enemy. They had brutal traps laid out through the the jungle and quickly learned to outsmart American troups and their allies (including Australians).

Much of the original tunnel system was destroyed in bombing raids during the 1970s but existing parts have been restored and opened as a poignant reminder. They have resized the tunnels for western tourists and even these can only be manoeuvred through crouching uncomfortably. Suited to 5 foot Vietnamese rather than 5'10 Australians. Even traversing the short 20 metres was a challenge, the underground heat is surprising. There is a shooting range for those wanting to try some of the weapons used at the time, for us that just meant the constant reminder of where we were and what had occurred here, as you listened to the shots echoing through the jungle.

We also had very uninteresting visits to:

-Reconciliation Palace, nowhere near as grand as the other palaces we'd already seen...think retro 70s, though it did have an awesome man cave, perfect for the despot with cronies dropping by.

-Notre Dame, supposed to replicate the Paris version but not quite as grand and no stained glass.

-Post Ofiice, built by the French but really just a post office.

There was, however, a food highlight: we headed off a few klicks away from our hotel to try bun rieu, a local speciality of crab/tomato stock, with noodles, crab balls, pork and "congealed pigs blood" (if you think of something halfway between liver wurst and black pudding you'll get the idea). It was delicious, laced with extra shrimp paste, chilli, and the typical Vietnamese lashings of fresh green leaves, Yum! The place was a long way from glamorous, no one spoke English and only locals ate there but that just added to the experience. Our hosts were extremely helpful, down to indicating the appropriate amounts of additional ingredients (shrimp paste, chilli, hoisin sauce, etc) and made what might have been a bewildering stranger-in-a-strange-land experience a Saigon standout. 

The somewhat-ironically named Sleeper Train from Saigon to Nha Trang

Lying on the bunk, the swaying carriage tries its hardest to ride out the bumps and lumps in the 100 year old track between Saigon and Nha Trang. We've been underway an hour, and the wise heads among us have dossed down, earplugs in place, anticipating our 5am arrival. The more enthusiastic parts of the crew, in the cabin next door, are into the vodka and coke.

The bunk is wider than the "window" of the Cu Chi tunnel we were in earlier today, a good 20cm wider. It may be 6ft long, but I'm guessing more like 5'10". No complaints though, this is first class. Saw the 2nd class chairs on the way through to the dining car.....they're about as glamorous as the dining car isn't.

Sleeping arrangements have busted up the previous groupings. Liz and Paul are seasoned: serious trampers who know when to hop into your tent/sleeping bag and ride it out.

Morning has broken. Reports from the night are that each time anyone awoke we were stationary, presumably as other more important trains passed us on the single-track line. We're informed that the delays were because another train "died" and had to be removed. Other reports indicate that it was bloody freezing on the top bunks, right next to the air conditioner outlet that can't be closed or otherwise manually controlled. Regardless, sleep was found - at least a little.

The countryside has changed markedly, with hills of interesting shapes flanking either side of the train, it finally feels like we've found that Vietnamese landscape that features in tourist ads. At 7am (ETA was 5.30am), Nha Trang awaits.

Mekong Delta Swelter

The first thing we learnt about Vietnam was that communism's hold appears to be weakening. Sure, there are loads of red flags with stars, and hammers & sickles, but no-one seems to call it Ho Chi Minh City - it's reverted to Saigon.

From blazing heat getting off the plane to monsoonal rain outside the terminal, it seems we've left the unseasonal dry of Cambodia a lot further behind than the one hour flight would suggest. The torrential rain doesn't last long and just results in even greater humidity.

Another new hotel, another meet-the-crew meeting of our new group (we and the 5 McDonalds provide continuity), and another First Night dinner reached via taxi through the unfathomable chaos of Saturday night Saigon traffic. Over 20,000 traffic deaths each year is easily believed. 

Dinner was our second, significant learning of Vietnam: man, there's no way anyone's going to let us get away from dinner until we're uncomfortably overfull. Happily, chilli's back on the menu. Typical salad, spring rolls, noodle soup, tofu, fruit and more ensured that we waddled up to our room to sleep. This was a little more difficult than we'd guessed, because Saturday night in Saigon is noisy indeed. Vietnamese are prolific users of their bike and car horns plus like to advertise with loud speakers driving through the streets in the middle of the night. Well we believed it was advertising, our Vietnamese language skills are still limited.

So it was, a little glassy, we hopped onto our small, air conditioned (woohoo) bus and headed off down to the Mekong Delta. A diverting couple of hours, featuring everything from insane Saigon traffic, paddy fields with water buffalo, the expressway (no scooters or motorbikes permitted, but still seemingly lawless), stops for the "happy room" (so-called because apparently you go there when you're unhappy and emerge happy), roadside repairs for Andrew's sunglasses, and more. All the while our guide, Nguyen, provided a wide ranging insight into just about everything.

Prior to embarkation, Tracey and others picked up typical hats......they almost look local, can't think why no one has made the mistake of confusing them yet.

The Mekong Delta region of Vietnam is home to around 21 million people. And, for a miracle, you wouldn't know it. The pace of life is significantly slower, and you just don't see crowds. We were treated to a manual paddle through backwater canals (think less Venice and more Poitou Charente) where we caught glimpses of everyday, quiet local life.

The delta is host to heaps of trades and enterprises, of which we visited a wide variety to get insight into local cottage industry and life. A brickworks (very hot), nursery (hadn't really considered the agricultural approach much prior to this), fish sauce works (a vat of fermenting anchovies smells every bit as good as you're imagining), rice puffing, rice paper manufacturing (Andrew proved more skilled at eating than making), and more. Everything in the region is made by hand.

Lunch is one of the local fish they call "elephant ear", plus another 3-4 courses as is their custom. Tracey (as usual) is the ring leader for encouraging others to hold the 25kg python, one of local residents.

Accommodation for the night is a local homestay. It doesn't have the conveniences of our usual hotels: no airconditioning, no solid walls, no real beds...however it incongruously has WiFi and thankfully a fridge full of cold drinks. Whilst Andrew took advantage of the cold drinks and a deck chair, Tracey strolled the farm lands and villages. The local people are extremely friendly and cope well with tourists who wanted to photograph their goats.

After dinner (in true culturally hospitable style, there was loads more food than we needed - including some we'd prepped ourselves) we retire from outside to what appeared the formal (read "mother of pearly inlaid") seats. Traditional songs and music were accompanied by tea - not rice wine, that was immediately after dinner and,  for the ambitious, for much later as well.

We suspect ourselves of overthinking the narratives, which were ostensibly typical peasant themes. Think "girl and boy meet under sweet summer stars, with nothing to show but their devotion and earnestness to procreate and prosper, and therefore endure lengthy periods of toil that eventually lead to transcendence". With a small amount of imagination these could have been viewed as the "idealised noble peasant" memes that were so favoured by communist regimes. Hmmm aren't we in Vietnam?

No-one slept well. The echoes of the boat engines, as they industriously worked through the night, sounded like Apocalypse Now.

Tuk tuk travels

Having spent a slothful afternoon the previous day, with our final morning free we contemplated again just hiding in our airconditioned room. However, we had learned of another jungle temple and decided to venture out, this time on our own rather than in the comforts of our tour bus. We go in search of a tuk tuk, "that one with the nice elephant fabric" rather than "the one with the reliable and fast motorcycle". The latter probably the more sensible choice. For those wondering why, it ended up being ~40mins each way, leaving us about an hour to explore our destination. Even though we knew before we arrived that the area was large, we hadn't thought through how traffic might be channeled through and around it.

In our tuk tuk (with the nice elephant fabric) we head past Angkor Wat, then through the walls of Angkor Thom with its frolicking monkeys and magnificent roaming elephants. Surely there can't be many more evocative entrées?

We arrive at our destination, Preah Khan. Ta Prohm had been built by the king in honour of his mother, this one was for his father.  It was quite different from the other temples with its long corridors and two storey Greek style library. Like Ta Prohm, it was a fusion of jungle with ancient temple. This one was certainly one of our favourites.

The tuk tuk driver, having waited patiently in his hammock, returned us to Siem Reap in time to head to the airport. Vietnam here we come.

Angkor Hot

It seems that marvellous places are always best early. Bloody early. Like well before dawn.

So it was that we found ourselves, bleary-eyed but twitchy with Christmas morning-like anticipation, in front of Angkor Wat. In the dark. The very dark. Needed torches to get there kind of dark. Didn't really sleep last night dark.

Got there just before the tourist hordes kind of dark. In time to sit on the stones next to the pond with the fish, frogs and mozzies, to best catch the dawns reflections kind of dark. Ly, our guide for this week, knows his stuff and timed it beautifully. Even two minutes later, we would have been standing.

It feels refreshingly cooler that time of day, probably only 30degrees

After the spectacular sunrise, we didn't hang around, we'd be coming back later in the morning. For now we were off to Ta Promh, where I hear you say. When people think of Angkor Wat they frequently mean Ta Promh, the ancient temple a thousand years old, with trees growing through them...think Tomb Raider. Ta Promh is known as the jungle temple. The jungle did take over many of the temple cities for hundreds of years after they had been abandoned following war with the Thai civilisations of the times. When most of the temples were rediscovered they were burnt to remove the jungle, this one the jungle is very much a part of. And our favourite.

By 7:30am we'd seen two temples, time for breakfast. We returned to Angkor Wat, now maybe 10am and the worst part of 38 degrees. Much like chateaux, we conclude that it's better viewed from outside than in - which isn't to understate its marvellous bas-reliefs, long stretching symmetry and headless Buddhas. It's just that majesty rarely withstands close inspection. Though some of the stone carving is intricate and has withstood the test of time and nature. Some extremely steep stairs take us to the top level of Angkor Wat's Central temple and afford a great view over the ruins and jungle.

We have a free afternoon in which to see more temples, a silk farm, floating markets, a crocodile farm...of all this excitement it was difficult to choose. Airconditioning won and we had a very restful...and cool, afternoon in our room. We are on holiday after all.

Foodivore's Cambodian pick

The food in Cambodia up until now has been nice but it took a French chef to deliver the best Cambodian food so far. We believe much of the food is 'dumbed' down for the tourist palate, mostly that of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans who flock here. With a free night on our hands and with the assistance of the interweb we discovered Cuisine Wat Damnak. With a dark rain cloud heading our way we step up the pace to find our dinner location...sadly going the wrong way and being stuck in the downpour. Arriving finally at dinner completely drenched (Tracey was not quite sure the value of blow drying her hair and dressing nicely for dinner, oh well), we were handed towels and menus. 

A couple of cocktails to begin, a Kaffir Lime and Lemon Basil Mojito and a Purple Dragon Fruit Sangria, things are looking up. The menu is a six course degustation. First course an amuse-bouche of a small pan fried fish, we were desperately hoping not the fish that had fed on Tracey's feet the day prior...they were about the same size.  The rest of the menu is below, the pork with crispy shank was particularly delicious but everything was fabulous, including the bottle of French wine (Pouilly-Fuisse). We hadn't had any wine in Cambodia as it is cheaper to drink cocktails (hardship).

We were told the names of the fruits offered as post-dessert, wish we wrote them down. They were presented with a salt(lime salt?)chilli/palm sugar mixture that variously emphasised/offset/complemented the fruits themselves.......one of which, by itself, was the eating equivalent of the notorious "cement mixer" cocktail. It completely dries out your mouth, thankfully we had wine to re-moisture.

Our research wasn't particularly thorough. Turns out that the chef has quite a long (12 year) and distinguished record in Cambodia, having been instrumental in spreading the word about local cuisine. We had a brief chat after dinner with him, but business was booming (justly so) and he was needed in the kitchen. We hope to get in touch later for some tips - especially the pork and the fish dishes.

Sweaty Templtations

We kicked off our travels in the Siem Reap area with a trip to BCCB, an animal rescue and breeding centre, reached via an hour or so of oddly self-regulating traffic from Siem Reap. There was no petting, and none of our Grail Critters were present which might be an encouraging sign that they're doing OK. These would have included a pangolin and the slow loris (Google this if you don't know what this is, cutest critter ever). We did get to see some Indochinese Silver Langurs, one of which was very very young indeed.

After that though, time to hit the Temples. First up, Banteay Srei: the oldest, and smallest, in the district. Lovely coloured stone. Shame it was so beltingly hot. This is supposed to be the wet season, the only thing wet is us, as the sweat pours off us.

After a stop for lunch (we were all amoked-out, so went for simpler stuff) it was on to Bayon, the Temple of the Four Smiling Buddhas. As any fule kno, it's actually just the one Buddha with four aspects. Utterly impressive, and that's what we imagine the Korean and Chinese tourist hordes were also saying.

Something we've discovered this trip is the Krama, a cotton scarf that you keep wet to cool you down, which you need visiting the temples as you have to cover your shoulders and upper legs as a show of respect, very modest but also very hot.

....proportions may be misleading, but this isn't a smiling Buddha:

The crew: Anne, Grant, Tracey, Andrew, Hannah, Rebecca, Ann-Marie, Colin, Val, Noel.

Below: not part of the crew, but we would have welcomed ellies any day 😃. Sadly they have been hunted to almost extinction in this region so we had to settle for stone.

Enough temple-culture (to say nothing of sweating) for the day, we headed back to Siem Reap to seek out dinner and cold beverages. More temples tomorrow.

Siem Reap...ing the rewards

A short flight from Phnom Penh we escape the chaos to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. For our first afternoon we have a range of options: quad biking, zip lining or a cooking class. Tracey having done the first two just a couple of months ago in Costa Rica, we opt for a Cambodian cooking class.

Before donning our chef hats and aprons we walk through the local market to familiarise ourself with the produce.  We are hoping that the chef purchased his ingredients much earlier in the day than the items festering in the 36oC heat and humidity, the flies certainly thought the meat items looked okay. 

Chef required that we get in uniform. Pretty snappy, huh?

The first course, rice paper rolls. Okay, we've made these before - but we did learn that softening them in cold, rather than hot, water makes them tear less.

Second course: fish amok, the ubiquitous dish of Cambodia. We'd been a bit underwhelmed by the various examples we'd sampled, and even though this was better it was still pretty plain. We have plans to razz it up a bit back home though, by introducing the inexplicably-omitted garlic and chilli we believe it needs.

Third course: caramelised ladyfinger bananas with passionfruit and honey. This was pretty good, but will be improved with rum in the future.

We're now qualified in elementary Khmer cooking.

On the way back to our hotel, Tracey made a second meal: this time, of herself, for little fish that like to nibble on human feet. Apparently not as horrifying as she and Noel, one of our tour group, give the impression of.

Palaces and pagodas

Two very different sides of Cambodia, having visited the mass graves of the Killing Fields this morning, the afternoon was the Royal Palace. Here opulence is in abundance. Gold is everywhere, with highlights of diamonds, marble, jade and emerald. On that note, it met the requirements to be a Palace, having its very own Temple of the Emerald Buddha (aka Silver Pagoda). It also contains a gold Buddha that was Andrew's weight in gold, much shinier than Andrew.

It is difficult to reconcile with the extreme poverty just outside the gates. Much of the population live in hovels, young children are sent out at night to support their families by selling wares on the street. 

The king does reside in this palace and was there during our visit. We don't get to view his residence, just the many pagodas, dancing halls, temples, elephant mounting building (yep, need one of those). The platform to the right of the building below is where you would get onto your gold adorned howdah atop your elephant.

Having been 39oC with 80% humidity, a late afternoon of cocktails in/by the pool was in order. Tomorrow we fly to Siem Reap.