The Transporters

Since our first Viet Nam stop in Saigon and then on to Con Dao Islands, our next several days were crammed with different modes of transportation all over the southern part of the country - a plane back to Saigon, xe oms and buses galore.

We booked the Rex Hotel for our second leg in Saigon and were extremely impressed. At half the price of the Caravelle, just down the road, it was twice as nice. The roof terrace here is famous - the hotel housed a lot of the American officers during the Viet Nam War and the roof bar then was called Five O'Clock Follies.

Our first stop was the Ben Than market, the largest and most popular indoor market in HCMC. They sell all kinds of goodies here - clothes, food, souvenirs, bags, etc. We got a few things, did some bargaining, then sat for some food and beers. Mobbed is not really an effective enough word to describe it - if you let your eyes linger a little too long on something you will have to talk your way out of not buying it! In Viet Nam, it seems like everyone is selling something, and everything is for sale.

The next day we took a day trip to the Mekong Delta, and were glad that we hadn't planned on spending any more time there. There isn't anything to do but get stared at by the locals. We went to the town of Ben Tre, and were very proud of ourselves for getting down there as the locals do - buses all the way (3 in total one way). Not only was it a very interesting way to see how the Vietnamese get around, it also saved us quite a lot of money - half-day tours cost around $40 per person, and we got there and back on around $7 each. Other than the Vietnamese lady throwing up in the seat in front of us, it was an easy breezy ride. The Lonely Planet describes Ben Tre as a "sleepy" town, and I think they meant that literally - everyone was sleeping on hammocks on the sidewalk or curled up on top of their motorbikes. We saw some interesting food items for sale at the market though, like eel and frogs (alive).

We took the bus to Cholon, the Chinese district of HCMC, the following day and did some pagoda-hopping, which was really nice. We also walked over to the traditional herb market, which is certainly not as charming as it sounds!

Our next stop was Qyn Nhon, a beach town in the south-central part of the country that our Lonely Planet raved about. We, however, were extremely disappointed. The town has a great beach and a lovely boardwalk, which stays empty because you can't go in the water. Nobody could give us a clear answer as to why, but it seems to be due to some "hygiene" issues with some fishing villages down the water that don't have plumbing. So we checked out the nicest beach in town where you can actually swim, which was 19km outside of town, and we had to take xe oms to get there. It was our first ride on a xe om, and the air here was clean and the roads were much less crowded so it was really the highlight of our trip to Qyn Nhohn. This beach could have been very beautiful if it wasn't for the litter everywhere and the fornicating stray dogs. There was no shelter from the blistering sun aside from some concrete huts set back from the beach a bit by jutting rocks. Also I think the beach was flea infested. I got some massive bug bites all over my body, at least 25 on my legs, shoulders, stomach, back and arms. After pre-dinner drinks at the absolutely empty roof bar and the disappointing dinner, we cut our 2 night stay here short and got the bus out of town right and early the next morning.

We headed up to Hoi An, and the bus took 6 hours and was pretty horrible, given my itchy bug bites and Matt had a headache and was coming down with a fever (we think from the noodles he had at the Ben Than market). At our first pit stop I would have loved to use the restroom, but once I saw that this was a mosquito-invested squat toilet, I opted out. I didn't need any more bug bites, especially not in the most delicate of places! The bus dropped us off literally on the side of a highway about 10km from the city of Hoi An, and we hopped on xe oms, with our big backpacks, and motored it the rest of the day. By the time we reached our destination it was only 1pm but we felt like we had been to hell and back. Luckily, Hoi An was as welcome a place as you can get, especially for the avid shopper :-)