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Thailand again

This is what was waiting on my bed for me when I arrived at the Marriott Pattaya Resort today.
That's a bath towel done up as an elephant! Cute, huh?

This trip is winding down with 3 days in Bangkok and 4 days in Pattaya. Relaxing days and entertaining evenings. No sightseeing.

It will be good to get home after 5 weeks away.

Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels

Yesterday we took an all day tour by bus to the Cao Dai Temple and the stopped at the Cu Chi Tunnels area. The Cao Dai Temple and religion is a rather surreal, bizarre experience. As you can see The Temple and its decoration makes Baroque look tastefully understated. The religion was started in 1926 and blends Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Of of the 3 saints in the religion is Victor Hugo, the French author of "Les Miserables". The temple is about 100km northwest of Saigon.

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a couple of hours on the way back to Saigon at the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is an area that has a 200km network of tunnels that was begun in 1948 during the french War and reached their height in the late 1960's.  They were in 3 levels, and varied in diameter from 15 inches to 3 feet. VC solders lived down here for months at a time appearing and disappearing to fight and drive their enemies crazy. There were kitchens and an operating room. US soldiers went down in after the VC engaging in hand to hand combat in the darkness and subjected to ingenious and brutal booby traps.

The tunnel openings were very small and well hidden:

 

There was an expanded tunnel that was built for tourists to experience:

 

There is a fascinating book by 2 Aussie journalists about this phase of the war called "The Cu Chi Tunnels".
Frightening stuff.

Tomorrow I am going to take it easy at the hotel roof top pool and take a vacation from the vacation. Then on to Thailand Monday for the final week of the trip.

Saigon....Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, December 13

Ho Chi Minh City as it has been officially called since shortly after the end of "The American War of Aggression" is still called Saigon by most of the people here. The airport designation in still SGN. It is the largest city in Vietnam with about 8-10 million people. It is robust, busy and has a happy, positive aura about it compared to the serious atmosphere in Hanoi. It is the economic and business center of this county's rapidly expanding economy. Lots of jobs are here which has attracted Vietnamese from all over the country. It is teeming with motorbikes buzzing and swerving around cars and pedestrians while honking incessantly.

Folks wear masks to protect themselves from pollution and women cover their faces, arms and hands to protect the skin.












 At lunchtime the sidewalks are full of people eating "pho"- noodle soup with meat or vegetables:

There is a legacy from the 100 years of French colonialism in the many catholic churches one finds around town. This religious legacy contributed to the conflict after the French were driven out in 1954 and the Americans installed a puppet government in the South that was made up of Catholic Vietnamese.

 

Several times we saw photo sessions of brides and groom on the streets that is apparently part of the ritual of courtship and marriage here.

 

The former South Vietnamese Presidential Palace was renamed Reunification Palace after the war.  It is actually a lovely building architecturally, still modern but airy and open.

The grounds around the Palace are inviting for walks and is one of many examples of open parks throughout the city:

Another visit which was a sobering experience was the War Remnants Museum. It has many pieces of leftover US military hardware and a building which contains different photo exhibits. Much of it is propaganda from the Vietnamese Communist point of view, but interesting see the view of the other side.These exhibits depict atrocities done to the Vietnamese people the French War and then the American War. It is amazing the cruelty that our species can inflict on each other especially when fear of Communism is tinged with racism. Luckily it does have some US anti-war movement representations so I didn't feel like I was the Devil as I walked around.

Mekong River Delta

Friday, 11 December

Yesterday we took a daylong excursion to the Mekong River Delta which is area that starts about 25km south of Saigon. The Mekong River is one of the longest rivers in the world- it starts in the mountains of Southwest China and flows south into the border of Burma/Myanmar and Thailand, then into Laos and Thialand , further into Cambodia and then into southern Vietnam. When it gets there it fans out into 9 major rivers that flow into the South China Sea with multiple small tributaries and canals lacing the area. It is a major rice growing area in the world.
During the American War (as the Vietnamese refer to it) of 1962 -75 it was a major battle area as the small villages tucked among the waterways proved frustrating to deal with.

We took a bus to My Tho and got on a medium size boat on the main river of the area:

One of the sites along that river:

We got off the on one if the stretches of land between waterways where there are relatively nice and modern houses with full services and narrow roads:

We then got in smaller boat/canoes to navigate smaller and narrower waterways lined with extensive foliage:

One of the local kids:

 

Entertainment after lunch at one of the villages:

 

Ang finally more proof that I was on this trip:

FaceBook is Blocked in Vietnam

In case anyone was looking at my Facebook page and were wondering why there is no action there for the last 10 days, it is because the Vietnamese Government has determined that it is a threat to security and has "asked" all internet providers in the country to ban it.
It is the only site that I regularly use that is blocked. MySpace and some other questionable sites that shall be nameless are not blocked.....so I wonder if Rupert Murdoch(MySpace owner) has arranged this.
On Monday, I will be in Thailand and will be able to sign in again.

Nha Trang

Thursday, December 10

We spent the last 2 days in Nha Trang around the ocean.
We took a daylong boat tour that involved visiting 4 islands off the coast. There about 100 islands off this area of the coast of varying size. They vary from having 5-star facilities, like at Vinpearl Island, to mid range beaches with cheap restaurants to islands with nothing but rocks and trees.
The trip stopped at an island with a tacky aquarium, for snorkeling, for lunch on the boat and swimming.

The boat:

Swimming after lunch with an in water happy hour:

Swimming at a small beach on an island:

Late afternoon tropical fruits:

The last day in Nha Trang we spent on the beach...rented achairs, ate lunch, read, napped:

We then flew 200 miles down the coast yesterday to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon, as most people still call it.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

 
Sunday, December 6

We moved 300 miles down the coast from Da Nang/Hoi An to Nha Trang which is basically a beach resort near Cam Ranh Bay. It has a mixture of Vietnamese and foreign visitors.  There are many mid-level and budget hotels with only a rare world-class resort properties here. The beach is very nice wide sand with strong currents and surf.

This part of south central Vietnam is the center of the Champa Culture. From the 6th to the 18th century, the Champa conflicted with the Viet and Chinese people to the north and the Khmer civilization to the west. Their religion was a combination of Hindu and Buddhist influences. There are many remnants of Champa temples through out the area. This morning we visited one right in the city.

 There were many locals there. Some girls preparing for a performance later in the morning:

Musicians to play for them:















Some local kids playing in the area:

We went over to a local market where there was a variety of products from fruits, flowers to various animals butcherd for food:

Hoi An

Friday, December 4

Hoi An is a friendly small town that depends greatly on tourists. But the locals are quite laid back in that they are not persistent and nagging you to buy something or come to their shop or restaurant. They ask once and then stop...unusual for Asia....or anywhere I guess. They smile easily and seem to genuinely welcome you to their town. It's very walkable.

The weather since I got to Vietnam has been a welcome break from the oppressive humidity in Indonesia. In fact my guide has been "old" since we started...but temps have been in the high 60's to low 80's. It has been cloudy with periods of light rain. Rain is unusual here at this time of the year. However they had a severe typhoon here 2 months ago that resulted in bad flooding.

Yesterday we looked at a 17th century Chinese Temple in town that was very nice.

Attended a music and dance performance:

Fish in a fountain pool at the Chinese Temple:

Today we drove out of town about 40km to visit a small complex of 9th century Champa Temples. These were severely damaged on 1968 by US bombs.

The Champa had an extensive civilization in southern Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in the 8th to the 13 th centuries.

It was very lush and green in this area, indicating that today's rain must not be too unusual

Tomorrow we will fly another 300 miles down the coast to Nha Trang which is a well developed Resort and Beach Town mostly for the Vietnamese.