Thursday November 16th

Today we head into the mountains of the south Central Highlands to Dalat, where the French colonials used to retire in the hot months to their villas. For the Public Healthers in the audience the site for the city was suggested by Alexandre Yersin, a protege of Pasteur who spent many years researching communicable disease in Vietnam and is best known for discovering the causative organism of Bubonic plague (named Yersinia Pestis in his honor). Actually a Japanese beat him to it by a few weeks but we westerners gave him the credit.



The place is a big tourist destination for Vietnamese and other asians and has a reputation for being tacky (think low rent Disney or a very poor man's Vegas without the gambling) but actually we thought it was nicely developed around a lake and the attractive villas from the early 20th century.

The bus journey there was really long, first it took a while to get out of HCM, then the highway is not exactly high speed and finally the bus had to climb from sea level to 5000 ft (1500m) with some real steep ups. The speed limits in Vietnam are pretty strict and enforced, but the drivers of buses and trucks appear to have a set of hand signals warning those coming in the opposite direction to look out for the cops.

Mountain scenery

The road winds for a long way at about 3000ft (910m) passing very many coffee bushes in both smallholdings and plantations (and very many coffee beans drying out in the sun). There was also some tea plantations too, rice in flat areas and many other crops that grow well in the cooler conditions. The final climb to Dalat is eve steeper and takes the road through cool pine forests.

We decided to stay in a guest house in one of the old colonial villas on the ridge overlooking the city, so Tracy was left with the bags in the bar of the fanciest hotel in time while Tim walked over to get booked in. Then we wandered the center of town in search of food (settling on shrimp pancakes from a street stall to start, then a nice family restaurant) before jumping in a taxi for the ride up the hill.

This being the home of Vietnamese wine we had invested in a bottle of their "Export" which we'd not yet tried. We enjoyed a very drinkable glass on our little porch before heading for bed.

Wednesday November 15th

Another travel day with a noon flight so the breakfast is relaxed. No real problems en route and this time we find the local bus for a journey into town costing 12c/7p each. As bargains go this is one of our favorites: up there with fresh donuts in HCM for 7c/ 4p, shrimp pancakes in Dalat (see later) for 12c/7p and internet ranging from 7c-14c (4p-8p) an hour (which explains why I keep writing so much... the picture capabilities are not so good hence a lack of pictures right now).

We have already booked a hotel (where we left most of our baggage) and get a nice room quickly. Then we have time to check out the amenities of "Backpacker Hell" , book coach tickets for the next few legs of our journey and get food before the usual early night. It's not really hell here, actually there is a concentration of the stuff travellers need with many less hassles than we'd been led to believe. Not sure we need the proliferation of Italian restaurants but many are run by Italians and there must be a demand.

Tuesday November 14th

No set plans for the day so we got up in a leisurely way (easily done in such a relaxing place!) and rented a scooter to get around. Tim first had to do a couple of test runs as he'd last ridden a motorbike in 1993 but was soon confident of manoevering Tracy over the bumpy dirt roads.

We decided not to cake ourselves in red dust with a trek into the interior, instead we headed for Long Beach where we relaxed and Tracy found a couple of ladies to give a massage and pedicure (for about $4.50). Tim took off for a look around town/ internet/ shopping and we rendezvoused for lunch before Tracy got a look at the town from the back of the bike. Tim will not be signing up for renting a bike in HCM: Duong Dong's market street was quite an adventure enough in dodging the crowds.

For a break in the usual routine we headed north from Mango Bay for dinner at Bo Resort (as suggested by the Brits we dove with and subsequently hung out with as they were in the adjoining room with shared deck). Tracy got a ride on the back of a motorbike for the 1.5 km/ 1 mile journey while Tim walked around the rocky and sandy shore (a challenge in the dark but a pleasant trip.

The food was good there and at the end of the night we spent a while talking to Regis, the Frenchman who co-owns it with his Vietnamese wife. He filled us in on development plans (apparently the number of Chinese going abroad is set to jump from 20 million/year to 100 million and Vietnam wants part of the action... with Phu Quoc occupying the place of the Balearics in Europe - warm, accessible - the island may suffer the same fate). These include a big golf resort in the north around his land. It is certain this island will be changing soon, already there are 3-4 times as many flights as a couple of years ago.

Regis got a couple of his staff to drop us back at Mango Bay on the ubiquitous bikes, and we would thoroughly recommend his resort to anyone. Interestingly the terrain just north of mango Bay was much different with Bo built on a steep slope while Mango Bay has a lot of grassy flat land.

Monday November 13th

Today's dive sites are to the south of the island so we were picked up early with 4 others (two Belgians, two french speaking Brits) also staying at the resort. The ride down to the islands off the southern tip of Phu Quoc takes over two hours and though again it was hazy the views of Long Beach and the southern port of An Thoi were good. Long Beach is undergoing a lot of development near Duong Dong and this place seems set to grow and grow as a tourist destination.

Today's dive sites were off small islands in the An Thoi group and again both dives were shallow and long with good coral but limited visibility. It was actually the first trip of the season for Rainbow Divers to the south as the weather only moderates around mid-November.

Again the food was good and plentiful on the way home but by the time we got back to Mango Bay it was getting dark. Once again we stayed at the resort restaurant and relaxed over a late dinner (late for here: 8pm!) before sitting out to watch the clear skies for a few Leonid meteors.

Sunday November 12th

We made a leisurely start to the day as the dive boat was picking us up at 9.15am. They arrived near on time and we were soon relaxing aboard for a 1 hour cruise up to the north of the island. The boat was modelled on the local fishing boats and more substantial than typical dive craft with plenty of space for both gear stowage and people to spread out in the shade or sun. We had longer than usual to relax and watch the shore go by (though it was quite hazy today) as we were dropping a couple of divers in for a deep dive first before we took in some more shallow reef. Up at this site our GPS revealed we were all of 35km (22 miles) from Kampot (see Oct 21st) and not much further than Sihanoukville; you have to carry a passport in case the Vietnamese army (who have a base at the north of the island, which Cambodia has claimed in the past) stop the boat.

Our two dives were pleasant but not spectacular, but the water is a great temperature for staying down a long time. The fish are small here and the coral is not dramatic, but it is very much undamaged and healthy. The dive sites are also shallow so the scene is bright despite the limited visibility (it's early in the dive season here so visibility rapidly improves). Highlight was seeing a several foot long bamboo shark (harmless) in a cave, luckily a guy we dove with had a flashlight/ torch to pick it out.

After our two dives they fed us an excellent meal of local specialties and we were well relaxed by the time we were dropped off again at Mango Bay, in time to do very little for the rest of the day!

We are being followed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Who gave that numpty a visa? I think we'll manage to avoid him though.

And lets hope he doesn't reprise his father's trick in this part of the world of puking on the hosts.

Saturday November 11th

We had a leisurely start to the day... Difficult not to with such a beautiful tropical island! Then Tim headed into town, about a 3.5 mile (6km) walking all the way down the beach. For a while it was very quiet, then there was lots of garbage and finally I was in a bustling fishing village. The whole of life was going on on the beach: shipbuilding, repairing boats and dinghies, cleaning fish and squid, drying squid, mending nets, people hanging out, kids playing, cooking etc etc. In an interesting first I was even photographed by one of the locals with his mobile phone.

The town was bustling with a busy Saturday market right by the quay, very convenient for getting the fish and imported items (most veggies and goods are brought over from the mainland). The whole town smells vaguely (and sometimes strongly) of Nuoc Mam, the locally produced fermented fish sauce made out of little fish (usipa for those who know Malawi). The sauce looks like soy sauce and tastes like a fishy version thereof... not bad in small doses but a bit of an acquired taste.

Just out of town on the south side are all the hotels, lined up down Long Beach. Down this way I found the dive shop to book up for two days, then headed out to a beach bar for some refreshment. Suitably fortified I did some more shopping and internet before hailing a xe om (motorbike "taxi") for a bouncy and dusty 6km (4 mile) journey back to the hotel (the beach is more direct than the road. The red dirt roads on the island are very reminiscent of Africa, and so is the dust coverage after a journey.

Tracy had enjoyed a day on the beach and the evening continued the reaxed theme: a bottle of local wine at sundown and good food in the beachside restaurant.

Friday November 10th

Time to fly out to Phu Quoc Island so once again fortified by the breakfast (if anything the dumplings were better) Tim went off to a cheaper hotel ($20 for a very nice, recently renovated big room) recommended to us by fellow travelers to leave most of our baggage.

Then we went off to find the airport bus on the next street but some confusion was evident as to whether it picked people up en route so we flagged a taxi (costing $3.50 as opposed to 25c for both of us on the bus). Phu Quoc is a short flight over the Mekong delta and flying at 10,000 ft (3000m) we had a fine view of a mass of flooded paddy fields intersected by many roads. This area is the "rice basket of the nation" and bore a striking resemblance at this time of year to our views of Cambodia.

Phu Quoc is a forested island, maybe 15 miles (25km) long and quite narrow. Much of the west coast is one long beach (called with great thought "Long Beach") with a town in the center (Duong Dong), site of the airport. Most of the resorts are south of the biggest (Saigon - Phu Quoc, on map). We stayed at a more secluded place near Ong Lang beach, this place is nearly deserted as there are only 3 resorts up this way and all are small. Not that Long Beach is exactly crowded.

The Mango Bay resort where we based ourselves prides itself on eco-friendliness and low impact tourism, but also manages to have fine food and a beautiful bar. The room was a little on the basic side (cold and cold running water, needed a coat of paint) but large and with a beautiful big porch for watching the sunsets. The rooms and bungalows are spread out among trees and though all are close to the beach you never felt it was anything but very low density.


The coast here is a mix of beautiful yellow sand beaches and black volcanic rock making a nice contrast. We were relatively close to the fishing fleet based north of Duong Dong and always saw the brightly painted boats out. At night the horizon was filled with bright lights as the fishermen attracted squid.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, enjoying the sunset and trying some of the restaurant's good food. Plus drinking the bottle of "Superior" local Dalat wine ($3.50) procured in HCM airport. And it was better than the original stuff we'd sampled before.

Thursday 9th November

Prime task for today was to get Tracy an x-ray so that she could get back on her feet. First we were fortified by an excellent breakfast buffet at the hotel, with prawn dumplings that were outstanding (I know, not everyone's idea of breakfast!). We wandered slowly into the heart of the city where two clinics catering to foreigners are located and found the first lacking the equipment. However the 2nd one did have facilities and Tracy opted to get the local orthopedist called for an opinion. Tim went off to do a little sightseeing while Tracy waited and returned to hear the good news, Tracy could get back on her foot!

To celebrate we took a walk, Tracy quickly discovering that crutching with weight on the damaged appendage was far preferable to keeping all the weight off. This allowed us to take in a few sights (the old post office, town hall, main market) and locate the major area frequented by tourists where internet and travel information could be procured. It was close by so after a return to the hotel Tim went out to scout for food and do internet duty.

HCM is a larger, busier city than Hanoi with less charm. The old colonial buildings have been nicely kept up but much of what we saw is a bustling middle city. The place also has a reputation for crime and hassle but we never encounted any problems or negative vibes. It's also a lot hotter than up north.

In the evening we braved a local restaurant where they did procure a sort of English menu but we were on our own with interpreting it. However we enjoyed good food with our guesswork. We did avoid the item labelled "Mud Fish (served Gobby)"! Fried dough at a stall across the road completed our culinary adventures.

Wednesday 8th November

At last time to leave Hue, and not a moment too soon. After seeing no rain for weeks (though there had been some overnight here) we saw enough of it all morning to turn the road outside the hotel into a river knee deep in places. Though our area was worse off than most, down a nearby street the water was lapping up people's thighs. The buildings were mostly safe from the flooding though the water lapped their top steps but getting around involved hopping from porch to porch where possible or getting wet from the flood and stair-rods of rain.

Tracy took the sensible approach of going off on a cyclo for a massage, well surrounded by a cover and tarp. Tim had to do the wading to finalize some travel arrangements, and of course to get a picture!

Tim with Cyclo right outside our hotel

We didn't really get much else accomplished in the day other than watching the rain and getting in another curry. Our taxi to the airport made it through the ebbing flood in the afternoon and we had an eventless flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCM) where a quick cab ride brought us to the very pleasant Empress Hotel. These days the airport is pretty quiet, though there is a big new terminal going up so they must be looking for expansion. However in 1968 it was the third busiest airport in the world... for obvious reasons. There are still concrete buildings and old planes that date from those days off to the sides of the runways.

Tuesday 7th November

We decided to take the standard tour of the old "Demilitarzed Zone" (DMZ) today both to get a flavor of the terrain some of the American War was fought over and to see a bit of the moutainous country on the way to Laos.

The tour is a long one with a bus pickup at 7am, there are considerable distances to cover. First you stop at "The Rockpile", a steep sided rocky hill used by the US as an observation point on the road from the Laos border to the coast. Next stop is the old Ho Chi Minh trail where supplies were brought through the mountains to the Viet Cong in the south. Not much to see now as a new bridge and road have been built where there were once forest trails and river crossings.

First real interest is the old marine base at Khe Sanh, sight of fierce fighting in 1968. Not a lot to see other than some old equipment, rebuilt bunkers and a little museum (the US destroyed everything when they left to avoid leaving trophies for the victors) but facinating to see the terrain that the fighting took place in and the importance of high ground and forest cover.

Back down to the Coastal Road and we crossed the Ben Hai River, once the border, with an old bridge to see and a new monument going up on the South side. Then we headed north and out to the coast for the highlight of the trip: the Vin Moc Tunnels. These were built to protect the population of local villages from aerial and naval bombing in the late 60's and proved to be very successful. A little cramped for Tim but easily enough negotiated by Tracy on crutches the tunnels had entrances on the side of the hill facing the sea and above, close to the fields. People could work normally (well, as normally as you can in a war zone) and shelter at more dangerous times. There was space for families to live, a meeting area, latrines and a maternity hospital cut into the sides of the walls. The soil was suitable enough and the building done well enough that the tunnels have only had to be minimally modified, not recreated for modern tourists and successfully sheltered the people till the end of bombardments. Only one boring bomb (designed to penetrate such earthworks) ever hit and it did not explode: affording a useful new air passage!

The land above shows what still looks like craters (agricultural land was cleared of ordinance and flattened out years ago but not the marginal scrub areas). Other tunnels in the area were not as fortunate, one that was not as well built collapsed in bombing killing the whole village.

All in all the tour was worth it and gave us a little more insight into the reality of the war zone. Once home we found a restaurant close by (good food, crazy owner lady and friendly cat) and finished the night there.