Morning Bloggies,
Six days Easy Riding done and just one full day to go. Day 4 saw us start in the dry for the first time and also saw us leave the highlands. As we descended and continued south the mercury just kept on rising. It was a bit sad to leave the friendly, waving minorities behind. It was also a shame to leave the 'Good Life' taxis behind. These were basically a generator on wheels towing a flat bed trailer, a la Tom & Barbara Good.
We hit the Ho Chi Minh trail, and as this got close to the Cambodian border our two guides showed different emotions. Lam was concerned about getting stopped by the army who have a heavy presence in this area and the fact that he had been turned back on previous trips. Tu on the other hand felt he owned the road as his father was Viet Cong and had helped build it! For the record, our overnight stop was Dong Xoai.
Yesterday we continued south in the direction of Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon if you prefer. Around 50 miles north west of Saigon we stopped at the Cu Chi tunnels. This tunnel system was started in the late 1940's when the Vietnamese first started fighting for independence from the French. By 1975 there were more than 200km of tunnels stretching from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The big difference between Cu Chi tunnel system and the Vinh Moc tunnels in the DMZ was the that the Vinh Moc were built for the local people to live in and were therefore higher. The Cu Chi were solely built for fighting purposes and were much smaller. The Vietnamese had to crawl through them so you can imagine what it's like trying to get through them as a big old lardy westerner (Bones, they wouldn't even let you in coz you'd no doubt get well & truly stuck)? They have actually doubled the tunnel size in places for the tourists but we still had to crouch, or even crawl in places. I guess there is nothing amusing about war but one thing you just have to smile about was the US army building a base to try to locate and destroy the tunnel system. Unfortunately for them they built their base right above one of the tunnels. For a couple of years they couldn't understand why their ammunition stocks were disappearing so quickly until they finally discovered the tunnel right under them.
And then we got to Saigon. OMG. It was as crazy mad as Hanoi, but felt less polluted, and had a bit more order to the chaos. The junctions are still a free for all, and while there are more traffic lights than in Hanoi (not difficult seeing as there was only two sets there!), around half the motorbikes choose to ignore them. The big difference was the number of cars though. Hanoi had very few cars whereas Saigon has got quite a few, though nowhere near the number of bikes which probably number in the millions. We had to go through approx 10 miles of heavy traffic on the way in to Saigon, and then another 10 miles through solid rush hour traffic. All the drivers are expert weavers, not just our two guides. It's quite staggering that we haven't seen an accident here yet, although we've witnessed thousands of near misses; but hey, that's life in the cities here. In all honesty I think the only two options are a near miss or a collision so hat's off to everyone for all the near misses. That evening we didn't eat with our guides. Lam's son is at university in Saigon so he went off for a little reunion while Tu met up with an old school friend. So Carol & I became real tourists and satisfied our cravings for a bit of western food. Yes, rubbish I know but sometimes you just fancy a pizza, pasta or chips!
This morning we wandered up to a couple of sights in Saigon; The Reunification Palace and the War museum. Then south to the Mekong Delta. Temperatures down here are well over 30'C and the persistent rain of the first couple of days are well behind us. We're in My Tho tonight and will do a gentle day through the delta tomorrow to Can Tho. That will be our last full day Easy Riding so some of you will be able to let out a big sigh of relief. The motorbike tour has been absolutely brilliant. It's taken us to villages and sights we would never have found, had us eating in places we'd never have gone to (and paid the locals' prices), introduced us to minority people in their own homes on a one to one basis, and generally shown us a side of Vietnam we would not have found travelling independently or with an organised package. All in all worth every penny, and we've still got one day left.
On Monday afternoon we fly from Can Tho to Phu Quoc for 5 or 6 days. The thought of unpacking our bags and staying in the same place for a few days is very appealing, especially as I've only got one pair of clean boxers left!
Love to everybody, Mr & Mrs Mck xxx
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