We left very early on the 19th - on Beatrice's birthday. She was very excited. On the flight I told the attendants that it was her birthday and they produced a card written on a sandwich box with greetings from the captain and crew. There was a little present of bisquits, a song and the captain mentioned it in his arrival greetings. There she sat gleaming all over her face.
Ho Chi Minh City greeted us with it's usual traffic jams and it took quite a while to get to the hotel although it was only 7 km from the airport. It is still very much a developing place, dirty and disorganized but has a fantastic feel of vibrancy all over. "The attraction" for me were the millions of rollers on the roads going in all directions at the same time so that it was actually hard to tell sometimes which side the traffic is supposed to flow. Some seemed to be on a suicide mission, crossing 6-lane streets against the flow. It was not unusual to see a family of 4 on one roller or a merchant and all his goods - like WC rolls or durians etc. We stayed at a hotel on the main street that was full of high-end designer shops and nice restaurants. However we went to look for more authentic stuff and had our lunch at a popular Pho24, which is a chain selling the famous noodle soup - a huge big bowl for 2$. Even the kids liked it.
There are lots of art galleries selling "old french masters" and the like. Strolled down to the main square where Ho Chi Minh sits with children - all very nice and clean and full of flowers there. Just next to him the famous Rex hotel, which used to be a hangout for foreign journalists during the war. We went up to the rooftop bar. There were a few older couples there, looked like old US soldiers coming back to visit. Has great views over town.
The rest of out HCMH sightseeing plans went all wrong. We went back to the hotel, so that the kids could have a little rest which they didn't. The room next door was being renovated - some walls taken down or something similar, so not very restful. Decided to go out then anyway, only to have Raoul fall asleep in the bookshop... I carried him to a restaurant a few quarters away where he continued to sleep as well as Beatrice. So the 3 remaining of us had a nice dinner but that was about it. Took a taxi back. And unlike in Singapore in Vietnam you have to discuss the price with the driver which we are not used to any more. The closest we got to nightlife was the view from the kid's rooms balcony. They were all still on rollers, even girls in pretty dresses and high heels.
Next morning we headed north to the seaside resort of Mui Ne. It is 200 km from HCMC but because of the traffic and road conditions takes over 4 hours. Was quite interesting though. The style of buildings reminded us of Korean countryside a bit. Basically everybody can build whatever they like. The first two hours the roadside was still very densely populated by bigger and smaller businesses selling anything from fruit to scrap metal. Then after a while it got a bit more rural with orchards and dragon fruit plantations etc. All the while the road was still full of rollers and bicycles. Quite a few times we saw wedding parties - just a big tent by the road with pink curtains, a big photo of the couple and loud music.
I was very anxious if the long trip is really worth it. But when we finally arrived at the resort it was beautiful. No plywood or tin foil huts to be seen there. Everything was very nice, clean well kept, beautiful gardens, and the sea ... . Our villa was right at the beach so at high tide it was maybe 10 steps to the water. We had 2 bedrooms on two floors and a very nice big sunken bath + outdoor shower. We shared it with at least 5 geckos. They were very friendly though. The sea is open and mighty, so not really for swimming but we played with the incoming waves - not too big to jump in and out. Great for surfers! It felt very quiet, just the people from the resort on the beach, no vendors or passers-by. It was great just to listen to the waves and watch the few fishing boats. So different from Singapore. There were many very funny boats - round and flat woven from bamboo, 1.5 m diameter. On land they didn't look like something I would want to sail in on the South China sea. But there they all came every morning with their loads of fresh seafood.
Went running on the beach every day, what a bliss! But of course the buffet breakfasts and dinners have left their mark... .
Raoul was having fever on and off so we didn't want to be too active, just play and be lazy. One day we booked a jeep tour to the sand dunes. Surprisingly there are huge dunes of red sand just off Mui Ne coast although the sand on the beach is white. Once the jeep stopped a whole flock of young boys stormed at us "slide down, slide down!". They had plastic boards that could be used to slide down the dunes. We negotiated our way through them. Very business minded kids. And they spoke a far better English than most adults. Beatrice and Karl had a good time sliding down on their tummies and backs anyway. Raoul was not very keen on sand. On the way back stopped at a "fairy stream". Well, you can make a tourist attraction of everything we thought. And there as well a bunch of young tour-guides jumped on us. One stayed finally. Got to the stream and it turned out we had to walk in the water for quite a while to get to the scenic spot. But it was actually quite nice to cool the feet off a little. As we walked on for about 500 m we got to a point where the stream flew through sandy cliffs that were quite spectacular - upper part red sand, lower white. Also the guide showed us a funny little plant that closes it's leaves when you touch it.
Then we had to buy some ice-cream to get change for the guide. And headed back. But it was not a brilliant idea to try to eat melting ice-cream in an open jeep. It was all over the place. Learned something.
Somewhat unexpectedly the single largest group of tourists seemed to be Russians. There were quite many in our resort, apart from them a few Danish families who had adopted Vietnamese or maybe Cambodian babies. But the main village seemed very oriented towards the Russians, all restaurants had signs and menus in Russian, as well as travel agents etc. The Vietnamese seemed to speak some Russian because they replied when spoken to in Russian. Don't know if it is a thing of old friendship or just a fad now.
On the 24th of Dec had to get up 2.30 am to make the whole 4 hour journey back to the airport. It was not too bad though as we had a minibus so that all kids could lay down and have a sleep and we slept a bit as well. By 5 am life was already starting with roadside stalls opening up and at 6 am when the sun rises, everything was in full swing. Kids going to school, whole families on their rollers, people eating their breakfast at noodle soup stalls, traffic getting more and more dense. Just before 7 am we saw a funeral procession with buddhist monks chanting and a brass band playing a Christmas carol. As we were stuck in all these rollers I was getting very worried if we will make it to the airport in time, the last km took like 15 minutes. But we made it in time. What a contrast landing in Singapore - wide smooth highways, perfectly manicured greenery, everything so perfect. Sometimes too perfect so that it is good to get out and be reminded that there is a different world out there.
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