Category: Vietnam

Huế Imperial City

Today we went to Huế with the same taxi man as yesterday. We saw old tanks and guns from the war. Then we went to the Emperor’s Citadel. It is like a castle with thick walls and had a moat. The Emperor and his family lived there 200 years ago. It was very big.

My favourite part was the elephant shaped bushes.

(Note from parents: Huế was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), the last of the dynasties in Vietnam. The Imperial City was the centre and was once an enormous complex of temples, palaces, offices, gardens and residences. It was enclosed within a square fortress (also called Huế Citadel) with each thick wall around 2km long and a wide moat on the outside. Much of the Imperial city has been destroyed, with the Vietnam War causing the most damage. Of the 160 significant buildings within the site, only 10 major ones survived the bombings of 1968. Many buildings have been gradually restored. It was a massive area to explore and we were there for most of the day. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

Da Nang beach and Hội An

In the morning we went to Da Nang beach and swam in the sea. It was warm. Then we got a taxi to Hội An and we saw lots of lanterns, peoples and bikes. We walked across a bridge and we had ice cream in a cafe.

(Note from parents: Hội An is known for its preserved Ancient town as a trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Hence it’s architectural influences include French colonial, Chinese and Japanese, making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

Hello Cambodia!

Today we left Chau Doc took a boat to Cambodia!

We were picked up from our hotel by cycle tuktuk to take us to the river where we caught our speed boat.

It was a fairly short journey to the border post where we first had to go through the Vietnamese border controls, then back on the boat for 5 minutes and then through the Cambodian border controls.

It sounds quick but all in all it took a couple of hours to get through.

Following this we spent another couple of hours on the boat until we reached Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

I wasn’t well that day and it was a bit of an ordeal for me, though I think the others quite liked the experience.

It was noticeably hotter when we got onto dry land and we had to drag our luggage up a long pier following a taxi man who had our biggest case – “follow that man Sam” I said!

It was lovely to finally reach our first stop, the Blue Corner Hotel.

To Châu Đốc, Sam Mountain and Tra Su Bird Sanctuary

We left our lovely guest house in Cần Thơ on the 17th October and took a 3 hour bus journey to our next destination – Châu Đốc which is near the border with Cambodia.

We stayed in Châu Đốc for a week to recharge and catch up on some school work. We didn’t venture far during our time there – we just mooched around town visiting the local market, cafes and restaurants, and the riverside where there were exercise machines for the kids to play on.

We made friends with some ladies from a local tour agency who wanted to improve their English so we chatted with them and let them photocopy Martha’s English textbooks!

They organised our visit to Sam Mountain to visit the Hang Pagoda and the Tra Su Bird Sanctuary for a day which we all enjoyed.

Sam Mountain

Hang Pagoda (or Chùa Hang, or Cave Pagoda) on Sam Mountain is a Buddhist temple and is reached by climbing a few hundred steps up. There were some great views of the surrounding countryside of the Mekong Delta when we got to the top.

There were several levels to explore, as well as a network of tunnels deep within the mountain with various rooms and places to worship.

Tra Su Bird Sanctuary

In the afternoon we went to Tra Su forest which contains cajaput trees and flooded mangroves and areas turned green by water ferns during the rainy season.

We took a boat trip through the flooded forest along narrow channels, which the kids enjoyed, and then climbed a watchtower to get a view above the forest canopy.

Cai Rang floating market

Dawn was breaking as Mum (aka Kate, aka Grandma) and I got up extremely early one morning to meet Toby our guide who had come to take us to the floating market.

We walked through the town at 5.45am down to the river passing groups of exercisers on the park and early morning traders on the streets.

We met with our boat driver Miss Truc (pronouced ‘djuk’). It was a picturesque scene with the rising sun, passing by the water hyacinths floating in the Mekong River during our 40 minute ride to the markets.

Miss Truc created various items for us along the way using natural plant materials and shaping them into grasshopper and flower rings, bracelets and crowns! We’ve managed to send some of them home.

Farmers bring their produce to the markets and live on boats to sell it all, staying until all their goods have been sold. This could be for several months whilst the whole family live on the boats. Their boat is also their market stall.

To advertise what they are selling they put their product on a stick high above the boat – so if there are bananas above the boat then that is what they sell. Often there is more than one item shown, so it looks a little like a kebab sticking up made of sweet potato, pineapple or cabbage etc!

The market is open 24 hours a day but is busiest early in the morning.

There are smaller boats that sail around with items such as rice, coffee, and toiletries for the boat people to buy what they need.

We then sailed down a small canal off the river and Toby took us for a walk alongside the river to a noodle factory. We got to see how the local noodles are made and how colours are added to them (add beetroot to make red noodles, baby jackfruit to make orange, and bamda leaf to make green).

We then went to a local cafe on the canal for a traditional Vietnamese breakfast of pho (it was still only about 8am by this point!).

A very interesting morning!