Trekking in Pai

I signed up for an overnight trek from Pai into the nearby national park. This involved a stay in the jungle and visits to villages of three different hill-tribes. I used Backtrax as I had read that they were reputable. The trek worked out to 800B per day.


There was only me and an Austrian couple, Stephanie and Fabia, and our guide, Cha. We took a public bus from Pai up to the Lisu village at the entrance to the national park (1hr from Pai). The roads are very steep there, at one point our young bus driver could not handle it and had the bus rolling backwards down the hill, luckily a more experienced guy was on hand. A bit of a hairy start to the day. From the Lisu village it was a two hour walk to the Karen village, where our guide was from. The Karen village was nice (picture above), each house has its own garden area and there were a lot of fruit trees and flowers. I learnt the Karen for hello (Um-a-chub-a) and thank you (Tah Bleu). Although the houses were very basic, they had electricity courtesy of generators and government-donated solar panels. There were also several English football shirts on display. Mr Cha hooked up with his cousin (and two dogs), we had lunch (noodle stir fry) and then walked further into the forest.


The scenery was good - the stepped fields used for growing rice, lots of hills in the distance. Quite an arid environment at that time of year (early February), but still some nice vistas.


On the way our guide and his cousin hunted for lunch. There wasn't much in the way of bird noises in the forest, but they managed to get a tiny bird and a squirrel, using a combination of a slingshot and basic-looking rifle. They also showed us how to make fire using just bamboo, which was cool (it involved two halves of bamboo, some shavings for tinder and a lot of friction). All you need to survive is bamboo and a machete!


Eventually we got to the place for camp. I thought we were going to make it from scratch, but the basic bamboo frame was already in place. The guide and his cousin did most of the work, putting leaves over the top, making fire, making the cooking and eating utensils (out of bamboo of course - see above) and cooking the dinner.
I didn't try Mr Squirrel or Mr Bird, which were put into a curry; luckily there was also a coconut-vegetable soup on the go. And lots of Thai whiskey.


It was freezing at night, even with the embers of the fire, two blankets and a sleeping bag, and a fleece. The dogs stood guard which was awfully nice of them.


The next day we tried to get washed in the icy waters of a nearby stream, then walked back to the start, via a village where Lahu people live. The guides sister was there as she had married a Lahu man. I learnt hello in Lahu language (O-bud-a-yaa). The Lahu village was very different to the Karen one, just one open space with dirt on the floor and cattle lazing around.

The journey back wasn't very eventful, except we got a ride in the back of a pick-up truck back to Pai as the bus never came. I enjoyed hiking through the hills and forests, it would have been better if we had been able to participate more in building the shelter and cooking, but I suppose the risk of machete injury would have been high.

4000 Islands to Pai

Hello again. Since the last post I have travelled from Si Pon Don in the far south of Laos, through the North East part of Thailand (Isaan) and then up north to Chiang Mai via Bangkok on two overnight sleeper trains. The last journey I took was a bus from Chiang Mai to the small town of Pai, up in the hills in the north-west.

From Si Pon Don in Laos I took a bus to Pakse and then over the border to Ubon Ratchatani. The journey took 6 hours but the bus was quite nice, it flew by really. It was a bit of a culture shock going into Thailand, with their fancy paved roads with white lines painted on, glossy magazines and bloody cars. I was interested in visiting Isaan as it is meant to be the least touristy part of Thailand, and I wasn't disappointed on that front. Ubon city is quite big, and strangely the airport is closer to the town centre than the bus or train stations are. There are a hell of a lot of temples, a fairly interesting museum focusing on the North East part of Thailand (Isaan), hardly any whities and hardly any places to eat. I went to the Indochine Restaurant, which was recommended on some of the travel sites, but it wasn't that great. I only found out after I had left that there is a vegetarian restaurant. There is a nice little cafe by the park (the park in Ubon is cool by the way), run by two old ladies who have been there since the sixites, I can't remember the name of the cafe though. I had just started speaking Thai, and asked at the English-Thai school on Ratchabut street for some useful words. I came away with the word for vegetable (pak), rice (khao), and vegetarian (gin jee), also with a nice pink book, "Thai for lovers", which not only has the Thai for things like "Touch me there" and "I never want to see you again", but basic words and some food words. It will be a good souvenir! There are a lot of Angkor-style temples in the area surrounding Ubon, but it seemed like a hassle to see them so I went to the station and booked a train to Bangkok. While waiting for the train I managed to get egg fried rice and a beer from a little restaurant stall. The old guy who owned it didn't speak much English but seemed impressed with my Thai for lovers book.

Huge golden statue of Garuda in Ubon park

The overnight train was cool, I actually got a good sleep. I decided to book a train to Chiang Mai that same day, so I had a day to wander around Bangkok while I waited for the next overnight trip. I wandered through the China town, but there wasn't much to see during the day. I took a boat trip thought the canals of Old Bangkok (on the other side of the river to the new city), which was great. I had no idea Bangkok had such an area, with little wooden houses on the side of the canal. I saw a couple of monitor lizards at the side of the canal which also rocked. Canal in Old Bangkok

After another overnight train journey I arrived in Chiang Mai and took a tuk-tuk to the SpicyThai backpackers, which I had booked a dorm bed in the day before (I stayted with SpicyLaos in Luang Prabang and made a few friends there). The hostel was great, one of the few places I've been to that made me actually want to hang out there. They have a DVD player, a guitar, free internet, free breakfast, I had a space to do yoga outside, sweet. The food in Chiang Mai was very good, lots of vegetarian food, and lots of cheap eating options. There is an organic cafe off Nimmahaemaen road which did me rice, tofu cashew nut and vegetables and a fat ommelette for 35 Baht (70p). While I was sitting outside a cafe I randomly met someone I'd befriended in Cambodia (two months ago now!), she was staying at a friends place and I got invited to visit. For the equivalent of 300 pound a month they had a two-storey house, with free electricity. The house was made of wood and bamboo, and the cooking area was in the back yard. No TV, but they had internet and an ipod for tunes. The main downstairs room had a large floor space, which would be great for yoga. They had this weird contraption set against one wall, where you could hang off straps and do yoga moves in the air. It would be amazing to live in a place like that in the UK, maybe not made of bamboo though, might be a bit chilly in the winter. Reclining Buddha in a Chiang Mai Wat

A lot of people do treks out of Chiang Mai, they all seemed to involve a stint in a jungle, an elephant ride, a bit of rafting and a visit to one of the fabled hill-tribe villages. I'm a bit cynical to be honest, maybe the elephants would prefer not to be rode on, and aren't the villages now just like zoos? I did my own trek, 3 hours up a big hill (at the side of a road unfortunately) to Wat Suphet. The temple was very nice, if over-run with tourists (I did arrive at lunchtime though). There are lots of bells to ring, each one producing a different tone. After three days in Chiang Mai I was ready to move on north.Steps guarded by the Naga leading up to Wat Prathat
Wat Prathat, Doi Suthep national park

A couple of people had said to me that Pai (north-west of Chiang Mai) was a cool place, so I got a bus there. Some prices - Songthaew (red wagon thingie) from my hostel to the out-of-town Arcade bus station cost 40 Baht (80p), the bus cost 72 Baht (1 pound 40 ish). Bargain-tastic. The public buses are a lot slower than the more expensive minivans, but in this case thats an advantage as there was a lot of winding mountain roads on the way (I didn't want to have the Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng experience again).

Pai is a small town, with lots of restaurants, a river and loads of places to stay. The main street which runs past the bus station becomes pedestrianised at night, and becomes a night market (mostly tat, tonnes of I love Pai t-shirts and funny hats). I'm staying at Charlies, which is basic but only 3 pound a night. That price also includes watching two cats humping, as I did last night. I chose that after wandering around the town for about an hour with my backpack on, trying to find a plce that sounded good in my Rough Guide and failing miserably. I went in the opposite direction to the river and the main bridge, where there are loads of places with bamboo huts, I'd recommend anyone arriving here without a booking to go that way.

A main attraction for me to come to Pai was the walking options accessible from the town. Today I went to another temple on a hill, and then walked to the Mae Yen waterfall (was supposed to be 7km but took nearly 6 hours for the round trip, a nice river walk though). I didn't see much wildlife except for birds and a small black and white striped lizard, which I think is called a Skink (or a Newcastle fan maybe). Tomorrow I'm going to look into trekking options, which are allegedly more interesting than the ones you get from Chiang Mai.

Okay then, goodbye kids!

Laos Final Part

Hello again, this is going to be my last Laos post. There's a lot to cram in so I'll try to stick to the interesting bits. After Vang Vieng I travelled down south-west to the Lao capital, Vientiene. I was travelling with a friend I'd made in Luang Prabang, and randomly met another friend while waiting for the bus, who I'd first met in Hue. There's not much to say about Vientiene, except that it must be the deadest city in the world. We had a look about, then quickly moved on to Savannakhet. My travel buddy and I were the only foreigners on the bus to Savannakhet. After about two hours drive, I could smell burning and sure enough the bus broke down soon after. We were left waiting on the side of the road for two hours while the drivers and co removed first hte back wheels, then the axle, then some engine parts, and proceeded to bang them with bits of metal. Eventually another bus showed up, it was full already so we had to stand for three hours.

Anyhow, Savannakhet was ok, not much to do there, but it really serves as a base to go on treks. I took a one day trek to the nearby forest of Dong Nadet. This included a visit to a salt factory, which is where I took the above picture, clearly showing a large fish smoking a fag. I'll put the other pictures onto my facebook page as its quite fiddly using this program to put up multiple pics. The salt factory consisted of several large shallow baths of salty water (the water was extracted from the ground - I think, the guides English wasn't great), for evaporation in the sun, or some that used heat from burning wood. Each bath was owned by a different family, it was quite cool to see collectivism in action. For each 50kg bag of salt the family get something ridiculous like $5. After the salty experience, we walked through the forest, which was very quiet, not even a bird call. Whether this was due to it being the dry season or the appetites of the locals I don't know. The local guide showed us how to use some of the plants as medicines (mostly for stomach problems). The weirdest one was red ants, which are apparently good to smell (relieves fatigue) or to rub on snake bites. Later on we visited the Hanging Stupa, which is a tower built in the place where a tree used to be that Buddha is supposed to have sat under. We got a disjointed story of how the local people fed him frogs, which he wouldn't usually eat being vegetarian, which he consquently threw up.

After getting a tourist visa for Thailand at the consulate in Savannakhet (this gives me two months, rather than the 15-day pass I would otherwise get at the border) we took another long, long bus ride to Paxse. This bus was even more beaten up than the last one, and there was a motorbike and three roosters on board. I gave up my seat to let an older woman sit down, which meant I had to stand for three hours again, but at least on this bus the windows were open so I got a nice breeze. I also got two huge bags of sugar on my feet for my troubles. We didn't stay long in Paxse, to be honest I can't remember doing much except eating.

My last stop in Laos was Si Pon Don, or 4000 islands, which is right at the southern end of the country. I stayed on Don Det, which is very backpackery. The island is basically a big farm with a load of bungalows around the perimeter. It was a very nice place to chill for a while, I ended up staying for a week. I met quite a few people from Luang Prabang there which was nice. On my last day I walked to the end of the next island, Don Khon, where you can see Cambodia on the other side of the Mekong river, and I took a boat to see the Irawaddy dolphins. These guys are very rare now, the boat driver said there was only 15 left in that part of the Mekong. It was cool to see them flipping about in the water, but quite sad knowing that their days are probably numbered. The boats turn their engines off in the water, and don't go chasing the dolphins down at least.

From Si Pon Don I took a bus for 110,000 kip up to Paxse then across the border to Ubon in Thailand, where I am now. Ubon is in the Isaan region, which is more Laos than Thai in flavour. Its quite nice to walk around, there are lots of temples, a big park and a fairly interesting library. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of eating though, despite Lonely Planet calling it a foodie heaven. I found a bar last night showing the Liverpool - Bolton game, they also had a live band on which was fun. Not really my kind of music but it makes a change from the usual corny pop they play over here. My head is very sore today even though I only had four Leo beers, I reckon they put some nasty additives in the beer here. Tonight I take a train to Bangkok, and then up to Chiang Mai, hopefully to meet up with some friends I made in Cambodia and Laos, its going to be a long, long trip.

Until next time, see you later!

Laos part 2

So I left off in Vang Vieng. Apparently you can't leave that place unless you've tried tubing, which involves floating down a river in a tractor inner tube. Completely pissed. The start of the tubing course consists of various make shift bars plying free shots of the deadly Lao Lao whiskey, followed up with a bucket (literally a bucket like you'd take to the seaside) filled with cheap spirits and mixer. Each bar has its own variety of rope swing to get you back into the water. I tried one, it was a lot higher than the one I did in Luang Prabang but I'd asked for a life jacket (I can hardly swim) so I suppose I lost a bit of the thrill. The only other people wearing life jackets wear the Korean package tourists. A few tourists have died in recent years while doing the tubing however, and I bet any of them weren't Korean. Plenty of people are so drunk that they climb up to the rope swings, then miss the rope and just fall in, pretty dangerous when theres other people floating about below. I finished the day with a happy pizza - topped with a special ingredient (think Bob Marley). It was a mistake to eat the whole thing, I'm so greedy, I couldn't move or speak for the next 36 hours!

Sorry no pictures this time, it wasn't really the day for pictures. Also its time for beer, I've just met up with a fellar I met in Luang Prabang. Its cool to keep meeting up with people randomly, makes getting to know random people actually worthwhile.

Later dudes,
Rob

Laos part 1

Hello again. Its getting longer between posts, this is to do with me now being in Laos, where time seems to run very differently indeed. I started in Luang Prabang, which is famous for being pretty I think (its a UNESCO world heritage sight, which draws a lot of people here). The picture shows one of the main streets at dusk. I arrived on New Years Eve, staying at the Spicy Laos Backpackers in a dorm. It was a cool place, lots of space to hang out with the other travellers. I'm still travelling with two people I met there which is nice.

The day after NYE I randomly decided to go and see the Kuang Si waterfall with two other people, it was worth it as it was beautiful and probably the best thing about going to Luang Prabang. Even though I can hardly swim, I jumped off a rope swing into the magical blue lagoon, that got my heart going quite a bit.

Unfortunately, whether it was the water, or the egg sandwich I had for lunch, or the vegetarian buffet I had later on, I was up all night vomiting and with bad diarrhea. I fasted for a few days which probably did me good after all the beer I drank over the period of many hogs. I still managed to walk around the town, but really I couldn't see what all the fuss with the place was about. There's some wats (temples), but there's temples everywhere in Asia. Maybe my stomach condition soured the experience.

Anyhow, on the 3rd of Jan I got up at 6am to see the monks taking alms. It is a very sombre affair, the monks are not allowed to speak or anything and have to walk in a meditative state holding out a bowl into which the local people put in handfuls of rice and fruit (possibly other stuff but that was mainly what I saw). Some of the monks had done quite well, their pots were overflowing and they had to throw some stuff back into baskets that were on the roadside. One of my compadres was wearing black wellies and a bright yellow beanie hat, I think she got more photos taken of here than the monks did. I was trying to be polite taking a picture of the monks as they walked away, some people were very rude, getting right in their faces with the cameras.

As a digresion, I was under the impresion that the Buddhist monks were not allowed any possessions. Strange then that I've seen a lot of monks with mobile phones, and some with cameras and laptops. Maybe the high-tech stuff doesn't stop you achieving enlightenment.

From Luang Prabang I took a minibus to Vang Vieng. A 6hr ride through very bendy mountainous roads probably wasn't what my guts wanted, but I managed to hold on. Vang Vieng has a bad reputation for being a hell-hole of Western twenty-somethings getting absolutely out of their faces. The Travelfish website even suggests avoiding it completely. I think that would be a mistake, the place has been the highlight of my Laos trip so far. The scenery around is stunning, limestone cliffs and rivers. I stayed at the Sunset Guesthouse (who gave me a free t-shirt). My own little bungalow for 50,000 kip a night (about $6). Not that cheap actually, the Spicy Laos backpackers which ahs just opened there had cheap dorms and a cool hanging out area but it was full when I arrived. We went out on a couple of bike trips to see the caves nearby, which was good for me as I'd never really ridden a bicycle before. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, but my friends had a lot of fun at my expense, as did the locals. On the way to see the "water cave", I fell of and grazed my knee quite badly. Luckily we were passing through a village and a family came out to see what the hell this crazy farang (foreigner) was doing sitting on the roadside. The old man of the house cleaned up my wounds with some iodine and sent his daughter off on a motorbike to get me some plasters. Not nice to fall off, but it turned into a nice little experience.

My time is nearly up at this internet cafe (I'm currently in Savannakhet, south-central Laos, you can see Thailand over the Mekong), so my tubing and happy pizza stories will have to wait 'til next time.

Sabaidee!

Hanoi and Ha Long bay

So there's been a bit of a break since the last post. After Saigon I flew to Danang then shared a taxi with two other solo travellers to Hoi An. Everyone on the flight was going to Hoi An I think. Its a very pretty town, ridiculously so in fact, it looks like a set from a Disney musical. There are lots of tailor shops there but the only thing I bought was a fake North Face bag to use as a day sack. I stayed at the Hop Yen hostel, which was $7 per person for a twin room, cheapest in town I think. I shared with a German fellow, who left the next day but paid for the room while I was out - thanks for that, you didn't leave any contact though! It rained constantly in Hoi An so I didn't make it to the beach.

I took a day trip from Hoi An to the My Son ruins, which are the remains of some Cham temples in the jungle. They weren't a patch on Angkor but it was good just to walk around in the jungle for a day. The most interesting thing was the several large pools which were actually in bomb craters. There is one temple which is in pretty good shape, the rest were in bits and under heavy restoration. I booked the trip through the hostel, I think pretty much every time I've booked a tour or bus here it has picked me up from the hostel and then drove around in circles for about an hour picking people up, I saw my hostel about three times in Hoi An. Surely it could be better organised. The souvenir shop at My Son was a treat - fridge magnets depicting Paris and Marseilles, nothing to do with Vietnam or the temples. There's a lot of that in Vietnam - rows of shops selling the same things, men trying to sell you books, always the same ones (photocopied versions of Mr Nice, Irvine Welsh, the same South East Asia Lonely Planet...). Speaking of fridge magnets, I've lost my Angkor magnets somewhere along the line, the folks at home will be disappointed.

It was a 3hr trip from Hoi An to Hue, some nice scenery as we went through the mountains. The bus takes you through a fairly long tunnel; The train actually goes over the top of the mountains which would have been spectacular but it would have meant a journey to Danang first and then getting a train, the bus won out as it was easier. One of the people I met at Danang airport was traveling north so I teamed up with her (I'm mentioning no names here), and together with two others we met on the bus, we decided to walk from the bus stop to the hostel we had looked up, and so avoid the taxi touts. Felt good to find the place in an unfamiliar city. It's turning out to be quite easy to meet people, and it feels a bit less stressful walking around trying to find a place to stay or eat. Not much going on in Hue I thought, we stayed in Hue Backpackers, which was very good for the price, good food too (I had a chicken burger for the first time ever, don't know why apart from I saw someone else's and it looked good). I was there three nights, and spent two evenings in the DMZ bar across the road as the beer was cheaper than the hostel. There is a great vegetarian restaurant by the river, can't remember the name. Vietnam is actually turning out to be quite easy to be a vegetarian, there is a tradition here among hte buddhists of having a few days each month when they don't eat meat (only the monks are truly vegetarian though.) The main part of Hue is a huge walled citadel with a smaller walled area inside it (the Forbidden City), I spent the best part of a day there but it wasn't that impressive to be honest. Its more interesting to read about the history, the place was bombed to bits by both the French and the Americans.

I spent a day with my travel buddy walking out to visit the Tomb of Du Doc, Hue is surrounded by tombs of all the past emperors. It was worth the three hour hike as the tomb area was well preserved, a nice lake, some temples, some statues of the emperors mandarins. The walk back to Hue was insane, rush hour, roads chocked with bikes but no pavements. Made it back alive somehow. Took an overnight bus from Hue to Hanoi, 14 hours, cost $10. Arrived about 7am and again walked to a hostel rather than take a taxi. I got ripped off in Saigon I think (paid three times what I should have done according to my friend who lives there, even though the meter was on), wherever possible I walk anyway, I never take a cab at home unless I'm with other people. The first hostel in Hanoi I stayed at was Central Backpackers, not far from the Hoan Kiem lake and by the St Joseph church. I arrived on Christmas day so it was nice to see a procession there, all Vietnamese bishops and nuns and so on. The Central Backpackers is a new place run by young Vietnamese so I thought I 'd give it a try. It was ok, room clean enough, and there was always people hanging out downstairs, a couple of guys had guitars so it was good to have a strum. On the downside, the free beer tasted off, there was no sink in the bathroom so people were spitting on the shower floor while brushing their teeth, and I got messed around on which bed I was sleeping in. Also, once in the evening I asked for a cup of tea, which they advertise as being free, the young man just sort of brushed me away, and sat down behind the reception desk and stared at me. So I started to feel a bit weird about the place. My friend had booked into the Little Hanoi on Hang Ga street, I went to check it out and it seemed a lot better. I booked my Ha Long bay tour there (that's the picture above). It was $45 for two days, one night on a boat. That was enough for me, to float around the amazing limestone karst islands, explore a cave, do a bit of kayaking. The cabins on the boat were ok, not as cramped as I expected, they even had their own bathroom with shower. 14 people stayed on the boat; some people got off at Cat Ba island for the night, they were going back to Hanoi the next day, I couldn't understand that as it meant no kayaking and very limited cruising time through the bay. The meals were included, but not drinks. It was 30,000 dong per bottle of Tiger, no other beer. Some cocktails or fruit juice would have been good, hardly anyone was drinking. I met some interesting people, Brazillians, Germans, Americans, and a Maori woman. (Just for the record it is 18,000 Dong to the dollar, so the beer cost a pound - still twice as much as in the street side bars). Ha Long bay was definitely worth it, it was my main reason for coming to Vietnam.

Yesterday I went to see the preserved corpse of Ho Chi Minh, the highly revered former President, it was a bit strange really, everyone sort of shuffles past staring at this waxy looking figure in a glass case. Cameras are not allowed (they get confiscated before entry and handed back afterwards), clothing must be respectable, and people were getting told off for having their hands in their pockets or talking. I also visited the Ho Chi Minh museum, lots of pictures and letters giving the life story of the man, I think it would be better to read a book first though. After that I went to the "Hanoi Hilton", or Hoa Loa prison, which was first used by the French to imprison the Vietnamese during colonial times, the conditions being horrific. There is a room with statues of Vietnamese prisoners in stocks, that was a bit spooky. Overall it was similar to the Tiger prison in the War Remnants Museum in HCMC, which had far more interesting stuff in it. The Hoa Loa was later used by the Viet Cong to imprison American POWs (mostly pilots, including Republican John McCain), the pictures show a deliberate contrast with the conditions endured by the Vietnamese prisoners - the Americans are shown eating Christmas dinner, receiving gifts from home and playing volleyball.

One day left in Hanoi before I go to Luang Prabang in Laos for New Years Eve. I'm flying again, which is not really in the spirit of backpacking, but I'd heard too many stories about 36 hour bus rides, people waiting hours for a driver to appear, drivers being drunk and so on. A 1 hour flight is just too tempting, although they are expensive - cost me 126 Euros.

Saigon

Picture shows my room mate in Saigon... Only kidding. I was really tired yesterday after getting the nightbus from Ha Tien to Ho Chi Minh city. It took 7 hours, and I didn't really sleep on it. When I arrived I had no idea where I was, took a taxi to the Phu Ngam Lau area which is basically the tourist area. Staing at the Ngoc Minh guesthouse, which is off a narrow street from the main road. Today I took a walk round the city. Although it is heavily built up and there are thousands of bikes, there are also some quite nice parks. The traffic is not totally chaotic, there are a lot of one-way streets and traffic lights that even the motorbikes obey. When crossing hte road you just have to wait for a small break in the traffic and go for it, helps if there's a local crossing too. I got asked a lot whether I wanted a motorbike or my shoes shined but after Bangkok and Siem Reap I'm used to it, don't make eye contact and keep walking. It felt rude intially to ignore people but it gets very tiring saying no thanks to everyone you pass.

I went to see the War Remnants Museum. Outside are some models of tanks and planes used by the US army. The picture is from a reconstruction of prison cells used to detain suspected VC sympathisers. There are some barbed wire "Tiger" cages that looked particularly gruesome, and images of tortured victims with teeth pulled out, nails driven into their heads and so on. Most of the displays inside detail what the US forces and their allies got up to during the war. The worst bit was the pictures of children which are thought to have been born malformed due to agent orange. There was a photo of a woman selling fruit, even when the villages where being bombed people were still trying to go about there normal lives.

After that I went round the Independence Palace, which did not have much in it but it wasn't much to get in (less than a dollar). Mainly some stately rooms and some phoney set ups of war rooms and communications rooms and so on. After that I just walked around, seeing the Notre Dam cathedral, Post Office and a quick look in Saigon Square, a very busy mall packed with clothes shops (mostly women's clothing so hundred of teenage girls - scary stuff). I found a vegetarian restaurant which was ok, portions very small though so I had two meals. They charged me for using the towel which was placed on my table, so I'll have to watch out for that in future. Tomorrow I go north, hopefully find my way to Hoi An.

over.