Good Night Vietnam
Pingxiang, Jiangxi, China
May 12, 2009
I ordered 1/2 fried eggs hoping for sunnyside, but they were over hard, with a baguette, yoghurt, banana and tea. Bill had scrambled eggs, banana and baguette.
I quickly finished a blog (Bill may not agree with that) and we went to the post office. We mailed some souvenirs like our plates and travel books home for 44,000 dong. We are going to send our clothes via DHL to ensure that they arrive.
We went back to the laundry spot one more time and picked up my sweat shirt. It smells worse than when I dropped it off. It was definitely not worth our $6.
We flagged down a taxi because it is getting late. He took us the long way to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and dropped us on the opposite side of where we need to be. The cab drivers here are really starting to get on my nerves.
We had to walk an entire block over. The guards will not let us walk on the road or through the paths in the park to get to the mausoleum. Are you kidding me???
We finally get to the entrance and a lady is very excited about something. I thought that we had to check our bags, so I was trying to set everything down (I am carrying my sweat shirt and our clothes to ship home along with my purse). I wonder out loud why she is freaking out and the English person beside me said that I need to wear pants. I have a skort on and do not have pants with me! I was too indecent to see a frozen dead guy, so Bill went in without me. While I was waiting for him to return, they closed up, so we made it just in the nick of time!
Bill said that he had to stand in line and everyone had to go in single file. There were guards every three feet and they made sure that everyone kept moving. One girl had prescription sunglasses on and three different guards made her remove them. One lady stopped for a moment and she was tapped and asked to move on. Bill said it is similar to Napoleon's tomb, but this one has glass on three sides. Bill also said that the guards in the pit looked "smart" in their uniforms.
We were plotting out our way to the army museum when we were bombarded by motorbikes and taxi drivers. The one motorbike driver was extremely insistent. I am not sure what is in the air today, but we have been asked repeatedly so far. As we were crossing the street the sky opened up and started to dump rain. We ducked under a tree for 15 minutes until it let up. While we were there we were approached by an umbrella seller, motorbike guys, cyclo guys and taxis. We are already wet, so what is the point?
We stopped at Highland coffee for a snack. I had a club sandwich with chicken and fries and a citrus (lime) soda and Bill had 2 scoops of chocolate mint ice cream and Bai Ha Noi Beer. We had some free peanuts too.
It ended up that we were right beside the army museum. So, we went to buy tickets, but they are closed from 11:30 until 1:30 (that is a pretty sweet lunch break). So, we walked around outside and saw a MIG 21 that was shot down (then used by 9 Vietnam pilots to shoot down 14 more American aircrafts), helicopters, canons, anti-aircraft, planes,... There was a sculpture made in the shape of an airplane of airplane wreckage.
We popped into a 1/2 dozen camera shops and only one had a wide angle lens ($750), so we still do not have a new lens. Maybe in China...We walked to DHL and filled out all kinds of paperwork (to send anything to Canada I have to fill out 3 - 5 forms each time) while the guy packaged our clothes. He weighed them (2 kgs) and told me it would cost $120. Yah, I don't think so. Thanks for packing it up so nicely though!
It was around 2:30 and Bill and I have been hounded today like never before by motorbike, cyclo and taxi drivers. In the past 5 1/2 hours we have been approached by 70 - 90 people, just asking us if we want to be driven somewhere. We are not even counting the people who are just trying to sell us food, clothing or souvenirs! It is exhausting because some of them ask multiple times!
We went to the Ngoc Son Temple which was founded in the 18th century. It is located on an island in the Hoan Kiem Lake. It cost us 10,000 dong each to check it out. We crossed the red bridge and went to see a giant embalmed tortoise. There was a sign that said there are others in the lake, but I highly doubt it. The temple was red and gold, Chinese influence, and had a large red horse sculpture with real horse hair. There were sculptures of storks, deities and demon guards. There was also a place to worship a general from the 13th century. He wrote military manuals and talked about long-term viability (what happens after the war).
We went to Hapro so I could buy one more peanut butter, I am concerned that I will not be able to find any in China. Bill quenched his thirst with a coke.
We walked down an alley that had a market with fruit, veggies and meat. We walked up and down some streets with clothing, lotions, tape and rope.
We checked out Dong Xuan Market. I tried to buy a plastic spoon, but the lady wanted 100,000 dong. Not a chance! We saw lots of household items and jewellery at this market.
Bill wanted to eat at Billy Rocks Cafe, so we went there next. Bill had fried rice, Ba Ha Noi Beer and then a Halida Beer. I had passion fruit juice (it was so good on the junk), water, prawns and veggies in a clay pot with rice.
We went back to the hotel, quickly checked email, sent a short note on the blog and grabbed our bags. Bill did make time to have his two final draft beers from the bar across the street, Pinky Bar. I think that they are really going to miss him. They called a cab for us and we were on our way to the train station. We left early because Bill thought that the receptionist at the Golden Sun was sending us to the wrong station. It turned out that she sent us to the right one, so we walked to Cuba Lounge for a drink. Ling had told us about this place, it was three long blocks from the train station with our bags. Bill tried to find a spot to call his Dad while I sipped on my soda water in the garden. Thiu, the waitress, came outside to talk to me. She wanted to practice her English. We talked about Canada and the capital of Canada, motorbikes, traffic, cars, snow and life in general. Her English pronunciation and reading comphrension was very good. She did have a difficult time understanding our accents though.
Bill arrived and had his last Halida Beer. I tried the house specialty - passion Mojito and it was very good. The passion fruit takes away some of the sweetness. Our tab was 90,000 dong.
I have had a great time seeing the sites in Vietnam, but am glad to be moving on, especially after today. It has been a long, tiring day.
We boarded the train around 6:30 and were shown to our berth. We are sharing a four sleeper room with a drunk guy from Mongolia. I think he had just passed out and we woke him up by entering the room. Bill and I hopped up top and left him alone down below. We are not able to have a conversation with him because he speaks Mongolian and Russian. I am not sure how long he has been on the train, but he has made friends with the train stewardess (is that what you call them?). If he was not drunk enough, she brought him some vodka and he cracked open another beer. He drank the vodka, but later spilled the beer all over the table (probably a good thing). We look down to see how he is doing every once in a while and he is laying with his head off the bed and under the table some of the time. I hope he not going to throw up under there!
We played two games of rummy and won one a piece. We decided to do some reading and I discovered that my book is missing. It is either in our room or has been mailed home. Dang it, I had less than 100 pages to go!! I will have to get it from the library when I get home.
I read some from the Eckhart Tolle book that Betty loaned me. I have picked it up and put it down numerous times before, but I am making good progress this time. My stomach was burning, so I decided to settle it by eating. I selected noodle soup (have to add hot water like oodles of noodles) and a hot dog in sealed plastic. My meal was as lovely as it sounds. If you think that hot dogs in North America are bad, they are worse here. Surprisingly, my stomach did settle down after a while though.
Around 9:00 I dozed off and woke up with a cramp moving from my right calf to my foot and shin. It is not easy to get rid of a cramp lying down. It took me a while, but by putting my feet flat on the wall, I was able to get rid of it. I guess I did not have enough water today!
At 10:30 we arrived at Dong Dang and cleared Vietnam customs. We visited with the 4 other caucasians on our train. Renee is from Colorado and was working in Hawaii. He is taking Vietnam, China and Russia as his route to England. We met Jeff and Lee from Australia. They are going to take the train all the way to Beijing. It will take them approximately 48 hours (eww). We also met up with Jeff from Scotland again. We had taken a cooking class with him in Luang Prabang. He is making his way through China to go to Russia.
We re-boarded a new train with nicer cabins. It is cleaner and the beds are softer. Our Mongolian friend is still with us, but his condition has deteriorated. The Chinese customs officers board the train with us. As we head toward China we are filling out paperwork and they are checking our documents and our temperature. They used a laser thermometer on our foreheads. Our cabin mate keeps disappearing to the toilets frequently, but has still somehow managed to wet the bed. So much for our nicer cabins. Bill and I can not stand the smell and I got Bill's cologne out of my bag. We sprayed the air, our pillows, our beds and our clothes. I tried to get some down below too while he was out of the cabin. Every time the customs officers come by they look at him and make a face. At one point one officer had to ask him to put his pants back on. I am starting to worry that they are going to quarantine him and us!
We stopped at Ping Xiang and got off the train. We put our carry on bags through the scanner, but left our luggage on board. We were told that they were rechecking our temperatures. We waited for an hour and then reboarded the train and we sat without moving for a while. Bill and I did some more reading and did not let the Mongolian close the door to our room. After a while the train started moving again and we tried to get some sleep.