Wham bam thank you Nam!

Belated happy new year readers! 

Or rather Chuc Mung Nam Moi as the Vietnamese say it. And say it they do. A lot. As not only do they mark the end of the Gregorian calendar year they also have the lunar new year calendar to follow also. This means they seem to have banners up for weeks and someone will say it to you everyday in that period without fail. Quite nice really I suppose.

Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the New Year festivities. However before we chat all things 2016 let’s look back at the last few days in 2015 and specifically our time in southern Vietnam shall we! 

As Cat mentioned in the last post we crossed over the border from Cambodia and headed for Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh for Xmas (do you see what I did there?). However due to continuing  gastroenteritis on my part the first few days in Saigon (the city’s old name and one locals still tend to favour) were certainly not merry.

Two trips to the quack to have blood tests and stool samples analysed revealed a bacterial infection and virus along with a fever. Apparently not shy to prescribe drugs, they sent me off with a carrier bag full of antibiotics, painkillers and various diorhea remedies. £200 lighter we dragged ourselves (well Cat dragged me) round some of the city sights.

Saigon is a bustling energetic city where seemingly everyone owns a moped (a commonly used stat is that there are 7 million mopeds are in the city) and drives them all the time, anywhere and everywhere. The moped is king and get in the way at your peril. The situation is so crazy that they not only take over the roads but also dominate the pavements as well so it pays to stay alert when out for a wander.

The city also has some really interesting sights, many unsurprisingly linked to the Vietnam war (or the American war as the Vietnamese call it). One of these was the War Remnants Museum which houses exhibits about the prisoner of war camps for north Vietnamese troops, captured and restored American military vehicles and emotionally disturbing accounts and evidence of the American’s use of Agent Orange during the conflict.

    

The exhibits tend to give you only one side of the conflict and display much  anti-American propaganda. However even if the accounts and exhibits on display are only partially true, the horrors and atrocities committed by the Americans during the war were horrendous. The Vietnamese accounts of how prisoners of the two sides were treated differ markedly but it is clear that both sides treated their prisoners very harshly at times.

Tiger cages used to imprison north Vietnamese troops on the prison island of Phu Quoc in the South China Sea are on display on the site and they are particularly brutal, cramped and inhumane. Later on in Vietnam we would look around an American soldier prison in Hanoi called Hoa Lo, and the conditions that are presented there would seem much more comfortable with prisoners allowed to partake in sports out in the yard, given cigarettes and regularly visited by doctors. Interestingly it was the prison which senator and former republican presidential nominee John McCain was imprisoned after being shot down. However as I say the exhibits are just one side’s account of the war and do not mention any bad behaviour on the part of the north Vietnamese side where in fact there are many American accounts of prisoners being tortured and made to criticise the US government and to break their will.

In keeping with the war theme, we also visited a complex of tunnels in nearby Cu Chi that were used in the Vietnam war and the preceding conflict with the French. They were started to be built in the 1940s to aid the resistance’s fight against the French troops and were further expanded during the American conflict. The tunnels are on 3 levels (with the lowest level down at a depth of about 15-20m) and cover thousands of miles. They were used to help the resistance move around quickly and under cover from the enemy. They are strategically positioned with exits/entrances that allow the soldier to surprise the enemy and fight off any attacks.

However the tunnels also allowed civilians to shelter from bombs and attacks in the area. Many families lived inside the tunnels as they were often suspected by the French and Americans after them of helping the enemy and hiding them. The tunnels therefore often had kitchens and places to sleep, in addition to bomb making areas and munitions stores. 
 

Tunnel vision

  

 The Americans found it incredibly difficult in fighting the Viet Cong in these areas and resorted to bombing the area with their B52s. Many of the bomb craters remain to is day, but the deeper tunnels would usually be undamaged as they were too deep to be directly affected.

The nightlife in the city is also pretty buzzing but our only main night out was actually outside of the centre in a random Vietnamese place we stopped in for dinner that doubled up as a karaoke place, which was pretty busy and seemingly everyone here was steaming drunk. As we ate pretty much the whole restaurant came over to ask where we were from and drunkenly asked us to join them. We politely chatted to them as best we could with the language and drunkenness barrier but were all ready to leave when a group of particularly smashed guys insisted we join them and do a karaoke song with them. 

After being given numerous free beers and shots we eventually relented and agreed to sing a song called Happy New Year, which was basically the only song in English on the menu. Before singing this song we had never heard of it, but since then we have heard it absolutely everywhere in Vietnam! However it turns out that not knowing a songs tune or lyrics at all does not make for a good rendition of a crowd favourite. After butchering the first verse we were helped out by the chap who persuaded us to go up in the first place and we became a trio. It didn’t get much better to be honest but at least we had someone to follow, and as the song ended several patrons of the bar approached us and handed over roses made of money (which we passed on to the karaoke organiser)! Very surreal experience!

Before leaving HCM we took in a 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta which is a large area of wetland where the Melong river and its many tributaries join the ocean. The area is interesting as there are still many traditional villages and ways of life continuing in the region. The tour although very rushed took in many of these.

Of particular interest was the floating market which is basically a load of boats grouped together on the river coming together to sell their goods. however as it is much easier for the local population to get around by boat the customers also sail around buying items from the sellers. The result makes for an interesting show of market sellers shouting out their deals and sidling up next to customer boats to do their deals. For tourists this involves being sold cold beer etc, which at 7am isn’t the most appealing, unless you were one of the polish group of guys on the tour who went on the lash from the moment they woke up! Lads lads lads!

 

Roll up roll up

  
 
The other stops on the tour included small factories to demonstrate how rice paper and coconut candy was made, a honey farm and a fruit and tea tasting cafe. These are all products which are produced in the region and are how many of the local people make their money. They are also very good, particularly the coconut candy which we came away with two boxes of. 

Before heading off, there was just time to take a short trip through the swamp in a traditional Mekong boat where the driver punts you along, a bit like a poorer rural Venice. It’s a bit of a tourist trap though and the experience is shared with about 50 other boats in a very narrow waterway and you spend most of the time in a traffic jam. The driversare incredibly poor and get only a small percentage of the fee to take you out so they seem to rely on tips and are not shy in reminding you of this understandably, so we were happy to pay the little extra that would potentially help them out.

 

Swamp thing

 
 
After HCM or Saigon as the locals still call it, we hopped on a nice sleeper bus (i.e. Buses with bed type pods) to head to a beach town called Mui Ne. We chose the place as we thought for NYE it would be fun and because they have two of the most spectacular sand dune environments in Asia there.

 
The town itself is very strung out and over developed and basically is apartments and big hotels lining a beach road, and is full of Russian tourists, so not as nice as we had hoped. However the beach was decent and the beer was cheap so not a bad place to spend a few nights.

 
As usual we hired a moped to see the area and set out to see the amazing sand dunes. There are two sites, one called the red dunes, and one called the white dunes. Special prize to the person who guesses why…

 
   
  

So aside from a few NYE drinks and a visit to a mini Grand Canyon place which was a geological wonder, that was that for Mui Ne and we headed off for the highlands of Dalat.
Dalat is a beautiful mountain town in one of Vietnam’s main growing regions. Surrounding the town is either lush forested hills or farmland dedicated to growing fruit, veg, grapes, coffee etc. The place therefore has some great food and wine and good cooking. One of our favourite places was on the street where you pick out the meats and veg you want and they bring over your own bbq to cook it on. Dead cheap and you can cook it to suit your tastes.
 

The time we spent in Dalat included taking a canyoning trip along a whitewater river from the top of a mountain down to the ravine downstream. This consisted of abseiling, sliding down Rapids, swimming the river and several very high jumps off ledges the biggest of which was 11m. Gulp.

 
As we were with a group of ten others the peer pressure was immense and the guide (a proper comedy action man figure who clearly loved himself) made a point of calling you a lady boy if the guys didn’t jump. Very PC. However this meant we had to do it and Cat as normal had no problems executing a textbook pencil drop and making little splash and only a tiny scream. Tom Daley would have been proud.

 
I on the other hand didn’t commit to the jump as fully as I should have in the run up and barely cleared the underlying rock face to land awkwardly in the water with many concerned faces back up on the cliff. Not my finest moment but at least I’m not a lady boy!

 
 

Look mum no hands! oh…

  

Tackling “The washing machine”!

 
The place we stayed in Dalat was pretty sociable and the guy who owned it (Mr Peace – not sure if it’s his real name) took us out in the town that night so the following day I endured my one and only hangover so far in the trip.

 
Before we left Dalat we climbed a very large hill with an amazing view and took in several runs around the beautiful lake there, and also looked around the architectural monstrosity that is the Crazy House. It looks like something you would get at Alton Towers and probably built even worse, but is the architects vision of building something unique and different and has become her life’s work. Bit wasted in my opinion but see what you think…

  
 
Moving on, we then travelled to Hoi An which is a UNESCO world heritage site for its old town which is made up of old Chinese type buildings and also colonial style buildings on the river side. The streets are narrow and winding and despite it flooding almost annually they have kept it pretty traditional. It’s great for a wander around and you can go in many of the builds and be told about the customs and traditions of the families living there.

   
 
 
The town is also famous for its tailoring and shoe making. Much of the countries higher quality clothes are made here I think, and you can get measured up and have clothes made within 24 hours. We therefore decided to have a few bits produced for us. Cat designed up a pair of trainers and I chose a suit jacket to be made and some shoes. The cost is dirt cheap, however the cost to post it home ate away a bit of that saving. Incidentally we may get back to the UK before the parcel does on the slow boat!

 
Also around Hoi An are a set of small “mountains” called the marble mountains. No idea what rock they are made out of though. We hired some bicycles for a dollar and cycled the 15 miles along the coast to view and climb them and they are seen as quite holy so have many pagodas (temples) and shrines in built. There are also some nice caves there, but nothing quite like…

 
Phong Nha! – out next stop after Hoi An. Home to the largest cave system in the world and many of the most spectacular. As you can’t see the largest one – Son Doong – without booking an expedition a year in advance and trekking 3 days to get there, we opted for the more accessible but almost equally spectacular Dark Cave, Paradise Cave and Phong Nha caves.

  
 
 

Dark cave

 
Our favourite of these 3 was the Paradise cave which is absolutely massive and littered with limestone stalagtites, stalagmites, columns, drapes etc. The cave was discovered by a local man in 2005 apparently although I suspect it was known about more widely before this and just kept secret or its significance not realised. The cave is 31 km long and was explored first by the Brits and thought to be the largest as was bigger than neighbouring Phong Nha cave, that is until Son Doong was found.

The area also allowed us to get in some nice long runs in the countryside so we made the most of that also before heading on to the capital Hanoi. 

 
At Hanoi our first port of call was the Chinese embassy and lots of admin to sort out our Chinese visa which we finally managed to before actually getting to enjoy the city itself. Hanoi is a huge buzzing city, but not quite as manic as Saigon and has a nicer old town part in the centre and also a few really nice lakes. However surprisingly despite being the capital it has a curfew of 11 o’clock and therefore the nightlife is lacking a bit. Not that we stay out that late normally anyhow as we are always knackered after walking about all day!

 In addition to the pre China admin, we also needed to get in some more shopping to ensure we had enough warm clothing for the cooler weather we were to face in China. This meant a few shopping trips around the night market and clothing stalls that are dotted around the city’s historic quarter. North face, Columbia and many other western brands are very popular amongst the counterfeit products being produced and sold here, which was handy for us as they tend to produce warm clothing. After much looking around and hard bargaining we came away with a few warm jumpers and coats, hats and gloves all for a pretty low price so mission accomplished there. Until it all falls apart in a few weeks at least! 

 
Whilst our visas were being processed we headed off to Halong Bay for a 3 day 2 night boat trip round the UNESCO world heritage site. The place is absolutely incredible and the boat trip cruise was a perfect way to see it as you get to see loads of the area, go kayaking round the bays, make stop offs on various islands and see most of the sights there. The food on the boat was also great and huge portions so you can get your money’s worth. We were also able to meet lots of nice people and the atmosphere was very sociable as you all eat together and take in the land excursions together. On our boat we had a diverse group with an Irish couple, am elderly Canadian couple, three Chilean guys, a Spanish chap, a German girl and two Danish guys and a girl so all in all it was a great trip.

   

The bay

 
 

paddAL

  

Our quarters on the boat

 
Once back in Hanoi we picked up our visas and prepared to leave for China on the sleeper train with our new friend and cabin mate from Singapore.

  
 

 
The running bit

So Vietnam was a bit of a mixed bag running wise. It all started off pretty poorly as I recovered from the steady issues, but when I did finally have the strength to head out we were back in Saigon, and it is definitely not a running friendly city!

The best option we could find was around a small park in centre near to our hostel. Plenty of locals were out practising  their tai chi, Zumba, badminton and also a game where you play keepy uppy with a shuttlecock type thing (which incidentally we have now bought one of). However to do 10kms required about 14 laps. Not the most interesting!

The next main stop of Mui Ne was slightly better as there is a very long straight road behind the beach which you can run on without too much trouble from traffic, but you need to get out early to ensure clear pavements and bearable temperatures. We therefore got in a couple of easy paced runs of around 10 miles to help build the strength back up after the gastro.
Dalat

The next stop of Dalat proved very good for running, for a few reasons. As the town is up in the hills, the weather is a bit cooler and in the centre of town is a large lake which has a path round its entire 5km perimeter. The lake is beautiful particularly in the morning when there is a mist hovering over it, and as the town was holding a flower festival at that time here were many beds of colourful flowers along the route. The run also offered the chance of a strava segment of the lake loop, and with the leader clocking a time of 21:11 meant I could at least put in one reasonably quick lap.   

 The result a reasonably decent 21:37 and 2nd place on the board.

Run Summary:

Scenery: 8/10 – nice path on the lake side with lots of flowers and trees

Accessibility:8/10 – good, little bit busy in the town part when making way to the lake but fine once there. 

Smashability: 7.5/10 – very flat and all on paths, but there are a couple of congested areas where people are selling tat and people take photos 

CR’s obtained: 0

Al’s overall rating: 8/10

 

Hoi An

 Following Dalat we also took in a couple of runs in Hoi An, and I would certainly recommend running away from the city toward the beach rather than through it. The route we took followed a rather busy road along the riverout towards the beach, but once there we were literally the only people on the seafront and enjoyed a few good miles of flat ocean view running. Very pleasant all round.

 
Phong Nha

Heading back to the hills and cooler weather, Phong Nha national park offered some amazing running through limestone mountain backdrops. We were able to take a small back road from the village all the way in to the park along winding hilly routes that were deserted except for a few dogs and buffalo here and there. It’s a pretty challenging run and hard going up the hills but worth the effort and one of my favourite runs so far. For reference, here is the route I took on my  15 miler…

  

 
Hanoi

Aside from a short run around Cat Ba island in Halong bay which was very nice, but a little wet, Hanoi was the last place inVietnam that we got in some training runs, and as TokyoMarathon  looms ever closer I needed to start upping the distance of my LSR. To that end I set about putting in an 18 miler. And luckily Hanoi has a perfect place to do this without the usual city problems of traffic, people and dogs etc.

The big lake in the northern part of the city is a huge body of water which is about 10 miles all the way around so was perfect for my planned 18 miles at roughly 7:30 min mile pace . The legs felt OK so things are boding well for Tokyo so far 🙂

In addition, Hanoi also has a smaller lake in the centre of the city which is much busier but handy for doing mile rep laps as it is almost exactly one mile around. Therefore we were able to get up and do a session round here also early in he morning before it got too busy. As the lake has a 1 mile loop strava segment associated with it also, it would be rude not to give it a blast.

  
Run Summary

Scenery: 8/10 – the lake side has some nice views of the Chinese bridge and pagoda and is nice looking over the water.

Accessibility:7/10 – generally good as it is right in the centre of the city, but the path is congested in some parts so you have to dodge pedestrians on your way round.

Smashability: 7.5/10 – very flat and all on paths, but there are a couple of congested areas where people are selling tat and taking photos 

CR’s obtained: 0

Al’s overall rating: 7.5/10