Saigon - War Remnants (November 5)

On this day, I visited both the War Remnants Museum and the Presidential Palace as well as the Museum of Vietnamese History. The War Remnants Museum was disturbing while the history museum was educational. What I didn't know is that my admissions fee to the history museum also covered the admissions to the zoo. I didn't take any pictures of the history museum as there were pictures everywhere warning not to take pictures.

Presidential Palace Entrance Ticket

In the history museum, I had a sense that sometimes there was a struggle to present enough Vietnamese-specific material to make the museum interesting. Sure the museum went from era to era going way back into the past (4,000 years ago?), through the Nguyen Dynasty, up to today's activities, but the physical evidence was lacking.

Entrance Ticket to History Museum

When I reached the Buddhist section of the history museum, I was surprised at the lack of Vietnamese examples.

Bombs at the War Remnants Museum

Presidential Palace - Stuck in the 1970s

President's Office

President's Reception Room

This Palace is Very User Friendly. Drop Bomb Here.

Saigon - Zoo and Botanical Gardens (November 4)

Entrance Ticket to the Zoo

Over the next few days, I visit the sites in Saigon - The Zoo, the botanical gardens, the museum of Vietnamese history, the War Remnants Museum, and the Presidential Palace. During the nights, we play pool at Allez Boo or spend time at the Jazz Club - Sax 'N Art. There is not much room at the Jazz Club, but I get Maya (Terry's friend) on the dance floor and we East Coasted to one song.

Map of the Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

This is the extent of the Botanical Garden.

Pagoda at Botanical Gardens.

A Gaur

Pink Flamingoes at the Zoo.

Yes, There Were Dinosaurs at the Zoo.

A Hedge-Animal Stampede. Was I Back in Calgary?

Saigon - Driving and Nightlife (November 2)

Noisy Driving

Watch the large green city bus as it crosses the frame from right to left. Walking beside the bus, going in the same direction, is a man who is using the bus as protection from the traffic. Although the traffic is traveling relatively slowly through the intersection, realize what a bold move this is for the man to walk out into this busy intersection. The man at one point wants to go further away from the video camera, so he starts to walk against the movement of the bus in order to get around it. He then decides that this is not a good idea, so he continues walking with the bus in the same direction as the bus is traveling. The controlled chaos at Vietnamese traffic intersections is a sight to see.

Vietnamese drivers use their horns. A lot! They use their horns to signal their presence, to warn other drivers, and sometimes to indicate to traffic ahead of them to get out of the way.

I learned a little trick while cycling in Vietnam. Often trucks would signal their presence right as they pulled up along side me. It wasn't necessary for them to signal their presence as I was already aware that they were there because I could hear them coming. They would blow the horn anyway. The problem with this is that the horn would cause my ears to ring. Many of the trucks had their horn placed on the right hand side on the undercarriage which placed the horn at ear level with the bicyclists on the side of the road. When a truck would blow its horn as it was beside me, my left ear would ring.

Traffic Circle - Cho Ben Thanh

Observing Vietnamese riders, I was able to stop the truck drivers (and most other drivers) from blowing their horns in my ear. I noticed that when I placed a finger over my left ear, the passing truck would rarely blow its horn. This method worked more than 99% of the time. I think that placing the finger over the ear indicated to the truck drivers that I knew that they were there. The truck drivers try to indicate their presence by blowing their horns. When a cyclist places a finger over his ear, he is indicating to the truck driver that he knows that the truck is there. Thus, the truck driver no longer needs to blow his horn.

Nightlife.

I sit at a bar called Allez Boo at the corner of Pham Ngu Lau and De Tham. Initially, there is not much going on. A voice next to me says, "you look bored." I might be or maybe I'm just tired from all the travelling. I turn and end up talking with a young Vietnamese from San Jose. He was living in Rome, Italy for the last few months. He has just graduated from Business School and is travelling. We talk about many things, Vietnam, Vietnamese living overseas, and politics. He is worried that he is wasting his time (and thus his money) by travelling. I tell him it is worth the missed oportunity costs to be travelling right now.

Another night in Saigon, I went out to dinner with Terry's friends and his friend's international school colleagues. We went to a fancy creperie, Ty Coz Saigon at 178/4 Pasteur. Because we are a large party, we are seated at a large table on the roof. Although they don't have many vegetarian options, couldn't make crepes that night, and the prices were much higher than any others I had seen in Vietnam, I had a very nice and tasty meal. My recommendation: go to Ty Coz and try to get a table on the roof.

To Saigon (November 1)

To Saigon

Instead of riding into Saigon, I took a bus as suggested by friends of Terry. The traffic is too hectic coming into Saigon, so the bus was a safer way to arrive.

In Da Lat, a little bus picks me up in front of my hotel. But wait, where does my bike go? I'm told that I am to follow the little bus to a bigger bus. Following the little bus goes well. I am able to keep up with it as we ride downhill. And then we turn uphill. I'm worried. I stand on the pedals to keep with the little bus. And suddenly the journey is over. We turn left into a hotel parking lot where the big bus to Saigon is parked.

I now wait to board the big bus. More people show up. Some foreigners and some Vietnamese. I place my bike in the compartment under the seats. We board. An argument ensues between some Dutch and the ticket agent. The Dutch have misplaced their tickets. "No ticket. No bus," says the ticket agent. The Dutch get mad, get panicked and eventually find their tickets. The entire time this is happening, a book seller is trying to hawk books. She seems oblivious to the plight of the Dutch, offering to sell them books no less than three times. She comes onto the bus at least four times to sell us some books. She is very persistant.

Do You Want to Buy a Book?

Along the way to Saigon, we stop three times. Twice for pit stops and another time for lunch. For lunch, I've brought my own PB&J sandwiches. A Vietnamese comes up to me and talks with me in English. I offer him a sandwich, but he has brought his own.

He was a student in Washington, D.C. years ago. We have a nice talk. We talk about the corruption of the country, the road building standards, environmental issues, politics, etc. It was nice to have an honest conversation about the country with someone from Vietnam.

Now travelling with other foreigners as most foreigners travel, I notice interesting habits. For example, many of the foreigners are keeping a journal of their travels, as I am. One is even using a moleskine notebook. Also, I notice how exhausting traveling by bus is. It is true that I was exhausted while traveling by bicycle in Vietnam, but at least I caused the exhaustion. In the bus, I was exhausted just by doing nothing - just sitting.

Entering Saigon, I noticed the road had nice wide shoulders, but there was a ton of traffic. It would have been possible to ride into Saigon, but it wouldn't have been very safe.

Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral.

Main Bu'u Dien - The Post Office.

Map of Saigon in Main Post Office.

We pass a new water treatment or wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of Saigon to the east of Saigon (between Saigon and Bien Hoa). It is a joint venture between Japan, Vietnam, another company, and CDM. I'm not sure if it is for water or wastewater because all I can see are rectangular sedimentation ponds. It might be water treatment plant as I did not see any sludge digestion tanks.

Saigon - Accomodations (November 3)

The sights in Saigon vary from tall skyscrapers to vendors carrying heavy loads of vegetables which may have come from Da Lat.

When I first arrived in Saigon, I went right to the hotel at which I had made a reservation. This hotel - highly touted by the guidebooks - was expecting me. I had called the day earlier, told them that I would arrive at 2:00 p.m., and I would call if I was running late. Well, I should have told them a later time (say 4:00 p.m.) and not promised to call.

I thought that it would be reasonable for our bus to cover the 140 miles from Da Lat to Saigon in six hours. Of course, we would wait for passengers to board and stop three times along the way, stopping once for lunch. But, six hours sounded reasonable to me. When we reached the six hour point, I was still on the bus. Even worse, at our next stop, I did not know how to find a phone. So when I arrived in Saigon, two hours later (total travel time being eight hours), they had already given away my room.

At the bus' stop, we were left on De Tham street right in front of all the cheap hotels. Hotel hawkers begged me to stay in their hotel. While I reassembled my bike, I confidently told them that I had a reservation elsewhere. So, you can imagine my embarrasment when I had to return to those very same hotels and asked for a room. Mind you, I didn't take the first room I saw (the room above the hair salon). Instead, I took the room in the second hotel, the "better" hotel, the hotel at the TM Brother's Cafe and Tourist office (228 De Tham). Although this was the better room and I was only paying $5 per night, there was no refrigerator, poor A.C., and were those begbugs crawling around?

This room was at the end of the Alleyway. Not available for Rent.

The next day, I set out on a journey to find a better hotel. Wandering down an alleyway, I discovered the Ngoc Minh Hotel located at 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau. I would now pay $12 per night, but I would get all the creature comforts as well as breakfast in the morning.

The Roof of Ngoc Minh Hotel had a Nice Porch and Free Breakfast.

The Alleyway as seen from the Roof of Ngoc Minh.

When an address is listed as two numbers separated by a forward slash, the first number is the number where the alleyway is located on the street, for example 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau means the alleyway is between number 281 and number 285 on Pham Ngu Lau street. The number after the slash is the location of the business in the alleyway. So 283/11-13 Pham Ngu Lau means that the business occupies the 11th to 13th properties from the entrance to the alleyway. Of course, there always exceptions to these rules and you have to make sure you enter the alleyway from the right direction because some alleyways have more than one entrance.

Rest Day - Da Lat (October 31)

Halloween

Scattered Clouds! No Rain!

Le Dai Hanh (Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in Background).

Today was spent planning for my trip to Saigon. I didn't do much today. I walked around the city and stopped at the V-cafe, where I talked politics with the owner and a pair from Australia. Eventually the Australians were so drunk that the conversation ended. I was told that the city had built a new water and wastewater treatment plant with the assistance of international aid organizations.

The "Eiffel Tower" of Da Lat.

My next trip was a walk around the main lake in Da Lat, Xuan Hu'o'ng. It was like walking around Lake Merrit in Oakland, except without the sulphur smell. It was very pleasant. Many people were walking around the lake and a few were jogging.

Cho Da Lat (Market)

Xuan Hu'o'ng

I stopped along the way at the Flower Gardens.

Entrance Ticket

Flower Garden Entrance Gate.

After the flower gardens, I continued around the lake and headed back to my hotel. Walking towards my hotel, a student at the language school joined me.

The Second Set of Blue Rooms that I saw in the Entire Country.

Swan Boats in the Back Pond.

Back at the hotel, I sat with a group of women in the Peace Cafe. All three were travelling through Vietnam, but they were travelling separately. Their ages were between 18 and 34. The youngest one had been to Vietnam three times, having come to Vietnam from Australian early in High School. She really loved Vietnam.

Another of the women was a journalist for the Associated Press who had scooped a story about the flammability of the underwear used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq during the cold winter months.

The last woman was an expat, originally from San Francisco, living in Barcellona.

Day 60 - Phan Rang to Da Lat (October 30)

Riding into the Mountains...

Christian Churches in Vietnam are large, clean, and...

...well maintained.

Today's ride would take me up into the mountains. Over 6%-10% grades, I would climb at least 5,000 feet in approximately 25 miles. Once the climb began, it would be uphill all the way with only very short breaks of either flat ground or slight downhills.

At the beginning of the ride, I backtracked to the North to an intersection where a sign was located that indicated "Da Lat." The hotel manager told me that this was the route I should take. I crossed Highway 1A in one kilometer and continued to the west. I was looking for Highway 20. It was not clear that I was on the right highway because none of the mile makers (actually kilometer markers) showed the name of my destination: "Da Lat." The towns that were indicated were Hiep Thanh, Thanh My, and D' Ran. The first two towns were off of my route, but D' Ran was on my route, so I was reassured that I was on the correct route.

I was looking for Highway 20, but the mile markers said Highway 27. When two highways share the same route in Vietnam, the mile markers are not always clear. Sometimes, this is even true in the U.S. From the map, I knew that I was in the right place. The map indicated that I was on Highway 20, yet the mile markers indicated that I was on Highway 27. I was somewhat worried, but I seemed to be going in the right direction.

I was futher confused though when I noticed that Tan S'on was shown on the mile markers as being ahead 27 kilometers. That seemed strange to me because my map indicated that I had passed through Tan S'on some five kilometers ago.

Climbing to Da Lat

In Nha Trang, two days prior, I had gathered some intelligence about the road to Da Lat. There was a new road, Provincial Route 723, that comes straight from Nha Trang to Da Lat, but I was told that it was partially finished and the location where it was not finished had become a wide river because of the heavy rains that had fallen over the last few days. PR 723 supposedly has a good surface and wide shoulders and had been widely praised as having nice views. Highway 20/27, however, had been described to me as the old road. By old, it was meant that the road was rough, narrow, and curvy. This made for hazardous riding conditions, but fortunately there was very little traffic that used the road. Except for one or two close encounters with large buses, the road was pleasant and safe.

Curvy Roads and Waterfalls.

At the beginning of the climb, I noticed two pipes from the hydroelectric system that climbed up a steep mountain and connected to a reservoir that sat just above D' Ran.

I began my climb, the road switched back and forth crossing under the hydroelectric pipes a couple of times. People using the road or working along the side were shocked to see me climbing the road. Some cheered me on as I climbed. Others laughed.

Once I reached D' Ran, I had planned to grab a bite to eat. But the roads in D' Ran were muddy and there was no place to stop. So, I grabbed some water and continued going. The road to Da Lat was located at a right turn near a communist monument. I could have turned left and followed a more established road, but that would have added 20 miles to the ride. Now following the road to the right, the road narrowed significantly and I thought that there was no way that a bus would go up this road. One hour later, I would be proven wrong as a bus would pass me by almost pushing me off the road into the drainage ditch.

The road to Da Lat climbs almost the entire way. Leaving D' Ran, I was not given a break. The road continued at a 6 to 10 percent grade. Exhausted, crabby, hungry, and thirsty, I stopped by a coffee field that had a view of the reservoir above D' Ran.

After lunch, still exhausted, I decided to push my bike instead of riding it. I eventually got on the bike, but I again pushed the bike later on as I came into a village. I was exhausted and my legs were so tired, it was hard to turn the pedals over. The road became flat after the village and I was able to ride most of the way for the next 15 miles into Da Lat.

In last few miles into Da Lat, I noticed a lot of orange fruit hanging from the trees. But, I could tell that these weren't citrus fruit. No, the trees were full of persimmons. When I arrived in Da Lat, there were people selling this fruit in every stall.

I entered Da Lat and rode towards the tourist section of town. As I entered that area, A woman came out to direct me to the Hoa Binh or the Peace Hotel I located at 64 truong Cong Dinh street. There I met the an Easy Rider, Stephen, who speaks English, and who offered me a tour of the area by motorbike.

Day 60 - Phan Rang to Da Lat - 100 Kilometers