I am off out with Coung on his moto. I am getting a definite itch to try one. It was a fair old hike to our first stop, but interesting along the way, lots of shrimp farms. It is big around here, ponds everywhere and loads of villagers have them spread out on the road side or pavement to dry out, before cooking or selling on. Good fodder for the grumpy old man and the hygene laws of the nanny state. They are popular when having a beer, but used in all sorts. Coung tells me shrimp fried rice is delicious, I've added it to the list. We passed over the river bridge in Ba Hong. It was a traffic jam of boats on the river with shrimp and fish everywhere. It's amazing there are any left in the sea, these are just small boats too.
Our first stop is a set of caves the VC used to hide in when fighting the French and Americans. They open out into an inner circle, open to the skies. There are bullet marks everywhere and fallen boulders blocking some of the entrances, fallen from some of the heavy American bombing, but the VC carried on regardless, though there are some graves and shrines scattered around inside and outside. Starvation and lack of clean water killed a lot of VC too. They were a clever lot to out do the power and mass of America with not a lot of heavy weaponary.
We moved into the deeper part of the caves on a dodgy path laid in the water and the power went off, the path became instantly dodgier. It took longer to get back. Coung wasn't keen to take me when the power was on, so he paniced a bit now, but he saved the day with his mobile light. There is a fair old complex down here and I've only seen a bit of it. There's a floating cafe too. There are areas that were hospital areas and cooking areas, not a temporary setup. The hospital area had a few memorial stones, one of a nurse killed in 1945 when fighting the French, she is a heroine around here. We headed out passed the floating cafe and there was a group of people having their picnic on a pontoon. They shouted me over for a glass of rice wine and when they saw I was coming over, topped it up. Mugged again. They offered me a huge mussel, but I declined, now if it had been a muscle....... The lad put the muscle down and offered me a chicken foot, the most expensive part of the bird. I have tried them before and it was a mistake then, so I declined this one. The rice wine was rougher than the one Dung gave me, but it went down, warming me as it did so. This grotto, especially the inner opening is beautiful and must have been more so before the bombing. There are a few bomb craters scattered around outside, now used as ponds, very little gets wasted in Vietnam.
The Vietnames are doing their best to ruin the landscape now by tearing down the grottos and knolls to make cement.
We had a quick iced brew and were off to Chua Hang grotto. There's a temple built into the rocks here, Hoi Son Tu, Sea mountain temple. The way out at the back leads to a nice beach and lots of people on holiday enjoying the seaside and food. There are 2 small islands here, Hon Phu Tu, father and son islands. How they are said to have formed in legend is a long story, but the father one was twice as big as the son, but a typhoon the other year put paid to that and now the son is bigger. A message for us Dads perhaps. The temple was good, but I felt a bit out of place with a lot of the local tourists praying and lighting handfuls of incense. I walked back along the beach and through the market. It is just like a resort back home, lots of old tat for sale, but some good stuff too and some nice fruit. Back on the moto and off to Duong beach for some shrimp in batter, also surprisingluy some rice and more surprisingly, a beer. Cuong tells me this is rest time and offers me the free hammock before jumping into it and crashing, now they are all full. I sat on the beach, it is pretty nice and quiet too. After a while I couldn't resist anymore, so donned my trunks and went for a dip. The sand only goes out about 20 metres and then the silt from the Mekong takes over. It didn't feel so good, squidging between your toes and didn't look good either, but the water was clear.........ish. You can't see the bottom, but it is not manky. I get funny looks when I have my clothes on, but you should see the stares when I'm in my trunks, but they are mostly accompanied by a smile. On the way back to the table, I got pulled over by another table and offered beer, how could I refuse, but I only had a swig. I must look like a charity case in need of help, except to the touts. Coung had picked up 2 women when I got back, but he didn't look too impressed and was glad of the respite I brought. One was non-stop talk, but they eventually moved on and so did we. By the way, the shrimp had too much batter on.
We went to another temple, this one up some steps. I may not look the best going up, but some of the people were in a right state. I get there, just not prettily. I couldn't have done it without the bannisters though. This temple is pretty neat too. It is hacked out of a bute and has a outlook at the back that overlooks Cambodia. There is a shrine at the entrance for 130 people murdered by the Khmer Rouge, they were not the best people to walk the earth. The Cambodians consider the Mekong Delta as Cambodian and there are Khmer temples scattered all over the place, but it is Vietnamese hands for now. Back down to Coung and back into town. I have arranged to go to Phu Quoc. It is an island off the coast and he will drop me at the boat tomorrow, so on the move again. I could have stayed here longer, but have itchy feet again. A quick shower and into town for a fish tea, no chips and a couple of beers. I went over to see the rowdy lads at the Gio Cafe again, tonight they were over-rowdy, so I kept moving chairs for a bit of quiet, but the rowdy ones followed me. The rowdy ones tried to get me to foot the bill, but I told them to F.... Off. Thank goodness they didn't understand. The landlady tried it on too, taking for all the drinks when I paid, but one of the quieter ones gave her and the rowdy lads a right mouthful. From the number of times Vietnam was mentioned I think it was along the lines of "What do you want this man to think of Vietnam and the Vietnamese." I have had a good time with these lads and the waitresses, they accepted me as one of the bunch, but it is time to move on tomorrow, with another good memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment