Our first stop in Vietnam - Chau Doc
Monday, October 30, 2006 at 05:53AM Ok...so we heard a lot of mixed reviews about Vietnam. Some people love it and some hate it saying that the people are not very nice. Our first experience in Chau Doc was on the LOVE it side of things.
We had an amazing first day here. We lucked out and got a great motorcycle driver, named Guy. He helped us get our SIM card for our phone, he walked me around the market telling me the local prices we should be paying for things not the tourist prices. He was great. We went to $2 million dollar mountain. It was about an 1.5hour drive out into the countryside...and what beautiful countryside. Everything is a lush green, all the women are riding bicycles with the great hats (not sure what they are called) on their heads. The school girls are dressed in long white dresses with the slits on the side and white pants and all look so classy. It was a beautiful ride.
The mountain itself is the location of many battles. First between the Vietnamese and the Americans and then again when the Khmer Rouge invaded. I have NO idea how the Americans thought they would capture this place. It is a mountain of boulders, filled with nooks and crannies where it would be so easy for the Vietnamese to hide. Tunnel and tunnel under the rocks. Amazing really. They said that the Vietnames to American odds were 3 to 20 and they held them off for years. You could see the bomb marks on the rocks, etc.
While going through a tunnel we came to a clear area where they used to have meetings and there was a group of vietnamese having a picnic. As soon as they saw us they were saying hello, I sat down and had rice wine with them (they love to drink rice wine and cheer), they offered me food and were so nice and with big smiles on their face...probably due in part to the amount of rice wine they drink. :)
That night Guy wanted to take us to the bars. Deb and I were tired and almost said no byt he was so excited and happy to have us out that we couldn't resist. He took us to this restaurant where 2 litres of beer was less than 50 cents and he took us into the kitchen and showed us the rat, bat and live snake that was on the menu. Needless to say we just drank beer here.
Then he got out his flute and was playing all these beautiful songs. It was great. We decided to get a cyclo and head back into town to eat (no rat for us pretty please) and we passed a wedding reception just on the side of the street. Tables set up, people eating and of course there was karaoke. The people saw us and cheered. Before you knew it we were at a table cheering with rice wine, they were pouring us beer, the guy with a microphone was over at our table getting us to tell our names and where we are from. We danced, ate and drank. Hilarious! It was a great night. Why does stuff like this never happen in Canada?
Reader Comments (1)
I am peeing myself laughing at you all at this roadside wedding party dancing & doing karaoke! I wish I could have been there!!!
Christina xxxxx