Flashpacking Vietnam, Singapore & Australia – December 2003

December already??? CRIKEY! The decorations are all up here and it does look funny with statues of reindeer and Father Christmas covered in snow in the heat of Saigon!

A normal Saigon view then a bus ride an hour North of Saigon and we arrived at the main fighting area of the war – Cu Chi province. The thick jungles were completely destroyed by Agent Orange and Napalm to try and take the cover away from the Viet Cong. A mud bath ! Today it is green once more but only with small fast growing trees and shrubs, nothing like its former glory. The area was poisoned for years.

Here the US soldiers were disadvantaged due to the incredible tunnel system of the Viet Cong. They lived, hid and ambushed the unsuspecting Americans here for years. We saw how the tunnels worked and how the Vietnamese army fought the Americans and to say it was an amazing experience is an understatement.

Walking into the, now, 20 year old forest, we were asked to find the tunnel entrance. Needless to say we couldn’t. It was uncovered not a foot away from our feet. It was tiny. Even Andy couldn’t get through it. Here they popped up and shot the Americans and disappeared again before being noticed. The US didn’t have a chance! The main tunnel openings were only 80cm wide and they had to crawl along in the dark for 100s of metres. YUK!!!! There were booby traps that chilled us to the bone and a tank on the same spot it was blown up in 1970. Andy hadn’t shot a gun in 2 months so shot a few rounds from a Colt 45.

Then our turn down the tunnel. OH GOD. I am not good in small spaces at the best of times and this, to be totally honest, freaked me out. You could just walk down if you were totally bent over as far as you could go. It then dropped again (vertically in the pitch black) and got even smaller, so you could only crawl along with a shuffle. I am not impressed! and my god it was nasty. Hot, wet, smelly, and with no air. Imagine spending years down there… Every day they have to clear out the snakes and insects for us tourists… no one did that for the Viet Cong! As soon as I saw light I was up and out, Andy fast behind me.

An incredible experience and we really got a feeling of the horrid conditions both sides had to endure.

Back to Saigon and a walk to the war remnants museum. Full of very nasty war pictures and displays that turned my stomach. (Won’t go in to that, it will put you off your dinner)

Enough of war nasties we are off for a well earned glass of milk!!!

The Mekong Delta. The river itself runs through China, Laos, Thailand and flows into the sea here in Vietnam. By the time it has reached here it is massive … and muddy, but not polluted. The people who live here (17 million of them) use the river and all its canals and tributaries for everything. For transporting vegetables to market and for fishing bathing, washing and cooking, oh and waste disposal!. It all happens here. We drifted up one of the canals for a couple of hours taking in the sites. The river was banked by jungle and little village houses. We watched people get on with their daily existence as we floated by. It was a beautiful sight and so peaceful.

We were then taken to a tiny village (one of the hiding places of the Viet Cong) and on little row boats drifted through mangrove forests. This was amazing. It was thick forest all around us and so quiet we could hear the rustling and calls of god knows what creatures. We were on the look out for crocs and snakes but no luck. (probably all been caught and eaten) We went through jungle clearings with huge grasses and all kinds of weird plant.

Heading for town where we were to stay the night we saw town life on the delta. Shacks thrown up with rats running along the edges were all along the river sides.

Up early and to the floating market. Boats were selling their produce and showing what they had for sale by tying examples on bamboo sticks high above their boats.

On to a rice noodle ‘shack’.. where we saw hundreds of splats of rice and tapioca starch drying in the sun then to a rice husking and sorting factory. We had to take a picture of this as we couldn’t believe the grime, dust and filth that covered every inch of the place. Haven’t they heard of vacuum cleaners? Very funny. Back through various markets where I tried not to look at the ducks and chickens lined up for slaughter.

We thought the delta was great and certainly the jewel of Vietnam.

Mooched about today.

Flew to Singapore. Somehow managed to get upgraded to business class… fantastic! so had a lovely flight and watched movies on our own little screens.

Singapore is spotless. Arrived at our hotel to find that it was being renovated… nice one. I had a whinge as their was no bar (outrageous!) and so they found us a room in the next door (much nicer) hotel. We are just off Orchard Road, which is the main road in Singapore. Its a shoppers paradise. There are malls next to malls next to hotels which have malls. Gucci, Prada, Rolex, you name it, its here – as long as it costs a fortune. Bit of a shock from Vietnam!

Headed down Orchard Road to Raffles. Wow what a place. Sat and drank beer in the long room bar (birthplace of the Slings) and mooched about in the enormous complex of colonial splendour.

Taxi to the boat quay which looks like Victorian England (with old English pubs) next to Canary Wharf. Very quiet, clean, and pretty. Had lunch (with several glasses of wine) in Harry’s bar which is apparently really famous but we have no idea why.

Taxi to the zoo in the north of the island. Its set in the natural tropical jungle that covers the island. Its so hot, humid and still here. Like walking around in a sauna. With thunder rumbling overhead we walked round this amazing place. It has no bars and you can walk amongst most of the animals who seem so relaxed and happy (a bit different from the foul zoo in Saigon!)

Then to Raffles for several Singapore slings. How yum are they?.. crikey. -won’t mention the price though 🙁 Dinner in the long room comprised of Octopus, Scallops and Lobster and I haven’t tasted nicer. For pud Andy ordered chocolate cake which was the size of a house brick. Best birthday ever!

Up Mount Faber , the small hillock to the south west of the city. Views were panoramic around the city. I took about 12 photos but only a few are here. A lovely setting as the park at the top of the hill is all leafy and spotless. Walked to dinner at hard Rock cafe… didn’t buy the T-shirt though. Xmas decs along Orchard road were lovely.

Long flight to Sydney. Uneventful (except twice it took the stewards 20 minutes to get Andy a Brandy and Coke… ! thought I was going to have to restrain him from belting them one)

Arrived 07.30 to a very fresh warm sunny day… very British really. Andy tried to get hold of our campervan people, 2 hours later no luck. We gave in and decided we needed to get a room for the night. Not only was Robbie Williams in town, but so were 60,000 Jehovah’s witnesses for a convention… there were NO ROOMS ANYWHERE. The cheapest we could get was over $300. A few hours later (after leaving a ratty taxi driver who had no idea where we were going and wanted to drop us off in the middle of nowhere) we were at a ratty backpacker place in the suburb of Newtown.

Went over to camper place first thing to be told that they didn’t have one for us…. sooooper…. We sat down and looked all sad and sulky with our heads down, shifting our feet about. He disappeared into his office and came out 5 minutes later with a big smile “I have bought one for you”. what a nice man. “BUT it won’t be ready until tomorrow, so here is a free car for tonight”. We liked him!

So off we zoomed into the Blue Mountains, and they really are blue. Went to the most famous spot – the three sisters (quite spectacular… except for the flipping flies) and then motored around all the mountain roads taking in the freedom and the lovely scenery. Finding a nice room in the YHA (this is a view view from sitting on the toilet) we then headed off to the falls for more scenery. I couldn’t believe the amount, noise and the size of the wild Cockatoos flying about. There were also multicolored Lorikeets and Rosellas. It felt like we were in a zoo and not nature!

Woke to a massive thunderstorm. Couldn’t believe the noise it was making. Went the long way back through the mountains (and the driving rain) to Sydney town driving right over that famous bridge and past the (much smaller than we thought) Opera House. We parked just by the bridge in the bit called The rocks (where the convicts lived and all oldy worldy with lovely old pubs) and had a beer in an old wooden pub called Phillips foote. Leaving here we were called and told that our van was ready.

An hour later we were zooming along in “Top Banana Motorama” (was on the number plate… say it in an Auzzie accent – funny) and headed for the nearest campsite to chill out. Unfortunately this was in the industrial side of Botony bay next to an Oil refinery and the airport – lovely.

Woke to bird song and the 6am Quantas! Headed south along the coast road. Crikey what nice views . This is just one. Its just full of fantastic beaches and cliff sides. Pit stop in Wollongong (what nutty names these are) where the Sydney town people come down for a beach weekend. Next stop Kiama. A sleepy beach front town with a campsite right on the front. That was us for the night so we found a great stop, bought a BBQ (Andy thought it was Xmas already) and had a barby and drank wine to the lovely view . Life is Soooooo hard.

Everyone is so friendly here, they just chat to you for ages, even been congratulated on the rugby a couple of times!

Moving on south. The scenery has turned to farmland and Eucalyptus trees, with little red roofed farm houses dotted around amongst the huge fields of cows and sheep. Drove through vineyards (yum) and stopped off at Ulladulla which couldn’t duller if it tried (well I thought it was funny) so we stocked up on grub and moved on. Through Mogo, an old goldrush town now full of tat shops and tea rooms and then Moruga Head, a town with a population of 600!. Made it down to Eden – which it certainly wasn’t. Smothered by flies that just won’t get off you!!! aaaarrrggghhhhhhh

Up at 8 to a million flies and a flat battery. GREAT. The old bag at reception didn’t give a bat turd about it so I asked a nice Dutch immigrant chap to help – which he did. After the purchase of a new battery, we were off once more. This was no mans land. There was nothing on these long straight roads other than trees and farmland for miles and miles.

Andy noticed that the petrol indicator was on red…. I noticed that we were miles from anywhere…. ooops. By the grace of god we rumbled up to Genoa Town. Town? ???? it had a petrol station with one pump, a motel with 3 rooms and a convenience store no bigger then the van ! The petrol attendant was straight out of a horror movie and couldn’t believe his luck when he saw us, hyperventilated when Andy said “fill it up” and promptly bent his ear for about 15 minutes. Probably hadn’t spoken to anyone for a week!

Stopped at Orbast for a snack along the Snowy River. This made my day, sitting on a bench a foot long skink joined us as did a 3 foot snake! Not sure if he was a biter, we made a hasty retreat.

Next stop – Lakes Entrance. A stunning little town with this view . Pitched the tent at Seaspray, a tiny little village on the 90 mile beach. Wow what a whopper, and not a soul in sight. Sat and drank wine and played scrabble in the remaining sunlight like a pair of old fogies.

Flies everywhere, yuc and poo…. but a nice bird that said “tickle ticke”.. whatever that was!!! Headed down to Wilsons Prominatory, a wonderful national park and the most southerly point in Oz. We almost ran over an Echidna (spiny anteater) shuffling along the road, then a huge Emu ran in front of us! were we in a Zoo???? Still only seen dead Kangaroos by the road, no live ones as yet.

After a walk on one of the many beautiful beaches we headed to Phillips island, just South of Melbourne. Our pitch was right on the beach, so we decided to stay a while. (That’s me in the chair) Needless to say out came the wine…

Mooched around the lovely island seeing seals, Seagulls, Little penguins (about 10 inches high, bless) and Koalas. A boardwalk into the trees took you right to where they were sleeping.

Drove up to Melbourne following the coast roads through suburbs called Sandringham and Brighton (amazing how many place names are taken from home) Found a campsite then headed into the city to explore.

Melbourne city. First stop was Old Melbourne Gaol, which contained and hung Ned Kelly. A truly nasty place with tiny cells, the original gallows and several death masks (plaster casts of their hung heads), including Neds. Also had his famous armour and revolver.

A trundle around the city took us to places like the observation deck to look at the city from a good height, the famous Block arcade that looks like Burlington arcade in London, and a long walk along the river that is lined with dozens of bars and restaurants. Not a bad place.

Out on the Hume Highway to get back to Sydney for xmas… sorry.. Chrissy as they say here..!!! Stopped off at Glenrowan where Ned Kelly had his last gunfight and was caught. Not much to see but we giggled as the entire tiny town was Ned mad. Camped for the night in the middle of nowhere.

Headed straight into Sydney under the freeway that goes right under the runway of the airport (very strange). Headed to Coogee beach, just down one from Bondi. All the city’s beaches are just 10 minutes drive from the city centre, and are amazingly clean and relaxed. Coogee was lovely, full of travellers hanging out in cafe’s. We heard more English accents than Auzzie.

Couldn’t find a caravan park ANYWHERE so headed out of the town a little along to Botany Bay and found the nearest one. A tad pants but useful as only a 15 min drive into town, and it had very tame Rainbow Lorikeets. Botany bay isn’t the nicest place as you look straight out to the runway that is built out into the bay. It also has an oil refinery and the city in the background… nice. Amazing that the beach is still so clean and well used.

Fought our way through the city and up into the leafy suburbs of North Sydney to a beachside caravan park. Got a great spot which has visiting weird ducks and tame Possoms (they sniff Andy’s feet!!!) Decided to stay here for Xmas

Glorious sunshine, Kookaburras laughing in the trees, weird black and white birds making strange noises, oh and those ducks and Possoms, kept us entertained as we chilled in the shade for the day.

Spent the day buying loads of yummy things to eat tomorrow, then played badminton and generally messed about on the beach.

CRIMBO!! Bubbly was popped, the huge tiger prawns were on the barby, smoked salmon was already in our bellies, sun was out, sky was blue, sea was warm, we were happy.

Back into Sydney. Found a nice campsite a good 20 minute drive out of the town, but that’s fine. We managed to find a cracking parking spot right under the bridge, we were sorted. Spent the morning wandering round the heart of the city – the waterfront. Including the Rocks (the oldest part of Sydney, now full of bars, shops and restaurants), Circular Quay, where everyone was just hanging out on the grassy areas, relaxing, the Opera House… rather a bizarre 1970’s looking thing, a bit like Darth Vader’s head and the beautiful botanic gardens, which had loads of huge flying foxes hanging in the trees and friendly wild Cockatoos that sat on your head. Everyone was again, sitting out on the grass eating picnics, strolling around, all felt well with the world.

8pm and time for our bridge climb – what a LAUGH. They make you take off everything metal, put you in a nasty grey suit (so you don’t show up when on the bridge) give you a mountaineering belt to latch you on to the bridge, give you a breath test, a quick frisk, and a lesson in climbing!! we had radios, headlamps, the works. Felt like we were going up Everest not the Sydney Harbour Bridge! It was an amazing experience, and an incredible view, Highly recommended. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take cameras, so they took a picture of us (I even had my glasses attached to my suit, they are so worried about loose stuff) Here is the nearest shot we could get.

Hung out in the sun (shade)

Back into Sydney. Strolled through all the main shopping streets and just around generally having the odd glass of wine. Such a nice city to wander about in. Bought our New Years Eve tickets – a restaurant right on the Quay side with full view of the bridge. Should be good

Bimbled Back into Sydney, parked in our usual dodgy spot (haven’t paid for it yet!) and into Darling Harbour, the other side of the town. Yet again its covered with restaurants, bars, cinemas, boat trips and things for the kids. Hung out there for the day. At sundown we went back to the van (keeping our fingers crossed it wasn’t covered in parking tickets), and headed down to Bondi beach. A lovely horseshoe huge bay crammed full of surfers and travellers. It was very built up but still had a relaxed happy feel to it. Its difficult to believe that this is only 10 minutes from the city centre, no wonder its so popular. Far too many people for us though (crikey we are getting old)

Hung out in the sun all day (well out of the sun really… getting fed up with having a pink nose!)