The Last Day and Final Thoughts

Our last night in Saigon needed to be special, so we made a reservation for our evening meal at the Biotex Financial Tower, the largest building in Saigon.

We expected the views at night to be stunning and we weren't disappointed!  The building which looked massive from our hotel window was dwarfed by the tower.

The bar was really modern, with great views behind, this city looks amazing at night!

The restaurant had a central kitchen area so you could watch them cooking your meal.  It was all very calm and quiet - head chef was certainly no Gordon Ramsey!

Once again, we had a fabulous meal and a great evening!

Just a couple of random pictures to show you from the last few days:-

There is a replica cathedral of The Notre Dame here in Saigon. It's not as large as the original, but impressive all the same. Unfortunately, it was closed when we went so we couldn't go inside, but I love this picture Paul took.

We get fresh fruit in our room daily, and I'm not sure what this is, but it was delicious!

The orchid arrangements are absolutely stunning - this colossal one is in the hotel reception area.

As in most tourist places, there are lots of street sellers.  We must have spent at least half an hour with this girl whilst we were in a cafe on the riverfront.  She was determined to sell Paul some sunglasses, but he kept trying to sell her his own instead.  She thought it was hilarious! When we went back down to the river the next day for our speed boat trip, she was already there at 7am.  She greeted us like long-lost friends.  And yes - he ended up giving in and buying some sunglasses!

Some of the funniest moments?

Paul Halder shaking the concierge's hand instead of giving him his suitcase.

After we had been taking the mickey out of Paul Halder after visiting the Buddha temples, we absolutely fell about laughing when we were sat in a cafe (the same time as the girl was negotiating the sunglasses sale) and a little street urchin, no more than 8 years old, just walked up, rubbed Paul's belly and smiled!

When we were on the foodie tour and they had to double up on Paul Halder's plastic chairs so he didn't break them!

Then the classic this morning!  Louise texted to see if I had any Diocalm as she had an upset tummy this morning.  I texted back to say I was the same so it must have been the octopus starter we had eaten the night before.  I took a tablet myself and gave a couple to Louise at breakfast.
We went out for a couple of hours and I felt worse, so went back to my room.  I thought I'd maybe take another tablet - that's when I discovered I'd given us both laxative tablets instead!  No worries - we only have a 14 hour flight later today!!

And the best bits about this holiday?

Undoubtedly, the wonderful people.  The poorest seem to be the most gracious and friendly, but we loved them all.  

The scenery has been some of the most amazing we have ever seen, especially Halong Bay and the night skyline here in Saigon.

The standard of accommodation and food has been exceptional wherever we have been.

The scooter tour and the girls was the best organised tour we have ever had.

And the traffic - it is amazing!  They have their own crazy system where everyone breaks the rules but nobody seems to care.  There is no road rage, just a general acceptance that people will cut in front of you and come the wrong way up your road.  It is their system and it works!  There are no traffic jams as everyone just fills the smallest gaps and the traffic keeps going.  Ironic then, that in the whole two weeks, the only accident we saw was the one I was involved in!

Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Museum

We were picked up at 7am from our hotel for our trip to the Cu Chi tunnels.  The village of Cu Chi is between the border of Cambodia and Saigon and played a major part in the battle of the area around Saigon.  It was about an hour and a half by road, so we chose a tour that would take us by speed-boat on the Saigon River.

The river was quite busy with some lager freight boats usually carrying sand and lots of small local fishing boats.  The river seemed to be quite fast flowing in Saigon, but in some places on the one hour trip, it was like a mill-pond.  At least there was a nice breeze as we sped along!

The Cu Chi tunnels have been opened for tourists to see how the Viet Cong existed underground during their fight against the US troops.  
One of the first thing our guide asked us was whether any of us were from America.  When we all answered "no", she just said "good".
When we watched the documentary video, we knew why!  It was quite ole, but repeatedly talked of the "murdering Americans".
There were examples of the traps that they made to catch the American GI's.

The tunnels themselves were tiny!  Paul went into one of the original sized tunnels and said it was really difficult to hoist yourself in and out because it was so narrow.

The ones we were allowed to go down had been increased to twice the height and width of the original ones.

The whole community lived underground and there were schools, homes and kitchens.  They were quite ingenious and would only cook in the very early hours of the morning. There were special funnels to take the smoke from the chamber to the surface, but the funnels were built at an angle so that the smoke would come to the surface many metres away from the actual site.  This was so that if the Americans saw the smoke and dropped a bomb, it would be too far away to do damage.  They cooked in the early hours so that the enemy may have assumed the smoke was early morning mist.

There was still a tank in the forest for a photo-opportunity!

We could also choose what type of gun to have a go at firing at the driving range.  We all chose AK-47's. The sound from them was absolutely deafening!

Back in Saigon, we went to the War remnants Museum.  It used to be called The Museum of American War Crimes, but they have recently changed the name to be less offensive to tourists from the USA.
The museum was a harrowing experience.  The facts and figures were astounding, but there were many journalists covering the war and some of the actual photographs were disturbingly graphic.  
Here are some of the facts:-

• 3 million Vietnamese were killed, of which 2 million were civilians.
• There were 2 million Vietnamese injured.
• 300,000 people are still unaccounted for.
• There are still 600,000 tonnes of bombs left in the countryside.
• 6.6 million hectares of land are still contaminated with bombs.
• 42135 people have been killed since the war by unexploded bombs.
• 62143 people have been injured since the end of the war by bombs.
• Between 1961 and 1971, 72 million litres of toxic chemicals were sprayed onto the land to try to eliminate the Vietnamese.
• 4.8 million people were exposed to the toxins during the war.

The toxins, and especially one called Agent Orange, is still responsible to this day for deformities in new born babies.  Originally, the deformities were caused by infected mother's breast milk and through the food chain, but it has now been proved that it has caused damage to the DNA, so deformed children continue to be born.
Another stark fact of this war is that during the whole of World War 2, there was a total tonnage of 5 million bombs. In the Vietnam War, there was a staggering 11.3 million tonnes of bombs!

We all were left feeling very subdued by what we had seen in the museum.  It is astounding that a nation that was subject to such horror can be so cheerful and welcoming to Western visitors.

Ride-out!!

Tonight we went for a scooter ride out!  We had booked a trip with XO Tours, who specialise in scooter tours of the city. You just ride as a pillion passenger, so at least don't have to try to navigate the thousands of scooters yourself.  The quirky thing about XO Tours is that they only use pretty young Vietnamese girls as the guides and they all dress in traditional costumes.  They do, however, have male bodyguards who ride as part of the group.  I guess this is not only to protect the girls, but to keep the tourists safe as we were certainly getting away from the normal tourist areas.
They met us outside our hotel and helped us get ready for the ride!

All of the girls were exceptionally pretty and surprisingly feisty!  They had great personalities and were such a good laugh.  Paul's girlie in the forefront of this picture was absolutely hilarious and her and Paul got on like a house on fire!

Setting off was a bit nerve-wracking, especially for Lou and I, but we soon settled into it.  It was great to be part of the mayhem!  It is really amazing how close the scooters get to each other, especially at traffic lights - although, not everyone seems to bother stopping when the lights are red anyway.

Apparently, there are laws of the road, it's just that nobody bothers about them!  You are only supposed to have two people on a scooter, but you regularly see at least four people on them.  It's a bit unnerving to be travelling four or five abreast and suddenly there is someone coming towards you on the wrong side of the road.  But the girls were very capable drivers and we felt very safe.

We were on an evening tour of the city called "The Foodie Tour".  We would be visiting three different venues for food.  None of them were typical tourist places, but all were popular with the local Vietnamese.  Our first stop was for the traditional beef noodle soup.
The venue was just an open kitchen area with little plastic tables and chairs down an alleyway.  Hygiene didn't seem to be particularly high on the agenda, but there were plenty of local people there too and the soup tasted good!  Weirdly, it was easier to eat with the chopsticks than a spoon.

Then we were back on the road to head for the next venue.  We were getting well away from the centre now and it was rush-hour too, there were scooters everywhere! But my guide said that they had never had an accident that she was aware of and she had been in the job for 18 months - till tonight with me on the back!
We were in a queue of slow moving traffic and she was half turning round to talk to me when the guy in front of us stopped suddenly.  She took evasive action, but the scooters hit each other with my foot between them!  No blood or broken bones though, just a very apologetic young girl who was a bit worried about what her boss would say! 

The next place was just like a big plaza with loads of little plastic tables and chairs all over the place.  It probably catered for about 500 people at least!  They put a clay pot on the table with burning embers in and a grill on the top.  Our girls then cooked us some goat (a bit tough) and king prawns (delicious), which had different dips to accompany them.  Some of the dips really have a kick!

Paul Halder's guide then did a traditional dance for a bit of entertainment.  She was incredibly graceful and all the locals stopped to watch her too.

Here's a video of her dancing.

We were soon back on the road and riding through a couple of the poorer districts.  We rode right through the middle of the most amazing shopping area we have ever seen.  Either side of the street was covered with people selling fish, poultry, meat, fruit and vegetables.  But the produce was just spread on sheets on the pavement and all of the fish etc, was still alive!  The fish were flapping, the ducks sat there quacking and the frogs were jumping!  It was an absolute eye-opener.  This is where all the local people buy their food and they only like to buy food which is still alive so that they know it is fresh.  

We then went from one extreme to the other - one of the poorest districts through one of the most affluent.  On the way, we passed an area on the riverside which is a renowned "lover's lane" area.  There are lots of benches for couples to get some "privacy".  As most of the Vietnamese live with three to five generations in the same house, it is difficult for couples to find time to be alone. So this area is where people go together to get time on their own - well, surrounded by other like-minded people and the continuous traffic.
We then stopped in a really affluent area.  Lots of people invest in property as the safest option and there are lots of luxurious flats standing empty.  Inflation is high - 18% - and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Our last venue was again just one a plaza on the side of the busy street, and was even busier with local people.  

This time, the food was a little bit more diverse - frog, quail, squid, clams and scallops.  All of which were really tasty, even if there was more bones than meat on the frog and quail!

Then they brought out the fermented egg - exactly like what you see them attempt to eat on I'm a Celebrity!  It is duck egg, in which the chick has already started to form, so there will be some bones and feathers inside.
Louise and I refused point blank to try any, but both of the Paul's gave it a go.  

My Paul's guide cracked open the top of the egg and drank the fluid from the top.  She then took a small piece of the solid egg, put a couple of leaves on and fed it to Paul.  He said it tasted just like ordinary boiled egg, so Paul Halder had a try too.  Because it hadn't been as repulsive as expected, she got a bigger spoonful for Paul to try.  Just as she was about to feed it to him, I said "Paul, there are feathers this time!".  He quickly changed his mind, so the young girl ate it all instead.  It is considered a delicacy there, but my guide said she would eat it at least once a month.  It is supposed to be especially beneficial to pregnant women.
The beer was free-flowing by then and we were having a great time. The girls got some party games going and showed us how they raised a toast in Vietnam.  We had an absolute ball with these lovely young girls!  All too soon, it was time to head off back to the hotel.  We knew we had to be up at about 6.30am the next day and the intention was to go straight for a shower and bed (you always feel so grubby when you've been out in the city), but we were absolutely buzzing from the great evening we'd had, so it was a few nightcaps in the hotel rooftop bar instead.  I'm sure we'll regret it when the alarm goes off in the morning!

Saigon!

We had a pleasant one hour flight from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.  The city looked massive from the air - it seems so vast!

This city is so different from Hanoi!  You would really think that Saigon is the capital and that Hanoi is just another city.
Saigon is still busy, but the streets are a lot more modern and wider, so it doesn't seem as hectic.  Also, whereas Hanoi was about 80% scooters and so few cars, Saigon seems to be a lot more cosmopolitan, with more cars on the streets and Versace, Louis Vuitton,  Prada and dozens of other designer stores everywhere you look.  There seems to be an absolute energy about this city.
The standard of driving is just the same though and we are still fascinated with watching the traffic!
We had already upgraded to a better hotel - the five-star Caravelle Hotel in the heart of the city centre (District One, which is the only part to be still formally known as Saigon).  Our problem was that our flight home is at 10pm on Friday, so we wanted to organise a late check-out.  It seemed that the best way to do this was to upgrade to a superior room, which allows us certain privileges, one of which is to check out in the evening, but we are also allowed into an exclusive lounge for our breakfast, free cocktails etc.  So we upgraded our upgrade!

Our room is fabulous!  We are on the 23rd floor in a colossal room with fabulous views!  It's going to be a great finale to a wonderful holiday!
We had a wonderful lunch and a couple of cocktails on the rooftop bar, before having a quick explore of the city.

There are some stunning buildings and the skyline is amazing, especially at night when the neon lights are on.

This is the view from our bedroom window!

We had our evening meal at the hotel and it was one of the best meals any of us had ever had!  I wish I had time to post pictures and explanations of all the dishes, but we need to get out and about as our time in this marvellous country is running out.

I will try to add a bit more to this post later, but things will be a bit manic now.  Tonight we go on a "foodie" tour of the city on the back of scooters (heaven help us!), then in the morning we leave at 7am to get a speed boat to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels - so much to do and so little time!

Just a quick "Happy Birthday" to Jane from Louise xxx

And a picture of some orchids for Sue - they are just everywhere- you'd love it!

Not much to say today!

Sorry Mumsie, after yesterday's epic blog, there isn't much to say today as we had a quiet day.
The only excitement  of the morning was when Paul was swimming in the sea and was chatted up by a couple of Russian ladies!  It seems they took a bit of a fancy to him and one of them actually plucked him up when a big wave took him off his feet.  I think she thought she was savbing him from drowning and showed him off to her Russuian friends like a trophy! 
We took the shuttle bus into the city of Danang in the afternoon and went into the market.
It was certainly an experience!  The smell was dreadful, but probably only to us as we aren't used to dried prawns and such like in great big containers for people to get bags of for eating!

We needed to buy some more painkillers for Louise, but trying to explain to a lady on a toiletries stall was a nightmare.  I daren't tell you some of the things she was trying to sell us!  In the end, another old lady dragged us outside to a street vendor, who was selling medicines.  We recognised the name Panadol and think we got painkillers!

Louise had found a new restaurant which had opened recently and was owned by an Irish guy, so we just needed to kill and hour or two before dinner.  We were wandering along the sea front when we came across one particular section, which was a hive of activity.  There were queues of Vietnamese waiting to get in and through the entrance you could see rows and rows of shower cubicles, before you actually reached the beach.  There were people in them washing their hair and having showers.
We assumed it was where the local people could meet, have a shower, chill on the beach and relax.  
We went a little further to a really nice hotel, where there was a bar on the beach and some live entertainment.  Just the place for a cocktail or two and a bit of people watching.
We could see the public beach a bit further down from the private beach we were on and the contrast between the two was tremendous.

In the hotel restaurant you could choose your own lobster or crab for tea - but we were going to the Irish place for a lovely steak!

Not sure how much time I will get to blog tomorrow, as we will be on the move to Saigon!

Mountains, Marines and Mrs Duong

We were up early this morning to be ready for our guide to pick us up at 9 am from outside the hotel.  Jeremy, a young american guy who had been unable to find work in the USA, had come to Vietnam because it is cheap to live.  After a spell teaching English, he bought a couple of old US army jeeps and set up his tour company.  He drove us the short way to the historic Marble Mountains.
The Marble Mountains are a cluster of five marble and limestone hills and are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). 

The only one which is accessible to tourists is Thuy, or Water Mountain.  Jeremy explained that the Vietnamese are obsessed with shiny brand new things and are embarrassed by the old.  So they are very proud of the new elevator they have installed to access part of the mountain - even though you have to climb steps to get to it and even more steps when you get off to be able to access most of the mountain!  We didn't bother with the elevator and climbed the steps - and there were plenty of them!  Poor Louise still has a painful knee, but managed most of the steps, just missing out on a couple more of the steeper sections.  The steps themselves are amazing - and as you can imagine, they are cut from the marble.  But for a nation of people who tend to be quite small, they have big steps - often about 18 inches high.  It's hard work climbing them in the blistering heat!

All of the mountains have lots of caves and tunnels and we were able to explore the caves and see the temples built right into the mountain.  There are a variety of Buddhist and Hindu grottoes in the mountain and it was very busy, with lots of local people visiting to make offerings and burning incense.

Most of the shrines had "guardians" as in the picture above, one on each side of the entrance to protect the Buddha.

There were two elderly Vietnamese ladies at the entrance to the main shrine selling incense.  They were apparently in their seventies, and one of the ladies had jet black teeth.  Apparently, it was from chewing the Betel Root, as black teeth were once considered a sign of beauty.  The other old lady had since tried to bleach her teeth and they were mainly white, but with black edges!

There were burial shrines for some of the senior Buddhist monks, and the height depicted their seniority.  The Buddhist monks try to achieve seven stages of enlightenment.  The two we saw were five stories high, meaning the monk buried in there had achieved five stages in his lifetime.  The idea is that when they are re-born, they are able to start at a higher stage rather than back at stage one.

There were spectacular viewing points at different stages up the mountain of the expanding city of DaNang and the famous china beach.  Louise and I didn't make it this high up, as Jeremy had warned us that there was a section where you had to scramble over slippery rocks, but the Paul's were rewarded with this view!

We then came to the largest chamber of all, in which there were several shrines.  The lights on the rocks are from the sunlight shining through the hole at the top of the cave, it was stunning!

The pagodas are mostly quite new.  They like to pull the old ones down and replace them from time to time!  The colours are created by piecing together small pieces of crockery to form a mosaic.  Apparently, the crockery is not random, but especially made and then blessed, before being broken and used.  You could even see "Made in China" on one of the pieces of crockery!

Of course, we had to give Buddha a belly rub!

The temple below is a very rare entirely wooden structure and was absolutely stunning.  Made entirely from intricately carved mahogany, it is still used by the Buddhist monks daily.

We then started our descent down to the bottom, using a different path to the one we had climbed.  This viewing point showed a small suburb of Danang and Jeremy could point out to us the shack in the middle.  Apparently, all  properties were once like that - a small shack with land all the way around.  He said that bit by bit, the land to either side and to the front would be used to build a tall, thin house, and in many instances, the small shack would still be there surrounded by the newer properties.  He also showed us a photograph from the 1960's and the whole of this area was just barren land.

Bizarrely, this view point highlighted Jeremy's theory that they liked modern things.  They had a modern, shiny coin-operated telescope for the views.  The only problem is, there are no coins in use in Vietnam, so it is totally useless!
We carried on with our descent and it is not easy to see from this picture, but there was an entire family of about 6 or 7 members dressed in identical maroon coloured robes.  They were all carrying food, drink, etc and we were told that they would be coming to celebrate the life of perhaps a Grandparent who may have died recently.  Apparently, they would spend the day on the mountain praying and reminiscing.

Further down the steps (they seemed to be never-ending), there was a local guy with this massive centipede, which he had caught and trapped in a water bottle.  He would fill the bottle with rice wine and let the centipede ferment.  Apparently, it would be a really nice drink eventually!!

Once back down the mountain, Jeremy took us to a local lady for a drink of sugar cane.  She was pressing sugar canes through a mangle type device and gathering the juice, which was then poured over ice - it was amazing!  Nowhere near as sweet as you would expect and really refreshing!

We then continued along the coast to Monkey mountain, but stopped to see a local boat-builder on the way.  He was an elderly guy in his seventies and built the small round boats used by the local fishermen.  He had colluded with the Yanks during the war and because of that was forbidden to ever get a proper job by the government, so this was his only way of getting an income.  Apparently, any higher officials who helped the enemy are still discriminated against to this day with their children and even grand-children not being allowed to attend school!

He showed us how he split the bamboo cane, initially about the size of a drain-pipe, using a cleaver type knife.  Once he had made a split at opposite sides, he then pulled the upper half upwards whilst standing on the lower half in his bare feet!  The whole cane was then split over and over again until he had small strips which he could weave into a mat.

Once the mat was big enough, he would then bind it to the frame and plug any holes with cow dung.  The surfaces would then be varnished several times until fully waterproof.  He could charge about £75 for a boat.

Our final stretch along the coast took us past one of the main fishing villages and there was a flotilla of fishing boats anchored off the coast.  Jeremy said that the whole of the coast line used to have small fishing communities all the way along, but since tourism was now a growing industry, officials had restricted the fisherman to small areas as they did not want the tourists to see the poor fishermen.  They can't seem to grasp that the fishermen are exactly the type of thing that we do want to see!

Then the road climbed and twisted its way up and around the several peaks of Son Tra peninsula, and we stopped at several points to admire the view over the South China Sea. 

Paul took this amazing panoramic photograph from high up the mountain. 

He then sat and had a chat with Confucius!

This is a photo of us in the Jeep.  It was built in 1967 and is one of many left in the country when the Americans pulled out.  Jeremy said he doesn't have too much of a problem getting parts as there were whole warehouses of parts left too.  When he orders something, it usually comes in it's original 1960's wrapping!

We travelled back down Monkey Mountain without seeing a single monkey.  When the Americans arrived, the place was over-run with them.  The Americans would feed and tame them to relieve the boredom.  Once the Marines left, the Vietnamese found it amusing that the monkeys were so tame and used to shoot them for fun!  Then, when they were starving, they would hunt them for food.  So of course, the monkeys are now very afraid of humans, so are not as easily sighted anymore.

Once back in Danang, Jeremy took us for lunch.  We went through a labyrinth of back-streets to a food venue we wouldn't have dreamed of going into ourselves!  There were small tables lined down either side of the room with small stools at each table.  The girls then brought our lunch and Jeremy explained how to eat it.  We took a couple of rice papers and put one of the yellow triangles on it -  they were small pancakes made from eggs and rice flour and fried in a pan.  Each pancake was already filled with some shredded mango, a small piece of pork and a prawn.  We then put in the pork on the stick (looked a bit like a kebab) in the middle of the pancake and pulled the stick out.  We put in more filling of lettuce, cucumber and shredded mango.  You then rolled it up as tight as you could and dipped it into the dish of satay sauce before taking a bite.  It's called Banh Xeo and it is delicious!

 Mrs Duong is renowned for the dish and it is the only thing she ever serves.  A whole community has thrived as a result of her enterprise, with other Banh Xeo eateries opening up next door to take advantage of the 'overflow' from when she is too busy to cater for all her clients.  The neighbours also charge customers a few thousand Dong for them to park their scooters in their yards.

The pancakes are baked continuously over embers on a large stove.  There were girls cutting the cucumber etc. whilst others washed the pots and pans on the floor with the water running into the gutter and the dog licking up any scraps he could find!

This was a view of the restaurant from one end, with a row of basins at the bottom for washing hands.

After our amazing lunch, we carried on along the north coast of DaNang, passing this incredible Dragon Bridge.

We were now heading for Highway One, the main road in Vietnam, but the views were still breath-taking!

Highway One took us to the top of Hai Van Pass where we explored bunkers remaining from the war.  All traffic had no option other than to travel this road, as the mountains were to one side and the sea to the other.  This was the only road connecting the North to the South and all supplies were brought this way.  There were several bunkers for the Americans to try to protect their convoys, but it was tough.  The Vietcong would be hidden on the mountains and impossible to find, but could sit and pick off the American troops at will.

You can easily see the impact holes from shells on the wall of the bunker.  Even after all this time, you could find bullets and shell casings lying around on the ground.  

This is a great shot of a bunker, with Highway One winding around the mountain in the distance - that's where we were heading next!

Many of you will have seen the Top Gear programme, where Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond travelled through Vietnam on scooters.  Clarkson called this stretch one of the best coastal roads in the world - look at the picture below and you can see why!

Luckily, the old jeep wasn't capable of great speeds, so we were quite happy trundling along at a nice sedate pace, although the jeep laboured and back-fired quite a bit!

At the bottom of the mountain, there was a small fishing community in the middle of the peninsula.  The beach looked stunning, but the locals haven't even bothered clearing the shrubs to access it - they're just not interested in that sort of thing!
Because the Hai Van Pass is such a difficult winding road and was having such an adverse effect on the economy, the authorities decided to build a tunnel in recent years, so we went through the 4 mile long tunnel to get back to our side of the mountain.

Once through the tunnel, we turned inland and drove through some craftsman villages and rice paddies.  It was so humbling!  There was quite a large village, off the tourist trail, devoted entirely to cutting slate.
Each family unit had their own workforce of family members.  Massive pieces of slate were brought to the village by truck whereupon they were distributed to each family to be broken down into smaller pieces for different uses.  Much of the slate would become tiles or water features.  The father would sledge-hammer the large boulders, then use an electric saw to cut it up into pieces about the size of an house brick.  Then the women and older children were all sat on the floor, with bare feet, using a hammer and chisel to get the slate to the required size and shape.  They were so precise it was amazing to watch!  Jeremy said they earned about 70p a day for 12 hours work.  

They rarely saw tourists in this area and were fascinated by us, especially the children.  We asked Jeremy if it would be OK to give them some money, but he said 'Why? - Look at them, they are well dressed, well fed and happy.  Would it be right to give a child $1 when it takes her mother a full day to earn that?  They are so excited because for ten minutes, we have brought a glimpse of the life that exists in another part of the world to their village - that is enough for them".  He overpaid them for a small piece of slate  and said that was his way of saying thank you for letting us visit.  It was difficult for us, but we had to respect his advice.

A couple of miles down the road, we saw a farmer ploughing his paddy fields using a water buffalo.  He joked shouting to us to come and help!
I think this was one of my favourite parts of the trip, as in all the villages we passed through, the people would smile and wave and shout at us as though we were the best thing that had happened to them that day - they are a truly amazing nation!

We were soon back into Danang and stuck in the evening rush-hour traffic!

We arrived back at our hotel in time for dinner, covered in dust and grime from head to foot, but having had a day we will remember for a lifetime!