Vietnam adventure in motion

A year flies by fast, doesn't it? This time last year we were in my birthplace; the bustling coastal city, Nha Trang, Vietnam. What an adventure we had, and how much Kien has grown and developed in 1 year is crazy!

Finally, one year later, here is a short film I made of our Vietnam experience.

Vietnam Experience from Lien on Vimeo. Music by Beach House, "Myth".

Here are my postcards from last year.

Blogging is a wonderful thing. It's my virtual scrapbook that I get to share with all my family and friends close by and abroad. Interwebs is cool, Man.

Danang and the Marble Mountains

Where has the time gone? I guess when you're on holiday time has a tendency to slip through your relaxed fingers, although I must admit we've not really had a chance to "relax", as it were. We've been on the go pretty much the whole time during this adventure - so many places to see, so little time!

Training it to Danang

So we hopped on a train again over a week ago, this time bound for Danang. It was a 4:30am start waiting outside our hotel for a taxi to the train station.





We got to the station and waited some more. My poor son was very tired, and he needed lots of cuddling.



The scenery heading north was beautiful and varied. We were on the coast for a bit of the journey, looking out to the South China Sea.





Then we were inland seeing the countryside, mountains, rivers and people.









This is why I wanted to ride the trains as we get to see more of the country and the contrast between big city Vietnam and small towns.

We arrived at our destination at dusk.



From our hotel room we got a great view of the city and two of the bridges over the river.

The Marble Mountains (Ngũ Hành Sơn; "Five elements mountains")

The following day we hired a van (driver included) and headed for Hoi An. We stopped at the Marble Mountains, a cluster of five marble and limestone hills that are named after the five elements (Ngũ Hành) of the ancient oriental philosophy; Kim Sơn (mountain of metal), Mộc Sơn (Mountain of Wood), Thuỷ Sơn (Mountain of Water), Hoả Sơn (Mountain of Fire), and Thổ Sơn (Mountain of Earth).





There are a number of caves, grottos and Buddhist temples on the mountains with natural entrances and tunnels. We took the elevator up the Thuỷ Sơn with the spectacular views to all 4 mountains and the Danang coastline.









There was a beautiful pagoda up here, dating from the seventeenth century.

One cavernous cave housed an entire temple, with Buddhas carved out of the cave's rock. Rays of sunlight streamed from mossy ceiling openings far above and always with the air wafting with the smell of incense. Everything joined with steps of marble amid trees and fluttering butterflies.

This was such a magical place, and the cool mountain breeze was a welcome relief from the heat of the day.

Nha Trang bound

We caught the 6:25am train out of Saigon station (Ga Saigon) on Wednesday bound for Nha Trang. We had tickets for 2 soft sleepers in a four berth compartment.





Despite the trains being a tad old and rundown the sleepers were not too bad. They even had power sockets for us to charge our devices which was a bonus.





They also had carts selling food and drinks coming through regularly, and we purchased some hard boiled eggs which were still steaming hot.





For the majority of our train ride we shared our room with a young mother and her little girl who is only 2 months older than Kien. Man, if we thought Kien was feisty this little girl can sure give him a run for his money. Also when she saw Kien's koala she just wanted it, and after borrowing it for a few minutes to hold she didn't look like she had any intentions of giving it back. Kien couldn't handle seeing someone else with koala, so he went over to her to get it back. There's something cute and morbidly funny about 2 kids who don't speak the same language trying to talk to each other; one saying, "I want my koala back", in Engligh, while the other says, "I want this bear", in Vietnamese, and then since neither can understand each other they resort to pushing and there is a tug of war, and then a smile from one child who proudly exclaims, "I got him! I got koala", and wailing from the other child. Her mother waved a lollipop at Kien and pointed at koala, Kien did the exchange, and all was peaceful for half an hour. Then he decided he wanted koala back, and so he went to get it. The girl sobbed for forty five minutes, and I could hear her getting told off by other people on the train. But once the koala episode was over they were both fine with each other.





It was an interesting journey; seeing the countryside from a different perspective, and the contrast between towns where some have lush patty fields while others are bone dry.











7 hours later we were in Nha Trang. We caught a taxi to my great aunt's place. This is where we met up with my family.





At the front of her house is a little shop, similar to a convenience store, and she sells anything and everything, from lollies and chips to nappies and beer, cigarettes by the carton or packet or individually if you like, and water, juice, and petrol for scooters. Here she is measuring out a litre of fuel for the guy to put in his scooter.

Nha Trang is the same as how I remember it, and of course different at the same time. It's weird being here with my family; this is the first time I've been back to Vietnam with my dad since we jumped on a boat and escaped this place so many moons ago.