The horrors under the Khmer Rouge

On Monday 18th February we had a day trip to Tuol Sleng Prison. S-21 (which stands for "security office") or Tuol Sleng was the most secret organ of the Khmer Rouge (KR) or Angkar's regime. It was KR's premier security institution, specifically designed for interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkar elements.

In 1962, S-21 was a high school called "Ponhea Yat" High School, named after a Royal ancestor of King Sihanouk. During the Lon Nol regime, the name was changed to Tuol Svay Prey High School. Behind the school fence, there were two wooden buildings with thatched roofs, which were constructed before 1970 as a primary school. Today, all of these buildings are called Tuol Sleng and form part of the museum of genocidal crimes. "Tuol Sleng" literally means a poisonous hill or a place on a mound to keep those who bear of supply guilt [towards Angkar].

S-21 is located in Tuol Svay prey sub-district, south of Phnom Penh and covers an area of 600 x 400 metres. During the KR regime, it was enclosed by two folds of corrugated iron sheets, all covered with dense, electrified barbed wire, to prevent anyone from escaping the prison. Houses around the four school buildings were used as administration, interrogation and torture offices. The torture methods used included acid, being submerged into a vat of water and having fingernails removed.

The KR judicial process for minor or political crimes began with a warning from Angkar. People receiving more ythan two warnings were sent for "re-education", which meant near certain death. People were often encourage to confess to Angkar for their pre-revolutionary lifestyles and crimes, which usually included some kind of free-market activity, having had contact with a foreign source such as a US missionary or international relief or government agency or contact with any foreigner or the outside world, and they would be told that Angkar would forgive them and wipe the slate clean. This meant being taken away to a place such as Tuol Sleng or the Killing Fields for torture and/or execution.

According to reports found at the Tuol Sleng Archive, approximately 12,500 prisoners came in and out of the prison between 1975 to June 1978. Those who confessed were sent to the killing fields to be murdered. Those who did not confess were tortured to death. The victims in the prison were taken from all parts of the country and from all walks of life. They were of different nationalities and included Vietnamese, Laotians, Thai, Indians, Pakistanis, British, Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians but the vast majority were Cambodians. The prisoners consisted of workers, farmers, engineers, technicians, intellectuals, professors, teachers, students and ministers and diplomats. Whole families of the prisoners, including their newborn babies were taken there en masse to be exterminated. Behind one of the school buildings, 300 skulls and bones of those prisoners tortured to death were found, some of which are on display there.

The duration of imprisonment ranged from two to four months, although some important policical prisoners were held between six and seven months. Prisoners were kept in small cells and shackled with chains fixed to the walls or concrete They were required to ask permission from the prison guards in advance of going to the toilet in small buckets kept in their cells, otherwise they were beaten or received 20 to 60 strokes with a whip as punishment. Bathing was irregular, allowed only once every two or three days and sometimes once a fortnight.

In each cell, the regulations were posted on small pieces of blackboard:

1. You must answer accordingly to my questions. Do not turn them away.
2. Do not try to hide the facts by making pretexts of this and that. You are strictly prohibited for you to contest me.
3. Do not be a fool for you are a chap who dares to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Do not tell me either about your immoralities or the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing. Sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Do not make pretexts about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your jaw of traitor.
9. If you do not follow all the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
10.If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.

Anyone breaching these rules was severely beaten.

The number of workers in the complex totalled 1,720. Within each unit, there were several sub-units composed of male and female children, ranging from 10 to 15 years of age. These included young children trained and selected by the KR to work as guards at S-21. Most of them started out as normal before growing increasingly evil. They were exceptionally cruel and disrespectful towards the prisoners and their elders. Workers were also replaced at the end of each year and then murdered, as after being in the prison for 12 months, they were considered to have too much knowledge about the regime. The horrors were finally exposed when the Vietnamese marched into Phnom Penh in 1979 and the KR fled to the countryside. Before they did so, they murdered the remaining prisoners who were shackled by their feet to their cells. 12 prisoners who worked in and around the prison managed to hide and escape.

After the prison we headed to one of the Killing Fields (Choeng Ek) located about 30 minutes drive from the city. The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia (about 19000) where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the KR. The massacres ended in 1979 when Vietnam invaded the country (they had been provoked by Cambodia) who tried to claim some of land around the Vietnamese border as their own) and toppled the KR. Pol Pot fled to the countryside near the Thai border where he stayed until he died in 1998 of natural causes. Estimates of the number of dead are nearly 3 million of a population of around 7 million. At the Killing Field we visited, 126 mass graves were found and 86 of them have been excavated. The skulls are kept in a temple which is at the entrance to the grounds and the holes were they were found are kept empty. On the paths around the holes, every year the rains wash away the soil and new bones and clothing come to the surface. We also saw the Killing Tree, which was a tree with a wide tree trunk and the KR killed young babies by smashing their heads against it. The KR would also use palm leaves, which had very sharp serrated edges, to cut people's heads off (pretty grim).

Our tour guide for the day was very good and was six years old at the time the KR took over Phnom Penh. His parents worked for a foreign organisation and were, therefore, on the KR's hit list. His parents sent him and his 6 siblings to a labour camp and told them to tell the KR that his parents were dead (otherwise this would mean a fate no certain than death). For 4 years he was forced to work 12 hour days farming the land and was only given a small bowl of watery rice to eat every day. Every month they had to go to re-education lessons. His father died of malaria in one of the camps but his mother survived and they were reunited after the war.

He told us that one of his neighbours used to be an officer of the KR and he wanted to kill him for what he had done (the fact he had three kids stopped him). The shocking thing is that in 1994, thousands of KR soldiers surrendered in a government amnesty and Pol Pot's deputies became members of the government. They were able to walk around freely in expensive cars and live in expensive houses until November 2007, when they were arrested on genocide charges. After years of debate about funding, a war crimes tribunal was set up in 2007 to try surviving KR leaders. Although the surviving leaders were arrested in November and are currently in prison, it is unlikely that their trial will start before 2010 (funding for the tribunal is expected to run out in May this year) and many Cambodians fear that they will never be tried before they die. The other shocking fact is the the current King's father - Sihanouk - supported Pol Pot and his regime and was responsible for granting amnesty to some of the leaders.

It was quite a harrowing day for us and after the trip, we were all very subdued. I can't understand what sort of dictator would kills millions of people in such a horrific way - Pol Pot himself was a former teacher - but there will always be psychotic people around. If it hadn't been for the Vietnamese invading, he probably would have wiped out the entire population. As a result, approximately 50 per cent of the Cambodia's population is under 18 years of age (life expectancy is 57 years old). The current population is around 14 million.

On the road to Cambodia

On Sunday 18th February, we took the public bus early in the morning over to Cambodia, which was a pleasant experience. They gave us food and showed us a DVD, although the subtitles were half in English and half in Spanish, so watching it was abandoned. We paid an extra US$4 bribe fee in addition to the US$20 visa fee, so that our passports would be processed quickly. (According to a survey conducted by Transparency International, a Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog, nearly three-quarters of Cambodians reported paying a bribe to receive a public service in the past year and more than half were pessimistic that endemic corruption would lessen in the near future).

The Cambodian border guards operate on a system of trust, as you hand in your passports but they do not check whether they belong to you. We then boarded a bus to have lunch at a cafe on the border and an hour later our passports were returned to us by the hostess of the bus!

The driving is not as crazy in Cambodia as it is in Vietnam and there aren't as many motorcycles trying to mow you down. Cambodia has suffered a bloody history over the last century. In 1866, it was colonized by the French and then in 1942 by the Japanese who defeated the French who left to fight in Europe. in 1945, the Japanese were forced to retreat from Cambodia when the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1946, the French returned to Cambodia to rule again. Subsequent years saw the Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh fight the French in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. In 1953, Prince Sihanouk introduced civil service for all Khmer students and by 1954, Cambodia declared independence. The Viet Minh were, however, still prevalent in Cambodia.

Dap Chhoun, the leader of the Cambodian army, was determined to overthrow King Sihanouk but failed. The King instead granted Dap Chhoun power over Siem Riep, Kampong Thom and Battambang province. For the next 10 years, Cambodia remained relatively peaceful under King Sihanouk's reign. In 1969, the US began annti-communist bombing raids in Cambodia and Laos, alongside the war with Vietnam. In 1970, General Lon Nol, leader of the Cambodian army, held a successful military coup against the King, who then retreated to China. From there, Sihanouk urged the Cambodian people to fight Lon Nol's army with the support of the Viet Kong and Chinese troops. Lon Nol, however, had the support of allies from Thailand, South Vietnam and the USA and by 1973, he had defeated the Viet Kong.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, comprising mainly jungle rebels, were becoming stronger and wanted to gain power over Cambodia. Fighting continued between the Khmer Rouge and Lon Nol's armies until the US and the South Vietnamese and the Thais pulled out of Cambodia in 1975, whereupon Lon Nol's army fell to the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, victoriously marching through the streets and promising peace for Cambodia. Peace was short lived, as over the next 4 years, the Cambodians would suffer under Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, and his brutal social restructuring programme. He hoped to create an agrarian system which had everybody working in the fields. The Khmer Rouge took a census of every citizen's job, family and possessions. The calendar year was turned back to "Year Zero". Educated people were considered to be the enemy and were mercilessly tortured and killed in the numerous killing fields around Cambodia. The Cambodian Army were forced to hand over their weapons and possessions with the promise of a new way of life. Instead, they were herded into trucks, taken into the jungle and brutally murdered. It is estimated that between 1975 and 1979, over 3 million people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

Our first stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, the capital city. According to legend, the city was founded when an old woman named Penh found several Buddha images on the banks of the Mekong River and decided to place them on a nearby hill. This hill would later become the location of Wat Phnom. The city became the capital of Cambodia in the 1430s, when the capital was moved from Angkor to increase trade opportunities and put some distance from the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand). During the 16th century, Phnom Penh's access to trade made it a regional power but then its location became vulnerable from the Thais and Vietnam, until the French took over in 1863. The city stands at the confluence of the Tonle Sap, Tonle Bassac and Mekong Rivers.

In the evening we took a cyclo tour around the city (see photos), where we saw the Royal Palace (built in 1866), the Independence Monument (built in 1954 to celebrate Cambodia's independence from French rule and which now serves as a monument to Cambodia's war veterans). It was Richard's birthday (one of the guys on our tour) and we had a great meal in a restaurant. I really like the Cambodian curries - they taste much better than Thai curries. Afterwards we headed to a karaoke bar, where we hired a private room for a few hours and sang to our heart's content. I am quite tuneless at the best of times but after a couple of hours I must have sounded like a cat being strangled, but no one seemed to mind, as there were worse than me!

Cu Chi Tunnels

After our adventurous dinner on Friday we headed to the backpackers' area for more drinks and a bit of dancing but Karen and I were quite restrained and back at the hotel for 1.30am (with a craving for fried rice!). We were leaving at 8.30am to do a day trip to Cu Chi , about 75km away from Ho Chi Minh. Blair (our guide) saw us off in the morning but he was looking very much the worse for wear, as he had left the bar at 4am. Oddly he told us that he had been mugged - he had been propositioned by some Vietnamese women when he was walking back to the hotel and before he knew it, his wallet was missing. They suddenly found it but his money was missing. None of us were really sure why he told us, I mean it is highly embarrassing being your guide and being pickpocketed when you are so wasted leaving a bar at 4am. Plus he didn't even take any of his own advice - ie his wallet wasn't even in his money belt! It all sounded a bit dodgy too me.We haven't been that impressed with him as our guide. I think he has a bit of a drink problem and he hasn't a clue how to take charge. We almost feel as if we should be looking after him!

The tunnels of Cu Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district and are part of a much larger network of tunnels which underlie much of the country (see second picture of model tunnels). The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War and were the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnams' base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used by NLF guerillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems were important to the NLF in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually persuading the Americans into withdrawal.

The tunnels are made of clay, very narrow (on average 80cm by 1 metre) and extend over 200km (see photo - demonstration of how small the entrance is!). There are three levels, at 3m, 8m and 10m and various dead ends and exits into the Saigon River. For the NLF, life in the tunnels was difficult. Air, food and water were scarce (with no light in the tunnels) and the tunnels were infested with ants, poisonous centipedes, spiders and mosquitoes. Most of the time, guerrillas would spend the day in the tunnels working or resting and come out only at night to scavenge supplies, tend their crops or engage the enemy in battle. Sometimes, during periods of heavy bombing or American troop movement, they would be forced to remain underground for many days at a time. Sickness was rampant among the people living in the tunnels, especially malaria, which accounted for the second largest cause of death next to battle wounds. A captured NLF report suggests that at any given time half of a NLF unit had malaria and that “one-hundred percent had intestinal parasites of significance.” In spite of these hardships, the NLF managed to wage successful campaigns against a conscripted army that was technologically far superior.

The Americans recognized the advantages which the NLF held with the tunnels, and accordingly launched several major campaigns to search out and destroy the tunnel system. Trap doors lead from the jungle floor down to the tunnels and as they were camouflaged, they were almost undetectable. Operation Crimp began on January 7th 1966, with B-52 bombers dropping 30-ton loads of high explosive onto the region of Cu Chi, effectively turning the once lush jungle into a pockmarked moonscape. Eight thousand US troops combed the region looking for any clues of NLF activity. The operation was, for the most part, unsuccessful. On the occasion when troops found a tunnel, they would often underestimate its size. Rarely would anyone be sent in to search the tunnels, as it was so hazardous. Besides being too small for most Western men to fit through, the tunnels were often rigged with explosive booby traps or stake pits. The two main responses in dealing with a tunnel opening were to flush the entrance with gas or water to force the guerillas into the open, or to toss a few grenades down the hole and “crimp” off the opening. The clever design of the tunnels along with the strategic use of trap doors and air filtration systems rendered American technology ineffective.

The tunnels have been preserved by the Vietnamese government and turned into a war memorial park. We crawled for about 50 metres up and down one part of the tunnel system (see photo of me coming out of the tunnel), but the tunnels have been made larger to accommodate the somewhat fatter western tourists and there are low-power lights to make traveling through them easier. It did not feel too claustrophobic but I would hate to imagine what it would have been like during the war. I also had a try at shooting an AK-47 rifle, which was used by the NLF during the war (see photo). It cost US$1.3 per bullet, with a minimum of 5 bullets. The guy showing us how to use the gun was impressed with my skills, and I managed to hit the target (a red spot on a cow) on my first shot. Not bad for a shooting novice!

This evening we had happy hour cocktails in the bar of the Sheraton hotel. It is on the 23rd floor and has amazing views over the city (see photos). It was our last dinner in Vietnam - boo hoo, but we head into Cambodia by bus tomorrow.

Sizzling Saigon

Karen and I spent most of the day on Thursday 14th February having fittings with the tailors and then having to go back again because the size wasn't quite right. In between the fittings, we somehow managed to acquire two pairs of trousers and another dress! All the more amazing was the time it took them to make what we wanted. We ordered the dress at 3pm and we had our first fitting by 7.30pm. All this frenzied buying did make us feel a bit guilty though, as some of the owners of the smaller shops don't pay their shop keepers particularly well. One girl works 7 days a week, 12 hours a day and only gets paid US$4 per week. She seemed quite content with life though, although when we went back on the Friday morning to pick up the finished clothes, she wasn't very pleased, as her boyfriend had gone home rather than spend Valentine's Day with her. His excuse was that he was tired after a hard days' work (he is a painter).

They do celebrate Valentine's Day in Vietnam but as most of the locals cannot afford to go to nice restaurants, a lot of them spent the evening at the noodle stalls with a bowl of noodles and a nice red rose. We also saw couples on their motorbikes off out for the evening in convoy. Karen and I ended up having a nice dinner - we were both feeling a bit sorry for ourselves, like a couple of sad singletons. I gave her a bunch of flowers to cheer her up - only 15p from the market! Maybe that is why our buying went out of control in Hoi An.

On Friday morning we took a flight from Danang (the nearest airport to Hoi An) to Ho Chi Minh City, where it was sizzling hot when we got off the plane (over 30 degrees). The toilets at Ho Chi Minh airport (and the airport itself) were spotless, which gave me a good vibe about the city itself (apart from the fact that the sun was out and we could put our shorts and shades on). In 1998 Ho Chi Minh Citywas 300 years old. From the 1st to the 6th century, the city was part of the Funan empire until it was absorbed by the Kambuka peoples of the Chenla empire, then the Khmer Empire of Angkor until the 15th century.

The Vietnamese people first occupied the region in the 1670s and in the 18th century, the area was taken over by Nguyen Anh, Vietnam's Nguyen lord based in Hue, and renamed "Sai Gon" after the kapok tree. After the Tay Son rebellion in 1772, Nguyen Anh made Saigon his interim capital and bricked the whole settlemeent into a walled fortress. After quelling the rebellion in 1802, he returned to Hue with French assistance as the new emperor Gia Long and started the last feudal dynasty. Saigon remained the administrative centre in the south. French traders and missionaries settled in the city in the early 19th century but in 1861 the French finally seized Saigon. The 1862 Treaty of Saigon declared the city to be the capital of French Cochin China (the southern third of Vietnam) and a vast public works programme began with Saigon becoming known as the Pearl of the Orient). The nationalist movement was fuelled by the French occupation and the Viet Minh mobilised against the Japanese who occupied Vietnam during World War II. On September 2nd 1945, President Ho Chi Minh formally declared the independence of Vietnam from the French and the Japanese. British interference in the south resulted in the overthrow of the new Viet Minh government in Saigon and the return of the French. In October 1945 the US transported 13,000 French troops into Saigon and military assistance to the French increased. 30 years of war followed.

In 1954, the Viet Minh finally defeated the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Ngo Dinh Diem became President of the Republic of South Vietnam with the support of the US and refused to hold reunification elections which were called for under the Geneva Agreement signed in 1954. Saigon became the military centre for the US during the Vietnam war until final victory by the Ho Chi Minh campaign on 30 April 1975. After Vietnam was reunified in 1975, Saigon was formally renamed Ho Chi Minh after the President and is currently its largest city.

In the afternoon we went to the Reunification Palace, which was built in 1871 and named Norodom Palace. It was used as the colonial mansion of the French Governor of Indochina and in 1954 President Ngo Dinh Diem took it over as his Presidential Palace. In 1962 it was damaged extensively in an assassination attempt on Diem's life by two Saigon pilots and subsequently demolished. The present building was built and named the Independence Palace by Diem. It was renamed the Reunification Palace after tanks smashed through the front gates on 30 April 1975 and Saigon surrendered to Ho Chi Minh's National Liberation Front soldiers.

The group took an evening cyclo tour around the city. The city is really bustling and there are a few department stores and posh shops! We saw the Opera/Municipal Theatre, Notre Dame Cathedral (built in 1877-1883 from materials imported from France - Vietnam has the second largest Catholic minority in Asia after the Philippines) and the General Post Office (built in the 1880s and inside are original paintings of Saigon and environs and one of Ho Chi Minh. The ceiling was designed by Gustav Eifel) (See photos).

Dinner was at a restaurant which specialised in barbecue meats, except they did not only serve beef, chicken and pork but weird and wonderful things such as ostrich, kangaroo, crocodile, rat, snake, worms, crickets and scorpions (see photos). We got a mix of everything other than snake (they had run out) and worms - I went for boring old fish, as I wasn't really sure whether I would be up for eating something different or a whole dish of creepy crawlies. I did actually try some of the ostrich (delicious), kangaroo (a bit too gristly), crocodile (a cross between chicken and squid - a bit too chewy) and surprisingly, rat (which I never thought I would). The rat was quite bony and had an odd taste. I'm afraid I wasn't adventurous enough to try the deep fried scorpion (which was not very tasty) and the deep fried crickets (which were tasty but were more like the size of locusts). Apparantly in Cambodia you can eat tarantula salad but I can't imagine I will be tempted to eat that.

I can't believe how many motorbikes there are in Ho Chi Minh - the streets are full of them and there are probably more motorbikes than there are people living here. Crossing the road is interesting - you have to walk in a group and hope that the motorbikes drive around you. At least they are a bit more obedient at obeying red traffic lights than they are in Laos.

Tantalising tastes and more clothes

We were woken up about 7.30pm earlier this morning by music blasting out of someone's sound system, as if we were expected to jump out of bead and head to an early morning disco. We couldn't work out if it was coming from the hotel or from the karaoke bar around the corner where some of the group went last night. Luckily we had to be at the Dao Tien restaurant, which was running our cookery class, at 9am. The restaurant is supported by Project Indochina, an Australian aid organisation dedicated to the welfare of disadvantaed and disabled children in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It is owned by an Australian and managed by two local residents. All profit made by the restaurant is used to fund various projects carried out by Project Indochina, including support for institutions such as orphanages, centres for physically and intellectually disabled children, schools and homeless centres. You could tell the place was owned by a western person, as the toilets were spotless and smelt nice!

Tien, one of the restaurant managers, took us around the local market to show us some of the ingredients used in Vietnamese cookery. The market is huge and there are stalls selling live ducks and chickens, fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables, rice, spices and fresh noodles and general household goods (see photos). It was heaving with locals shouting at each other (the Vietnamese have not acquired any of the Lao people's mannerisms, such as their chilled out nature). A few of the ladies in the market kept asking Tien if I was Vietnamese. A lot of the older generation do not like foreigners taking their photos, as they think that all foreigners are American, and it reminds them too much of the Vietnam war. They didn't seem to mind me taking their photo - probably because I looked like one of the locals. The older ladies who have stalls in the market chew betel leaves, which over the years stains your mouth red and turns your teeth black. It numbs the mouth and is addictive. You could buy it from the market, but I wasn't tempted. I was also hoping that bird flu hadn't reached Vietnam, as there were a lot of women walking around with several live chickens in their hands.

After about an hour we returned to the restauant and Karen and I were the only ones having the cooking lesson. The first dish was Hoi An Pancake, which is a type of omelette with shrimps and pork and tasted delicious. We both had a go at making a pancake ourselves but failed at flipping it properly. The chef then showed us how to cook braised eggplant with minced meat cooked in a clay pot, sweet and sour fish soup and sauteed beef with pepper and onion, all of which we had for our lunchtime meal (see photos). The food was so good that we recommended the course to others in the group.

I am not sure if it was the feel good factor of having eaten such a good lunch or the fact that the sun came out, as Karen and I were suddenly overcome by a desire to have more clothes made. We found a couple of other tailors to make two more tops and a beige corderoy jacket. There must have been a reason why Karen and I were sharing a room on this trip (apart from the fact that we are both English) because we like shopping in equal measure and seem to encourage each other to buy stuff which we don't need. Until I get back to some hard graft at home and start earning some money, I will have to have a temporary labotomy to ensure that all brain cells related to the enjoyment of shopping and mindless purchases are eradicated! But then again, that would be completely boring.....

I had a fitting at one of the tailors from earlier. A couple of the items have to go back for alterations and I am not sure about the look of one of the tops. The only drawback about having clothes tailored is that they fit at the precise moment in time you buy them and there is no leeway for putting on a pound or two without the risk of bursting out of the seams. No more dumplings for me. More fittings tomorrow - hooray.

I swear that Karen and I must have "mug" or something similar written on our foreheads, as whilst we were walking through the market, a lady asked us if we wanted a manicure for US$1. What a bargain, why not? Of course, what we didn't realise was that her upselling talents were so great that she managed to persuade us to have a head massage and a foot scrub as well! I think it was a self-taught style of massage, ie completely random and all over the place. Someone wrote in her comment book that the massage was better than Thai massage, which makes me wonder what dubious establishment she had been to before.

I just love Hoi An.

Sun in Hoi An

Karen and I did not manage to get to bed until 3.30am this morning and we woke up at 7.15am, rather bleary eyed and dreading the bus journey to Hoi An. A few of our group went to a bar after dinner and when we returned to our hotel in Hue, Karen and I decided that we would go back to the bar to carry on the party. We chatted to an Irish guy and a couple of Aussie guys who were touring around Vietnam for a couple of weeks as they were having a mid life crisis and had left their obedient wives at home! They were very generous with their drinks but even in my drunken state I whipped them at pool wth my hustling skills. The guys (including the guys from our group when I played them earlier in the evening) were a bit embarrassed losing to a girl. Karen said that I was very entertaining though, as I was determined to show them my new Tai Chi skills which Tam had shown us earlier in the day on the motorbike tour. Apparently I was very good at it, which may give me the incentive to take it up myself (good for the body and the soul).

I only had a minor hangover today, which I was quite pleased about. We have been quite restrained since the tour started, probably because the early starts and long travelling days would have been hell feeling rough. On the way to Hoi An (a 4 hour bus journey), we drove through a mountain pass and arrived in glorious sunshine and a feeling of complete euphoria. We all cheered and peeled off the various layers we had been wearing since arriving in Vietnam. My arms have finally seen the light.

Just before Hoi An we went to Ngu Hanh Son or Marble Mountains whch are 9km from the central DaNang city. It is a famous sightseeing spot which is on the list of Vietnamese National Cultual Sites. There are five mountains named: Kim Son (Metal Mountain), Moc Son (Wood Mountain), Thuy Son (Water Mountain), Hoa Son (Fire Mountain) and Tho Son (Earth Mountain). On one of the mountains we went to see the Huyen Vi caves and the Quan The Am pagoda, which is set on the Coco river. In the caves, buddhas and small temple buildings have been carved out of stone (see photos) and monks live in/use the temples and the pagoda (see photos).

Hoi An was originally known as the Fai Fo area, was founded as a port in the 15th century and was established as a trading centre dealing with merchants from China, Japan, Holland, France and Portugal. The town remained a very flourishing and busy port until the 19th century, at which time it was eclipsed by nearby Danang as a centre of commerce. The town was renamed Hoi An in 1954 and in 1999 it was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hoi An is renowned for its numerous tailors and is shoppers' heaven. The streets are lined with tailors' shops but it gets a bit annoying whenwomen chase you up the street to ask you to have something made from them, on the basis that it is Tet and a purchase is good for business for the remainder of the year (hmmm, it's a shame I am not a more sympathetic soul). I am having a couple of dresses, a pair of trousers, a top and a dressing gown made. I know I can make them myself with my own sewing machine and the hundreds of patterns I have got back at home, but it is cheap and I can't do the embroidery myself. It is also much better to let someone sew sequins and beads on a dress than strain my own eyesight to do it.

There are also a number of art shops selling lacquer art (for which Vietnam is renowned) and oil paintings. I bought some nice watercolour prints in Hanoi but I have not seen anything similar here. My first impressions are that Hanoi is much more of a shopping mecca, although what you can buy in Hoi An is a bit more upmarket and it has the best fruit and vegetable market I have ever seen. Still, being the shopaholic that I am, I am sure that the pile of souvenirs will grow. I think I now have more luggage with me than when I set off from England. I hope there is enough room on the liveaboard when I get to the Maldives.

Tomorrow I am doing a Vietnamese cookery course where we will cook four dishes. I am looking forward to it, although I prefer Thai food, as it is much spicier. I am sure a few stray chillies will find their way into the frying pan. One thing I am pleased about though is that the tailor took my measurements and I dont' appear to have gained any inches. I needn't have worried so much about my expanding waistline after all. Specialities in Hoi An include Cao Lau, rice flour noodles with bean sprouts, pork bits and a light sauce and Banh Bao (White Rose), a seafood dumpling with crunchy onion topping. I tried them at lunchtime and they were very tasty (athough we won't be making any of those on the course).

Hue we go

Karen (my room mate) and I had all good intensions of spending a few hours on Sunday morning doing something educational and cultural, so we headed to the Revolutionary Museum, which gives an insight into Vietnam's long struggle for independence against the French, the Americans and various other local tyrants. We arrived just after 11am, only to discover that the museum shuts for lunch at 11.45am. We raced around, believing that we had a sufficient amount of time to cover enough of the exhibits, but at around 11.25am we were thrown out of the building, as the staff wanted to have their lunch. Obviously food is more important than keeping the customers happy!

Luckily a lot of the exhibits were similar to what we had seen in the Hanoi Hilton prison and the Ho Chi Minh Museum, so we did not feel so guilty for cutting short our museum visit. As we were coming to the end of the Tet holiday period, the lure of seeing a few more shops open was far too great. We bought ourselves some lovely bamboo rice bowls, plates and serving bowls, which I have never seen before and wethen went straight to the post office to have it all boxed up ready to be shipped back home. We are now well acquainted with the inns and outs of the Vietnamese postal system, as we were there for over an hour but I have no idea why it took so long (probably because the woman behind the counter was sick of the sight of us and preferred to serve other people instead of us or to count the daily takings which she kept in a draw. This happens everywhere in Vietnam. Shopkeepers or stall holders keep their money in an unlocked draw or a tin box. Robberies must not be common). Anyway, afterwards we wandered why we had put ourselves through the trauma of doing so, as whilst it cost 22 pounds to buy the stuff, it cost 28 pounds to send it all back (it would have been half the price to send it by sea but I don't think I could have waited the 3 to 6 months it would have taken to arrive back in the UK). After all, the whole point of buying the bowls and plates was for my dinner parties to show off my new Thai cooking skills. Fingers crossed it all arrivs, as I don't fancy having to deal with the Vietnamese Post Office to claim damages.

We caught the 7pm overnight train to Hue, which would take 13 hours. There isn't much to do on these train journeys but luckily I had my DVD and a large collection of DVDs which I had acquired in Hanoi to keep us occupied. We decided to watch The Killing Fields, which I had never seen before, to give us a much better perspective on Cambodia's history when we go there in a few days. I don't, however, think that that film will prepare us for the sights we will see there.

We arrived in Hue on Monday 11th February, went straight to our hotel and then embarked on a motobike tour of the city. Hue was the capital of Vietnam from 1744 when the Nguyen lords controlled all of southern Vietnam from the city. The dynasty of the Nguyen family lasted from 1802 when Nguyen Anh defeated rebels to control the city until 1945, when the last emperor abdicated to an envoy sent by Ho Chi Minh. The city was severely damaged in the 1968 Tet offensive during the Vietnam war when house-to-house fighting lasted for weeks.

My driver was a bit of a speed demon and I don't think he liked being near the back, so he would reve up the engine and we would overtake everyone else. I held on for dear life. It was an action packed day. We went through rural villages past rice paddy fields (see photos). We visited The Imperial Citadel, which sits on the northern banks of the Perfume River (see photo). Construction started in 1804 and took 28 years to complete and it was the royal residence of the kings of Vietnam. During the Indochina and Vietnam wars, many of the the original buildings were destroyed and the area is currently under reconstruction.

We also headed to the Tu Duc Tomb. Tu Duc (1829 to 1883) was independent Vietnam's last emperor (1847 to 1883). He served as the fourth of the thirteen Nguyen Dynasty's emperors and had about 140 wives and countless concubines. He did not have any children, as he was sterile. One would imagine that his body is buried under the giant mausoleum on the site but when the French tried to exhume the body to steal the treasure buried with him, they discovered that the coffin was empty! Apparently the body is buried elsewhere but no one knows where, as the gravediggers were beheaded after the job was done and the last remaining person who knew where the burial site was, was poisoned. What a pleasant way to meet your maker.

We had a short boat ride on the Perfume River and visited one of the city's many pagodas (see photo). Lunch was a delicious vegetarian meal in a nunnery (see photo) - this was the best Vietnamese food we have had so far. We also saw how incense sticks are made (see photo - the woman rolls a type of cinammon paste onto the different coloured incense sticks). What really made the trip for us was Tam, our guide who spoke excellent English but who had somehow picked up all the English colloquialisms and a sense of humour to go with it. He showed us some of his Tai Chi moves and had us in fits of laughter. He definitely deserved his tip. When he asked me about Vernon, I told him he was working hard at home. His response was that I was a very clever girl, as a boyfriend at home gave you many more possibilities - what I meant by that I don't really know!

Hairy in Hanoi

I find Vietnam's history quite fascinating. Legend has it that Vietnam's origin lay in the harmonious union of Lac Long Quan, King of the Sea, and Au Co, Princess of the Mountains. Unfortunately real life was not so paradisical, as Vietnam's early history is characterised by a nearly continuous struggle for autonomy. First came an entire millenium of Chinese domination, which was finally thrown off in the 9th century. In the 19th century Vietnam was occupied by the French, whose rule lasted until World War II, when the country was invaded by Japan. At the end of the war, the predominantly Communist Viet Minh, which led the resistance movement against the Japanese, declared the country's independence. Pro-independence forces, dominated largely by the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, resisted French domination during and after World War II.

Ho Chi Minh's declaration of Vietnamese independence in 1945 sparked violent confrontations with the French, culminating in the French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The Geneva Accords in 1954 left Vietnam divided into two zones - a Communist north and a US supported anti-Communist south led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Free elections should have been held across the country in 1956 but Diem reneged on the plan (Ho Chi Minh seemed likely to win) and instead consolidated his power in various ways, including fixing a referendum. His government embraced Western powers.

Due to political and ideological opposition, the USA, who had been a covert presence since at least 1945, and other countries committed combat troops in 1965. The Paris Peace Agreements, signed in 1973, provided an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of US troops, signalling a famous victory for Ho Chi Minh. Saigon eventually capitulated to the Communist forces on 30 April 1975. Vietnam then found itself at loggerheads with Khmer Rouge forces along the Cambodian borders. A protracted round of fighting eventually saw China enter the fray in support of Cambodia and the killings continued until the UN brokered a deal. Vietamese forces pulled out of Cambodia in 1989. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 caused Vietnam and Western nations to improve relations. Whilst Vietnam still remains a Communist country, its current ideology is more akin to a developing capitalist economy and Vietnamese are free to travel abroad.

The official origins of Hanoi go back to the year 1010. According to legend, whilst King Ly Thai To was in his royal barge on the Red River (which runs through Hanoi), he saw a golden dragon fly up towards the heavens. This was a good omen, so he moved his court from Hoa Lu to here, renaming his new capital city, Thang Long, "City of the Rising Dragon". In 1831, Emperor Tu Duc changed the name of the capital to "Ha Noi" ("City in a bend of the River").

From 1010 until 1802, it was the political centre of an independent Vietnam with a few brief interruptions. It was eclipsed by Hue during the Nguyen Dynasty as the capital of Vietnam but served as the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam.

The first thing you notice about Hanoi is how many motorcyles and scooters there are on the road. Every person must have one. You have to be really careful when crossing roads, as the drivers somehow don't see you, they don't stop at pedestrian crossings and they have a habit of not stopping at lights. A few times I have nearly scared myself to death when I have had a near miss when I was not looking where I was going. The other thing we noticed about Hanoi was that as it is the Ted holiday, the whole place has shut down for four days. There are a few cafes and shops open but we have taken to wandering past streets of shutters (you can't even do any window shopping!).

We spent the whole of Friday 8th February walking in and around the Old Quarter of Hanoi, aka the 36 Streets. This area has existed for over 1000 years and was known as the Venice of the Far East by early explorers and traders, due to the constant flooding. From the13th century, distinct guild areas were set up. Streets are named after the original merchandise (eg Hang Bong, Hang Gai - "Hang" means selling). The various streets started out as villages, usually specialising in one particular craft or product. Today there are about 100,000 people in 100 hectares, giving it one of the highest population densities in the world. It is probably just as well that a lot of the shops were closed, as I can imagine this part of town to be really overwelming with the choice available.

On Friday evening we went to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, where we saw an interesting (if too long) show where puppets performed on water. A lot of the pieces were in Vietnamese, so we didn't really have a clue what was going on, although the puppets were good (see photo).

This morning (Saturday) we went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which is where the body of Vietnam's first president is displayed in a glass case, despite his wishes to be cremated (the Government decided to keep his body available for public viewing to let the Vietnamese people share in the history and ideology he created). His body is ghostly white and you are not allowed to take photos, and you are marched through the room in a quick procession so that all the people can get through. In the same grounds we also went to see the Stilt House and the Presidential Palace where Ho worked and lived as well as Ba Dinh Square, where he declared independence in 1945 (see photo). Included in our tour was a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, packed with pictures and other memorabilia of the President (although by this point we were so cold with all the standing around outside, we had lost the will to live!).

In the afternoon after lunch we went inside the Bach Ma Temple (see photo), which is the oldest religious site in the Old Quarter and the most sacred. It pays homage to the "White Stallion" in the legend Ly King, where a white horse emerged from the Temple site and galloped west. The king built the citadel walls along the hoof prints and the white horse was declared the city guardian. The present temple is a sacred centre of Taoist worship and there is a white wooden horse which you can pay your respects to! We also passed the Hanoi Opera House, which is based on the neo-Baroque Paris Opera House. Our last visit of the day was "Hanoi Hilton", aka Hoa Lo Prison.

Towards the end of the 19th century, in an effort to contain the growth and development of popular anti-colonial movements amongst the Vietnamese community, the French government of Indochina constructed an extensive network of prisons. Hao Lo was built on the site of a former craft village and opened in 1896. Thousands of patriots and revolutionary fighters were imprisoned and tortured, both physically and mentally. Confined for many years in tiny cells with chains and leg irons, they endured savage treatment by prison guards.

Following the liberation of the north in October 1954, Hoa Lo became a state prison and was used to detain criminal offenders. From 5 August 1964 until 31 March 1973 it was used to detain American pilots whose aircraft had been shot down over Hanoi whilst bombing or attacking the north Vietnamese people. It was during this period that the Americans named Hoa Lo "Hanoi Hilton". Two-third of the original prison was demolished in 1993 to make way for the Hanoi Towers serviced apartment and office complex but the south eastern most corner has been preserved and opened to the public as museum and a memorial to the revolutionaries imprisoned here (see photos).

Because a lot of restaurants and cafes have been shut, we have been limited as to the amount of decent food available (apart from the noodle stalls, where the noodle soup is really tasty). I haven't been impressed with much of the food in Hanoi and the food can be a bit bland. Fingers crossed we get better food as we head down South.

Cruising in Halong Bay

After leaving Ninh Binh on Thursday 7th February, we continued our drive to Halong Bay, a body of water approximately 1500 square kilometers in the north of Vietnam with a 120 kilometre coastline in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China. It is 170 kilometres east of Hanoi. Vinh Ha Long - Halong Bay - means "Bay of the Descending Dragon" in Vietnamese.

The bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site on 17th December 1994. The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation and which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow with enormous caves. We visited Hang Dau Go (Wooden Stakes Cave), which is the largest grotto in the Halong area. It has three large chambers which seem to go on for miles and which contain large stalactites and stalagmites (see photos). Whilst the caves are imposing, it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the beauty of the caves as they are swarming with people being herded about like sheep. Two bigger islands (Tuan Chau and Cat Ba) have permanent inhabitants.

Some of the islands support floating villages of fisherman, who ply the waters for 200 species of fish and 450 diffrent kinds of molluscs. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes, such as Voi islet (elephant), Ga Choi (fighting cock) and Mai Nha Islet (roof). 989 of the islands have been given bird names and there is an abundance of wildlife on the islands (including antelopes, monkeys and iguanas).

Local legend says that long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bay (hence the name Bay of Descending Dragons) and began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam.

In the summer when there are blue skies, the islands provide a stunning backdrop which you see on all the postcards. Unfortunately in the winter, it gets quite misty and cold and only the brave dare venture into the water for a swim. Halong Bay is teeming with tourists and boats all year around (being quieter in the winter) - either day or overnight trips. We overnighted in the boat and luckily had heating in our cabins. All our meals were provided and the food was delicious - lots of seafood and we also sampled a traditional savoury rice cake which is normally eaten over new year. On the Friday morning we headed back to Halong Bay port and already at 8.30am there must have been over 100 boats waiting to dock at the port. The driver had to jostle his way in to let us as near to the jetty as possible to get off the boat and all the boat hands were shouting at each other to get out of the way. It was quite entertaining.

We then boarded the bus again for a 4 hour bus journey to the capital city, Hanoi. Driving in Vietnam is certainly an interesting experience. Buses, cars and lorries will always overtake and drive into the middle of the oncoming traffic. The rule of the road is that the smallest vehicle always gives way to the biggest, so that often motorcyclists will slow down, squashed up to the side of the road. It can get really hairy indeed.

Vietnam covers a surface area of 128,000 square miles, making it roughly the size of Italy or New Mexico in the US. Vietnam's topography consists of huge mountains, fertile deltas, forests inhabited by exotic fauna, windy rivers, mysterious caves, waterfalls and beaches. Apart from Halong Bay, most of the scenery we saw was towns and villages with some rural parts in between. The country comprises three unique areas - the north, central and the south. The north is known for its alpine peaks and the Red River Delta, the plains of Cao Bang and Vinh Yen, Halong Bay and Hanoi, as well as for the diversity of its ethnic minorities.

Central Vietnam, also home to many ethnic minorities, is characterized by high temperate plateaus rich in volcanic soil and by spectacular beaches, dunes and lagoons. It is where the ancient imperial city of Hue can be found. In the South, there is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and the fertile delta of the Mekong River. Although the country lies entirely within the tropics, its diverse range of latitude, altitude and weather patterns produces enormous climatic variation. In the North there are two basic seasons - a cold, humid winter from November to April and a warm wet summer for the remainder of the year. Apparently the North has had the coldest winter for eleven years, which explains the cold temperatures we have been experiencing since we crossed over the border into Vietnam. The average temperature has so far been about 12/13 degrees and most of the group have had to layer up with clothes, as we did not come prepared for Arctic conditions. I have worn the same (and only pair) of socks for the past three days. Thank god for New Zealand merino wool which keeps the smells away!

The Central part of the country experiences similar weather to the North, however, we found out that the temperature in Hue (where we will be on Monday) is 20 degrees - absolute bliss! Down in the South where we head on Tuesday is generally warm but it has recently been in the mid 30s in Ho Chi Minh City - so hot, hot hot. The South here we come!