Today was a driving day; we left Saigon in the morning to make our way to Da Lat – a journey of around 300km or a good six hours of driving. Add in breaks and a stop in Lang Dinh An – also known at Chicken Village – to get a glimpse of rural life in this village, home to the Koho minority.
Author Archives: Björn
Back to Saigon
We made it back from Mekong Delta in the early afternoon. I decided for a walk up to the Jade Emperor Pagoda (around 3.5km one way), which turned out to be a nice and quiet temple, far enough away from the tourist part of town to preserve its tranquility.
I made it back to the hotel just in time to meet up for a cyclo ride to and around the Chinese quarter. A cyclo ride here translates to being lazy and being pedaled around. We were first on the cyclos for some time (simply to make it to the Chinese quarter), before we had a first stop at the flower market. From here – after a good look around – we continued further, our next stop being at the Buddhist Quan Am Pagoda, giving us the opportunity to explore this colorful temple and the little pond on the other side of the street. We did continue to Binh Tay Market, a vast market – mainly wholesale – catering for almost everything (a bit like ebay … if they don’t have it, it does not exist). After half an hour of checking out the market, we made it back to the bikes for our ride back to the hotel.
Mekong Delta
Today we left Saigon behind and made our way South towards the massive delta of the Mekong river. On arrival at the pier (and after a quick visit to the happy room) we jumped on a boat for a trip through big and small waterways.
During a number of stops we could get a glimpse of local life – from a fruit garden (next to the restaurant, where we had lunch – obviously full of exotic fruit … rambutans, longans and the like) to a rice paper / puff rice producer and a brick maker.
Shortly before sunset we made it to our homestay in the delta; here we got a first introduction to the preparation of Vietnamese cuisine – making spring rolls and stir fries. Oh – of course dinner was the food we just helped to prepare.
Wednesday morning saw us boarding the boat again and making our way back to the pier – though not without a short stop around the local floating market and a glimpse (or should I say nose-full) of the smelly production of soy and fish sauce.
Cu Chi Tunnels
From the War Remnants Museum we continued to the Cu Chi Tunnels – about two hours outside of Saigon. These tunnels – built and used by the Vietcong – played an important role in the Vietnam war and were one of the bases for the Vietcong’s Tet Offense in 1968.
After an introduction, we had a walk around the premises, seeing some of the techniques employed around the tunnels – from booby traps, windows in the floor to chimney systems . There was even a chance to crawl through one of the tunnels or to (at a cost obviously) try an AK47 (and other weapons used during the war).
Saigon
This year did see me heading for Vietnam over Christmas and New Year. My trip did start in mid December in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon and to then end in Hanoi in very early January.
I arrived in Saigon midday, left my stuff in the hotel and started to explore my surroundings. I ended up following the walking tour lined out in my guidebook. This led me past the main sites in central Saigon. The biggest attraction (at least for me) surely being the Reunification Palace. I got myself a ticket and did head inside. The interior of the palace clearly reflects the 1960s / 70s – and probably not much has changed since those days – when back in April 1975 a tank did crash through its get, marking the end of the Vietnam war.
My actual tour did start in the evening. As it turned out, there were only five of us – so a fairly small group. On Monday morning the included program started with a city tour (most of which, I had already covered on Sunday) and a visit to the War Remnants Museum, exhibiting items related to the Vietnam war (or American war as they say here).
Gallipoli Peninsula
This was the last full day of the tour and we were now – finally on our way back to Istanbul. We had an early start today, taking the ferry to cross the Dardanelles and make it over to the Gallipoli Peninsula.
This area played a significant role in April 1915 during the First World War – today it remains a place of pilgrimage – especially for Australians and New Zealanders – who lost dearly in the campaign.
We visited the ANZAC memorial at the beach, made it up to a number of cemeteries and also saw the trenches.
Troy
Today was a long driving day with only little distractions on the way. The only major stop was at the ruins of Troy. The ruin site felt slightly underwhelming – especially after Ephesus and Hierapolis during the previous days.
Troy though certainly has its fame – mainly based on the whole story around the Troyan horse – with a replica wooden horse standing at the entrance of the ruin site.
Another replica was waiting for us in Çanakkale – which was our base for the night.
Ephesus
We spent this morning getting from Pamukkale to Selcuk; our first stop here was the Ephesus Museum to get an early taste of what was ahead of us in the afternoon.
On the way to the Ephesus ruin site we had a quick stop at the location of one of the ancient world’s Seven Wonders – the Temple of Artemis – though today only a single pylon remains.
The Ephesus ruin site is another massive, huge site with loads of buildings to discover. It was originally founded back in the 10th century BC by Greek colonists; it did come under Roman control though in 129 BC.
It comes complete with a big theater, library, public baths and toilets, a brothel and living quarters (complete with frescoes and mosaics).
Pamukkale
We left the coast again and did travel inland – heading for Pamukkale – another big highlight of this trip.
My expectation here was not more than just getting to see the famous travertine terraces – imagine my surprise to also find a massive ruin site – Hierapolis – to explore on top of that. Hierapoiis features a well preserved Roman theatre, colonnades alley and streets, remains of churches and a massive necropolis.
It took me hours to explore the site – before I turned to my original expectations – and had a closer look of the travertines. Those were a bit of a disappointment at first – as the water flow is very regulated and most of the travertines are left dry, thus taking away most of the magic. I decided to walk down from the ruin site to the village following the path on the terraces – which certainly gave me a different perspective and also changed disappointment to enthusiasm.
Xanthos and Kayakoy
This morning saw us visiting the remains of the Lycian capitol – Xanthos. After all the other ruin sites, Xanthos did not really feel overly grand – though we had the site for ourselves, as we were the only tourists around.
From Xanthos we continued to the little beach town of Ölüdeniz to have lunch, a swim (for those interested) or just a bit of walking along the beach.
We left Ölüdeniz in the late afternoon, now heading for Fethiye – our base for the next night. On the way we had a stop at the ghost village of Kayakoy. The village used to be inhabited by the Greek, however back in the 1920s it was abandoned, as its inhabitants were forced to move to Greece.
