How
it all began
A former college classmate of mine
asked me early in the year 2002 if I wanted to accompany her and her
family to her home country - Vietnam. Having never been any further than
our own neighbour country, Sweden, this would be quite a barrier for me
to cross, but after a bit of contemplation, I decided to accept the
offer, which would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and
experience anyway.
Preparing
How does one prepare for such a trip? I
decided to get a hold of some literature first-hand, so I ordered the
book "Lonely Planet - Vietnam" from the UK branch of
Amazon. I read through this
in quite detail,
focusing on the parts that we were planning to visit -
the southern half of the country. The next part would be checking out
necessary vaccines, which turned out to be a few: Diphteria, Hepatitis
A, Polio, Tetanus, Tyfoid fever, as well as the most expensive drink
ever - a 3 ml "shot" to protect against Cholera and traveller's
diarrhea. Not to mention the malaria tablets - which we all decided to
skip anyway, having heard some of the possible side effects from taking
it - we weren't going into too much bush anyway. Then for some more
literature (Insight guide to Vietnam), a map, disinfectant foam, insect
repellant, zip-off pants etc, all of which came from the backpacker's
paradise shop - Nomaden.
Visas were
next in line - and our country does not have an embassy, so we had to
contact the closest embassy, which was in Stockholm, and send our
passports by mail as well as the money for the handling there. The price for the visa was
around €40. We used Travelhouse
for ordering air tickets - they were very helpful and service oriented.
The tickets were around €1000 per person - the cheapest tickets were
already unavailable at our time of ordering, which was 4 months in
advance.
Time for...the trip!
June 23rd
has arrived, and the day starts at 5 am in the morning - a veeery long
journey lies ahead. Two taxi trips and one bus trip just to get to the
airport - Norwegian infrastructure at its best! The other option was of
course train..but that would still be two separate legs as well as a
taxi ride. The relatively
new Gardermoen airport is quite nice,
spacious and thankfully, silent. Our chosen airline was Cathay Pacific,
which meant our route would first go to London (2 ½ hours) via Hong Kong
(10-11 hours) and finally Saigon (2 ¾ hours). Heathrow was a large
airport, which was of course to be expected, but not very pretty or
pleasant at all.
Hong Kong International Airport was quite different -
huge, airy, silent, and with shiny tiled floors that were clean enough
to arrange a picnic on. The main hall was vast, stretching on for
something like a kilometre. The airport itself is built on an artificial
island, since the mainland does not have enough space for it. The
airport in Saigon (Tan
Son Nhat) was better than expected..I think.
Since there was still daylight when we landed, I managed to catch a
glimpse or two of the classical Vietnam - palm trees and a girl in a
lovely white dress riding a motorcycle (which has replaced the bicycle) - the white dress being the Vietnamese girls' national
costume, called Áo dài - very nice indeed!
Saigon...and culture shock!
We have arrived in
Saigon..and by the time we were through the immigration control for visa
checking, luggage fetching and so on, it was already dark outside. The
sky was flashing lightning here and there - after all, the rainy season
had started, but luckily there was no rain to welcome us. Outside the
airport, it was quite crowded, and it only took a few seconds before the
first eager taxi drivers tried to capture us, but we already had
arranged for being picked up by family relatives. Uncle #9 had fetched a
quite big Mercedes van including driver. Family members, including
children, are often referred to using numbers (in increasing order of
year of birth) instead of names since they are often quite
numerous - but they start numbering at 2, not 1, of course ;)
The taxi trip itself was an experience that has etched into my memory;
the first meeting with Vietnam's largest city in the evening, where it
seemed as if every single citizen was outside in the traffic at one
time, which would be somewhere around 5-8 million people depending on
who you ask..and where you draw the borders for the city. The greater
area of Saigon is around 2000 square kilometres, compared to for example
London, which is 1500 square kilometres. Back to the taxi trip..the
streets were absolutely packed with motorcycles mostly, some cars, as
well as a bunch of people on the pavements. At first, it seems unbelievably
chaotic, because traffic rules are pretty much nonexistant - if there is
room for one more motorcycle, then there is room for one
more..and one more..and so on. Horns are used frequently to say the
least - actually this is the most important part of any motorised
vehicle - it is illegal to drive if it doesn't work. Another uncle (#6)
tagged along on his own motorcycle, and we were always quite surprised
to see that he was still alive in the chaos.
We later experienced that
if regular traffic rules had applied here, there would probably be a
non-moving queue most of the day and evening. Small vehicles have to
give way for bigger vehicles..and the bigger the vehicle, the louder the
horn - some of the buses had some very annoying horns that took their
toll on our ears.
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After a drive of less than 10 km, which took almost an
hour, we arrived at our place
in Saigon - a local guesthouse in the
back alley of a back alley with no name, just displaying a sign outside
saying 'rooms'. My room was quite small although the bed was big - I
barely had enough space for my suitcase beside it. It was also equipped
with air condition, a fan, a small refrigerator and a stamp-sized
television. The air condition was pretty well hidden from me the first
night - I didn't know I had one until after a rather sleepless night of
listening to a fan at full speed, sounding more or less like a
helicopter.
The first days in Saigon
The
first culture shock is over...time for the next! It is very common for houses and smaller
hotels or guesthouses in Vietnam to be quite narrow and tall. Our
guesthouse was a bit wider than most houses and almost a maze of rooms,
passages, walkways and twisting stairs leading to the top - an outdoor patio! This would
serve as our breakfast room for these days, and we had quite a good view
of a small part of the city from here. They place reflective water tanks
on top of houses, and the heat from the sun warms it up - et voilà, free
hot water! Breakfast varied from hot rice noodle soup (not too exciting
at 7 am) to baguettes and bananas (a better choice).
My room was $8 per night including
breakfast, so I wasn't complaining. From the top of our "Rooms house" we
saw one of Vietnam's biggest hotels, the immense
New World Hotel - a leviathan
with 552 rooms - up-to-date prices are around $100 per room per night
including breakfast(!)
We used the first two or three days for checking out the local
fun-waterworld, eating a lot outside, and going to one of the largest
markets, Ben Thanh (Chó Bén Thành). This market occupied a full city
block, where the inner square was a free-market for private vendors,
while the outer edge was occupied by government owned shops. The
difference between these, we found out after shopping in the wrong
place, was that the private markets were open for haggling, which was
fair enough, but we were never able to obtain the low
prices of the
government shops anyway, where all prices were fixed - much simpler! As
a travelling group of a few people - around 10 or so - we were always
attractive as customers in the local "restaurants", which were just
foodstalls with various dishes on offer - but the food was really good. Once we stopped at one of these
in the private market area, it took a few seconds for the locals to
arrange tables and chairs for us - an invitation to say the least, but
the speed and efficiency was incredible. There seemed to be some sort of
co-operation between these private establishments as well, since we
could order something they didn't have on the menu, and they would just
fetch it from their neighbours instead. Outside the market, we were
saddened to see a lot of beggars hanging around - one of them had lost
both lower legs and was "walking around" on his knees with his arms for
support.
We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which was probably a more
pleasant experience than the War Remnants Museum (renamed from Museum of
American War Crimes in order to secure better trading relationships).
There are around 3 million motorcycles in Saigon, and in the evenings,
especially on Sundays, when most people have the day off, everybody seem
to be outside at the same time. One evening, we visited one of the finer
establishments, a French-inspired café which served some delicious
cakes. Here, we also observed a strange date - two young guys dating two
girls, one of the guys was asleep in his chair, the other had his back
turned on his date and was talking in his cellphone for most of the
evening, while the girls were trying to keep from seeming obviously
uncomfortable.
Onwards to Da Lat
Time went fast in Saigon, and on the 27th we were already
bound for our next destination - Da Lat, nicknamed City of Eternal
Spring, a mountain resort city at 1500 metres above sea level,
originally founded in 1897 by the Frenchman Alexandre Yersin, and now
housing around 130.000 inhabitants. Our 300 km
drive to Vietnam's Central Highlands took some 5-6 hours - not too bad,
considering traffic and slow lorries on the winding, hilly road. On the
way, we made a stop in a pretty remote area, where only a handful of
people made their "fortune" by selling ice cream from an outdoor freezer
- something which looked quite out of place in the hot and humid
countryside. This didn't seem to be an often used stop by western
people, since they found us to be quite exotic looking and "so tall!"
Once we arrived, the
first thing that struck us here was the abundance of pine trees -
seldom
at this latitude. Because of the height, the average temperature is much
lower than most of the country, summer temperatures are a "freezing"
26°C, and because of this, locals put on a lot of clothes - we passed a
tollgate on the way in the evening, and they were wearing thick jackets,
long trousers, boots and woolen caps! The city itself was very nice,
neatly arranged on the gently rolling hills, complete with artificial
lakes, a golf course, a copy of the Eiffel Tower and, being a honeymoon
resort, a park aptly named 'Valley of Love'. During our two days in Da
Lat, we went for an elephant ride - quite a neat experience, especially
when the "driver" suddenly decided to take a hike and leave me
to do the steering! This was of course a part of the tour, since the elephant turned
out to know the way home. This area was very scenic, including a short
boat ride to get to the elephant area, as well as dining in floating
straw huts. Vietnam has 70 ethnic minority groups, many of these living
in remote hilly areas. One of the evenings we visited one of the local
hill tribes, a neat arrangement which our local driver had prepared.
These people were clearly different from ethnic Vietnamese, both in face
and build - they also explained that this was in fact a matriarchial
society, which meant among other things that the women chose their
husband. They didn't seem too interested in us though :) They prepared
some excellent food and gave us a traditional song-and-dance show,
included was also one of the local customs of drinking rice wine
together with a local.
We also visited the Linh Phuoc Chinese Pagoda - a nice buddhist temple
area built as recently as 1956 on top of a hill with some great views of
the landscape. This also seemed to be something of a tourist trap, since w
e
were goaded onto a couple of horses and brought up to the top for the
ridiculous price of $2 per person (yes, expensive, since we didn't try
to haggle beforehand - a lesson well learned). In the temple itself, we
took off our shoes (as is usual) before entering, only to find a lone
monk in the company of three huge bronze statues, weighing in at 4000 kg
each (the statues, not the monk!) He was quite helpful and waved and
pointed for us to line up in front of the statues while he took our
picture.
Still more sightseeing - visiting the Hang Nga Treehouse, locally
nicknamed Crazy House, designed by a
rather eccentric local woman, the
daughter of a former Vietnamese president, who just happened to be
selling tickets at the counter herself! Her relations were the only
reason that this building project even existed in a country with rather
conservative laws. This house is, in addition to
being a museum, also a (rather expensive) hotel. If you book a room
here, it will of course be left out from the regular tours ;) The rooms
are individually furnished to say the least, and there is no straight
line or square anywhere. The rooms bear names such as Termite Room,
Bamboo Room, Bear Room and so on, and are decorated in these various
themes. The house is difficult to describe - it looks like a collection
of thick, gnarled trees high on drugs, and could just as well be
inspired from a Grimm fairy tale or Alice in Wonderland. The tour winds
and twists its way up and down crooked stair cases and turns and leaves
you quite disoriented after a while. At our time of visiting, it was
still being added to.
We visited a sewing institute, named XQ Embroideries, as well, and the
work done here is truly impossible to
describe, but has to be seen to be
believed - imagine a huge tapestry which took 15 girls 4 years to make,
considering their efficiency. The prices here were quite steep -
definitely for western people or rich locals. Here, we were also
introduced to a local speciality - artichoke tea - it has a rather
strange taste, especially since you never get sugar with it. We even had
time to visit a discotheque, and it was quite an experience to see the
locals partying - here, I was asked by a man if I "was alone". I later
found out that he was probably offering me a "date" - I never found out
anyway :)
Nha Trang
The next leg of our journey started on the 30th of June,
destination Nha Trang - a coastal city with around 300.000 inhabitants,
well known for its 4 kilometre long beach. The road wound slowly down
the mountains, and at one point we stopped for a scenic view over the
landscape. At this spot there was quite a lot of food and drinks
sellers, most of them children. Most of the stuff cost $1, maybe because
it is more easy for the natives to learn this..some time during the
journey I wondered if that is the first word they learn instead of
"mommy"..."one dollar!" As we reached the main coastal road at Phan
Rang, we were supposed to stop at a well known tourist attraction, the
Po Klong Garai Cham Towers. These belong to the old Cham culture, which
lasted from the 2nd century AD until the 17th century. Of the remaining
religious shrines from this culture, Po Klong Garai is one of the most
well preserved. However, our driver had obviously misunderstood the
location of them - I could see them in the distance myself but did not
know where the road to them took off, and we ended up instead at some
very small towers. I tried to explain that we had driven past them
already, but since it was a few km back and I was the only one
interested in seeing them, the majority decided that it was not given
priority over the coming World Cup soccer final, although this was still
three hours away even after we had reached our destination. Our 200 km journey
took some 4-5 hours, and once there, I ended up at a different hotel,
since the one we decided to try our luck in (named Thanh Thanh Hotel)
offered me a very low standard single room compared to the others. After
a short walk, I found another hotel (Sao Mai 2 - hotels are certainly
not far between when close to the beach area) where I was offered a very
nice, large room with shiny tiles for $10 per night. I noticed a gecko
(a small lizard) in my room one of the days - it must have come through
one of the windows, which I noticed had been inserted the wrong way, so
it was impossible to close - not a good combination with the air
condition!
The weather in Nha Trang was great all the time, and the next day was
all clear and a blue sky was dominating the horizon. We decided to go on
a boat trip, which is one of the favourite pastimes for tourists when
they visit the city. For $6 we got an 8 hour trip, which took us to
several islands, a coral reef, and included a wonderful lunch as well as
half a boatload of fresh, delicious fruit (consisting of banana, mango,
pineapple, lychee, rambutan and the native 'dragon fruit', everything
fresh and cut straight from the tree, which results in a taste that is
uncomparable to what we import ourselves), and on one occasion - wine
served on a floating bar!
There were lots of places to eat along the beach, one of the better ones
was the Sailing Club. Here, we went several times, and they had a very
varied menu as well as a wide selection of drinks (I had my first ever
Singapore Sling and Long Island Ice Tea here). One evening a significant
event happened in the group - a proposal! And the answer was...yes ;)
The next day I got a treat from the headmistress of the group: they were
going for some more swimming, sunbathing and diving, and I was given our
van complete with driver and uncle #4, who accompanied us on most of our
journey. Having already read about the city in my Lonely Planet guide, I
knew where I wanted to go: first and foremost to a renewed possibility
to see some old buildings, namely the Po Nagar Cham Towers. These were
some 6 km from the city centre itself, but easy to reach with the van.
The towers were definitely exotic looking up close - they looked like
something of a cross between a Hindu temple and the ones found in Angkor
in Cambodia. They were even in the process of restoring them - a
good thing, since these were also quite old, dating back to the 7th-11th
century AD. The next stop was the Long Son Pagoda, a very nice temple
complete with a 14-metre Buddha statue on top of a hill. Climbing 176
steps takes its toll when the temperature passes the 35°C mark...I don't
think I would even like to know
what the temperature was in the sun but
it was certainly more or less scorching - still, it
was well worth the climb. Two local "guides" showed me around, they were
of course not official guides, but children earning a living from
tourists - I bought some postcards from them once the tour was over. I
fixed lunch on my own this evening, at a restaurant called La Louisiane.
Here was also one of the local diving clubs, where I met a lovely young
lady by the name of Tien at the information stall. After some
conversation, I had learned a few more words in Vietnamese (I already
knew a few words before we went there) - who knows if I might be able to
impress the locals?
The next day, my classmate's brother and I went in search of a hall in
which to play badminton - I play quite a lot at home, but it turned out
to be under extremely challenging conditions: the intense heat, barefoot
in sandals and using a shuttlecock that did not obey the usual laws of
flight, both due to poor construction as well as the heat and humidity
in the air. Several local people were also playing, and we ended up
joining a few girls for mixed doubles and combination matches. The girls
asked us if we would
come back the next day, but since this was our last
day in the city, we said we were leaving. Instead we ended up being
asked out to dinner (I am not really sure who asked who, since the
conversation was in Vietnamese), which was something of a surprise,
since local customs say you cannot take a girl out to dinner unless you
are getting serious in your relationship. Maybe new times are
coming..anyway dinner was on, and we went out with four of them the
same evening. We also went to another place for dessert - just to honour the
usual tradition for a permissible not-so-serious date.
Hoi An
The days in Nha Trang went by fast, and on the 4th July, it was time
to go to our next destination - Hoi An, a small town with around 70.000
inhabitants. This town was called Faifo in the 16th century, at which
time there
was a lot of trade with Japan. The trip was 510 km, and it took 14 hours
to get there on roads that varied from motorway class to bumpy
construction areas more suited for jeeps - we passed several rickety
wooden makeshift bridges on our way, as well as what we later named "the
quacking motorcycle" - a guy with a big load of ducks crammed inside a
cage.
For the first time, we experienced some very long stretches without
civilization - considering the population density and our experience so
far, we felt as if there were people all over.
On a day trip such as this, it would be a very bad idea to have a
stomach in uprising, but I did manage to bring that along as a souvenir
for a bit of the journey. The solution was to stop at a rather remote
spot where they at least had a toilet, and I got to try the famous
hole-in-the-floor version.
Finally we reached our destination, and not a moment too soon we felt,
since our driver's eyes resembled those of a deep-sea fish recently
dragged up to the surface. We went to a hotel which we later found out
had a very scenic location next to the main river, but we didn't see
this at the time of our arrival, since it was dark long before we got
there. The only problem was that the room smelled a bit strange and
musty, so we split up again and some of us went to another hotel, whose
name I remember as 'Vinh Hung 3'. They do not have their own home page,
however,
here is a link to one of the many sites that features information
about it. This hotel wa
s the best I had the pleasure of visiting on our
trip (we did not choose any luxury hotels, by the way), and I paid a
mere $17 for each night including breakfast. There was no view, however,
since the window only had about 20 cm clearance to the wall of another
hotel which was being built at the time..and they do start labouring
pretty early in Vietnam (around 5 in the morning) so it was no problem
getting up early for breakfast, which was quite extensive compared to
what I was used to earlier during the trip. They also had frozen
youghurt there - a delicious experience and also very good for keeping
your stomach in good order when travelling in such far away places.
The hotel also had its very own swimming pool on the top, offering a
fabulous relaxation space and views over the town. On the first night we
went up there and relaxed for quite some time, and the staff even
extended its opening time by one hour just for us - in addition to
bringing us our ordered drinks up there. What more could one wish for at
the moment?
Hoi An is well known for its around 200 shredder shops, and we spent
half a day visiting one of these and
ordering various clothes. Since we
had split up, we were three who went to a particular shop, and I had a
suit ($40 including white shirt), two gecko shirts ($12 each since we
asked in particular for this motive), two silk sleeping bags ($4 each)
and a couple of boxer shorts ($4 each) made. They were all done by the
next day. The owner of the shop seemed quite pleased with us as
customers (no small thanks to the one who knew the language :) and invited
us out for a rather extensive dinner complete with white wine made in Da
Lat!
In addition to clothes shopping, we went for a swim one of the days -
the beach there was also very nice and popular.
Day 3 and it was time
for a boat trip on the Hoi An river - I noticed in the distance Cat's
Tooth mountain, which I knew was close to the most famous sight outside
town. We were supposed to go there after the boat trip, but when we came
back, it turned out to be too late in the day to go there. At this time,
I realised that if I wanted to see the major sights, I would have to go
on my own, since I was the only one interested in these cultural sights. I
left the group immediately and started a walk around town, which would
actually
lead me to most of the major sights the town is known for. The
old town part is quite nice and a
UNESCO World Cultural Heritage
sight.
The old Japanese bridge is also a sight not to be missed, although it
probably looks nicer when there is water in the small stream beneath it.
The bridge was built in 1593 by the Japanese trading community in order
to link it with the town quarter on the other side of the stream. According
to legend, there once lived an enormous monster called Cu, whose head
was in India, its tail in Japan and its body in Vietnam. This bridge was
built on the monster's weak point (Achilles' heel), killing it. The
temple located inside the bridge itself was built to pray for its soul.
The town features several temples and family chapels, many of these are
accessible, but you have to buy a ticket to get into any of them. This
ticket will allow you into one of the following: one museum, one
assembly hall, one old house and the Japanese bridge. The ticket costs
50.000 dong (less than 3 €), however I decided to buy just one, even
though I wanted to see more than one assembly hall - having seen one
which was very nice (Phuc Kien).
On my planning of the next day, I faced a dilemma. We only had one day
left before we were supposed to leave the town, and I wanted to see both
the My Son temple sanctuary and the Marble Mountains. I decided to go
for the My Son sanctuary, and mentioned this at the hotel I stayed in.
They then wrote me up on a list, and I was to be picked up at 8 next
morning. This system works very well - the transportation bus drives
around town to the various hotels picking up people, so you don't have
to go to where the bus starts from.
The ride turned out to be quite bumpy and long - it took 2 hours to
drive the 45 km to the end of the road. From here, it was a short walk
to a new stop and a wait in line for jeeps to take us the remaining km
or so to the actual temple area. Waiting here was quite taxing - the sun
was scorching hot and it was humid, and the insect buzz was so loud I
almost wish I had ear protection with me.
The My Son sanctuary dates back to the 4th century AD, and is by far the
most important Cham site in
Vietnam. The ancient Champa kingdom had this
as one of their main religious centres until about 1300. Heavily
influenced by Hindu culture, many of the temples built were dedicated to
Shiva. Most of the site's around 70 buildings were bombed and destroyed
by the Americans during the war, and only 20 escaped total devastation.
On one of the inscribed stones, there were clear marks of bullet damage
as well. In addition to this, the area around the site is land mined, and
signs are put up warning tourists from leaving the marked pathways.
The site turned out to be a fabulous experience, and it was very cool to
see green growth on the old buildings - at least the few that escaped
the Americans' precision bombing. The site was believed to
be a sanctuary for the North Vietnamese army, and rumour or not, it did
not stop the opposing force from more or less destroying this
ancient cultural site.
There...and back again
As all days, those in Hoi An went by fast, and on the 8th July it was
already time to leave...first of all back to Saigon on airplane via Da
Nang, which was quite an improvement when it came to travel efficiency.
We had already split up into smaller groups, so some went back to
Saigon, some went to Nha Trang again (both via plane) while some took
the car back. I spent a few days on my own in Nha Trang, which was quite
relaxing.
Saigon = wedding!
A return trip to Saigon was of course necessary as we had all been
invited to my mate's cousin's wedding - and quite a wedding it was too.
I only attended the actual wedding party, which took place on the night
before
the ceremony itself, but it was an experience along the line of other
experiences. First, a lot of people had been invited - in fact, so many
that the last ones to attend sat in the hallway facing the street - it
seems as if it is important to invite as many people as possible to
these weddings, as it may be a sign of popularity - whether or not you
go bankrupt from it. Second, the dinner was overwhelming, and I think I
counted six courses, even including some dried meat that very closely
resembled a dried raw meat type common in my home country ("spekemat")!
We were then taught how to raise our
glasses in salute to the newly weds, and we did so by counting to three
in the native tongue: mot - hai - ba - (and finally) YO!
After
the party was over, we decided to go to a local bar to have a drink (or
two) but this turned out to be easier said than done. Hard restrictions
were in place, and it took us a while to find a bar that was open after
midnight, but on the way we passed the nicely flood-lit town hall (known
as the People's Republic Committee) with the nations great son sitting
in front - Ho Chi Minh.
There was time for a visit to the Mekong
delta - quite an area to explore if you want to take it all in, you can
get everything from a short day trip (lasting 12 hours) to a 5-day trip.
We went for the
short version, and did indeed experience a piece of life
on the huge river, which in this area has already split up into 5, and
still, it felt like cruising on a lake! We visited a boat construction
facility,
and a couple of candy producers with some yummy tasting and shopping -
the speed at which they worked was the most impressive though. Most of
the candy was being made from either rice or coconuts.
We
also made a visit to Vung Tau, the home town of the family that I went
with - it lies 125 km south of Saigon almost at the southernmost tip of
the country, and is easily reached via either a good 4-lane road (around
2 hours by bus) or the VinaExpress hydrofoil (around 1 1/4 hours). The
old house they lived in had been changed into a guest house, and we
stayed here - I am sure it felt weird for them to walk along the narrow
back alleys where they had lived so many years ago! The town is not much
visited by tourists, and was at least at the time pleasantly slow-going
and quiet compared to the other ones we had been to.
After nearly 4 weeks of living in a
suitcase, it was time to turn the nosewheel towards home..on the plane
back it was somewhat easier to get a bit of sleep, as the excitement had
given way to a lot of impressions. But all in all a quite successful
first big journey!
Food & drink
During this journey I tried rabbit, dove, squid, frog and snail-in-a-shell to
name the most exotic dishes..however, the fried Won Ton in Hoi An was
definitely one of the best, in addition to a chicken dish we were served
in Saigon which we ordered so many times that they actually ran out of
it...! Most of the food in Vietnam is based on rice noodles and is less
hot than what you will find in e.g. Thailand or India. In fact, dishes
are quite mildly if at all spiced, as the idea is often to focus on the
flavour from the added vegetables, of which coriander is a very common
sight.
Climate
Most of the country is subtropical and is warm all year around. Since
the distance between north and south is quite big, there are some
differences though, and the south enjoys a year-round hot and
humid climate. Temperatures may drop somewhat in the north
during winter, while in the highest mountains (also in the northern
part) temperatures may drop as low as the freezing point. The warmest
time of the year is from March - August, when it is summer, and rainy
season is around the time we visited. Rainy season may not necessarily
mean eternal downpours though - it is usually one or more seriously
heavy showers which will hurt your ears if you are standing inside a
shed or something similar with a metal roof. At times, longer lasting
rainfalls may flood streets and cause difficulties getting around, as
sometimes roads will collapse. Always bring a potent sunscreen, and
always use it..the southernmost part of the country is only 12 degrees
north of the Equator.
War..
Only a few people will not think of the Vietnam War as they hear the
name of the country. In Vietnam, it is more commonly known as the
American War, however. After a hundred years of french occupation, which
also included an invasion from Japan during the second World War, the
French withdrew from the country in 1954, and it was divided into North
Vietnam and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Shortly after this,
disagreements over elections and reunification occurred, as the
northern, communist ruled part of the country was backed up by China and
the Soviet Union, while the south was backed up by the U.S.
Military
advisors were sent in, and after an attack on U.S. ships in the Gulf of
Tonkin, the conflict started, and more than 500.000 U.S. troops were
sent in (although war was never declared at any time). The war also
spread into Cambodia and Laos, as the supply lines for the NVA (North
Vietnamese Army) and VC (Viet Cong - the South Vietnamese communist
militia) went through these countries towards South Vietnam. To make a long story short - withdrawal of U.S. forces began
in 1973, while in 1975, the North made their final invasion and overtook
the capital of the south - Saigon. The country was then reunified under
communist rule in 1976.
During the war, chemical defoliants were used (most notably the
dioxin-containing Agent Orange) by the U.S. forces - an estimated total
of 76.000 m³ of these chemicals were dropped, destroying 15.000 km² of
forest and crops. These substances continue to poison their environment
as of today, and a 2006 estimate by the Vietnamese government claims
that there are more than 4 million victims of the 'agent' (most being
children born with deformities), yet the U.S. government denies any link
between the two.
An estimated 58.000 U.S. troops were killed during the war, while the
total death toll of Vietnamese is unknown - numbers vary from 1.5 to 5
million, most of which were civilians. One of the greatest atrocities
that was later known to the public was the My Lai massacre, where 347
Vietnamese civilians (mostly elders, women and children) were killed by
a U.S. troop. Many of these were in addition tortured and raped. A U.S.
helicopter managed to stop the massacre, thereby saving the few
remaining people. A U.S. officer declared at a later time that every
large (U.S.) unit had their My Lai incident. The lieutenant in charge of
and ordering the massacre blamed his superiors for the incident, and was
rewarded with 3 1/2 years of house arrest.
Life in the south was unsafe for many western friendly citizens, and
many were persecuted and/or killed in the aftermath as well - this was
the start of the era of the 'boat refugees'.
After all these events and more than a hundred years of occupation and
war, it is amazing to see how the country is able to literally rise from
the ashes, and also how they manage to focus on the future and work for
the greater good of the nation - hats off for that!
Money and prices
Vietnam is definitely not an expensive country. The above mentioned
prices likely haven't increased much since then, and you are bound to
get a lot for your dollar - which at the time of our visiting was worth
15.000 of the local currency - dong. There are ATZ's in the major
cities, while in the smaller ones you may withdraw money from a post
office - look for a signpost that says 'Buu Dien' (but at the time we were there we had to take half the amount in
dong and the other half in dollars - for reasons unknown). Shops that
sell gold are the ones to go to if you want to exchange your hard currency
(bring dollars if so).
Visas - and don't forget your passport!
Most foreign citizens require a visa for entry to Vietnam. Check with
your country's embassy well beforehand - if your country does not have
one, then often a neighbouring country will cover yours as well.
Thorough information about filling in visas and sending or delivering
personally is found via the embassies. A visa usually requires you to
have the address that you plan to arrive to, which means you
will have to reserve a room at your first destination, and supply this
address. The yellow slip which is a copy of some papers you fill out on
the plane is your ticket out of the country - make sure you do not lose
it!
Hotel staff are required by law to register you via your passport, and
they will also keep your passport at the reception desk for the duration
of your stay - this is normal and quite ok, but do
remember to make a
photocopy of your passport including your approved visa and keep this
securely on you at all times, as you may be stopped by police on the
street and asked for identification. Make sure that you get your
passport back when checking out from the hotel - in case they forget
(that happened to me once, and they actually drove after me to the
airport to deliver it!)
When leaving the country, there is a $12 (as of 2002) airport departure
tax - this has to be in hard U.S. cash, so make sure you put this aside.
Culture - including do's and dont's
Language: english is widely used in the country, and many people will
know a bit and understand you - in fact, it is easier to get through
with english here than in for example Japan or China. Some of the older
people will possibly only know french as foreign language, so it won't
hurt if you know a few phrases.
Haggling: this is quite normal in most
privately run establishments. However, government run shops usually have
fixed prices, so there is no need to try out your bargaining skills
here. We experienced buying a shirt that originally cost 130.000 dong
for 90.000, then found the same shirt in a government run shop for
70.000 dong. Also note that in some places haggling is less usual. I
experienced this once in Hoi An where the shop clerk almost seemed
offended as I tried to get two shirts for the price of one. In a
tailor's shop, if you buy a lot of stuff, you should be able to get a
discount off the total - or like in our case - the owner will be so
satisfied with your order that he invites you out to dinner with wine :)
Physical contact: this is quite ok between
the same gender, but somewhat more restricted cross-sex-wise, at least
according to traditional culture. Younger generations may be somewhat
more liberal.
One dollar!: at the time we went there, we
sometimes had the feeling everything cost one dollar, or that this is
the most commonly known english word combination. Kids down to the age
of 4-5 years work as sales people, and even do a good job at it..as in
other countries like this, a polite 'no thank you' or 'không' in the
native tongue will work (even though you may not feel like being polite
after sending away the two-hundred-and-thirty-fourth-thousand
seller...but remember, in this part of the world getting angry equals
losing your face - a fate worse than death :)
Traffic do's and dont's: As a foreigner,
you can rent a bicycle or motorbike and use it to get around. Be
prepared for living hell though, as traffic is unbelievably chaotic at
its worst (sunday evenings). In general, there are no rules - there is
always room for another vehicle in between two others, unless you are
claustrophobic. Traffic lights are sometimes respected, and sometimes
not. If you want to drive a motorbike yourself, it might be a good idea
to spend some time in an elevated position and watch the traffic pattern
for some time so as to try to learn how it works - good luck anyway. As
a pedestrian, you will find few if any crossings, so here's the trick to
crossing a street (which are only clear at night time): walk in a
determined and slightly slow way straight across - do not slow down or
speed up or run - traffic will then aim in front of you or behind you to
keep up the 'flow' of things - but remember to look in the direction the
traffic is coming from. One in our group nearly had an incident due to
breaking this rule of thumb (trying to run). This mostly applies to
bikes and motorbikes - do not expect cars, lorries or buses to stop for
you. And remember - the most important part of any motored vehicle is
its horn, and it is widely used - so be prepared for that too (and the
ones found on buses are annoyingly sharp and loud).
Safety: Vietnam is a relatively safe
country to travel in, even if you are a woman travelling alone, mostly
due to the teachings of Buddhism. Also, crime rate is pretty low thanks
to a very strict government and lots of police around.
North and South: due to recent history,
you may find hospitality to differ between the north and the south parts
of the country, as many in the north have a hate-filled relationship and
memories of western or white people. You will not find hostility, but
perhaps at times more indifference and less hospitality when compared to
the south, where people will even wave at you as you drive by.
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Travel:
getting around inside the country's borders is pretty simple. There is
one major road that leads from
Saigon to Hanoi, and most cities or places of interest are along this
road (Da Lat, the Mekong delta and the mountains in the north being an exception). Infrastructure is
continuously getting better, but there are huge variations - you can
expect a wide road where the
landscape speeds by,
and then 500 metres of a horrible bumpeti-bump patch, makeshift wooden
bridges etc. Mountain passes tend to
result in slow going as
well, due to lorries moving at walking speed. Do not expect working
seat
belts - I never saw any being used during the whole trip. If a
(private/unofficial) taxi does not have air conditioning, and the driver
hears you mentioning this, he may point at the side window and say 'air
condition'.
It is possible to buy a bus ticket for the Saigon - Hanoi stretch, then
hop on and off
whenever and wherever you want to underways. A railroad also covers the
same stretch (around 1900 km).
If you want to go on a day trip to somewhere, you may visit the travel
arranger, or easier still - talk to the people at the reception of your
hotel. Be prepared for an early rise, as most tours start at 8:00 at the
very latest, and the bus or other means of transport will usually pick
you up right outside your hotel door.
Places to see that we didn't get to/go to:
- the previously mentioned Po Klong Garai Cham Towers at Phan Rang
,
around 300 km northeast of Saigon
- Hué (the old imperial city with several sights, including the emperor
fortress (also known as the Forbidden City), the tombs of several
emperors, and Perfume River with sights such as Thien Mu pagoda, 110 km
north of Da Nang
- Tay Ninh, which houses an impressive religious structure, around 100
km northwest of Saigon - main seat for the Cao Dai religion (around 2.5
million followers)
- Cu Chi, the extensive tunnel network used by the North Vietnamese army
during the Vietnam war - parts of it enlarged for tourists to still be
able to creep through. Do not enter if claustrophobic! Around 50 km from
Saigon
- Hanoi, the capital in the north (around 3.5 million inhabitants), with
a nice lake/park area and several old streets bearing the names of the
trade profession of the artisans
- Ha Long Bay or Vinh Ha Long, the beautiful 'Bay of the descending dragon', with
thousands of tree covered limestone cliffs rising straight up from the
sea, around 170 km northeast of Hanoi
- Sapa and the mountainous area of the north with several minorities
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