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Published: January 10th 2012
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On November 18th, Aoife and I arrived in Hanoi with a very limited knowledge of Vietnam. After hearing stories from friends who had already made the trip to Vietnam, I expected the cities to be quite hectic, a much lower standard of living and based on one friend's account "rats as big as dogs". The one recurring theme was the friendly nature of the Vietnamese people.
After 19 days travelling down through Vietnam, I can only speak highly of the Vietnamese people (North & South) and their beautiful country. The cities definitely are hectic, a form of organised chaos. The street restaurants are unique and although they do not look appealIng in the slightest, the food is really tasty!
The scenery is breathtaking. We were welcomed with a stunning hilly landscape on our initial bus journey when crossing the border from China. We experienced the majestic natural beauty of Halong Bay, the watered covered rice fields of the countryside, the steep mountains in the central highlands of Da Lat and the raw picturesque beauty of the Mekong Delta. Vietnam is testament to the earth's ability to replenish from the ravages of war and man's destruction.
Travelling to a
new country, I was hoping to get an authentic experience, a nice balance between 'seeing the sights' and actually experiencing real Vietnam. I genuinely feel that we were lucky to get a real sence of Vietnam and the character of its people. In Hoi An, we stayed in the home of a really nice family who were nothing but helpful. In Quy Nhon, we were treated more like Irish ambassadors than backpackers, everyone going out of their way to say hello to us. In Hue, two locals drove us around on motorbikes through the countryside where we met the group of school kids who we chatted with and who were giddy with excitement meeting us. On the outskirts of Nha Trang, we met the family with the coffee shop who were so friendly. And of course there was the drinking session later that night with Tao, Qui and their friends. That was the first and probably the only time I'll ever eat chicken feet!!
There was also the unforgettable whiskey drinking with the old Vietnamese lads in the central highlands town of Da Lat. They were in their element to have us drink wth them as they continued to
pour us shots of their local whiskey. "I'm happy today, pleased to meet you my friend" they said many times. They were genuinely happy. Some great characters, chatting with us despite having only a small bit of english. In Ho Chi Minh, we had some friendly tour guides who gave us a great history lesson, while in the Mekong Delta we had an old man come up to us and welcome us to his country. "I am 77" he said proudly. I'm sure he'd seen it all and had many a story.
I learned a lot about the Vietnamese history during my time there. The struggle of the war is definitely still fresh in their minds and was often part of conversation we had with people. They certainly believe their victory was a victory for freedom. One cannot but respect their determination to fend of century long invasion from the Chinese, the French and most notoriously the Americans. Vietnam's history with China is very similar to our own tumultous history with the British. The French occupation was part of their grand colonisation plans around the world, similar to other western powers at the time. Had the Americans taken note
of how the French were ultimately kicked out by the Vietnamese, their futile 'Vietnam experience' may never have happened. However, the Americans were driven by a deep paranoia of the possible spread of communism, the 'communist domino theory'. This paranoia fed on itself through successive U.S. governments from the 50's to the 70's, and was used as justification for the massive loss of life. It caused the Americans to violate the 1954 Geneva Accords that would have resulted in a unified Vietnam by 1956 if the people wished, with the planned 1956 unification elections. After over 20 years of fighting and destruction, a unified Vietnam came about and communism didn't take over the world.
One tour guide put it well when he said "Vietnam was a victim of communism and capitalism". It became a pawn in a bigger war of ideologies. Ultimately, North Vietnam was funded by the communist Soviet Union to fight the Americans occupying South Vietnam. But for Vietnam, at least in the early days of trying to define their own future free from foreign invaders, it was never neccessarily about communism or capitalism, it was about nationalism and freedom. When Vietnam declared independence from France in
1945, their Declaration of Independence was based on Ho Chi Minh's recollection of the American Declaration of Independence. Ho Chi Minh also later admitted that elements of communism were idealistic and never implementable in Vietnam. In his own words, "It was patriotism, not communism that inspired me".
At the heart of each side, as is the case in most conflicts, there was a deep misunderstanding and mistrust. The sad reality is that the war was avoidable, along with the massive loss of life and the destruction of the countryside. Ironically, the lines between the two ideologies of communism and capitalism have today become increasingly blurred. Western governments have been forced to play a more central role in the economic system as the capitalist model has been called into question, particularly with regard to the near collapse of the post-Bretton woods financial system while staunchly ‘communist countries’, most famously China, have opened their economies up to achieve unprecedented economic growth. However, neither model has been able to address the unequal distribution of wealth in the world.
Overall, Vietnam was an unbelievable experience. Yes we did have a couple of dodgy experiences (mainly our run in with a restauranteur in
Nha Trang), we did see a few rats here and there, we had a few poor meals and stayed in one or two poor hotels, but these minor things will be forgotten when we look back and reflect on our time in Vietnam. I'll remember Vietnam for the amazing scenery, the interesting and gripping history, and above all the friendly people.
V
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Katie
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Sounds Amazing!
Hey guys! Your trip to Vietnam (and everywhere else) sounds amazing! After reading your blogs I can't wait to visit it myself someday!x