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Published: August 18th 2009
Our Arrival On August 7th we arrived in the captial of Vietnam, Hanoi which is found in the north of the country. Already $50 dollars lighter (courtesy of our visa payment), we shared a taxi with a French couple to the city centre.
We were hugely impressed. A bit battered but with bags of class, we found a heady blend of colonial French and traditional Vietnamese architecture in a maze of streets all organised into specialist shopping areas. For example, a whole street is dedicated to kitchen extractor fans (naturally) and another to childrens clothes etc. It was getting late and the cheap guesthouses were filling up fast so we took a windowless room for $8/night including breakfast and unlimited internet access. Not bad for a capital city.
Most visitors to Hanoi only stay for a night or two before going off to the tourist centres of Ha Long Bay (famous for limestone islands) and Sa Pa (famous for trekking and seeing local hill tribes) - but we decided that Hanoi was a place to take our time over. So we ignored the two obvious choices of itineries in the north and chilled in Hanoi learning about the
country, visiting museums and eating fantastic food.
Brief History Any Vietnamese reading this will have to forgive the reduction of Vietnam's military history into a nutshell, but this is pretty much what we learned.
Over the past couple of thousand years Vietnam has scrapped with and eventually beaten the Chinese, the French, the Japanese, and last but not least the Americans.
The Vietnam War At the time of The Vietnam War (circa 1959) with America, Vietnam was ruled as a communist country in the north under the Viet Cong (VC), and the Diem Government in the south (which was backed by the USA). The VC establsihed a guerilla force to de-stabalise the south called the NLF (National Liberation Front). Car bombs planted by the NLF in Saigon were common place.
The Americans were worried by an ever expanding communist force in South East Asia and decided to try and stop this from happening. The tactics used included the use of Agent Orange and Napalm to expose and wipe out supply lines to the south of the country. They hoped that this would isolate the south from communists spreading from the north.
Agent Orange
is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military. More than 21,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam by US aircraft. An estimated 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.
In the end 52,000 American troops died. As for the Vietnamese, estimates vary that between 1 million and 7 million people died.
On 30 April 1975 VC tanks smashed through the gates of Saigon’s Independence Palace. This marked the end of the Vietnam war.
For a better summry try the links below.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/history#72279
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/06-vietnam-war-timeline.htm
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Relaxing in Vietnam After spending 4 nights in Hanoi, we left the hotel without paying the bill! The reason being that the hotel laundry service ruined all of Corinne's whites by staining them a curry-like yellow. They were not happy with us not paying, but agreed it was fair. In Asia "they" say it's all about saving face. The hotel manager won't find his face for weeks to come!!!!
We decided to avoid the main stream tourist sites and headed off for a 6 night
"holiday" in Phu Quoc, an island off the south coast. The flight from Saigon took about an hour, flying over the Mekong Delta.
In Phu Quoc we went straight to the south to Bai Sao beach. There's only one place to stay. The lack of competition means you get very sloppy service and no smiles thrown in! Good job it wasn't the only place to eat.
We spent our time swimming, reading, touring on mopeds and trying to avoid massive black and white striped (potentially malarial) mosquitoes. It was fantastic! Today we flew back in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and tomorrow we take a 7 hr bus ride to Phnom Phen in Cambodia.
In summary, Vietnam is the most capitalist communist country we have ever seen! The people are really nice except for a small minority such as certain taxi drivers who will literally steal money from you as they drive. It doesn't have the happy go lucky vibe of Thailand but then the people have suffered a lot more pain in living memory. However Vietnam seems to be a country that's going places and the investment (both foreign and domestic) have resulted in one of Asias fasted growing economies.
Would we come back? If you could get to Hanoi for a long weekend then definitely!
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Moira Hyde
non-member comment
Brill blog
Brilliant to read your blog of Vietnam. It brought back lots of memories, such as being told off for talking while queueing to see Ho Chi Minh's body in the Mauseleum. I found people in the south much more friendly than in the north but both times I was only there just over a week. Where to next and will there be an address for sending birthday cards??? lots of love Moise