Whistle-stop Tour of Vietnam

Asia » Vietnam
June 9th 2007

Published: August 27th 2007

Edit Blog Post

Rexxor

Jade Mountain Temple

The little red bridge leading over Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

Caught an overpriced taxi (those cheeky Thais again) and went to the amazing Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport made all out of glass and metal. Caught another 'run on like its gonna go without you' AirAsia flight to Hanoi to begin exploring Vietnam. Caught a taxi into the Vietnamese capital that sits on the Red River (it really was quite red-coloured). Driving style in Vietnam is the best so far! Basically, you approach a junction (whether it has a red light or green), ignore the brakes, honk the horn and just go. This assumes that everyone else will go around you, including the millions of mopeds that are the new social indicator in a modern Vietnam. Hanoi is a fairly flat place with lots of multi-storey very narrow town houses that are almost always brightly painted. Would be great to buy and restore one of the more neglected ones. Really nice architecture and quite different to that seen before. The French influence on Vietnam is quite significant, down to the language which was painstakingly translated from what i will ignorantly call 'squiggles' 'pictograms' and 'lines' into the 'a b c' format. You would think this would make attempting to pronounce things in Vietnamese

Hanoi at Sunset

easy, but there 6 tones. So, therefore the word 'ma' can be translated into ghost, mother, which/but, tomb, horse or rice seedling totally dependent on how you say it!!! Insane. There goes my attempts to chat to a Vietnamese person just through fear of calling their mother a horse! The Old Quarter is really nice, full of narrow streets, all tree-lined with house-shops and cafes dotted about the place. Also home to the St Josephs Cathedral (not seen one of these for a while!). Then, just before it closed for the evening, visited the insence-filled Ngo Son or Jade Mountain temple in the centre of the city and on a small island on the Hoan Kiem Lake. Small red bridge connects the temple to the main land. There was a model of a turtle that apparently lives in the Lake and brings luck on the rare occasions it is seen (probably mainly due to the algae and whatever else was in the water!). Apparently he is a golden turtle that stole a stolen sword from an emperor in the past and returned it to its rightful owner. First impressions of Vietnam were great, although it is a bit hairy wandering

Hanoi at Sunset Again

around at night as there are very few street lights about the place. Great to see how people use public space to socialise - many sit in the streets at made-up restaurants with plastic stolls enjoying food beer and cards. Also, discovered that mosquito repellent in Vietnam is pretty much useless, which is mildly worrying when the lovely little (not so little in some cases) things carry malaria. And when anti-malarial tablets only work 85-90% of the time, when you have 20 bites ON EACH FOOT, the odds there of catching something start to rise quickly. And the itchiness afterwards is insane! Luckily no interesting symptoms yet.

Tried to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum the next day (basically he is pumped from of chemicals to stop him deteriorating and kept on public display for all to see!). Because he was victorious in the Vietnamese War, he is regarded as the father of the country and still on all the money and there are photos of him in peoples homes celebrating the liberation of Vietnam into a Communist country. The people still worship him, so choosing to go have a look at him on a Sunday (when everything seems

Never-ending Mopeds

to close down), during his eternal nap, was probably a bad idea as the queue was about 5km long, so didnt bother with that one! Instead caught the smallest taxi ever (Daewoo Matiz) to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to learn about everyday life in Vietnam. Up until 1989 all Vietnamese had to use coupons issued to them to receive rationed food, clothes, petrol and pretty much everything. There was great hardship up until a relatively recently - rationing allowed enough material to make one pair of trousers every 3 years! This also meant that many people learnt to survive any way they could, often using the black market and improvisation. Anyway, found an awesome cafe with amazing cake and tea (mmm French colonialism). Then went and saw a really funny Water Puppet Theatre show where the puppetters are wading in the water behind a screen, holding on to puppets from behind on long sticks. There were dragons, ducks, people and even boat races! There was a live orchestra with singing and everything!

Next day had a wander around the old town and sampled yet more cakes in the amazing French-Vietnamese cafe. Was a nice relaxing day before heading

Green Streets of Hanoi

St Joseph's Cathedral in the background

off to the airport to catch a flight south to Hue. This flight was around 1 1/2 hours long and saved taking the train which took around 36 hours!! Landed in an amazing electrical storm and bags actually beat us off the plane (which was parked about a 30 second walk from the terminal!). Was in the hotel/hostel within 25 minutes of landing. Awesome.

Next day went on a city tour around Hue and the surrounding area. Started in a local village where insence and conical hats are made by hand, with rainbow-coloured collections of drying insence sticks drying along the roadside creating an amazing smell. Then went to a series of Royal Tombs. Tu Duc was an emperor with a huge tomb taking up lots of space because he had so many concubines (mistresses) who had to continue living at the tomb after the death of the emperor until they themselves died. In some cases this was over 50 years! There was a huge lake and lots of nice grounds to relax in, but it must have been quite boring being confined to within those walls for the rest of your life.The Ming Mang Tomb was pretty huge

Narrow Houses

Rooftop view of the amazing narrow-house arcitecture of Hanoi

and had a path leading over a giant lake and led all the way through various buildings to the tomb itself. Finally visited the Tomb of Khai Dinh, the last Emperor of Vietnam. This was was on a hill-side with no water and surrounded by trees and sculptures, only reached by climbing lots of steps. The Emperors themselves are buried somewhere secret to avoid being raided. After a very impressive multi-course lunch, went to the Citadel and the Forbidden Purple City. A huge wall and moat protected this area where the Emperor and his family lived day-to-day and where they ruled from. The Forbidden Purple City was the area only allowed for the Emperor, Empress, concubines and cunuchs (castrated blokes who possed no threat to any of the concubines! - ouch). Sadly during the American War on Vietnam, most of the Forbidden City was destroyed during bombing campaigns, leaving just 10% of the original structures today. Now listed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are ambitious plans to rebuild the entire Forbidden City over the next 35 years! The place was absolutely massive and it was so sad to see the mess that the Americans had made of it. Some

Water Puppet Show

The puppeters wade behind the green screen. Orchestra (which was quite clangy) to the side too.

of the Americans that were on the trip were themselves totally disgusted. Hopefully the entire place will eventually be recreated, but in the meantime it was already big enough to wander round for over 2 hours and that didnt take in all the buildings still standing. The place was spectacular, but when looking at the original in a scale model, you can see they have a really long way to go. Following that, went to the Thien Mu Pagoda, which wasnt that good as you couldnt climb up it, but then went on a river cruise along the Purfume River. That really finished off a fantastic day exploring the ancient Hue. And for dinner, traditional Vietnamese Italian! One of the best i have ever had!

Next day, another very early start to visit the De-Militaried Zone (DMZ). Had a really informative guide who was chatting almost the entire time about the DMZ and the War. Stopped on the way for breakfast and at the Khe Sanh Combat Base, now a museum, that was used by the USA to launch attacks on the DMZ and surrounding area. There were some pretty nasty photos of the burns and scars caused by

Traffic Evil-Eye!

Being eyed-up by the locals as I try to catch them before getting squished

the Americans using 'Agent Orange' in their attacks, along with 2 other chemicals that were meant to destroy vegetation. However, local rivers, land and then also people got infected, causing cancers and children with birth defects. Loads of the hilltops inthe area around the road to the DMZ have no trees or vegetation growing on them still as the napalm and chemicals ruined the land forever. Then went on to visit the actual demarkation zone, which is the Ben Hai River, today with a memorial to the split families of Vietnam on the South bank and a new museum being built on the North bank with a bridge connecting the two sides. Although very poiniant, the area is just totally surrounded by paddy fields (much like the rest of Vietnam) and surprisingly not crawling with tourists. Then went along to the Ho Chi Minh trail along which many of the Viet-con travelled into South Vietnam to rally support and supply allies to those in the south. Wierd memorial suspension bridge crosses a river, but no cars or lorries were using the road at all, seemed a massive waste of money. Then headed along to the Vinh Moc tunnels built by

Badmington on the pavement anyone?

The use of public space in Vietnam is fantastic - they use it for public stuff, just as we should do. Like, for example, these retired couples playing badmington.

villagers close to the DMZ in the local area for protection from the air raids. Was fun wandering around the hand-dug tunnels that had meeting rooms, toilets, family rooms, cinema and various exits disguised even onto the beach. Then spent over 3 hours coming back on a very hot bus and had to practise some 'diplomacy' involving a German and the window which he insisted on shutting all the time!

Next morning travelled by coach further south for around 4 hours to Hoi An via Danang along a highway that led us through a mountain - the tunnel must have been over 6 km long! Also stopped along the way at a fantastic beach-side hotel for a break. The beachwas deserted and was endless golden sand - someone will one day make a lot of money out of this place! The whole town of Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Had a wander around town which is full of unique low-level architecture, a market and a Japanese Covered Bridge. Was extremely hot here too as it was a bit inland. Found a fantastic cafe run by a really friendly lady and talked about the local specialities, which

Insence Sticks Drying in the Sun

Smelt quite impressive too

revolved around different meats, curry, noodles and rice, but they all tasted unique to anything else tried so far.

In order to explore Hoi An Old Town, you have to buy a ticket as it has UNESCO status! Bit cheeky really, but you get to visit various sites in the town, but most of them were not that amazing. Firstly went to the Phuc Kien Assembly Hall (dont say that one too quick out loud!!). Was not amazing, built in the 1800s and holds a big table where meetings used to take place. Lots of insence and the sunshine was insanely insanely intense, so plodded along to the Museum of Folk Culture, housed in a house and not that interesting and really just full of everyday objects and nothing to do with 'folk' culture. Then wandered along the riverfront that had a nice breeze and headed into a street with 'traditional' houses and went into a house that has been lived in by the same family for around 10 generations and contained loads of traditional furniture and decoration. The family show you around the house, explaining various bits of furniture and even give you some tea! Due to the

Tu Duc Tomb

insane heat, just went to a nice shaded restaurant and chilled with lots of drinks. This is probably the hottest temperature of the entire trip so far - it is the middle of a very very hot dry summer for Vietnam, but still! Later that afternoon caught a taxi to Da Nang airport. Along the way passed a lot of prime-estate located along the seafront purchased and boarded up in order to prepare for the massive tourist doom that is predicted in Vietnam over the next few years. Chinese tourists are big money here and in 20 years this coastline may well look like Benidorm. Caught a giant plane (the pilot was so impressed he was taking photos of it on his phone on the tarmac!) south to Ho Chi Minh city - formally known as Saigon. Just over an hour later made it through the mad traffic and got to our hostel in a quite street (well alley-way really) just behind the main tourist drag, so it was a bit quiter.

Liesurely start the next day and wandered along to the Notre Dame Cathedral, but it was raining lots and got distracted by a coffee shop. After the

Minh Mang Tomb

downpour stopped and the sun came out, went to the Reunification Palace, but that was shut for a massive corporate event that was going on on the lawn! Instead went to the War Remnants Museum that had some very disturbing photos of the chemical warfare and all the other things that went on in Vietnam and also some of the American planes that were left behind after the war. Must have been a tough place to fight. After that went to the Botanic Gardens and zoo and I really wish we hadnt. The animals were all really skinny, unhappy and in cages no bigger than your average living room, all made of concrete with no amusement for them at all. Was very sad, so left there quickly.

Early start the next day for Mekong Delta Tour. Began with a drive to the small narrow boat that would be taking us around the Mekong. The tour began at the floating market, which was lots of houseboats tied together with a bamboo pole stuck on the roof with the thing that was being sold shoved on the top of it. So then, you spot the thing you want in the crowd

Khai Dinh Tomb Guard & Me

and paddle on over to buy it. Then tried some coconut candy (was really tasty) and watched rice-krispie squares being made Vietnamese-styleeee. Around 20 million people live on the Mekong Delta, all finding unique ways to build houses and integrate TV aerials into their construction! Cruised along the canals and had a fanstastic locally-caught fish for lunch, met the python they kept for their pet, and then had a cycle ride through the local villages, paddy fields and alongside the canals. Had a fantastic guide who explained everything and we had a great group with us who were all up for cycling forever despite the blistering heat. Eventually headed back to Ho Chi Minh City via a 'beautiful garden', which was a good excuse to get an ice cream. Bus was so crowded people were sitting on stools in the aisles!

Leisurely start the next day and went to the Marramman Hindu temple (same as all the others really) and then had the worst cup of tea ever known to man in a cafe. Wandered along to the Reunification Palace, which was actually open today. The Palace was built in 1966 as a Presidential Palace for South Vietnam, but

Outside Wall of the Citadel

only 9 years later on the 30th April 1975, tanks charged here, overtook rule of the country and reunited Vietnam under the Communist/Socialist Ho Chi Minh. So after another wander around Ho Chi Minh, had to then head to the airport to catch a flight to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Really was a quick tour of Vietnam, but it was absolutely fantastic. Wish I could have spent longer there and hope to go back to see the bits I missed and hopefully have a bit more of a relaxation time instead of charging around the place and clocking up lots of air miles. Awesome place that is just on the brink of bursting onto the world scene - the place is buzzing and ready to show the world what it has got. Its got lots. And hopefully the big tour companies and hotel chains dont ruin the place.

Additional photos below

Photos: 29, Displayed: 29