Overview
My wife and I travelled to Vietnam In
February 2009, it was our first time to this part of the
world, our knowledge of this country was limited to mainly
the events surrounding the American war during the 60s 70s.
Our impression of what to expect, was based on a number of
travel programmes shown on TV several months before our
departure together with some background reading about the
country.
One of the main reasons for choosing
Vietnam as a destination was because we thought it may offer
a location not yet too influenced by the effects of mass
tourism, plus it would also give us an introduction to South
East Asia.
First Impressions
The first thing we noticed in general was
how friendly the Vietnamese people were, even the government
officials on arrival at Hanoi airport were helpful in
sorting out our visas. The other thing that was very obvious
was the age of the Vietnamese people,
there were so many young people and I would guess the
average age was early 30s. Fortunately for me English was
widely spoken, apparently it is taught as one of the main
languages in Vietnamese schools. The other noticeable thing
was the amount of motorbikes on the roads in Hanoi and
especially in Ho Chi Minh City, thousands of the things
every day and all the time, the Vietnamese version of rush
hour was something to be amazed by. Crossing the road as a
pedestrian in Ho Chi Minh City is like dicing with death,
just close your eyes and cross, some how it works. Compared
with some other counties and cities in the world we felt
quite safe when walking about, there was usually some
interest in us strangers but usually no more than an
opportunity to sell. Maybe in Ho Chi Minh City one should
always be a little wearier.
The Trip
The two week trip was based on a desire to
experience an overview of Vietnam and include the recognised
destinations of the country, therefore the journey started
in the
north at Hanoi and we made our way south to Ho Chi Minh City
via Hue, Hoi An and Dalat. The mode of transport was private
taxi, boat and flights by Vietnam Airways to travel between
the main cities. As you may be aware Vietnam is a long thin
country being about 2500km from the north to south, the
result of this distance makes for an ever changing country
and climate from north to the very south. We had four
different guides, one at each main location, each attempting
to off load a heap of historical and factual information
about the various places of interest, this was fine but by
the middle of the trip we started to suffer from information
overload. Having said that the guides were all extremely
enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their country and in
addition they were very good at looking after our every
need.
We started the tour of Hanoi the day after
our arrival, with a trip around the various sites including
Ho Chi Minhs Mausoleum and the Tran Quoc Pagoda and then on
the third day we set off to Ha Long Bay for an overnight
cruise around the bay. On the way to Ha long Bay we stopped
for a break at a marble factory which was our first tourist
trap in Vietnam but it wasnt that bad.
We boarded the Chinese junk which was to
be our home for the night and set off around Ha Long Bay,
visiting a floating houseboat village later that afternoon.
In the morning before returning back to shore we stopped off
at the Dau Go Caves (Caves of Wonder). The Ha Long Bay
cruise was one of our highlights in Vietnam.
We returned to Hanoi where we flew to Hue
in the central part of Vietnam. We spent a day investigating
the sites which included the Citadel and a trip on the
Perfume River. After two nights in Hue we travelled by car
to Hoi An through the Hai Van mountain pass travelling by
Lang Co beach and Da Nang on the way. Hoi An was one of our
favourite places, we had arranged to stay here one extra day
as a break from the travelling, so we spent this extra day
on the beach. Hoi An was a good place to wander round with a
few touristy things to see and do,
there were also plenty of restaurants to choose from most of
which are around the harbour. Our second morning we
travelled out into the countryside to see the My Son
Sanctuary, this place does get busy and very hot, so get
there early in the morning if you can.
After Hoi An we flew from Da Nang airport
to Ho Chi Minh City and then on to Dalat in the southern
highlands arriving in the afternoon just before a huge down
pour. On the second day in Dalat we travelled by cable car
to Tuyen Lam lake and spent an hour riding an elephant, we
also visited the local market which was quite amazing to
walk around and just look. Apparently Dalat is a hot tourist
spot for the Vietnamese people so this town does cater
mainly for the their own people.
We spent two nights in Dalat and then we
transferred on to Ho Chi Minh City by a short flight. In Ho
Chi Minh City we investigated the various sites which
included a trip to the Cu
Chi tunnels on the outskirts of the City, we also made a
visit to the war museum this was by our own efforts. Ho Chi
Minh City too has its own market but that I found to be very
touristy and nowhere near as interesting as the one in
Dalat.
The main thing that struck us was the
amount of people travelling by motorbike its hard to
describe the volume, thousands of them everywhere. Fashion
also plays an important part when travelling by motorbike it
appears to me the crash helmet is a statement of fashion,
Ive never see so many
different shapes and styles. There also appears a necessity
to cover up from the sun especially for the female bikers,
face mask, floppy hats and gloves appear to be the norm.
This trend applies to all other parts of Vietnam but Ho Chi
Minh Citywas by far the most obvious.
The third day here we travelled to the
Mekong Delta and stayed overnight at Can Tho, the journey
was quite lengthy and took up best part of the day. On the
way through to Can Tho we did see the depths of the Mekong
Delta travelling by small boat part of the way, we passed
through the backwaters and a maize of channels and
eventually crossed the Mekong river to the south side. We
stayed overnight at Can Tho and rose early to visit the
floating market by boat before returning back to Ho Chi Minh
City for our last night in Vietnam.