Amazing
Vietnam!
A ten-day
exploration of Vietnam
As
an American who remembers well the war in Vietnam, to be
a tourist in Vietnam means to revisit the war on some level.
Vietnam will always be the place where a terrible war was
fought and millions of people, including more than 58,000
Americans suffered and died.
But Vietnam
is a country with a long history that preceded those dark
years, and with the march of time, and the growth of its
booming Asian economy, Vietnam has become a fascinating
and wonderful travel destination. The country is experiencing
a rebirth, and the pace of its changes are truly remarkable.
With the government committing millions to preserve its
cultural and historical sites and to improve infrastructure,
tourism is fueling this change and is, I believe, a positive
force in the country’s development.
The following is a detailed report
that follows our 10-day trip itinerary and includes traveler’s
notes on the places we visited, hotels we stayed, excursions
we made and some observations.
Hanoi
to Halong Bay
A comfortable 2 hour flight from Hong Kong brought us to Hanoi in
the north, capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
We were met by Van, our lively young tour guide, and transferred
by minibus to our hotel, one of the loveliest of the grand
old French hotels in Vietnam, the Sofitel Metropole.
There we had showers and a lavish Sunday brunch with oysters
from the South China Sea, along with a vast array of salads
and deserts, and a good French wine.
We ventured from our beautiful
hotel feeling like aliens just landed from another planet.
When a pair of cyclo (pedicab) drivers offered to pedal us
around for a few dollars, we climbed aboard and off we went
for a taste of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
This is the thousand year old commercial center of the city
that evolved alongside the Red River and the To Lich River
that once flowed through the city in a network of canals.
As we were pedaled at a brisk pace through the maze of narrow
streets I clicked away on my digital camera, astonished as
I tried to capture the amazing scene of people and activity.
I could have spent days strolling this area, and I’m
sure I would been rewarded with a good dose of Vietnamese
culture, not to mention endless opportunities to buy lovely
things at very low prices, but our itinerary called for our
departure next day.
But not before an evening experience of the famous centuries
old Water Puppet Show at a little theater
near lovely Hoan Kiem Lake in the center
of Hanoi. This was a charming show with wood puppets moving
on a pond, operated by puppeteers standing in water behind
a screen. Historical vignettes and folk tales were reenacted,
with Vietnamese musicians playing traditional instruments
as musical background.
The next morning we saw more of Hanoi—the lovely architecture
of its ochre colored French provincial buildings, green parks
with people of all age groups playing badminton, lakes and
shaded streets. We also saw crowded boulevards, and everywhere
bicycles and an alarming numbers of scooters. We saw that
a little scooter can carry a couple, a triple or even a family
of four, or an amazing volume of goods.
We visited Ho Chi Minh’s
Mausoleum and the central square where President
Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam’s first Declaration of Independence
(from the French) in 1945. We visited Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt
House, and the Temple of Literature,
Vietnam’s first university, dating from 1070.
In the afternoon we traveled north to Halong City, for an
overnight before our boat trip on Halong Bay.
Magnificent Halong Bay, with its 3000 islands rising from
the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, is one of the natural marvels
of Vietnam and in 1994 was designated a World Heritage
Site.
We enjoyed the trip in our private
junk, a rustic old boat, with our guide Van (who
steadfastly guarded her skin from the sun—white skin
being an important asset to all Vietnamese women), and a
skipper and cook. We landed on an island where Van lead us
through a deep cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites,
and lit so we could see and take some snapshots. Later we
landed again at an island with a sandy beach so that I could
have a refreshing swim in the South China Sea. Then as masters
of our junk, we feasted as we were served course after course
of the freshest seafood—little spotted crabs, prawns,
shrimp, squid, and a delicious white fish wrapped in green
leaves and seasoned with lemon grass.
|
