Amazing
Vietnam!
A ten-day
exploration of Vietnam
Into the
Cool Mountains of Dalat
For the trip through the central highlands we were once again
glad we traveled in a good car with a good driver as well
as a guide. We enjoyed our journey through small towns and
along stretches of agricultural lands and large coffee and
tea plantations, to finally arrive in the old French resort
town of Dalat. This lovely city is a market
center for the many members of hill tribe communities , the
Montagnards, that live in remote areas in the region. The
western highlands area has lost much of its former beauty
due to destruction during the American War as well as the
expansion of agriculture.
We took a morning excursion by jeep up to the peak of Lang
Biang Mountain. We visited a village and shop were
a family of textile weavers showed me their
looms and their beautiful pieces. I bought two large predominately
red weavings, one to grace my dining room table and one serves
as a bed coverlet. We visited a kind of art or trade/boarding
school dedicated to training and creating masterpieces of
embroidery “paintings.” This was a lovely place
where we were treated as welcome guests, even though we didn’t
buy. Later I treated myself to a new experience, a Thai
massage. A young woman who could not have weighed
more than 100 pounds gave me a powerful therapeutic massage
that greatly relieved my travel aches and pains. I tipped
her too much, unable to accept that here great efforts and
skill were valued at a mere $15 per hour.
We enjoyed a long, romantic dinner in the formal French dining
room of the Sofitel Dalat Palace. In a nearly
empty dining room, we enjoyed an elegant waiter, French wine,
rich foods with delicious local produce and a pianist.
Back in Saigon and the Mekong River
Delta
You take your life in your hands when you cross the street
in Ho Chi Minh City (locals still call it Saigon),
faced with an endless stream of motorbikes. Our guide was
emphatic when he told me I must not hesitate or race across
the street or I would “confuse the drivers” and
surely be killed. You must walk steadily and deliberately
to the other side without looking at oncoming drivers. It
takes nerves of steel. Life in Saigon these days is high
adventure. It is a city of 5.3 million people, most of them
under 30, and most it seems are on moving motorbikes. It
is a safe destination. Last year 2.5 million tourists visited
the city and new direct flights on U.S. carriers are coming
soon. It’s a great time to visit this fascinating country.
On our last day, my husband stayed around our beautiful riverside
hotel, the Majestic, while I left with our
driver and guide to the Mekong Delta, the
rice basket of Vietnam. This area produces enough rice to
feed the country as well as a large surplus for export. It
a a heavily populated rural area. The Mekong is one of the
world’s great rivers, originating in Tibet and flowing
through China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to reach the South
China Sea.
In the river town of Mytho, I was introduced
to my local guide, Tam, a charming young
woman, a graduate of HCMC University, with an easy laugh
and a good command of English. We went by boat to Dragon
Island, a lush green island with wooden fishing
boats lining its shores. We walked through little villages,
stopping to taste tropical fruits and coconut candy produced
in a very quaint open air factory operation (picture boiling
caldrons of sugar syrup). I rode in a cart on little paths
and crossed a hanging bridge, and then donned a conical hat
and took a spot in a low boat, to be poled along a canal
by a smiling village woman. Tam told me how worried her family
was about her, with her unmarried status at the ripe old
age of 26.
Vietnam made a deep and lasting impression on me. The images
and the sensations I experienced on this trip, along with
the warmth and kindness of these genuinely sweet people,
created memories I will always treasure. Vietnam is no longer
a war—Vietnam is a place and wonderful and rewarding
travel destination. If you have ever been inclined to visit
this country, or if you were once there in wartime, now is
an excellent time to go.
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