South of the 17th Parallel- Ho Chi Minh City.. or Saigon?

Whether you call it Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon the major city in the south of Vietnam is bursting with colonial charm, fantastic flavours and enough sights to easily fill a few days. When people ask me what part of Vietnam is my favourite I honestly can’t decide. Every place I visited had its own unique twist to it and inspired me in different ways. Even the North and South were equally incredibly and I wouldn’t hesitate to return to either.

I managed to spend just over 2 days in HCMC at the start of the year and got a good feel for the city in that time. Arriving from Malaysia and seeing the sprawling lights from the city from the plane (while somewhat delirious from travelling for 12 hours and being incredibly sick) I was expecting that HCMC was going to be a typical large Asian city, polluted and crowded. Driving to my hotel it was crowded with motorbikes as is to be expected but also there were a number of green areas throughout the city and a good mix between modern and colonial architecture. It is a city that is rich in history particularly from the War and has more than enough to keep the military history buff interested for a while. As I am quite fond of my military history I’ve compiled a top 3 sights.

Cu Chi Tunnels- They are a bit of a hike from HCMC but it’s a nice drive through the countryside and well worth the trip. It can be argued that there are many better tunnel complexes in the country but these are very accessible (and popular). The Viet Cong used the tunnels to fight the Allies during the war and were quite self sufficient in them and tunnels proved to be an effective tactic in waging war. The complex these days can seem like a bit of a theme park but with a decent guide there is a lot to learn and you can even get down into the tunnels (widened for tourists). There are a few access tunnels that they get a few of the visitors to try climbing into as an example of how small they really were. I tried and at 6ft found it rather difficult and couldn’t imagine living there. So apart from tunnels, old military hardware and sampling some of the root vegetable and tea diet of the fighters there is one attraction which draws a crowd- the shooting range. Having gunfire in the background at all times while exploring the complex is an experience in itself however I could not resist the temptation to shell out a few dollars and have a crack at firing an AK47. There were also M16 and other machine guns to try out and it is understandable that some people have reservations when it comes to shooting but it was good fun and I’d happily have another go at it. Reunification Palace- The former seat of government in HCMC some of the most memorable pictures I remember from my history course are those of the North Vietnamese tanks crashing through the front gates of this place. It’s a bit of a labyrinth with it’s many levels and rooms however it has been kept in spectacular condition and is good to have a look around. Also you can go up on the roof and see where the helicopters evacuated from and stroll around the grounds and see various planes and tanks on display. I wouldn’t mind going back as last time I was there I was still recovering from the last traces of the bug from Indonesia and couldn’t really take it all in.

War Remnants Museum- I feel that this is somewhere I will never be able to remove from my memory. The museum shows the War from the Vietnamese point of view and is confronting and tragic. A modern building in the middle of HCMC, I’m glad I had the chance to spend a bit of time there and see everything properly. Other than displays of weapons and other hardware there are some horrific displays of photos and preserved foetuses showing the effects of Agent Orange and an excellent exhibition of photos from photojournalists during the war- most of whom died or are missing and the museum explains their stories incredibly well. I think the most shocking part of this museum was seeing the War from the other side’s point of view. It’s very easy to stick to what we learn about at school and not consider what other people went through and it really makes you question what you think about the War.

On a lighter note there is much more to HCMC than war history. For shopping you have everything from the huge Ben Thanh Markets (among others) with amazing fruits and vegetables on sale to the high end shopping in the centre of the city. There is food everywhere with all different restaurants and street stalls. It was here I learnt that Pho was very different to what we had at the takeaway down the road- delicious! There were also a number of rooftop bars that a worth checking out, the Rex Hotel bar and Saigon Saigon spring to mind. Neither are cheap but they have quality cocktails and are a good place to watch the sun go down and by Western standards they really aren’t expensive (roughly $7 for a good quality cocktail).

HCMC was full of surprises. I felt comfortable walking around the city by myself although I often had the company of cyclo drivers who seemed keen for a chat even when I told them I wasn’t interested in a lift. The food, culture and people were great and it was a perfect introduction to Vietnam for me. My only real regret was not having enough time to see everything, there is so so much to see. Luckily for me though I’ll be back there in 2 months, much sooner than I expected to be so will be trying out some new restaurants, shopping up a storm at some of the markets and getting lost in new parts of the town and of course reporting it all back here.

South of the 17th Parallel- Wonderful Hoi An

Oh Hoi An, beautiful Hoi An. A town which captured my heart with its wonderful charm and vibrant colours. The town itself has had the influence of many different forces from the Vietnamese to Chinese and Japanese and the Old Town is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The UNESCO rating does wonders for the place with strict rules on development and no cars or buses allowed in the town centre making it easy to walk around in peace (except the odd motorbike) and the town centre is closed entirely to traffic on some nights. It was in Hoi An that I realised how much I loved my SLR camera with hundreds of different coloured lanterns and old colonial shopfronts. Another thing to do is get a pass which allows you into some of the old houses, museums and meeting halls as well as the Japanese bridge. I think the pass only cost about $5 all up and provided an interesting insight into the history of the place.

Realistically though the best thing to do in Hoi An is shop. There are hundreds of tailors in town all of whom will make clothes to order for you in a few days. I found a great one (we were tipped off by a waitress at our hotel- a bit dodgy I know) at 39 Tran Phu (I think) and had a 3 piece cashmere, silk lined suit, 4 business shirts and a pair of leather heels made for a grand total of $250. It’s a high quality suit and has served me well since I got back. I also had a light summer dress made for only $20 which I’ve worn a number of times as well as buying a lot of silk and cashmere scarfs (and a silk sleeping bag liner for only $5!) I have never been a fan of shopping at all but Hoi An was great fun to shop in and all the staff at the shops were really friendly. Can’t go wrong with good customer service! There is also many art galleries with photos and artworks for a reasonable price.

The food in Hoi An like Vietnam generally is amazing. I spent many a night having a drink and dinner down beside the river and tucking into a delicious local dumpling called White Rose as well as awesome minced pork on lemongrass sticks. There are cafes throughout the old town which combined with the lack of traffic makes people watching enjoyable as well as a number of cooking skills which unfortunately I didn’t get to try out. I would however recommend a walk through the markets where you can see all kinds of produce and unusual fruits and vegetables and experience an assault on all of your senses from the noise, scent and sights.

When I was there I stayed at one of the big beach resorts at Cu Dai beach about 5 km from the old town. The beach runs all the way from Danang and as much as it would have been nice to stay in the old town you can’t really complain about getting to wake up each morning to a view of the South China Sea and Cham Islands. The beach is full of massive resorts and there is more and more development occurring thankfully nowhere near the town itself. From the resort we were also able to hire bikes and ride through the farming areas for a few hours to see some of the local industry and as the area is completely flat riding was a breeze despite the heat. The beach had a number of water sports such as jet skis but I didn’t have time to partake in any water activities preferring to spend time exploring town.

One thing that is a must in Hoi An is to have a trip out to My Son. Comparing it to Angkor Wat and Borobudur (as the onsite museum does) is probably a bit much but the temple complex is incredible and you can spend many hours exploring. The tragedy is that a great deal of the area and many of the temples were destroyed during the war which has also left a great deal of unexploded ordinance in the area. As one of our guides told me in Vietnam the man should always walk in front of the women in case of landmines. All jokes aside however (it’s not something that should be joked about really) if you stay on the path you should be fine. It also provides an insight into a different side of Vietnamese history and was a good introduction to the Champa empire who played a pretty large role in Southeast Asian history many centuries ago. It takes about an hour to get out there but you get to see rice paddies and agriculture on your way out so it is a nice drive.

Driving to the airport in Da Nang you get to see the Marble Mountains. If I had of had enough time I would have definitely paid them a visit as they looked incredible, particularly as you fly in, jutting up out of the flat landscape. Hue is also a few hours away which is another place I missed out on seeing.

Hoi An in my opinion has pretty much everything you could want in a town if you want to chill out for a few days. Interesting sights, walking and cycling friendly, plenty of restaurants and cafes and a beach (not necessary in my opinion but I understand the attraction of it). I was only there for four days but I can safely say I fell in love with the place and can’t wait to head back there and do nothing some time in the future.

North of the 17th Parallel- Part 2 (Sapa)

So after a few days in Hanoi and the cruise in beautiful Halong Bay I headed up to Sapa to do a bit of hiking an see the hill tribes. This meant an overnight train trip where a hilarious Vietnamese tour guide (whose group was in another carriage) in our room who coincidentally has a friend who lived a few suburbs over from me in Australia. She also was great fun particularly with her advice to drink beer and take some sleeping tablets to enjoy the train ride. Only following the first half of this advice the train ride up to Lao Cai wasn’t too bad with it being pretty easy to sleep once you got the hang of the rhythm and the sudden stops. (It should be noted I can sleep anywhere.. except on planes strangely)

Arriving in Lao Cai it was straight into a van to drive up to Sapa. Upon arriving we had some breakfast (pho of course) before having a walk around town. As soon as I walked out the door of the hotel I was mobbed by women from the hill tribes trying to sell things. While the history and lives of the tribes is interesting the constant harassing to try and sell you things gets very frustrating very quickly. They all speak enough English and follow you through the villages and on treks. The good thing is however they speak enough English for you to get a good idea about their lives and families. After a while in town I started speaking Indonesian whenever they approached me which slowed the down a bit. This soon turned into a spectator sport with watching tourists get off the bus and be surrounded. The best one was when they got really angry at two British guys and started throwing things at them (I laughed and took photos)

In terms of trekking the scenery is spectacular. It was shrouded in mist at times (was there in March so at the end of the winter season) but as the fog cleared there were miles of rice paddies to be seen. Also you wound through farms and villages stopping by schools and stores with some restaurants having little performances. My favourite village was probably Cat Cat (although it was very commercial) with it’s beautiful waterfall and Ta Phin (I think) which was a bit further out and we were mobbed by Red Zhao. So who are these ethnic minorities? The two main ones you encounter or the Hmong (Flower or Black) who wear dark navy clothes with vibrant colours and the Red Zhao who are distinguishable from their red head dress. The latter will follow you for miles trying to get a sale but at the end of the day it is important to remember that this is their livelihood and many of them walk for miles to get to Sapa in the hope of selling there wares.

What else is there to do in Sapa? Eat! The markets are also fun to look around but there are some fantastic restaurants (funnily enough some of the best ones I visited were Western). We ran into some people from our cruise on Halong Bay who recommended we got to Delta- an Italian restaurant in the centre of town. This place was incredible- there are some bad reviews on the internet but I thought it was great. Following 2 months living in Indonesia an antipasto plate (with prosciutto) and a bottle of Chianti hit the spot. Another excellent café was Baguettes and Chocolate which had great western style coffee and a chocolate tart which was to die for. It also is a feel good café as all the staff are underprivileged youth and who doesn’t like French pastries really? This said we did eat some Vietnamese food and had steamboat overlooking the valley which was perfect on a freezing day. I also sampled Vietnamese coffee which I didn’t mind. Other people I was travelling with weren’t keen on the local coffee but I really enjoyed the rich nutty flavour, that said I also like kopi luwak which a lot of people I know don’t like.

So it was time to return to the train station and my fantastic trip to Sapa was almost complete, unfortunately I left Sapa far too early and ended up in Lao Cai for far too long. Lao Cai is an incredibly depressing place. On the Chinese border it’s mainly a transit town for border traffic. We went to the border to look at a temple (it was actually quite interesting- typical Vietnamese style) after this I took some obligatory “look that’s China behind me” photos before heading back to a restaurant near the train station and eating oily spring rolls and pineapple pancakes and being constantly approached by people wanting to shine shoes or sell cigarettes. One thing I did find funny was looking across the Chinese border and the first thing you saw was a massive KFC billboard. Globalisation at it’s finest!

Another train ride through the night to Hanoi and another incredibly friendly Vietnamese tour guide later I arrived in Hanoi just short of 4am. Luckily the hotel I was staying at let me sleep on a massage table in their day spa for a few hours and use the awesome showers in there which was more than enough to be refreshed for another day of sightseeing in Hanoi.

Sapa was an adventure. While people might complain about how tourism has taken over and hill tribes are now forced to cater for the tourist market and despite the fact being asked to buy things 27/7 is annoying unfortunately that is what globalisation is doing to the world. I’m pretty keen to return to Sapa one day and visit some more remote villages and possibly tackle Mt Fanispan. All in all though Sapa was truly amazing and featured a rich culture, worlds different from the Vietnamese culture you saw in other parts of the country, and was unlike anything I’d seen before.

North of the 17th Parallel- Part 1 (Hanoi & Halong Bay)

Touching down in Hanoi it was clear that this city was going to be much different to the other parts of Vietnam that I had visited. At first it seemed like a big typical Asian capital as my car pulled off the highway and down a side street to my hotel. Later that evening I found myself in the rooftop restaurant overlooking an amazing looking city as I saw all of the lights around Hoan Kiem Lake (the famous lake with the red bridge from the Amazing Race) and got excited about what I was to discover in this city.

Hanoi does not lack tourist attractions in fact I had nowhere near enough time to see them all. Places I went included Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Uncle Ho’s House, various museums, Temple of Literature and the Hanoi Hilton. The Mausoleum was incredible with it’s imposing architecture and the somewhat morbid sight of Ho Chi Minh’s body for all the world to see. Still it shows the influence of socialism on Vietnam and the rich history of the place. Also Hanoi had a heap of shopping particularly in the old quarter where each street sold a different product (we were in the shoes street). Vietnam has surprised me, particularly the large cities at how easy and nice it is to walk around the streets. I would never dream of doing that in places like Jakarta or Manila but Vietnam has a really good vibe. Also the food has been mind blowing with the pho in Hanoi being unforgettable (have eaten it at least once a day). One strange thing that did happen in Hanoi was walking down around Hoan Kiem Lake when we saw a huge crowd and tv camera crews looking into the lake. Soon I had a local Vietnamese guy explain to me that there was an appearance of the turtle who lived in the lake which meant good luck for those who saw it. We caught a glimpse so that’s a win for us.

While in Hanoi we took a trip down to Halong Bay for 2 days to see the famous landscape (which is now looking at being included in the New 7 Wonders of the World) to jump aboard a junk and cruise around. Not being a fan of boats and just 2 weeks after a junk sank and killed a number of people needless to say I was not entirely enthusiastic to go but I couldn’t miss out on seeing the famous bay. I am so glad I did end up going because what we saw was incredible. The karsts rose majestically from the clear water and the sky managed to clear at just the right time when we pulled up to an island to explore some caves and go kayaking. My Vietnamese guide was shocked that I could keep up with him in the kayak- all those times kayaking at home were finally paying off for me. There was also the chance to play with some gorgeous puppies on the beach and we saw a snake (wasn’t keen on that). After a massive 6 course dinner on board and a surprisingly good nights sleep, we visited a fishing village the next day and saw how pearls were farmed then headed back to the Mainland to drive back to Hanoi.

One thing that surprised me about the north of Vietnam was how willing and eager people I met were to have a chat. With my guide in Halong Bay I discussed security (although he was shocked that a woman studied security) and at my hotel in Hanoi I met some of the most lovely staff who talked to me about their education and lives and were incredibly sympathetic about the fact I had to study at university and work at the same time. Even up to the last day when my hiking boats were in desperate need of a clean and a concierge took me down the road to have my shoes cleaned and I hung out with some local guys and had a chat in broken English.

Next up I’ll be writing about beautiful Sapa as well as some of the incredible towns down south.