In 2007 I bought a Lonely Planet for Vietnam and Cambodia but for various reasons we never used it until now, but like me, despite its age, it still has a reasonable amount of usefulness. Just about everyone we know has already been to Vietnam and I can confirm that, yes, the food is still good and the people are friendly. Due to the 3 year break from travel and the rigmarole of trying to recover covid-stopped airfares I decided to book the airlines through a local agent and found a travel agent in Hanoi to sort out the trip. So we have been met at airports, had a car and guide in each stop, and generally avoided a great deal of the angst that travel uncertainty can occur. We have had a couple of small concerns so far, but none of that stomach churning worry about is this the right bus or is this taxi driver really going where I want, and are we going to have an argument about the fare. And no repeats of arriving in an airport to find my flight left exactly one month ago.
We were told by the agent that Hanoi might be a little chilly in the evenings so came equipped for that, but mid 20s is not exactly cool so we have a bit of useless luggage. What I wasn’t really ready for was the great delight to be back in the organised chaos of an Asian city, as in our first stop in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. This is my sort of happy place. All the footpaths taken up by foodstalls, parked motor scooters, people welding stuff, little low seats for coffee drinkers, and everyone hustling for a living. As long as you don’t get run down by a scooter person it’s all wonderful. Saigon, no-one calls it by it’s official name, is reputed to have 8,000,000 motor scooters and when you see the unending river of them passing by in rush hour the number is believable. It is also fun doing the slow deliberate road crossing in the midst of all this traffic. The only real complication is that scooters seem to be allowed to go whichever way they like, including on the crowded footpaths, so a degree of all-round vision is required.
We flew into Hanoi for 3 nights; went to Lan Ha Bay which is an extension of Ha Long Bay for a delightful overnight cruise on a much better quality boat than expected, along with about 30 similar boats; flew to Da Nang and on to Hoi An for 3 nights; had a look at Hue for a night; then flew to Saigon for 3 nights. In each place we did interesting stuff outside of the town, and as I write this we are on a cruise up the Mekong which will take us into Cambodia. Given that Vietnam is far from a capitalist democracy I suspect the government decides what will be a tourist attraction, and then builds the suitable infrastructure to allow hordes of tourists to go there. Apparently tourism is at about 40% of previous levels which means I would not want to be here when it is back to full throttle. I have been surprised at how large the tourist industry is even now.
The boat we are presently on is owned by an outfit called Pandaw who specialise in river cruises in slightly out of the way places. There are 20 passenger rooms (ours is far grander than a cabin) and it’s all in a sort of colonial style with lots of dark polished wood, brass fittings, ringed by three levels of decks, anxious-to-please staff, and I intend to do more of this with the same company. The wine list isn’t perfect but that is a small problem.
On our first night, in Hanoi, we found that a restaurant, suggested by friend Di Fabricious, was still in existence and nearby so we went there. It was called Cha Ca Da Vang and you entered into the front room of a house, got pointed up some stairs that just fell short of being a ladder, and arrived in a very ordinary dining room. Further pointing had us at a bare table, Kay was given a small tatty plastic covered card that said “Only one dish in our restaurant GRILLED FISH price 170,000VND per person not included drink.” We nodded and within 5 minutes had a frying pan with the fish cooked in it, a little gas cooker and a plate of vegetables to be added to the fish. The price was about NZ$11 each. Other meals have ranged from a couple of semi-European ones to a delicious street vendor filled roll with bbqed meat and lots of tasty other stuff, and as expected none of it has been disappointing. I have tried the local white wine twice – the first time it had obviously been open for a few days and the second convinced me to not try again. On one of our visits to a local village we were induced to have taste of Mekong Whiskey which is distilled rice wine. It bought back a long forgotten memory of a beach in Thailand where there was no accommodation so I bought a half bottle of this stuff to help go to sleep under a palm tree. When I woke up late the next morning I was a surrounded by local fishermen going about their business, and giving me sympathetic looks as they saw the empty bottle. That was 50 years ago.
Vietnam is governed by its communist party and I gather all of the men involved are from the north. The odd comment from the south suggests that Hi Chi Min is not their favourite person but up north he is revered. It’s easy to forget that the war we remember was initially a civil war that escalated with Russian help to the north and US intervention in the south. To the victors go the spoils so the north has the political power and the army has lots of business operations. Corruption has been mentioned by all our guides and that is no surprise. But at least the government had the sense to open up to the world in the 90s and now I get the impression they are doing what China did when Deng was in charge – private enterprise is allowed within guidelines and getting rich is OK as long as you don’t challenge the government. The richest man has a string of big businesses that all have names starting with “Vin” and he began his career selling noodles off a bicycle. He even produces cars called Vinfast which apparently are based on BMW components, and assistance. They look pretty good as well. The infrastructure is also a little like China with plenty of multi laned expressways, and some impressive bridges including three big ones we have been under today. Also in the main cities there are huge apartment developments, hopefully they are not too closely following the Chinese model in that area. (It has all turned to dross there.)
The Asian obsession with religions and superstition is alive here as well. Buddhism seems to be the main one with with bits of all the others in the area, and Catholic churches are part of the skyline thanks to the French. I think people like to have a bit of a foot in most camps just in case the other ones are for real, and the desire for good luck means you should cover all bases. I have long thought the Asian attitude to religions is essentially transactional in that they are happy to worship as long as they get wealth and happiness in return. Although that is probably no different than the rest of the world, they are just more open about it. There is a very strange and colourful, literally, local religion which is a mixture of just about every religion along with a few literary people including Shakespeare and Victor Hugo. We paid its headquarters a visit and our guide enthusiastically explained that their worship was a mingling of music and chanting. He was very keen on the word mingling, and when we got have a look in their very bright and impressive church there was a great deal of it going on.
Amongst the various touristy things that had to be done we have been for several river rides ranging from a little tin boat for 3 rowed by a guy using his feet only, a canoe for 4 rowed by a lady but Kay and I helped with the spare oars until the rain got too heavy, a lovely peaceful trip on an old midsized boat with a putt putt internal engine and only us a passengers, through to the big cruiser we are now on. The war museum in Hanoi was the usual one-sided propaganda device you get in dictatorships. The Cu Chi tunnels were interesting as well as presenting me with a new mental phenomenon – when my turn came to bend over and waddle through a tunnel I had a sudden attack of claustrophobia and decided not to risk having to turn around in the middle which was something new and interesting. I have been to many temples but never before seen one where horses and goats are worshipped. And on this cruise I have been walking around on land visits with a transponder hanging around my neck and an ear piece to listen to our guide – I never thought I would do that, but it is a practical solution to a problem. Another such solution occurred when we were transferring from Hanoi and were dropped off at our travel agent’s office building. We had been there before so looked at the sign that said it was on the 8th floor and got into the lift, only to find there were just 7 floors. The solution was to stop at each floor and wander the corridors – eventually striking gold on the 4th. One day I will feel financially able to get a sim card in foreign countries and just ring people in such situations.
Most of the other passengers on our cruise are English so it is a polite and restrained group. I have noticed that one needs to be a bit careful about suggesting Boris is a liar and that Brexit has been a considerable negative for their country. There is one guy from Plymouth whose accent is very difficult to translate, but generally they are an affable crowd and we have been enjoying the happy hour (“free” cocktails) and dinners. I was a little surprised by one of the ladies who was not very keen on getting into one of the canoes, and when it did a bit of a wobble used a string of expletives that made her discomfort quite clear.
And now on to Cambodia.
Dennis, and Kay.