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A FEW DAYS IN VIETNAM
I have always wanted to visit Vietnam, perhaps because of all those pictures of Saigon, Da Nang, and Hanoi which we viewed so often on our televisions during the 1960’s and 1970’s. So in November we booked a small package tour, which turned out to be 10 pleasant Brits in a 15 seater coach.
We arrived in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city as it is officially known, to be met by our guide who was the son of a former senior member of the South Vietnam military. As a result he had done 7 years in a re-education camp and his father had been away 15 years but had returned only to go “missing” again possibly out of the country to look for work, but this was not clear as he had not re-contacted his family.
First impressions of Saigon City was of a bustling town with few vehicles but with a seething mass of people on cycles. Around the outskirts were many small businesses of every description where everything required is made or cannibalised and reworked. Everyone appears to be at work. Also life generally is on the streets. The cafes spill all over the pavement with customers squatting on very low plastic stools shoveling food into their mouths with young children playing amongst them. We found everyone almost without exception extremely friendly and pleased in many cases to talk English which was reassuring after all the battles they have had with the French, Japanese and Americans in the last few years. The hotels in which we stayed were of a good standard and the staff helpful. Clearly the country has accepted tourism and its financial rewards. Obviously it is early days and the disadvantages of mass tourism have not yet set in.
Saigon and Hanoi have some splendid French buildings. The Post Office, the former Presidential palace and Notre Dame Cathedral are on well laid out wide streets which makes the centre of Saigon a pleasant place to visit. The Chinese market in China town is an enormous building on two floors where anything can be bought. Having spent an interesting half an hour here we were glad to get away due to the mass of people and the heat.
We were taken to the Mekong Delta where we enjoyed a boat trip and lunch on Lotus island, all the time taking pictures of the mass of river traffic bringing their goods to market on their motorised sampans. From the amount of food on display you would never starve in Vietnam. We also visited a plantation growing tropical fruits and a bonsai garden. Next day we visited the Cao Dai temple at Tay Ninh which was built between 1933 and 1955. This is home to the relatively new indigenous religion of Caodaism. The religion is intended to create an ideal religion fusing the philosophies of East and West. It encompasses Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Vietnamese spiritism. The temple is similar to Westminster Abbey only in that it has twin towers at the West end but apart from this it is in rococo style with extravagant modern construction. Internally it is superb with marble flooring and highly coloured decoration. We were encouraged to attend the 12 o”” clock service where the large congregation is all dressed in white with men on one side and women on the other. An impressive spectacle.
As a total contrast we were taken to the Cu Chi tunnels to experience how the Viet Cong lived underground during the war with America. I found these fascinating as they were only large enough to accommodate the locals, whereas a European has difficulty entering the genuine tunnels because of their small size. The tunnels run for miles with their entry and exit points accessed, by way of small trapdoors disguised under bushes and trees, at regular intervals. How the troops carried arms and ammunition as well as food was clearly quite an achievement, and they lived underground for months at a time.
We next left by air for Da Nang which has a large port and the remains of the former U S military area much of which remains military and part of which has been converted into an industrial park. We visited a museum devoted to the Cham dynasty. The Chams were the original inhabitants of Vietnam. We then climbed Water Mountain to explore the cave pagodas and to view the nearby China beach where the Americans first landed their troops in March 1965. If it had not been raining we might have spent a couple of hours sunbathing on the beach, but that was not to be. Instead we drove on to the ancient town of Hoi An. Hoi An was one of South East Asia’s international ports during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and apparently parts of the town look exactly as they did more than a century ago. The highlight was Tan Ky house which was built two centuries ago for a well off Vietnamese merchant. It has been restored to its original glory, showing evidence of Japanese and Chinese styles on local architecture. The present owner and his family have lived here for six generations. There were the usual temples and shops where behind the scene were the workers labouring on Lacquer, painting pictures on papyrus, woodcarvers and tailors making dresses and tee shirts. Some of the employees appeared quite young and worked a fairly long day, but morale seemed high. As a result everything was very cheap, tee-shirts for example just a couple of pounds. This was an interesting town with a village type atmosphere, but with a variety of interesting things to visit which I will not bore you with now.
Next day we left for Hue which has traditionally been Vietnam’s cultural, educational, and religious centre. We arrived via the Pass of Clouds which had been a high narrow track through the mountains until the Americans arrived and practically rebuilt the road in order to allow their large vehicles to negotiate the sharp bends. Having used the pass in the morning we later found that due to the heavy rains part of the road had been washed away. Having arrived in our riverside hotel which had been well built by the French and was of a good 4 star rating we realised how high the river water was, and as a result there were no boat trips. But having seen Hue and its location we would certainly be tempted back during better weather. We then immersed ourselves visiting the Imperial Citadel and the Mausoleums of Tu Duc and Khai Dinh. Much of the town had been destroyed during the war but international money is now apparently available for its reconstruction and what remained was worth visiting.
Next morning we flew to Hanoi (HaNoi) the capital of Vietnam where a new airport terminal is being built, and then to an excellent large new hotel which had been financed and built by the Singaporeans with splendid views over the Hoan Kiem lake. Again the city has many fine French buildings and French is widely spoken. Talking to one of the locals he apologised for his poor English by explaining that he had been brought up to speak French, but when the Russians had influence in the country Russian had been taught in the schools and so it is only in the last few years that he had been learning English.
For the visitor the two main highlights of Hanoi is the visit to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, and the temple of literature. Both are giant concrete structures both built by the Russians at obviously fast cost. The Mausoleum houses Ho Chi Minh’s body in a sarcophagus deep in the centre of this structure for nine months of the year, for the other three, the corpse goes to Russia for re-embalming. On entering the building the smartly dressed guards are stationed every 5 yards or so all the way up the stairway through which you walk in single file and in silence which gives an eerily authoritarian aspect to the spectacle. Dress for visitors is strictly controlled for the purposes of decorum. In the same grounds is the Presidential Palace built in 1906, and Ho Chi Minh’s house which is built of the finest wooden materials in 1958 and as is to be expected kept in immaculate condition. The Temple of Literature covers the life and achievements of Ho Chi Minh and some of the history of Vietnam.
Other visits from Hanoi included a trip to the ethnic villages of the Muong and Dao ethnic minorities who live in the forests North of Hanoi and who retain their own customs and way of life. Finally we were taken via Haiphong which is the main port in the north and which got a pounding during the war, to Halong Bay a UNESCO World Heritage site, where we had a half days boat trip with lunch, which was purchased from the fishermen in the bay as we cruised through the islands, stopping at two of them to visit the caves. Back in Hanoi we had half a days shopping and the things to buy were lacquer work in particular, silk, and clothing .
Our doubts before undertaking this trip proved to be unfounded As it was an organised trip with guide there were no problems with the arrangements for the trip. The surprises were the good hotels and especially the food which was excellent. The local airline was up to a good international standard, so we were unlikely to fall out of the sky, which cannot be said for some countries. Above all was the attitude of the people who without exception were pleasant and helpful in hotels and shops and in the streets.
Some of you may think that this article is not particularly relevant to the OMA magazine but for those who may be looking for somewhere different to holiday or for those OMA/Australians who make stopovers in Singapore and fancy an adventure, Vietnam may make a pleasant diversion.
John King
