Travels in Vietnam 2013
In Vietnam, we travelled in a group of 20 people (for the first time in our lives), 12 of whom were Australians and 8 British.
Day one: (I am not including an extra day of travel to Vietnam) Arrival in Saigon, walking round the hotel, exploring the night market, not far from our hotel.
The Catholic Cathedral in Saigon
Day Two: During our first day, we visited the French-built Catholic Cathedral, the Post Office, the Independence Palace and the Museum of War Remnants, which we had seen before on a previous trip. We were amazed, that when the Communist armies took over the Governor’s Palace (now Independence Palace), all furnishings and decorations were preserved – in European Bulgaria, after the Communist takeover, the King’s Palace was ransacked and left empty. The Museum of War Remnants is a sad document of the atrocities done to the Vietnamese nation by the American army. Supper was on a boat, cruising up and down the Saigon River, while entertainment was laid on.
Day Three: Bus ride to the Mekong Delta, then boat to the first island. We were entertained with folk songs and music, plaid with local instrument, several singers also participated. Then 4 by 4, we were ferried on low and unstable paddle boats to the next island, where we observed the making of cocoanut candy. We consumed more fruit and tea, then, on a large boat we were ferried for about 15 minutes to another island, to the restaurant for lunch. The starter was most exotic – elephant ear fish with prawns. Then back on the boat to re-unite with our bus. We drove to Can
The elephant ear fish!
Tho, where we stayed the night and had supper. This was the only place in Vietnam, for which we had to take Malerone – medication against mosquitoes. Before supper we took a little walk round the river park – where we discovered a large statue of Uncle Ho and beautiful flowers, with which we took some pictures.
Day Four: Early on the bus, we drove to the Mekong Delta to view the floating vegetable markets. We took a motor boat in the delta and when we reached the market, we noticed that each boat sold only one type of vegetable, an example of which was tied up on the mast. Customers were approaching with small boats, purchasing goods, then moving to the next seller for some more. After the market, we visited a rice factory and on the way back stopped at a large crafts cooperative shop, selling lacquer products, jade, clothes, etc. It was interesting to see what was on offer.
The Vegetable market
From there, we returned back to Saigon to our hotel.
Day Five: This was the day eagerly awaited by some Australian members of our group – we were visiting the Chu Chin Tunnels, used by the Vietnamese during the war. A war veteran, who had spent 9 years in the tunnels, spoke to us. They were equipped with hospitals, kitchens, schools, housing compartments, etc. Some members of the group went underground into the tunnels for a short period of time – they had to increase the depth of the tunnels, to make them suitable for the taller European/ American tourists. The Vietnamese fighters had very clever tricks to disguise the smoke from their cooking – they put termite heaps, which also produced smoke.
The cathedral at the beginning of the service
Then we went to Tay Ninh to a church – the Holy See/ Great Temple – to watch part of a service of the Cao Dai religion. The temple in front of which we stopped was amazing – a group of high priests were entering at the time. We were given the opportunity, after taking our shoes off to observe the ceremony from inside the temple. The believers, all in white, made neat, straight rows on the floor amongst the columns. The ethical traditions of the Cao Dai religion include prayer, veneration of their ancestors, non-violence and vegetarianism. What we found very interesting that they believed in the existence of Mother Buddha – the only religion in the East to do so. God’s priority of importance however was safeguarded. He is symbolized by the Divine Eye. We were astounded to hear that the Saints of Cao Dai religion were Sun Yat-sen, Victor Hugo (?) and Nguyen Binh Khien. Often they also venerate Joan of Arc! It appeared that this religion was a mixture of Catholicism and Buddhism. It numbered, according to our guide about 3,000,000 members in Vietnam and further 30-40,000 expats in America, Europe and Australia. I hope the pictures I have taken will do justice to the experience.
The service in the Cao Dai cathedral
Day Six: The new day found us on our way to Dalat – a French-built resort in the mountains, famous presently as a place for honeymooners. On the way there, we passed through some fairly affluent villages with beautifully painted and decorated houses. Dalat was 1,500 meters above sea level, by a lake, in a coffee and tea-growing area. We stayed in a holiday resort, beautifully decorated and furnished with polished wood. In the surrounding hills, we saw cashew nut groves and I now understand why they are so expensive – one nut only grows on an otherwise poisonous large fruit. They require a lot of work to gather a crop. Supper was served in the resort. Chris and I managed a quick walk to the lake with the resolution to see some more of it tomorrow during the day.
Day Seven: Dalat – in the morning we drove to the Lam Tini Pagoda – a Buddhist monastery. Its style was extremely similar to the work of Gaudi! All decorations were made from broken pottery and tiles. Very impressive – till being finished to this day! There, we saw a lovely statue of Lady Buddha, made from dried
flowers and wire mesh.
The Lady Buddha
Then we walked to the French built railway, which was now only used for short distances. Several identical carriages were however divided into First and Second class. When one of our group went and sat in another carriage, he was told off, as that one was supposed to be first class! The bus picked us up and took us back to Dalat, where we visited the Catholic
Church, with its beautiful gardens at the back and then passed through a flower farm and a silk-embroidery workshop. Then we were driven to the market.
After lunch Chris and I went for a walk to the town of Dalat for about 3 kilometers there and back to see the Xuang Huong Lake and the town centre.
Day Eight: We drove for about 210 km, crossing the mountains in a deep fog to reach Nha Trang. As we were travelling round the mountains, we saw from above beautiful, extremely long, completely deserted beaches, with the colour of Cream Caramel, with only a few boats on them! ~there was a beach a practically
The Buddhist Pagoda
every bend!
After we settled in the hotel and had lunch, we were driven to the port, where we got on a motor boat. After a 30 minutes sailing, we were offloaded at an island with a beach. We were soon in the South China Sea, swimming. Many of us had massages, while the men enjoyed a beer. Chris managed to lose his wedding ring in the sand in south china See and was quite distressed! After a couple of hours we were back in the boat.
Passing by the town park we were very impressed by the topiary and decided to go and take pictures, before we rested and had showers. The beach at Nha Trang was barely used both mornings and evenings – its sand was fine and clean, the sea calm and absolutely lovely. The town of Nha Trang was sophisticated in its appearance and for some reason – full of Russians. The shops had Russian notices and marketing and in all the jewelry shops, there was a shop assistant, speaking Russian. After supper, we were given a night tour by bus, to see the sights of Nha Trang. The seaside avenue – about 20 km long, was full of enormous, posh
The Cham Towers
hotels with restaurants – a nice place to come to!
Day Nine: On the way out of Nha Trang, we stopped at the Cham towers, where the tourist entertainment included observation of traditional weaving and dancing with pots on the dancers’ heads. The Cham people are the same nation, whose princess married a Viet Prince and created the Vietnamese nation.
On the way through the mountains, we stopped to see how water ducks were used to fertilize the rice fields. Back on the bus, the scenery was phenomenal – long and empty yellow sanded beaches, many islands in the sea, all wooded, the sun shining on the simmering water, with a few round and elongated boats in it.
At about 3 pm we arrived at Qui Nhon – a half way stop on our route. The city is the regional capital. It is situated on a large bay, again with a phenomenal beach, around which was a somewhat forlorn sea park. We walked for more than 10 kilometres – turned round shortly before the end of the park. All people were very friendly – smiling, greeting. We noticed that men peed in public- almost where ever they were. Apart from about 11 chemists on the main street we found no other shops! God only knows where they were. There were good examples of modern architecture, considering small buildings – colourful and
Swimming at Qui Nhon
imaginative.
Chris swam in the sea in the afternoon and enjoyed it greatly.
Day Ten: On the way to Hoi An, we stopped at the memorial of the My Li village, where the massacre of the Vietnamese people by the American army became notorious. Then we drove the rest of the distance to Hoi An – according to our guide- one of the best places to shop in Vietnam. We arrived at about 3.30 pm and were stopped in the commercial centre. We were given about 1.30hrs for shopping. This is an UNESCO Heritage town, so we were
The Bridge at Hoi An
looking forward to the guided tour on the next day.
Day Eleven: In the morning we had another boat trip in the local river and walked around a village. Observed how the local people fished (large scale – with wide nets). In the afternoon we had a tour round the town – many beautiful wooden one and two floor houses, in which the local merchants lived. Visited one particular house – with wood-carved walls, furniture, ceilings. Next, we went to a Chinese temple, for which we took a Dragon boat. The town has had Chinese, Japanese and French building styles co-existing from different areas. The emblem of the town is an old Chinese/Japanese bridge, favoured by the tourists. The rest of the time was given for shopping. One could order a garment to be tailor-maid for 24 hr in Hoi An and many members of the group availed themselves from the possibility.
Day Twelve: The day of my son’s birthday – my baby became 28 years old! We arrived in the Marble
The palace, walls and moat of the castle at Hue
Mountains half an hour after starting from Hoi An. We climbed the 150 steps, which in reality turned out to be over 200! Reached several caves with Buddha and Lady Buda temples in them . The area is famous with its marble sculptures – the son learns sculpting from the father and the area is an open air market for sculptures. After descending back to the buses, we made our way to the old capital of Vietnam – Hue.
Here we had lunch and the bus took us to the Palace gates, from where our tour of the Forbidden City started. The city is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is still being restores from the large battle, which took place here during the war with America – the bullets can still be seen in the walls. The most impressive parts were the Throne room, the theatre – still the only preserved old theatre in Vietnam. The King often had a Queen and a Harem, which could result in about 140-150 children. Most of the kings died at the age of 50 (now it is considered that that was due to
The palace corridors
too much sex (bum-bum, as our guide said).
Talking about kings – the Vietnamese origins could be traces to the Lac Viet, who lived in the lands of present day North Vietnam at the dawn of the Bronze Age. During the 2nd century BC, they were culturally dominated by the Chinese until the 10th century. The first independent Vietnamese dynasty was the Ly dynasty, which ruled during the 1009- 1225. They were based in the area of present day Hanoi and used The Chinese Confucian model of government and education. In the south, there were greater animosity between the local lords, but the most dominant of them was the Champa kingdom, who existed in the area from 200 AD to 1720 BC. They became rich from maritime trade and for a long time managed to oppose both of the dominant powers in the area – the Chinese and the Viet. In 1471, the Cham were defeated by the Viet people and the kingdom contracted. In 1720 the Cham royal family and some of the people ran way to Cambodia. Eventually, the Cam people did unite with the Viet through the marriage of a Cham princess to a Viet prince.
The palace Theatre
At the end of the visit, we were driven back to the hotel with rickshaws – one tourist per rickshaw –it was quite scary to move quite often against the traffic!
Day Thirteen: After breakfast, we took a 45 minute trip in a Dragon boat to the Thien Mu Pagoda – the oldest preserved Buddhist Pagoda – from the 16th century. Then we drove to the Garden house of a Princess – a wife of a mandarin, a school Headmistress, who inherited it after his death.. Then we drove to the Royal tomb of Minh Mang. He died at 50, had a Queen and 50 concubines, resulting in 140-150 children. He slept with five of them per night. It took 10,000 workers to complete the tomb one year after his death in the 19th century.
My husband in the temple
In the afternoon, we went shopping, visited the market and went to see an art gallery, which had an exhibition of LeBaDangq a Vietnamese artist, who lives in France. Absolutely excellent sculptures, paintings, mobiles, wood statues and cut outs!
Day Fourteen: In the morning we went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which was closed and walked round the large complex of government and private buildings, where Ho Hhi Minh lived, worked and died.
After this, we visited the One Column Pagoda (Buddhist) and then the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius. There, the first University in the area was founded in 1041. A beautiful and very impressive collection of buildings, with statues of the three kings, who made it happen.
After lunch and a short walk, we went to a Water Puppet show in a theatre at 3 pm. The performance was great fun. After that, we had free time for shopping and walking.
Hanoi, the Temple of Literature
Day Fifteen: Some members of our group departed after breakfast, we bid them fond good-buys and the rest of us got on the bus to go to Halong Bay. We travelled for over 3 hr, but stopped twice – once in a large shopping area and the second time in a pearl farm. We listened to a presentation about cultured pearls, but few of us bought any, as the designs of the jewellery were very plain.
When we arrived at the Halong port, we were put in a tender to be taken to our junk – The Margarite. The bedrooms had all mod-cons and were beautifully furnished. The food on the board surpassed much of what we had eaten in the previous part of the trip. The views were absolutely amazing!
Sailing in Halong Bay
Later in the afternoon, we went on the tenders again to be transported to a cave. This turned out to be a collection of three chambers, full of stalactites and stalagmites, artistically lit, with pedestrian paths, leading us on the itinerary. Each of the next chambers was bigger than the one we’ve seen. The different colour lighting gave a fairy-tale feel to the experience.
After this, we went to a small island, which had a beautiful petit beach, where some members of the group swam. The tourists enjoyed the lovely sunset amongst the stacks and the view of the beautiful junks with their red sails, swimming in the area. After that, we had supper on the junk.
Halong Bay
Day Sixteen: We woke up early to look at the beautiful surroundings – the morning mist had given an eerie feel to the stacks. We were ready at about 7.15 to get to the tender to go and see a natural tunnel. The tender brought us to a small port, then we were put in rowing boats to go through the tunnel. When we returned to the boat, we had breakfast.
For the rest of the time on board, we enjoyed the views of where the junk was sailing. We saw a fishing village – bungalows were built on pontoons. Those included a school building. Each house had several square holes, netted, where they kept the fish caught previously alive, so it could be sold fresh on the market. It appears as if the Vietnamese Government wants to resettle those villages, so they do not pollute
One of the Halong Bay beaches
the area.
We also had a cooking workshop, which was very successful,
Sundown in Halong Bay
where we were taught how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. We ate out cooked rolls at lunch. We had an early lunch and at 11 am, we were taken by the buses back to Hanoi. Back in the hotel, Chris and I decided to go for another walk in busy Hanoi, after that we had supper.
Day Seventeen: After breakfast, we said good-bye to other members of our group and went out to the market for the last bits of shopping. We had lunch at 12 pm and at 2, the taxi came to collect us to take us to the airport. This was our last day.