Over the Easter holidays of 2018, my family went on a tour of Vietnam, starting from Hanoi in the North and making our way down towards Can Tho in the South. This was the first Southeast Asian country we'd been too and before going I associated Vietnam with backpacking and what Westerners term 'the Vietnam War' (the Vietnamese refer to it as 'the American War'), which I knew little about. Nowadays, I associate Vietnam with an abundance of motorbikes, pagodas, and beautiful landscapes.
Hanoi
We started off in the capital city of Hanoi. The first culture shock came almost immediately: the traffic. As a Londoner, I'm used to traffic, but the major difference is that Vietnamese cities are chock-a-block with motorcycles. Almost every household has a motorbike and it wasn't uncommon to see a family of four all on one motorbike for the daily commute (granted, this would include two very small children). Although this was prior to my motorbike accident (so I wasn't yet scarred by motorbikes), I was very apprehensive as to how we were going to cross the roads. A friend of mine had been in Hanoi not too long beforehand and had advised that the only way to accomplish this feat is to simply step out into the road and ignore the traffic in the hopes that they will work around you. I'd had some practice of this in Marrakesh and provided that you keep a regular rhythm, it's a surprisingly successful technique!
Hanoi is full of culture, including Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Ho Chi Minh was a former Prime Minister), various temples, and an Opera House so there's plenty to see and do. One of my highlights was going to a Vietnamese restaurant on the first night and seeing all of the fresh ingredients in small bowls, alongside a hot broth in the centre of the table in which we had to cook all of our food. This was amusing as neither of my parents had eaten Vietnamese food before and so weren't sure about the correct proportions and timings, but we were soon aided by a helpful waitress who must have noticed us struggling. The food was delicious throughout the trip, although I can't say I enjoyed the Vietnamese coffee, which was very bitter.
Another surprise was the abundance of flowers filling the city - people and bicycles frequently carried arrays of flowers and they were sold everywhere, which was a theme throughout the whole country.
Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay was definitely one of my highlights of Vietnam and is a popular tourist destination. It comprises 1600 islands and is extremely beautiful. Saying that, this area is full of cruises, similar to the way in which Venice is stunning but behind the scenes is cramped with tourists. This was also my first ever 'cruise' (despite it being only 2 days) but it was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend checking out this hotspot.
Hue
Hue is located in Central Vietnam and is known as the Lost Imperial City. If you're interested in history and culture, Hue is the place for you. It is located on the banks of the Huong river and features the Imperial City, which is a palace located in the forbidden city with colourful architecture, alongside many pagodas and even hot springs.
Da Nang
After stopping at Dam An Cu for some water straight out of the coconut and a beach of sorts, we headed to Da Nang, the halfway point between Hanoi in the North and Ho Chi Minh City in the South. We were only here for one day as it was mainly a stop en route to Hoi An, but it is famed for it's dragon bridge, beaches, and pagodas. We visited the Cham Museum, which features sculptures commemorating the culture of the indigenous Cham tribe but didn't have time for much else unfortunately.
Hoi An
Hoi An is a trading port near Da Nang that sits on a river and has no airport or train station. It is a nice town and again, full of culture; each lunar month, on the 14th day, the town is filled with traditional coloured lanterns and we managed to watch a cultural show here in which various traditional stories were depicted through the use of costumes and local music (and it was free!),
Ho Chi Minh City
After spending several days in towns, I was ready to return to city life, after all I am a born and bred Londoner. What I'd forgotten was that this meant more motorbikes and nerve-wracking crossings. Nonetheless, Ho Chi Minh City was one of my favourite places in Vietnam, partially due to the range of activities on offer and sights to see. Formally known as Saigon, this city is the financial hub of Vietnam and has a population of about 9 million. It's a concoction of French architecture (having been conquered by the French in 1859), modern skyscrapers, and traditional pagodas.
After touring of the city with a local, we visited the nearby Cu Chi tunnels, in which Vietnamese soldiers fought and hid during their War of Independence from the French and continued during 'the Vietnam War' against the US. These tunnels have since become a tourist spot and although some tunnels have been widened for larger tourists to pass through, it is still uncomfortable and somewhat claustrophobic in the tunnels. It was here that we learnt about the Vietnamese perspective of the Vietnam war and the devices used to capture and hurt American soldiers. Although I'm still in two minds about visiting sites of horror that have since become tourist attractions, I learnt a lot about the war and the soldiers' lives during that terrible period.
Ho Chi Minh City was also where we went for what I was told would be foot massages. I'm not a huge lover of massages, and given that I am ticklish, I wasn't too keen on even a foot massage, but was assured that I would enjoy it. You can therefore imagine my horror when I realised that we would have to change and it was actually more than just a foot massage. All four of us lay side-by-side as we received simultaneous massages and although I didn't love it, I do remember spending the majority of the time trying to stifle my laughter. Whether this was because I was ticklish, the fact that both of my parents were snoring, or because part of the massage included hitting us across the face, I couldn't tell you, but it was definitely a memorable experience.
Ben Ninh Kieu
The final few days were spent along river banks, with a stop at My Tho temple en route to H Chau Thanh river. Here we took a typical boat tour which was another of my highlights of Vietnam. Before the boat trip, we walked through a small village where we were able to stroke a python (as they aren't venomous) and try some local snake wine. Despite generally trying to cut down my meat consumption, I do love trying local delicacies whilst travelling that I wouldn't otherwise be able to try, and have to date tried a large repertoire of uncommon foods, including mopane worms in Zimbabwe, pigeon in Egypt, and warthog in Botswana. At this point I hadn't tried snake yet (which oddly tastes like fish), so I was very keen to taste the snake wine. This tastes stronger than regular wine and you can actually see the snake in a coiled position inside the bottle.
Our last day in Vietnam was spent in Ben Ninh Kieu, where we visited a water market for the first time, in which everything from fresh vegetables to flowers to hats are sold on boats in the middle of a river. This was very cool to see and we managed to buy pineapples to snack on, which were cut up in front of us and placed on skewers by a lovely local.
Vietnam (and the rest of Southeast Asia) is associated with backpackers, and whilst I would definitely love to have that experience in the future, I really enjoyed being able to explore the country with my family and found that having local tour guides in each city enabled us to see the most important sights and learn about the history and culture of each place from a local's perspective. The country was easy to navigate and everyone was very helpful and kind throughout the trip so I'd encourage everyone to visit (for the pho and banh mi if nothing else!)
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