Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

Sapa photos

Rice paddies quickly surrounded us as we left Hanoi behind and settled into our 35-year-old Russian built army jeep. We were lucky that northern Vietnam is cool in February since the windows didn’t roll down and our only sources of fresh air were small vents and the holes in the floor. Mr. Mingh, our driver, kept looking furtively in the rear view mirror to see if I had fallen off the seat as the bumps in the road at times made my head hit the roof. The horn was activated by a foot switch so he could keep his white knuckles on the wheel as he darted around water buffalos and bicycles.

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Highlights:

Shopping is the furthest thing from my mind when I travel. I have one small bag and if it won’t fit in there then it doesn’t get to come home. I had to make an exception when I reached Sapa. In Sapa, sitting too close to the window in a restaurant is an invitation to be plied with goods while you are eating. First small faces are pressed against the glass, soon brightly embroidered cloths are dangled and the door starts to creep open. It is only with great vigilance that the restaurant owner keeps the would-be sellers at bay.

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If you go to Vietnam, prepare to be ripped off on a daily basis. Gouging foreigners seems to be a national obsession here, from the highest government officials on down to the lowest street vendor selling baguettes or noodle soup. Tourists pay five times the local rate for internal flights and for the pitifully rickety train system. There is a two-tiered pricing system for nearly all admission tickets and restaurants will commonly have two menus: one in Vietnamese and one in English, but with different prices. Old women selling pineapples on the street will refuse to sell one to you unless you pay at least double the local price, even if it means losing the sale. Thankfully, food and drinks are still a great bargain compared to western prices.

After the war ended, communism started, so the country’s transportation systems are nothing short of pitiful. The nation’s main highway is a pitted, poorly-constructed road that’s barely two lanes wide in most spots. The other roads are even worse. The creaky trains must share a single track, which means plenty of sitting around in stations. Flights are expensive, but can often shave twelve hours off a 200-mile journey.

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Vietnam is not a country to be described in simple terms. It tugs at visitors’ perceptions from all directions, ripping up one belief as soon as it forms and replacing it with another. Is the place communist or capitalist? Are its geriatric rulers shrewd wise men or clueless Alzheimer’s victims? Do the local people appreciate tourists, or would they prefer to just pickpocket us and kick us back across the ocean?

It’s common for travelers in Vietnam to feel emotions spanning from rage to elation to shock, usually in the same day. It’s easy to be overcome with anger, but equally easy to find yourself drowned by sheer beauty. Vietnam may make you grumpy or make you cheerful, but usually it’ll make you both.

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There’s a lot that’s authentic about Hoi An, despite the number of shops and restaurants targeting the US dollar, or the Vietnamese dong in the pocket of the foreign visitors. You only have to watch life on the river, or walk around the market to see local life carrying on with little regard for prying eyes and cameras.

The river is alive with boats, large and small, punted, rowed or motorised. Large nets, a long pole attached to each corner and fixed to the riverbed, are lowered into the water and later winched out again to catch fish.

Motorbikes and people are packed onto ferries, along with goods going to and from market.We spent a couple of hours at an orphanage one afternoon, in a classroom with a group of about 8 young boys, some disabled.

I played ‘Connect Four’ with one lad whose coordination meant that it was difficult for him to drop the counter in the right slot—but there was nothing wrong with his understanding and strategy. Another boy would have beaten me soundly at ‘Pairs’ if he hadn’t given me so much help.

written by alan_nesbit from iE