Saigon and the Mekong Delta

There are two distinct and very different sides to central Saigon. (Only Government officials and a few people in Hanoi seem to call the city by its official name: Ho Chi Minh City). The old colonial centre is the glitziest and most westernised place we’ve seen in Vietnam, with wide boulevards, an imposing cathedral, opera house and other grand French-built buildings, interspersed with shopping centres and trendy restaurants. At times, strolling amongst the designer boutiques and smart hotels we could have imagined ourselves in Knightsbridge rather than South East Asia if it hadn’t been for the constant torrent of motorbikes on the roads and the 30 degree sunshine.

In smart, modern Saigon there’s no sign of the ancestor worship that we saw further north – where all houses had shrines prominently displayed, and shop owners burned incense and made offerings every night outside their premises. Life is much more hidden from view here than it was elsewhere in the country, with fewer street traders and street-side cafes, and swanky wine bars rather than road-side fresh beer.

This side of the city reflects Saigon’s long-held position as the economic powerhouse of the country. French colonialism was established much earlier in Saigon than elsewhere in the country, and the history of the city and its surrounds have been heavily influenced by foreign trade and engagement, in contrast to the more isolationist North. Also, unlike the North, it has only been Communist only since 1975, and with economic liberalisation starting less than 15 years later, the city was well placed to take advantage and re-establish its thriving economy.

Just a 20 minute walk away though, in the area now dominated by backpacker cafes and tour agencies is a much more familiar Vietnam which, while certainly shabbier than the colonial area was also – to our eyes – much more appealing. Here, amongst the narrow, labyrinthine alleyways we found small cafes, tailors, laundrettes and other “mom and pop” businesses operating out of the front room (complete with ancestral shrine), and living quarters above.



Steve and Janet left us in Saigon after a fantastic two weeks. We are so glad and grateful that both sets of our parents have joined us for parts of our journey, and have loved seeing them and being able to share some of this year with them.


The “American” War seems much more prevalent in Saigon than elsewhere, perhaps because it was here that the Americans and other foreign forces were stationed, with museums dedicated to the war, and war-memorabilia (pens and knick-knacks fashioned from old bullets, flak jackets, and zippo lighters bearing US Army insignia) on sale at market stalls. The War Remnants Museum was one of the more interesting we’ve been to, containing harrowing accounts and photographs. Although an understandably one-sided presentation of the conflict, the museum succeeded in making plain some of the horrors inflicted upon the country and the civilian population.

A particularly poignant section of the museum focused on the damage caused by Agent Orange – the chemical sprayed from the air by the US Army in order to reveal Communist supply lines and deny cover to potential ambushers. Almost 80 million litres were sprayed over 2.6 million hectares, leaving much of Central Vietnam deforested and contaminated. Yet the impacts were not just environmental or immediate: people who lived or fought in affected areas have since given birth to tens of thousands of children born with serious birth defects, often without eyes, limbs or organs, or with oversized heads or serious mental disabilities. We subsequently learnt that shockingly, while compensation has belatedly been paid to US servicemen whose families have been affected, no compensation has yet been paid to any Vietnamese victims.

As the other museums we’ve visited, it was disappointing to see no reference in Saigon made to the Vietnamese who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, the army of South Vietnam). Instead, as elsewhere, the museum presented the “official history” that the North saved the South from its imperialist masters, and gives the impression that the ARVN was entirely made up of foreigners. In fact, throughout the war, there were more than twice as many South Vietnamese fighting as Americans, Koreans, New Zealanders, and Australians combined. After the war, tens of thousands of them fled the country, while many of those who remained were placed in “re-education camps,” and they – and their children – allegedly continue to face discrimination from the ruling Communist Party.

While in Saigon we also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, an incredible 250 kilometre network just 60 kilometres outside Saigon that formed a key site of resistance against first the French and then the Americans. The tunnels served not just as escape routes and ambush points for the guerrilla fighters, but also as dwellings for up to 10,000 people, with additional rooms for use as small factories, kitchens and classrooms. The original tunnels were tiny, designed to be too narrow for Westerners to enter and must have been extremely claustrophobic. For the benefit of tourists, several sections have now been enlarged, so we could take turns squeezing ourselves into the earth and crawling along sections of the network. After hearing more about the horrors inflicted during the War, we were somewhat surprised to be offered the opportunity to have a go firing M16 and AK47 assault rifles. While we found this slightly distasteful and gave the opportunity a miss it was clear that for many of our fellow tourists this was the highlight of the trip.


We’ve spent a very peaceful final few days in Vietnam exploring visiting a small part of the enormous Mekong Delta. In contrast to so many of the places we’ve seen, the Mekong feels incredibly lush and fertile, with bright green paddy fields, and wooded areas of bananas and palms separated by large rivers and countless small waterways. Yesterday we spent the morning on the water, setting off while it was still dark to watch the sunrise over the river before visiting a couple of floating markets where enormous quantities of vegetables and fruit were traded between boats (which advertised their wares by tying them to the tops of tall bamboo canes). Other small boats sold meat or served as small floating cafes serving cooked noodles and other snacks.


In the afternoon we hired rickety bikes and cycled through tiny lanes alongside some of the narrow canals, over wobbly bridges and past small villages. It was a landscape both beautiful and tranquil yet as elsewhere marred by constant littering in the waterways and alongside them. With heavy traffic on the main roads and large scale construction going on across the Delta we worry about the environmental damage being wrought on the area by this rapid change and the long-term impact it will have on the area and its inhabitants. Tomorrow, after a fascinating and very enjoyable four weeks, we’ll leave Vietnam, travelling by boat further up the Mekong to Cambodia.

Central Vietnam: Hoi An and Nha Trang

We’ve spent the last few days in the central provinces of Vietnam, one of the most beautiful but poorest areas of the country, which consist of a narrow strip of a sandy coastline caught between the South China Sea and the Troung Son mountains, which form Vietnam’s border with Laos.

From Hanoi we travelled south on the overnight Reunification Express to Hoi An, the prettiest town we’ve visited in Vietnam. Hoi An, which was then situated at the mouth of the Thu Bon River, developed as a prosperous trading port in the 1600s with quarters dominated by Chinese, Japanese and European merchants. In the late eighteenth century however silt began to clog up the river leaving Hoi An stranded a few miles in land and the town went into decline as trade moved elsewhere.

The decline in trade meant that many of Hoi An’s older buildings were preserved, and then luckily escaped major damage in the French and American Wars, leaving a largely pedestrianised old town and riverfront that retains an antiquated charm and was a wonderful place to spend a few days. The old town streets are an appealing mix of original wooden merchant houses, French colonial buildings, and Chinese assembly halls. Many of the buildings now house a myriad of tailoring and shoe making shops, restaurants and street food stalls selling traditional Vietnamese noodle soup and bia hoi (the fresh beer which was even cheaper here than Hanoi at only 10p a glass!), all of which we collectively made the most of.


Many of the waterfront merchant houses in the town have been restored and were fascinating to wander around. Typically as narrow as only 10 foot wide but up to 150 foot deep (a style which is still evident in many modern Vietnamese buildings), these long thin buildings provided a family home, a shop space at the front, a small outside courtyard in the centre and direct access to the river at the back so merchandise could be hauled upstairs safe above the annual floods that still blight the town. As recently as November 2010 the three streets closest to the river were submerged and we saw several buildings still evidently flood damaged, and even now in the dry season the river still over ran its banks most evenings. Our concerns for the future of this pretty town – and for Vietnam as a whole – were reinforced when we learnt that a 2007 report for the World Bank had concluded that Vietnam will be one of the five countries worst affected by rising sea level, with any rise over a metre “potentially catastrophic,” flooding over 5% of the country, including some of the most populated and economically useful areas, directly affecting over 6 million people.


Forty kilometres outside Hoi An, in an isolated rural setting, are the ruined Hindu temples of My Son, the religious and spiritual centre of the Champa Kingdom which covered much of central Vietnam from the 4th to 11th Century AD. We arrived early in the morning to miss the tour groups and spent a fascinating few hours alone wandering around the temples. Many are relatively well preserved and you can easily climb into their chimney like interiors. The external walls have elaborate carvings of the Hindu god Shiva, elephants, monkeys and coconut trees intertwined with real tree roots and vegetation. Sadly, although sections of the temple complex are well preserved, a number of temples were bombed by the Americans during their carpet bomb campaign which affected much of central and northern Vietnam, leaving only piles of crumbling bricks.


After spending a couple of afternoons on the quiet Cui Da beach outside Hoi An, we moved on to Nha Trang, the beach capital of Vietnam. After a cramped and uncomfortable overnight bus journey we felt in definite need of some rest and relaxation and thankfully luck was on our side, and we spent a very pleasant three days enjoying lots of sun from the loungers at a luxurious beach club with its own micro brewery.

Hanoi and Halong Bay

Even experience of Mongolia’s eratic driving and two months in China hadn’t prepared us for the unique chaos of Hanoi’s roads: a constant tide of motorbikes and scooters weaving in amongst each other, with no apparent traffic rules other than a seeming requirement to beep almost constantly. Crossing the road involves taking a leap of faith – stepping off the curb and just walking slowly and steadily and trusting that the bikes would flow round you. Motorbikes, which amazingly make up 98% of the traffic on the road, are used to carry anything and everything from a family of five to a large kitchen table, a new flat screen TV or even a live water buffalo. It’s got to the point where it looks odd seeing a bike with just one rider on it.

Kieran had been to Vietnam and Hanoi almost 10 years ago, and the city was largely as I remembered it, although with more traffic, but with fewer pushbikes and more motorbikes. Crash helmets have also arrived, required by law since 2007, before which over 30 people a day had been killed on the city roads. There are more western tourists too, and the cycle rickshaws which used to be commonly used as cheap taxis now seem reserved only for tourist use and are available for hire by the hour. But the feel and the atmosphere of the city have remained much as I remember them.

Despite the unnerving traffic we enjoyed our time in Hanoi and found it a fun and vibrant city: the pavements crowded with streetside cafes with tiny plastic chairs and tables selling fried dough, noodles, snails, and fresh beer (at only 13 pence a glass much the cheapest drinks we’ve had on this trip and a great way to start the evening); lively covered markets; and the busy old town with streets wholly devoted to selling one product or another, with one street selling just sunglasses, and another just shoes or fabrics, engraved headstones or motorbike parts.



We were met in Hanoi by Steve and Janet, Rachael’s parents who have joined us for the two week journey from Hanoi to Saigon. Together we spent a very enjoyable 4 days exploring the old town and the French quarter. Unlike in China, which seems to be intent on demolishing or hiding much of its history, Hanoi’s history is well preserved and documented. The French influence on the city is immediately apparent from the beautiful –if now dilapidated – colonial buildings, complete with balconies, verandas and wooden shutters. The city houses several interesting museums including the old French prison later used by the North Vietnamese to hold captured Americans including John McCain, which helped us learn more about the Vietnamese take on their struggles for independence over the last century against the French, Japanese and Americans. And then there’s Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, where Ho (like Lenin) remains on public display against his last wishes.


From Hanoi we travelled to Halong Bay, a spectacular marine landscape of thousands of limestone islets that rise out of the calm turquoise sea, concealing wonderfully secluded lagoons and coves. We spent a day on board an old fashioned Chinese junk, sailing amongst the islands and going swimming off the boat before seeing the New Year in in style on board.


The next day we explored more of the Bay by kayak, visiting quiet beaches and shallow areas the larger boats couldn’t reach and also some of the many tiny fish and mussel farms that are dotted around the Bay and where whole families and communities live permanently, eking out a living from their floating bamboo platforms.

Christmas in Sapa, Northern Vietnam

For our first two days in Sapa, an old French hill station in Northern Vietnam, we couldn't see much of the town or the surrounding countryside thanks to the thick mist and persistent drizzle that enveloped us. But unlike in China there were at least Christmas decorations up in the hotels, log fires and western food available in restaurants, and English language tv showing endless ‘80s Christmas films, so we’ve belatedly started feeling a bit more festive.

Luckily the fog lifted on Christmas Eve and we spent a great day and a half walking through very beautiful if very muddy terraced hills and paddy fields, spending the night of Christmas Eve in a homestay. Generally the food on the walk was delicious though our Christmas lunch was a rather underwhelming bowl of instant noodle soup, so we’re off out now to find somewhere to spoil ourselves with wine and pizza. Merry Christmas all!