Tales of Asia - Part 7 - Lost in Vietnam

Saturday the 27th of May 2006 and it's Destination Vietnam.

Business associates here in Hong Kong had told me about some business opportunities in Vietnam so I went there to check them out. At the same time I decided to enjoy some of the sights and that's what this Tales of Asia story is about.

Vietnam has spectacular sights thanks to a rich civilization that has left its temples and traditions throughout the land as well as a lucky hand that nature has dealt Vietnam resulting in breathtaking mountains, a killer coastline and sublime scenery. A place of placid beauty, Vietnam is blanketed from top to toe with a patchwork of emerald green rice paddies, tirelessly tended by farmers in conical hats. A long history of war continues to weigh heavily on the consciousness of those who can remember and from a Vietnamese perspective there is a history of old and poignant sites throughout the country. While being fiercely protective of their independence and sovereignty, the Vietnamese are graciously welcoming to those who come in peace. In short, Vietnam is defiantly different, hardly surprising as it has had to defy so many obstacles to get where it is today.

My itinerary initially took me to Ho Chi Minh City in the South. In the plane on the way over, I was seated next to a Vietnamese gentleman who had been in Hong Kong for training in computer IT services. We shared a conversation and some candy and he even asked me to take a photograph of him so he could show his friends and family his trip on the plane. I couldn't help but think that 30 years ago we wouldn't be trying to share candy and take pictures on a plane but we would be trying to shoot each other in some rice paddy somewhere. The futility of war.

After the plane landed, it was a short trip to the Equatorial Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. At first sight Ho Chi Minh City may seem to be populated with a million bandanna bedecked women bandits on the verge of a giant traffic accident. In fact, the women wear the bandanna's to protect from the sun and the pollution and the pattern in the streets reflects the generalized, organised chaos in a city that attracts people from all over the country hoping to better their fortunes. A young office worker maneuvers her Honda through rush-hour traffic, long hair flowing, high heels working the brake pedal. The sweating Chinese businessman chats on his cellular phone, cursing his neck tie in the tropical heat. A desperate beggar suddenly grabs your arm, a rude reminder that this is still a developing city despite the trimmings.

Unofficially, the city is still called Saigon. Officially, Saigon refers only to District 1. Southern Vietnamese certainly prefer the name Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. The city fumes, bubbles and churns, yet within this teeming 300-year-old metropolis there is a timeless tradition and the beauty of an ancient culture. In the pagodas monks pray and incense burns. Artists create masterpieces on canvas or in carved wood. Puppeteers entertain children in the parks while, in the back alleys, acupuncturists treat patients and students learn to play the violin. A seamstress carefully creates a graceful Vietnamese national costume that might elicit the envy of Parisian fashion designers.

That evening in my free time I decided to go and get lost in the city, the best way I know to find out about a new place, hence my reasons for titling most of my stories "Lost in ......(insert the name of a place)".

The first thing I needed to deal with was being able to cross the road. I remember a Vietnamese saying to me that there were 4 million people in Saigon and 2 million motorbikes. Probably an exaggeration but somehow seemed close to reality. There are so many scooters and motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City that it is difficult to get from one side of a main road to the other. I watched how the locals achieved this feat, and so after taking a deep breath and slapping my hand over my eyes so that I couldn't see a thing, I bravely stepped off the kerb and walked blindly into the oncoming traffic. I learnt that my part of the bargain is to keep walking slowly from one side of the road to the other. For the motor bike rider's part, they see you in the distance and do their best to avoid you. Somehow it all seems to work out okay, but a word of warning, don't stop in the middle of the road or you will surely be hit.

That night after dinner at Vietnam House in Dong Khoi Street I was warned by one of the caring Vietnamese locals not to carry my backpack slung over one shoulder but to wear it properly on my back. As I learned later, Ho Chi Minh City is the most theft-ridden city in Vietnam. I learnt that it is wise to be especially careful in the Dhong Khoi Street area and along the Saigon riverfront where motor bike " cowboys" operate. As my Vietnamese friend pointed out "There are many lobbers. Be velly careful. They will lob you". Advice graciously received even if it did take a moment to understand what he was saying.

The following day in my spare time I was able to go on a walking tour of places such as the War Remnants Museum. The museum is an interesting place, quite gruesome. It has US armored vehicles, artillery pieces, bombs and infantry weapons on display outside. The museum also documents war atrocities conducted by the West and seen from the Vietnamese perspective. There is also a guillotine used by the French on Viet Minh "troublemakers". It is a horrible device and I could imagine being carried into that cell terrified and being dumped in a coffin sized cage next to the bench before being brought out and strapped in place for the final few minutes of a person's life. There is also a model of the notorious tiger cages used by the South Vietnamese military to house Viet Cong prisoners on Con Son island. If anyone wants to see the sheer inhumanity of what happens in a war, then go and take a look at this place. Enough said. Being actually glad to leave this place it was then a walk to see other sites including Notre Dame Cathedral built around 1883, some temples, shrines and markets.

The following day it was off to Hanoi in North Vietnam. Interestingly enough, I was to learn later that it takes longer to fly from Ho Chi Minh City in the South Vietnam to Hanoi in North Vietnam than it does to fly from Hanoi to Hong Kong, the country is so long. While on this flight, my flying phobia and got a nudge in the ribs when there was a large ripping sound that seemed like part of the fuselage had been torn away from the plane. When the sound occurred, a number of passengers looked up in fright and a flight attendant standing right in front of me looked very concerned at the ceiling of the plane. She then did her best to force a smile, albeit a very nervous one, before turning and scurrying off in the direction of the cockpit. Suffice to say that I never did find out whether a piece of the plane went missing and landed in some farmers rice paddy as the plane landed safely in Hanoi.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam is a city of timeless grace, a grand old dame of Asia who is ageing better than most of her contemporaries. Hanoi laid in a deep slumber after Vietnam was partitioned in 1954 until the effects of economic reforms began to kick in four decades later. The city and its inhabitants survived American bombs and Russian planners to emerge relatively unscathed in the early 1990s as a superb example of a French colonial city.

Hanoi's centre today is a blend of Parisian grace and Asian pace, an architectural museum piece evolving in harmony with its history, rather than bulldozing through it like many of the region's capitals. The bustling Old Quarter has been a cauldron of commerce for 800 years and is still the best place to check the pulse of this resurgent city. Elsewhere, towering mansions line grand, tree-lined boulevards, and lakes and parks dotting the city provide the local people with the perfect place for a spot of dawn exercise. There are still fleeting moments of Paris, as the smell of warm banquettes permeate street corners, the beret is as common as a baseball cap, and a "bonjour" is as likely as a "hello".

Going on another walking tour I soon learnt that all places that I wanted to see were quite spread out and that it would take a long time on foot, time that I did not have. Following negotiations with a friendly cyclo-driver, it was off on a pleasant rickshaw style cycle tour around all of the city including the Old Quarter, St Joseph's Cathedral, West Lake, Hoan Kiem Lake, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex where Ho Chi Minh's body is on display, the Ho Chi Minh presidential palace and museum. Also included in this tour were a number of temples including Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam temple, an ancient home of sages and scholars of Confucianism. After my cyclo-tour I was to learn that it is important to be very clear on the basis of the price prior to starting the journey. Often what is quoted as the hourly rate at the start of the journey is not what is requested as payment at the end of that same journey. Although it had had a good tour with a pleasant cyclo-driver who work hard for their money and I wasn't about to agonize too much about giving him a few extra hundred dong (the Vietnamese currency), it did leave a slightly sour taste in my mouth. A good lesson though for future travels.

While in Hanoi I stayed at the Sofitel Metropole hotel. Some friends in Hong Kong had recommended the Metropole hotel to me and I was really glad that I stayed there. It is an old grand building and is one of Asia's great luxury hotels. It is part of the same elite as Raffles in Singapore and looks very similar. The place has a French motive that just won't quit - close the curtains and you'll think you're in Paris. A beautiful place.

The following day I was picked up by a staff driver in what was described as a limousine taxi for a trip to Ha Long Bay on the northern coast of Vietnam. The limousine taxi actually turned out to be a 20-year-old Mazda Starwagon that looked like it had been used for carting dead pigs. Undeterred, I piled in the back for what I thought would be a reasonably short 200-kilometre journey. Little did I know that Nhat Nhat, my driver would do nearly all of the journey at around 60 km's per hour, even on country stretches where there weren't any farmers, peasants or villages. He seemed to see things on the road that I missed as he would speed up to 80 km per hour and then suddenly whack his brakes on and slow down to 30 km an hour before cruising up to our nominal average speed of 60 km's per hour. I'm not quite sure if his name was actually Nhat Nhat or just Nhat, but when I asked him what his name was he seemed to say "Nhat...........Nhat", so perhaps he was just repeating himself, but to me he affectionately became Nhat Nhat.

Three and a half-hours later we arrived at the Ha Long Bay Heritage hotel. I had come to Ha Long Bay to see what had been described as the natural wonder of Vietnam. Picture 3000 or more incredible islands rising from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and you have a vision of greatness. In 1994 it was designated Vietnam's second world heritage site. The tiny islands are dotted with beaches and grottoes created by wind and waves and have sparsely forested slopes.

Besides the breathtaking vistas, visitors to Ha Long Bay come to explore the caves, some of which are beautifully illuminated for the benefit of tourists, or to hike in the national park. Unfortunately as I arrived late in the day, I was not able to book a tour on a tourist boat and the fog had settled in which cut off a lot of the view that I came to enjoy. The weather was humid and drizzly which, when added to the fog, made visibility low.

Halong translates as " where the Dragon descends into the sea". Legend has it that the islands of Ha Long Bay were created by great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, it's flailing tail gouged out valleys and crevices. As it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by the tail became filled with water leaving only the high land visible.

As I tend to do, I had my trusty camera with me and I was taking many pictures for my future memories. As I walked out on the jetty from the main tourist beach I encountered an Asian gentleman who insisted that I take his picture. As there were some official photographers there as well I tried to suggest to this gentleman that I wasn't actually an official photographer, but just a tourist. The guys seemed to know that but still insisted that I take his picture, so I obliged. He struck some magnificent poses. A little while later when I was on the end of the jetty, I saw this same gentleman coming up to me with three of his mates. I wondered if I was going to be in a little bit of trouble but I was soon to find out that this gentleman wanted me to take a group photograph of him and his mates. When I suggested to him that I had no way of printing out the photograph and giving it to him, he gestured that he didn't care about that, he just wanted me to take their photograph. Being an obliging type of person, I took a stack of photographs of him and his mates and showed them all on the LCD screen on the back of the camera and they walked away backslapping and laughing and very happy. I still have their photographs if anyone's interested, just let me know.

That night I had dinner on the foreshore on the tourist beach at Ha Long Bay. Restaurants on the foreshore are a little bit more basic than what you might find in the big city, no walls, plastic outdoor chairs, smell. When I was given the menu, I was asked for my choice of drink as apparently they had the usual offerings of beers, mineral water and fruit juices including coconut milk. I haven't had coconut milk for a long time so I gestured that I would like one of those drinks. My waitress gobbed off something to the bartender and he promptly appeared around my side of the bar wielding a machete and heading in my general direction. I wondered what on earth I had done to insult the waitress and whether he was about to give me long sleeves or short sleeves as far as my arms were concerned or whether I was about to lose my head. The guy however just walked straight past me to a pile of coconuts stacked on the sand behind me. Picking out a coconut he tossed it up and down in his palm to check whether he was satisfied with his choice. Then he sprung into action, and a few slashes of the machete combined with a couple of "aaaahheeeee's" from his mouth, and I had a big coconut on my table with a straw stuck in the top for me to drink from. Nothing like non-processed food for good taste.

The next morning, Wednesday the 31st May 2006, I had time to go for another walking tour with my camera before my friend Nhat Nhat summoned me to the Mazda Starwagon pig carrying limousine taxi for the trip to Hanoi airport This journey took around four hours and all I can say is that I'm now glad it's a memory and not something I'm looking forward to in the future. That being said, Nhat Nhat is a wonderful guy and he is very proud about the service he provides and the obvious care and attentiveness that he pays to those people placed in his charge.

There was an interesting event at Hanoi airport as I was going through customs. A Chinese guy a couple of places in front of me in the queue going through customs was caught trafficking drugs. He made a song and dance about being caught and denied that the contraband was his, however the two policemen who were there at the time that he was caught in neither liked his song nor his dance and manhandled him to some place out of sight. I thought to myself at the time that I sure wouldn't like to be that guy.

Saying goodbye to Vietnam as the plane spirited me back to Hong Kong, I could but smile at the fact that for 21 years up until late last year I never set foot outside Australia. I had a chuckle when I thought that, if someone had suggested to me even one year ago that I would be living overseas for a period of time, and that within a 6 month period from starting I would have visited 7 different countries or administration zones of countries (Hong Kong and Macao being part of China etc) I would have thought that person must be mad, but here I was with that track record stamped in my passport.

Arriving home in Hong Kong late at night, it was a quick turnaround to get re-organised as it was off to Japan the following afternoon for 4 days there..............but that's another story.............."Lost in Japan". I'll post it soon.

Cheers all,

Alan