Travel Agent Runaway Bay

Some years ago in the mid 90’s I visited Vietnam and my best memory was how friendly the people were. This hasn’t changed too much in the years since, as I found out on a more recent visit there, even with tourism becoming big business and the country opening up to external influences again.

Last time I spent a month or so travelling independently from Halong Bay and Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City – still called Saigon by locals and the Mekong delta in the south taking in most major towns and areas and enjoying a bike ride in each place with the locals. Fast forward around 14 years and I was with my family on a cruise ship that called into the ports close to Saigon and Danang [central Vietnam] for a day each so a more rigid timetable to do and see things.

While many things have changed, many things have not. Motorbikes have replaced bicycles being the biggest difference I noticed especially in Saigon. And there are hundreds of thousands of them!! We were on a bus being driven through the city and I was enthralled the whole way on not only the sheer volume of motorbikes, but how they maneuvered through the traffic at seemingly chaotic disorder but really in an polite and understanding [theirs] way!! Also by what was being carried on them – up to four and five family members and goods that defied the laws of balance!!

In the city many temples and museums are worth a visit as is the Notre Dame Cathedral. The most interesting thing to visit close to Saigon is the Cu Chi Tunnels. Yes it is a bit gruesome and the tunnels themselves are very claustrophobic but it highlights the ingenuity and the engineering feats of the people and no matter your opinion on war, they are still part of the history of the area. On a different level you can visit the nearby Cao Dai temple which is very ornate and where many followers of Caodism don their white flowing robes to pray. This religion was founded in Vietnam in 1926 and is a combination of Buddhism, Catholicism and Taoism.

Further north, our ship berthed in Danang, a large city which has easy access to either Hue [an old political capital] to the north or to Hoi An to the south. My favourite town in Vietnam is Hoi An and I wanted to show my family so we rented an 8 seat maxi taxi for 4-5 hours to take us there via Marble Mountain – where we stopped on the way to see the marble still being hand carved into fantastic pieces.

Hoi An has preserved its traditional charm even with the town geared very much to tourists these days. We were not disappointed and a drizzly day did not dampen our enjoyment. The main streets close to the river are traffic free and are lined with shops selling arts and crafts, artifact souvenirs, fabrics, clothing and accessories [good tailors to hand make anything] plus art galleries, cafes, restaurants and bars even selling “G’day beer”!!

Locals riding past on bikes would yell out “G’day mate” without even hearing us speak so the Aussie influence is alive and well!! A light but filling lunch of spring rolls, dim sim and local beer cost a massive $25 for the 8 of us!! The taxi $60 with a tip was a bargain as well. Can’t complain about that!!

These two days just makes me want to come back again but for longer. Love it!