Help an old soldier return to Vietnam
 

This is my first "voluntary" trip to Vietnam. I was last there in 1968 under different circumstances. I have 14 days in Vietnam starting in Hanoi and leaving from HCMC (still Saigon to me). The trip isn't until next spring, so I have plenty of time to plan. I will be traveling alone and prefer independent travel. I can afford the best hotels, but prefer not to spend my money for the best bed in town.3-4 stars will do.

Things I like:

Good food
Jungle walks
Boat trips
Good scenery
Food markets
Interesting people

Thngs I don't like:

Ruins
Overnight trains
Most museums
Long climbs
Fake tourist sites

All suggestions welcomed. I will indeed write a trip report when I return. Thanks in advance.

i have 14 days coming in in VN... i was there once before but as a tourist in hanoi area only...

we are spending 4 nights in hanoi, 3 in each of the following: hue, hoi an and finally 4 in saigon...

we used tonkin travel to secure our internal flights and to book our 3*+ hotels... all hotels are the new vietamese style modern hotels but centrally located in each city and all cost under $100 including breakfast and taxes or around $100.... we chose not to stay in the lux hotels this time.

i have booked a full day tour in saigon with "come and go vietnam" and a day in hoi an using a car with danang kids....

other than that we are relying on a number of guidebooks and the recent wonderful trip reports here on fodors (dunbug and barefootbeach for example) plus personal reports from fodorites we know: craig, bostonharbor, smeagol and others....

we will fill in the cracks as we go along

VN is very easy to travel independently. As needed, you can get the services of a travel agent to arrange specific things, such as a junk trip on Halong Bay if that interests you. While you can make arrangements in advance via an VN agent such as Tonkin Travel or Vietnamstay, you can also wing it. perhaps make your first and last night's hotel reservations, and play the rest by ear.

As I read about what you are looking for, I wonder if the usual stops in various cities as described above might not be the best fit for your needs. You might prefer more time in rural areas. Sapa is a spot with interesting local markets, beautiful scenery and good walks to do, but it does take an overnight train ride to get there. Or, you might consider a trip to Bac Ha.

For boat trips, consider Hue, and a boat trip on the Perfume River and also consider a Mekong Delta visit from Saigon. Both of these are easily arranged on the spot.

You'll find interesting people, good food and food markets everywhere you go. You'll also run into other VN vets. As locals realize you are American, they will want to tell you about VN vets who have moved to the country.

Spend some time with a good guide book, and figure out what the must see/must do things are for you. The Lonely Planet Guide is excellent.

Arguably the best food in Vietnam is to be found in Hue with Hanoi and Saigon coming close. Great restaurants abound from those in 5* hotels to small hole in the wall places, market and street stalls serving the ubiquitous Pho and fresh spring rolls. If you end up in Saigon try the food area in Ben Than market. You can sit at any stall and order food from any of the others so trying a lot of different dishes (a bit like creating your own smorgasbord!). Food markets are to be food everywhere and are great places to eat and meet the people.

The scenery in Sapa is spectacular although as Kathie has pointed out it does involve a long overnight train trip from Hanoi. It can however be done in luxury over a couple of days. We did this trip a few years ago and returned to Hanoi in 5 /6 days by driving the "Dien Bien PHu Loop" back trough Lai Chau DBP Son La and the Mai Chau valley. This region is remote and beautiful, the scenery unspoilt and the people are shy but friendly. Accommodation is usually basic but clean and the food is not great, but its worth it.
Mai Chau is my personal favourite and well worth a couple of days and, rather than do the whole loop it is easily reached from Hanoi in a few hours. A few photos of Sapa, Mai Chau and the DBP loop.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/3/tpod.html

Another area renowned for its scenery and THE place for a boat trip is Ba Be. Unfortunately this is even more remote and could only be reached in a 6 hour drive from Hanoi (although I did read somewhere that the road had been improved). You really need 3 days for this trip which is a big chunk of your 14 days; blog entry:http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...2280/tpod.html

Based on two trips to the country, admittedly to only the most obvious destinations, I would say that one of the most scenic of the accessible trips that you can take is the drive over the Hai Van pass from Hoi An to Hue or vice versa.

You will be fascinated by Saigon; note that the locals still refer to the city by that name. IN that city, I highly recommend the apartment/hotel Somerset Chancellor Court. Rooms are in the range of $150US per night and have full kitchens and washer/dryers. Location is great, in District 1 beside the US Consulate, and there is a large pool and gym.


http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...s-262177-2.cfm


http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...rip-report.cfm

US$150/nt strikes me as a bit hot for a serviced apartment in HCMC - it's little less than the going rate in a first-world city. Based on a cursory search you should be able to get a serviced apartment with mod cons for no more than half that. Depends on your taste, but if you want some local atmosphere a modest hotel would be substantially less than that. Or if you want some classy old French ambience you could stay in the Grand Hotel - excellent location and US$100/nt or less.

G'day everyone,

Good suggestions have already been made as above, I just want to add that you should not miss out the hill tribe markets in Sapa of which the most popular and colorful one is the Bac Ha. However, I'm wondering how can manage to reach the area without a night train - which is the only mean of transport from Hanoi to the best of my knowledge.

From personal experience, it's incredibly easy travelling independently in Vietnam - more fun but way cheaper. Yet if you're considering 3-4 star rating hotels, I'd recommend you to look at reputable agents like Vietnamstay.com - we used them quite recently and found the prices offered to be much better than many of the others.

Hope this helps

Neil: Good point. I lifted the $150 from a recent thread and did not actually check the prices myself. I do think that the location and the full kitchen, along with the great pool and gym, make the Somerset worth considering. Perhaps the rates vary depending on time of year and if not, it would certainly be worth checking for a similar places with lower rates.

However, isn't it a stretch to say that $150 is a "little less" than the price for similar in a first world city???

How much does a luxury serviced apartment cost per night....for example, in Bangkok? (I've never stayed in one outside Saigon...)

The Somerset <i>is</i> about $150/nt. - I have checked recently. I agree with eks, that's high for Saigon, but very low for a "first world city" (try staying in NY for that amount LOL!)

We have just made half of our hotel reservations (Hue, HoiAn and Saigon) using Vietnamstay.com. They are very responsive, and their prices are just slightly lower than others', by $5-10 a night, I'd say, not a huge amount, but I suppose it adds up.

I should add (because I just read my vietnamstay booking page), that the only payment choices are credit card, for which they will charge you 3%, and paypal, for which they will charge you 4%, so in the end, their prices probably work out to be the same (I didn't have to pay that charge for the hotels I booked directly)

When I first went to Saigon 5 years ago, we were able to get a 3 bedroom apartment at Somerset for only $120. The prices have certainly risen.

in bkk expect to pay $75-125 for a very nice serviced apartment per day for 2....

Your posting has attracted some practical suggestions. Let me be presumptuous in thinking that a veteran of the Vietnam war (or wars, as I see it) might have questions beyond the tour bus. I am assuming you are American but I know Australians were deeply involved too.

To be direct: My visit to the country a year ago confirmed the well-publicized perception that the Vietnamese people welcome foreign soldiers back. In fact, the Vietnamese welcome everyone. They are truly hospitable. But inevitably you could face a hard reunion with the past.
The major war museum in Hanoi, for instance, is a parade of pain, as seen from the winning side. Vietnam remains a Communist dictatorship and the official line dominates the oddly-named War Remnants museum. It is a must-see for those of us who observe history, but hardly an easy experience for someone who went through those days. It's not intended to be.

And yet the strange push-pull that can be sensed in the country's economy -- sluggish government enterprises versus go-go capitalists eager to please the tourists -- can be sensed amid the atrocities here. A big room at the war remnants museum is devoted to photojournalism of Vietnam's wars, going back to the campaign against the French colonialists (although an awkward silence generally surrounds Vietnam's period under the Japanese in WW2.) Many photographers died -- western, Viet, and a surprising number of Japanese working for their own and international agencies.
The images they left behind do speak louder than words, testifying to the horrors that spread to everyone. Vietnam suffered under suppressive and warlike regimes throughout the whole 20th Century and these photos provide a more nuanced perspective than I ever expected. And it was financed by American interests. Can you imagine our war museums accepting such an initiative from the "enemy"?

(Full disclosure: I'm Canadian; I was sympathetic to the draft evaders etc. who were with me in college during the Viet war. But I hope "we" still applies.)

So I suggest that you can do plenty of research on the Internet to get the facts and the flavours of modernizing Vietnam. You mention an interest in food, which can be the perfect entrance to the new society. The young Vietnamese express themselves through food. There's lots of information about fine restaurants, French influences (baguettes versus pho), habits and manners on the Net. This is a country that only 30 years ago was forced close to a famine through the rice export policies but now eats four or five times a day.

One simple recommendation for eating: At the central market in Ho Chi Minh City, the parking lot on one side suddenly blossoms with hawker restaurants in the evening. Look for the place with the smoky grill out front and crowded picnic tables. I ate a marinated red snapper that was so good I can remember every bite. And beside me a middle-aged woman, my age, and her adult children were taking a keen interest. They offered tips, ordered a vegetable egg pancake for me and prodded the teenage waiter. I realized, later, that they were proudly showing off their country to me through my interest in the food.

More formally, both HCMC and Hanoi have cooking schools offering half-day, hands-on sessions for $50 or less. It's particularly worthwhile to choose one where the chef takes you to the market to pick out the ingredients. The owners of my local Vietnamese grocery store were startled at the ingredients I asked for on my return home.

I chose to spend my time in HCMC and Hanoi rather than on day trips -- I get the underground tunnel concept without driving for hours to wiggle into them. The old capital of Hue and its mammoth market was a worthwhile stop midway between the two big cities. Travel agents can help but I did it alone. There's plenty on the Net about the visa-in-advance system; it worked for me (remember to have $25 US for the actual visa at the airport.)

You know there are a pile of books about the American experience in Vietnam. Finding out about the previous standoff with the French is not so easy. Several friends have suggested Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu that Led America into the Vietnam War ( I am waiting for the paperback edition due this fall.) But I have been enlightened by two books that frame the British Indo-China experience: Forgotten Wars and Forgotten Armies, both concerning the Second World War and its colonial aftermath in the peninsula that runs from Indonesia through Malaysia and "Burma" to east India. These volumes, both in paperback, pull back the clouds obscuring the excruciating end to the British Empire's rule and the appalling aftermath. Vietnam receives some consideration but this is an epic tragedy from the British viewpoint -- where a million in east India died of starvation in one year of the war and the mesh of nationalities and loyalties continues to stress international relations to this day.Every country in that crescent has many tears to shed (although the Thais are reluctant to show it.)

Putting this solemn lesson aside, I found good food, excellent brewpub beer, and an effervescent people who made me feel happy. And pretty economical travel, too. You can do it yourself; I found very nice boutique-style hotels in the $60 range on the Internet; bought cheap internal air flights; arranged for airport pickups in advance (a cheap indulgence). Most of all, you can enjoy the planning as part of the journey to remembrance.

Thanks. I am American. When I was there, I was 19, too young to realize what a stupid war it was. I have traveled all over the world since and am really looking forward to Vietnam and seeing it in a different light, the one it deserves.

Southam, thanks so much for your post. You've answered some questions I didn't know how to ask and given me some pointers for my trip to Vietnam. I'm Australian, same age as you,dxrx
and had 2 cousins & a couple of friends up there 68-71.

My Vietnamese friends here(boat people in the late '70s)are helping with my plans, but I didn't really want to ask about that time in the parents' lives & the younger ones are too young to remember, fortunately.

When I was in Hanoi, a number of Vietnamese were anxious to tell me about the American who is managing the bar in the next block or who owns a restaurant down the street, etc. They seem pleased that VN vets return to their country. I'm sure you will be welcomed warmly.

There will be times, though, when you'll feel chilled by what you see. The Museum of the History of the Revolution is mostly about the war against the French, but perhaps a quarter of the displays are from "The American War." Having spent a good portion of my career treating VN vets, I found the photos of war atrocities and the pieces of American planes proudly displayed to be disturbing. Choose what you want to see.

Someone who has been to Vietnam 2001, 2002, 2003 each trip was better than the last one as I made friends in the country. The first 2 trips I had a guide and driver choosing what I and my traveling companion wanted to see. A Vietnam vet from the U.S. went with me on the 2nd trip. He was able to get to some of the places in S. Vietnam where he was during the war as a helicopter pilot. It was painful for him at times,but he was happy that he went. We also went to Laos.
You have been given very good advice from others. I am sure it is even easier to do an independent trip now than the years I went.
In Saigon I liked the Grand Hotel,but enjoyed the Majestic more on the 3rd trip.
In Hanoi I stayed in the De Syloia-a boutique hotel I liked.
Hue was interesting to me especially seeing the life on the Perfume River. I found going to the Duc Moc caves where the people lived during the war on the South China Sea to be very interesting.
As Kathie mentions it can be disturbing in the War Remanants museum in Saigon the way we are pictured.
You will find it a country of very friendly people and a lovely coutry which is one of the most fascinating countries I have ever visited.
I hope you will find your trip this way. We will want to hear from you upon your return.

Bill DiNeno(West Point class of 1964) is organizing a group of vets and families for a trip to Vietnam in Apr 2011. During the visit, he plans to pay tribute to twenty-three
classmates who were killed while serving in Vietnam.
If you'd like info on trip and would like to join the group, call Bill at 860-633-5428 or email [email protected]