Vietnam 2004 - A Retro Post

In December, 2004, four of us spent two weeks in Vietnam. It would be an adventure that none of us would ever forget. The people and the sights were amazing.

We met a lot of great people and tasted a variety of foods and came back with an understanding that much of the world is different than what we’re used to.

Other than booking our flights in and out of Vietnam, we had no hard itinerary for our two weeks of adventure.

Since I was taking a class on photography, I brought my Canon Rebel 2000 film camera. All of these photos were taken on film and the photos were scanned in. I have since scanned in all the negatives, but I do like the look of these photographs.

Part 1 - Saigon

We got off to a late start in Garden Grove.

After a long flight, we arrived in Hong Kong. The airport was mostly deserted and was very modern. The tile was so clean, I felt like I could eat off the floor.

After having a nice meal, we boarded the plane to Saigon. When we arrived, we got our boxes from the baggage claim, bribed a few people, and headed out.

We emerged from the airport and were greeted by a crowd people waiting for their loved ones and a lot of people looking for an opportunity to sell something to a westerner or a returning local. It was a taste of the pace of life we were to encounter for the rest of the trip. The heat and sunny weather was a big difference from the rain we left behind in wintry Southern California.

Selling bananas on the streets of Saigon

We rode in two vans to an uncle’s 5-story house, staring out the windows the whole way. Each street was a river of people on motorcycles where the only rules were to not hit anyone. Everyone honked their horns almost constantly to notify cars and pedestrians alike of their presence. It was an awesome experience; one that would be repeated throughout the trip.

We took a walk around the uncle's Saigon neighborhood. There were many markets and restaurants. An internet cafe was sprinkled here and there. The sidewalk was being replaced. People stared at us, not being used to westerners in this part of town, but everyone was friendly. In reality, I was the only white westerner in our group.

Juxtaposition

Once we got back, I climbed to the top of the house and looked out over the city, which was another amazing sight. Most homes had water tanks on the top for water pressure and cell phone towers stuck up regularly.

Saigon rooftop view

Over the next couple of days in Saigon, we met with some relatives and started to plan the rest of our trip. A cousin led us around the city and we were able to find a phở restaurant that had filtered water. We were happy to have iced coffee and soft drinks, and for the rest of the trip we knew what to look for. We visited some museums, but really only scratched the surface of what Saigon has to offer.

While driving around it was not unusual to see a woman walking in the middle of a busy street with a bowl of phở in each hand or 4 people on one motorcycle.

It is a very busy and amazing city.

Crossing the street in Saigon

Part 2 - Vũng Tàu

We drove from Saigon to visit an aunt and uncle in Bà Rịa, a small, up-and-coming town southeast of Saigon.

At the aunt's house, I looked up and saw geckos on the ceiling. Many homes in Vietnam do not have screens on their windows, so the little yellow geckos come in at dusk and eat any little bugs that come in. They also make a cute chirping noise.

We walked around and ended up at a brand new café listening to Norah Jones. The owners were getting ready for Christmas and were stringing lights around the cafe. I was completely relaxed in the dim, air conditioned atmosphere that smelled like coffee.

We visited a mall where our aunt owned a fabric store and we all got measured for various types of clothing. Once again, Bà Rịa is the type of city off the beaten path that rarely sees westerners. Therefore, the stares were intense, but everyone was pleasant, and ready to smile.

We decided that we were going to see Vũng Tàu, which is a coastal community favored by the locals for vacations. It is also where my wife was born. We went with our cousin, Út, and a hired a driver who was a family friend.

Courtyard of our aunt’s house

We stopped at an another aunt’s house and visited. When I say aunt, I mean what westerners would probably say a distant relative. However, in Vietnam, the great-granddaughter of your great-grandfather’s cousin would be someone that you see almost every week.

We had lunch in a restaurant while I caught on to the fact that the locals here eat primarily seafood for almost every meal. It was the freshest that I have ever tasted.

McD and the driver bought a live lobster and had it steamed while they waited. They brought it back to the restaurant and we all dug in.

In Vũng Tàu, there were holy statues and temples. We hiked up to a giant statue of Mary carrying baby Jesus. From there, we could see the fishing boats out on the water.

Temple relief

Then we visited a Buddhist Temple, where McD told us all of the intricacies of this very ancient religion and then Út and I climbed to the top of a Jesus statue and looked out through his arms, overlooking Vũng Tàu. We saw the sun setting over the sparkling water. On the way up, we saw a temple on an island that was only accessible during low tide.

View of Vũng Tàu from the top of the statue

We also visited another palace; this one was a previous residence of the last emperor of Vietnam, Bảo Đại. He had palaces all over Vietnam, for this one would not be the last one that we would visit. Once again, we were treated with great views of the harbor and we all had a blast walking the trails.

After the long day of hiking up endless stairs carved into the side of mountains, we stopped by a bakery owned by a family friend. It looked so good, as we were starving from all the exercise. We bought tons of stuff.

Throughout the day, it was surprising to see that the Soviet Hammer and Sickle logo was still prominent on government buildings and I was told that that words Viet and Soviet were just coincidentally similar.

This town was definitely more laid back, but it was obvious that it was currently being built up and would be a big commercial center in the near future.

Part 3 - Đà Lạt

From Bà Rịa and Vũng Tàu, we drove through many towns as we wound our way upwards into the mountains.

On the way, we saw many rubber and coffee plantations and everyone was drying their coffee beans in any way possible. Many people had a spread of fresh coffee beans on the side of the road, where people rode their bikes on it and even livestock was walking over it.

There were many large villas throughout the countryside interspersed with old wooden shacks. The prosperity of the people was not consistent. I had brought a book to read along the 6 hour drive, but I ended up looking out the window most of the time at the beauty of the hillside. The soil was a bright orange. There were buffalo in the road and many small children who looked like they would walk a mile to school and back. Someone had even parked their motorcycle in the middle of the road.

The whole time, the driver continued to honk at anything that moved and at some things that didn’t. He honked at a cow once, just to make sure he was seen.

When we arrived in the city, we found a nice hotel and settled in.

Tired from the 6 hour car ride, we took a cab to and from lunch, rested in our room, and had room service for dinner, not really wanting to go out quite yet to explore.

The next morning, my wife and I got up early and walked around the lake, which was about three and a half miles. It was pleasant, and we realized that the great weather is one of the reasons why the locals enjoy Đà Lạt. It was also about 10-15 degrees F cooler than elsewhere, and that was a break to us, even though the locals said that it was freezing. In reality, it was about 70-75 degrees F, which was nice.

A beautiful morning around the lake in Đà Lạt

After the walk around the lake, we hired a driver that was recommended to us by the hotel and he drove us around Đà Lạt. He showed us why this place was a popular honeymoon destination for the locals.

We went to the Crazy House, which was an unfinished, bizarre Disney-esque hotel with rooms such as the ant room and the bear room. The rooms were mostly made to look like they were carved from a giant tree or were from the town of Bedrock. It was odd to me that this was a popular tourist destination for the locals and a woman was overheard on a cell phone saying how amazing this place was. An interesting experience.

We visited another one of Bảo Đại’s palaces. We looked out over the beautifully manicured grounds among the trees and felt the cool breezes. It was a beautiful day.

While there, we met a woman who worked wood by hand with a small hand-held saw. We sat by her booth for a while as she made some plaques for us. We were impressed by her craftsmanship.

Fascinating to watch

After that, we took a scenic gondola ride through a valley that looked like a patchwork quilt from all the farming.

The patchwork quilt of coffee plantations

We visited a Buddhist Temple that was next to a beautiful lake. At the temple, we placed incense at the altar. McD and I got separated from the girls and we waited on the steps, overlooking the lake and breathing in the aromatic country air.

Incense at the temple

Boat on the lake near the Trúc Lâm temple

We hiked to a waterfall in the forest and hung out on the rocks. We climbed to the top of the falls and relaxed in the shade. It was not the endless jungle that I expected from Vietnam. There were actually pine trees.

A dog along a row of trees near the temple in Đà Lạt

We saw some of the Lạch people cleaning clothes in the stream. The Lạch people are an indigenous ethnic group from this region of Vietnam. They live in traditional villages and speak different dialects.

We visited the University of Đà Lạt, which was a nice campus next to farmland. People tried their English out on us as we walked by, smiling and laughing.

For lunch, we had the best meal yet. It was a hot pot, but this time with rabbit on the side. It was delicious and it was a good recommendation from the driver and tasted better because all of the walking we did during the day.

At this time, we pretty much decided that we wanted this driver to drive us to Nha Trang. He was a nice guy who wanted us to enjoy ourselves and had excellent recommendations.

The next morning, we left for Nha Trang.

Buffalo on the road to Nha Trang

Part 4 - Nha Trang

I was told that it was my idea to choose this particular resort in Nha Trang. I don't remember that, but I guess it was a good idea.

After a long drive through the mountains and many days of walking, it was nice to get to a resort that was right on the water. The attention to detail at Ana Mandara (now called the Evason Ana Mandara Nha Trang) was excellent. There is a huge koi pond as you enter and you are treated with a view of the ocean from the lobby. There were incense coils and torches along the paths.

There was a nice breeze coming off the water and the driver had stopped several times along the coast for us to get pictures on the way.

While we were waiting for our room to be prepared for us, we had lunch on the veranda overlooking the water. I had western food for the first time in about a week and that hit the spot.

There were geckos in our room, but we didn’t mind. They lived behind the TV stand and came out at night.

We enjoyed the slower pace of life from within the walls of the resort and it felt like we were on a vacation within a vacation. We had massages and went swimming in their pool.

I got plenty of mosquito bites in Nha Trang, but it was worth it. The water was too choppy and murky to go snorkeling, but there was plenty else to do.

We walked the town and saw plenty of westerners here. We ate at a local bún bò huế restaurant and it was very good and was just what we needed. It was fun to slurp our bowls on the street corner like locals.

We had a chance to ride cyclos and Solo, due to the fact that her driver was quite old, took the seat and tried to drive one. She ended up crashing into a woman’s bike, therefore she had to let the driver back into the driver's seat.

We took a short tour of the area and saw some ancient Chăm Temples, and enjoyed the bay with fisherpeople with giant nets out in the water.

The girls had their first massages while McD and I played pool. I may have won only a game or two, but we had fun enjoying the ambience.

We visited an embroidery company and purchased one for our house.

There wasn’t a lot of excitement on this particular leg of the trip and this is how we wanted it. We were a little fatigued from all the traveling and needed a few days of downtime.

We left Nha Trang re-energized and looking forward to what Hanoi had to offer.

Part 5 - Hạ Long Bay

The road to Hạ Long bay was a long and interesting one. Our tour guide stopped off at a farm area and let us take some pictures of the daily life of the people.

Hạ Long bay was well worth the journey. It was a 3 hour car ride (one way) from Hanoi and then another 3 hour round trip boat ride from the harbor. It is where the movies Indochine and Tomorrow Never Dies were filmed.

Ha Long Bay

We stopped in a protected island cove where an enormous cave was hidden and went on a tour inside.

Busy dock in Ha Long Bay

We also stopped for lunch attached to a house boat of people that live in the bay. We were able to board their house and see how they live. It was just a one bedroom house with a kitchen. On the "porch," there were different types of live seafood in different types of holding tanks. There were snails, crabs, and small sharks, among other fish. Our lunch was cooked on board our boat and consisted of fresh seafood and was way more than we could eat.

People who lived on the water in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay was stunning

The pictures simply cannot capture the beauty of the bay.

Part 6 - Hanoi

After Nha Trang, we flew to Hanoi. We drove into the city and once again we were thrust into the world of hustle and bustle.

We arrived at the Hilton Hanoi Opera, not to be confused with the Hanoi Hilton, which was the POW camp where the late Senator McCain and others were held during the war.

We immersed ourselves into the market district, where every street has a theme and is named accordingly. There was a street full of auto repair and supply shops, as well as a whole street dedicated to bamboo and so on. We were slightly disappointed to discover that Saigon had better prices on pretty much everything than Hanoi, but we still had fun haggling and searching for the perfect gifts for our family and friends back home.

We walked past the lake in the middle of town and visited the pagoda on the island, where, according to local legend, a giant turtle was caught. People of all ages were hanging around the lake and we bought a kebob of some deep fried dough. It tasted a little bit like a doughnut hole.

We went to a restaurant in an area of town that specialized in snails. We were overlooking a pond while we ate steamed snails, right out of the shell. It was tasty and a great experience.

My wife and McD had haircuts, which included head and shoulder massages and took about 2 hours, while Solo and I went to a café around the corner and hung out and enjoyed the ambience.

We went to the Water Puppet Show, where puppets danced on the water to the sounds of live traditional Vietnamese music.

We ate at a nice French restaurant where we had a little wine. My wife had enough wine that she accidentally signed the table cloth instead of the check. We were all in tears with laughter. Good times.

We spent the last couple of days shopping and eating until we were ready to drop. The streets were narrow and filled with stalls. We were all competing to see who could get the best deal. I think McD won that one.

Exhausted again, we were happy to be on our way home.

On the way back to the airport, we noticed the people had set up tents and shacks within the framework of the billboards.

We left Vietnam with the sense that it was on its way up. The juxtaposition between technology and tradition was startling. There is a huge gap between those who are in poverty and those who are prosperous. The beauty of the landscape easily hides the many battles that have been fought here.

It is a country trying to reunite and rebuild itself after many years of war. They are well on their way.