Good night, Vietnam

2.9.2010 | Day 33 | 15 247 km | Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

It has been more than two weeks since we landed to Vietnam. Without a date-to-date plan, we have spent much more time here than we thought - there is just that much to discover. But, as our maximum days of staying without a Visa is ending, we’re about to head to Cambodia tomorrow.

In a sleeper bus, comfort level near zero

After we left Sapa a week ago, the journey all the way down south to Saigon has been joyful, but also somewhat exhausting. We chose to take an open tour bus through the country, which was a mistake. First segment from Sapa to Hoi An via Hanoi took us two days to do and was really horrible. As we got into our sleeper bus in Hanoi, it took two full and painful hours to even get out of the city limits. At one point, the driver tried to back into a gas station for 20 minutes, hitting a couple of trees in the process. After we finally got out of the city, I almost fell out of my “bed” more than a few times as the bus bounced up and down, left and right on the roads. The second segment from Hoi An to Saigon was more comfortable, but also lasted for more than 25 hours - and was just under 1 000 km. If we would have booked a train, we would have been in Saigon possibly at least a day earlier.

But enough of that type of transportation. Hoi An is a small city located in the middle of the country, and is known of the great beach and it has a specialty; Tailor made clothing. We both made suits in a tailor shop and sent them by mail to Finland. It felt actually really nice to buy a nice suit from Vietnam, instead of buying it through a chain store in Finland as the suit would still have been made in an Asian country. Now, we had the opportunity to gave the money to those who really did the work!

A victorious tank in front of the Reunification Palace

After a couple days of mostly relaxing and swimming in the ocean, we continued on to Saigon. We only had one full day in this hectic city, but still managed to visit the Reunification Palace and War Museum. Sorry to all my friends in US, but I’m damn glad Vietnam fought for their freedom and won the war; The horrors they had to face with massive bombings and millions of civilian casualties, combined with defects, disabilities and deaths caused by Agent Orange just because they believe in different type of government is… Well, something that I just can‘t understand.

Even Finland was represented in the War Museum with a
photograph of a rally against the war in 1970

We didn’t have enough time to go through the all stories behind stunning and very graphic photographs and other items as the museum closed down, which was a real shame. But still, even a day spent in Saigon told us the tough story of this nation.

Vietnam is an amazing country and I can surely recommend it to anyone interested of discovering different cultures. The landscape changes throughout the country and has all you can wish for, the people are really friendly and as the country is still developing, it’s an affordable country to spend your vacation. Western world could (and should) take some lessons from the Vietnamese how to be happy without a massive arsenal of technology and other unnecessary items covering our cities and homes. Their obesity rating has to be somewhere around 0-1% and the people here seem to be very healthy. They work long hours and long weeks, but still they won’t burn out like people in Finland; In the middle of the day at work, they just take a long break and gather around the streets to cook and eat noodles and other healthy foods while chatting with relatives and friends. That’s something what’s missing from the Western cultures, and I envy these people for it.

Travel tips for Vietnam:

• Vietnam is a safe country to travel, if you keep the common sense with you. Even the big cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are safe to walk around and to enjoy.
• Restaurant food in Vietnam is absolutely great. There are no McDonald’s anywhere in the country, which is only a good thing. Restaurants are affordable and the most of them have a menu with enough dishes to make it even hard to choose from all of them.
• Watch out for fixed taxi meters. Especially in Hanoi, there are a lot of taxis where the meter runs up like crazy - 1 km can roll up in a distance of 100 meters. Always ask for the driver to put the meter on when he starts driving and if you suddenly see the meter run up, shout stop and get out. Don’t argue, just pay what the meter says but if you continue the trip, you’ll might end up paying a lot!
• Be really cautious when buying a tour lasting several days. Unless you know from someone for sure, it can be very disappointing if the “traveling agency” has promised more than they can provide. Stay away anything that is called “Sinh Café”. My personal tip, just book transportation and not a whole package. You’re better of looking a hotel when you arrive by just walking down the streets (or make a reservation through an Internet site, Hostelbookers.com or Hotels.com or sites like that).
• If you have a lot of time and want to see different cities, take an open tour bus ticket. It’s a one ticket through the country, you deciding where you take off and when to go by just confirming it a day earlier. BUT, if you don’t have the extra time in your hands, use train or planes.
• Smile and be friendly out there. Not everything always goes as you have planned, but it’s not really serious. Don’t get mad at people, since it won’t do any good. Eventually you’ll get there :)