Good morning Saigon

After touring the central Vietnam towns of Hue and Hoi An
we descended in Saigon. A smooth and comfortable
flight in Vietnam Airlines originating from the new economic city
of Da Nang made a touch down at the Ho Chi Minh airport.

We were pretty much sold with Hoi An and were still
reeling under the influence of the mesmerising ancient town,
we did not expect Saigon to throw up much flare. We were
wrong. From the moment we touched down, Saigon felt
buzzing with energy and captivity rest of Vietnam seems
to be missing. We were received by another extremely
nice tour guide from Handspan travel at the airport arrivals
and were started our journey straight away, with a visit to
the site of Cu Chi tunnels, little far from town. This area
showcases the tunnels that the North Viet Cong fighters
used against the Americans during their war. Boobie traps,
chambers, maze of underground passages used by the
Vietnamese to fool and kill the American soldiers are
displayed with vivid live demonstrations, by young
boys and girls dressed as soldiers.

The show did not really amuse us,
but surprisingly, it did not depress us
either, mostly due to the way it is presented, it is kept
short, exciting and just amply informative, rather than
being over cooked into a vengeful history monologue.
Well, we were surprised to find our trip to Saigon
started with a grisly display of how the US soldiers were
murdered, and it could have been arranged in a different
order, probably a tour of central district would have been
much preferable. However, we could not but appreciate
the clever tactic used here, to showcase to a new visitor how
this country came into being. Start with some history lessons!

We had a glimpse of the city on the way from airport to
Cu Chi tunnel. But we did not expect the downtown to be
of much difference from Ha Noi. We were taken aback
with surprise, when we reached the Post office building,
our eyes were left wide open. Old era French architecture,
swanky modern skyscrapers and Bangkok style shops
all opened up, greeting us, blended in one cohesive wonder.
We were stunned at this new face of Vietnam!

The buzz in the streets, that open till late at night, the vividness
of the surrounding, the chaotic traffic, the lights int he city
were simply stunning. We stayed near the local markets,
and the tallest building in Saigon, where we went for
a treat of amazing view of the nighttime skyline of the city.

We finally felt like we were in a truly modern city in
South East Asia, in Vietnam. Though it still feels
subdued in lights, glamour and order compared to Bangkok
(apologies I cannot help comparing the two, as they
evoke similar vibe in me), it is pretty neck to neck
if you look at the liveliness of whole streets littered with
cafes, trendy shops and human energy.

Sapa, beauty of terraced rice fields and mountains at the very best

After an eight hour train ride (supposed to be five only)
from Hanoi and an hour's bus ride from Lao Cai,
we arrived at Sapa, a tourist magnet town in North West Vietnam.

We got off the van at doorsteps of our hotel.
What we saw around in the little misty town was
soul refreshing and the view beyond, breathtaking.
It felt like we finally started to find what we were looking for.

The arrangement made by our travel agency, Handspan,
was fantastic. From Hanoi airport pick up  to this moment,
they had not missed a beat, it was incredibly good service, I
am sure I will write about them later in the Vietnam series.

Town of Sapa is a busy little town or a village full of
small congested building, souvenir and travel accessory shops,
restaurants and local manufacturers producing local
handicrafts, sculptures, clothes and gift items.

Town of Sapa.

We started off trekking right after having a small breakfast
upon our arrival. After about half an our walk around
town, we branched off the dirt road heading towards
Ta Phin valley, the residency of local H'mong people.
The village is a frozen in time snapshot of rural life
probably in middle ages with very little touch of
modernity. 

H'mong children in front of their house

Village has trails and we walked on the paddy fields
directly on the walkways made at the edges.
That means we came as close as we can get to 
the plantations, people and their surrounding.
The walks were a calm, out of the rat race experience
that is unforgettable. It is hard not to get astounded by
the natural beauty of the place and the people in 
these villages.

Farming in the terraced fields seem to be 
the major occupancy of the locals. However,
you would also come across a lot of women
making their traditional clothing, robes getting
dyed up with black ink and put to dry up in the sun.
Lot of locals are also involved in making other 
hand made goods such as the handbags, gift items
and shoes. People labour in the beautiful
landscape looked upon by green mountains all around.
It was primitive, pure and simply awesome. 
Picturesque buffalo sheds, farms,
children, cottages made of bamboo fill up the scene.
Water buffaloes were found either working hard with 
the farmers ploughing or just resting up in the mud
pools. They seem a curios bunch as they look at 
you directly and follow you with their eyes
where you are going. It appeared
they were as curious to see us as we were to seem them.
Lots of black pigs, chicken, ducks, dogs were busy
with their lives too. So were the children who 
would regularly yell 'ello' at us. 

Mr Buff from Sapa.

Our guide, Quy, was a local and was excellent at his job.
He had a real grip on the knowledge about local culture,
people, history of entire Vietnam, plants and crops in the 
region. His English was also fluent. His guidance made a huge
difference to our trip in Sapa. All the thanks to him.

Occasionally we would take a break and sit down in a
local restaurant to have a drink or lunch. Locals were
friendly and inviting even we were not buying anything.

Went trekking to another village the next day, it was
again a similar out of our world experienced that we 
will never forget and definitely come back one day just
to check how thing have changed.

Train ride to Sapa, the terraced paddy fields of Vietnam

After a slightly disappointing note at Hanoi, which
did not live up to my expectation, we headed up North West
towards Sapa, the remote hilly rice basket of
Vietnam. We took a train at the Hanoi station which
is very close to the old quarter, only a fifteen minute
drive by the tourist van.

Hanoi train station.

At the time of our boarding, the station seemed to be undergoing
construction with the construction material everywhere
and large part of the platform exposed and being uprooted.

The cabin we bought were a typical four bed chamber,
with a set of two beds bunker on each wall. The furnishing
of the room was quite old but functional and comfortable.
This was of course not the picture the Vietnam railways puts on
their web site. Toilets were functional, reasonably clean
and western, and had supply of water and toilet papers.
They are locked until the train starts to move and locked
again after the train arrives on destination.
There are occasional food carts going around the train
corridors selling snacks, water and other drinks.

The sellers speak no English, a little knowledge
of Vietnamese or an app that can translate would be
very handy. They leave you alone and do not like to interact
with the tourist that much, so if you are in dire need of
something, you might be bit out of luck.

Train ride from Hanoi to Sapa started on time and was supposed
to last five hours, it lasted eight. So if you had trekking
arrangements starting at Sapa, you might be better off
leaving some buffer. Ride itself was quite bumpy and I
felt tossed around the bed all night, but managed to catch
some sleep. There is not much in terms of view from outside
the window as the old houses are built very close and right
next to the train tracks, blocking everything. You will however,
see peoples' rooms directly. Occasionally you will come across
little lakes, rice fields and temples.

Train does not go up to Sapa, you basically get off at
Lao Cai, a station only a couple of kilometres from the
Chinese border. From there, we took a bus to Sapa.
Lao Cai itself resembles a little dusty towns found in
most South Asian countries and Nepal. It seems to have
reasonably well developed roads, and from the houses
and bill boards littered across the streets, looks like an
important regional centre.

Lao Cai CBD.

Once we started to near Sapa, the views changed drastically,
from dust and hustle of little towns giving way to
lush green rice fields and silhouette of mountains
start to appear in the horizon.

View of Sapa from the hotel restaurant.


We got really excited about the things to come!

Hanoi, city I just could not fall in love with

We boarded a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok early
in the morning heading to Hanoi, the capital of
Vietnam. Flight lasted about an hour.

Upon landing, my first impression of the airport terminal
was that of an old shabby warehouse that reminded me
of smash repair houses in Sydney. Experience inside failed
to improve as we came face to face with the reality that
this is not Bangkok or Singapore, though it is still in a
South East Asian region, the region of  Asian Tiger economies.

We queued up in a poorly lit hall with other passengers
to face custom officers who were dressed in their military
uniforms. Their stony, cold expression was unforgettable,
we would later know this is the case in all parts of the country
with the government officials. There is no rush to make
the tourists feel welcome on their part. Hanoi airport terminal
is a poor cousin of Bangkok or Singapore's gloss. We were
made to walt to an X-ray machine where I found the guard
not interested at all in checking what was showing up in the x-ray
screen or in the bags that were passing through the conveyer
belt. So it seemed the security was pretty lax.
The queue to reach the machine not marked or arranged at all,
so people were heading to different directions without getting
their luggage checked. At times, the same x-ray official would
get out of his seat, leaving the x-ray scanner unattended while
the luggage passed it by, and redirect the traffic to the queue.
There is little to talk about in the airport glitter, but it does
the basic functions, and works. Welcome to Hanoi, the
capital of a communist nation. Vietnam.

Outside the airport, the first thing to hit us was chaos.
This was expected in a developing country, but what hit
me was the sad melancholy of the place, the negligence
of the whole place. Luckily, our guide was waiting for us
with a placard with our names on it so we were able to escape
the fierce taxi drivers fighting for their customers.

All along the drive to city, my camera was out and
I was trying to find a decent looking street to shoot.
Hanoi, it seems, is decades behind other South East
Asian cities. Its infrastructure seems to have been frozen
in eighties, with most of the buildings still the remnants
of an bygone era, old, narrow and short.
So were the streets, the whole city is mostly made of
its old quarter, whose streets were made mainly for
pedestrians and horses rather than the en
masse scooters of today that are
running like rats everywhere there. A huge number of
rickshaw pullers are everywhere, hassling us every
few meters, very hard to get rid of.

Many parts of the old quarter maintain
quaint beauty of the past. In spite of being completely
neglected, and covered in dust, they manage to
create environment of an old, Chinese architecture
that is quite an experience in itself.

Hanoi does have attractions in the form of
magnificent ancient palaces, temples and schools
built by past emperors, which
are well maintained to this day.
One such place called the Ancient school of literature
is a great visit.

So, to me the main attractions of Hanoi came
down to three things : the ancient temples and
palaces, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the quaint
bustling streets of the old quarter.

I sensed the people seem desperate for survival, so the
street and local business vendors are some of the most
aggressive I have seen in Asia. We went on a gas powered auto
around West lake, which I felt was a waste of time as
the views were not different you would see from anywhere.

As mentioned before, the infractructure and development
of the city seems to have stalled for decades.
There is no traffic management, to talk about as people
drive, turn, run their scooters and vehicles where ever
they want; turns out this was the case for the entire nation.
For a city of eight million people, it is a very bad job.

I felt for the people and their struggle is clearly visible.
However, I could not find much sense of people's
willingness to help outsiders or interact with them.
Hardly anyone seem to speak English except the
travel guides and people will directly walk away if asked
for directions.

I really wanted to start off my notion of Hanoi in
a much more romantic way, but this turned out to be
a place I just could not fall in love with.

Vietnam 2014

With a couple of weeks before the start of my new job,
my wife and I started to scout for a possible short
gateway. After all she keeps on hassling me not
to repeat the mistake I made about the start date
of the last job, not enough gap.
Well, I did have a weekend on that one.

We first thought about going somewhere local.
Hobart and Gold coast kept popping up. Then we thought, given
the cost, its better to go overseas, specially somewhere in
Asia. Thought for how the Aussie destinations are pricing
themselves out. Then came New  York, which has been in our
minds for a while, I could even make a dash to see my
sister in the US. Then we thought about Hong Kong.
Finally, during one shower, Vietnam crossed my mind.
My wife has been there, and she keeps saying she would
want to go back. I had not been there, so the deal was
done. Planning wasn't that hard as we booked flights
with Flight centre and contacted a Vietnam based
travel company called Handspan. It was an excellent
decision, Handspan turned out to be one of the best
travel agencies we have dealt with. In particular, the
agent we were dealing with, Annie, was truly professional
in every sense - punctual, informative, helpful and
good planner. Her efficiency and swift, thoughtful responses
really impressed us. I would recommend Handspan to anyone.

We started out with a flight to Bangkok from Sydney
with Thai airways. Unfortunately, the things did not
start too well. The flight go delayed by about four hours,
causing us to miss our connecting flight from Bangkok
to Hanoi. The reason turned out to be one of the  four
engines on the massive jumbo failed to start. Well I would
rather get delayed than be stuck on a plane with technical
problems, forty thousand feet above, in the sky.
We did manage to fly though. We were provided a nice
accommodation in Bangkok by Thai, which was really nice.
Whole approach from Thai regarding managing the problem
was outstanding. Their staffs were calm, smiling and helpful
to the maximum. I could not think of one thing they could
have done better, it was simply an excellent example of
crisis management.

We managed to catch our flight next morning to Hanoi.
For about 3 days we were based in HaNoi as we travelled
back and forth from there. We would go to Sapa, a beautiful
hilly region with plethora of rice paddy fields to trek;
Ha Long bay in South China sea, a collection of little
rock islands. Once finished with the North we went
down towards Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An in Central Vietnam.
We then flew to Saigon from Da Nang and spent a couple
of days in the most lively place in the country.
My next blogs will cover the places we visited.