Seat of Our Pants

We’ve been away from Vietnam for more than a week now, and it’s time to summarize our experiences there.

The thing that really stands out is its diversity – both geographically and people wise. Our travels took us from Saigon in the south to Mt Fansipan in the north. In between, we enjoyed sights and wonders of a great variety. It’s safe to say that it was never boring.

We liked Saigon – it’s a pretty intense city with surprisingly large, well-kept parks. Spending only two days there, we never really saw much outside the central districts. It’s definitely a place that could take a bit more exploration. Oh and the food is great.

From Saigon we moved up to Mui Ne. This could possibly have been the least interesting part of the trip, but again the glorious Vietnamese cuisine came through. If nothing else, Mui Ne is worth a visit for its fantastic seafood restaurants. Had we been interested in water sports such as kite surfing and windsurfing, we would probably have loved the place.

In stark contrast, and this was a personal favorite of ours, Dalat provided us with cool mountain climate and beautiful scenery. It was also the starting point for our Easy Ride – one of the most exciting parts of our whole round the world trip so far. Riding on the back of vintage motorbikes for six days, our excellent guides saw to it that we experienced more than can be seen without spending far more money and effort. The Central Highlands are an interesting destination in its own right, but our gut feeling is that it may have been less gratifying without a proper guide.

After a short stop in Hoi An for tailor made clothing and banana pancakes, we took a long and tedious train ride to Hanoi: our base for exploring some of the delights of northern Vietnam.

Hanoi is nice. Friends have told me it was pretty bleak and dreary ten or fifteen years ago, but we found it to be a pretty cool and promising city. Too hot, at the time of our visit, but with a handful of interesting sights and decent shopping (if you like cheap copies, that is). We’re still a bit miffed that we missed out on Ho Chi Minh’s mummy. Next time, mummy! Grr!

Halong Bay is one of those must-see places that every country seems to have. In this case, it truly is a must-see. However, you want to do it right: spend a few bucks extra to avoid the crowds! We had a ball, just four tourists splashing around with a junk on the bay for a couple of days. Most tours there seem to follow the most trafficked routes, and we heard more than one disappointed voice complaining about overcrowding.

We loved Sapa and the mountains surrounding it. Again, we thought we’d be traveling through heavily touristed areas, but while we saw lots of domestic Vietnamese tourists, local tribespeople never failed to make us feel like we were curiosities. I have specifically fond memories of the hike up to Mt Fansipan – I can’t wait to do more of those merry little expeditions.

All in all I have to say that I would probably go back to Vietnam if I had the chance. However, I would try to focus on one area only: it is a huge, long country with the population size of Germany. You just can’t take it all in – concentrate on one area and you will come away happy and eager to go back.

Next up: a few more weeks here in Sweden, and then on to Singapore. We’re looking into various options on Sumatra after that. Stay tuned!

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