Vietnam in 8 days
Our trip to Vietnam was the first time Michael and I had traveled together. Strangely enough, our itinerary focused on places beginning with the letter ‘H’. However, we covered nature, culture, and history and loved it all (even the travel hiccups).
Day 1-2: Hanoi
It didn’t start well. Our taxi driver tried to scam us by taking us to a hotel with a name similar to the one we had booked, but not as nice. Some convincing later, we arrived at our hotel and prepared for our day.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was our first stop, hoping to glimpse Ho Chi Minh. Unfortunately, Ho Chi Minh was away for repairs and would be for our entire trip. Luckily, our next stop, One Pillar Pagoda, was one of the prettiest structures with a beautiful little story. Emperor Lý Thái Tông (who ruled Vietnam from 1028 to 1054) was told by a monk to replicate an image he had in a dream. In the dream, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara handed him a baby son while seated on a lotus flower. After he built the temple, he met a peasant girl there, married her and had a son (just like in his dream).
Le Mat
We caught a motorcycle back to the hotel. The driver spoke excellent English and offered to take us to a restaurant at Le Mat, a snake village. Why not, right?
We crossed the Long Bien Bridge, a cantilever bridge built by the French in 1903 to secure control of North Vietnam.
Vases of snake wine welcomed us into the restaurant. We chose a snake to eat. They cut the snake open in front of us, ripped the heart out and tipped the blood from the throat into a small bowl.
Dinner consisted of several dishes, including snake browned in fat with chilli and citronella, a grilled chopped snake wound around Lanoi, crispy fried snake skin, boiled snake with ginger, coated snake with flour, soft-fried snake skin, snake porridge and my personal favourite, liver with an omelette. At one point in the dinner, one of the waiters whisked the snake’s blood into a spirit and presented it as a shot, complete with the still-beating heart. I kindly offered this to Michael, who, surprisingly, accepted it.
The Old Quarter
Hanoi’s sights, sounds and smells awaited us on the second day of our trip. After a Vietnamese breakfast of noodles and tea, we called our friendly motorcycle driver and his friend for a tour of the Old Quarter and surrounding Hanoi.
The Old Quarter is a series of streets specialising in a particular industry or guild, including quilts, gold, silver, fabrics, sweets and jams and tourism. Our hotel was on one of these streets, Pho Hang Ma Street or Counterfeit Street. This guild sold votive paper, offerings, decorations and imitation ‘ghost’ money for burning in Buddhist ceremonies.
Temple of Literature
After leaving the Old Quarter, our first stop was the Temple of Literature. It is a beautiful and calming place, the most famous Confucian Temple in Vietnam, and features on the back of the one hundred thousand dong banknote.
The temple has 5 courtyards. The entrance to the first is via the twin-tiered Văn Miếu gate. The first 2 courtyards are tree-lined so scholars can relax away from the city’s bustle.
A large pond called the ‘well of heavenly clarity’ takes up the third courtyard. On either side of the pool are stone slabs or steles honouring the school’s successful doctoral candidates. Each stone stele sits on the back of a tortoise.
Great pavilions border the fourth courtyard on either side. These pavillions once contained altars of Confucius’s 72 greatest students. They now contain offices, a gift shop, and a small museum.
Flanking this courtyard is the bell tower.
The fifth courtyard held Vietnam’s first university, founded in 1076. It was bombed and is not yet restored.
Tran Quoc Pagoda and Temple
After the Temple of Literature, we stopped at the Tran Quoc Pagoda and Temple, one of the oldest in Vietnam. This place was extremely peaceful and, at the time, almost completely underwater. In the garden is a bodhi tree, taken from a cutting of the original tree under which Buddha sat and achieved enlightenment.
West Lake
We then drove around West Lake, stopping for a picture on the lakeside, looking back into Hanoi and taking a quick look at another temple.
At Michael’s insistence, we quickly stopped at the History Museum. Most reviews stated that it is worth the trip more for the architecture than the collection. I tend to agree, although the photo below was priceless.
Hoan Kiem Lake
The last stop for the day was Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm), or Lake of the Returned Sword. According to legend, somewhere in the 15th century, Heaven sent Emperor Le Loi a magical sword. He used it to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. One day after the war, the Emperor came upon a turtle who took the magical sword and returned it to its owner, the Turtle God (Kim Qui). Large soft-shell turtles thought to be the endangered species Rafetus Leloii (named in honour of the Emperor) have been sighted in the lake.
The Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple) is on Jade Island near the lake’s northern shore. The temple honours the 13th-century military leader Tran Hung Dao, who fought against the Yuan Dynasty. The red, wooden Huc Bridge (Morning Sunlight Bridge) connects Jade Island to the shore. We finished the evening and our time in Hanoi with a trip to the Municipal Water Puppet Theatre.
Day 3-4: Ha Long Bay
It was an early start, a 3-hour drive, and we were boarding our Ha Long Bay cruise boat. This means “Descending Dragon” bay, which was enamed after the family of dragons that local gods sent to help the Vietnamese fight Chinese invaders. The dragons spat out jewels and jade that turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, forming a great wall against the invaders.
In real life, the bay has an area of around 1553 square kilometres and 1960 islets over 3000 incredible islands. It is a breathtaking series of small islands similar to those I encountered in Guilin, China.
Most of the first day of the cruise involved relaxing on the deck chairs, sipping cocktails and enjoying the beautiful view. By late afternoon, we reached one of four fishing villages in the Ha Long Bay area. Residents live in floating houses and support themselves through fishing and marine aquaculture. We canoed to the village to visit the floating school and play with the children.
A quick dip in the bay, and it was back onto the boat to enjoy the sunset.
We awoke surrounded by boats, all of which had docked at the same place overnight. Each boat cruised away one by one on their way to the ‘Amazing Caze’. The cave was surprisingly good but not quite amazing.
Day 5: Huế – the ancient capital
The next stop on the itinerary was Huế. As history lovers, we were excited to spend a few days at one of the key sites in ancient and modern Vietnamese history. It was the capital of Vietnam between 1802 and 1945 and was a central location in the Vietnam War.
Again, it wasn’t a great start. The train we were bere booked onto arrived minus the carriage containing our seats. We had to take the next train and, as a result, we arrived in Huế an hour late and very starving. After asking at the front counter for a recommendation, we settled into a local just down the road. Or at least we thought it was a local. Showing the waiter what the hotel concierge had written down, the waiter disappeared down the street and returned with two bowls of soup and a couple of beers. Still not sure whether it was a cafe or just someone’s front yard, the food was fantastic, and the beer was just what we were after. We had ordered bún bò Huế, a noodle soup served with slices of beef and lashings of chilli oil. It is the most famous dish of Huế.
The Imperial Tombs
Refreshed and ready to go, we hired 2 motorcycle taxis to take us to the imperial tombs. There are 7 tombs of Nguyen Dynasty Emperors (1802-1945), the last of Vietnam’s royal families. All the tombs are different but contain 3 basic elements: a temple, a tall stone stele recording the details of the emperor’s reign, and the royal tomb (usually enclosed in a walled compound). We chose to see 2 of the more unique tombs, one with a Vietnamese feel and the other more European.
Khai Dinh
Khải Định was the 12th emperor, ruling for only 9 years (1916-1925). The tomb itself took 11 years to build. His rule was during the French colonisation, and he was not popular as the people thought he was collaborating with the French. The entrance to the tomb was spectacular, with 36 steps bordered by beautiful statues leading you to the first of two courtyards. A further 26 steps took you to a second courtyard flanked by statues of elephants, horses and mandarins with a beautiful octagonal pavilion. A final set of steps took you to the main building that encloses the tomb.
Tu Duc
Tự Đức was the 4th emperor, reigning from 1848 to 1883, the longest of any Nguyen dynasty emperor. He lived a life of total luxury; some even say debauchery. His tomb consists of nearly 50 buildings spread over 12 hectares. The construction cost was so great there was even an unsuccessful coup in 1866.
Entering the tomb, you first see the Luu Khiem Lake, where the emperor would sail around after boarding pleasure boats at the Du Khiem Pavilion. To the left is the Xung Khiem Pavillion, where the emperor would sit with his wives and concubines, read books, compose and recite poems, and admire the flowers. During his lifetime, he produced 4000 verses and 600 prose works. In terms of offspring, he was not so productive. Despite having 104 wives and countless numbers of concubines, he failed to produce any children.
Continuing through the site, you make your way across to the area of the Emperor’s tomb. You pass by an honour guard of elephants, horses and small officials. These small officials were deliberately built smaller than the Emperor, who was a very small man.
The Stele Pavilion houses a massive stone tablet (the biggest in Vietnam) that weighs 20 tons and was transported from over 500km away.
The Emperor’s sepulchre is an uninspiring construction surrounded by a low stone wall. More to the point, nobody is entombed there. Officials at the time feared that robbers would steal the Emperor’s corpse. All the people involved in the tomb’s construction were executed to keep the location safe. As a result, nobody knows where the corpse is.
The Perfume River
After leaving Emperor Tu Doc’s tomb, we drove up hill to see a view of the River Hoang (Perfume River).
Thiên Mụ Pagoda
Thiên Mụ Tự (or Thien Mu Pagoda) was built at the direction of Nguyen Hoang, the first of the Nguyen Lords. A local legend told of an old lady who prophesied a lord coming to the hill and building a pagoda to pray for wealth. Then she vanished so he built a pagoda. And the prophecy became true. The prophecy did not say that the country would become wealthy, just that a lord would build a pagoda to pray for wealth. The pagoda is quite stunning. Less stunning was the noise of the monk with a whipper schnipper.
Japanese bridge
Winding our way home on a tiny path through nothing but paddy fields, we crossed a beautiful Japanese bridge established during Emperor Le Hien Tong’s reign (1740-1786). The wife of a high-ranking Mandarin gifted the bridge. In return, the Emperor exempted the village from tax as a reminder to live up to her example. On the opposite side of the bridge was a small museum showcasing tools developed by local villagers. The tools were not impressive, but the delightful elderly village who showed us how each worked was.
Day 6: Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) and the Indochina Wars
On our second day in Huế, we entered modern history to learn about the Indochina Wars, particularly the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is a 5 km section on either side of the Ben Hai River. It was established as a dividing line between North and South Vietnam following the First Indochina War. It became important as the demarcation between North and South Vietnamese territories during the Second Indochina War (popularly known as the Vietnam War). We travelled along Highway 9 to Khe Sanh and then the DMZ and the Vinh Moc caves on a sombre journey to learn more about the impact of what many call an unnecessary war.
The First Indochina War
The story of the Indochina War starts with the French invading Vietnam in 1887 and holding it as a French colony until the Second World War. In 1940, when Japanese forces invaded Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh formed a communist party called the Viet Minh that wanted to defeat both the French and the Japanese. When the Japanese left in 1945, Ho Chi Minh claimed Vietnamese independence under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The French disagreed and established the Republic of Vietnam (GVN) in the south.
The two sides fought for eight years until the French withdrew their forces following the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ. The French put all their forces into the battle, trying to draw the Viet Minh into a major confrontation they thought they would win. However, using Chinese-funded air artillery to bombard the French landing strip, the Viet Minh managed to restrict the delivery of supplies to the French army and outlasted their opponents.
The Geneva Agreement and the start of the Vietnam War
Following the French withdrawal, an agreement was made to keep the 2 independent Vietnamese states (with the South supported by the US rather than France) but hold elections to decide which would rule Vietnam into the future. Neither the US nor the South Vietnamese supported the agreement because they feared the North Vietnamese would win the election. The US was concerned this would lead to more communist states across Asia.
And so the war continued, with the US supporting South Vietnam instead of the French. However, political instability in the South significantly weakened their government, and the US knew they needed to enter the war. In 1964, the North Vietnamese attached 2 US boats on an intelligence collection mission in North Vietnamese waters. Using this as an opportunity, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lincoln the power to enter what would become known as the Second Indochina War or the Vietnam War.
The Rock Pile
Our bus trip entered the Vietnam War in about 1966. The Rock Pile is one of a chain of army bases along Highway 9, the northernmost road in South Vietnam. The US captured it in 1966 to intercept the North Vietnamese, who were sending troops and resources into the South. The US captured the Rock Pile using a series of watchtowers to provide information on where the North Vietnamese troops were and what they were doing.
Khe Sanh
We continued to Khe Sanh, the site of one of the most famous battles in the Vietnam War and often considered the second Điện Biên Phủ.
By 1968, the US wanted to restrict the flow of supplies to the Viet Cong, a guerilla army supported by North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese were transporting these supplies through a network of trails collectively known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, extending from central Laos into Vietnam.
Building on lessons from the capture of the Rock Pile, the US set up the McNamara electronic fence, a series of army bases and watchtowers supported by minefields and barbed wire fences. The centre of this was the Khe Sanh army base. And it was somewhere the US (and all its many citizens) did not want to lose.
The North Vietnamese attacked Khe Sanh on 21 January 1968. With 20,000 North Vietnamese troops and only 5,500 US troops, the US public followed the attack as it began to look very similar to Điện Biên Phủ. Eventually, the siege ended after 77 days of fighting, and the US claimed victory.
Khe Sanh camp is now a tourist destination, with old bunkers, aircraft and tanks lying around a not-very-well-maintained landscape. In a way, though, this just added to the sombreness of the situation.
The Tet Offensive
On 31 January 1968, 10 days after the North Vietnamese troops attacked Khe Sanh, they launched the Tet Offensive. In doing so, the Viet Cong broke their agreement to pause fighting during the Vietnamese Lunar National Holiday and launched over 80,000 troops into 100 cities across South Vietnam. They hoped they could cause an uprising and collapse the South Vietnamese government. While the raids were effective, the Viet Cong also committed horrendous acts against Vietnamese civilians and deterred many who might have joined an uprising. As in Khe Sanh, the US eventually defeated the troops.
The end of the war
A military disaster, the Tet Offensive had a very unexpected political impact. The US public had been led to believe that they were winning the war, so they were shocked to see the force of the Viet Cong through both the Tet Offensive and the battle of Khe Sanh. Stories started to emerge about US soldiers, including the slaughtering of 400 civilians in the village of My Lai. President Nixon replaced President Johnson, drawing on public support for his secret plan to end the war. He increased arterial bombing, provided further funding support to the South Vietnamese and started withdrawing ground troops. However, the remaining troops became angry and many deserted, causing Nixon to end draft calls in 1972.
The US withdrew all troops by 1973 and signed a peace treaty. However, the fighting continued for 2 years until the South Vietnamese government collapsed in 1975. The North had won the war, and both sides were reunited in 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war had ended with the result the US had desperately tried to prevent.
Dakrong Bridge
With the war over, we retreated to Dakrong Bridge, which many consider the beginning of the Ho Chi Minh Trail network.
Hien Luong Bridge, Ben Hai River and the DMZ
From the Dakrong Bridge, we drove along the entire length of Highway 9, finally reaching the Hien Luong Bridge and crossing the Ben Hai River to enter ‘North Vietnam’. The Ben Hai travels along the 17th parallel, and the river, with 5km on either side, roughly forms the de-militarised zone.
Three interesting wars were fought at the Hien Luong Bridge. They were fought with paint, sound, and flags. Loudspeakers were placed at either end of the bridge, broadcasting messages from each state and flag poles were also placed at either end of the bridge, with an ongoing war to see who could raise their flag the highest. The South tried to keep the paint on the north and south sides of the bridge different colours, as it had always been, while the North tried to keep them the same colour to signify their desire to reunite the country. Each war was hard fought, and each victory was celebrated, even though they may not have changed the outcome.
Vinh Moc Tunnels
Our last stop was Vinh Moc, a tunnel complex built to shelter people from intense bombing by American forces. The US believed the villagers of Vinh Moc were supplying food and arms to the North Vietnamese garrison on the island of Con Co. The Americans wanted the villagers to leave, but there was nowhere to go. Instead, they dug tunnels and recreated their village underground. From 1966 to 1972, around 60 families lived underground. 17 children were born inside the tunnels. No villagers died.
Three things at the tunnel complex remain with me to this day. Two are the size of holes left by bombs at the side of the road. One is a picture of a small boy holding a gun bigger than him.
This was a war that didn’t need to happen. Millions of Vietnamese, US, South Korean, Thai, Australians and New Zealanders died, and many more were seriously harmed. Citizens of several countries continue to get sick and die as a result of the chemicals sprayed across the Ho Chi Minh Trail to prevent the transit of supplies. Vietnamese citizens continue to die as a result of the unexploded bombs left across the war zone. And veterans continue to suffer the long-term impact of a horrible war and the lack of support they received when they were eventually allowed home.
Day 7: Huế city centre
Hue War Museum
Reflecting on the previous day, we spent the early morning at the Huế War Museum. Two versions of every event are displayed in the museum, one from the North Vietnamese side and one from the South Vietnamese side, each depicting a very different story.
Exhibits showed the considerable damage Huế suffered during the war, particularly during the Massacre at Huế. In a key battle of the Tet Offensive, thousands of civilians died. It was the longest period of North Vietnamese control in any city during the war. The Americans recaptured the city but destroyed the city in the process. It may have been an Allied victory, but it strongly contributed to the decline in American support for the war.
Hue Citadel
Our final stop in Huế took us back to the 1800s. In 1802, after more than a century of division, Nguyễn Ánh ascended the throne of a unified Vietnam and proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long. He moved the capital from Hanoi to Huế and built his new citadel, modelled on the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The entrance to the Citadel is opposite the Flag Tower, which holds the tallest Vietnamese flag in the country.
Choung Duc Gate is west of the Citadel. It is a gate for ladies to enter and exit. The name refers to the ‘four virtues ‘ of ancient women.
The Citadel linked the two stories of Huế together, an ancient historical site destroyed by a modern-day war. Out of 160 buildings, only 10 major sites remain.
Off to Ho Chi Minh
We returned to our hotel to catch the bus to Danang and fly back to Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam public transport had other ideas. Our 1 pm bus left at 2 pm and took its time winding through beautiful scenery to reach Danang City at about the same time our flight did. Do not worry; we booked the next flight and went to check in our bags. Unfortunately, the counter staff had taken our money but forgot to change our flight details. Naturally, by the time we returned to the counter, the people we had spoken to earlier had left. After half an hour of negotiation, we finally sorted everything out and boarded our plane.
When we arrived at Ho Chi Minh, it was midnight, and the hotel had given our room to a different Michael. Fortunately, they remembered us and found somewhere else for us to stay. They also booked us for a tour along the Mekong Delta for our last day in Vietnam.
Day 8: Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Victoria where the Mekong River enters the sea through a network of distributaries. It is known as Cuu Long, the Nine Dragons, referring to its nine tributaries.
Life in the Mekong Delta revolves around the river, with many villages only accessible by rivers and canals. Leaving Ho Chi Minh, we saw a bit of what life was like on the river. Early on, the riverbed was home to some of the city’s lower class. As we moved further into the Delta, we could see small towns. We stopped at one of them to fill up with petrol.
Our trip focused on My Tho, the traditional gateway to the Mekong. Four islands—Dragon, Turtle, Unicorn, and Phoenix—are nearby. We boarded some boats and visited two of these islands and the coconut candy factory. On the first island, we saw some beekeeping and tasted honey tea and snake wine. We had a fantastic lunch at a local restaurant (Michael attempting the entrance bridge below) before going for a bike ride around the town and having a snooze in the hammock. Then, it was time to board the boats again, jump on the bus back to town, and go straight to the airport to fly home after a lovely first trip together.
