Joanne Kuzma trip to Vietnam 2011

Originally, I had a trip to Libya scheduled for April, 2011, but with the unrest there - that tour got cancelled and I had to plan another one, so I choose to visit Vietnam.

Arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) where it was very warm - 34C. On Sunday we headed to Cu Chi (75 km NW of Saigon) to visit the incredible underground tunnel network built by Vietnamese guerilla fighters during the American War. We had a chance to go into the tunnels and also saw old war remains. In the afternoon we had a city tour of Saigon where we visited the Presidential Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and the War Remnant Museum. The Museum had pictures and articles from various wars and was bit of a propaganda piece. Sunday evening we had boat trip down the Saigon River with a lovely buffet dinner including entertainment.Saigon is very interesting in that most of the people have motorbikes and the traffic is just horrible. There is little in the way of public transportatio (few busees or trains), so people save to buy their own motorbikes. Another interesting point our guide mentioned is that the women wear long sleeves to not be tanned - they consider whiter skin more beautiful.

On Monday we visited a Cao Dai religious temple. It is a very small religion which encompasses practices of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucism. We drove 2 hours to the Mekong delta and had a lovely boat ride. We stopped several times where we had a local musicians group serendade us, and visited an arts and crafts village. We also stopped for a bite and we had many different kinds of tropical fruit - several of which I had never tried (mango, pineapple, sapodilla, star apple, jackfruit, dragon fruit). It was great to get to try some new fruits that you see in markets, but are reluctant to try without knowing what it is. On the boat the guide gave us all a coconut and we could sip the juice. The group also visited a shop that made coconut candy - it was absolutely wonderful. Then there was a ride on a donkey cart that was interesting.

Joanne at Cu Chi Tunnels

Guide showing entrance to tunnel

American tank

Guide showing traps used in war

Guide inside tunnel

Joanne inside tunnel

Guillotine at War Remnant Museum

Sipping coconut juice

Boat trip along Mekong River

Local boys on river

Donkey ride

Trying various tropical fruits

Local woman with boat

Making coconut candy

On Tuesday morning we transferred to the airport for the flight to Danang. An interesting point is that this airport allowed us to take up to a 1-liter bottle of liquid on our carry-on - that is the way it should be everywhere! From the airport we drove north to Hue, where it was a balmy 37C (even a bit warm for me). The city of Hue sits on the Perfume River and contains many historical remnants of the various royal dynasties that ruled Vietnam. Tuesday afternoon we visited the Imperial Citidel. It was built in the early 19th century and contain many buildings and apartments. Many of the buildings in the Forbidden City were destroyed by fire in 1947 and other damage occurred in 1968.

We then drove to the tombs of Nguyen dynasty (1802 - 1945) Emperors Tu Duc and Khai Dinh. We also did stops at a shop where they made incense sticks - very colorful, and a shop selling very large marble statues. An interesting small stop was to visit local peasants thrushing their rice on the side of the road. It was very interesting seeing all the rice fields and people working in the fields collecting rice. The group also had a 45 minute boat road down the Perfume River. We then drove south to Hoian.

Imperial Citidel in Hue	Joanne at Palace	Joanne at Palace	Locals at Palaee	Palace	Young monk in training at temple
Locals near tomb complex	Tour group lining up at statues near tomb complex	Joanne next to statue	View of tomb complex	Xung Khiem Pavilion, Tu Duc’s tomb	Lady creating conical hat
Lady creating incense sticks	Local shop that sold colorful incense	Local shop selling marble statues	Peasants thrushing rice on side of road	Rice along side of road

Hoian is a nice little city, but getting a bit touristy. The hotel (Pacific Hotel) had a nice pool and free Internet, so I got caught up on some emails. Thursday morning was an interesting tour of the Champa ruins of My Son (from 5th to 13th century AD). Compared to Cambodia's Angor Wat, these were in much poorer condition and not as grand, yet they were still interesting and have a definte Hindu influence. The tour guide here was a bit on the 'propaganda' side where he was more interested in showing us American bomb craters than explaining the Champa culture and ruins, but I can research that on the Internet. In the afternoon we took a walking tour of Hoian. Friday morning we visited a small Cham museum with interesting statues and then flew from Danang to Hanoi and had a 3-hour ride to Ha Long Bay.

My Son temple

My Son temple complex

Hoian, 400 year old Japanese covered bridge

Sculptures in river for Buddhist celebration

Local lady on boat

Saturday was a very relaxing day with an all-day boat ride on Ha Long Bay (similar to Guilin China). We started with an interesting visit to a fishing farm on the water where they farmed all types of fish and seafood. It was really interesting until we saw the fisherman scoop out some fish and bash it dead - and take it to the boat (it ended up as our lunch). Then was a tour of a very interesting cave complex and then a seafood lunch. Luckily, it was much cooler in the north (about 29C), as as it was overcast, was a lovely day to sit out on the top desk and watch the world go by. In the late afternoon we had a 3-hour trip to Hanoi.

Sunday was an all-day tour of Hanoi. Like Saigon, there were millions of motorbikes and the traffic was unbelievable. We first stood in line to see Ho Chi Minh's body lying in state (the guards were extremely strict about no-talking, etc), and then visited his home. This was the only time it rained - for about 2 hours, but it was not too bad as it cooled things down. We thing visited the One Pillar Pagoda and the History Museum - which had some nice pieces, and the Temple of Literature (11th century as Vietnam's first university). We had lunch and then went to the Ethnology Museum, which we all really liked a great deal and wished we had more time there. It had a collection showing various ethnic groups in Vietnam (I did not realize there were so many), and then housing of different tribes in Vietnam. Later in the afternoon we walked around the city and saw interesting markets. I love looking at all the various fruits and veggies which you do not see anywhere else. In the evening there was a water puppet show that was quite enjoyable.

On Monday morning, the rest of the group of 12 people left for their extension to Laos and Cambodia, so I had most of the day free. I decided to visit the infamous Hoa Lo Prison - which was just abut 2 blocks from my hotel. The French kept Vietnamese prisoners there, and during the was with America, American pilots were housed there. In the evening I flew out. One interesting point is that I exchanged about $150 to VND dong at the beginning, and even after lunches and guide tips, I still had extra money left. I could not find a bank in Hanoi (lots of ATMs but no banks), and one I went to said they could not change back and to get it at the airport. Yet, at the airport there were NO money exchange booths like every other airport. So some shop exchanged back to USD (I got ripped off), but at least I found a place that did exchange.

Ha Long Bay fishing farm	Fishing farm	Cave	Joanne	Near Caves	Local Fisherman
Hanoi - local fruit market	Hanoi - veggie market	Hanoi - fruits	Hanoi - person in our group holding basket	Ethnology Museum - typical rural house	Another type of rural house
Ethnology Museum	Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton)	Prison	Wall Plaque about American prisoners	Room showing American clothes and other items