Hue, Da Nang and Sai Gon

Hue

The imperial palaces

The imperial palaces, both the winter and summer, were impressive. But I was surprised they were in such bad condition, as they weren't abandoned very long ago. But the Vietnamese climate is rather harsh, and they have been at least been partially bombed.

The bonsai art in Viet Nam was mostly very impressive and just in the style I like.

The exceptions were things like the coloured christmas tree lights in the small trees in front of a really posh hotel in Hue, where we didn't stay, but got to see a very good dance show, including the dragon dance.

Da Nang

After that, we took a bus down the coastal road to Da Nang, passing over a pass of 900 m altitude in the process. Me, I'm not used to that kind of geography.

In Da Nang, a boat trip on the Perfume river seems to be what all tourist are expected to take.

Lots of goods travel on the river, mostly in small boats loaded like there isn't anything called "freeboard".

Sai Gon

We flew to Sai Gon (the name Ho Chi Minh City doesn't seem to have stuck very well and seems to apply to the greater city area).

We stayed three nights in Sai Gon, so got to see a lot of it.

The presidential palace was about as I expected it, but the Ho Chi Minh museum was a great surprise. I had thought it would be cult place, like in the former communist nations in eastern Europe.

Instead, Uncle Ho was primarily portrayed as one liberation fighter in the tradition of others preceding him. And he isn't shown as beeing a communist from the beginning, as he travelled to many places before he got some kind of support from the Soviet Union. Interesting.

eTay Ninh. A really strange religion, Cao Daism, beeing a mixture of several other, older and established religions, with the addition of prophets such as Victor Hugo and the like.

The tunnels at Cu Chi were also on the agenda. Surprised me they were so extensive.

The most exciting part of the trip was the return flight home. Our Swedish guide called and confirmed the flight the day before, but both she and Mr Soi seemed to have parked their brains in the evening.

When we arrived at the airport, our flight was already boarding, but no one but me seemed to notice the fact. Instead of two hours before the plane was to take off, we were there 40 minutes before.

With the help of the service minded staff, I managed to get us all checked in, have the currency papers stamped, the airport tax payed, through security and the passport checks. So we managed to catch the connecting flight in Bangkok.

All in all, I liked Viet Nam and don't regret going there.

[ Arrival, to the mountains | Northern village, the Chinese border | Mountains in the north, Bai Bang | Ha Noi | Da Nang and Saigon ]

My other travel reports
Last modified 1996 Sep 09 by Urban Fredriksson

griffon@canit.se