Traveling Vietnam
History, Culture and Travel Tips by Amanda Nourse and Glen Weinreb
Overview
The
Lonely Planet Vietnam travel guide is a must have for all travelers. There are
many other travel guides but we found Lonely Planet to be the most informative.
We provide a very brief summary of the information contained in this book,
supplemented with many photos and personal reflections.
For those worried about not being treated nicely in Vietnam, don't be. The war
is over. The war has been over for more than 25 years. Unarmed tourists are not a
threat. In fact, they are coveted since they are terrific customers of hotels,
restaurants, and various trinkets. The Vietnamese differentiate between the US
Gov't of 1970, and individual tourists of the 21st century. However, DO be
careful of your valuables - there are purse-snatchers and pick-pockets,
especially in the city.
Visited Cities
-
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Large
commercialized southern city
-
Da Lat, a 40K population city in the cool
mountains, 500km North of HCMC
-
Nha Trang, a 200K pop beach town, 300km NE of
HCMC
-
Hanoi, Northern communist-oriented capital city
History
Vietnam's
20th century history is complicated and intricate. In summary, French
colonialists fought Vietnamese nationalists between 1946 and 1954; and Northern
Nationalists/Communists fought Southern Capitalists and their American Allies
between 1960 and 1975. In 1975, Vietnam gained her independence and has been run
by the communists ever since.
In 1990, an interesting thing occurred. The communist run employers did not
have enough jobs for the people, and outside firms offered to build factories
with jobs that paid twice that of the government run shops. Big labor in Vietnam
invited the firms in, and began the conversion to capitalism. Today, many
businesses are non-government owned, and the government encourages foreign &
domestic ownership along with free trade. In summary, Vietnam is now a socialist,
free market society that is run by one party, the communist part, which is
harmless, most of the time.
Culture
The
Vietnamese culture is mostly agrarian -- folks live off farms in a mostly
tropical climate. Much of Vietnam is still underdeveloped. There are only 4
telephones for every 1000 people. Yet tourist can still stay at a nice hotel in
the larger cities with all the luxuries found in a modern country. The capital of
the South was called "Saigon" during the war, yet is now called "Ho Chi Minh
City" (HCMC). This is now a commercialized city with aggressive business people.
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam in the North, has less economic growth, is more
subdued, and is a more relaxing place to visit (e.g. street venders don't push
products in your face and ask you to buy 10 times after you've said "no").
Hotel
As noted in the travel guides, you can spend anywhere from $3 to $150 a night
and receive service ranging from a dormitory with no AC and no hot water, to a
luxury hotel with Ritz Carlton-like quality. For a listing of what is available,
please see
www.asia-hotels.com and
www.vietnamtourism.com. Or refer to
the Lonely Planet Vietnam guide.
Travel Tips
- Transportation options within a city include open air taxis, closed vehicle
taxis, motorcycle taxis (you hold onto driver) and cyclotron-taxis (tricycle w/
bench for passengers, includes peddler, $1/hour).
- Please pay attention to the safety and health recommendations noted in your
travel guide. For the latest information on physical threats, please refer to the
US State Dept. Vietnam Travel Advisory (
http://travel.state.gov/vietnam.html).
Since (emergency) medical care must be pre-paid, always travel with a credit
card.
- For visa information, please see
http://www.VietnamEmbassy-usa.org/
- "Vietnamese Coffee" includes a slow drip coffee apparatus above a cup, with
an additional bottle of hot water to convert the espresso to coffee, and an
optional cup of ice to convert that to ice coffee. If you like coffee, try
it!
Personal Reflections
Glenn: My consciousness has been bombarded with the Vietnam
War ever since I was little. The war dominated TV for many years and had a
dramatic affect on America culture, creating a huge divide between the young war
generation, and their folks. So the prospect of visiting Vietnam was a bit
daunting. However, after spending 2 weeks there, I came to realize that Vietnam
is not The Vietnam War. The war is over. The Vietnamese of today are focused on
living their lives, just like the Americans. They are not angry at Americans and
have no desire to fight Americans, or anyone else for that matter. Visiting
Vietnam helped morph my war dominated association with this country into a more
healthy, balanced view.
No copyright -- please take.
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