Traveling Vietnam History, Culture and Travel Tips by Amanda Nourse and Glen Weinreb

Home : Travel : Traveling Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia : Vietnam

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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.

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amandan@photo.net

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