Hanging in Vietnam

We are on school holidays at the moment so enjoyed a quick trip to Vietnam last week. We found cheap air tickets with Tiger Air a few months ago so headed away with four other friends. We began with a few days immersed in the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City, whilst staying in a small guest house in the centre of town. Ho Chi Minh is a bustling place with around 7 million Vietnamese people and about the same number of scooters. With recommendations from our work colleagues, we found a few excellent places to eat. A French/Moroccan place, an alfresco barbecue restaurant and a one very vietnamese place with authentic local cuisine. The tourism side of the city was a bit disappointing, we visited the historic centre of town where a tank busted through the gates of the palace to reunite North and South Vietnam in the late 1970's. On the last morning we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels to the north which was a little dull.


We then moved on to a quaint place called Hoi An in central Vietnam, via a flight to Denang and then a 30 minute taxi ride south. The coastline from Denang to Hoi An is a long line of newly built resorts, Greg Norman golf courses and other foreign owned investments. It is a unique juxtaposition to see the poverty and traditional long houses on the opposite side of the road to the glam and manicured lawns of the resorts. Nevertheless we dived off the main road to the ancient town of Hoi An, which was once a trading village with French, Japanese and Chinese influences. The town is now a protected UNESCO site with little traffic and renovated buildings. We enjoyed lots of great food in different styles alongside the river (Cargo, Mango Mango), plenty of art galleries and the ubiquitous tailors.



We spent plenty of money on tailored clothes at about $20 a piece and struggled to bring it all back to Singapore. It was good to spend a substantial amount of time in one place. We managed to spend 6 days in Hoi An with friends which was a nice contrast to travelling every day from place to place. Will definitely be back to Vietnam at some time and try to do some of the northern parts, Halong Bay, Sapa and Hanoi.


The rest of our photos are here... http://picasaweb.google.com/ajmccarthynz/Vietnam2010