A perfect trip to Vietnam
From the island-studded seas of the
north to the meandering waterways of the south, Vietnam is a country
defined by the diversity of its land and the resilience and generosity
of its people. Lonely Planet Traveller magazine shows you how to take the perfect trip to Vietnam.
Halong Bay: best for coast
The mystical landscape of Halong Bay, where over 2000 limestone islets rise from the Gulf of Tonkin. Photo by Matt Munro
Once
upon a time, a friendly dragon lived in the heavens above Halong Bay.
With invaders from the seas threatening Vietnam, the gods asked the
dragon to create a natural barrier to protect its people. The dragon
kindly obliged, performing a spectacular crash landing along the coast –
digging up chunks of rock with its flailing tail and spitting out
pearls – before grinding to a halt. This scene of devastation is now
known as Halong Bay – Halong literally translates as ‘where the dragon
descends into the sea’.
Less exciting
explanations of this landscape involve eons of erosion by winds and
waves – but nobody disputes the splendour of the end result. Rising from
the shallows of the Gulf of Tonkin are thousands of limestone islands –
towering monoliths lined up like dominoes, some teetering at worrying
angles. The islands’ names testify to the overactive imaginations of
sailors who’ve spent too long at sea – Fighting Cock Island, Finger
Island, Virgin Grotto. Having largely resisted human settlement, the
islands have become home to other creatures. From above, sea eagles
swoop down to pluck fish from the waters, carrying their prey – still
flapping – high into the air, and squawking congratulations to each
other from their nests.
Hanoi: best for city life
Fruit seller heading to market. Photo by Matt Munro
It’s rush hour in Hanoi,
and the streets of the city’s Old Quarter throng with hundreds of
scooters. The pavement and the central reservation are fair game in the
chaos; zebra crossings exist more as a personal challenge than a
guarantee of safe passage. Hanoi is a city that refuses to grow old
gracefully – a millennium-old capital of crumbling pagodas and
labyrinthine streets, now undergoing a werewolf-like transformation into
a 21st-century Asian metropolis. In the Old Quarter, ancient temples
now neighbour karaoke joints, and dynasties of artisans ply their trade
next to shops selling cuddly toys the size of grizzly bears.
Few
have studied the changing face of the city as closely as Do Hien, an
artist who has spent a lifetime painting Hanoi’s streets. He welcomes me
to his studio, and idly leafs through sketches of city life – couples
waltzing beside the willows of Hoan Kiem Lake, and alleyways where
hawkers prepare steaming bowls of pho. ‘Hanoi is a place that runs in
your blood,’ Hien says thoughtfully, sitting cross-legged among stubs of
incense sticks and paintbrushes strewn across his studio floor. ‘Had I
not lived in this city I might not be able to paint like I do.’
Sapa: best for walking
Ripening paddies near Sapa. Photo by Matt Munro
An
evening fog hangs over Sapa. Clouds sporadically open up a bit to
reveal a village, a chunk of a mountain, a patch of jungle, before
obscuring them from view again, like stage scenery sliding into the
wings. Eventually the clouds lift, and the Hoang Lien mountain range
emerges. It is a landscape of extraordinary beauty – the Asian highlands
half-remembered from childhood picture books and martial-arts films.
Above are peaks thick to their summits with greenery. Below, rice
terraces run down the hillsides at right angles, as neatly as the folds
in origami paper.
Sapa is a town
where the weather seems to operate on random rotation – switching
between brilliant sunshine, thick fog, driving rain and occasionally a
dusting of snow, before coming full circle to brilliant sunshine, often
all within the space of a few minutes. A hill station settled by
Vietnam’s French colonists, Sapa now serves as a trailhead for hikers
happy to run the meteorological lottery of a walk in these mountains.
‘We have four seasons in one day here,’ explains Giang Thi Mo, my guide,
shimmying along the edge of a rice paddy as a rain cloud approaches.
‘There’s no way to predict the weather – just be lucky!’
We
pass through a village, and Mo points to bamboo irrigation systems that
send trickles down the hillsides and into rice pounders that see-saw
with the current. ‘There’s a Hmong saying that “we flow with the
water”,’ she explains. ‘It means we don’t worry too much, and take
things easy.’
Hoi An: best for food
Le Hanh gives a demonstration at her cooking school, Gioan. Photo by Matt Munro
Hoi An
is a small town that likes a big breakfast. As dawn musters strength on
the horizon, a small army of chefs sets to work on Thai Phien street –
firing up gas cookers and arranging plastic furniture on the pavements.
Soon, the city awakes to sweet porridges; coffee that sends a lightning
bolt of caffeine to sleepy heads; sizzling steaks; broths that swim with
turmeric, chilli and ginger. In Vietnam, street food is a serious
business – a single dish prepared day after day by the same cook,
perfected and honed by a lifetime’s craft.
‘Food
in Hoi An is about yin and yang,’ explains Le Hanh, a young female chef
scrutinising vegetables at the morning market. ‘It’s about balancing
hot with cool, sweet with sour, salty with spicy.’ True to Hanh’s
philosophy, cooking in Hoi An goes big on contrasting flavours; food
that plays good cop/bad cop with the palate. The sharpness of fish sauce
blends with the subtlety of fresh herbs; cool lemongrass makes way for
the eye-watering panic of accidentally chomping on a red chilli.
Mekong Delta: best for river life
Watermelons being offloaded at Cai Rang floating market. Photo by Matt Munro
A
heavy rain is falling on the Mekong Delta, flooding the footpaths,
swilling in the gutters, turning riverbank mud from light tan to a rich
coffee colour. A tangled network of rivers, tributaries and canals, the
waters of the delta criss-cross the lowlands of southern Vietnam, before
emptying out into the South China Sea through mighty, yawning
estuaries. For centuries, life here has ebbed and flowed in tandem with
the current of the Mekong – an all-in-one launderette, bathtub, highway,
toilet, dishwasher, larder, social club and workplace for the
communities surrounded by its waters.
‘If
you live on a river island with twenty other people you have to learn
to get along with everyone,’ explains Mrs Bui Nguyen, beckoning
strangers to shelter in her bungalow beside the Cai Chanh canal. ‘That’s
the reason why people in the Mekong are so friendly!’ A 77-year-old who
attributes her longevity to a lifetime avoiding doctors, Mrs Nguyen
wistfully reflects on the delta of old – in days when the only
artificial light came from peanut oil lamps dotted along the riverbanks;
an age long before roads had reached the villages. Times have changed.
However, human life still instinctively congregates on the water’s edge.
Lining the riverbank nearby are grocers’ shops, cafés, a gym, a
billiards club and a blacksmith’s. Floating markets, too, are still held
every morning at nearby Cai Rang – with creaking barges from across the
delta bashing into each other as they offload cargoes of watermelons,
pineapples and turnips.
Source: lonelyplanet.com
HUONG VIET TRAVEL – MEMBER OF PATA, ASTA, IATA
Add: 20 Nguyen Truong To Str, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel : (84-4) 37162149 Fax: (84-4) 37161738
E–mail address: sales@huongviettravel.com
Website: www.huongviettravel.com | http://www.aseantravelandtours.com | http://www.visavietnamonline.com | http://www.huongvietjsc.com
Vietnam Travel Packages | Vietnam Visa | Cambodia Tours | Myanmar Tours | Laos Tours | China Tours
HUONG VIET TRAVEL – MEMBER OF PATA, ASTA, IATA
Add: 20 Nguyen Truong To Str, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel : (84-4) 37162149 Fax: (84-4) 37161738
E–mail address: sales@huongviettravel.com
Website: www.huongviettravel.com | http://www.aseantravelandtours.com | http://www.visavietnamonline.com | http://www.huongvietjsc.com
Vietnam Travel Packages | Vietnam Visa | Cambodia Tours | Myanmar Tours | Laos Tours | China Tours
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