Vietnam is a strange land that may tire someone but interest most of others with beautiful memories.
It is said that Vietnam looks like Thailand 20 years ago. With direct flights to Hanoi and Saigon that easily booked online, coming to Vietnam has never been easier. You should visit Vietnam as soon as possible before the development of modern life destroys its primitive beauty.
Similar to Thailand, this S-shaped country has long coast with amazing beaches and tropical islands providing tourists with ideal resorts. More than that, multifarious life in Vietnam will definitely give you interesting experience that hardly find anywhere else in the world.
Memories of the struggle against American is another attraction of Vietnam. This also explains why American take a huge number of international tourists coming to Vietnam.
Vietnam is rebuilt entirely after the war, the pain in the past was healed and people have looked towards the future. Whenever I ask a local person about his/her feeling to American tourists, I also received the same answer “ They are welcome” .
I arrived Vietnam in Lunar New year, also called Tet. Tet often starts in late January or early February. This holiday is as colorful as Christmas holiday in our country. Tet is occasion for families to reunite, forget the troubles of the past year, express respect for ancestors and offer beautiful wishes to relatives, friends and give lucky money to children. I also received 2 notes and kept them as my lucky stuff.
I get started from Hanoi. The weather was foggy at that time but everything was warmed up by the color of peach blossoms and branches leaden with satsumas- an indispensable symbol of Tet.
Hanoi has so many beauty spots that I regret I could not visit all of them. The destinations impressed me most are Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, Hoa Lo – the prison held Vietnamese political soldiers in colonial period of French domination. Hoa Lo after that became “Hanoi Hilton”, where American senator John McCain and his pilots “spent a long holidays” after being shot down in a bombing mission over Vietnam.
Hanoi seems to be more lively owing to the color of food stalls along the streets. It is truly a heaven of street food. The dishes are very delicious,abundant and cheap. You could easily realize this when walking around “36 streets” or Old Street whose history from century 11.
Hanoian are glamour in my eyes. Most of them have good figures, no one is overweight although they eat every where, from luxurious restaurants to food stalls on the streets. It would be a mistake not to enjoy a steaming hot bowl of Pho at a stall like that.
Leaving Hanoi, I continued moving to the South. The next stops are Hue and Hoi n- 2 cities situated at the Central’s coast with fresh cool air.
In Hue, the city recognized as the World Heritage, you will able to visit splendid palAaces and tombs of Vietnamese emperors ruling 1 century ago. My breath was taken away when I came to Tu Duc and Khai Dinh tombs which are decorated sophisticated with gilded objects and lively statue standing for servants of the emperors.
I have the same comfortable feeling when coming to Hoi An. Visitors in Hoi An are so crowded that they are multiplying rate to amount of bar I could find. This is also a busy trading place that sells enjoyable items. Many special services are provided such as emergency tailor service, laundry service and motorbike rental service.
Visiting the town by motorbike is great activity in Hoi An but it is considered as a brave decision or crazy idea in Saigon. This is totally true to a crowded city which has millions of vehicles in the traffic everyday.
Vietnam has a unique form of tourism, that is war memorial tourism. The outstanding of it is Cu Chi tunnel at the countryside and war memorial museum where displays terrible effects of agent orange.
Cu Chi tunnel is an artificial system of caves with 124 mile length which was the refuge of Vietnamese soldiers in resistance war against American. The visitors are invited to crawl around to discover narrow dark sections of the tunnel.
Coming back to Saigon streets – the ideal place to wander all day and night. You may find yourself excited when having your nails painted right on the street with reasonable cost which may be much more expensive in beauty salons.
If you look for high-grade service, Saigon will not let you down with perfect hotels and amazing swimming pools where you could enjoy comfortable moments during a week.
From Saigon, you could easily visit beautiful off-shore tropical islands to the south and Southwest such as Con Dao and Phu Quoc.
Con Dao previously is a prison built by French in 1861. You can see this from unique buildings architecture at town center. I came Con Dao at the time of rough sea and sea water thereby was rather leaden.However, this could not destroy the amazing scenery of it. There are various activities at the island that you may enjoy. For example, strolling, running, swimming, riding or playing underwater sports if sea is tranquil.
During the time in Vietnam, my mind and body were both released and opened. Therefore, I am not afraid to spare my compliments for this land. If you are interested in Vietnam like me, just get there and you will get delightful moment in here.