Blog
Category: Personal
April 2, 2020
Vietnam Family Vacation: Days 10-17, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc Island
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
We flew from Danang and landed in a balmy 91F Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Unlike the colonial feel of Hanoi, HCMC was modern, young and dynamic. Home to lots of skyscrapers, with development everywhere, it has a distinct international feel–Communist slogans may emanate from loudspeakers set atop government vans driving around the city, but there’s no mistaking that this is a land that embraces capitalism.
In the heart of town we checked into the venerable Continental Hotel, a real throwback to the colonial era, which also served as the headquarters of TIME and Newsweek magazines during the war. First thing we did as a group was take a cyclo (rickshaw) tour of the town, ending at the Independence Palace, the cool white mid-century building which once housed the South Vietnamese government; this is where on April 30, 1975 the North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates, finally ending the war. Early the next morning, Sebbie and I walked back to the Independence Palace to check it out inside. The Vietnamese government turned it into a museum, frozen in time in April 1975: Shag carpets, lime green and orange abound. But we were searching for the war room somewhere in the basement…finally found it–a war bunker with yellowed maps covering the walls and table, also as the Communists found it in 1975.
March 29, 2020
Vietnam Family Vacation: Days 6-9 Hoi An
After our short stays in Halong Bay and Hue, we were all glad to slow down and spend three nights in our next stop, Hoi An.
Hoi An’s a port city half-way down the dragon-shaped country and it’s really the jewel of Vietnam. Vietnam is known as the “Ascending Dragon” due to its shape–we passed a famous bridge in Danang shaped like an undulating dragon.
Hoi An was spared bombing during the war and has emerged in the past twenty years as a must-see stop for with its beautiful shops and restaurants and relaxed feel where you can stroll without breathing exhaust fumes. In the 18th century, ships from China and Japan visited Hoi An for the spice trade, and you can see that legacy in the architecture.
Come dusk the old town is alight with thousands of lanterns glowing orange, red and yellow, draped over the streets and bridges. On those bridges people lower paper lanterns onto the river in a colorful regatta (though they’re discouraging this due to the trash it generates on the riverbanks).
March 26, 2020
Vietnam Family Vacation: Days 3-6, Ha Long Bay and Huế
After a few days exploring Hanoi, we traveled by bus northeast to check out Ha Long Bay, in the Gulf of Tonkin. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to thousands of small cone-shaped islands set in a blue-green sea…it’s one of the iconic Vietnam vistas you may have seen online.
Ha Long Bay is hardly undiscovered—thousands of tourists were vacationing along with us in the hundreds of boats dotting the bay. Still, it’s a big bay and we were able to see the natural beauty (even in the fog that was present during our entire visit!) while staying overnight on a junk boat with nice cabins. We got out onto the bay on kayaks, stopping to hike through a large cave, then paddled back at dusk to celebrate Christmas Eve with our new friends. Come Christmas day (in case you were wondering, yes Santa did come for those teenage boys…amazing), we toured a gigantic cave then took the long bus ride back to Hanoi where we enjoyed a nice banh mi with the boys in the Old Quarter before meeting with the group to board an overnight train to Huế.
