Postcards from Viet Nam
Since the end of the Covid era, I’ve been lucky enough to travel at least once per year to exotic locations for pleasure. I recall Cuba in particular, a place where I left my heart. I fell in love with the people and their lifestyle, and I found their history through slavery, colonialism, and communism fascinating, although dramatic and sad. I really admire Cuban people, how they manage dramatic events and deal with the hard reality.
As I was preparing for my honeymoon trip to Viet Nam, I hoped to repeat the Cuban experience and emotionally connect to the destination country as I did with the Caribbean one. Then I realized it was more a desire than anything else, as feeling the same emotion twice in life is tough. Moreover, Viet Nam deserved its own identity, without shadows.
This isn’t a travel blog, so I will not dig into each place I visited, but I’ll just mention them. The trip started in Ha Noi in the north, then I moved across the entire country, visiting Ninh Binh, Hue, Hoi An, Ke Ga Bay, Sa Dec, and finally Ho Chi Minh City in 12 days. That’s a lot, isn’t it?
Ha Noi is an interesting city. It’s huge but does not have any underground service or anything that resembles public transport, including on the surface. Dirty air goes through the nostrils, onto the tongue, and into the hair, in a way I have never experienced in my life. People throw things on the ground, traffic is massive, farmers burn plastic in the countryside, and Western brands run factories. Effects are immediately visible. I saw an abnormal number of people with coughs and colds, especially outdoor workers. But it’s not just a Vietnamese issue: damage to biodiversity (Viet Nam is one of the richest countries in the world), oceans, and air involves everyone. As a European, I’m used to paying attention to my behaviour regarding energy consumption and waste. Meanwhile, in Viet Nam I haven’t seen any sensitivity to the issue from the authorities. On the contrary, they are worried about a decrease in development pace forecast for the next 15 years due to an aging population. They’re rushing: they must find economic stability before slowing down, relaxing, and putting social and environmental measures in place. As they will never suffer from those decisions, it’s someone else’s problem.
Doesn’t this make any sense? No, to some extent the same applies to Western countries too, after all.
Going forward, I found Viet Nam fascinating, including Ha Noi. Train Street, random alleys, communist propaganda, markets, and streets filled with mopeds made me curious to discover the next corner, the next shop, the next pagoda. It was all beautiful, another world compared to Western culture.
Their attention to the body care also caught my eye. There are so many stores, often open at night and it’s a service offered by many hotels as well. I tried few, and I enjoyed the experience. Before starting, tea with herbs and eastern aromas is offered. You drink while your muscles relax, tension goes away, and minute after minute you settle into comfort, understanding that you are not wasting time, but finding it for yourself. After months of hard work, it’s difficult to realize.
By visiting historical sites, I noticed the huge Chinese influence. You can see Chinese pictograms in many places, especially in sacred places, including newer temples. Intrigued, I read a summary of the country’s history, and I learned that China dominated these lands for centuries. In fact, in Chinese, “Viet Nam” means “the Yue people in the south”. I also got the idea that Vietnamese people never really got free. As I said, they were occupied by the Chinese, and then by Western countries - France and the US. Basically, they spent the entire XIX century fighting for their freedom against nations of the other side of the globe. What a stupid thing.
I stayed for three nights at Azerai Hotel, an amazing resort in Ke Ga Bay. I chose this resort because it is in the middle of nowhere, far from the crowd and noise of the other cities on the South coast. They reminded me of Rimini, Italy, because of the big hotels, mass-tourism infrastructure, and expensive restaurants. I just wanted to relax after a busy year, and this was THE place. Azerai Hotel is not expensive for Europeans, and despite its distance from Ho Chi Minh City I highly recommend it. The service, food, and design are simply spectacular. I had never stayed in such a place before.
And after three days moving from one swimming pool to another, interrupting swimming only for eating and sleeping, I went to the Mekong Delta. Sa Dec in particular is the “city of flowers” because of the huge crops around the city. I expected a village, but I forgot I was in Asia: it counts 200k people, a typical Asian village after all. Here, I slept in stilt houses built on the Mekong River for just 9€ per night, and it was nice. I got in touch with the family who owned the hotel, as they spoke a mix of French and English, and they told me a lot about Viet Nam. For example, they avoid sleeper buses because they often tip over, being tall and unbalanced. Guess what I took to and from Sa Dec?
Each Vietnamese region has its own food, but it’s good everywhere. It’s rich in vegetables and rolls, and several dishes must be “assembled” with each bite. I went to restaurants of every type, from 2€ to 25€, and I always felt good. Lonely Planet restaurant suggestions were definitely good, although a few places looked ugly. If it wasn’t for the guide, I would never have entered.
In summary, I enjoyed the trip to Viet Nam. I like the place and the people, despite the evident cultural and language divergence. It’s a country with a long tradition that has suffered for a long time and is definitely rising. The only thing I didn’t like was the pollution. The government must not forget it has to evolve socially too.