[Travel] Vietnam travel research

[mattbell]

Here's my research on Vietnam... people have asked to see it too, so I've put it up publicly.  As with the Middle East research, it's copied from an email without any editing so some of this may not be relevant.

It's not mentioned below, but Vietnam is also right next to the Ankgor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, which is *INCREDIBLE* and may likely be the highlight of the SE Asia part of my trip. 



So I ran through my tour book on Vietnam and marked some things that look interesting.

Saigon cluster:

- Saigon (err.. Ho Chi Minh City) looks interesting, but not as cool from a cultural perspective as Hanoi
- The Vietcong tunnel complexes looks interesting.  I'd like to tour one.  They have them at Cu Chi (Day trip from Saigon) and Vinh Moc
- My Tho and Vinh Long (on the Mekong river delta in S Vietnam, day trip from Saigon) are small towns with Vietnamese river boat culture.  You can rent a boat and wander around.
- Dalat is a funky town full of weird artsy buildings... probably half a day of stuff to see here at most.  There's a traditional town nearby (Buon Ma Thuot) that has a matrilineal culture... that could be fun to see.  It's about 250 miles from Saigon, so it will take a day to get there and back.  It also has an airport, so it could be a 30-minute flight from Saigon. 
- The towers at Po Klong Garai in central vietnam are very well preserved and have unusual style but they're probably nothing compared to Ankgor Wat.

Danang cluster (Central)

- Hoi An is a town in central Vietnam with interesting eclectic architecture.  It was also apparently untouched by bombing in the Vietnam War.  Hanoi might offer the same experience though.  The My Son temple ruins are nearby, but our friendly American troops bombed the hell out of it for some reason so there's not as much to see anymore.
- There's a cluster of stuff near the old DMZ in central Vietnam -- the DMZ itself, the Hue Royal Tombs, the Perfume River (a river with various old architectural goodies on it), the Vinh Moc vietcong tunnels, which apparently are extensive, and an enormous watery (natural) cave that extends in several miles.

Hanoi cluster (Northern)

- Hanoi looks generally awesome.   It seems like it would be culturally interesting as well as interesting from a "oh look at all the relics this past culture left for us to look at in museums" kind of way.  Plus, it's a big city, and that means interesting mixes of restaurants, bars, people watching etc.
- Halong Bay in northern vietnam, with its rock formations and floating villages, looks beautiful.  Apparently the 3-day boat trip, with a night spent on the mainland, is recommended.
- The northern highlands look fascinating -- there's the Perfume Pagoda complex of Buddhist temples in the mountains as well as small towns of the various Hmong subcultures.   The mountains look beautiful too.  This is the sot of area that makes me want to discard everyone's advice and rent a motor scooter.


- We also talked about finding a beach to get drunk on and go scuba diving in (generally not in that order).  It's not clear from the book where would be good, but a Singaporean friend I had dinner with last night was suggesting we go to Indonesia instead for that.

Comments

[xleste.livejournal.com]

I just got back from Vietnam last week.
Halong Bay was incredible.
Hanoi was interesting but I loved Saigon as a city much better, which I was surprised by. More fun, more expats, etc. If you're going to Hanoi though, I've got a /great/ guide for you. His name is Thiem.
Our trip to Hue got cancelled, I definitely wanted to see it. I loved Hoi An - VERY different than Hanoi.
I would totally go to ANgkor Wat - I didn't this time, but I studied it in college and it's incredible.
Definitely see the Cu Chi tunnels - do NOT see the water puppet show. If anyone recommends that, they're on crack.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendations.

Yeah, my tour book has a full page graphic overview of water puppetry, and my response upon reading it was "wtf??"

I'm glad to know reality agrees with my theory.

[pyrokitten-mew.livejournal.com]

an interesting swiss man told me that they throw rocks at americans in hue. no idea if this is true, although, unlike some of the other oddball middle age ex-pat men i've met here, this one seemed fairly reliable. nevertheless i want to go there to see the imperial tombs and the DMZ.

i definitely plan to go to hoi an. will have clothes made there. even had a tailor recommended to me.

other places in VN that have been recommended to me: ha long bay (told that a longer tour is better), sapa, farsipan (highest mtn in vietnam), the perfume pagoda near hanoi, vinh linh (sp?) national park south of hanoi, motorbike tour and boat trip in ning bing. definitely interested in saigon and hanoi, but want to focus on the smaller towns and parks.

as for riding motorbikes, i have found it to be a good way to get around except in places like phnom penh or bangkok where the drivers are all insane. "motorbike" here refers to scooters, which are easy to ride (though i did crash one, oops. mostly healed now!)

[pyrokitten-mew.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, also interested in the cu chi tunnels and finding a beach to go snorkeling and get drunk on. unfortunately i don't know how to scuba dive.

[mary-wroth.livejournal.com]

I haven't been keeping up with all your destinations but is Korea on the list? I have a Lonely Planet book I could loan you. And if you are hitting up China I have a few books you could have too. :)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I've actually been to S Korea and China already, so I'm focusing on south Asia.

Thanks though.

[frogpyjamas.livejournal.com]

Forgot to tell you the other day I liked the marble mountains near Danang. My Son was pretty fucking incredible too, bombing and all. There is part that they are restoring that we snuck into and were impressed by until the archeologists kicked us out. I recommend a sunrise tour, worth getting up early for. Renting motos is reasonable in cities, would not do it on the windy mountain roads of Sapa et al.

You can borrow my tour book if you want, it is the Australian one. I believe I wrote notes in there. It's been a bit bizarre telling Matt about the "get away from Matt" trip, but the written record might help.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Written record would be interesting. Let me know how I can pick it up.

Did you rent and drive a motorcycle yourself?

Thanks.

[pyrokitten-mew.livejournal.com]

This is the sot of area that makes me want to discard everyone's advice and rent a motor scooter.

interesting, as i got the opposite advice - a couple of people told me to rent scooters for certain areas of vietnam. it is really nice to see things on your own!

i'm curious - what have people been advising you?

in thailand i found it quite safe to ride except i would not go near the driver seat of a car or scooter in bangkok. haven't tried riding in cambodia yet but that's because they don't allow scooter rentals in siem reap and it looks like suicide in phnom penh (though i love just watching the traffic here at rush hour). i hired a moto guide in battambang which is good because i would never have found my way to the sights on the maze-like network of dirt roads we took. but i will likely rent a scooter when i head down south to kampot and sihanoukville this week.

btw, i just learned how to ride a scooter from a guest house owner in pai, thailand.