[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

[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.