Hanoi - Vietnam is a poor country – but it has power.
It’s quite a culture shock to cruise around Saigon’s harbour – or Ho Chi Minh City’s harbour, if you prefer the new name, which the locals don’t – on a Sunday night, with the city’s myriad lights blazing on the dark water of the Saigon River, and then to return to South Africa in the middle of a phase 2 load-shedding cycle.
Not bad for all, but Vietnam was destroyed by a war that ended in the 1970s. If you’re interested in the war, there is plenty to see and do. Every tourism agency in Ho Chi Minh City – and it feels as if there are a gazillion – offers tours to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which most visitors insist are a must-see.
Another site worth visiting is the War Remnants Museum.
It’s not big – you can get through in 30 minutes if you skip the most gruesome bits about Agent Orange – but it’s a poignant space (ignoring the most egregious forms of anti-US propaganda) to pause and consider the devastation of yet another war.
Any 20th century history buff will be thrilled to see the gigantic statue of Lenin in Dien Bien Phu Avenue in Hanoi.
It’s safe to say he’d love the street decorations for the celebrations of the Chinese lunar new year on February 19. Vietnam is starting to gear up for this most festive of festivals, and once again a South African can only marvel.
Streets are bedecked with lights – some of giant red flowers, some of the hammer and sickle. Red flags – either with a gold star, like the Vietnamese flag, or a gold hammer and sickle – adorn every lamp-post (and all street lights work).
But you can’t afford to focus too much on the decorations. Get too distracted and you’ll get run over by one of the millions of scooters on the streets.
Traffic in Vietnam is crazy, and that is putting it mildly. They say there are 7 million people in Ho Chi Minh and 6 million in Hanoi, and it feels as if every one of those people is on a scooter, riding along the very road you want to cross.
And there is no order. Coming from the left and the right, there just doesn’t seem to be a gap, ever.
It’s quite an introduction to the country when you have to cross such a road lugging 20kg of baggage with you – but you eventually get the hang of it.
It’s part of the never-ending buzz that’s part of what makes Vietnam so exhilarating.
And you don’t have to do much to be captivated by its charms. Simply find a street café selling beer, plonk yourself down on a tiny blue plastic stool, wait for the peanuts to arrive… then get comfortable watching the constant stream of life pass by.
Doughnut sellers wearing paddy hats, scooters, little old women labouring under their baskets, dogs, fruit vendors, haggard-looking men pedalling their rickshaws on the lookout for tourists.
If you find a local who can speak a little English, you might get a good story along with your sightseeing. Like Tau in Saigon, who fought on the side of the Americans and now can’t get a job.
He’ll take you to all the pagodas you want to see.
He’ll also take you to the dog market, where, if you have the stomach for it, you’ll see that night’s dinner. Avoid restaurants or street stalls where they have a picture of a (very happy-looking) dog.
Dog aside, Vietnamese cuisine is cheap and incredibly delicious. Healthy, too. Treat yourself to some freshly made Pho Bo (beef and noodle soup) at any of Hanoi’s street cafes – you won’t regret it. Wash it down with Bia Ha Noi, the capital city’s finest brew.
You won’t find its local wine, Vang Da Lat – “the high-quality wine with unique taste and character” – everywhere, but for just over R100, you will find Obikwa on the menu at Madame Hien, which belongs to celebrated chef Didier Corlou.
It’s worth a visit if you feel like splurging a little.
Thanks to the American influence in the south, you won’t have far to walk without finding a Starbucks, McDonald’s or Burger King. But move a little further away from the tourist area (where you’ll pay 50 000 dong (about R27) for a beer and you’ll find excellent street food and beer for just 8 000 dong.
Stop at Grill & Chill on Bui Vien Street for some grilled squid with salt and chilli – an excellent example of the delicate flavours and tastes of Vietnamese food. And make sure you have fried spring rolls, topped with loads of fresh coriander, at least once.
Then don’t miss the fresh grilled fish, served on the boat as you start to cruise around Halong Bay. Tourist trap it may be, but it is not a world heritage site for nothing. You can’t go to Vietnam and not see at least a few of the 2 000 limestone rocks jagging into the sky. It is, in the true sense of the word, awesome.
Vietnam takes your breath away all right. With its pace, its narrow buildings, its weird straddling of old and new, its friendly people – who can’t speak English and don’t know where Africa is, let alone South Africa – its amazing food, its street culture, its blazing difference to anything you’re used to. It’s light years away from South Africa – and it offers a shock to the system, in an electrifying way.
Zelda Venter, Pretoria News