Vietnam — A trip worth bragging about

The first thing we saw when we walked up a concrete pathway from the main road where our bus had deposited us were several North Vietnamese flags made in the style favored by the Communists 40 years ago while the North and South were at war.
These flags flew from telephone poles, businesses, and a few residences. As we walked deeper into the dense landscape, strange-looking dogs barked fiercely at us from behind makeshift fences fashioned with bamboo poles. 
Our narrow path led us past tiny vegetable gardens populated with traditional vegetables and soon our guide led us into a clean-swept tiled courtyard under a canopy of bamboo where we were introduced to a man who proudly informed us he was a former member of the Viet Cong. Really? 
He took his group of skeptical multi-national visitors into his modest, brick-and-stucco home and pointed to a framed black-and-white photo hanging on the wall: it was him, taken four decades ago, dressed in the uniform of an officer of the North Vietnamese Army. On a table beneath the portrait was a foot-high statuette of Ho Chi Minh. 
The retired officer, now a comfortable “gentleman farmer” and occasional host to foreign visitors like us, asked us to sit in the house’s central dining room to partake in tea. We sipped from large, amber-colored jars while he explained that his house was divided into three sections: a section to the left where he and his wife slept, another section on the right where his children slept, and a third section in the center to honor his ancestors (and where we had our refreshments). 
This amazing experience was part of our shore tour hosted by Silversea (www.silversea.com), the specialty/luxury cruise line that brought us to the hospitable/warm green shores of Vietnam. 
As children of the Vietnam War, this shoreline excursion offered us an unanticipated opportunity to heal and become culturally enlightened. 
This visit to the home of a former member of the Viet Cong was just one of the many pleasantly unique adventures we would enjoy during our time cruising through Vietnam.

HALONG BAY

Hours before the SS Silver Shadow dropped anchor outside the port city of Halong, we were treated to a breathtaking visual surprise gliding past the glass doors of our starboard-side veranda: hundreds of snaggletoothed peaks jutting up from the “Bay of the Descending Dragon” like a water-bound forest of slate-gray pillars. These geologic features derive their name from a centuries-old myth that the limestone islands were created by the trashing action of a dragon’s tail as it descended from the shoreline into the depths of the Tonkin Gulf. 
Northern Vietnam, with its relatively short 120 km coastline, is home to many similarly amazing stone landmarks. The northern part of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Halong Bay as a focal point, is home to over 1,600 islands and islets. These cone-like peaks — geologists refer to them as “karsts” — form a spectacular seascape of gray specters. The off-shore mountains of Halong — whose unique shapes have deservedly earned them names like “Teapot,” “Mother-Daughter,” and “Stone Dog” — are sometimes referred to as “The 8th Wonder of the World.” 
Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands in this area are uninhabited and undisturbed by humans. As late as the nineteenth century, Halong Bay was used by Chinese and Vietnamese pirates. Until recently, tourists were discouraged from spending the night on any of the islands.
After we recovered from the view outside our stateroom windows, we scrambled down the gangway and joined several other passengers embarking on a water-borne excursion aboard a steel-hulled “junk” whose upper deck was authentically constructed with teak-wood. For the next three hours, we enjoyed breath-taking, up-close views of towering rock pillars that rose from the glassy waters like monolithic statues.
Here, aboard our 50-foot boat, we also managed to purchase some beautiful and inexpensive freshwater pearl bracelets, necklaces, and earrings as gifts for friends back home. 
As we disembarked from our junk and returned to the five-star luxury of our cruise ship, we vowed to return to Halong Bay to have a more adventurous time ashore. During our next visit, we want to include a tour of Halong Bay with an expert guide while paddling a personal kayak. This day-long experience enables one to explore the caves, grottoes, and other amazing stone formations of this spectacular United Nations World Heritage site. 

CHAN MAY

Two days later, our ship had made its way southward and had arrived at a hook of land that formed a modest port called Chan May. A smaller cruise ship like the Silver Shadow can be easily accommodated at Chang May; mega cruise ships — with their thousands of passengers --must tie-up in the neighboring port of Da Nang. 
The charming port of Chan May (whose cargo activity is largely devoted to the export of freshly harvested sugar cane) is the historic “gateway” to Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue (pronounced Hway), Vietnam’s former imperial capital.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Hue was once Vietnam’s magnificent Imperial City, a sprawling complex of stone and wood structure that housed 13 successive emperors between 1802 and 1945. Once strictly off-limits to mere mortals like us, our visit to the “Forbidden Purple City” was our opportunity to view Hue’s many painstakingly restored, southern-facing palaces, tombs, garrisons, and temples. Hue’s “Temple of the Laughing Buddha,” is one of Vietnam’s most visited destinations. 
Later, after lunch alongside the charming Perfume River, we visited the Mausoleum Park of the Emperors Tu Doc and Khai Dinh — edifices that once served as summer homes for the royal personages who were secretly buried there.

NHA TRANG

Once again, the beauty of Vietnam took us by surprise. Nha Trang is a coastal resort city in southern Vietnam; renowned for its sugar-white sandy beaches, scuba diving, and verdant offshore islands. 
Nha Trang may lack the culture found in neighboring areas, but its gorgeous shore resorts and diving sites have made it a favored destination for water-lovers seeking pristine beaches and turquoise-blue waters. However, don’t be surprised if you encounter restaurant menus, signs, and billboards featuring Vietnamese, English — and Russian, as more than 10,000 Russians tourists visit here each month.
Travel and Leisure magazine has twice declared Nha Trang “one of the 29 most beautiful bays to visit in the world.” But if you are interested in visiting this charming place — in all of its unspoiled glory — visit soon, as a massive resort, Bai Dai Beach, is slated to begin development in 2018. Construction crews plan to “modernize” the town into Vietnam’s most prestigious resort destination. 
Rather than sunbathe by the sea, we chose the Nha Trang bike tour as our shore excursion. 
Our more sedate fellow passengers opted to go on less rigorous tours of Nha Trang, many visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground tunnel network hand-dug by Vietnamese soldiers during what they called the “American War.” The network of tunnels at Cu Chi extends over 200 km, connecting bomb shelters, communications posts, hospitals, and weapons bunkers.
Honestly, our bike tour was something we would not recommend to the faint-hearted: Although a four-person team of professional guides traveled with us on motorbikes and halted traffic at downtown intersections, they were not always able to shield us from hordes of oncoming buses, motorcycles, and fellow bicyclists — particularly when we summoned the courage to make a collective left turn. The adrenaline thrills came at every turn. 
Yet the bike tour was well worth the occasionally heart-stopping near-miss encounters with mopeds and dump trucks: five minutes after we left the chaos of the inner city, we found ourselves in the “real” Vietnam that cannot be experienced while seated on a bus or in the back of a taxi. We leisurely pedaled our bikes past 300-year-old pagodas, had a pleasant stop for chilled water at an orphanage, saw a duck farm, learned how a weaver crafts table mats, and saw — on every piece of arable land — rice paddies in various stages of cultivation, which explains why Vietnam is now the world’s top exporter of rice.
The most challenging moment for us on the bike tour was not when our guides lead our intrepid group across a narrow railroad bridge that lacked a guard railing. No one, fortunately, fell into the river below. The secret of our success: keep peddling straight ahead and never look down! As a reward for surviving the bridge crossing, we were treated to fresh coconut juice and serenaded by a duet of lady musicians, each dressed in a traditional áo dài — the color of tropical sorbet. 
Later that night, safely back aboard the Silver Shadow, our athletic foray into Nha Trang’s wild downtown streets and the idyllic countryside offered us an excellent excuse to savor an extra dinner course and a rich dessert. Our tablemates that night (passengers can dine alone or with any group of their choosing) were abuzz about their own adventures into Nha Trang. A German couple who lived in Miami, sang the praises of the National Oceanographic Museum: “Excellent! The signs outside each fish tank are all translated into English.” 

SAIGON (aka HO CHI MINH CITY)

Architecturally, the French left their mark throughout Vietnam: many of the cities are dotted with hundreds of stately structures that date from colonial times. But Saigon (the metropolis was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City in 1976 after the North defeated the US-backed South), is one of the crown jewels among France’s former colonial capitals. 
Initially, we weren’t entirely won over by Saigon. But something about the casual energy of the place grew on us after the first day, and we were eager to explore the fabled city capital that so thoroughly enthralled writers as diverse as Marguerite Duras, Stanley Karnow, and Graham Greene. 
Our SilverSea shuttle bus transferred us from the pier to downtown in about 20 minutes, depositing us in the shadow of the landmark Hotel Rex — a 286-room, 5-story luxury hotel that during the Vietnam War was the favorite “watering hotel” of journalists, diplomats, military commanders, and spies (from both sides). 
Located within blocks of the equally luxurious and infamous Hotel Continental, the Rex is within walking distance of many of Saigon’s best-known landmarks, including the Central Post Office, the War Museum, and the Notre-Dame Basilica. 
Instead of taking in the sights, we made a bee-line to the bustling Ben Thanh Market — where any item of clothing and leather-made goods are available. This includes luxury brand clothing, shoes, belts, and handbags.
By now you have probably caught on to the fact that Saigon is at the end of a “pipeline” through which flow many of the counterfeit goods manufactured in Asia. The old adage, “buyer beware,” definitely applies while shopping in Saigon: if you think the price of a “designer” scarf or “Swiss-made” wristwatch is too good to be true, it is.
Here are a few additional pieces of cultural advice for anyone who has never visited Vietnam: Vietnamese women do not shake hands with each other, or with men. Summoning a person in Vietnam with the hand or finger in the upright position is considered rude and may even provoke an angry reaction. In Vietnam, it is considered disrespectful and offensive to touch a person’s head, including the head of a child. Modesty and humility is considered important in the Vietnamese culture. Most of all: Avoid bragging ... except to your friends, when you tell them about the great time you had while visiting Vietnam.

Source: Arab News