Vietnam 95F (feels like 110f) sunny
Back to being hot, hot, hot for the next several stops. People are trying all sorts of tactics to stay cool. Certainly hats but also umbrellas, hand fans, battery operated hand held fans, wet towels around the neck and lots of water. Yet no matter how hot I feel and look, very few of the Vietnamese are breaking a sweat. Maybe one does get used to this.
I have never visited Vietnam so I was very interested in what we would see. We stopped in 2 ports – Da Nang and Phu My. I will cover both visits in this post.
Vietnam is a long and skinny country on the eastern Indochinese Peninsular. With over 2,000 miles of coast line, it is only 30 miles wide at its skinniest and about 300 miles wide in the Northern end at its widest. Most of the terrain is mountains or tropical forest with 20% low land for agriculture.
Vietnam is considered a developing country with a lower middle-class economy. Vietnam is a socialist republic, but their economic policies are moving towards capitalism to help grow their economy. The country ranks low on every human right ‘freedom of speech as an example’ and the government is considered very corrupt.
Agriculture is the main business in Vietnam. Interestingly, Vietnam is the world’s top exporter of cashew nuts and black pepper. The second largest exporter of rice and coffee. Seafood is also a big part of the agriculture exports. Tourism is also important economic activity.
Science and technology have also been increasing in Vietnam. They are contributing on the world arena in areas such as math and physics. They also have a good program in robotics and are even developing their own space program. All of that sounds great but at the same time, some people don’t have clean drinking water and wastewater is released directly into their water system.
It is also the land of ‘whatever you want’ for $2. During almost every stop we were surrounded by people selling so many things for $1-2. Hand fans, battery fans, jewelry, embroidered bags, hair ornaments, socks with 2 toe spaces (for flip flops), tea towels. shirts, hats, pop up cards – it just never stopped. If $2 was too expensive, you could negotiate for 2 for $2 on almost everything. In addition to loading up on sorts of things, about 4 people purchased new suitcases at a city market to take it all back home. The prices they said they paid were unbelievably low and while the suitcase said ‘Samsonite’ who knows.
Our first stop was Da Nang port which was the gateway to Hoi An. Due to its coastal location, it looked cloudy and ready to rain. But it all changed as we quickly moved inland.
In 2018 Travel + Leisure mentioned Hoi An as one of the top 15 places to visit. I would not have placed it that high on the list but that is the issue with cruise travel. You get one day to form an impression.
Hoi An
It took about an hour to drive out of Da Nang to start the tour. We followed the coastline for a while and passed by very nice hotels, some American brands included. As we went beyond the downtown we could see more residential or business areas while the area became more trash strewn and different levels of building repair.
Restaurants, coffee house, bars etc were generally open air affairs. Some especially by the beach were large and quite festive. But still groupings of chairs tables and umbrellas with ceiling fans.
The smaller establishments were the lower level of a shophouse (shop ground level, living quarters above or behind the shop) and while still giving some shade, rather sparse.
Karaoke is huge is southeast asia. Each group will rent a private room with the karaoke set up and order food and drinks to make a night of it.
It was a Sunday so not a lot of traffic on the roads yet and major roads were large and in this area, well maintained.
Our first stop was the Thanh Ha Pottery Village. This village throughout history provided much of the brick and house tiles used in building Vietnam. It is still inhabited and producing pottery today. I don’t think they do a lot of brick making but products that appeal to tourists. There are also B&Bs and the ability to take pottery making classes.
As the streets narrowed, we were taken to the town in these smaller vehicles. The one I was riding in appeared to have lost the doors, so it was an interesting time.
We were deposited at the edge of the pottery village and we walked through the village to get to our boat that would take us the rest of the way to Hoi An.
The pottery village quickly became a maze of very small alley ways that had a shop along the path and a residence behind or above. Shops that held classes were called experience shops. Other pottery businesses were very rustic. I do not know where the kilns were located but drying the pottery in the sun was a no brainer.
We then took about a 30min ride on the Thu Bon river to complete the journey to Hoi An. There was a breeze and the boat did not sink – life was good. It was interesting to see activity on the river – other vessels, some people where net fishing and houses along the way.
Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site, considered to be a well preserved southeast asia trading port. There were so many tourists and street vendors that it was very hard to appreciate much about the city. My pictures don’t show the crowds that could at times make navigating through the crowd a challenge so just trust me on that. Aside from the incessant questions of do you want to buy -only $2 -there were several women in traditional dress with the traditional yoke to carry items. You could take a picture of them, or they would put the yoke on your shoulder for pictures.
Produce area
Women with the yokes for pictures
Almost every building was a shophouse – the business on the ground floor and living quarters on the top floor. It was a difficult maze to move through the crowd and keep up with your group.
We were able to visit a Buddhist temple that honored the founding of Hoi An. It had some relics that depicted the ship that landed to start Hoi An and various Gods that protected the city. The grounds were surprising for such a small village. There were many sculptures and fountains with lovely flowers. The front of the temple and some of the temple grounds
Inside the temple and the altar.
What I found interesting was the use of incense – perhaps I had not noticed in other temples. It was not unusual for people to buy stick incense and then leaving the sticks in sand filled containers in front of various gods after a short meditation.
Here you could buy a coil of incense that would expand. You would write your name and the wish you were asking for on a red or yellow tag. The tag was attached to the incense, a worker lit the bottom of the coil, and it was hung from the rafters of the temple. The cone lasted about a week and once the incense was all burned, your wish might come true. It was very interesting to see all the coils with the incense scent in a temple.
They were reworking some landscaping, and I noticed a variety of modern tools – metal shovels, rakes, hoes, pick axe. The dirt was then loaded into a handmade pull cart with at least some heavy-duty wheels and then pulled to their truck.
There were a couple of other historical buildings to visit but too dark inside for pictures. This tour was the obvious shopping relationship between stores and tour guides. Normally if a tour guide brings tourists into your store there is some kind of reciprocity – goods, a tip etc. This time we were paraded around to a variety of stores – like a tailor – and given 10 minutes. If one had a couple of days and wanted to have clothes specifically made – that could be interesting, but nothing will happen in 10 min.
When an hour was given for general shopping and exploration, I headed to a small restaurant as it was well into the afternoon. They greeted me with an ice cold cloth and brought a fan to my table. I must have looked really hot. Some ginger ice tea and pork dumplings were a great way spend an hour.
It was a hot, busy day and I was happy to be back on the bus to return to the ship. At this point we had been out in the sun for about 7-8 hours. But wait, there is more (and has nothing to do with Hoi An). 2 people were missing from the bus. We heard some interesting reasoning, but people aren’t always respectful of the ‘return to the bus time’. For this stop, it would be extremely easy to lose your way and miss the meeting point or time. Plus while you know where to meet, you don’t know where the bus is parked. Since this was a ship provided tour, they are responsible for making sure you are back on board and will not leave the port until everyone on their tours are accounted for. An hour later, we started back to the bus after one of the tour hosts was able to find the passengers.
It is always interesting to watch human behavior in situations. Some people were probably thinking – this could be me and I’d want someone to help find me. Others were blaming the people as missing the meeting place was deliberate and demanded the bus go back to the ship now. I appreciated the AC and was good as long as it was cool.
On the way back we had a surprise (shopping) stop at a marble carving facility. In the area are the Marble mountains. May not look like much but the marble taken from those mountains are carved in the area from small to large statues. It is quite an industry for that area and the work is very lovely. There were huge pieces destined for temples or commissioned by the government in any style – lots of Buddhas, but also more modern pieces.
The actual mountains
some of the smaller statues
Phu My - Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon)
Another day with temps well in the 90s with a feels like well into the 100s. Phu My is the port city for Ho Chi Ming City with a general area population of 9 million. Parts are quite modern with large skyscrapers, apartment buildings and various headquarters. Hospitals, sports arenas, and universities all give that modern feel. Of course, not all the areas have been upgraded.
Along the drive we passed by many rice fields – green is planted, and water filled is after the harvest and waiting for a new planting.
Our first stop was the War Remanent Museum for the Vietnam War. I was hoping for more information or stops at different sites revolving around the American engagement but, this was it. Older buildings such as a museum do not have AC and won't be retrofitted with it. They did have enough fans that you could find a breeze.
The meeting point for the bus was this pretty cool building outside the museum. Also, home to half the people selling anything for $2. They brought their goods on a bike, a scooter or a satchel on one hip and a baby on the other.
Outside the museum were a variety of tanks, planes or guns used in the war. Inside were several floors filled with exhibits. We were on our own for this and I spent my time in an exhibit of photography from journalists who lost their lives during the war – male and female of all nationalities. It was looking at horror, sadness, determination and hopelessness. The wounded, the mud, the medical workers, the Vietnamese fighters and civilians. All grouped by the journalist with a nice bio etc.
At the end of the exhibit, it continued with pictures and descriptions of the devastating use of Agent Orange and other pesticides to clear brush for a variety of reasons. The decision to use such deadly agents and the effect on genetic defects not only will affect the Vietnamese for generations to come but also anyone who came in contact, including American soldiers. Not only were the people and defects from Vietnam highlighted but also American families affected by its use.
It was another reminder of how decisions will haunt the world for generations to come.
Here are some random pictures of the city.
Residental building with a modern business building behind it
You can start to see the scooter traffic start to build. Scooters are by far the most used vehicle in Vietnam. Looking at the left corner is a typical outfit many women will wear on a scooter. They are completely covered from their hair to their shoes with long sleeves and gloves. It protects the clothes from the elements and exhaust/pollution.
The wide boulevards always had some decoration along the sides. Stars here but also flowers etc
Her shop travels with her as the bike is loaded with fruit for sale.
A lion outside of a Buddhist temple.
A couple was having wedding photos in the temple. This would be more traditional dress, but we did see another wedding party elsewhere in the western white dress etc. In their pictures they were posing as if they were eating the red balls on the stick. I have no idea why the fancy sunglasses. They were more than gracious with at least 12 people who decided they wanted a picture with the bride and groom. I wonder, would they have done that in their own country?
The temple altar
In the temple the stick incense and conical ‘wish’ incense. Here is a series of lighting the incense, hanging it and how it looks in mass. I find this really interesting.
A street vendor – drinks, snacks and a bird-what else could you need.
The Independence Palace and front gardens were the home and workplace of the President of the Republic of Vietnam. It was the site of the Fall of Saigon on April 30 1975 that ended the Vietnam War, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its front gates. Once North and South Vietnam were unified, to was renamed the Reunification Conference Hall.
Front gates / lawn. You can also see the modern buildings downtown.
I ordered a pineapple smoothie to go and it was delivered in this carry sack. Makes a lot of sense as you can hang it from your bike or scooter or baby carriage. Even just carry it without burning your hand on something hot or getting wet hands from something cold. Good ideas are everywhere, aside from more plastic.
We had a quick stop at the original post office, but I somehow missed a picture of the outside. They said great architecture was present inside but now it is lined with many many tour desks-I'm not sure there is an official postal business happening. I did however find a bank of telephone booths and original tile floors.
And of course, the day ended with a stop at a large city market. People on cruise ships love to shop. This was at least a full block, under roof but again fans only. Many small shops with souvenirs, clothes, daily items etc. In the center was a food court or hawker center. Those of us tired of shopping sat down and had a bowl of Happiness soup. A delicious chicken soup with dumplings and thin egg noodles with a little heat and lots of fresh herbs.
The heat really saps strength and interest after a while, so it was good to be back on the bus and head to the ship.
Stick with me people – there are 3 really good stops coming up and then we start down the coast of Africa. Fun will be had by all – I promise.
Tam Biet !!
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