WE’RE HALFWAY THERE
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| terraced rice paddies Vietnam |
We are going on a month-long trip to Vietnam. We leave late April for a 20 day tour of Vietnam and then a 5 day mini trip to Cambodia.
Now, there are some people of a certain age who would never consider visiting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Despite decades removed, the memories of the Vietnam War are still raw for them. I have friends who served in the war, and I would listen fearfully to their stories. I knew at that time I never wanted to go.
I did have a draft
card, but fortunately the war ended for the U.S. in 1973 before I would come of
age.
LIVING ON A PRAYER
While I spent my youth praying
that I would never have to go to Vietnam, times have changed. Although Vietnam remains a
communist country, according to the BBC it is one of the fastest growing
economies in South-East Asia. They like Americans too and their tourism. Janet has been wanting to
travel to Vietnam for a while now and with the new year she started researching
this great ambitious adventure. (When Janet does her deep dive researching, it
is difficult to be ambivalent about going to a place.) And, as I started my own research over this particular article I learned that Vietnam isn't just historical, but very beautiful.
CAN’T GO ANY FURTHER
It’s a commitment to travel
as far as Vietnam. Look at a map and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is west of Perth,
Australia. It is exactly 12 hours ahead of us. If you travel any further, you will
be getting closer to home. It’s a completely different culture too and rather
than try to wing it on our own, we (Janet) decided to go with Overseas
Adventure Travel, which specializes in small group tours.
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL
Limited to just 16
people, our itinerary has us flying into Hanoi and traveling the length of the country
via rickshaw, bus, internal flights and traditional junk boats and ending our
trip in Ho Chi Minh City. Along the way we’ll tour the big cities like Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City, visit rural villages and orphanages, and watch a water puppet
show, an art form that dates to the 11th Century. We’ll take an
overnight junk boat cruise through Ha Long Bay, considered to be one of the
most beautiful places in world with its turquoise waters dotted by
1,600 stunning limestone outcroppings topped with vegetation. We’ll get a
chance to visit My Khe Beach in Da Nang, where the show “China Beach” was located.
We’ll have the chance to see sobering reminders of the Vietnam War at places
like the War Remnants Museum and the notorious Hanoi Hilton where POWs like the
late senator John McCain were held during the war.
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| Ha Long Bay |
The best part about this 20-day excursion through Vietnam is that we aren't always on the go, having to get up early to go on to the next destination. Our travels won't be a slog. Instead, throughout our stay in Vietnam we'll have sufficient down time to explore on our own and perhaps linger over a cup of Cà phê chồn, cat shit coffee.
DOGS, CATS, AND DONG
Diet may be the most
difficult part of this trip. They eat weird stuff in Vietnam, and Cà phê chồn is
probably the mildest iteration of sustenance available in Vietnam. Cà phê chồn
is Vietnamese for Weasel coffee. The coffee beans are harvested from the partially
digested coffee berries eaten by the civet, a feline-like creature. The beans
are collected after the civet defecates the beans and well, this shit ain’t
cheap. It’s expensive, and at a boutique café Weasel coffee will cost about
$10.00.
To go into detail here about some of the odd foods they eat in Vietnam may stop you from reading any more, so here’s a quick list of strange foods in Vietnam. Explore carefully.
One hint: Though attitudes are changing, they still eat dogs in Vietnam.
We may be looking for a McDonalds a lot.
VIETNAMESE FAST FOOD SURVIVAL GUIDE
Our tour is reasonably costly. It is roughly 294,599,983 Dong or VDN, but that includes everything, accommodations, international and internal airfares, land transfers and meals, tours and gratuities.
But, don't fret! When you see the
price 15,000 VDN for a beer, remember it's just $.60 cents. Consider this when you’re pining for a cuppa Weasel
coffee.
It's currently 0.000041 Dong to the Dollar.
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| don't spend it all at once |
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HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA
We are going on the
20-day small group adventure, Inside Vietnam with the Overseas Adventure Travel
company. In addition to this itinerary the company also offers a “pre-trip” and
a “post-trip”. The former is called “Hill Tribes of Vietnam: Journey into Ancient
Cultures”.
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| temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia |
We (Janet) opted for
the post-trip to Cambodia. Over five nights we’ll fly to the modern city of Siem
Reap, Cambodia to visit the notorious Killing Fields and explore the ancient
temple of Angkor Wat. We will then fly to Ho Chi Minh City for our return trip
to the United States.
This is some trip, but I’m glad I’m doing it now and not back in the 70s. Stay tuned for more information about our trip to Vietnam.
Thanks for reading,
Love Janet and greg
© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj
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