I didn’t know much about Vietnam when I had the opportunity to visit in 2019. The southeast Asian country is known for its beautiful beaches, caves, busy cities, Buddhist pagodas, and, of course, the horrific Vietnam War.
Having only been open for tourism for 25 years (since 1997), the country is still a treasure to be discovered for many foreign travelers.
With six days allocated for my visit, I planned out my days to see Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the Cu Chi tunnels, Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, and Ha Long Bay – a bit of city, history, rain forests, caves, and ocean.
I met friendly, welcoming people, saw beautiful cities and countryside, ate delicious food, witnessed signs of burgeoning industrial development, and learned of tragedy. It was not long into the trip when I started to feel the country's trauma, an ever-present accompaniment to my adventure. In a short time, the people endeared me, and I felt for this country so far behind in development (compared to my home country U.S.A.), trying to move on from the past and make its mark in tourism.
Here is the Vietnam I saw.
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Jade Emperor Pagoda
The enchanting Taoist pagoda, located in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City was built by the Chinese in 1909 in honor of the supreme Taoist god, the Jade Emperor or King of Heaven, Ngoc Huang.
From the outside, the temple is unassuming. Yet the crowd of worshippers facing the entrance, standing deep in prayer, palms clasped – fixed to forehead and heart – is a harbinger of the divinity within.
Inside, incense fills the air. Word carvings, statues, and ornate tile work line the walls. The temple, which shows characters from Buddhist and Taoist lore, is multifaith in nature. In the main building two gigantic, menacing Taoist characters loom over visitors.
All are welcome to light a candle and say a prayer near the altar.
It is a delightful, colorful space where one can feel the main temple's saying, 'the light of Buddha shines on all!”
Ben Thanh Market
Also in District 1 of the city, the market is one of the earliest surviving structures of Saigon and therefore a famous destination.
You can find anything and everything here, including clothes, shoes, textiles, jewelry, cosmetics, luggage, arts, and ceramics. The northern gate is where venders sell fruits, vegetables, fish, spices, and Vietnamese dishes, like pho, broken rice, grilled seafood, and desserts.
Along the outskirts of the markets are restaurants, clothing and souvenir shops, and massage parlors.
You can easily spend half a day here, get an hour massage for $5 when you need a break, and book tomorrow's excursion at one of the tourist shops. And that's just what we did. We booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels for the next day.
Cu Chi Tunnels Used by the Viet Cong
The tunnels are part of a large, elaborate network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong for the Tet Offensive in 1968. Although the Viet Cong's base of operations was in the Cu Chi District of Ho Chi Minh, tens of thousands of miles of tunnels underlie much of Vietnam.
Viet Cong soldiers were able to counter American resistance by utilizing the secret tunnels. Theses hiding spots also served as routes for supplies, weapons, hospitals, and sleeping quarters.
The tunnel tour includes a coach bus ride from Saigon to Cu Chi, a stop at a handicraft store, a Cu Chi museum pass, a guided tour of the tunnels, reconstructions of soldier life, and war tactics, a demonstration of the deadly booby traps that surrounded the tunnels, and passage through one of the tunnels. There's an outdoor cafeteria to grab lunch.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
From Saigon, it's a one hour and 40-minute flight to Dong Hoi airport and a 30-minute drive to explore the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park – an experience of a lifetime.
The park, a Unesco World Heritage site, contains the oldest karst mountains of Asia and is packed with hundreds of cave systems. These caves are MASSIVE. The park is home to the world's largest cave – the Son Doong.
We booked a day-long guided tour with Hang Tien Discovery with the Phong Nha Farmstay and Easy Tiger Hotels. Of the many tours to choose from, we picked the Abandoned Valley Trek, which was a 12 kilometer one-day hike through the tropical jungle exploring the Dark Cave and swimming into the E cave all while avoiding poison ivies, spiky trees, and leeches.
We had a half day to enjoy the village of Binh Tri Thien before our hike. So, we rented scouters to drive into town and took a boat cruise along the Dong Nai River to tour some caves and hills.
Phong Nha Cave
Statue Outside Hang Tien Cave
Pagoda outside Hang Tien Temple
Hang Tien Cave
At night back at our hotel, the owner joined us and two other travelers for dinner and talked about town life. She just came from a huge wedding, where she was a bit of an outcast as a single woman owning her own business.
As she told a story of the last flood during the rainy season that just ended, she pointed to where the second floor meet the roof. The water level from the river was that high!
From our dinner table, we could see the river and its polls that stood tall into the sky. Boats and platforms attach to them and rise stories high during the floods.
She told us how in the rainy season the village comes together to help each other. The most important thing are the cattle and getting them to high ground. The cattle are expensive and provide milk.
The next day, our trekking tour guide drove us to the trailhead in an old decommissioned Russian military combustion van along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Road. He led the way while our food porter disappeared into the jungle, taking a shortcut to our lunch site with his 40lb. pack in tow.
It was humid. The sky was grey, and the jungle thick with trees, vines, and ivies. The tour guide emphasized staying on the trail as many of the bombs launched during the war remain undiscovered and unexploded – ready to detonate – in the jungle. There is an ongoing effort to retrieve and dispose of the bombs, today, 54 years later.
He also warned us about the poison ivy. "Ivies, ivies!" became our mantra as we trudged through muddy river embankments. Boots wet, legs heavy, I couldn't help thinking about the American soldiers here some 54 years ago. In the foreign land, what are adventures for me, their biggest torment.
I kept my eye out but didn’t see any of the tigers, black bears, or elephants that are reportedly common to the area.
The caves were impressive, skyscrapers in height, dripping in water, lined in marble. Yup, that's right. One of the caves had white marble walls! That cave we swam through, listening to our tour guide, headlamps our only light. Insanity.
It was November. The water was cold, but the exhilaration numbed our frigidity. And we quickly warmed up at our BBQ lunch on the shore of the river.
While we trekked, caved, and swam, our porter grilled pork, boiled rice, chopped veg, and laid it all out for us on a clean tarp on the ground. We learned how to make spring rolls from the pile of fresh food before us. I tried to memorize the name of the delicious dipping sauce, promising myself I'd make it when I got home.
After lunch, we hiked back, finishing the loop, back to our van where we all cheersed with a local beer. Sweaty, wild-eyed, and elated, we felt the camaraderie of a close group accomplishing a somewhat dangerous feat to seek out one of the wonders of the world.
Ha Long Bay Cruise
Legend has it, Ha Long Bay was formed by dragons defending the Vietnamese from northern invaders when Vietnam was first becoming a country. The gods, feeling sorry for the Vietnamese, sent the dragons to their defense. The dragons spat jewels of jade and emerald, and they remained in the bay, becoming islands and islets. Ha Long means "descending dragon.”
A short 50-minute flight from Dong Hoi, Hanoi is the destination starting point for a cruise in Ha Long Bay.
We arrived the day before our two-night cruise and walked Hanoi's quaint old quarter. The next day we left for a two-hour drive from our hotel, part of the cruise package.
We stayed on a lovely wooden boat and were treated to a gourmet lunch and glass of wine as soon as we boarded. The fresh food from the bay was delicious and artfully presented. As I sipped my wine, I secretly shed a tear at the site of the majestic limestone pillars dotting the sea and a dream come true.
This breathtaking vision is one of the seven wonders of the world. And we enjoyed its many views from the boat decks and our bedroom window as well as planned excursions.
As part of our package, we kayaked to an island beach for a swim. We took another smaller boat journey to a bigger island with a cave and picturesque beach, where I happily plodded knee-high in water collecting shells and broken bits of coral.
For our final excursion, a lady in a dress and traditional triangular straw hat rowed us through floating fishing village near Cát Bà Island in Hải Phòng, where we drifted under a massive rock arch and dropped our jaws in wonder.
One last stop before going back to our ship, we toured a floating pearl oyster farm and jewelry store.
Later that evening we had a lesson in making spring rolls and devoured our creations. The night ended with drinks on the top deck, looking at the stars and smelling the salty air.
Ha Long Bay was absolutely beautiful. The people were friendly and professional and the crew's service was top notch. Refreshed and relaxed, we landed back in port the next morning and boarded the coach bus back to Hanoi.
War Remnants Museum
A popular tourist destination in Ho Chi Minh City, the War Remnants Museum contains exhibits relating to the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. It is a cultural, educational must-see.
Before entering the multi-story building, we were overwhelmed by the giant military equipment housed in the yard – planes, helicopters, bombs, tanks, attack bombers. There were also a number of unexploded ordinances with their fuses removed – still scary.
Inside, themed rooms filled multiple floors. The museum conveyed historical truths of the wars by representing all involved parties – Vietnamese civilians and soldiers, foreign soldiers and reporters – through photographs, news articles, political documents, and art. One exhibit covered the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliant sprays, the use of napalm and phosphorous bombs, war atrocities, and massacres. Another exhibit showed the rise of Vietnam after the war and another the effects of Agent Orange generations later.
The tone of the museum was factual yet reconciliatory, despite the treaties broken and atrocities committed.
The art exhibit depicted people today who are handicapped as a result of Agent Orange poisoning. We saw many of these folk on our travels around the country, especially at the handicraft stores. The aftermath of this brutal war is still present.
Exploring the museum and looking at photo after photo of cruelty was heartbreaking yet so important. We must learn from the Vietnam War, so it's never repeated.
Outside, we had one last exhibit to go through before calling it a day. There was a building with reproductions of the tiger cages, in which the South Vietnamese kept political prisoners, abused and tortured them in the most atrocious ways. Again, photos bared witness to the barbarism.
Since traveling to Vietnam, I read a report on global warming in which it predicted that the southern part of the country will be completely flooded and permanently underwater with the rising sea levels by 2050.
I'm grateful I got a chance to visit before then and hope others do to. I also hope with the potential forced migration due to flooding that the Vietnamese and other displaced peoples are met with compassion.
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