The new Thailand...

… for backpackers is in fact Vietnam, or 'Nam, as war veterans and wannabe-funny bloggers call it. Before getting to 'Nam, Judith & I didn't quite know what to expect of the country in terms of economic development and politics. Similar to China, 'Nam had opened up its economy to capitalism several years back, with the autocratic political system remaining in place. From an economic perspective, we quickly realised that 'Nam is in fact a lot more developed than we ignorant foreigners had anticipated*. The very low labour costs in 'Nam nowadays make it a favourite target for foreign direct investments from both the West and Asia. Even many Chinese companies have now moved production there since their home turf had become too expensive - globalisation at its best. Progress has been far less pronounced from a political perspective. Seeing the many hammer & sickle flags and Ho Chi Minh portraits all over the country seemed a bit out of place, and out of time. 

Anyway, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly known as Saigon, from Hong Kong some 3 weeks ago. HCMC nowadays is a bustling metropolis with 7 million inhabitants, and what feels like 7 million motor scooters. The constant flow of scooters makes crossing the streets in the city centre either quite exciting or life-threatening, depending on your point of view. There aren't a lot of sights in HCMC, but the War Remnants Museum turned out to be interesting. While the museum does provide a sensible overview of the war, the propaganda-infused descriptions give it an unintended ironic touch.

After some days in the city, we booked an organised tour through the Mekong delta. At US$ 22 a head for two days including meals, accommodation, transport, and a guide, we thought we couldn't go terribly wrong. And the things we got to see actually were interesting: the Mekong towns, a  floating market, some of the omnipresent Buddha statues you find everywhere in South-East Asia... it was all fine. However, Judith & I shared our trip with some 50 other tourists in our tour group. I think cattle herded to a slaughterhouse must feel like this. Rather than doing an organised mega-tour like this again, I shall hit myself in the face really, really hard.

Leaving HCMC, we continued North to Dalat, a medium-sized town in the cooler highlands, which thrives on agriculture. We hired some very friendly guides on motorbikes, and did a nice tour in the surroundings of the city, visiting a shockingly old-fashioned silk factory and a distillery on the way. Besides veggies, Dalatians (?) grow a lot of coffee, reminding us of our time in Central America. A long time local favourite is Weasel Coffee - you'd  be surprised at the excellent taste of a coffee bean which has passed through the digestive system of a weasel. Seriously. Rounding off our pleasant time in Dalat was the happiest Buddha statue we had ever come across (see above) – I don't know what Buddha did before posing for this statue, but he certainly seems a very happy trooper.
 

Having travelled at a relatively high speed for months, both Judith & I felt that it was time to relax and stay in one place for a longer time than usual. We did so at Doc Let, a beach in central 'Nam, staying at a cheap beach resort owned by a 84-years-old Croatian-French with an 8-years-old Croatian-French-Vietnamese son. Despite the 'interesting' family setup, the place was excellent and we enjoyed kicking back for a few days.

The next two stops on our tour,  Hoian & Hué, were somewhat of a downer. The Monsoon, our stomachs, and the fact that every freaking tourist in 'Nam (including us of course) seemed to do the exact same tour kind of limited our appreciation of those two otherwise attractive cities. Subsequently, we even decided to avoid  'Nam's most famous tourist destination, Halong Bay. 'Nuff herding for our liking. I believe the geography of 'Nam (it's long and thin, shaped like my, um, index finger) is partly to blame – there really is only one main route through the country.

Our last stop in 'Nam was Hanoi, which is smaller and a lot more laid back than HCMC. It's a nice city, with good food, cheap massage parlours for the backpacking crowd, and less scooters than its Southern rival. An interesting feature of Hanoi is the huge number of illegal copycat hotels, restaurants, and travel agents. Sinh Café, a popular tour operator, probably has been copied the most. Even though there only is one official branch in the city, we saw at least three dozen other travel agents posing as Sinh Café. One even claimed to be “The Sinh Café opposite the real Sinh Café”. That 'real' Sinh Café was of course fake, too.

Overall, we did enjoy 'Nam. The people are friendly, the food is great, it's dirt cheap, it features a good tourist infrastructure, and it provides a nice introduction to South-East Asia for first-timers. Kind of like Thailand for backpackers some 10 years ago. However, in order to experience the country off the beaten track, you need more time than we had, or limit yourself to one region only. We'll save that for next time.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to leave 'Nam by bus – a short overnight/ overday 22-hour ride from Hanoi to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Being the bus experts that we are by now, the tour actually wasn't that bad. 

Right now, we are staying in Northern Laos, enjoying the advantages of having air-conditioning, a real bed, and a hot shower! Not that we use hot showers at 33° C outside temperature, but it's nice to know that we could. Folks, that's it for today. We shall return in the foreseeable future with our update on Laos, as well as with observations about travelling and travellers in general. Khorp Jai.
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* OK, the economic development didn't really come as that big a surprise – I had actually invested in the Vietnamese stock index from 2005-2008, making a very lucky but handsome profit at the time. Sorry for bragging.