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Emme Tomimbang: Making Her Mark |
| The veteran television broadcaster talks frankly about her personal life and amazing career. |
Back to School |
| Serving as teachers’ aides in the classroom,
senior volunteers are making a big difference in the lives of Hawaii’s children. |
COLUMN:
Touring Today’s Vietnam
Story and photos by Robert W. Bone
Some Americans might have trouble picturing Vietnam as a popular tourist destination, but in the past few decades, that’s exactly what it has become. I spent a week traveling in Vietnam, and it was hardly enough time to see and experience the best the country had to offer.
This long, slender nation—winding nearly 2,000 miles from north to south but barely 50 miles wide at its narrowest point—figured strongly in American history during the 1960s and 1970s. Now nominally a communist country, it began embracing a market economy 20 years ago. Today that includes tourism, and there is plenty of competition in the industry.
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Many hotels and resorts rank with the best that Hawaii and other rival destinations have to offer. Transportation is efficient and generally dependable. Restaurants are many and varied. And are there things to buy? You bet, and often at bargain prices, too.
I had a silk suit made to measure overnight. It cost less than $200—a fraction of what it probably would have been anywhere in the U.S. Those days may be over in Hong Kong, too, but not in Vietnam.
Historically, Vietnam has been a battleground for centuries. It has warred with China, Cambodia, Laos, Japan and other neighboring countries, and later with the French colonial regime.
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And, of course, many Americans fought in the country when the Johnson and Nixon administrations unsuccessfully sought to preserve an independent, non-communist South Vietnam, while the country was divided at the 17th parallel. This came to an end when the South Vietnamese government in Saigon collapsed in 1975, and the country was reunified, with the northern city of Hanoi as its capital.
Culturally and historically speaking, there is much to see and appreciate in Vietnam today, including some of the world’s finest Buddhist and Taoist temples and the palaces and tombs of kings, emperors, presidents and governors. There also is plenty of natural and tropical beauty, ranging from the rivers of the Mekong Delta in the south to the dramatic mountain islands of Halong Bay in the north.
Visiting Vietnam
Getting There
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An ideal way to experience Vietnam is to progress from south to north, beginning in tropical Saigon, the former South Vietnamese capital (now officially named Ho Chi Minh City), and then progressing to Hanoi, in the cooler north. The winter months are best for a visit—and the most popular.
I recently did this kind of trip with a group composed primarily of Mainland travel agents. It was conducted by Exotissimo, a wholesale tour operator headquartered in Saigon, but with a U.S. office in San Francisco. The company specializes in Indochina and is proud of its culturally sensitive approach to travel in the region.
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(On our trip, Exotissimo decided to make a symbolic contribution to the underdeveloped nation. It found a struggling, dirt-poor rural family in Hoi An, and bought them a young, female water buffalo for a grand sum of $650. This gave the farmer the means to plow his land, to rent out the animal to others on occasion and eventually to raise other water buffalos. Our group also contributed to the project.)
Although young travelers still backpack around Vietnam, the best way for seniors to enjoy the country is via a fully conducted tour that takes care of luggage, visas and other impedimenta. Developing a rapport with a local guide who accompanies you throughout the entire trip contributes a lot to the pleasure and educational aspects of the experience.
Here’s one possible itinerary through Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh City. Still called Saigon by many, the city is striving again to live up to its reputation as the “Paris of the Orient.” Former GIs, who may remember it as a trashy city, will be pleased to see the tree-shaded avenues and streets in the central area are clean and well maintained today.
Saigon has its share of parks and museums, all worth at least a peek. A popular side trip out of town is a “junk boat” excursion on the Mekong River featuring a floating market and lunch in an ancient Mandarin house.
Nha Trang, Da Nang and Hoi An. A short flight north lands near some of the country’s best vacation shorelines, including famous China Beach, which served as an R & R resort for American forces during the war (it also was the title and theme of a popular TV series from 1988 to 1991). Nearby Hoi An is a scenic trading port, and its architecture and relaxed lifestyle have changed little since the 17th and 18th centuries.
Hue. Further north in central Vietnam, the ancient imperial capital of Hue is bisected by the Perfume River. A popular excursion aboard a “dragon boat” sails upriver to the Thien Mu pagoda. The principal site, however, is the Imperial Citadel. It was built and expanded by the Nguyen family whose dynasty officially ruled the country from 1802 to 1945, albeit with extensive French influence beginning in the mid-19th century. Although it was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War, enough of the Imperial Citadel has survived to become an impressive tourist attraction.
Hanoi. The country’s current capital also served as the center for the French colonial administration. A considerable amount of Gallic architecture remains, notably the Opera House, a scaled-down version of the one in Paris. Hanoi offers several excellent museums and a popular water puppet show during which puppets are animated above a small pond of water, their movements manipulated by actors using sticks and other devices hidden just below the surface.
An absolute must is a side trip from Hanoi to Halong Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin. A popular overnight boat trip in the bay aboard the Emeraude, a replica of one of the classic steamships of Vietnam’s colonial era, glides by dramatic steep-sided islands and a peaceful floating village. After Hanoi’s hustle and bustle, the much slower pace of Halong Bay was for me an ideal way to conclude a visit to Vietnam.