Vietnam is a Feast for the Eyes and Other Senses

Vietnam is an edgy but exciting country to explore. Here, vacationers bounce back and forth between noisy cities where more than 500 motor scooters and bikes surround every car, and a bucolic countryside where water buffalo pull farmers on a foot plow through watery rice fields.

Centuries of History Shaped the Country American travelers old enough to personally remember the Vietnam war may have mixed feelings at they explore this country, especially when their guides discuss the “American” war, although the conflict ended in 1975. It’s been said that “winners write history” and the first time one sees a memorial honoring the Viet Cong or squirms

through the Cu Chi Tunnels slams that fact home. However, this country was actually at war for thousands of years, first with the Chinese and others in the region, then with the French before the

U.S. Exploring the remnants of the Imperial Era, such as the Temple of Literature in Hanoi and the Citadel in Hue (where American soldiers reportedly found kimono-clad, grey-haired concubines still in residence) offer fascinating insights into the blend of ethnic cultures that make up today’s Vietnam.

Exploring the Major Cities Ho Chi Minh City, which many locals still call Saigon, has more than five million residents and Hanoi has some four million residents. Cars move around the traffic-choked streets by honking incessantly to warn people on motorbikes they are being passed. In both cities much of daily life spills out onto the sidewalk; locals gossip and vendors stand outside the single-car-garage-wide storefronts.

The streets are lined with shops, stalls, pushcarts, and vendors with their wares spread out on the pavement, selling everything from soup to live animals, T-shirts, and postage stamps. Many

restaurants are inexpensive but serve superb Vietnamese cuisine, with preparations that are very different than in other Asian countries. There are

many excellent French restaurants, too, the legacy of the French occupation. Seeing Key Sights When you visit Ho Chi Minh City, tour by the lacquerware factory, where the crafts are made by

disabled Vietnamese. The pictures, decorative items and tableware are beautiful and very reasonably priced. It’s an easy half-day trip, partly through the countryside, to the Cu Chi Tunnels, and quite an experience crawling through them.

From Saigon, it’s an easy day trip to the Mekong Delta and a floating market. Visit Hue and Float on the Perfume River Hue, in the middle of the country, was Vietnam’s capital city during the last Imperial dynasty. The colorful Imperial buildings are located in the

Forbidden City, which is inside the wall-encircled ancient Citadel where the Viet Cong holed up during Tet offensive. Take a ride in a Dragon Boat on the Perfume River to visit some of the temples.

Vietnam is a Feast for the Eyes and Other Senses