Vietnam 2008: In a Nutshell

"Blessed X'mas to all!"

After 16 days of hard core chionging, you bet Kh and I are thoroughly exhausted. It was always, 1 night in the hotel, 1 night on the bus, 1 night in the hotel, 1 night on the train... utilising most of the day time to explore the country. Loads of people we met along the way told us they could never do this trip the way we did it. The truth is, we never knew how tired we really were until we got back.

In a nutshell...

Singapore-HCMC-Cuchi-HCMC-Dalat-Nha Trang-Hue-Hanoi-Lao Cai-Sapa-Lao Cai-Hanoi-Halong Bay-Cat Ba-Hanoi-Singapore

HCMC- Vietnam's business city
Dalat- "Asia's version of the French Alps"
Nha Trang- "Beach life to the max"
Hue- Ancient city of ruins
Hanoi- Vietnam's political capital
Sapa- Trekkers' heaven
Halong Bay- Similar to China's Gui Lin


The Country

I used to wonder why Vietnam is categorised as a developing country when they have major commercialised cities like HCMC and Hanoi. As I've come to learn, this is probably one of the things you have to see for yourself to understand. HCMC and Hanoi are nothing like the world-class cities I imagined them to be. It's not even half as developed as Bangkok.

Firstly, they do not have major shopping centres to boast of. I don't recall Hanoi having a shopping centre at all, but I do know of 2 or 3 little ones in HCMC. Even the size of HCMC and Hanoi's airport added together is smaller than our T1.

Secondly, the streets are strewn with rubbish. I don't think I've ever been to a dirtier country. People will just litter on the pavements and the shopkeepers will sweep them to the drain in one neat pile where a garbage collector will come pick it up at the end of the day. The good thing about all that is that the streets don't stink.

With a population of 85 million people, about 50 million are Viet people, the native Vietnamese people. The rest are made up of over 50 minority groups like the H'mong, T'zai, D'zao people. You just wonder how they have so many people left after having gone through numerous wars in succession (WWII, French Occupation, American War) which nearly saw the whole country being wiped out. You bet their population growth rates are high. I saw so many pregnant ladies along the way!

The Climate

I always thought that Vietnam is like Singapore, really hot and humid because it is in South-east Asia. South-east Asia IS hot and humid. But apparently, Vietnam does have 4 seasons. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

Winter came late in Vietnam this year. What Kh and I experienced was actually the transition period between autumn and winter. Winter did come after all, during our last 2 days there. I'm not sure how cold it was but I was literally shivering.

Temperatures at the south was about 26°C - 28°C when we got there. Dalat, at 1,400m in altitude, was about 16°C but temperatures could drop to around 10°C in the morning. The north was about 16°C as well. Sapa, at the border of south China, with an altitude of 1,300m, was about 6°C and during its coldest winter periods in Jan and Feb, its temperatures would drop to 0°C and would even snow sometimes. Yes, snow in Vietnam.

So, as Kh and I travelled upwards in Vietnam, our jackets were on and off, on and off and on again as the temperatures keep changing. Sometimes it was cooling and we could walk around in tees and berms. Sometimes it was so cold that we would put on all our cold wear. Long john, windbreaker, scarf, gloves... When our plane touched down in Singapore, it was 31°C on a fine morning. Our first reaction was,"So HOT!!!" I guess I've gotten so used to the temperatures there that I've forgotten how hot Singapore really is.

The People

I think Vietnam is a beautiful country but tourism is ruining its culture and its people. I gotta say that I've met really nice and friendly Vietnamese there, but unfortunately, those are the rare few. At least 90% of Vietnamese I met were rude and dishonest. Their motives were always money-driven. Like when I'm just walking along the streets, people will be like,"Oei! Buy from me!" When we refuse to let them scam us with their exorbitant prices, they will get really really angry, like they will just sit there and sulk and make angry gestures. Quoting a Canadian lady I met,"These people need to learn to be more polite." It's making all the tourists unhappy. One Amercian guy even said,"I can't f**king wait to go home. I can't stand anymore of this f**king b***s***."

Poverty is rampant in the country. Naturally, there are a lot of beggars and scammers. But as what one Swedish guy so rightly said, Vietnam will never be able to advance like that. There's gotta be fair trade and reasonable prices for reasonable services. Because when 1 tourist gets unhappy over a ripoff, he will go back and tell other people about it. This is not gonna be good for the country in any way, especially since Vietnam is heavily dependent on tourism to survive.

Ya know, if they are not gonna be nice to us tourists, they could at least try to be nice to each other. During our 16 days there, Kh and I saw about 5 public fights between men and women, and men and the police. The men would hit the women, and the women will hit back, and they would yell at each other, and hit somemore, and everyone will stand there and watch, and the women would cry... yadayadayada. It was extremely dramatic and tiring to watch.

The Food

Vietnamese food is very much like Chinese food. Except that they use a lot of onions, carrots, and lemongrass in their cooking. You know, I thought I would lose a lot of weight during this trip from malnuition or something, but I was so wrong. Vietnamese food is actually really really good. Very much like Chinese home-cooked food. If Chinese food is not for you, then there's always a lot of baguette around.

The most popular authentic Vietnamese food would be the Pho (rice noodles with chicken/beef/pork) and spring rolls.

The Language

The Vietnamese language was initially very much like Chinese because of the close proximity to China. But after the French occupation, the Vietnamese language begin to adopt a more French sounding tone. They no longer use Chinese characters in their writing. Vietnamese writing is now simply in English alphabets with added tones.

When spoken, it sounds like a deaf person speaking a mixture of Thai and Cantonese. I'm sorry this is not gonna sound nice, but they do sound like a gaggle of geese when they all yell at each other. =/

Overall, a very smooth-sailing trip. Everything was almost according to what I had planned. I loved Vietnam for what it's worth. =)

Stay tuned for lotsa and lotsa pics!