Vietnam

I've rarely been as happy to get to the airport as I was in Ho Chi Minh City.  It was an instant return to order and quiet.  Vietnam is one of very few places we've been on this trip that I was truly happy to leave.  I'm glad we saw what we saw – only a small sample but it felt like more than enough.

This is not an easy place to travel.  It is an assault on the senses and on personal space.  As a tourist one often feels like a collection of dollars.  All eyes are on you and everyone has something to offer. The offers are not inherently unpleasant, but they are constant. The repeated calls of “hello” and “Sir, Madam” follow you down the street.

Motorbike drivers come up on the sidewalk, driving directly at you looking to solicit your fare. People you walked by not five minutes before will again solicit you as if you had not just been there. The people do not really see you, and their constant hawking had the effect of making them equally invisible. This may sound harsh, but without this I think that we would have had an even harder time dealing with the constant chatter.

There was a lot of good (and even more interesting) to balance out the negative aspects.  Ho Chi Minh City is changing with alarming speed, and, while we kind of hated it, we were lucky to see it before it is a mass of Skyscrappers and the government has completed their quest to expunge all trace of the locals.  Molly and Andrew hooked us up with their friend Gabriel in HCMC. He is a fantastic human being and showed some of the best HCMC has to offer.

Mui Ne was a great place to spend a week at the beach. Our small hotel was a great deal, and we ate some of the best seafood we've ever had.

I don't think we'll return to Vietnam anytime soon, and we felt very comfortable axing more than half of our original planned itinerary. Our advice, if you go, go with a tour. Our friends Matt and Jill did (what sounded like) an amazing 10 or 12 days with a tour company, and I think they had a better and more rewarding experience because of it.  Barring that, use a tour company once you arrive. Having someone that can grease the wheels makes all the difference.

We did a three day cycling tour of the Mekong that stands as a highlight of our entire trip. (You should be a much, much better bike rider than I am to do this. I only biked the first of the three days, but still really enjoyed the tour.) We went with the excellent Sinhbalo Adventures and would recommend them highly (for tours throughout the south of Vietnam – they use a partner company in the north that gets very mixed reviews).