Tips on traveling to Vietnam

Authentic and unforgettable
Vietnam is no longer only rice fields, mines and anti-exotic foods.

Bustling, happy and proud to show its charms. Vietnam is one of the few remaining communist countries in the world, it takes a few years to open tourism, so we're anxious to show its wonders. Here tourism is not yet massive and still remain almost untouched corners, although the construction of luxury resorts on the beaches is growing at dizzying speeds.

Vietnam is no longer only rice fields, mines and anti-exotic foods. So is the boat trips on the landscape, almost unreal, of Halong Bay, long beaches of turquoise water of its nearly 3,500 km of coastline or the colorful tribes of the northern mountains. Of course, the war continues to weigh on his mind. But rather than look back with bitterness, the Vietnamese have managed to exploit that war and have become tourist attractions of the Vietcong tunnels, or places where they fought the bloodiest battles.

In a single trip can travel around the country and visit the most interesting places. Although it is a country full in length, has few kilometers wide, and you can travel comfortably by train or bus. Vietnam will learn about the two: the south, wet, floating villages of fishermen and business, and the north, cultural, artistic, with stories of great kingdoms and remote enclaves.

Ho Chi Minh, the show begins

International flights often land in Ho Chi Minh city where is the commercial and business heart of the country. Like most Asian cities, the noisy traffic and pollution are the worst, although large areas of parks and boulevards relieve the strain. Here is the Vietnamese tradition blends with modern life: sellers of crickets and put soup on the street next to Internet cafes, ciclotaxis and women wearing the shoulder with the typical seesaw baskets, along with terraces cafes and distinctly French influence.

The best way to get around is by bike (motorcycle riders will be offered to take: 2 dollars per journey or 5 dollars per hour), or ciclotaxi (3 dollars per hour). Although the buses are air conditioned and have exceptional (VND 3.5 ).

The most interesting is concentrated in District 1 or Saigon. Here are the cathedral of Notre Dame and the City, and most luxurious hotels, such as the Continental Rex and the historic. In the latter was filmed much of The Quiet American, based on the novel by Graham Greene. Also here you will find silk shops, souvenirs or electronic objects. Try one of the great ice cream Bo Gio Café (Nghiep street).

To make purchases, the market is the most popular Ben Thanh, south of downtown, but when they tour will have to bargain hard. You'll find crafts in wood and silk dresses. Behind the market, savor the typical food of Hue, in Nam Giao (dishes by VND 3).

In the area of Pham Ngu Lao, the accommodations are more affordable. Its restaurants and bars have until dawn atmosphere. In the Saigon Café can enjoy Vietnamese dishes, a kind of pancakes that it fills a pig and prawns.

There are several interesting temples and pagodas. Of the Giac Lam, west, is the oldest of the city (seventeenth century), with the same ornamentation since 1900.

On the Mekong delta

Since the Ho Chi Minh City are one step away from the long chain of rivers and canals that form the giant Mekong River delta, south of the country. The water has resulted in a unique way of life, in which everything takes place on its surface: wash, sailing, fishing ... On a day trip can visit any of the floating villages closest to Ho Chi Minh, as My Tho or Vinh Long. Although if you want to go deeper into the Delta city of Can Tho is located about four and a half hours by bus VND 15). It is worthwhile to spend the night in the village, because when they are most active markets is 6 to 9 pm .Hire a rowing boat is worth about $ 2 an hour.

Sapa and the triangle of opium

Sapa is the place where the Himalaya mountain range is slowly hiding between vertical rice terraces and bamboo trees. Fantastic green valleys covered in rice, split by rivers and waterfalls and inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as Hmong, the Dzao and Thai, which despite the time and in spite also of the flocks of tourists, still live as they have done for generations, wearing their colorful costumes and working the land that was born.

The first day we went to visit inside the valley. This is a village called Cat Bai inhabited by one of the ethnic minorities I have mentioned above. Along with some English that I met on the path we followed the path and entered into the valley. When we came here, the children were frightened and hid to see us. I walked along and tried to take as many photographs as possible. The British stopped to eat and I followed the path through the valley that I took away from the spectacular planting of rice.

The road then seemed to get lost among the weeds and here the real trek began. I knew the proximity of a road bordering the valley and follow my instincts. I started to climb a river between a thick jungle that I leave the clothes which over the dark skin of a native of the area.

After half an hour of following the upward course of the river came to a spectacular waterfalls of more than 40 meter drop that was more or less left to climb. Upon reaching the top, the sound of a motorbike. I was already tired of the noise of jet throughout Vietnam but this time I was able to return to glory hear that buzz! A couple of more jumps between the weeds and I was able to reach the road and stepping on firm ground. Just at that moment passed and I watched four Vietnamese side with rare, they also noted the hole in the thick vegetation that came and I returned to face with a look of "these tourists are like a goat!"

The local people, they invited a cigarette and holding them with my return to civilization! Tom had come to Tram Pass, a neck between valleys to 2000 meters and 16 km of road from Sapa where appropriate. The view of both valleys with the Fansipan to my side of 3143 meters were wonderful. I returned quietly by the road stomping ground and went back to find me after a while with the British and a group of Belgians who had shown them a way short and not so bumpy. Back to the people, a shower and went out to dinner and just all in a Vietnamese karaoke drinking rice wine (a kind of spirit) to the many.

On the second day we took it more quietly through the gardens of Ham Rong, a few mountains north of Sapa where he lived with another ethnic tribe in the area.

Today, final day in Sapa, rent a bike and gave us a tour of this spectacular valley covered with nearly vertical rice terraces and waterfalls that are covering the road from natural pools. And finally we were able to recognize the clothes you were Hmong and the Dzao another.

For now it seems that tourism and tradition are still in a positive balance. The village has been enriched in 10 years to move from absolute oblivion to receive flocks of tourists with dollars in hand. For now, and perhaps thanks to communism, tourists staying in Sapa where the Indians traded on the markets and take advantage of something that neither expecting nor can they stop because they are those who handle other threads and tickets fat. The salts that few kilometers from Sapa, the reality is different: it is like to escape in time, the backpackers and immerse yourself in the real world where these tribes have inhabited for thousands of years, with their oxen, their goats, their bamboos , Their opium plantations and rice and are grateful to the government unless we put a little difficult for tourists.

Tomorrow we cross the border at Lao Cai and we are living in China, where the Himalayas will grow gradually to reach Nepal and communication will be even more complicated than in Vietnam. But in the end, the culture shock is where the adventure, and that China, here I come!