For many in the western world, Vietnam had been associated with the horrors of war. But this diverse, exotic, gentle, yet energetic country is capturing the imagination of the global traveler. Elegant, French influenced Hanoi vies with the thriving and rapidly growing Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for the attention of visitors. Each offers an exciting eclectic mix of old and new. More modern than other Vietnamese cities, Ho Chi Minh City has retained its French colonial influences. Its vibrancy is maintained by the ever entrepreneurial Saigonese who have taken the modern government reforms to heart and embraced the capitalist ethic with unrestrained enthusiasm. The streets are jam-packed with mopeds and scooters, often carrying whole families. Between cyclists, motorcycles and the busy market and business districts, Saigon exudes energy.
Despite the dynamic cities, most visitors to Vietnam are overwhelmed by the sublime beauty of the country's natural setting. The Red River Delta in the north, the Mekong Delta in the south and almost the entire coastal strip offer countless brilliant green rice paddies and small farms tended by women in conical hats. On the coast, divine beaches await you to sample the warm South China Sea.
To the north sits the former imperial capital Hue, a beautiful tranquil city in the central part of Vietnam along the banks of the Huong River. Its temples and architecture rank among the most stately and renowned of traditional Vietnam.
Only in Vietnam could the past and the present be encapsulated so perfectly.
In nearly every small town, young women wearing the traditional Ao Dai national dress weave their way through the traffic at the controls of a motorbike. Outside the large cities, scenes remain as they have for hundreds of years. Early morning on the Mekong Delta brings the daily floating markets. The green patchwork of small farms and rice paddies contain water buffalo. Old French hill stations survive throughout the country offering welcome respite from the heat of the plains below.
Vietnam, which ranks as the 13th most populated country in the world, also has thriving business districts in its major cities. The tree-lined streets near Phan Dinh Phung Boulevard in Hanoi maintain a pre-1900s French charm rarely seen in the rest of the world. The country has also done an important and respectable job of preserving many vital and historic sites from the French and “American” Wars of the 20th Century. And a visit to the iconic cultural buildings and museums in downtown Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) offers breathtaking insight into the conflict.
Inland, in what is called the Central Highlands, is home to a variety of indigenous ethnic villages, each one with its own unique traditions, cultures and even language. The city of Dalat offers a panorama of colonial housing built by the French over 100 years ago. These works of art contain some of the best hand-worked teak wood in the world.
There are lovely beaches along the coast, while inland there are soaring mountains, some of which are cloaked by dense, misty forests. Vietnam also offers an opportunity to see a country of traditional charm and rare beauty.
