A long country in little more than eight days!

Last March we took a 2-week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, arranging the main flights on our own and relying on Viet Prestige Travel for the tour and internal flights. We arrived in Bangkok via Qatar Airways with a truly cheap flight (445 euro each) booked about 5 months in advance; with Air Asia we reached Hanoi and from there we moved with Air Vietnam also to reach Siem Reap, in Cambodia. We stayed in various hotels, none of the highest standard, but all more or less nice and decent, and above all all located in truly strategic positions. For the currency, although they also happily accept dollars, we withdrew their dong from the ATM, with a credit card that carries a low fee and that one of us had. As in many other Asian countries, life costs very little, and to give just one example, I can say that for a meal for 5 we spent at most, and rarely, about 16 euro in total.

Although I was glad to have made this trip, the organisation by the local agency was truly perfect and we saw some things considered among the most beautiful in the world, in some way I was not satisfied as I would have expected! First of all, between journeys and various stopovers, we were in Vietnam for only 8 days; secondly perhaps we made a mistake in wanting to include Angkor too, in Cambodia, and we should have devoted ourselves entirely to Vietnam. In fact, of the latter we almost completely had to neglect the north, perhaps the more authentic part, and almost any rural area, devoting ourselves only to the cities. Moreover, we took no fewer than 9 flights in 14 days, frankly too many for my taste (because besides the flights there are the airports, with all the attached complications!).

Lastly, apart from the few initial days, spent between Hanoi and Ha Long bay, the climate was unexpectedly hot, reaching 40 degrees in Cambodia..and this too certainly contributed to crushing my enthusiasm, especially since we didn't expect such temperatures with a correspondingly very high humidity level. Then, somewhat in the American style (and by now also European), there was air conditioning blasted to an unbelievable degree in many enclosed places and then 40 humid degrees outside..so we came back full of little ailments of various kinds too. I had heard from various quarters that Vietnam is a different country, even though it is expanding strongly.

Well, that is precisely the point: this strong and very rapid economic rise, much less evident in Hanoi, in my eyes makes this country exactly like the rest of the modern world..where many, by now too many countries, tend only to chase a dream, the supposedly Western one, or American: of skyscrapers, of order, of prosperity and of shops all alike...which is precisely the dream that does not move me or interest me in the slightest! Moreover, some areas are truly tourist machines to the point of ruining every supposed and real beauty.

For example, it is obvious that I could not expect to be the only tourist setting off by boat to visit Ha Long bay, but I could not have imagined either that alongside ours dozens and dozens of other boats would set off..almost at the same time! Not to mention the wild construction along the whole coast! The bay is considered one of the seven wonders of the natural world, the roughly two thousand limestone islets covered in very lush vegetation that dot it are truly spectacular, I won't deny it...and yet all this magic did not convey to me the emotion that it would have been normal to expect. Saigon (today Ho Chi Minh City, but none of them call it that) is much more modern, clean and westernised than Hanoi, and that is why, even though undeniably interesting, also from the point of view of more recent history, relating to the invasion and the war with America, I liked it much less.

Hanoi still feels the communist world, is much less "capitalist" and still preserves sides that we might consider "uncivilised", but which give it a real and above all "its own" charm..not beautiful because it copies other civilisations or other countries. I don't know how to convey better what I feel about this; the only example I can give is that of the many people who still have the habit of eating on the pavements of the very busy city, sitting on little benches and plastic tables that are practically on the ground and served by supposed cooks who cook right there in the street, organised with makeshift means of remarkable ingenuity.

They eat at the level of exhaust pipes and of the numerous cockroaches you see running right and left (and I imagine also rats..), and yet it is beautiful to see them: office workers, young people, families, the elderly..everyone! In the centre of Saigon the controls are tighter and the wholly Vietnamese habit of eating like this is dying out. A habit that, fortunately, still survives throughout the country, however, is that of getting around on scooters of all kinds, even up to 5 people on the same vehicle and with whatever load or bulk you can imagine! With or without a helmet (especially the children!!!), often equipped with masks of various colours and patterns, which serve both for the smog and to protect them from the sun, because they don't consider tanned skin attractive.

They don't race, but slowly, slowly they never stop, except sometimes at a red light (more so in Saigon!), so to cross the road you must immediately be able to identify the right method! One lovely thing about this country is its youth! It seemed to us a young country also in the enthusiasm and expectations that normally characterise this phase of life. A youth still fortunately sweet, full of anticipation, but timidly, completely devoid of arrogance. In the famous Saigon Post Office we were surrounded by various groups of students, very curious to know where we came from, to take photos with us and to share their desire to live and to "become", happy to communicate and to try out their English. Invariably they were all enthusiastic to learn that we are Italian and were very happy to tell us that pasta is good or that Tiramisu is the best dessert they have ever eaten.

I don't know, perhaps they had compliments and enthusiasm for the citizens of every country in the world, but that would not do them any less honour! On reflection, perhaps we had too few occasions of real contact with people, and this somewhat prejudiced my overall satisfaction. Of course, you'll say, what did you expect from an organised trip, even if for just 5 people? Well, on other similar trips, perhaps also because we had a single guide for the whole time, the emotions had been many and very strong. Though I must admit that there was a positive side to having always different guides, also of different ages and backgrounds: the fact that we saw this country through always different eyes and points of view. This is all the more interesting, given the extremely "in-progress" history of the last 50 years of this country. Returning to the beautiful or interesting things, we saw many.

The cities of Hue and Hoi An, with their many temples or citadels of clear Chinese influence, since this country was dominated for centuries by its great eternal enemy, China; the war museum in Saigon, the Cu Chi tunnels, not far from Saigon; Ha Long bay; the Mekong delta, which is truly a world apart, and then Saigon and Hanoi. In short, on one hand I am sorry to have spoken mainly about what I didn't like about this experience and I would like to reiterate that...