Travelling Through Vietnam
One of my most memorable trips was travelling with my family (husband and two children aged 10 & 8 at the time) to Vietnam. It had always been on my list of places to visit but somehow I’d never quite managed to get there. After announcing a family holiday to Vietnam, the first challenge was to win over the kids – their initial reaction was filled with apprehension. The secret to winning them over was getting them involved – explaining to them what they can expect. Together we planned the itinerary – Saigon (Ho Chi Min City), Hoi An, Hanoi and Halong Bay during September/ October. The kids worked on packing their bags while I sorted out the accommodation.
Pre-booking internal flights, accommodation, transfers and some tours prior to leaving made things much easier. Traffic mayhem was the first thing to greet us on arrival in Saigon. The city was teeming with motorbikes all intent on navigating their own way through the maze of streets. Although daunting to begin with, we eventually mastered crossing the street – walk at a steady pace and don’t worry too much about the motorbikes. They will avoid you. But remember, in most cases cars will have right of way.
We took two day trips from Saigon – an afternoon visit to the Cu Chi tunnels and a day trip to the Mekong Delta.
Built by the Viet Cong, parts of the Cu Chi tunnels have been ‘renovated’ so you can actually follow them underground. The kids thought this was great fun. The tunnels can be narrow and some of the scenes from the past can be quite confronting so keep this in mind. Plan to go in the afternoon as the tourist buses tend to arrive in the morning.
Our experience on the Mekong was an all day excursion. Several hours by road gave way to relaxation on the water. We boated through the maze of narrow canals observing river life on the Delta. Lunch was the tasty local delicacy - elephant fish. Bemused looks on the kid’s faces could only mean one thing. While my husband and I sampled the fish the kids ate apples from our daypack. After the energy of Saigon, the ancient riverside port-town of Hoi An was our downtime. We strolled aimlessly through the quite rambling streets of the Old Town enjoying the unique mix of Japanese, Chinese and French colonial architecture. Explore on foot or hire a cyclo and driver. While my husband headed off with the camera, I had a more pressing engagement – shopping. This place is great for jewellery and made-to-measure clothing available for a fraction of what they cost at home. We also found traditional artwork in the many galleries and had no trouble getting it home. Our afternoons were spent lazing by the pool, much to the kid’s relief. But the call to shop was never far away.
Onto Hanoi where we stayed in a small family run boutique hotel located in the centre of the historic Old Quarter, a precious legacy of the colonial French past. We negotiated the traffic chaos and set out to find Hang Bac street – famous for silver and gold jewellery and Hang Ma street – the most colourful street in the Old Quarter. We all enjoyed the magic of the water puppet theatre. Performances are a collection of short stories that recount Vietnamese folk tales and legends. The plan had then been to visit Halong Bay – with its rugged rock formations jutting out of the sea. But a typhoon changed that. Instead we opted for a day trip to the Tam Coc – the Halong Bay on the rice paddies where limestone cliffs soar skyward from the sea of green. The waterway was filled with small rowboats all searching for space as we made our way upstream through caves and beneath cliffs. Many of the boats are rowed by women – using their feet.
Travelling is full of opportunities and challenges. On this holiday feeding our children looked to be one of the challenges. But they both surprised us with only the occasional ‘I’m not eating that’. There’s plenty of fresh fruit and you can always find restaurants serving meals without the obligatory rice or noddles.
A wonderful experience and family holiday we still reminisce about.