Vietnam – 1995, 2005

We’ve visited Vietnam twice, in 1995 and again ten years later in 2005.

Our first trip in 1995 was the twentieth anniversary of the United States ending its military actions in Vietnam and exiting Saigon, with helicopters frantically taking people off the US embassy roof to safety on American warships.  At the time we didn’t realize the significance of the date, but after entering the country we quickly learned of its importance to the Vietnamese people.

I remember my first morning in Saigon (also called Ho Chi Minh city).  Because of jet lag, I awakened early, went out into the street and walked for a mile or so, marveling at the sights, sounds and smells of what I felt was one of the most exotic countries I had ever visited 

This was before the internet, and the ability to book hotels online.  In Lonely Planet we saw that the Rex Hotel, centrally located, was highly recommended.  At that time, years before Americans and Europeans developed a taste for travel to Vietnam, everything was inexpensive.

Our plan was to spend three weeks in country, hiring a car and driver to travel from Saigon north to Hanoi, the capital.  I always prefer to hire a rental car and do the driving myself, but after several inquiries to rental car companies, we learned that you cannot drive on your own, you had to hire both car and driver.

We saw a sign outside the Rex Hotel advertising cars for rent, found an English speaker, and arranged for a car and driver to take us south for two days to the Mekong Delta area.  Since this was the first time we had hired a driver, we thought we’d use this short trip to see if we got along with the driver before committing to a longer term.

We went south to Can Tho and My Tho and began our Vietnam adventure in the Mekong Delta.  The first morning I again awakened early, because of jet lag, and while sitting in a small café at 5:30 am, enjoying my first Vietnamese coffee, I began talking with a man who was a captain in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam war (the Vietnamese call it the American war).   His stories of combat against the Viet Cong, his family, and descriptions of the war from the standpoint of a South Vietnamese soldier were fascinating.

When he learned that we were traveling back to Saigon the following day, and that we had a car and driver, he politely asked if he could accompany us.  I told him that would be fine, and when I told Misti later she said it was fine.  So the next day Misti and I, the driver and our new friend, the Vietnamese army captain, set off for the half-day drive to Saigon.  Along the way I suggested we stop at a seafood restaurant and the four of us feasted on what was one of the best seafood meals we’ve ever had, at cost under fifty dollars.

On the drive from the Delta back to Saigon our South Vietnamese captain friend told us about one of his daughters and how much she wanted to continue her education in the United States.  He appealed to our American sense of hospitality and asked if we would sponsor her.   We told him that while we’d like to accommodate his request, our circumstances were such that we couldn’t do it.

Also on the drive back to Saigon, the driver asked if he could bring his wife along.   He said her English was better than his; his was actually fine.  He suggested we meet her first, which we did.  She was a delightful woman and Misti and I both felt it would be more fun to travel as two couples.  So the next morning the four of us set out to travel north, in an almost new Mercedes, owned, of course, by the government.  We were paying twenty-five dollars a day for car and driver, and that included all fuel.  We didn’t know, or ask, what the driver was being paid, but we learned that it was about five dollars a day.

On the way out of Saigon we told the driver we wanted to stop at the Vietnam War Museum.  Misti and I went in while the driver and his wife waited in the car.  The Vietnam war was horrible and bloody and the museum showed some of the worst of it, from the Vietnamese standpoint.  After about ten minutes, Misti couldn’t take any more and ran out crying.  The driver’s wife saw her, embraced her and told her it was a long time ago, it should all be forgotten and the Vietnamese people harbored no ill feelings toward Americans.  And she was sincere.

Our first night’s stop after we left Saigon was Da Lat, a Vietnamese mountain resort at an altitude of 4,900 feet, much cooler than the always hot and humid, Saigon, sort of a Vietnamese Lake Tahoe.  We quickly learned the procedures for our trip with a car and driver:  1) the driver would always take us to a nice hotel, book a room for us and we would pay the hotel (always inexpensive),  2)  we would arrange for meals at the hotel and pay for them (always very inexpensive), 3)  the driver and his wife would be given a room at the same hotel, and meals provided, paid for by their employer, the government.  The hotels were not fancy or elaborate but all were clean and comfortable, with very reasonable prices, usually under $50.

The next morning the driver asked if we’d like to join them for breakfast, which was a bowl of pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). That was the beginning of our ongoing love affair with pho, in Vietnam and in the many Vietnamese restaurants we have at home.

One day we traveled up up into the hilly back country where indigenous Vietnamese people lived.  We stopped at a small village and as we wandered through the village and observed the people, their clothing and their handicrafts we realized how similar they were to what we had seen in travels to Central American countries.  Likely the ancestors of these people traveled the land bridge that connected Asia to the Americas, perhaps thousands of years ago.

While in the hill country we also had our first elephant ride, with the “driver” sitting atop the elephant’s head with a “spear” which he used to ”steer” and prod the elephant forward.  We sat in a basket atop the elephant’s back and moved from side to side as the huge elephant walked.  A bit scary but lots of fun and an experience we have repeated in several other countries.

As we passed through each town and village we saw signs celebrating the 20th anniversary of the date that town was “liberated” by the north.  But we always arrived a few days before or after the liberation date, until we arrived in Hoi An on the exact date of liberation.

It was a beautiful evening and, because of the 20th anniversary of liberation, the town was in a celebratory mood.  We told the driver and his wife how much we’d like to have their company for dinner and they acquiesced.  On previous occasions when we asked them to join us for dinner, they said they couldn’t.  We took a table for four on the terrace and observed a group of perhaps twenty or so men at a nearby table, drinking and raising their glasses for toast after toast.  We asked the driver what they were toasting, it was of course all in Vietnamese, and he said they were ex Viet-Cong toasting the end of the war. 

Rising to the occasion, and fairly inebriated myself, I stood up, raised my glass, and proclaimed a toast to the people of Vietnam and the people of the United States, who were now friends and at peace.  The driver translated, and they followed with a hearty toast to the United States.  It sent a chill through my body.

While we were originally planning to keep the car and driver all the way to Hanoi, when we reached Hue we realized that was too ambitious a plan.  We only had a week remaining and felt it would be better to fly from Hue to Hanoi, a distance of about four hundred miles, which we did.

We spent a few days in Hanoi and noticed some very real differences from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).  Being further north it wasn’t as hot, the architecture was more European and it had more of a French influence.  Also, the people looked different; there were many more of Chinese descent than in the south.

Before leaving home our friends Greg and Averil told us they had adopted a Vietnamese girl and she would be in an orphanage home in Hanoi until they came to Vietnam to get her.  They had given us the name of the orphanage, we went there to see the baby and we took photos which we gave Greg and Averil.

The entire time we were in Vietnam we avoided drinking any tap water or using ice because we were told it could make us sick.  On our last day in Hanoi, at lunch, we met a guy from Scotland who we befriended, he told us about a bar he owned and invited us to come by for a drink, which we did.  He handed me a scotch on the rocks and when I said I probably shouldn’t have the ice, he said it was fine because it was from purified water.  Wrong!  Later that evening I developed a stomach pain, which lasted a day, and I’m sure it was from that ice.

The next day we boarded a plan for our flight home via Taipei.  Thus ended our first Vietnamese adventure

Second trip to Vietnam, 2005:

Our second trip to Vietnam, in 2005, was with our entire family, our two sons, David and Mike, David’s wife Hiromi, Hiromi’s mother and our three grandchildren, Nick, Meg and Ben.  David and Hiromi had a factory, outside of Saigon, which produced bamboo water fountains that they sold throughout the US, and one of the purposes of the trip was for us all to see the factory and the methods they used.

I remember Saigon, on this second trip, as being as exciting as we found it ten years earlier.  It teemed with energy - eight million people going every which way at a dizzying pace.  Crossing a street in Saigon is incredible and takes nerves of steel.  You walk directly into the constant stream of motorcycles and cars, you look directly at them, and they part around you.  You walk slowly and never stop, and somehow it seems to work.  There definitely is a pecking order on the streets, might is right is the order of the day and pedestrians are at the bottom of the traffic chain.  Big  trucks are at the top, and they use their muscle and stop for no one.  In this place you watch where you're going and if you don't you wind up in the hospital or worse.  Not at all like California, where the pedestrian always has the right of way.

The money is interesting. Ten years earlier, on our first visit in 1995, the exchange rate was 12,000 dong (that’s the name of the money)  to one; in 2005 it was 15,900 to one.  I changed 300 US dollars and got about 4.7 million dong- - an instant millionaire.  The smallest note was 2,000- which is fourteen cents.  Now, in 2018 when I am writing this story, the dong is 23,000 to one US dollar.  The largest note now is 500,000 dong, or 22 US dollars.

Prices in Vietnam are low for just about everything.  We had lunch for ten people, at a good restaurant with great food and lots of dishes and about fifteen beers, and the bill was thirty-five dollars, which is a lot of money here.  You can eat a decent meal for one or two dollars, and if you really are slumming you can get a good bowl of pho (beef noodle soup) for twenty cents.  Typical wages were on the order of one hundred dollars a month or less.  This is a very poor country with a huge and growing population, about 82 million in a space the size of California.  Current population, in 2018, is approaching 100 million.

In 2005 we noticed many changes from ten years ago.  Many more new and big hotels and many more tourists, especially from Japan, which is six hours away, and many more Americans.  On our earlier visit in 1995, the US still had a trade embargo with Vietnam and didn’t officially recognize the government and there were virtually no American tourists.  Because Vietnam was a French colony for many years, we saw small groups of French tourists, some of whom were visiting graves of relatives killed in the Indochina War that lasted from 1945 to 1954.

We also noticed that traffic was much worse.  Many more motorcycles and cars and fewer bicycles and cyclos.  Ten years ago there were many amputees on the streets  and we didn't see any them on this second trip.  Also there were no longer many old US military trucks that were abandoned by the US when it hastily withdrew in April, 1975.  In 1995 they were all over the place, painted with the US military green color and some still with the white star. Perhaps with lots of new money coming into the country they've been able to replace these with newer trucks and buses. 

We love the food in Vietnam and it was even better on this trip.  One thing is that our son David had been doing work in Saigon and was acquainted with some of the restaurants and foods.  Also, he had some Vietnamese friends who recommended some excellent restaurants, again, always very inexpensive.

Vietnam, like several other Asian countries, is the land of knockoffs and you can buy any name brand of anything for about a tenth or less the real price.  Last night Mike and I each bought four Rolex watches, about $15 each.  May not last that long but still fun to buy a Rolex for that price.  Ralph Lauren shirts are four dollars, Gucci handbags five dollars, etc.

We visited the factory where David's bamboo water spouts are made.  It’s an amazing operation.  Over 200 workers taking the bamboo from its raw form, drying it, bending it, cutting and shaping it and treating it with chemicals.  All this, in primitive conditions.  The factory is also building houses that are sold in Hawaii.  About thirty people work on each house for eight weeks,  then they disassemble and ship it.  The houses sell for about $20,000 and I don't know how they make any profit but this is the land of very cheap labor;  workers make about two dollars a day and are very glad to have jobs.  Tough for workers in developed nations to compete at that cost.

We found Vietnamese people to be very friendly and smiley, very courteous and helpful and you can get anything you need done, usually quickly and very cheaply. 

After several days in Saigon, we decided we’d all go to Nha Trang, a coastal resort city about 250 miles north of Saigon, for some R&R.  David and Hiromi decided to fly there while Misti, Mike and I chose to go by car.  David hired a car and driver, Mr. Dong (which is also the name of the currency) and since at that time there were no freeways or fast roads, we decided we’d go half way and overnight at Mui Ne, another beach resort.

We stayed in nice beach cottages in Mui Ne and the next morning I asked the hotel clerk, who spoke reasonably good English, to tell the driver we were now ready to continue our trip on to Nha Trang.  I don’t know what went wrong, but somehow the driver, who didn’t understand a word in English and wasn’t the brightest penny in the jar, headed back south to Saigon.  It was a cloudy day and we weren’t near the sea, so couldn’t tell what direction we were going, and had no reason to believe the driver was going the wrong way.  There are very few signs and we weren’t looking at them since we were simply going north on the only highway, or so we thought.

After several hours driving I began to see highway mileage markers with the abbreviation HCMC.  I wondered what that was and then realized we were headed back to Saigon.  We had a cell phone, called David and asked him to put a Vietnamese speaker on the phone and ask the driver what he was doing.  We never could quite figure out if the driver was just really stupid or had some other reason for going back to Saigon.  We had him take us to the airport where we flew on a brand new triple seven to Nha Trang, a one-hour flight.

From Nha Trang we hired a large Mercedes van and driver to take all of us to Hue, the old Imperial capital.  We met up with David’s friend, James, and his girlfriend who was Vietnamese, and with them we toured the Dai Noi Citadel, including the Forbidden Purple City which was once the home of the emperor.  Misti and I had visited Hue on our previous trip to Vietnam, and we remembered it as our favorite city.

After several days in Hue, we all flew on to Hanoi, the capital, which is 400 miles north of Hue.  We spent two nights there enjoying the great food and frantic pace of the city, and then David and his family and Mike all flew home.  Misti and I flew on to Vientiane, the capital of Lao, and spent the next ten days touring through that country.

Our trip home was a long one, from Vientiane to Saigon to Tokyo and then on to San Francisco.  It was a great and memorable trip.

Art Faibisch, December, 2018