Vietnam: where history echoes, beauty captivates and culture thrives
As a child growing up in the 80s, I was always fascinated by the many Vietnam War movies that were released in those years. Of course, these movies mainly followed the Americans, there was little focus on what the Vietnamese had to endure during those war years and as a child I didn’t really know why this war was fought anyway. However, I was always very impressed by the incredibly beautiful landscapes and how the relatively primitive Vietnamese people dealt with this war. Much later when I started to delve more into the reasons why this war was fought and I also realized how unequal this war was, I only got more respect for the Vietnamese people, no matter whether they were the North Vietnamese or the South Vietnamese. The fascination for this country never went away and I actually knew for a long time that I would want to go to this beautiful country one day to see it with my own eyes. As life goes, I got other interests and the wish to go to Vietnam one day was somewhat forgotten. But still, I occasionally thought back to the fact that this was already a kind of childhood wish and in 2018 I booked a 3-week trip to Vietnam. And what a fantastic trip that was, Vietnam has really got a special place in my heart since then. The stunningly beautiful nature, the hard-working people, the culture and the incredibly interesting history, all reasons to make this a super travel destination. And then I haven’t even mentioned the fantastically beautiful and lively cities and villages and the good food. Under the influence of the French, the Vietnamese language is one of the few Asian languages where the original characters have been translated into the alphabet used in Europe, which makes it relatively easy to read and speak the language compared to, for example, Thai. The French have also had a huge influence on architecture, culture and not to forget the Vietnamese kitchen, these influences are still very noticeable today and it also makes Vietnam a kind of unique, furthermore the French have left a huge trauma behind with the population of Vietnam. It were the colonial French ambitions that ultimately led to the outbreak of the Vietnam War or as the Vietnamese themselves call it the American war. If the Americans had done a little research, they would have known that the Vietnamese had to fight a war every now and then since 200 BC and that they had never actually been defeated. Even during the French colonization the French could not prevent great resistance against their rule. This is therefore seen in Vietnam as a 96-year resistance war. During my trip through Vietnam I started in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon and we slowly moved further north via a number of interesting places. From Ho Chi Minh City we also went to the Mekong Delta, which is a beautiful area and we visited an area west of the city near Cambodia where there was very heavy fighting during the Vietnam War, here were the enormous tunnel complexes from which the Vietcong fought against the Americans in and arround Saigon, I did visited part of these complexes there, and here are also countless destroyed tanks, planes and helicopters on display. I was also able to go to a shooting range to shoot with some machines guns that were used during the war, what I remember from that is the enormous noise that one such weapon makes, it is almost unimaginable how loud it must have been during fighting in the war, when hundreds of these weapons were used. Another town that I really liked and found interesting is Hội An, the old town is full of lanterns which creates a great atmosphere at night and it is full of nice little shops where almost everything can be made for you on the spot, from a pair of custom-made shoes to complete suits, they are made for you within a day or two, highly recommended. The capital Hanoi is now one of my favorite cities, it is teeming with people on scooters and there are so many small shops, often with handmade items, you will never get tired of looking arround, the nightlife is also top quality and the food, both on the street and in restaurants, is equally delicious everywhere. A visit to Ha Long Bay is also highly recommended, I think there is no place on earth that is like it and the combination of the sea and beautiful rock formations is really Stunning to see. During my trip to Vietnam I also went to the foot of the Himalayas west of Hanoi, here you have a completely different culture where the local mountain people in very colorful traditional clothing come together at markets to buy things of course but also for social contacts and the like. Here I also made a beautiful two-day hike through the mountains and small villages that cannot be reached otherwise. Really Vietnam is a fantastic country and is also really one of my favorite countries, I will definitely go back once more
