VIETNAM .. with eyes lost in the green!
NARRATIVE recommended for the trip:
• Leopard skin
• Nothing and so be it
At school they did not talk to me enough.
The movies tell it too often with the eyes of American soldiers;
only someone has gone further and has interpreted the story that is closer to reality.
The books, those of Terzani and Fallaci, have thrilled me to tears.
For years I wondered what country there was behind the history we know and what it had become.
This is my Vietnam .
The landing on the runway is an event that arrives happy at the end of the ten hours of flight that were about to lead me to madness.
I studied my guide for months trying to imagine the beautiful adventure that awaited me.
As is classic, every journey begins with the sliding doors of the airport exit that open wide and with great relief this time in front of me there is not the chaos that had welcomed me in India, of all those people who tried to talk to you right and left.
Indeed .. there is not even the only person who would have to wait to take me to the city center ^ _ ^
and then, starting the first bargaining of the trip, I take a taxi and leave for HANOI.
At once the village appears calm. What I perceive immediately is a feeling of peace;
surely it will also be due to the fact that, in fact, Vietnam has always spoken in terms of war, unfortunately!
However, the traffic is "composed", despite some "usual" scene from "eastern" country, like the scooter with a whole family on board or this "pedestrian acrobat" that carries on his head an infinite series of things.
The center looks very similar to a city of my dear India, but more orderly and my hotel booked online, which I arrived by circumventing the usual "oriental" scam of my taxi driver, is in a narrow and narrow alley, which will be the my base for the next few days.
A special feature of the Vientam houses: they are called galleries ... because they are reminiscent of galleries; in fact they have very small façades compared to their height and length and it's almost comical !!! They explain to me that they use them like that because of the taxes that are paid on the "façade" of the house that gives on the street.
In fact, even my hotel, small and pleasantly simple (as I like it), is nothing but a long flight of endless and narrow stairs with doors that give access to small and narrow rooms ^ _ ^! Obviously mine is almost on the top floor ...
The capital of this country is the fulcrum of its history. Here is rooted the communism that the "uncle HO", Ho Chi Mhin, has spread throughout the country.
A communism of which today we can hardly see the traces ... at least in everyday life.
The city, certainly less famous than its "opposing" and opposite, Saingon, is divided into two sectors can be said .. one is the center, the oldest part of the city, with decadent houses and entirely occupied by a population in constant movement and shops, restaurants, cars and millions of scooters.
The other looks like a piece of France catapulted to here, with large avenues and palaces worthy of an avenue of a district in the center of Paris!
The population is incredibly helpful and sociable! They have some dislike for the French and the Americans, but in general they are absolutely friendly !!
After so many years of destruction, they finally know peace and encounter all the joys and dreams that each of us has in life. Their faces are illuminated by eyes full of hope and without fear are launched towards a future that for them can only improve!
[Like the two guys who sat with me in the park asking me if I wanted to talk a little English with them ... What a fantastic thing!
In Italy my neighbor is struggling to give me the "hello" and people I know from a lifetime are hard to say "hello" and here in Vietnam two young strangers sit with me to practice their English with a thousand questions of all kinds ! Superb]
To move as always I prefer walking .. and soon I learn that in Vietnam, as only in the East can happen, we must learn, first of all:
THE ART OF CROSSING THE ROAD.
You will surely have heard of it and there are also several schools of thought on this subject.
I have learned and adopted a method that will accompany me throughout the journey without ever creating problems: overcome an obstacle at a time and never look beyond the next step you are about to do!
A bit 'in style "live the moment step by step" !!
The classic stages for visiting the city are the beautiful pagodas, the museums of Uncle Ho and the war residues. So I circled for these 2 days in this capital, savoring every aspect; passing from its thriving present to the sad past.
In planning the trip, for convenience, I booked, through the agency Eurasie Travel, three days (2 nights) by boat in the bay of Ha Long, the coast north of the country, Unesco heritage.
Hue, the nice guy who will accompany me to the coast for boarding, pick me up directly at the hotel and in about 2 hours I'm at the pier ..
Until now the heat was absolutely bearable, but here on the sea the afa reaches levels really absurd, not sweating is practically impossible and even the breath becomes labored.
In front of me stop a lot of boats / hotels, waiting for tourists .. that are really many and of all nationalities!
I await the companions with whom I will share the next days off and here we are finally on our "beautiful" boat!
There would be a thousand things to describe this means of transport but I will limit myself to say two:
- it is certainly the best way to explore this corner of paradise
- the food on this boat is the best I will eat in this country. Stuff from haute cuisine .. really licking mustache. A splendor !!
The comrades that I find next to me are: 4 French guys, unpopular who are on theirs; 1 lonely and very nice Irish girl and 2 shy and scared young Vietnamese (probably from the south)!
The "tour" is certainly very touristy as I said, but essential and worth it.
Ha Long Bay is famous for its conformation. These are hundreds of small islands that emerge from nothing in the bay forming this kind of mountains without a specific sense, scattered everywhere in emerald green water .. a spectacle of nature!
These "mountains" are entirely excavated inside and there have been beautiful caves that are open to tourists.
Life is not lacking in this bay. The Vietnamese people show that they know how to adapt and adapt to every situation and populate these waters for generations in the small and lively floating villages.
Their houses are not boats as we can imagine, but real wooden structures that rest on floating platforms .. nothing short of fascinating!
Almost all the houses have a dog .. and obviously their life is based on fishing and for this, during the year, they can migrate following the most fishy areas.
In the larger villages there are schools for children.
The activities for visitors are many .. from the visit to "land" in the villages, the opportunity to visit the bay with the canoe or to venture on the rocks by practicing a bit 'of climbing on the water, where possible and with expert guides place (Deep Water Soloing).
Cradled by the sea, the fantastic landscape and the excellent food I spend my 3 days in the icy Ha Long and then return to the mainland and back to Hanoi.
My "safe" stages, pre-set by home, are completed! Starting today the real journey "carpe diem" and reading my guide I decide to change program and instead of heading immediately to the south of the country I find a flight that leads me to Hoi An, sweet and quiet citadel among the oldest in Vietnam, survived the war and everyone speaks to me very well .... you can not go!
So here I am, landed in nearby Danang, now I find myself on this public bus with the intent of reaching the coast, savoring the journey that is pretty fun browsing through the many goods that are loaded and downloaded on this vehicle .. how if it was more a freight train instead of a bus!
Upon arrival I go to look for my small hotel room that I have not booked and I find it right near the center, cozy, clean and there is also the pool! great luxury for my habits !!
Immediately after hire a beautiful vintage bicycle
and pedal fast to the sea that just 11 km from here is an earthly paradise.
The beach that I'm about to reach was the destination of "relax" for all the marin who during the war were looking for rest ... .tendola I understand why!
An expanse of tall green palms, a fine white sand, a blue and crystalline sea.
Do I have to add anything else?
Well yes ... a seafood lunch that is a real treat !!
The stretch of road made to get here runs through the countryside and you can enjoy the flavor of the quiet life of this country in the green countryside, with some hat hanging that comes out here and there.
I must admit, Hoi An with his sea, his small colorful and lively center, I was really in the heart. For a moment I thought not to come back.
Like every citadel, this one has its own market and almost all of the country's life revolves around it.
**Francesca Brusori **
You can find all sorts of products, but what Hoi An is famous for is made-to-measure clothes.
With a few tens of euros you can go home with a unique and well packaged souvenir and then, it's not from me, but I take advantage!
In bicycle I continue my tour of the small town during the 3 days of relaxation that I spend there.
Its history goes all the way to the ancient cultures of the Japanese people, settled here for long years until the arrival of the war .. The best known testimony is surely the "red bridge", in the historical center.
Another very important thing that I must tell you about these countries is not to be afraid to eat fruit, because there is no fruit in the world better than this!
And like any exotic place they have fruits that we do not even imagine existence,
that hide flavors that really make you lose your head!
I ventured into this world of delicacies for the first time on the street, thanks to a kind street vendor who gave me a "rambutan"!
Does not the name mean anything to you? Know that at first glance it looks like a sea urchin !!
I turn around and turn around thinking about what to do ... and at the end I removed the shell and inside it was hidden a soft and transparent kernel that tastes very much like our mandarin! For the rest of the trip, fruit was the perfect end of every meal.
Unfortunately, the days pass quickly,
and it's time to leave.
A new ride on the public bus to Danang and then the flight ..
which this time will take me to the heart of the history SAIGON, renamed with the name of Uncle Ho,
"historical" only brings memories, museums and monuments because otherwise a great metropolis full of modern buildings, all traffic and labyrinths of endless streets ..
Just one day for a good visit .. and a great desire to walk!
The thing that struck me most and that left me speechless was the "war crimes" museum, whose new name is "museum of war residues".
It extends over different levels and tells, through the testimonies of the people and the harrowing images, often taken by journalists, the naked and raw war as we can only imagine it.
I had decided to spend two days here and then I dedicate the second to an independent excursion to the lands of the great Mekong, the river that crosses the half-indochina with its reddish waters.
After a long journey in a public minibus and a harrowing walk under the scorching sun, I arrive at My Tho.
It is a small village, where people do not seem to have ever seen a tourist in his life, although from here the numerous trips to the floating villages leave .. 🙂
Nobody speaks a single word of English. There is practically nothing to see and this is the beauty !!
As long as forces hold, I take a walk in the center, where obviously the market is located (which is always the hub of the country), but then I am forced to look for a place away from the sun where I can eat something!
My guide indicates only a restaurant .. that I do not find .. so walk, I see a square in the square where a fish is grilled!
Here, too, no one speaks a bit of English and explain, to the very kind girl in front of me, that I would like to eat something is a difficult task, despite all our good will to understand!
A small vocabulary inside my guide comes to my rescue and finally FOOD!
Perhaps one of the best lunches I could taste in Vietnam! Fatigue always pays ..
Another bus trip takes me back to Saigon and it is time to leave this beautiful country to fly to Cambodia!
Vietnam is a country very different from how I imagined it .. an extremely satisfying vacation, especially in those places you would not expect anything from!
There are still a lot of places to see, especially the mountains with the characteristic rice paddies ..
To live, to discover, to revisit !!
