WHEN I came home from school, dinner was fish fingers eaten in front of the
telly with the news showing napalm mushrooming out of the jungles of
Vietnam.
Later, my knowledge was confined to Sylvester Stallone looking sweaty and
angry and Charlie Sheen looking sweaty and nervous.
Fast forward to the present day and the country is THE hot tip for
travel in 2012.
The first direct flights from the UK launched in November and with the boom in
low-cost Asia flights, Vietnam is accessible AND affordable.
Saigon, former capital of the south, is now Ho Chi Minh City after the man — a
former resident of London — who led resistance against the French and
Americans.
Uncle Ho’s picture appears everywhere including on the banknotes.
The local currency converts at around 30,000 to the Pound and the Dong in your
pocket stretches a very long way in a country where a meal and drinks for
two in the posh part of town costs less than a tenner.
Many prices are quoted in US dollars.
Most of the big hotels and attractions are at the centre in District 1 on the
banks of the Saigon River, a wonderfully grubby swirl of activity with
coconuts and bits of tree floating among boats and barges.
It’s a friendly city and the only sign you are in a communist country is
the occasional hammer and sickle flag.
Modern hotel and office blocks mix with ornate buildings from the time when
Vietnam was a French colony.
The HSBC tower rises behind the fancy palace that is now the office of the
city’s mayor.
At the centre of District 1 is the Catholic cathedral but many locals will use
any place of religion for their principal belief, which is ancestor worship.
Possibly more impressive than the cathedral is the wonderful old French post
office opposite.
It has a beautiful tiled floor and colonial maps on the walls. The stamps are
not lick-and-stick or self-adhesive so glue and brushes are provided.
The Reunification Palace was home to the president of South Vietnam and its
airy Sixties rooms are open to visitors.
Two Russian-made tanks on the palace lawn mark April 30, 1975, when North
Vietnamese troops smashed their way in as the city fell and the last
Americans left by helicopter from their embassy roof.
The War Remnants Museum is a gruesome but moving account of the conflict.
It displays American tanks, aircraft and weapons as well as graphic pictures
and specimens of the effects of toxic chemicals such as Agent Orange used to
destroy the jungle.
For a feel of local life, the Ben Thanh market is a dense mass of sights and
smells — not all of them pleasant — selling every kind of food, clothing and
souvenirs.
And Saigon’s Chinatown is a bustling district with its own individual
character.
Eating options range from international cuisine to basic Vietnamese
restaurants and even street stalls run by locals toiling under the
traditional conical hats.
They carry their cooker, ingredients, utensils and furniture in two bins
strung from either end of a pole across their shoulder and set up shop by
the roadside.
There are two million mopeds in Saigon and they pour along the streets in a
dense mass like demented migrating salmon.
The law restricts mopeds to carrying two adults and two children but they also
manage to transport wacky loads including washing machines and beds.
Getting over the wide boulevards of Saigon involves putting your trust in
whichever god you favour and stepping into the torrent. Smile a little if
you can.
The most popular outing from Saigon is the Cu Chi tunnels, 50 miles from the
city.
Beyond the sprawling suburbs you pass through green countryside with farmers
in sun hats working the fields and water buffalo wallowing in pools.
Cu Chi is a 120-mile tunnel system dug by the Viet Cong to hide troops and
supplies from the Americans. It was built on three levels and protected by
bamboo traps. Ironically, many of the spike traps were made from US bomb
shrapnel.
Some sections of tunnel were big enough for the VC to crawl through but too
tight for the larger Americans trying to flush them out. One type of
entrance was known as an A4 because it is the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
Displays show the life of the VC, how they made shoes from lorry tyres,
munitions from unexploded bombs and how the many fiendishly cunning traps
worked.
One section of tunnel has been widened to accommodate larger Western bums.
Once you’re used to that it narrows down to the original size. It’s incredibly
small and only for the bold and the thin.
There is also a firing range where you can try Vietnam War weapons — including
the infamous Kalashnikov AK47 — for around 60p a pop.
Another day trip option from Saigon is a visit to the lush greenery of the
Mekong Delta.
Because Vietnam has only been welcoming tourists for a dozen years or so, it
still has a fresh and different feel.
It is cheap, friendly, has beautiful scenery and visitors are still a bit of a
novelty, rather than just a cash crop.
Vietnam could be the new Thailand in a few years.
Enjoy it now.