I grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs, and being 72 now, my teenage years were witness to the thickest parts and the wind-up of the war in Viet Nam, a great tragedy for all involved on both sides of the conflict.
So, it was more than a little weird on a quiet evening in December when Paula looked up from her iPad and announced, "Hey, here's a bicycle trip from Saigon to Hanoi that sounds like fun!" Excuse me?! "And there are two open slots remaining!"
And so during the last week in February we found ourselves on the 30-hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, where we met up with the rest of the folks on trip. That included Son Nguyen, the 46-year-old very-experienced and fun local guide
and fourteen other people, two of whom were from the US, along with three other Vietnamese guides and drivers.
If you check, this timing coincided with the onset of the Iran war/"excursion"/"mistake"/whatever, and two other people never made it to Viet Nam because of the resulting difficulties with air travel. The rest of the party included people from the UK, France and Canada.
And it was a truly great experience.
Why see any place on a bicycle? In our opinion, it's the premier way to learn about that place. By definition, you're going slowly (and slower every trip, it seems), on back roads, pedaling through small towns and villages, seeing and smelling things (and I do mean both) up close.
Of course we saw the big stuff. Paula and I took the somber tour of the "Hanoi Hilton," and crawled through tunnels used by guerrillas, and visited Da Nang and Hue and other places whose names you've heard.
But we also stopped for lunch at people's homes along the way whom Son had come to know, and tiny cafes in little towns whose names I couldn't pronounce and you'll never hear of.
We cycled through bright green rice paddies and past small and large Buddhist shrines.
I might not have slept that well, but it was a lot of laughs, especially from down the passageway where the three 50-something English ladies and the others were having a great time playing cards.
We arrived at Han Ong, Van Phong Bay (aka Whale Island) late one night by boat,
and in the morning found ourselves in a nature preserve for a day and another night. OK, it was nice to not be on a bike seat for a day, but it was also beautiful. We later learned that the floating structures in nearby bays were oyster and lobster farms, whose products may have later ended up at Wegman's back in Raleigh.
If you look at your shirt or dress tag, you may discover that it was made in Viet Nam, along with a lot of other things. Walking around a historic town one day, Paula saw a shoe shop and found a pair of sandals she liked, but to her disappointment they were too narrow. The young lady proprietor said, "No problem! I make you a pair today!" and so she did, delivering them to the nearby hotel where we were staying for the night. Paula says they are the best-fitting and highest quality sandals she's ever owned.
We attended several branches of the Church on Sundays, (don't worry, not in those great-looking bike clothes) and learned that there are 50-some LDS missionaries serving in Viet Nam, with headquarters in Hanoi. Luckily, there was good translation.
Having done a number of bike trips in the past, we have found that folks self-select who sign up, and this was no exception. They were, to a person, good-natured and adventurous and didn't whine about the sometimes-basic bathroom facilities along the way. Usually.
The war is, of course, a giant occurrence in the remembered past of the country.
Over three million Vietnamese perished and much of the country was destroyed and/or contaminated. However, we were treated kindly by everyone, and as honored guests in their homes.
Anything bad? OK, when we hit an ATM and walked away with bills worth THREE MILLION Vietnames "dong," we were really only putting about $114 in our pocket. Luckily, that went a long way, but maybe they could drop a bunch of zeroes.
Anything else? Some heat? Some wind? A few hills? C'mon, you're on a bicycle. Anyway, when conditions were tough, we'd stop, the small bus would magically appear and the crew would present a tray of slices of dragon fruit or watermelon and glasses of some lemon drink that might have contained cocaine, as I couldn't seem to get enough of it. That and coconut-containing crackers that I need to get the license to import to the US.
Vietnamese are slender by inheritance, but they also walk a lot and have an generally healthy diet with lots of vegetables and fish, not unexpected for a country with over 2,100 miles of coastline.
Yeah, but isn't it a Communist country? OK, sort of. That may represent the official structure, and people did mention frustration with how it's run in many ways, but meanwhile, capitalism rules. New infrastructure and buildings were everywhere, and an entrepreneurial spirit was very evident. VinFast, maker of many of the electric cars in that country is building a multi-billion factory in North Carolina. North Carolina?!
Because of our travel schedule, we spent a couple of days exploring Hanoi before getting on the looonnnngggg plane ride home. I'll bet you didn't know that water puppets are a millenia-old traditional art form in Viet Nam, did you? Now you do.
Ooof! That was a long entry, and for that I apologize. I hope you can feel our enthusiasm and respect for what turned out to be a kind, bustling country with good people, which we hope can continue upward.
Dave & Paula
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