My Week In Vietnam
Vietnam used to be run under the Marxist system, or in
modern term, communism. Vietnam was previously split into North Vietnam and South
Vietnam, in which the North was a strong follower of communism, while people of
the south were leaning towards democracy. Everything changed as the communist
party grew stronger in Asia, thus, beginning the Vietnam War. While history has
said that the Americans came to destroy the country, the Southerners believed
that the Americans tried to save the people but most supported the vision of a
certain Mr Ho Chi Minh instead. Vietnam fell into the hands of communism until
recently (1986 to be exact). In my most recent travel, I dropped by Ho Chi Minh
city, previously known as Saigon, as well as Hoi An. The only thing I can say
about Ho Chi Minh is the fact that it is indeed stressful for one to cross
roads, and the dusty air around the city that gave me an asthma attack as well
as motorists constantly hoking one another. Not a very peaceful place, Ho Chi
Minh City! Hoi An, on the other hand, is more tourist friendly, as they do not
have as many cars and bikes on the road as Ho Chi Minh. I left Ho Chi Minh city
for Hoi An on the 17th of November. I took a flight via Vietnam
Airlines which was relatively cheap, and landed just before noon. To get to Hoi
An, you would have to land at Da Nang airport and from there, hop on a taxi for
a 30km ride. Before heading to Hoi An, we were advised to postpone our trip due
to floods, but we decided to go ahead as planned, but our plans had changed
when we could not even get to the airport due to the heavy flood. The flood was
so bad that the hotel staff had to relocate ALL of their guests to other hotels
around the town area as it would be impossible for anyone to leave the hotel. As
there were four hotels under the same management, ours being Thanh Binh
riverside, we were advised to place our luggage at Thanh Binh 1 and begin our
shopping around the ancient town. Things are pretty cheap in Hoi An, that is if
you have good bargaining skills (bless my mom).
One of the streets that was
flooded.
Tailors are a very popular thing here, as they can produce
whatever you’ve ordered within 24 hours for a fairly reasonable price, if you
have good bargaining skills (like my mom). As I have mentioned before, the
shopping here is so cheap as I’ve managed to get nice dresses for approximately
RM20. The price of tailor made clothes varies depending on the amount of cloth,
type of material, the design itself and how far you can bargain with the
shopkeeper (they usually charge Ang Mohs a higher price). They don’t just have tailors for clothes, bur
for leather goods as well! You can customize any leather product (such as bags,
shoes or jackets) for a certain price.
In every 3 shops, there will
definitely be a tailor.
Food here is amazing as well but in terms of pricing, it
does not differ much from Malaysia since food in Malaysia is very very cheap!
Vietnamese people are very healthy, as most of their dishes come with a huge
portion of fresh, raw vegetables. Hoi An is well known for Cao Lao (noodles
with roasted pork), Com Ga (shredded chicken rice), morning glory (kankung),
white rose, fried wontons and not to forget, Banh Mi (their version of Ramly
Burgers). You are probably wondering why I did not mention Pho, well in my
opinion, the best Pho I have ever tasted is not in Vietnam itself, but
Australia, since Australia have better quality beef. A nice meal in a café would
cost RM15-20 per person.
COFFEE.
This
is one of the factors that make Vietnam stand out globally. Vietnamese are known
to drink filtered ground coffee served with or without condensed milk. A cup of
filtered coffee costs about RM6 in Trung Nguyen (the Vietnamese version of
Starbucks). I obviously was not going to leave without trying a cup, so I did
it and I have to say, it is so strong! If you know how Americanos in Starbucks
taste like, the ones in Vietnam is THREE times stronger in my opinion. (Tip: if
you need to do an all-nighter, Vietnamese Coffee is a great choice.) Forget the
strength of the coffee, it tasted AMAZING. I’m not going to leave beers out
because it is so cheap! A can of beer typically costs RM2.50! Like how amazing
is that! If only we had cheap beers here. *sobs*
There is nothing much to do at night, as most of the shops
closes at 9pm. That is when the beautiful lanterns come to life. I absolutely
love Vietnamese Lanterns because they have a unique shape and some are
beautifully hand-painted. You can also buy those lanterns home if you wish to
be different from the usual Malaysian Chinese lanterns. Each large lantern
costs about RM20, although the sellers will open with a price of RM40.
So yeah, I had a great time in Vietnam! If you are one to
not enjoy nightlife (*cough* Bali *cough*), Hoi An is a good place to explore.
So that is all about my trip to Vietnam, stay tuned for more stuff!
Riverside
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