Vietnam: Our Next Adventure

    Our travel year is here again! Phillip and I alternate a year of journey and adventure with a year close to home, tending to my garden. 2017 was a garden year, and a bountiful garden it was, over 1500 pounds of tomatoes and new harvest records for ten of the vegetables we grow. The effort is worth it for the nutritious food we have, but I'm glad our travel year is here.

     Vietnam is our first destination. Our knowledge of Vietnam prior to my research for our trip came from the evening news during the 1960s and early 1970s. The Unites States military involvement in Vietnam ended while Phillip and I were in high school, although my older brothers served in the Army and Navy during the conflict.
    After the fall of Saigon in 1975, we rarely heard about Vietnam as the country followed an isolationist path and had very little economic growth. To us, it was just a poor country in Asia that did not want outsiders to visit. In 1986, the Vietnamese government realized its policies were not working and committed to economic liberalization and a more market-based economy. The Vietnamese government still controls political expression, but steps are being taken toward better protection of human rights.
    Vietnam has changed greatly from the country that Phillip and I saw on the news fifty years ago. A country of 96 million people, Vietnam has a 95% literacy rate and 53% of the population uses the Internet. The greatest share of Vietnam's exports come to the United States. The country is slightly larger than New Mexico in land mass and much of the terrain destroyed by napalm and Agent Orange has been reclaimed. According to the World Bank, in 1995 Vietnam had just over one million tourists. During 2016, that number had grown to over ten million visitors. The southern portion of the country is tropical, while the northern portion is temperate. Time for a map:

     The map indicates the route of our adventure. We fly into Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) then make our way north to Hanoi. Acording to Lonely Planet, the Vietnamese road system is not the best, so we chose to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to the middle of the country, into Danang, then take vehicle transportation south to Hoi An, and back north to Hue. We then fly from Hue to Hanoi. That loop near Hanoi illustrates our 3-day, 2-night cruise of Halong Bay.
     We are looking forward to tropical fruit, excellent food, and seeing locations we heard of as children. All five cities we are visiting have a program where university students who want to practice English serve as free tour guides in the central city. I've arranged the student-led tours in all but Danang (because Danang is a 2-night beach stop for us).
    Regarding trip preparations, we did have to get a visa; however, last year Vietnam started an e-visa process. Our visa process was completed entirely on the Internet. The only hiccup was that my browser did not approve of the security protocols on the payment page. I went to my cell phone and was able to make the payment. We received our e-visas within a week of application. Our packing is almost exactly like the packing we did for our Thailand and Philippines trips. I no longer have an argument with Phillip over blue jeans. He has accepted the fact that they stay home! Two carry-on size suitcases, although we will check them; a small lightweight backpack for me; and Phillip's small carry-on duffle for charger cords and snacks.
   Another trip preparation item was lunch a few weeks ago at a Vietnamese restaurant with my retiree buddies. I took a picture of the restaurant version of pho (soup), I expect to have pictures of authentic pho to post and compare in the next month!

American version of beef pho

     Our itinerary will unfold and you can share our journey as I post to this blog. All of the hotels I selected have Internet access in the rooms, breakfast buffets and swimming pools. Phillip and I are ready for this new adventure! As the famous philospher Anonymous once said, "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us."