Vietnam - the land of the moped

It was probably the first thing that struck us, masses of mopeds everywhere. There were more mopeds in some cities than people, most of which were Hondas. The city and countryside were full of them, some overload with people, some overloaded with goods. We even saw a lady bottle-feeding her baby on the back of a moped!

Our visit to Vietnam was enjoyable. Thanks to the initial heavy travel schedule, it felt like we visited for months rather than weeks.

First was Hanoi, where we hauled up in the Metropole, a plush hotel used by Donald Trump when he met the North Korean leader Kim Jung-un. It was just two days of relaxing, with an evening's street food tour, before we began a 10-day group tour with travel company 'G Adventures' (who we'd previously toured with in Mexico and Peru). We started with a briefing, meal and beers in a bar situated along the famous Hanoi train street. The following day, we headed for a boat (which had seen much better days) in the claimed beauty spot, Halong Bay.

It didn't start well; we turned up at the boat wondering why everyone had big bags with them only to find we were supposed to have taken an overnight kit with us, shame we weren't told! But it was sorted with a few purchases in a local shop.

Halong Bay, with its many limestone islands, was a beautiful setting ..... until you looked closer. The water we swam in after visiting some caves was polluted, and on our return from the overnight trip, we saw lines of rubbish dumped into the area from the tourist boats. It was so sad to see and took the edge off the visit there.

Then we travelled overnight by sleeper train to Hue, sharing a simple cabin with a lovely couple from Germany who were in our travel group. If you ignore the lack of sleep, it was great fun. The group had a row of cabins; music played, conversation flowed, and food and booze lubricated the event.

Hue was busy. We joined a moped tour, whizzing across the countryside to temples and the impressive citadel, whilst towards the end, were given poncho's as the heavens opened. There was so much to see in such a short time; ancient bridges, paddy fields, ponds with Lilies growing in abundance. There was also the sight of poverty, poor housing and people living from hand to mouth.

By minibus, we proceed to the Unesco World Heritage city of Hoi An. Its old town showed Vietnam at its best; teaming with locals, lamp-posts weighed down with lanterns, shops and restaurants, and a busy night market. It was so atmospheric and entirely unexpected.

At night it came alive, and punts offered lantern-lit journeys up and down the river that ran alongside the town. We even completed a local bicycle ride, which was great fun, climaxing in a boat tour of the nearby river system. These boats were like giant upside-down umbrellas, with 100's of people being paddled up and down the waterway.

Hoi An also had a reputation for handmade shoes, which we tested. We ordered four pairs, the shop ultimately failed to deliver what we wanted and not one of our many fittings resulted in shoes that fit, so we came away with none. Others had more success with handmade clothes, made in just days.

We were sad to leave Hoi An as there was clearly more to explore and enjoy, like the nearby sandy beaches and the many old buildings.

Ho Chi Min city was 600km south, requiring a 2-hour flight. We stayed five days in the city, two at one hotel, three at another. The city is the largest in the country, contrasting high-end shops and office blocks with basic tin-clad housing in other parts. We visited a charming old post office, part of a tourist trail, the central market full of bargains and saw plenty of the more modern arcades with western premium brands everywhere.

The nearby Ho Chi Minh tunnels were an experience, built during the Vietnam war to enable the Vietcong to fight the south (supported by the Americans). This network of tight tunnels and living spaces caused a real headache for the Americans, and we could traverse a number of the claustrophobic tunnels already widened by 20cm for visitors.

The site offered a sobering insight into the brutal realities of the war, and actual gunfire hung in the background from the tourist "try a gun" feature. We had mixed feelings on the appropriateness of this 'offering'.

In Ho Chi Minh, we visited the war museum, a poignant and distressing display which purposely held nothing back, including the deforming after-effects of Agent Orange on newborn children from both Vietnam and USA (American soldiers were exposed as much as Vietnamese), some of which were born around the same time as us.

In our few days, we also rushed to see an area of waste ground used by locals for a pop-up evening of kite flying and food. We also did a trip along the Mekong River Delta.

To our surprise, we warmed to the city, still widely referred to as 'Saigon' and our extended stay enabled a few layers to be peeled back, including an evening at the local nightclub where you couldn't hear your voice. The surprise was finding the guide from Hue sitting in a club with his mates; pleased to see us, he brought a few beers, and we chunked our bottles in friendship.

To finish our Vietnam trip, we had a week's beach stay at Phu Quoc, a small island off the south coast. The promise of a beautiful, paradise island didn't quite deliver. We found the hotel beach, whilst sandy and white, full of plastic litter, and the sea flushed with black polluted wastewater from a nearby stream. This kept us in the hotel pool. We visited Bai Sao, boasted by locals as the best beach on the Island, but the problem was similar; particularly rubbish and a nasty smell of sewage floated in the air.

We dedicated a day to trying the record-breaking cable car of almost 7km linking three islands and finishing at Hon Thom, where there was a water park "Sunworld". It was quite a thrill and an impressive bit of engineering - the park was great too, with plenty of things to do and good value at just £20 each for the cable car and entry. Afterwards, we visited the nearby harbour, and Martin claimed his cheapest haircut yet at £2.50 - he gave the barber £3 and you'd have thought he'd won the lottery!

'Horrifying' characterises our visit to the now (thankfully) defunct Coconut Prison, used on the Island during the Vietnam War for military prisoners. It consisted of multiple compounds, each with around 10 large tin huts encircled by three barbed wire fences. These last remains illustrated the inhumane treatment there, with models recreating torture scenes in detail. Walking around, you could sense the cruelty. Visitors were in tears just in thought of what had happened, Jacqui had to walk back to the entrance after just a short time, it was harrowing. Our final surprise was that parents were bringing young children to see such scenes, whilst others posed for Instagram-type shots around the site. sad.

Our final reflection of Phu Quoc was the volume of new buildings simply left empty across the Island, many the size of small villages, clearly the result of Covid-19's impact on investment and tourism.

We left Phu Quoc, heading for Bali via Singapore.

In summary, we liked Vietnam but would recommend you stick to an adventure itinerary and go elsewhere if you want a beach holiday.

To Vietnam's tourist industry we would say 'clean up your act; you're biting the hand that feeds you.'

M&J 22