Six things to do in Vietnam
Vietnam is a land of wonder with diverse landscapes, beautiful nature and exotic cuisines; you can easily call it a cheaper version of heaven on earth
Our Vietnam trip started from Ho Chi Minh city, once known as Saigon. It is the largest city of Vietnam and was once a capital of South Vietnam.
Seven of us teamed up to visit the country and during our tour, we found Vietnam is actually not one country but a combination of three countries: north, south and central Vietnam, all of which carry a different cultural significance and are quite diverse from one another.
Here is a list of six things you can do in Vietnam:
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Crawl into the Cu Chi Tunnels
In Ho Chi Minh City, one of the top most attractions is the Cu Chi tunnels. This underground tunnel city was made and maintained by the VietCong guerrilla fighters during the long war against the USA.
When the guide showed us the tunnel entrance, we looked at each other with disbelief because it was extremely small, it seemed even a very thin person would not be able to get inside.
Then the guide showed us some tricks like raising up our hands overhead and then slowly putting the legs inside the entrance one after the other. After a while, we found ourselves inside a very dark narrow tunnel where we had to almost crawl to move forward.
Any person with slight claustrophobia will find it difficult to stay there. After crawling for a few minutes, we entered a bigger room and from there we entered a much bigger hall room which was used as a medical compartment.
The guide explained to us how the guerillas built the city and how they tried to hide it from US soldiers and maintained an underground life.
One of our tour mates, renowned writer and psychiatrist Mamun Hussain, asked the guide if he lost any of his relatives during the war and instantly there were tears in his eyes.
In a very low voice he told us he has lost his uncle and cousin and it is very hard for him to forget all those years of nightmare.
Pho, duck tongues, crocodile and python barbecue
After the dark tunnels, we needed some warmth and light in our lives and we went to get some Pho. This spicy soup noodle dish is perhaps the most popular Vietnamese food and you will find it in every street corner.
Our Vietnamese friend Kuni came to visit us and she took us to a local restaurant famous for its very special cuisine, duck tongues!
From the capital we went to Mui Ne, a scenic fishing town. This place is famous for windsurfing, parasailing and water sports.
On the way to Mui Ne, we stayed in the famous beach city Nha Trang, also very famous for diving sites and islands. It is quite popular among seafood lovers.
We saw whole crocodiles and pythons being barbecued in restaurants but these are all farmed and definitely not caught from the wild.
Visit the ancient town of Hoi An
Our next stoppage was Hoi An, an ancient town in central Vietnam. It is a beautiful and well preserved canal town. It is a world heritage site and its history goes back over a thousand years.
A wooden Japanese bridge is the town's symbol and when we were visiting, we saw a few couples who came on the bridge for wedding photoshoots.
Other attractions of Hoi An are the century old French buildings. These buildings look quite narrow from the front but once you enter, you see they are not that small. Each house has a beautiful balcony at the front and a touch of green.
Smell the Perfume River
From there we went to the Imperial city of Hue, not only to enjoy the historical place but also to see a river named the Perfume River.
We heard from locals that this river has plenty of wild flowers growing on its bank and during specific seasons, the flowers fall into the water, which then carries their fragrance.
The Perfume River is probably the second most famous river of this land after Mekong.
See the water puppet show in Hanoi
Our last city to visit in Vietnam was the majestic capital Hanoi, which is almost 1,700 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, where we started our tour.
Hanoi impressed us with the Old Colonial Quarter, Temple of Literature, the Hoan Kiem Lake and of course the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh.
But the thing we loved most was the amazing water puppet show. The whole stage was made of water, like a small pond, and various puppets were coming out of it.
All the characters were water based, like lotus, frogs, turtles, snakes, water buffaloes, boatman, fisherman etc.
Buy the tour package to Ha Long Bay
Vietnam is one of the cheapest countries in the world. For budget travelling, including hotel, food and transport, sometimes $100 can be a good amount of money.
The only truly expensive place we found was the Ha Long Bay. We could not go there as normal tourists, we needed to buy a tour package.
So we bought the package (cost us $85 per person) and went on a wonderful wooden boat trip, which was our home for 24 hours. We enjoyed the majestic sunset at the bay, which was changing colours like magic.
Visa
Bangladeshi travellers need to have a sponsorship from a tour company registered in Vietnam. This company will prepare the paperwork and get the visa approval letter. Travellers will get the visa stamped upon arrival at the airport. The approval letter and the visa stamp are provided for a fee.
How to go
Thai Airways (Dhaka-Bangkok-Hanoi)
AirAsia (Dhaka-Kualalampur-Hanoi)
Malaysia Airlines (Dhaka-Kualampur-Hanoi)
Round trip ticket fares can vary between Tk65,000 and Tk99,000
Where to stay
Mayflower Hotel Hanoi
Soleil Boutique Hotel
Hilton Hanoi Opera
Per night room rates can vary between Tk3,000 and Tk10,000
Tour packages
Amazing tours BD
Six days in Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay and Ho Chi Minh City) will cost Tk1,18,704 (excluding visa fee) per person.
Obokash.com
Seven days in Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City) will cost between Tk82,000 and 1,00,000 (excluding visa fee) per person.
Arnim Holidays
Seven days in Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) will cost around Tk1,00,000 (including visa fee) per person. The tour can be customised to include other places.
