The only place in Asia that we had visited prior to our Circle Pacific Cruise was Vietnam; I wrote about that trip in a previous blog post. The cruise we are currently on visited four ports in Vietnam, only one that we had been to previously, and only briefly when passing through on the way to Cat Ba Island.
A general observation is that Vietnam’s tourist infrastructure continues to develop. The cruise ports tend to be in industrial/commercial ports, which has also been true in other parts of the world, but these ones seem more remote. The one cruise port that has developed considerably, and continues to do so, is Halong Bay.
Phu My
Our first stop was the port of Phu My, the closest port to Ho Chi Min City/Saigon. Because it is two (or more) hours away depending on traffic, we as usual did not make plans to visit the city, although many on our cruise did. Because the port is a commercial port and not within walking distance of anything of interest to me, I decided to take a tour through the cruise line to some nearby sights.
Our tour started with visiting several homes/vendors who still make things traditionally. The first was a place that made rice wine; we were able to view the entire process, described below in the captions to the photographs. The interesting thing is that they do not make money from selling the wine; they sell it for the same price as they make it. But they feed the fermented rice to their pigs, who get drunk and lazy and become large and fat, so they are able to sell them at a good price – the wine making provides free food for their pigs which they sell to make a living.
The next home we visited had a large garden where they grow many types of produce. We were able to sample some of the produce grown there for a snack.
Next, we visited a house where they make rice paper (the type for eating). Anyone who has eaten fresh spring rolls (usually Vietnamese or Thai) would be familiar with them. The ones this family produced are usually sold to neighbors or local markets and are for snacks “like potato chips eaten when watching television” according to our guide. The variety we sampled had chilis and onions in it and was good. See the photo captions for a description of the very traditional process used to make them.
The next stop on the tour was the oldest house in the area, from the 1800s. It would have been built by a wealthy family and only used for special occasions, such as holidays or birthdays. Traditionally there are three altars in these houses dedicated to different things: Buddha in the center, owner of the building on the left, and ancestors on the right.
In complete contrast to the very traditional homes and processes we had visited, we next had a fabulous buffet lunch in a very nice hotel. I tried a lot of interesting things and loved all of them.
We next visited a Whale Temple. The Vietnamese consider whales to be gods. They are worshiped by fisherman, and they believe they protect them when they are out to sea.
Our final stop was time on our own at a local park. It was hot, but I walked a bit on the waterfront and then through the park before resting in the shade until it was time to return to the bus. One of the fun things about this stop was that little kids kept coming up to me and saying “hello” or “hi” – this is something that children do worldwide – they are curious and want to interact and practice their one word of English. It is very endearing and sweet.
Cam Rahn
Our next port was Cam Rahn. The boat docked at a military base, so there was nothing nearby. We chose to take a bus provided by the cruise line to a nearby resort. We were told we could take no photos on the base while on the bus and that they had surveillance technology to tell if we did, would delete any photos on our phones, and that it would hold up the bus for hours. So, we didn’t take photos on the base, and thankfully no one else did.
The resort was interesting because it did not seem to have a hotel; perhaps there are plans to build one there sometime, unless the only purpose is for cruise ship passengers on day trips. It seemed to be curated to what they felt were what western tourists would want. We generally prefer a more authentic experience instead of a sanitized version, but it was an enjoyable change from the ship.
We first went on a beach walk. The beach was beautiful white sand and the water crystal clear. But there was a lot of trash on the beach; perhaps if they develop the resort more, they will clean that up (it will take a lot of work initially).
Next, we had a good lunch of pho ga, Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. We have had it many times in Vietnam and the US, and this was good but not the best we have had.
We then bought some beer and snacks in the store – some banana/coconut rice paper (similar to the rice paper snacks I had seen made the previous day) and some sweet rice crackers.
Ha Long Bay
Our next stop was Ha Long Bay. We visited this bay on our trip in 2012. The bay features thousands of beautiful limestone rock formations. We passed many on our way into the port, which had developed considerably since we last were there.
In 2012, we passed through the port briefly to transfer from a bus from Ha Noi to a ferry to Cat Ba Island; I remember a utilitarian city of some type and a dock for the ferries, but nothing that looked like somewhere you would stay. Now, there is a cruise terminal used by cruise ships like ours but also many smaller cruise ships of various levels of luxury that take cruises of the bay of varying lengths. There are also many hotels. The port is however still under development; the entire street across from the cruise terminal was torn up and it looked like multiple new hotels were being built.
Because we prefer an authentic experience, and because we were glad to be docked in a port where we could actually walk off the ship and do something without other transportation, we went a few blocks inland from the construction chaos and found a normal Vietnamese small city. We enjoyed walking around, we bought some clips at a stationary store, we found an excellent market to look at and then had a good lunch. We enjoyed visiting with a younger-than-us man from Canada at lunch.
Interestingly, the ship provided a bus to a market in the next town, we assume because they are trying to funnel the tourists there, to the more “sanitized” touristy market. When we were trying to find a way through the construction zone, a cab driver also tried to insist that we should go with him to the next town because there was “nothing here to see.” What some don’t seem to understand (i.e., our cruise line, the cab driver, those developing the tourist industry) is that some of us do not like sanitized tourist experiences. We travel to see the world and how people actually live, not a toned-down version that someone thinks tourists would prefer.
The ship remained docked in Halong Bay overnight because many people visited Ha Noi from this port, several hours away. The next morning we enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the exit; even though it was foggy, it was still enjoyable.
Chan May
Our final Vietnamese port was another commercial port, Chan May. We decided to take the cruise ship provided bus to a resort, because the other options were transportation (through the cruise line on a tour, or on an independent tour) to other “tourist” sights further away (1 hour or more).
The resort is one that you can stay at, and several people were staying there. There seemed to be a designated pool area for those there on a day trip from the cruise ship. We went on a nice beach walk and took a dip in the South China Sea. We then enjoyed a refreshing coconut by the pool before heading back to the ship.
Overall, we enjoyed seeing Vietnam again. If you prefer like us not to travel long distances to see various sights or cities for only one day on a tour, a cruise probably isn’t the best way to see the country – I am not sure you would get much of a sense of what it is really like. If you are willing to fly, traveling to Vietnam on a land-based trip would be my recommendation if you are interested in visiting this wonderful country and don’t like taking long shore excursions on a cruise.
Wow! Very Interesting!!