By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Biking Vietnam tour is designed along the best principles of travel: to explore, discover, learn, make connections, be present, experiential, meaningful and revelatory, and do it in a way that maximizes the benefits and minimizing the negative impacts of tourism.
Of the 12 days we spend in Vietnam, traveling from north, to central, to south (flying between regions), we bike on six of them. That might seem odd for a biking tour, but you don’t travel 30 hours to Vietnam and miss the important highlights, like Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in Hanoi, taking a traditional row boat through the caves of Ninh Binh; cruising overnight on the Ha Long Bay; discovering the Citadel and Imperial City of Hue; walking the colorful markets and enjoying the nightlife of Hoi An; or touring the War Remnants Museum, the historic Ben Thanh Market, or miss the experience of street food in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) because you are obsessive about biking. We get to do all of these, and also bike through villages, stopping to learn about traditional crafts, and amid the rice paddies to learn about Vietnam’s 4000-year old wet rice culture and ancestor worship.
Riding in the bus between destinations lets us see the countryside (and I have set myself a challenge to get photos of people working in the fields and four people riding a motor scooter); the way the homes are laid out, the ancestral tombs in the fields, the occasional tractor, the massive, new industrial parks under construction. You see progress unfolding at the speed of the bus, all the more impressive when you realize what a young country Vietnam is, having proclaimed independence in 1945 but only “reunified” in 1975.
The essence of this tour is about familiarizing us with the Vietnamese people (who, we learn, are a mosaic of 54 different tribes), the rich cultural heritage and today’s achievements in overcoming literally millennia of conflict, war, oppression, colonialism. When we bike, hike or walk, we barely have to think a question, let along ask it, before our guide, Nguyen Hong Phong, stops and answers. “This is normal for me, curious for you,” he tells us at the outset, as we sit for tea in the Apricot Hotel on our first afternoon together in Hanoi. “When you are curious, just ask,” he adds.
2025 marks the 50th anniversary since the Fall of Saigon that so abruptly ended an interminable war (and reunification as an independent country). You can’t escape the fact of the “American War” (which frankly was the tail end of a decades long war for independence before the United States interceded), but our tour seems to sidestep the past in favor of the present. This is probably a reflection of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ primary focus for its guests: “You’re on vacation!”
(There are several important sites that are not included in this tour that I would recommend setting up pre and post days: the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, infamously known as “Hanoi Hilton” and the Chi Chi Tunnels which is an excursion from Saigon. Even the War Remnants Museum, a must-see in Ho Chi Minh City, was not on the itinerary but we visit when we could not visit the Reunification Palace as planned.)
Still, there is no escaping the past: in Hanoi when we visit Ho Chi Minh’s 1968 residence, built like a camouflaged bunker with escape tunnels and learn they moved his body regularly when he died in 1969; when we visit the John McCain Monument where the American hero’s plane went down and he was captured; when we see the bullet holes in the Citadel in Hue and are shown photos of fighting that took place on the very spot where we stand; and when we visit My Son, a sacred historic site outside of Saigon, and learn that the Vietnamese appealed to President Nixon to stop bombing. I think Americans who visit Vietnam have an obligation to see what was done in our name, especially because it is so important to learn from history so not to make the same mistakes, and not be duped by an administration determined to go to war for its own political agenda.
I frankly didn’t know how I would react coming to Vietnam – I am the generation that lived through the Vietnam War (known here as “The American War”), or how Americans would be received. My questions are soon answered – the Vietnamese warmly welcome us Americans (and French and Chinese and a list of nationalities that have oppressed Vietnam). Vietnam is nothing like what I expected – in a good way. It’s in this capacity that one of the important attributes of travel come to fore: we travelers are ambassadors, promoting mutual understanding and connection.
In Vietnam today, you can see the impact of peace, free markets, free enterprise have to achieve prosperity – a lesson to all those who are inciting conflict and war. You see the benefits of trade and globalization – a lesson for those who would disrupt and unravel alliances and build barriers instead of bridges.
Old Hanoi
Since our group is first meeting together at 1 pm for a walking tour, I have the morning to myself to explore. I walk across the street from our luxury hotel, The Apricot, to the park that rings the small, picturesque lake.
We are here during the month-long Lunar New Year celebration, made even more festive because of the 50th anniversary of reunification – everywhere that is possible has decorations reminiscent of how we celebrate Christmas. People dress in their formal, traditional costumes and pose for photos taken by professional photographers. People travel on holiday. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere.
There are political symbols, posters, flags and such but no more than the giant advertising billboards and the Starbucks, KFCs, McDonalds, Burger Kings. Also, I am flabbergasted at the proliferation of motorscooters and the paucity of bicycles. Crossing any street takes fortitude and a measure of fatalism, but where there are traffic signals, the systems are sophisticated and effective. Also, cell phones are ubiquitous.
I head into the Old Quarter where I am intrigued at the “old propaganda posters” shops, the coffee shops (who knew Vietnam was such a major producer and exporter of coffee?), and massage parlors as common as nail salons at home.
The Propaganda Poster Shop seems more to satisfy the American and European tourists who visit (“Make Art Not War”).
But here at the Propaganda Poster Shop I happen to see many postcards for Train Street (reminding me of Lisbon) which suggests it is an important site and inspires me to go in search of this place.
After getting lost (my WiFi isn’t working and I can’t figure out the map) and stopping numerous people to point me in the right direction, I look up and am drawn to colorful lanterns, walk up a staircase and find myself quite literally on the train tracks. Train Street!
People have set themselves at café tables and chairs and are even hanging out on the tracks taking photos. It is all the more amazing because it turns out it is just 5 minutes before the train is due (and I am so lucky because only a few trains come through a day). With 5 minutes to go, there is even a baby playing on the track!
I am standing alongside the track and a lady yells at me to sit down in one of the plastic chairs, like a kid’s chair. As the train comes tearing through at what seems a very fast speed, it is so close that had I held out my hand, it would have been taken off. I reflexively suck in my breath and try to make myself as small as possible until it passes. Unbelievably thrilling.
I feel proud of myself for being able to find my way back to the hotel by 1 pm in time to meet our Discovery Bicycle group for our first activity together, a walking tour of the Old District. I have already been traveling with 8 of the group for Discovery Bicycle’s four-day Cambodia pre-tour and now we meet the other 10.
Phong leads us to the St. John Cathedral, the oldest church in Hanoi. Built on the site of the biggest, most sacred Buddhist pagodas of the Ly-Tran Dynasties, the cathedral was constructed at the end of the 18th century of wood, then reconstructed with baked clay in 1884-1888. Phong tells us that Catholics are a minority; the biggest religion in Vietnam, he says, is “triple religion” – a mix of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (ancestor worship).We will see evidence of this everywhere we go.
Phong volunteers that the Communist government “allows free religious worship and free press” (though I question what he means by “free press”), then adds that protest against the Communist Party is not allowed; nor is there an opposition candidate in elections. Vietnam has been a one-party government since 1954, but in 1986 introduced new freedom in commerce and open markets.
“We have more freedom than in China. They block media there, here they block the BBC but we can get CNN.” Whatever they block, he says, people get curious and have their ways of accessing.
“Society is improving for ordinary people. Since 1988, we are living in peace. We feel more freedom, a peaceful country. We are now friends with Russia, Ukraine, the European Union. The USA is one of seven strongest friends. Peace is good for people, good for the country. [Tourists want to] come to a peaceful country.”
Phong tells us he learned English (as well as French and Chinese) at university where he studied tourism, but today, children are taught English as early as 3 and 4 years old in school. Public school is free he tells us, even in the mountains where parents are actually given a money incentive to send their kids to school.
We walk through Hanoi’s Old Quarter where the name of the street may well describe what enterprises take place there, established generations ago by the people who resettled in the city: Tin Street, Silver Street, Basket Street, Copper Street.
We return at 3 pm for tea at the Apricot Hotel – an elaborate affair – that includes an introduction and orientation to our 12-day tour (with biking!) with Phong as our lead guide.. Indeed, we will go first thing the next morning to get sized for our rental bikes which we will use for five of the days (the driver and bike mechanic who travels will us will travel 2 ½ days to Hue, when we fly), and will pick up a different bike in Ho Chi Minh City (way too far to drive and return).
I realize that we have just enough time to see the 5:15 pm traditional Water Puppet Theater cultural show just across the street from the hotel, before we meet again to go to dinner.
I had seen this heritage show when I was in Ho Chi Minh City six years before, so was enthusiastic to see it here, and encourage my traveling companions to come.
Most of our group from the four-day Cambodia pre-tour (we really bonded) are game and we actually purchase the last tickets for this immensely popular program. The show is a cultural treasure that utilizes this traditional art form, with musicians performing with traditional musical instruments and song, fables and folk stories enacted by these marvelous puppeteers (yes, the puppets are in a pool of water!).
Captions and notes about the theater and the scenes are flashed on the walls beside the stage. Vietnam water puppetry, I learn, was born from the rice civilization in the Red River Delta, so agriculture is vividly depicted by the puppets, with farmers and familiar images such as riding buffalo, plowing, harrowing, transplanting rice, slapping water, harvesting. (Later, when we bike among the rice paddies, we will see how this tradition originated.)
One of the scenes enacts “The Legend of Returning the Sword by King Le Loi” where LeLoi caught a holy sword by chance as he led the resistance war. After defeating the invaders, he proclaimed himself king. King Le Li goes out boating on the Green Water Lake, when suddenly a large turtle surfaced, took the sword from King Le Loi’s belt, and dived back into the depths, carrying the glowing sword in his mouth. (This is all enacted with puppets in the water).
The humor that is integral to the culture is displayed where the puppets enact an old farmer “Chasing fox away from the flock of ducks”. “It creates Vietnamese optimistic farmers,” the notes say.
The notes for “The Spirit Mediums Spiritual Dance,” say that “Vietnam’s Mother Goddess worship has been honored by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. In today’s life, Mother Goddess worship is mainly known to the community through the concept of ‘The Spirit Mediums’. Traditional cultural elements such as costumes, music, dance and folk performances imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity are created, developed and passed on from generation to generation.”
The ”Four Sacred Animals Dance” brings together Long, Ly, Quy and Phuong (Dragon, Unicorn, Tortoise, Phoenix) “praising the nature of heaven and earth, hoping for a peaceful state and a peaceful and happy life.”
There are fire effects and of course water effects and amazing choreography – you actually cannot figure out how the puppeteers coordinate so well (and underwater!) – and then the puppeteers appear for their curtain call, up to their waist in water.
The show finishes just in time for us to walk together to dinner in a charming restaurant in the Old District.
A note on the table about the apple cider makes us giggle: “Cider drinkers get more refreshment and excitement while still keeping their sanity. Especially suitable for women.”
Our lunches and dinners at restaurants are typically pre-ordered and served family style, with multiple courses so that we typically have chicken, beef, seafood, vegetable, rice, soup dishes – always with more than enough to satisfy even American appetites, and to get a really excellent idea of the cuisine.
We walk back to the Apricot Hotel through the bustling night markets that take over the streets, brightly and colorfully lit.
Exploring the Apricot Hotel (we will be leaving early in the morning after breakfast), we discover an exquisite rooftop indoor pool and bar with a giant video screen. The artwork around the hotel, the elegant (French-inspired) furnishings are gorgeous.
Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com.
Next: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ninh Binh Bird Sanctuary
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