Lonely Planet author and friend Tom Downs recently said to me that pretty much any time you see old photos of a place, you see what the place was like 20 or more years before that. In other words, we — as traveling documentarians, either by writing or camera — tend to focus on what’s already old, nostalgic. For example, while studying Russian … Read on
In Hue — the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) — visitors have three principal choices for tourism: a boat tour of the king’s tombs located on and off the Perfume River inland, a looksy at the Citadel in town (largely destroyed during the French and American wars, particularly the Tet Offensive in 1968), and a tour of the ‘DMZ’ (demilitarized … Read on
The night before a man and woman stopped him on the street. The woman held a knife and wanted money. ‘She was very afraid. She didn’t know what to do with the knife. Women are more unpredictable with tools. It was two million dong (about $125), but all they got was money.’ The guy — very blond, slouching in the wicker lounge chair … Read on
I don’t chase down ‘American War’ sites or often bring it up in conversations here. It’s not out of creating some sort of faux pas, or dodging the reality that the US and Vietnam were in war a few decades ago. I rarely get anything but a bright-eyed response when I tell someone where I’m from: nuoc my (America). But occasionially the war … Read on
In Cat Ba island where something new for me is streaming along the streets — Vietnamese tourists. Ten years ago, when I was living in Saigon, destinations were pretty much the turf of sunburnt foreigners toting backpacks or the occasional wheeled suitcase. Now it’s hard to get room from all the souvenir shops hawking things directed to the local market — seashell wind … Read on
Just leaving the Water Puppet performance in central Hanoi — where tourists pack into tight rows of plush red seats in an air-conditioned hall to watch an hour-long performance of dancing fishes, dragon, turtles, farmers splash in the water to a live soundtrack of traditional Vietnamese music; it feels a bit tired, but at $1.30 a ticket it’s hard to skip — I … Read on
