My recent trip to Vietnam wasn’t meant to be a vacation.
As part of a group from First Baptist Church in Gainesville, I was there to document the story of its members coming to help impoverished areas and one man in particular, the Rev. Joe Tu, as he returned to his home country for the first time since the Vietnam War.
But while there, extensive flooding caused us to change our original itinerary. One day, the day care center we had planned on visiting was inaccessible. So, until the roads cleared, we took a side trip to Hoi An, a port city steeped in history — and very popular among tourists.
This connection to tourists — they outnumber the locals by a ratio of 9-to-1 — makes the city very friendly to English speakers. It’s clean and well maintained, and it’s easy to find a guide who will take you on a tour of the local pagodas and temples.
But to see how much this city differed from the countryside, simply look at the ice.
As a Westerner, you’re not supposed to drink the water, nor accept a drink with ice. And everything is served with ice — even beer, which comes in a glass with a large hunk floating in the middle. But in Hoi An, the restaurants have signs specifically for tourists: "Our ice is made from purified water."
Even the ice is advertised for the tourists.
This is a distinct contrast to a city such as Da Nang, where streets seethed with motorbikes and cars, and pollution was rampant. The street markets, while interesting, were filled with everyday items like spoons.
Hoi An, which is an ancient city and one of the first port cities, has a huge amount of history. This was great because there were lots of tours and things were very English-accessible. There were lots of souvenirs to buy and stores that made clothes for you that were really cheap.You do have to pay to get into the city. It’s not much — we paid $12 for an entire bus. But once inside, you are paired with a guide who takes you to all the temples and pagodas and explains the history of the French and Chinese in Vietnam.
They also offered the simple explanation as to why the alphabet is letters and not symbols — because when the French left, it was easier to keep it that way.
There were also cool markets, and you could tell they were set up for Westerners to see exotic things — things like weird dead birds and exotic fruit. I saw so many cameras there.
The best part about a touristy city like Hoi An is that you really get a sense of history of the country. Everywhere else we went, there was so much lack of infrastructure and poverty that you don’t get a sense of how things used to be.
Plus, because of the European influence, the buildings also look like they came from the French countryside, complete with stucco walls and barrel-tile roofs.
But this is in contrast to the rest of the Da Nang area, in central Vietnam, where we traveled.
The other areas we saw were so much poorer and so much more crowded. Pollution was rampant and there were motorbikes everywhere. And motorbikes tend to create a sense of confusion.
It was good to get to the other cities and villages because we saw actual street markets. And although we couldn’t buy anything (we didn’t need any spoons), it was interesting to see where the locals did their shopping. It wasn’t the touristy stuff we saw in Hoi An — this is where Vietnamese people went to buy their groceries.
You have to work a lot harder to see the nontouristy parts — for one, you have to hire a driver. And I wonder how the reception would be if I were not with a large group bringing clothes and food to the areas — you tend to get a warm reception that way.
But I definitely enjoyed that part, of the trip too. I never felt unsafe, and even went running in the morning. The only real obstacle to getting around the villages is the language barrier.
And getting a cold drink, since we couldn’t indulge in ice.