Indochina — beautiful and affordable

In October ’04 my wife and I had a sensational journey through Indochina. We booked our tour through All Asia Travel Company (57-59 Do Quang Dau St., District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; tel. 848-9203493, fax 848-9203446, e-mail allasia@hcm.fptvn or visit www.allasiatravel.com).

For our party of four, our 22-day tour cost $1,800 per person and included centrally located 4-star hotels with breakfast, private car with driver, English-speaking guides, entrance fees and eight intra-Asia flights. Airfare on Korean Air round trip from New York’s JFK to Ho Chi Minh City was $950. The flight was comfortable and the in-flight service excellent.

Ms. Phuong To Chi, the owner and director of All Asia Travel, was remarkable in her promptness in answering our e-mails and in her interest and devotion to us. During our journey she called several times to insure that all was satisfactory. I highly recommend All Asia Travel Company.

Ho Chi Minh City, VIET-NAM, is a beautiful, vibrant, bustling metropolis of commerce which in the coming years will be in the category of Bangkok and Singapore as a prime destination. Its wide avenues and marvelous French colonial buildings make it unique in Southeast Asia. It offers great shopping venues, local markets, small businesses and upscale department stores with unbelievable bargains.

We visited the Reconciliation Palace, museums, Buddhist temples, the Chinese quarter and several other important tourist spots. We also went to the Cu Chi tunnels, which played an important part in the American/Vietnam War.

An excursion to Cantho, the commercial center of the Mekong Delta, allowed us to appreciate the immensity of the delta along with its beauty. We saw hundreds of busy interconnecting waterways of all sizes; large, lake-like bodies of water; immense rice paddies; rich, luxuriant plantations of vegetables and all kinds of succulent exotic fruits, and cities and towns of various sizes.

The Mekong River, big and majestic, is very kind to the more than 20 million Vietnamese living in the delta. In addition to all the varieties of delicious fishes, during the monsoon season every year the river carries rich alluvia down from Tibet, making the soil most fertile.

We visited Cai Rang, the colorful floating market in Cantho. The scenery was stunning and relaxing.

Then we flew to Hue, the ancient imperial capital, to visit the Imperial Palace, the Citadel, the Forbidden City and the Tuc Duc Royal Tombs, all historical vestiges of great importance. We enjoyed a relaxing and picturesque boat ride on the Perfume River on our way to visit Thien Mu Pagoda.

We drove to Da Nang, crossing the Hai Van Pass, a road overlooking lush valleys, lakes and, at times, beaches. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful.

A 2-day stop in the old city of Hoi An gave us the opportunity to admire awesome handicrafts, woodcarvings, stunning silk embroideries and marvelous silk works, or silk paintings as they call them; these are portraits and landscapes done with a finesse able to make any seasoned painter envious.

It was a great pleasure and also a wonderful experience to walk on the streets of this lovely ancient town lined with shops and restaurants. We encountered shoemakers in Hoi An as well as tailors ready to make custom-made suits from a large selection of materials and deliver them to our hotel the same day. Several catalogs and technical help were available to help choose the style. Shoes were being sold at unbelievably low prices.

Hanoi is smaller and less busy than Ho Chi Minh City. It’s beautiful with its wide, tree-lined boulevards, its numerous lakes, beautiful green parks, landscaped gardens and magnificent French colonial buildings. And with its museums and the Temple of Literature, it’s a great place to visit. Old Hanoi, new Hanoi, the French Quarter: everything is marvelous. We also enjoyed the delightful water puppets show.

Cruising Halong Bay gave us the pleasure of admiring its wonders — the multiple islets, the stunning rock formations and the floating houses — and to glimpse the fishermen’s life.

The beauty of Vietnam cannot be exaggerated. Lush and green, it’s a fast-developing country with a fast-growing economy.

Our guides there were excellent — very knowledgeable, informative and devoted. They all did a great job and helped us understand the history and culture of their country. We found the Vietnamese people wonderful, hospitable and courteous. They were proud of their heritage and confident in the future.

Vietnamese cuisine is superb — rich, varied, delicious and low-priced. Restaurants charged $4-$5 for lunch and $7-$8 for dinner without wine. It’s a gourmet’s paradise.

However, a challenge found in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi is the crossing of a boulevard. One has to edge his way through moving heavy traffic, a swarm of bikes, motorbikes and cars. At first it’s frightening; fortunately, the locals are always there to help. After a few lessons and a few trials, the fear is shed away and with newly acquired courage one charges into traffic and threads his way through the moving mesh.

In spite of it all, the traffic flows smoothly, even during rush hours. And during our two weeks in Vietnam we witnessed not a single accident or near miss nor an irate, cursing driver or rider.

After Hanoi we flew to Vientiane, LAOS, to visit some beautiful pagodas and stupas, some of which rival those of Burma (Myanmar).

We went on to Luang Prabang, the old imperial capital and the jewel of Laos. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, centuries old, it is peaceful and restful as well as charming with its old houses, its night market (beautiful crafts at low prices) and its main street lined with stores, restaurants and massage parlors. Treat yourself to a one-hour foot massage and reflexology for $3 or a one-hour total-body massage for $5.

A walk on the streets of Luang Prabang takes you back in time. It’s a great destination.

A boat ride on the Mekong took us to the Pak Ou Caves, a sacred place overlooking the river which contains over 3,000 statues of Buddha. Not too far from Luang Prabang is Kuoang Si Fall — spectacular.

CAMBODIA is fascinating, and Phnom Penh is beautiful, with large avenues and a great, broad walk along the Mekong lined with hotels, restaurants and businesses. We visited the National Museum, which is lodged in a beautifully designed building of mixed French and oriental architecture. It houses a large collection of artifacts from the pre-Angkor and Angkor eras.

The King Palace complex is majestic. The immaculate palace grounds are royally landscaped with manicured gardens, and scattered all over are beautiful pavilions of various sizes. There are also marvelous royal stupas decorated with intricate carvings. I had the feeling of entering a fairy zone.

The Throne Hall has an opulence which is impossible to describe — gold galore. The Silver Pagoda has a floor of 5,000 silver tiles, each weighing 1.1 kilos. Also in the complex is a collection of Buddhas, the most noticeable of which is the pure-gold Buddha encrusted with 9,584 diamonds — grandiose and impressive.

We visited the central market and the Russian market in Phnom Penh; both are great places for shopping.

The most sophisticated gourmet would have no problem enjoying the food in Laos and Cambodia, and meals there are cheaper than in Vietnam.

Still, the highlight in Cambodia is Siem Reap, where one can visit the Angkor Wat complexes — magnificent architectural wonders of impressive, well-built stone temples and beautifully carved bas reliefs depicting history — vestiges of the Khmer civilization.

Our tour of Indochina was a sensational, special, memorable journey. Beautiful, exciting and fascinating, it’s a great destination.

JACQUES PROSPER
Ballston Lake, NY