Hugging the coastline of the South China Sea like the great big bent spine of Southeast Asia as a whole, the nation of Vietnam has long been a traveller’s image of the quintessential east. Its cities seethe with the purring of mopeds, the touting of salespeople, the smells of succulent street food stalls dishing canh chua and peanut satay to boot. It’s backcountry rises above the misty clouds in streams of rice paddy and wild jungle, all peppered by the occasional bamboo village of earthy locals with tanned and seam-crossed faces.
City-lovers should be sure to ask their Vietnam tour guide about a route through the country that runs the gamut; from heady Hanoi in the north, with its magnificent Ha Long Bay and sprawling honorific monuments to Great Uncle Ho, to the old Saigon down south, with its shimmering high-rises and curious post-colonial feel.
But of course no introduction to Nam’ could be complete without at least a mention of its beaches. Long, golden and lapped by the crystalline waters of the Pacific Ocean, they are a haven for surfers, divers and swimmers to boot!