Surviving Vietnam

At our drop-off point

Inside the tourist bus

When I started seeing Manila's beautiful lights against the dark skies as we descended into NAIA, I knew that Vietnam would be well remembered. It is very tourist friendly and there really is a great effort to make Ho Chi Minh City an ideal tourist destination.  No wonder why Vietnam is surpassing the Philippines in foreign arrivals. I am hopeful that time will come when we get to enjoy the same kind of tourism Vietnam and Thailand are experiencing.

For now, I shall bask in my memory of Vietnam and the impressions it has left me.



At the pre-departure airport in Vietnam



My tourist adventure gave me a cumulative time of 12 hours aboard tourist buses. Caucasians who probably earn ten or twenty times more than I do share in my discomfort and delight as we travel through the Vietnam countryside on the bus. Rich and poor tourists had the same glimpse of the plains, rivers,  rice fields and plantations of the country.  The tourist bus, I feel, in this case, is a great equalizer. To experience Vietnam in the same way as the rest was comforting. The tour we had made us taste the same food and eat at the same place. We were, after all, tourists in the same country. The difference in our experience would be is when we retire to our standard accomodation while they rest in their 'starred-hotels.' I didn't mind what our hotel was; Filipinos wherever they may be do know how to party. We were able to jell well with the crowd as we drank our Heineken on the sidewalk while seated on small chairs. Apparently, this is how local folks in Vietnam drink; the drinking session ends at 12 mindnight, though, when the streets are deserted. It worked for us because we began each day in Vietnam at 8 in the morning. Staying out late at night  might just be problematic.

Another good thing happens aboard tourist buses is the opportunity to sell our country to other tourists. We were four in the group, and we befriended a Czech tourist. Just being our-friendly-selves, I believed, we were able to show him how fun our country is. The Philippines has so much to offer; it's just probably the publicity, the negative and the lack of it, that seems to be hampering tourism growth to its fullest potential. We will never know if the Czech guy will ever make it to our shores, but we do know that we made him see how nice and friendly of a people we are.



A Cebu Pacific flight attendant



We landed at NAIA bringing with us immense appreciation for a country who only few decades ago was ravaged in civil and military strife and yet was transformed to become a beauty that it was. Vietnam holds so much promise, and I can't wait to see it again. But by the time I get ready for my next international travel, I will have saved a lot more. Just before leaving the country, I had to shell out P1,600+ on travel tax and P750 on terminal fees. For me, this was without a doubt costly. The fees collected at the airport from an average Filipino traveler can be very discouraging. I feel that our country should encourage traveling and not the other way around.



A Vietnamese temple