Vietnam is a country most people have heard of but until recently few had had the opportunity to visit. It was not until the early 1990’s that the first intrepid travellers started arriving. Things have come a long way in the past decade and visitors from all over the world are now discovering what a hidden gem of a country Vietnam is. Brilliant green rice fields, bustling city streets, thatched bamboo huts, grand colonial buildings, exotic temples and pagodas, deserted sandy beaches, breathtaking mountain scenery, conical straw hats, colourful ethnic minorities, graceful women in ao dai tunics, delicious cuisine, luxurious hotels and resorts and more, much more, it’s all here in Vietnam. Geographically Vietnam is a very diverse country with a great variety of scenery from the verdant tropical waterways of the deep south to the pine forests and peaks of the far north, from the sandy beaches of the coast to the cool tea and coffee plantations of the Central Highlands. Vietnam is a long, narrow ‘S’-shaped country curled beside China, Laos and Cambodia. It measures about 1,645 km from north to south and a maximum of 600-km east to west, but is barely 60 km wide at its narrowest point. Its 3,500 km coastline is made up of sandy bays and rocky headlands facing the South China Sea and wide areas of mud and mangrove swamps around the deltas of the Mekong River in the south and the Red River in the north. Three-quarters of the country are mountainous and mostly heavily forested. The highest peaks are in the north-west, an extension to the Himalayas. The tallest mountain, Fan Si Pan, rises 3,143m above sea level. Most of the remaining quarter of Vietnam's land surface is made up of the deltas of its two great rivers and a narrow coastal strip. These ten million hectares of fertile, low-lying land are intensively farmed, and contain the overwhelming majority of Vietnam's 80 million people. The country can be conveniently divided into three distinct regions, the south, the centre and the north, corresponding to the three administrative regions of Cochinchina, Annam and Tonkin under the French colonial rule. The north of the country was the first to be settled and is characterized by the rich farming lands of the Red River Delta. The centre contains the Truong Son Mountain Range running along the border with Laos in the west and the narrow coastal strip bordering the Eastern Sea in the east. In the south, the Mekong Delta is the country’s most fertile region and Vietnam’s major rice and fruit producing area. The two great metropolises of the country are the elegant capital city Hanoi and the dynamic, economic powerhouse Ho Chi Minh City. Since 1993 UNESCO has declared five World Heritage Sites in Vietnam, four in central Vietnam and one in the north. The four sites in central Vietnam are former imperial capital Hue, the historic trading port of Hoi An, the centre of the former Cham Kingdom, My Son, and Phong Nha Caves. The fifth World Heritage Site is the spectacular natural wonder that is Ha long Bay in northern Vietnam.

Hanoi Vietnam’s capital city, has to be one of Asia’s most fascinating cities offering a unique blend of oriental and western charm. It is a city of exotic brightly painted temples and pagodas, elegant ochre-washed colonial villas, bustling narrow streets and alleys, grand tree-lined boulevards and shaded lakes. First established as Vietnam’s capital in 1010, when it was known as Thang Long, the city’s name changed several times before it eventually became Hanoi in 1831. The Temple of Literature, the site of Vietnam’s first university, dates back to 1070 and its peaceful gardens and pavilions offer a relaxing respite from Hanoi’s busy streets. Today Hanoi is still a city that attracts many of the country’s intellectuals as well as artists and writers. Paintings by Vietnam’s new generation of artists can be seen for sale in the dozens of galleries that have sprung up in recent years in and around the city’s Old Quarter. It is here in the Old Quarter that Hanoi began life as a commercial centre over a thousand years ago. The original 36 streets that make up the Old Quarter are named after the goods once sold there such as silk, paper, silver, copper, herbs, cotton, fish and chicken. Nowadays the goods on sale are more likely to be T-shirts, sunglasses or embroidered table cloths but step back from the main streets and you will still find shops specializing in candlesticks, pagoda flags, engraved headstones and traditional musical instruments amongst others. Just to the south of the bustling Old Quarter streets is Hoan Kiem Lake, an oasis of calm right in the centre of the city. Old men, students and weary tourists stop to rest in the shade on the park’s benches while local residents begin their day with a lakeside tai chi workout. Some of the capital’s finest colonial buildings can be found in the area of Hoan Kiem Lake including the magnificent Opera House, History Museum and the Metropole Hotel. A couple of kilometres west of Hoan Kiem Lake is the imposing granite structure housing Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The mausoleum overlooks Ba Dinh Square, the square where President Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence at the end of World War Two. Nearby is the lotus flower-shaped temple of the One Pillar Pagoda, first built in 1049, and the grand palace that was once the residence of the Governor-General of French Indochina.

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is the everlasting resting house of the greatest leader of Vietnam. It was built between 1973 and 1978 on the foundations of the old rostrum in Ba Dinh Square where President Ho Chi Minh used to deliver his national speeches. The mausoleum is an imposing structure and a far cry from Ho Chi Minh’s dying wish - to be cremated simply and without ceremony. He is to be found lying in state in a glass sarcophagus in a dimly lit chemically pungent chamber, guarded by 4 solemn soldiers. The Mausoleum has become a regular pilgrimage site for the nation and it is fascinating to join the orderly queue of local people who have travelled from far afield to pay their respects to their great leader. The mausoleum opens every morning from 8a.m to 10h30 a.m. except Monday and Friday. It closes every two months of the year from October to December for a regular maintenance, during which his body is returned to Russia.

Ho Chi Minh’s house

After passing through the mausoleum you exit at the back in to the botanical gardens. Nearby is the wonderfully French built Presidential Palace. Follow a trail bordered with mango trees to a stilt house, Uncle Ho's home and office from May 1958 until his death in 1969. Ho declined to live in the Presidential Palace believing that it was too grand. Instead he opted to live in a simple ‘people’s house’. The house is built in the style of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities and has been preserved just as Ho left it. Its design is simple but elegant, it is light and airy allowing for the full fragrance of the flowers from the garden to breeze through.

One Pillar Pagoda

On the way out of the garden, pause to meditate or offer incense at the One Pillar Pagoda, built by King Ly Thai Tong in 1049 after his dream about the Goddess of Mercy giving him a son. A small wooden pagoda on a single stone pillar, it is designed to resemble a single lotus blossom, a symbol of purity. Today it s one of the most famous Buddhist pagodas for Hanoians, who come here regularly on 1st and 15th of lunar month to wish for happiness, peace and property. Unfortunately the Pagoda is a reconstruction rebuilt after the French destroyed in it a final act upon their retreat in1954.

Temple of Literature

In the autumn of 1070 King Ly Thanh Tong founded this temple to pay tribute to Education and to those of high academic achievement. Six years later in 1076, it became the first Viet Nam National University. Even now, more than 200 years after the last national examination, the site's five courtyards still enjoy an atmosphere of higher learning. Today, a variety of art students sits on the grass and try to reproduce the traditional Vietnamese architecture on paper. The 82 stone stelae record the names of successful doctoral graduates from between 1442 – 1787AD.

The Far North

Sapa, nestling in a beautiful valley on the border with China, is northwest Vietnam’s most colourful destination. Vivid green rice terraces are sculpted into the mountain sides while in the fields H’mong and Dao women work dressed in colourful traditional clothes. At the end of the week the H’mong, Dao and other ethnic minorities trek into town from the surrounding countryside to trade goods at the weekend markets in Sapa, Bac Ha and other small towns. Here they sell silver jewellery, traditional embroidered fabrics and authentic articles of hill tribe clothing at the markets. Sapa and its environs has some of the best trekking in Vietnam and there are many ethnic minority villages that can be reached in day treks from Sapa or for a real hill tribe experience it is possible to stay overnight in local villages along the way. The scenery is spectacular, especially in spring and autumn when the skies are clear and blue, and the people are welcoming. Dominating the Sapa skyline is the peak of Vietnam’s highest mountain, Mount Fan Si Pan, rising to 3,143m above sea level. The old French hill-station, Sapa (1500m), is the natural starting point for a unique experience in the Sapa-area, which includes the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, Vietnam`s highest peak of Fan Si Pan (3143m) and 5 different hill-tribes, each one colourful, distinct, and with its own language and cultural values. Some of the villages, especially the more remote ones, are still largely untouched by modern ways of life, and staying overnight privately offers an unusual insight into an otherwise unknown aspect of life in Vietnam. To the southwest of Sapa, close to the border with Laos, is Dien Bien Phu, where the battle that ended French colonial rule in Vietnam took place in 1954. The area around Dien Bien Phu is also home to many ethnic minorities.

Ba Be National Park

To the northeast of Hanoi, is another area of outstanding natural beauty, Ba Be Lakes, located within the national park of the same name. Lakes, waterfalls, rivers, caves, lush tropical rainforest and ethnic minority villages are all to be found in Ba Be National Park.

Halong Bay

A natural wonder of the world and one of Vietnam’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, magnificent Halong Bay lies 160km to the east of Hanoi. Over three thousand jagged limestone islands emerge from the emerald green waters of Halong Bay. While some islands are no more than large rocks others are much more substantial and contain huge cathedral-like caves of stalactites and stalagmites. Most of the islands are clothed in thick green vegetation and ring with the sound of bird song in the early morning. Secluded sandy coves are everywhere and in the summer months the warm waters of the bay are ideal for swimming. Halong’s largest island, and one of the few that are inhabited, is Cat Ba which has some nice beaches and a national park on it. The best way to appreciate the delights of Halong Bay is to cruise among the islands on a wooden junk. Fresh seafood can be bought from the local fishermen directly from their rowing boats and cooked up for a delicious lunch.