Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a communist state in Southeast Asia. Situated in eastern Indochina—bordering China, Laos, Cambodia, as well as the South China Sea—it is the most populous country among the mainland Southeast Asian countries. The name of the country comes from the Vietnamese Việt Nam, which is in turn a reordering of Nam Việt—the name of an ancient Kingdom from the ancestral Vietnamese that covered much of today's northern Vietnam and southern China. Its Chinese cognate, Yue/Yuet, was also a name for ethnic groups living in the proximity of southern China during ancient times.
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The city suffered a lot during the TET-offensive in 1968. The imperial
city and especially the tombes are worth a visit. Hue is divided in two
parts by the Perfume river. The southern part holds the hotels and
almost all restaurants. Two important streets are ‘Le Loi’ along the
river and ‘Hung Vuong’. The old city part (north) is surrounded by the
citadel and holds the imperial city.
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Danang is Vietnam’s fourth largest city. There is not really much to
visit. It is busy, noisy and colorless. Yep, an industrial town. This
is the reason why many tourists only visit the Cham museum and have
their stay in Hoi An instead of Danang. If you want to stay close to
Danang then I recommend China Beach.
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Hoi An doesn't have its own airport, but most people fly to Danang
(regular flights from Saigon, Nha Trang, Hanoi). From Danang airport,
most people take a taxi at a fixed rate of 10 US$. It is usually
possible to find other tourists to share a taxi. The ride to Hoi An
takes 45 minutes.
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Saigon is a bustling city full of motorbikes. For the budget tourist,
there are 2 centers: The real center with some big hotels like the Rex
The budget center along Pham Nga Lao where all the budget
accommodation, restaurants, travelagencies and internetcafés
are situated. You can go by foot from the one center to the other in 15
minutes, a taxi will cost you 5000 VND. For more info, buy the Lonely
Planet Ho Chi Minh City guidebook (11/2000) price 11.99 US$ Getting
there By plane There are numerous flights from all over the country
into Saigon, as well as many international flights (in fact much more
then to Hanoi). Saigon airport gets about 500.000 passengers each year.
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The first thing you need to decide is whether you'll go the the Mekong
on your own, or on an organized tour. I advise you to go on an
organized tour for these reasons: It's much easier: I spoke to an
Israeli who spent 6 weeks in Vietnam doing everything at his own pace,
trying to do everything independently. He told me it was almost
impossible to travel alone in Mekong. F.i. he asked for a bus to a
certain place, a Vietnamese accompanied him to the busstation but
didn't find the bus himself...
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