My Vietnam 1991 -- 1994

off road pat · June 22, 2015

Can't get into the "new" Hanoi. They tore down a lot of the old quarter's crazy shops to make more coffee bars and tourist shops.

It lost a lot of its character in the process. As we old Viet hands say, "It was better in the 90s." Just think Times Square in New York.

It has turned into just another corporate mall for the mindless crawlers who have too much time and money and just go somewhere

to check it off their list.

Same is true for Saigon, to a lesser extent. There was never a building over 15 stories in the 90s and now it looks like BKK.

Saigon was still a city of bicycles as late as 1991 but I wouldn't be caught dead riding around those crazy streets now on anything

not enclosed in steel. They just razed the main drag, Nguyen Hue St., to make way for a grandiose Sky Train system. Place looks

like Ghengis Khan just left town. What passes for progress is just change and change is hardly ever for the better these days.

They blew out some of the old town blocks completely to make way for more Gucci and Prada crap in a shiny, new, marble mall that has

as many customers as a mausoleum, which it more resembles. No more family run silk shops where you could get a cool shirt made for $10

or a nice pair of linen trousers for not much more. Just the same old corporate crap you see everywhere now in McWorld.

Young people travelling today will call this a rant from a grumpy, old man but what do they know? They never saw the cool stuff or the

crazy things that gave a city its unique character. These people would be helpless without Starbucks, wifi and trip advisor, etc. etc etc. Bah, humbug.

yeah, Hanoi was a dream of a city in the 90's..... I travelled around Vietnam 8 times from 1990.....last time just a few years ago with my Thai wife, I wanted to show her the most beautiful places i ever saw there.....It has changed a awful lot.....like you, I could not find any family run silk shops anymore....all changed into tourist shops / attractions. with according prices. the worse was Hue, Hoi Ahn and Tam Coc,...the way those gems had changed really made me cry.....

......I had such a great time travelling around Vietnam.

Best regards....

Assurancetourix · June 22, 2015

Thank you to all of you ;

I can see many were in Vietnam sometimes a long time before me and many others as me in the 90's ;

Yes many things have changed;

I remember Saigon beginning of 1991; nearly no cars and not too many bicycles or Honda;

some Renault 4 CV and Citroen 11 CV as a taxi and many three wheels cycles taxis for people and goods ;

I went once in Vung Tau with vietnamese friends in a minibus;

I remember the big Christ on the top of the hill ;

Hanoi in january 1991, nearly no cars and the traffic was flowing steadily ;

No ATM ; the first one was in a little street behind the main post office in 1992 if I can remember .

we must go to the shops which were selling gold for changing our money.

dogpatch55 · June 22, 2015

Yeah great photos!! Always wanted to go there.. Will really have to take a trip there!!

LALes · June 22, 2015

I forgot to add...excellent photos, Assurancetourix. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd post some, too.

vento · June 22, 2015

That time everything really was an adventure. Internet kind tool away a bit of it. Nice pics. Thanks for sharing

ggt · June 22, 2015

Loved the pics...keep them coming...

mikecat · June 22, 2015

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

KKJohn · June 22, 2015

Great photos. I was also there in '91 for a few years. I had an Aussie mate who was working for the Australian Embassy in Hanoi , which was one of the first. He was restoring some old French villas and I was cataloging them for their photo library. I loved Hanoi especially the old quarter and the lake, particularly the opera house, a magnificent French colonial style edifice. On Sundays, my day off, I would walk around the old quarter and the lake taking photos, often in B&W, of the people and the buildings. It was a marvelous experience. I hesitate to go back as I am afraid the old quarter will have lost its character that I so fondly remember. ALso,when he was finished in Hanoi, his next commission was in Phnom Penh so he drove down in his pick up from Hanoi all the way to Phnom Penh. I was fortunate to travel with him. That was a great trip as well. I have many photos of that time and I will dig them out if anyone is interested.

Not sure how to post photos. Please help!

rhodie · June 22, 2015

Great pics thanks Assurancetourix. Always nice to see these old photos of life as it was back then.

ExPratt · June 22, 2015

Anyone read this article , look like the Nam are fighting for Thailand's Western Market

BANGKOK, Thailand (eTN) - At the recent Mekong Tourism Forum in Danang, Vietnam National Administration Chairman Nguyen Van Tuan confirmed that the government will finally allow new countries to be exempted of visa formalities. The five countries benefiting from the new measure are France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. “The new regulation is due to be activated from July 1 normally,” indicated the VNAT Chairman. Belarus will also be exempted from a visa although it will have little effect to lift arrivals on a global scale.

Among the five countries which will benefit of the exemption, France, Germany, and the UK are among the top incoming markets for Vietnam. All together, they generated last year a total of 635,489 arrivals, a market share of 8% of all arrivals into the country. Among European countries, France remains the strongest with total arrivals reaching 214,000 tourists last year followed by the UK with 202,000 arrivals and Germany with 142,000. France and the UK have, however, seen total arrivals declining by 6% during the first five months of 2015, while Germany was progressing moderately by 0.6%. The exemption of a visa could easily help those countries growing their total arrivals by an additional 250,000 to 400,000 visitors during the next 3 years.

The measure will be accompanied by a promotional campaign from VNAT with media and travel agent fam trips being organized. “This is a first step, and we hope that more countries will follow. Australia, the USA, or Canada for example could be in the medium term benefit from a similar measure,” added Nguyen Van Tuan. In total, 23 countries will now be exempted from the visa.

Vietnam has been confronted since the beginning of this year by a dramatic drop in total arrivals. For the first 5 months of this year, total arrivals are down by 12.6% with almost all countries affected. Of a total of 30 top foreign markets, only 7 show a growth so far this year. Declines are particularly dramatic from China, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, all down by around 30%. China total arrivals for example stand at only 164,000 compared to 700,000 for the first 5 months of 2014. Russia is also down by 25% from a total of 146,000 arrivals from January to May 2014 compared to 22,000 from January to May 2015.

http://www.eturbonews.com/60530/vietnam-abolishes-visas-6-european-countries-july-1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Eturbonews-TravelAndTourismIndustryNews+%28eTurboNews+-+for+the+global+travel+professional%29

thaipo7 · June 22, 2015

Really enjoyed the pictures. You mention 140 pictures. Let us know when and where posted. I have only flown over Vietnam. The plane approached the coast at 6:00 AM and it looked beautifil with the white sand and the green jungle. This was 08-1970 on to 2 years service in Thailand. I have a home in Korat and someday will make it to visit Vietnam.

houston · June 23, 2015

Vietnam is well worth the visit. If my son, daughter-in-law and grandson were not all in Thailand, I am sure my wife and I would now be in Nha Trang

I was in Thailand in 2009 and spent 2 weeks to go VN. You have daily flight from BKK to HCM ville (very cheap) and have just ask visa from internet (visa delivered at TSN airport).

I plan to retreat in Thailand in the next 2 years and will go to discover VN again (my childhood country). These nice pics make me want to know more about my country.

Assurancetourix · June 23, 2015

This morning ideal weather for cycling; no sun, no wind...so no photos on TVF ;
Now it's 3.20 pm and I will upload more photos ;
continuing with Hue province ;
The tombs of the emperors are along the perfume river going upstream ;

Minh Mang Tomb ( 25 May 1791 – 20 January 1841 )

Tu Duc Tomb (22 September 1829 – 17 July 1883)

Khai Dinh Tomb ( Nguyen Buu Dao, Hué 1885-1925 Hué )

The last emperor, Bao Dai have finished his life in France where he died in 1997

Edited June 23, 2015 by Assurancetourix

Assurancetourix · June 23, 2015

A little problem with the last photo;

" Edit " I cannot find it !!

If a moderator can have a look ?

It's not very important ...

Assurancetourix · June 23, 2015

Hue is divided in two parts;

Rive droite - right side of the river - , the train station, the hospital, the University and the biggest high schools and nearly all the hotels and GH ;

Rive gauche - left side of the river - the forbidden City , the market and the beautiful pagoda Tien Mu ( Chùa Thiên Mụ )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thi%C3%AAn_M%E1%BB%A5_Pagoda

The same pagoda in 2007 ;

I went there with my thai wife and we met a couple of thai people with their kid

Beautiful point of view on the Perfume River from the Tien Mu Pagoda

Assurancetourix · June 23, 2015

In the countryside, not far from the south of the city, on a little " red " road which is between the main rd " Mandarine " and the sea a very beautiful covered bridge