Inaugural tour to Vietnam by Travelon a huge success

During the April holidays, Travelon ventured out to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) City with 14 adventurous Sri Lankans led by their tour captain, Director Bandula De Silva.

This was the maiden voyage to Vietnam by Travelon and the management was very keen that the tour should come off with flying colours since this was a new destination.

Travelon has already completed tours to Myanmar, Egypt, Kenya, Bhutan, Northern Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia and added Vietnam as their 10th destination.

The group arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport at Ho Chi Minh City via a Thai International A340 flight and was met by Mr. Dent Tran Director of Travel Indochina, an excellent ground handling agent in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). After checking-in at Hotel Elios the group had some free time to overcome jet-lag and a change of the body clock adjusting to HCMC (+7GMT).

An evening city tour included visits to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and the post office built during the French era, still functioning with efficiency and glory.

The group became instant millionaires when they exchanged $ 100, which gave them 2.1 Million Vietnamese Dong (US$ 1 equals 21,000 Viet. Dong).

The first dinner in HCMC was at an elegant up-market authentic Vietnamese Restaurant in the Old Qartier (Old Town) which the group appreciated very much.

The next day was an excursion to Chu Chi Tunnels, where unique tactics by Vietnamese soldiers who defected from the US Army in 1975 were displayed.

One could also crawl through the tunnel network and taste, boiled tapioca and crushed peanuts – the staple diet of Vietcong during the war.

Next was a full day excursion to Mekong Delta where the mighty Mekong River unloads her waters to the East Sea, after gushing through five countries in South East Asia. (Vietnamese avoid using the name South China Sea because mainland China tries to claim ownership)

The night’s dinner was on a luxury cruise ship along the Saigon River with international food and serene Vietnamese music (all instruments made locally in Vietnam and played by lovely young ladies in the traditional Ao Dai dress).

Early next morning the group left by air to Danang (Vietnam Airlines) and on arrival visited the Champa Museum and Marble Museum.

Thereafter a visit to Hoi An to discover the historic architecture with Chinese-style shop houses and Japanese covered bridge.

Dinner was at an old style building with colonial charm. Overnight was at Hoi An Resort with up-market frills and trimmings.

The next morning saw the group travelling via the Hai-van pass which is a picturesque high mountain range which divides the Danang Province and Hue.

In Hue the group explored the Imperial Citadel and Khai Dinh’s tomb (resembling the terracotta warriors of Xian).

The highlights of the Hanoi visit was the water puppet show, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (where Father Ho’s body is kept in a 16°C display room for nine months – from December to August each year, the rest of the year his remains are stored in Russia to be treated with special chemicals), One Pillar Pagoda and fine arts museum.

The most important site visit in Vietnam is considered as the Halong Bay excursion. (Halong Bay is considered the second most important natural wonder of the world).

One must stay a night in a junk boat (in this case a luxury boat with 10 cabins) to get the true feeling of the bay. Millions of years ago rock formations from the bottom of the sea resulted in 1,969 craggy limestone cliffs emerging from the emerald waters.

In short, if you haven’t visited Halong Bay, you haven’t seen Vietnam. Travelon’s next tour to Vietnam is scheduled for December 2012.