VIETNAM
For the photo album go to: VIETNAM
April 20, 2006
A group of onlookers gathered at the quay in Danang upon
Fleetwood's arrival, on April 10. They had lots of questions. A visiting
Vietnamese-American interpreted. "Where is the rest of the crew?"
"Where is your wife?" I told them that I had been looking
forward to this moment, to set foot again on Vietnam soil, with great
anticipation.
A number of hands were extended from the high seawall and they
witnessed me kissing the ground. For me this was a dream come true. Danang and
later the other places I visited far exceeded my wildest dreams. My love
affair, from the 1 1/2 years in Saigon in the early sixties, with
Vietnam, has been rekindled.
I am writing this while sailing down the beautiful coast line
from Danang to Nhatrang. The more
emotional part of this visit will be searching for the familiar spots in
Saigon. (For background on my
stay in Saigon go to my web site at: http://www.cometosea.us/
and check the “Topics” on the lower right. Also more
on my web blogs from 1/1/2010 about my three months backpacking trip through
Indochina.)
It looks like the costs for taking "Fleetwood" up the
Saigon River to Saigon are prohibitive and I plan to go there by bus from Nhatrang.
That is still a problem here. Part of that dream was to sail up
the river, just as when I arrived in 1961 on the USS "CORE" with our
helicopter company. Our ship tied up at the foot of the main street
of Saigon, Rue Catinat or Tu-Do, on the river bank.
But I'll settle for Nhatrang.
Ten years from now, when I approach 80, I might have better luck.
My first attempt to enter Vietnam, at Haiphong, turned into a
major disappointment. I was aware of potential problems. The yachts that have
been able to visit Vietnam in the last 25 years, can be counted on
two hands. Except for a bi-annual sail boat race from Hong Kong to Nhatrang that had been going for the last ten years,
or so. It was extremely difficult for me to obtain information from anywhere on
the requirements for Vietnam. I searched the internet and asked the questions
at the consulates in San Francisco and Manila.
Manila told me that all I needed was a $ 75 tourist Visa. By the
time I leave Vietnam I expect to be able to give a clearer picture of how to
take a sailboat into Vietnam. Many yachts that I encountered in the Pacific
were anxious to hear of my experiences.
I had hoped to start at Haiphong in order to go visit Hanoi and
sail through the incredible beauty of Ha Long Bay, very close to Haiphong.
I'll back track, for a moment, to where I left off on the
previous log, the one for the Philippines. I left Puerto Galera on
March 23rd. Puerto Galera is an official port of entry and exit for
the Philippines. I had checked in and out of Cebu with customs. And I had
obtained a one-month Visa at Cebu Immigration. But, with the time it took to
get the bottom painted and the main sail made, my one-month visa had
expired. I was aware that I had to pay a penalty and for an extension. I needed
to get a port clearance in order to enter into the next foreign port.
I had expected to be able to get this from customs at Pto. Galera. But there is no customs nor quarantine
office at Pto.Galero. Just immigration. I
got very lucky because none of the immigration officers noticed my expired
visa. And I was told that customs has nothing to do
with yacht papers; that this is all done by immigration. It seems like every
country and port has a different regulation. In Cebu they made this big fuss
about us not reporting for quarantine inspection.
I left Puerto Galera on March 23rd. There were two days
with very little or no wind and managed to squeeze just under 50 miles out of
each of those days. I had a large school of Bottle Nose Dolphins visit. And
something peculiar that I noticed was that at one given moment, while I was
trying to take some pictures, they all froze in their game and in a split
second they all took off, as if someone blew a whistle on them. Two Boobies
took up roost on Fleetwood's boom for two nights and a swallow also booked for
one night in the middle of the China Sea. Even an ordinary house sparrow flew
into the cabin one morning, also in the middle of the China Sea.
There were lots of fishing stakes planted all over the China Sea
and the Tonkin Gulf. Mostly set by Vietnamese fishermen.
And lots of garbage floating around. Several times my
trolling line caught a plastic bag but I did get one very nice Mahi Mahi that went into Sashimi and a fried fish dinner.
I had to round the Chinese island of Hainan to get to Haiphong. I
never saw it because of a consistent haze. The water temperature of the Gulf of
Tonkin is at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than what I have been used to
for the last year. There are no sea birds in the Gulf of Tonkin. Here, today
on the trip to Nhatrang, out of the Gulf of
Tonkin, I saw a couple flocks of small Terns.
At night I had to thread my way through fishing fleets. Many of
them are all lit up and apparently jigging for squid. During the day I would
encounter these boats, anchored in the middle of nowhere, getting their
sleep.
I sent an e-mail to the Port of Haiphong a week before my April
2nd arrival advising my e.t.a. and asking them for their required procedures.
This e-mail went unanswered. When I got within 25 miles of Haiphong
I managed to raise the port authority on channel 16.
They advised me to contact the Harbor Pilot. Who in turn directed
me to stand by at a given GPS location, still about 15 miles from the harbor in
the Gulf of Tonkin. They asked me who my agent was. I
told them I did not have one and also questioned the need for a pilot.
At first I was advised that the pilot
boat was 1 mile away from me and on its way. Next I
was told to stand by on channel 16.
Channel 16 is the international emergency VHF channel. All boats
are required to monitor it for possible assistance to a nearby problem. And it
is used to call other boats and shore stations but one is then required to
immediately switch to a non-emergency channel. But they do not take that very
seriously here. I was listening to an apparent girlfriend singing a love song
to her fisherman, on Ch 16. No action from the pilot. I finally put down anchor
and tried again the following morning. It was a rough anchorage between other
vessels also waiting for the pilot, in an exposed rough stretch of open sea. At
around 1 p.m., I was told that the border patrol would come out and guide me
into Haiphong. Three very seasick border patrol officers boarded from the
patrol boat. They could hardly fill out all the forms in their seasick state.
Two of them transferred back to the patrol boat and the least seasick older
officer stayed aboard and directed me up the Red River. I tied up against,
about, a 250-foot long coast guard cutter in Haiphong
port which is still downstream from the city of Haiphong. This was just before
dark. Two officers of the Port Control office came aboard and had me fill out a
number of forms.
The Border Patrol officer took my passport and my last port
clearance papers. And these were supposed to be returned the next morning with
the immigration officer. The chief, 5-star epaulettes on his Russian army style
uniform, of the border patrol also had come aboard again and he told me that
everything was in order and that all I needed was to wait for the immigration
officer. He gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him when I
intended to travel to Hanoi by local bus. The next day nothing happened. The
border patrol had posted a guard onboard with me. The first night he sat on the
coast guard cutter the next night he slept in my cabin.
The coast guard men invited me aboard. That was at first objected
to by the guard. But after calling his chief he let me aboard. They let me use
their showers. The cutter was built by Damen shipyard in Gorinchem, Holland. The coast guard men were very kind and
threw a great dinner party on, the last evening. With many excellent dishes and
rounds of Lieu Moi, rice alcohol. The next day one of the port control men
returned, with an immigration officer. And I was then told to leave the next
morning. I asked why. They replied that they did not know the reason. They just
acted on higher orders. I was absolutely devastated. I pleaded with them and I
detected a certain air of glee on the part of the older immigration officer,
with my disappointment.
I was out of water and food and also low on diesel. They asked me
for a list and they would get this for me. And they did. They did not want
payment for it.
One of the cutter's officers found the phone number for the
American Embassy in Hanoi for me, because I wanted to advise them of my
predicament and see if they had any suggestions. The guard would not let me
make any telephone calls. I was also told that I could not use my radios on
board. When I realized the finality of their decision, I asked if I could at
least sail through Ha Long Bay on the way out.
Ha Long Bay is known for its unusual limestone spired islands
But they told me that I could not and to head out
straight for the open ocean. I asked them if I could try the first
major harbor south of Haiphong, Danang. The immigration officer replied
that he had no opinion on that.
The Red River reminded me of a European river like the Rhine or
Seine. There were river barges identical to the ones in Europe. There was a
strong current running to the sea from noon till midnight and then it would
flood back in. Large freighters passed by and small sampans rowed with the
oarswomen standing up and facing forward, their bodies moving back and forth in
a sensual motion.
The haze lifted some and I was able to get a distant glance at the
unusual shapes of the small islands on the edge of Ha Long Bay.
Ever since I saw the movie "Indochine"
with Katherine Deneuve I wanted to see this magical place. I hope
that I will be allowed some day in the future.
It was a four-day sail to Danang. The wind was from different
directions and I had some excellent upwind sailing in smooth seas and 10 to 15
knots of breeze. I had had an exchange of e-mail with the American Embassy in
Hanoi. I reported my Haiphong disappointment and the fact that I was not
allowed to telephone them and I asked them for possible suggestions on how to
avoid the Haiphong experience in Danang. They suggested that I use an
agent and gave me a name. This agent never responded to me. But when I got to
call the port control at Danang they suggested an other agency. And they
were very helpful. Mr. Tran Van Vui of Falcon
Shipping Co
falcon@dn.falconship.com
He gave me an estimate of the costs between $400 and $ 500. I spent the night
in Danang Bay anchored at the pilot station. The next morning the
pilot came aboard and showed me the way into the river port. The city of Danang is
built on the peninsula formed by the bay shore and the estuary of the
Han River. The bay reminded me of the San Francisco bay and the layout of Danang to
that of Alameda, California. Going up the river, a fishing boat was coming out
and a young man was standing in the bow with incense sticks clasped in his
hands. A moment later he ripped open a pack of colored papers that he then
threw out over the water, next was a sprinkling of rice. This is done to assure
a good catch.
I got to get a closer look at the strange looking large baskets
that the bigger fishing boats carry. They are woven from bamboo and made
watertight with bitumen/asphalt type emulsion. They are about 5 foot in
diameter and about 3 foot deep. Each boat stacks about ten of these, like
Tupperware. They are used as skiffs to fish from in the open ocean. They are
skulled with one oar. It is amazing to see these round awkward looking things
moving in a straight line on the water. The photo album shows several of these
basket boats.
The pilot directed me to tie up on the river quay just downstream
from the coast guard cutter. This one was identical to the one in Haiphong. The
third of its kind is stationed in Vungtau. I
needed a pilot like another hole in my head. The navigation was very simple and
straightforward with the buoying system. The port control did let me
leave Danang without the use of a pilot.
The Han river was not quite as busy as the Red River,
large freighters stay out in the bay port. But there were plenty of fishing
boats and smaller coastal freighters passing by. My agent, Vui, came to the boat right away and accompanied me to the
Port Control office
where again lots of forms were processed, with tons of
copies. The immigration officer also had his spot in the Port Control office,
which was adjacent to my moorage. I indicated that I planned to visit the old
imperial city Hue and also Hanoi from Danang road and air. The port
control wanted to know the exact schedule. And they wanted me to have a police
guard at the boat for when I was gone overnight.
Now I was finally able to see Danang. The agent took me on
the back of his motor bike. There are more cars in Centralia, Washington than
in all of Vietnam. The most common vehicle is a light motor bike, there
are lots of bicycles, some scooters and the leg powered pedicabs.
The moto cyclo, the motorized pedicab,
that was so common in Saigon has disappeared from the streets. You had
better come and enjoy Vietnam before they all have to have a car.
Even taxis, the four wheelers, are uncommon here because most use the motor
bike "taxis".
I was ecstatic when we rode through the streets of Danang.
Many memories came back. The wide tree lined streets, side walk cafes, attractive two-
and three-story narrow buildings. No squalor and garbage like you see in the
Philippines, P.N.G. and the Solomons.
The smell of the charcoal fired sidewalk food caterers. The Han
River has a wide promenade for several miles in the downtown section with a
wide boulevard and large colonial style official buildings. The old French
ochre/yellow painted masonry buildings and stone walls; many new large
buildings are done in a matching style. You can see the old people do their Tai
Chi exercises along the river.
Lots of large high-rise hotels in town and on the river
front, with several under construction. All done in very pleasing architectural
styles. The Vietnamese have a very strong sense for form and you just do not
see any ugly clashing structures. The streets are swept and garbage collected.
You do not see the black grime and mildew stains on the buildings like in the
countries I already mentioned.
They clean them and it might also be due to the lack of automobile
exhaust.
There were some fears in me that I might be disappointed on my
first encounter of Vietnam. But the opposite has happened.
Because of the non-democratic system I
had also expected a certain dreariness on the part of the people. I
find them even gayer and playful than before. These people have accomplished an
incredible feat, from the mess that we left them in, in the mid-seventies. And
done with little outside assistance. The first day in Danang, I
bought a second-hand little Sony Cybershot digital
camera to replace the second Canon Powershot S1 2S that
crapped out on me. That Thursday and Friday I took a $ 3.00 roundtrip bus to
Hue. This was the Imperial capital city of Vietnam till 1946, when the emperor
abdicated to Ho Chi Minh. There are a number of photos of Hue in the
album. Many of the temples, palaces etc., go back to as far as the 8th
century. It was unfortunate that much of the central part of the
"Citadel", the walled and the forbidden city, were
destroyed in the Indochina war and later during the American presence.
It is just beautifully situated on the Pearl River and its
branches. I rented a bike and snooped around the back streets and alleys. I
came upon a boat model builder by smelling the familiar exotic wood odors. I
was asked to come join a Buddhist funeral party and drink tea and
rice alcohol with a family of boatsmen, living on the river. I stayed
in a quite nice small hotel for $ 8.00 I met many Europeans, back packing and
also many in tour groups. When our bus halted, for a break, on the way to Hue I
ran into a group of Swiss from another bus. I joined them at a table in a
Gazebo overlooking the beach; a 100-yards from the main restaurant. People in
the restaurant wondered what was going on. I just had to have my Swiss friends
hear me sing "Vogelisi". A song
in Schwitzer Duetsch that
I had learned in my skiing days in Berner Oberland. All the
Swiss joined in.
I returned to Danang on Good Friday and attended mass.
The church was packed and many had to stand outside.
On Saturday morning I flew to Hanoi. This is another beautiful
city with the usual French large boulevards and impressive colonial buildings
and lots of very swanky hotels. I rented a bicycle again. The Red River that
runs through Hanoi does not really approach the dominant part it forms with the
city like the Han River in Danang and the Pearl River in Hue, because
it has very wide levies and it is not really accessible from the city. But
Hanoi has the Hoan Kiem Lake bordered
with wide tree shaded promenades and the pagoda temple in it.
The bike took me again to some back alleys, a centuries old bakery
where I was invited in for a taste of rice wine. And later a group of men
smoking the water pipe asked me to hunch down and share the smoke.
Sunday morning, I went to Easter Mass, which was celebrated in
French. The previous Vietnamese service was again jam packed. There were 6
masses that day.
I flew back to Danang that Sunday afternoon.
On Monday my faithful motor bike taxi rider, Tam, took me to the
ancient village of Hoi An and to Marble Mountain. The photo album
speaks for these places. The Marble Mountains rise out of the flat
coastal area, just South of Danang. Centuries ago
and more recently Buddha statues were carved out of the rocks and in the caves.
Hoi An is an old sleepy former silk trading port with century old
buildings. Unfortunately, most of the nice old buildings have been turned into
art galleries and curio shops. The ride along the coast was very nice. We came
along China Beach, which was a recreation area for the US troops.
Little is left of the American presence. In Danang there
is a Ho Chi Minh museum with a number of captured American tanks, helicopters
and artillery pieces, also an L-19 single engine plane. Our 57th Transportation
Helicopter company used those as spotter planes when I was in
Vietnam.
I left Danang on Tuesday morning. And I had a nice sail
for most of the way. The wind again was fickle at times and I had to motor part
of the way. Again spots with thick fishing fleets.
The last night in particular with many unlit boats that would at
the last moment shine their spot lights on me. During day light they would like
to come along side and start a lively conversation. I started the same routine
again at Nhatrang on Saturday, April 22nd,
by calling Port Control on Channel 16, next I called the Pilot. The Pilot was
absolutely impossible to understand. I do think he thought he was speaking
English. And possibly it works for his standard foreign clients that have a
straight forward service to be done for. In my case he just was not
prepared to make himself understood. This is a really big problem wherever you
go in Vietnam. Their knowledge of English is very limited or practically not
understandable, particularly on the phone or VHF. I consider that with the six
languages I understand that I have a leg up on this problem, but I am
struggling here. I am trying to enlarge my Vietnamese vocabulary with a phrase
book I am studying.
In the end the port control; came to the rescue and let me proceed
without pilot into Nhatrang. It is a real pretty
entry with a couple of small islands and then the larger Hon Tre Island
to the east of Nhatrang. Hon Tre has
some real pretty coves with white sandy beaches that would make an ideal
anchorage for us cruisers, if they will ever let us. The largest bay nearest
to Nhatrang has an enormous 5 start resort
on it, Vinapearl. I dropped my anchor in front
of it, before I got the news from Nhatrang to
proceed on my own into port.
But the hotel people chased me out of there.
When I got close to the old port a launch met me with my
agent, Chau, and the immigration officer. They showed me where to anchor
in a semi protected bay close to the commercial docks. And then we processed
the trillion documents. I was dead tired from lack of sleep the nights before
and slept twelve hours before going to shore the next morning. Mr. Chau took
me around on his motor cycle. We first had to find the mass schedule. Then he
helped me find a place to buy my $ 80 bicycle replacement. It's great to have
wheels again. Nhatrang is ideal for that
and I plan to take it to Saigon on the bus, from here. Nhatrang is
even more attractive for tourists and yachts yet than Danang. The newer
part of the city is built Miami style along the ocean with a wide boulevard and
a promenade between it and the beach. There are tree shaded parks, restaurants
and some of the hotels have palapas on the beach for their guests.
Yesterday, Sunday, there were many kites in one area, guys playing
volleyball and all the usual beach activities.
Hotels rise to many stories and several new ones are under
construction.
I was invited to join a circle of young man who were having
their party on the promenade under the trees. They had my favorite, pickled
calamari and the Lieu Moi. These people know how to relax and enjoy each
other.
I attended 4 p.m. mass. I managed to sing along credibly from the
song book. I managed to understand that the gospel was about the unbelieving
Thomas. This is one of the best places to see women in their best Oa Dais.
Back in the early sixties in Saigon, it was rare to see ladies in other than
their traditional oa dai dress.
Now it is the other way around.
There is one more yacht here, the "Vellamo"
a Swan 48 from Jamestown, R.I. with Phillip, a Brit, and his American wife
Denise.
They came here from the South Pacific via the Philippines, China
and Hong Kong and will be on their way to Singapore in two days. Nhatrang will be their one port call in Vietnam.
He told me that they used Saigon Tourist Services as their agent.
This is also the agent for the H.K.-Nhatrang yacht
race. Phillip told me that they were paying around $ 700 for their Nhatrang entry. I think mine will be below $ 400. I
ended up paying just over $ 400 in Danang, this included $10 per day
moorage and guard service for the 2 nights that I was visiting Hue and Hanoi.
(note 02-01/2021: these are 2006 prices)
Nhatrang is surrounded by a number of islands with inviting bays and
white beaches. There are many great scuba diving spots. It is centrally located
for excursions to other on land destinations and side trips to Laos and
Cambodia. For example, an “open” bus ticket from Nhatrang to
Saigon is $5, to Hanoi $16 and from Saigon to Pnom Penh
$4.
The second evening in Nhatrang, I
met Allan Goodman, together with Phillip and Denise Gibbins of “Vallemo” Allan operates a company called GMIO’Seas Inc., gmi@pacific.net.sg Cell
phone: 00-84-91-8509701.
Allan was a good source for information on the Vietnam cruising
potential. He is an Australian who specializes in making arrangements for a
successful stay in Vietnam for mega yachts. He is also the Nhatrang administrative host of the HK-Nhatrang yacht race.
Saigon Tourist Agency www.saigon-tourist.com is used by the race for
the port clearing agency work. He is in the process of developing a marina
close to the location where I am anchored, in the old port area. He will have
another facility that will be ready for the first small flotilla of charter
boats from Phuket, this fall, in the Danang area, close to China
Beach. He has also been asked by the authorities here to submit to them a plan
that will make Vietnam more accessible to yachts. Even the locals here cannot
just go out in a pleasure boat for a day trip to the surrounding islands.
Immigration insisted that I had some one aboard “Fleetwood” while
away to Saigon.
They were going to put one of their men on the boat but I
preferred someone I could understand. I found a young man. But then Immigration
made a big fuss. In the end my agent, Mr.Chao, worked it out but there were was a price on
it.
On Thursday night, I took a night bus from Nhatrang to Saigon, or officially Ho Chi Minh City.
Most everyone here still calls it Saigon. This was the part I’d been looking
forward to the most. And to fully understand my expectations I need to back
track to the late fifties. I immigrated to the United States from Holland in
1957. One of the reasons I decided to leave Holland was that my draft
classification and reason: “unfit for modern warfare” was starting to catch up
with me. At first, I was the hero among my peers for managing to dodge the
draft. But after a while, I noticed that, particularly at my work, they
concluded that possibly it had not been an act after all. But this meant that I
was draft eligible in the U.S. I was married in 1959 and our attempts to have
children, which would have kept me from the draft, failed and in 1961 I started
my two-year tour. In October of 1961, our helicopter unit was sent to Saigon,
on the USS CORE a small 2nd WW air craft carrier. We were the
very first company strength unit to be employed in Vietnam. When the ship tied
up at the foot of the main street of Saigon, rue Catinat, there was a
contingent of press people to record the event. From high up on the flight
deck, I recognized an old Amsterdam neighborhood friend, who was taking movies
of the event.
I yelled his name: “Ed van Kan!” The rest of my company had no
idea as what was going on. We had not been told where we were going when we
left Fort Lewis, Washington and most of the men had no clue where Vietnam was
and what was going on there. I was the first one off the ship because, against
the orders, I had packed civilian clothes. And the Vietnam government did not
want that many soldiers in uniform roaming Saigon. Ed took me to the
Continental hotel for a cool “33” beer. And through Ed I was introduced to a
number of his press corps friends. One of them was Peter Arnett who worked for
Reuters at that time.
Everyone had to have a valid passport. I went to the Dutch
legation to have my expired passport renewed. He took it away from me because,
according to him, I had forfeited my Dutch citizenship by serving in a foreign
army. So, I spent the next month or so pedaling through Saigon, from the Dutch
legation to the American embassy, explaining my plight for a passport. In
between I spent a few hours swimming at the “Cercle Sportif” an exclusive
sports club for the French and well to do Vietnamese. Ed van Kan had sponsored
me for membership. In the end I did get my passport back. The Hague explained
to the Dutch representative that, since I was serving in a NATO member service,
I could keep my passport. I was having such a good time in Saigon that I urged
my wife to come and join me. She stayed a year in Saigon and had a part time
job teaching English. My employer in Santa Barbara, California paid my air fare
to places like Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Penang, to visit our
sawmill suppliers.
My wife accompanied me on these vacation time trips. I extended my
one year tour and took my discharge in Saigon and went
on another trip to Singapore and Borneo and from Saigon hitched a ride home on
a US Air Force plane.
My company commander, captain Klippel, “The Deacon”, just
could not stand me having so much fun. I am probably the only Vietnam Vet to be
discharged at the lowest rank of Private.
On arrival in Saigon I rented a $1 a day
bike and rode out to the familiar sites. First on the list was the central
square, with the Continental and the Caravelle Hotel.
The wonderful Continental Hotel, from the sixties, with its open porch and high
fanned ceilings, is now a sterile airconditioned enclosed facade. It used to be
the place for the ex-pats and press corps to hang out. It features prominently
in Graham Greene’s “Quiet American”. But just kiddy corner, what Graham Greene
called “the Milk Bar”, Givral, is there as if
time had stood still. I sat down and savored the “Flan” or custard. This was
the same spot where I had my very first “Flan”, 45 years ago. Facing the
central square on Le Loi boulevard, is the
REX hotel. In December of 1961 our unit’s soldiers were the very first hotel
guests at the REX.
We stayed there for a couple weeks until our tent city was erected
at the Tan Son Nhut airport. We had our,
delayed, Thanksgiving dinner on the REX rooftop, the turkeys cooked in our own
field kitchen. I had a beer on the rooftop and took a few pictures.
Next I rode out through the old Rue Catinat. It is a fairly short
street from the central square to the Saigon River front. And it used to be
where all the action was centered in and in the side streets. But now it is all
broken up with new construction going on between the already crowding high rise
hotels. The river front has lost most of its former allure. There is a very
busy ferry terminal and tour boat moorings with constant flow of heavy traffic
at the foot of old Catinat. The promenade under the trees is all cut up
with construction sites.
I found our old apartment on 423 Hai Ba Trung street. It had not changed much but it is in a
terrible state of disrepair. The beautiful court yard of the land lord has been
incorporated into the building. The old man who is living there now remembered
our former land lord, Mr. Ly-Lap.
My next mission was to try and find the place where I had my
picture taken on a bridge over a canal in Cholon.
I searched and searched and asked many older Chinese but finally had to give
up. Cholon is no longer the distinctive
China town it once was. You hardly notice the change from the rest of Saigon.
On Saturday I went on a bus tour of the Mekong Delta town of My-Tho and Ben Tre.
The Mekong is an impressive body of water and a very busy
waterway. One of these years yachts shall be able to
navigate it to Pnom Penh.
Sunday morning I attended 6.30 mass at
Our Lady of Saigon, cathedral. The church had been renovated for its 200th year
anniversary, last year. The awful red paint is gone and the original red bricks
are restored.
In summary, Saigon is no longer the Pearl of the Orient. There is
a lot more to do than in the sixties but the old downtown Saigon has been raped
and there does not seem to be a logical plan to the expansion. The old
residential neighborhoods with the colonial mansions are gone, even many of the
big old shade trees.
In its place are commercial and government structures. The
soothing side of the coin is that I do not feel so bad any longer for not being
able to sail up the Saigon River.
Monday morning, I took the open ticket tour bus to Dalat, in the mountains north of Saigon. My main reason to
go there was to try and find the grave of father Huysmans. He was buried there
in 1971, according to his Vincentian order in Holland. Fr. Huysmans assisted
father Crawford an American Vincentian priest who served the English
speaking parish in Saigon in the sixties. I found his grave in a small
cemetery cared for by the Sisters of Charity. Dalat,
with its much cooler mountain climate, was a welcome short respite.
In summary, it is still somewhat premature to put Vietnam on your
cruising schedule but without a doubt it will eventually happen and you will
have the time of your life. The people, the beauty of the country its rich
history its proximity to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines will make
Vietnam the preferred destination, north of the Equator.
For the approximately $ 800, I spent on Danang and Nhatrang port costs, I could have flown here. But I
would have missed the Gulf of Tonkin, the fishing fleets, the beautiful coast
line, the hassles in Haiphong, the plastic bags and some really good sailing. I
will be back before my 100th birthday.
Some
Useful information:
Because of the distances from Haiphong to Saigon, there are
actually three distinct weather/monsoon patterns in Vietnam. But in general you will have a South Easterly wind from December to
May and then the South Westerly monsoon blows from June till
November. I sailed to Haiphong from Puerto Galera, just South of
Manila, in late March and then from Nhatrang I
had an excellent sail, in early May, to the N.E. tip of Malaysian Borneo.
First of all, you need a tourist visa, which currently costs
$75. And is good for 90 days and extendable. Visas can be obtained at
any Vietnamese consular section. It took me ten minutes in Manila.
You will need a shipping agent. These agents usually
only handle large commercial vessels. And most of them have branches in all
major Vietnamese ports.
I used Falcon Shipping Company.
Following information was brought up to date on February 25, 2010
during a 3 months vacation in Indochina.
Danang: FALCON SHIPPING
26 Hai Phong Str. Danang. Office
Phone: 0084-511-892145 e-mail: falcon.dn@falconship.com
Tran Van Vui telephone
0084-511-887611. If this address does not work, go through the Nhatrang office.
Nhatrang: FALCON SHIPPING (KHANH HOA
BRANCH)
125 Hong Bang Str., Nhatrang,
Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Office Phone: 0084-58-514.641
e-mail:
falcon.kh@falconship.com web site: www.falconship.com
Mr. Nguyen Chau, cell: 0084- 913.462.233 Mr. Huynh Chien :
0084-905.256.433
Mr. Chau is the director and the one I dealt with, Mr. Chien has a
better command of English.
Another agent in Nhatrang, smaller
operation, but also a part of a very large majority share government owned
transportation group.
NHATRANG VINALINES COMPANY
34 Tran Phu Street (Vinh Nguyen), Nhatrang, Vietnam (close
to the old port moorage)
Office phone : 0084-58-889527
e-mail: vinalinesnt@vnn.vn website: http://www.vinalines.com.vn/
Mr. Nguyen Binh Ha: cell:
0084-913.461.306. Speaks English reasonably well.
Allan Goodman operates a company called GMIO’Seas Inc.,E-Mail
: allangoodman@ymail.com cell
phone: 0084-918.509.701.
He is not an agent yet and uses Falcon for that but he can be of
great service for all the aspects of a good stay in Vietnam.
Vung Tau (the coastal entry port for Ho Chi Minh City
at the mouth of the Saigon River) :
Steve Thompson
T-BOATS HCMC, Vietnam.
E-mail: tboatenquire@tboat.com website: www.tboat.com
Phone: 0084-64-3533 415
Fax: 0084-64-3533
416
Cell: 0084-909.826.638
Steve Thompson is a boat builder and is in the process of building a marina
in Vung Tau and set up for yacht clearing.
The main tourist and also ship clearing agency, state owned
company, is Saigon Tourist Company, Web Site: http://www.saigon-tourist.com/
Additional observations learnt from the 2010 visit: The high port
and clearance fees and the need to employ an agent/pilot still exist. Much of
this has to do with the archaic government controls. And permits are still
required for every move a yacht wishes to make. But there are promising signs
that the fees will come down and that the movement restrictions will be eased.
There are plans in the works for a better mooring facility for
visiting yachts near the customs office in the old port. Allan Goodman is
involved in it.