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First Trip to Vietnam


ChiFlyer

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Hi,

I am looking to make a first trip to Vietnam for one week in August. I will be taking the TGF with, so I am not looking into hobby info. Just as an fyi, my understanding is that the good girl - bad girl line in Vietnam is not as grey as in Thailand.

So far I am looking at HCMC. I have Marriott points that I can use at the Sheraton, which sees like a very nice hotel. I am looking for tips for restaurants and some touristy things as well.

A friend of the TGF is encouraging us to visit Da Nang instead. I will look into that, but so far it will likely be HCMC for a first trip. There appears to be plenty of good info in this forum, so I will spend a few days browsing thru this before asking too many newbie questions. 

I do understand that Vietnam is now open to tourists and their e-visa system looks to be straight forward enough. I will likely return to Thailand on a 30 day tourist on arrival visa, in order to reset my OA Non-IM to an O Non-IM.

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Personally, as a first time trip to Vietnam, I would be looking at doing Hanoi instead of Saigon.

Where as Saigon is all modern and sophisticated, Hanoi still completely retains that 18-19th century olde world charm of French architecture and passion.

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9 hours ago, Sherlock said:

Personally, as a first time trip to Vietnam, I would be looking at doing Hanoi instead of Saigon.

Where as Saigon is all modern and sophisticated, Hanoi still completely retains that 18-19th century olde world charm of French architecture and passion.

Just to set the mood for this trip beyond the practical reasons for doing so.

I am a person whose life was much affected by the Vietnam War.            

I am an American. My father was killed in the Korean War, so I was draft exempt from the Vietnam War as a sole surviving son (Private Ryan Act). I observed some of my friends from high school coming back home in coffins. I observed many others coming back home damaged in one way or another. As a young 18 year old man, I felt that I should enlist to fight against these perceived injustices. A family friend talked me out of that.

I also had the unique experience of observing the police insighted riot that occurred on Michigan Avenue in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. I was not a protestor. I had a 2nd shift job in an IT department that had a direct view of Michigan Avenue and Grant Park. After that night, I became a person opposed to the war.

I have recently been watching the Ken Burns 8 episode documentary on the Vietnam War for the 3rd time. I can only watch a few episodes before taking a few days off, because of how deeply saddened I am about the idiocy that my country engaged in.  

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would recommend visiting the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel , it's where the reporters received their daily briefings, great cocktails , good views 
 

If you want a break from HCMC recommend Hoi An as well , especially if you can time with the monthly full moon lantern festival, the gf will love it 

Edited by Stillearly
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The Sheraton is a good choice right in the middle of everything in District 1. Down the road a couple of blocks is a Mom & Pop Bar on the corner with a Bamboo facade. Run by a Vietnam US Vet (deceased) and Viet wife. Place if still open could be run by the daughter.  The Bar is era time warp and a good place to have a quite drink.

I believe saving Private Ryan is a fictional story. The act/policy? you reference is the Five Sullivan brothers all killed in the same WWII battle.  

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23 hours ago, CalEden said:

The Sheraton is a good choice right in the middle of everything in District 1. Down the road a couple of blocks is a Mom & Pop Bar on the corner with a Bamboo facade. Run by a Vietnam US Vet (deceased) and Viet wife. Place if still open could be run by the daughter.  The Bar is era time warp and a good place to have a quite drink.

I believe saving Private Ryan is a fictional story. The act/policy? you reference is the Five Sullivan brothers all killed in the same WWII battle.  

I am pretty certain that you are correct about the "Private Ryan" correction.

All's that I remember is my mom talking about it at the kitchen table. Also, I incorrectly believed at the time that I did not have to register for the draft because of being a "Sole surviving son".

Someone told me that I was wrong, so I went and registered about a month late. The guy behind the desk threatened to conscript me on the spot, after I told him that I would be a 5G status. In addition to "Sole surviving son" that is/was(?) also the status for "Conscientios Objector" which is what Mohamed Ali filed as. I explained that I was a "Sole surviving son" and he snarled at me "we can check that". About 10 minutes later, his partner said "hey, the kid is not lying". After that I was afforded a greater courtesy.

Edited by ChiFlyer
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