Economy/Tourist class airfare can cost as little as $750.00 or as much as $1500.00, so shop and shop. Travel time is about 13 hours across the Pacific and in total takes between 18 and 26 hours, depending on the layover required by your airline at their gateway city.

It doesn’t seem to cost any more for an open return or “open jaw” ticket. An open return is exactly as it sounds; you leave your return date open, allowing you flexibility on your return date. With an open jaw ticket, you fly into one city and return from another. So, for example, you could fly into Hanoi and back from Saigon or maybe fly into Vietnam and return from Thailand.

However, keep in mind that if you have an open return, airlines have only a limited number of flights across the Pacific, and they try to fill then to the max. So it may take a while to confirm your return ticket.

There are museums, chronicling the war years and the life of the famous Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, even a water park for your splashing pleasure, numerous temples but my favorite is just hanging on a street corner and watching the goings on of the city.

Other good options are a day trip to Cu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong hid out during the war; Cao Dai Holy See in Tay Ninh the main temple of Vietnams only homegrown religion or maybe the hydrofoil to the beaches of Vung Tau. 

The Mekong Delta is a flat agricultural area in the far south of Vietnam, honey combed with waterways. The Mekong is well worth a visit and can be done as a day trip if you’re short of time or as a three- day tour booked through one of many travelers agents in Saigon. About 60 km from Saigon is the ever-cool hillside city of Dalat.

Temperatures here are 10 to 15 degrees cooler then Saigon, the Vietnamese wear ski parkas, wool hats and gloves in the evening, but us North Americans can easily get by with a long sleeve shirt. This is a very popular place for Vietnamese and considered to be the perfect spot for a honeymoon.

One of my fonder memories from 1967 was the beaches and the warm South China Sea that washed across them. I am happy to report, this hasn’t changed, the water is just as warm and the palm trees still sway idyllically over sun splashed, white sand beaches. There are many nice beach areas to choose, from little, laid-back Mui Ne to Nha Trang with its noisy drinking spots like the Sailors Club and interesting boat day trips out around the islands.

You say to yourself, yikes isn’t Vietnam a communist country? Yes, it is communist, formally named Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Ngic Viet Nam or the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) but not to worry. What you will see probably doesn’t fit with any of the concepts of communism you have been carrying around with you. From a visitors prospective, it appears to be a free, open market society.

This is primarily due to the strength and flexibility of the Vietnamese people, not the reality of what is really going on. Behind the go-go veneer it is a country that allows only one political party, the Communist Party and it used the Soviet Union and China as its models for the government.

However, the government, after watching Thailand’s success with tourism, has cultivated a strong interest in developing tourism as a cash crop. So as a visitor, life is good.  But due to all these hidden wranglings, remember that no matter what you think you see and hear, the government is in complete control.  With this in mind my strategy has been to stay away from any problems involving anything governmental related and just concentrate on being a good little tourist.

Though I have to admit a plus to tight government control and their lack of the interest in personal freedoms is that the criminal element is held in check, and the threat of terrorism is minimal. There are very few American visitors in-country so it seems that wherever you go people are fascinated by Americans.

Using the opportunity to try out their English, shake your hand or stare and try to get as close as they can. From my experiences most Vietnamese, anyway in the south, have a great regard for America and its people. Since the war ended in 1975 North and South Vietnam have been one country but geographically and culturally there are still is two separate regions.

For people like my self and many Vietnamese’ there is a distinct North and South. Historically, the north was the home of industry and craftsmen. The south was more of an agricultural area with cities like Saigon involved in trade. For myself, who has never past Hue where the south transitions into the north. At this geographic point my mind starts having problems. Not rational but still problems to me, telling me something to the effect of, its 1967 again, and I shouldn’t be going up there. 

While in reality I have been told Hanoi is a wonderful city, more laid back and relaxed then Saigon, the northern mountain village of Sapa is a charming and Halong Bay from the photos I have seen is unbelievable beautiful.

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