2015 - The year in travel Part 2

By Mark Bowyer / Last updated 26 Dec 2015

Introduction

This is the second of two galleries reviewing travels of 2015 through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It's been a great year. Managed to visit lots of places for the first time - especially in Laos - and return to old favourites as well. This selection is of random shots that say something about those travels. For more, check out our travel guides. Thanks!

In time for his 125th birthday - another 2015 anniversary - Saigon received a new Ho Chi Minh statue. Many of us were sad to see the previous version of Uncle Ho removed. He’d been a part of life in the centre of the city for decades. But this ain’t no place for nostalgia.
The old Uncle Ho statue was shipped out to a smartly renovated colonial era mansion on the airport road that was once the residence of flamboyant South Vietnamese vice-President, Nguyen Cao Ky.
Motorcycle taxi driving is exhausting work.
This Mr Ky, a Saigon based lawyer. A framed picture of United States founding father Thomas Jefferson presides over proceedings in his law office.
The longing for a BMW starts early in Hanoi - even with Lenin looking on.
Tiep from Unicorn Bar in Hanoi concocts a potion.
Hanoi’s famous bia hoi arrives by the keg for a thirsty city in summer 2015.
Two Hanoi artists made their home-studios available to interested travellers. This is Le Hong Thai.
The wonderfully eccentric artist Anh Khanh also made his distinctive long house available to visitors to Hanoi.
Chau Long Market, Hanoi
Chau Long Market, Hanoi
Hanoi’s Old Quarter gets newer by the year.
Made a wonderful trip outside Hanoi to Duong Lam village - a traditional Vietnamese village with lots of original architecture still standing.
Nearby Duong Lam village.
Son Tay Citadel outside Hanoi and nearby Duong Lam.
Another historic citadel Co Loa, close by Hanoi, receives very few visitors - and is well worth the effort.
Co Loa Citadel, Hanoi
Back in Hoi An, Phuong of Banh Mi Phuong fame, made famous by Anthony Bourdain, does a roaring trade.
Banh Mi Phuong, Hoi An
Hoi An’s Cua Dai beach has been washed away. The severe erosion has been variously attributed to severe weather, rising sea levels, excessive coastal development and poor coastal management. Take your pick. It’s a devastating blow to one of the country’s most popular tourist beaches.
Beach lovers have migrated north to An Bang beach - once a more exclusive enclave of Hoi An expats and in-the-know Hanoians and Saigonese.
Italian Archaeologist Federico co-owns Hoi An’s Bazar Cafe and he’s great for a chat about the Cham ruins at nearby My Son as well as other heritage issues facing Hoi An and the region.
One of the coolest openings in Hoi An this year was Hill Station Cafe. The Hill Station people first opened in Sapa and employ mainly local ethnic minorities. When they opened in Hoi An, they brought two of their Hmong staff down to help set up. They were obviously stoked - though they were missing Sapa when I saw them.
The Cham ruins at My Son - an easy journey from Hoi An and well worth a visit. Go early or late to avoid the crowds.
I scored an invite to the home of Tran Duc, American Vietnamese chef who’s had a big impact on the culinary scene in Hoi An for years now. What a feast it was too.
Danang, north of Hoi An, playing a fast game of tourism catchup. It’s a beautiful city with great food, a riverfront and a vast swathe of picturesque beaches enclosed by mountains. Sad thing is though, that like other parts of Vietnam, it looks set to be overdeveloped with high-rise hotels.
Australian trained surf lifesavers on Danang’s My Khe beach.
I haven't seen surfers really getting on to waves very often in Vietnam - but they were doing fine off modest waves on this day at Danang’s My Khe beach.
There was plenty of talk in 2015 about the great reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States. But the South Vietnamese soldiers who fought alongside US servicemen are still waiting for their moment of reconciliation. It’s been a long time coming. Things have certainly eased over the past decades for these guys but life's been very tough for those who fought and lost for South Vietnam - alongside Americans, Australians and others. These two Danang cyclo drivers are well into their 60s but are still working. They have no choice. One, Hieu, lost his leg in Quang Ngai in the final week of the war in 1975. He’s somehow managed to eke out a living as a one-legged cycle driver for decades. And there wasn’t a word of self-pity from him as we chatted on a Danang street corner.
Saigon’s heritage architecture has been devastated in recent years - attention is now turning to these modernist structures. The city has a surprisingly rich stock of modernist buildings.They’re becoming favourite locations for young Vietnamese tastemakers creating groovy cafes.
There are plenty of signs that Vietnam’s heritage-blind city planners will be lamented by future generations. Here, a group of young architects heads out each weekend to sketch buildings of heritage value - Vietnamese, Chinese, colonial and modern.
The city’s giving them shopping malls but Saigon’s worldly young people are seeking out spaces of character to sell their wares.
Italian born Carlo, owner of Pendolasco restaurant is a veteran expat in Saigon. A former member of the Italian Communist Party, he was travelling to Vietnam with union delegations in the late 70s when the country was largely closed to Westerners. He now owns the city’s oldest Italian restaurant.
Phuc from Le Bordeaux restaurant in Saigon. He learned his trade after arriving as a young refugee in France in the late 70s. In the early 90s, he returned home and has never looked back. Le Bordeaux is among the city’s most highly regarded French restaurants.
Saigon’s got it all - delicious streetside banh mi (Vietnamese bread roll) stand.
This is one of the city’s oldest downtown banh mi stands. Open from 9pm each night it’s been operating across generations since the Vietnam War days.
Saigon’s chaotic cityscape.
Saigon’s chaotic cityscape.
Saigon’s modernist architectural period, which peaked during the Vietnam War years of the 50s, 60s, and 70s is largely unrecognised - despite its impact across the whole of the old South Vietnam. interest is slowly growing. This is the library with the French colonial era courthouse in the background.
A living treasure - this deaf bookseller on Saigon’s Dong Khoi St has been generous with smiles and good humour while selling books, many banned, for decades.
Old friend Quynh Anh opened a simple lunch spot in her beautiful florist, Padma de Fleur. The food’s great and the setting is magic. You need to book via Facebook. Check Padma de Fleur on Facebook.
Saigon’s traffic seems to get worse by the day. New cars are hitting the road at unprecedented rates and the roads simply don’t have any capacity for them. That means the footpaths in many downtown areas provide backup. Pedestrians are the losers.
One of the highlights of 2015 was the New York Times story on Rusty Compass. I got to spend a couple of days on the road with journalist Mike Ives and photographer Justin Mott. Great time was had.
We travelled from Hoi An to Kontum in the central highlands. I’d never visited Kontum before so it was very special. We stopped at a local school where ethnic minority kids were being taught Vietnamese.
This is the former US airbuse at Dak To, north of Kontum. It was the scene of terrible fighting during the war. All that remains is the tarmac. Around it, ethnic minority women grow cassava. It’s always eerie being in places where so much blood was spilt, and are now forgotten.
Kontum was a delight. There may not be much to do there but it was small and friendly. Exploring the nearby ethnic Ba Na villages was interesting. This is a typical Ba Na mud house.
Ba Na woman, Kontum
Ba Na woman cleaning snails, Kontum
The Catholic Church's landholdings in downtown Kontum are impressive. And there's some interesting colonial architecture too. This is the 1935 seminary.
Father Nen, 94. A missionary priest at the Kontum seminary.
Bridge over the Dakbla River in Kontum at sunset.
On the road outside Buon Me Thuot. Prospects for future improvements in Vietnam’s road safety culture look grim.
Another first for 2015 was a visit to southern Laos and the 4000 Islands area. This is may well be the most spectacular place to experience the Mekong River. This shot was taken on Don Khone Island close by the Cambodian border.
The French had grand plans to run a trade along the Mekong River between China and the colonies of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Problem was that in this area, furious cascades made the river impassable. Nowhere are they more furious than at Khone Phapheng at the end of the wet season.
Khone Phapheng, Laos
Fading French colonial mansion, Don Khone
Was Phu, also in the south of Laos is a spectacular Angkor era Khmer temple.
Monks selfie checking at Wat Phu
A fading Lao palace in French colonial style, in the sedate former royal capital of Champasak, southern Laos
Wat Luang, Pakse, Laos
Magnificent Tad Fane waterfall on the Bolaven Plateau outside Pakse, Laos
The sun sets on the road back to Pakse.
One sunset to another. This is a Phu Quoc Island sunset in Vietnam - on Ong Lang Beach.
A happy couple get their wedding shots on Bai Sao beach. The legendary stretch of beach is about to be taken over by international resort developers. It’s a similar story on other parts of Phu Quoc.
But there's good news too. Discovered Phu Quoc Island’s first solar powered resort - Bamboo Cottages on Vung Bau beach.
Chillin’ at Ganh Dau, Phu Quoc Island
We tourists churn out loads of plastic - and very few restaurants and bars in Vietnam take simple steps that could put a big dent in tourist generated plastic waste. This is the Phu Quoc waste dump - just off a main road.
Chi Lang area of Hue, Vietnam’s former royal capital
A wonderful couple, 79 and 80 return home after visiting their ailing son in hospital. Hue
Hue’s beautiful Perfume River from Thien Mu Pagoda.
Hue may be my favourite city in Vietnam. But local officials have done little to add meaning to the historical and cultural experience of visitors in the 25 years since I first visited. Hue Citadel, the centrepiece attraction of the city, is an amazing ruin. It was devastated by French soldiers and US air attack. It’s an incredible story that goes untold as you wander through its walls. Instead of bringing the citadel’s incredible story to life, city leaders are building a Disneyesque recreation of it - a royal fun park - devoid of context, history and meaning.
These original tiles are more evocative than the fun park style recreations. Hue Citadel
The man that can claim credit for establishing Hue as Vietnam’s capital (and establishing the Nguyen Dynasty) is Gia Long aka. Nguyen Anh. This is his tomb. I highly recommend a visit. It's 18km outside of Hue. There’s little there - but the setting’s beautiful and the ride out is nice too. In this shot, a local farmer watches over his buffalo herd as they play in the lotus lake.
Poor old Nguyen Anh, a giant in Vietnamese history - whether you love or loathe him - doesn't get a lot of attention. He created the dynasty that is remembered in Hue but his tomb (known as Gia Long's tomb) is dismally neglected in the middle of picturesque countryside. It appears on few travel itineraries and most travellers leave Hue barely hearing mention of Nguyen Anh's (Gia Long) name. Which makes a visit here all the more compelling. There are few better places to contemplate how the mighty fall.

Quicklink - Introduction - Vietnam

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